With a raised eyebrow and a look of curiosity only a child can exhibit, Aaron cavalierly asked, "Are you guys dating?"

Spencer clumsily dropped his fork as his hand went slack and sputtered, "I, uh, what?"

Meanwhile, Egg chuckled and slammed her hand down on the table, clearly finding Aaron's innocent question a hoot and a half. "Your dad wishes, Aaron," she said with a wink.

"I- no, no, I don't!" He said looking horrifically embarrassed as he stared at the two of them. His cheeks and ears were burning red in contrast to his pale skin.

"Way to make a girl feel special, sir." He knew she wasn't seriously offended seeing as she still held a smug smirk.

"I think she was joking, Daddy." Aaron loudly laughed at him, used to how socially awkward his father could be at this point.

"I get that now. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, uh, object so harshly."

Egg shook her head, grin growing wider. "Well," she sighed dramatically, "you absolutely sure you don't have a crush on me. I mean, you did object pretty hard. I think the genius doth protest too much."

"Of course, that'd be unprofessional." Egg thought about pointing out that this was a nannying job, not an official workplace, but saw that Aaron was getting frustrated about not being included in the grown-up conversation.

"Sorry, Ronnie, your dad and I are strictly on a sir-Egg relationship." This made Aaron giggle, showing his new teeth.

"That's okay, dating is icky anyway. It just looked like you were doing the fluttering thing, and Maddie says that grown-ups do that when they like each other or are dating. Do you guys like each other?"

"I think you mean flirting," Reid interjected, earning him a mumbled, "oh yeah."

"So you guys don't like each other in a crush way?"

"No," Reid replied. This was enough for Aaron, who continued eating his mac and cheese and babbling on about his school day and how he, Maddie and Angela were the winning team at hide and seek.

After dinner, Egg dried the dishes while Reid washed, just as always. They never switched, because Egg didn't want to ruin her nails, which always inevitably happened when she washed the dishes, and claimed that hot water should be good for his gun-callused hands. He accepted the cop-out for what it was. This time, though, the banter was replaced with an awkward silence. She could tell Reid was uncomfortable, not because his cheeks lit up red like a stoplight, but because there was a stillness to his complexion. The corners of his mouth didn't twitch into a tight line, his teeth didn't worry his lip between themselves, his eyebrows didn't draw up like a tight knot. He was a master at hiding his emotions, but it was always his greatest tell for those who knew to look for it.

She understood why he was embarrassed of course. In her eyes, he had always lacked a certain finesse with women, even if he got better at handling their attention as he got older. But for them, having known each other as long as they had, it was simply weird. Every person who had stuck with him as long as she had earned a familial bond in his heart, so by every account they should be like siblings. That, when added to the fact he was terrible at handling emotions, equated to the tension that was filling the room.

Just because she understood didn't mean it didn't frustrate her.

"Jeez, get yourself together." If she was being honest, it sort of slipped from her lips. Still, she'd never admit to that lack of control.

"What?" Reid's eyes went wide, and he turned his head to look at her.

"You're acting like a damn child. Hell, Aaron seems to have more sense than you! Yeah, I get it, what he said was awkward, get over it."

He stared at her, mouth open at the sheer audacity of her words. But, before he could help it, he felt his lips pressed together to stop himself from grinning. In the end, his laughter won over and escaped his lips. Once his chuckling died down, he turned back to the dishes, still smirking. "That was certainly blunt."

"Have I ever claimed to be anything else?"

"No, I suppose not," he sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to be unprofessional, but in hindsight, it's probably more unprofessional to have ignored it."

"Eh, it's fine. I just didn't want to sit there and watch you get stuck in a loop of perceived embarrassment. It was more for your benefit."

"Thanks," Reid said sarcastically.

"Don't you use that tone with me, sir."

"Remember, I'm the boss, so how about you not use that tone with me."

"You sure are the boss," she said with a wink.

"You love to torture me, don't you?"

"More than a serial killer on death row." As morbid as it was, it earned a chuckle out of him. They always joked the thing that made her most employable was that she could always draw a smile out of him. It was a good dynamic to have, especially for them. They both needed a little light in their life.

A/N: I've had this written for like two weeks and somehow thought I had already posted it. So yeah, sorry this is coming to you a little late. Hope you enjoy!