She let out a loud gasp and her eyes stung with tears at the sight in front of her, running towards Spencer instantly. As she walked out of the school, she had seen a group of guys surrounding her new friend and it definitely didn't look like they were just having a friendly conversation. By the time she got there, Spencer was on the ground bleeding and curling into himself.

"Spence! What the hell happened?!" she asked with wide eyes as she dropped to her knees to check on him "I'm fine, I'm fine" he insisted as he tried to sit up, but she pushed him back down. "Oh no you don't, let me make sure you don't have a concussion" he gives her a small, soft smile and pulls her hands away gently "I don't have a concussion, Dove. I told you I'm fine, I'm used to this by now" he said with a quiet, self-deprecating laugh to pass it off as a joke, but as he looked up, he saw tears in her eyes.

He wipes away the few tears that fall down her cheeks "hey, hey, why are you crying? I really am fine, I swear" she smacked him lightly on the arm, careful of his injuries, and wiped away the rest of her tears before responding "well you asshole, believe it or not I actually care about you. We only had one conversation, but I've never been able to connect to someone so quickly like we did, and then you had to go and ignore me for a whole week" she said the last part with a glare, but he could see the amusement behind it, telling him that she wasn't really mad at him.

"I'm sorry" he replied, and she rolled her eyes at him, standing up and pulling him with her by his hand "come on, I'm walking you home" his soft smile fell immediately, and he pulled his hand out of hers "no, no, it's fine. Thank you but I can get back myself" she rolled her eyes again, this time with much more exasperation on her face "Spencer, I know you realized that I live across the street, I see you avoiding me in the mornings. We're going the same way anyways, just let me make sure you get home safely please" he shook his head stubbornly in reply.

"I'm just gonna go by myself, I can get there much quicker if I just run there alone" she grabbed his arm to stop him as he tried to turn around "Spence I know things aren't great at your house, I don't know exactly what's going on, but I hear yelling all the time. I promise I won't judge you or think differently of you, just let me help" he pulled his arm away from her aggressively "I said I was fine" he snapped before turning around and walking away from her, not ready yet to have this conversation with anyone else.

He felt the anxiety build up in his chest as he walked through his front door, knowing he would eventually have to talk to Emma about everything. Although he had just met her, he knew he didn't want to lose her in his life and to ensure that, he would have to trust her. He was snapped from his thoughts as he heard a loud thud from the other room, he was about to call for his mom to see if she was okay, but his mouth snapped shut as he took in his surroundings.

He found broken glass everywhere on the floor, tables knocked over, books thrown off their shelves and family photos shattered on the floor, clearly having been thrown. Any other person would have thought they were robbed but Spencer knew exactly what had happened "fuck" he whispered, hoping that his mother wasn't hurt "mom? Where are you?" he called out, not quite yelling so as to not scare her in case she hadn't calmed down yet, but still loud enough for anyone in their small house to have heard.

He didn't get a reply back, but he heard clattering in the kitchen and went to see what was going on, he walked in to find her staring at him with wide, frightened eyes and a piece of broken glass in her hand. He raised his hands instantly in a show of peace, so that she knew not to be scared of him. He realized quickly that it hadn't worked when she pointed the sharp glass towards him "mom, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you" he told her calmly, trying to subtly get closer and take the weapon away from her hands.

"What are you doing in my house?!" she yelled and he gave her a soft smile to ease her fear "it's me mom, it's Spencer" he tried again but she shook her head quickly "no I don't know you! You're not supposed to be in here!" she became frantic quickly, accidentally slicing her own arm with the shard. Spencer grabbed a towel from the counter and walked towards her slowly "I'm just gonna come closer so that I can stop the bleeding in your arm, okay?" She didn't reply but she also didn't stop him again.

He reached her and wrapped the towel around her arm, he tried to tighten it to put pressure on the wound but before he could even process his mom moving, he felt a sharp pain in his cheek and then another one in his arm. He held onto the bleeding wound on his arm tightly as his mother ran towards the bathroom as quickly as she could. He cried out at the pain but didn't have time to focus on it, running after her before she hurt herself further. By the time he caught up to her she had locked herself in the bathroom and he finally realized he had only one choice left to make.

He walked towards the living room and sat on the couch, pulling out his phone and making a call as the tears finally started to fall. He called the one person in this world that he trusted more than anyone, the only person he knew would always be there for him. "Spence?" the voice on the other end of the line asked, concerned as to why Spencer was calling him during a shift "dad" he replied, but it came out as a deep sob "I'm on my way" he nodded, before realizing that he couldn't be seen over the phone "bring an ambulance" he whimpered out "I'll be there in less than five minutes kid, just hang on" he replied before hanging up.

Spencer took a deep breath and thanked whatever higher power was out there for bringing Mark Sloan into his life all those years ago. He had met the police officer when he was only eleven years old, neighbors heard yelling and glass shattering, so they called the police to investigate. Mark was closest to the area, so he responded, he didn't expect to find a little boy taking care of his sick mother all by himself. They talked about everything that night and Mark promised he would do everything in his power to help Spencer, he gave him his number and they kept in constant contact over the years.

At one point Spencer slipped up and accidentally called officer Sloan "Dad", he apologized instantly and promised he would never do it again, but Mark just laughed with a small shake of his head. He ruffled Spencer's messy hair and gave him a soft smile "you can call me dad anytime you want kid; I would be honored to have you as one of my kids" he replied and since then the name just stuck. Spencer had met Mark's wife and kids several times and got along with them amazingly well. He came over for dinner whenever he could and regularly texted with the kids his age, they eventually grew to swee each other as pseudo-siblings.

Years ago, Spencer made the officer promise not to let anyone take his mother away from him and Mark agreed on the condition that the kid would tell him when he could no longer take care of her on his own. The teenager never thought the day would come when he would have to give up, he thought he would be able to take care of her for the rest of his life, but the last few months had proven him wrong. Her episodes had started to come much more frequently and each one much worse than the last, he knew that she needed professional help that he just couldn't give her.

A frantic knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts, he rushed to open it as fast as he could. It was barely open a crack before he felt it being pushed back and hands starting to wander on his face, checking him for all injuries "is it just the one cut?" Mark asked with worry clear in his tone which amplified as Spencer slowly shook his head and moved his arm away to show the much longer cut on his arm "kid-" he cut him off before he could continue "I'm okay dad, they're not that deep I'm probably just going to need a couple of stitches. I'll go wait outside for the ambulance, but you need to help my mom, she's hurt too, and she locked herself in the bathroom"

He hesitated but knew the kid was right, especially since he was on duty and had to follow procedure. He kissed him lightly on the head "wait outside, I'll be there in a few minutes" he nodded back in reply and walked away to do that exact thing. Moments later an ambulance pulled up and he greeted the paramedics as they assessed him, coming to the same conclusion he had before and letting him know he would need to go to the emergency room and get a few stitches for his cuts.

He spotted his mom walking out with Mark a few minutes later, looking much calmer as she sat in another ambulance. He smiled softly as the officer rushed towards him the second, he could and hugged him tightly, avoiding his wounds but pulling away as Spencer winced "I thought you said those were the only injuries?" he asked suspiciously, Spencer rubbed the back of his neck and gave an innocent smile "no I said those were the only cuts" he sighed defeatedly as he just got a raised eyebrow in reply.

"Okay okay, quit giving me that look. I have a couple bruised ribs and some other bruises from these guys at school earlier today" he admitted reluctantly, and Mark held the crook of his nose between two fingers, shaking his head slowly "what the hell am I going to do with you kid?" he asked tiredly, but Spencer could hear the fondness in it "you can help me find a good place for my mom" he suggested quietly, the guilt starting to slowly creep up on him "are you sure about this kid?" he asked softly, putting a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder as he got a hesitant nod in reply.

"I can't take care of her anymore, she needs more help than I can give her" he answered honestly. They didn't say anything for a moment but then Spencer realized something and looked up worriedly "do you think they're gonna put me in the system since I'm under eighteen? I could always file for emancipation and prove that I'm capable enough to live on my own, but they won't accept me until I get a job and a stable enough income to live on my own and pay for rent, utilities, food, medical bi-" "Spence stop talking before I smack you"

His mouth snapped shut instantly and Mark laughed at him "sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous" he rolled his eyes at the teenager "yeah, I know kid, that's not why I told you to shut up. I love your rambles, well maybe not your nervous ones so much but I do love it when you're excited about something. The point is, I cut you off because you're being a dumbass. You're coming to live with me" he said firmly, not leaving any room for argument, cutting Spencer off once again when he tried to protest "Alex and I already had this conversation a long time ago, she is completely okay with you living with us. The kids all agreed that if it were to happen one day, they would all be very happy to have you as an official sibling. I won't legally adopt you if you don't want me to, but you're coming to live with me and that's final. If you want to of course" he finished with a small laugh which was easily returned by the kid, he saw as his own son.

"Okay, if it's not any trouble and if I'm not a burden to you guys then I would love to come live with you. Though I don't know about the adoption thing just yet, I don't want to force you into doing something you don't fully want just because you feel like it's the right thing" Mark shook his head and pulled him into another hug, going easier on his ribs this time "no matter what, you will always be my son and I will always love you kid" he said with a short kiss in the teens brown hair.

Before he could reply again, they both heard a yell from the distance "Spence!" He looked up to the source of the sound and found Emma running towards him, reminding him of that morning and making him feel guilty all over again. "What happened?" she asked as she reached them "I mean you don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable obviously, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but I know you don't like to talk about all of this. Or maybe you just don't want to talk about it to me, in that case I'm really sorry for coming out here, I don't want to make the situation worse for you or anything. I can go if you want me to or I can just-" she was cut off as Spencer pulled her into a tight hug, not even caring about his injuries.

"Oh my god, there's two of them" he heard his father figure mumble and he smiled softly at him over Emma's shoulder "I'm sorry about getting so mad this morning Dove, it's not easy for me to talk about my mom or what goes on in my house because people just start to look at me like a freak. I'm also really sorry for avoiding you, I promise I'll be a better friend if you still want me to be" she flicked him on the forehead in reply "of course I still want you to be and you honestly don't have to tell me anything about what happened, but I stand by my statement that I will never judge you for anything" she said softly, clear care in the way she spoke to him.

He took a deep breath, looking into her eyes and finding nothing but sincerity and genuine worry for him. He didn't know why or how someone could care so much about another person after only one conversation with them and then a week of him being an asshole towards her. Later he would learn that that was just who Emma was, she had a good feeling about people that would become important in her life, and she did everything she could to make sure they were happy and safe. No matter how long they had known each other.

"My mom has schizophrenia" he admitted finally "she was diagnosed when I was a kid and my dad left us some time after that. I've been taking care of her mostly on my own since then" he looked up at her when he heard a small gasp leave her mouth "I can't believe you would do that for her, if I ever meet your dad, I'm punching him in the face" she finished angrily "get in line" they heard the officer reply and both smiled at him "when you have a minute, go grab a couple of essentials from your room while I call Alex and let her know what happened. We can come back for the rest of your stuff when you're completely healed" Mark told him softly with a squeeze of his shoulder before walking off to grab his phone and call his wife.

"I'm going to live with him and his family since my mom is going to stay at a facility that could help her more. Mark has been with me through all of this, I really don't know what I would've done if I never met him." he explained when he saw the confused look on Emma's face. She nodded in reply and gave him one final hug "if you ever try to ignore me again, I will kill you Spencer Reid" he laughed softly at that but agreed, nonetheless. Neither of them knew just how much that day would change the course of their lives for the better, the first time Spencer actually let himself trust someone. They would look back on this moment fondly in the future, knowing that they would never have been as happy as they became if Emma wasn't so stubborn and had actually let Spencer ignore her. Thank God for her never-ending persistence. 

A/N another 3000 word apology rewrite, i swear i'm almost done with the new chapter guys!