Author's Note: First off, I'd like to say I'm dedicating this story (and everything I've written/will ever write) to my best friend Allyson, better known on this website as Fade Into Color. She recently died after a long, well-fought battle with cancer, but the best thing about her was that she never let it define her. She would always smile and laugh and would never accept a pity party, nor would she throw one for herself. She was my muse, my best friend, my beta, and pretty much everything to me, and I'm going to keep writing for her. One of the last things we discussed was me finishing and posting this story, and she even gave it the title. Thanks for all of the help, Ally, and I hope you'll still be watching over me.

Leaving the BAU had been weird for Spencer. As predicted, he'd called the CIA shortly after and they'd offered him a position that day. He'd gone in for the interview and, later that week, he started a new position as a Special Agent. With the CIA, he was able to work on his own as opposed to with a team, so he was able to keep his thoughts flowing and nobody was there to cut him off. There were some times where he did miss the team dynamic, but it wasn't worth his happiness. In this position, he was even able to do a guest lecture at local colleges every few weeks. Doing them on his own, at first, was nerve wracking, but when it became less about ranting and more about presenting the facts, it slowly got easier and to the point where he was comfortable. The best part of the job was the fact that he didn't travel and was able to go home every single night, meaning that he could be with Derek, if he wasn't off on a case.

Every night, he'd make it home before Derek, which usually meant he would cook dinner. Derek would walk in just as he was finishing and he'd make the plates, setting them on the kitchen table.

"How was work?" Spencer asked, pouring himself some water and sitting down.

Derek pet Clooney before walking out to the kitchen, quickly kissing Spencer and taking his own seat. Usually 'how was work?' translated to 'have they replaced me yet?', but Spencer didn't want to come right out and say it. "Okay. Things have been a little hectic the last few months."

Spencer picked up his fork, twirling around his pasta and thinking to himself. "...Since I left?"

He shrugged. "I guess you could say that. Without you there to pawn off case files on, there's just more of a workload. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well I know the CIA is all hush hush, but how was the day for my CIA Special Agent?"

Spencer smiled slightly, chewing his food and swallowing. "It was good. I finished my workload early and I was able to work on my guest lecture for the end of the week."

"I can't believe that you've actually turned into this super version of Spencer Reid who can do a guest lecture."

He looked up at Derek. "A few months of being married and that's what surprises you most about me?"

Derek laughed. "I guess so. I'd like to think me sharing my secrets for public speaking helped."

"Maybe a bit."

After Derek let Clooney out, the two of them sat up in bed while Clooney slept at the footboard.

Derek wrapped an arm around Spencer's shoulders, kissing the top of his head. "What's on that mind of yours?"

Spencer smiled, toying with the ring on Derek's finger before squeezing his hand. Shortly after telling the team, Garcia had insisted that the two of them needed rings to prove their marriage and show it off. "For once, absolutely nothing. My mind's not worrying about the next case coming up, I'm happy with work, I enjoy what I'm doing, and I'm able to come home at the end of the day, putting it into the back of my mind. There's nothing to hold onto or take personally anymore, and I have to admit, I really like that."

"I'm glad that you're happy," he admitted, kissing his temple.

"Are you?" Spencer asked, looking up at him.

Derek shrugged. "I don't know. I went from seeing my husband practically every second of every day to nights and weekends, if I'm not on a case. It's kind of a bummer, if you ask me."

"Well, I'm sorry, but thanks to 'fraternization rules', that's not going to happen. It does suck, but there's nothing we can do about it."

"Tell me about it." He sighed, rubbing his arm. "Doing anything this weekend?"

Spencer thought to himself before quickly shaking his head. "Nothing at work and we don't have any plans, why?"

"Because the team misses you, and it's about time we have a 'family' dinner at Rossi's, that is if there's no case."

"So you're in?"

Spencer nodded. "I'm in."

Shortly before falling asleep, Derek sighed. "Hey, Spencer?"

Spencer looked up at him tiredly. "Hm?"

He thought to himself before shaking his head, kissing the top of his head. "I love you, good night."

Spencer smiled, resting his head on Derek's chest. "I love you too."

He ran his fingers through Spencer's hair until he fell asleep and sighed, wrapping his arms around the smaller man.

The next morning after getting ready, Derek walked out to the kitchen to find Spencer filling up travel mugs with coffee. Derek smiled, walking over and kissing his cheek, taking his cup.

"Thank you." He gave him a quick kiss before reaching over for his car keys, putting them into his pocket. "So, dinner on you tonight?"

"I'll have dinner ready and waiting when you get home." Spencer set down his mug, wrapping his arms around Derek's neck. "Promise."

"Well if you're promising," Derek said with a smirk, lifting his chin and kissing him.

Spencer pulled back, patting his arm. "You have to get going or you're going to be late."

Derek sighed dramatically before kissing the top of his head, grabbing his travel mug. "I'll give you a call later," he said, walking toward the door.

Spencer shook his head, reaching over on the counter and holding up his credentials. "Forgetting something?"

Derek turned around and walked over, taking them from him. "Thank you."

"You'd lose your head if it wasn't attached," Spencer said, patting his arm.

"And that's why I have you." He kissed his cheek again before walking out, closing the door behind him.

Derek made it into work on time and groaned when he saw that even more case files had been added to his pile. There was no possible way he'd be able to take a lunch today if he wanted to finish all of those before the next load was dumped on him tomorrow. Running a hand over his face, he set his things down on his desk before picking up his mug to get a refill in the break room.

While he was filling up his coffee, he heard heels clicking behind him.

"Good morning, beautiful," Derek said, turning around and kissing her cheek.

She smiled. "Good morning, one half of my favorite married couple." She turned around. "No offense, JJ."

"None taken," she said, opening the fridge and putting her lunch inside. "Did you talk to Spence?" JJ asked, leaning against the counter next to him.

He sighed, shaking his head. "Unfortunately not."

"Derek, we need him," Garcia demanded, lowering his voice. "This team can't possibly function without him, and soon enough, Strauss is going to notice the void because of our major back-up on case files, and she's going to insist on replacing him with some uptight, unlikable person who's not going to mesh well with this team. We're a family, and we only worked so well because we were a complete family."

"Trust me, I know," he said, sipping his coffee and setting the mug down. "What am I supposed to do? He likes this new job, he likes his guest lecturing gigs, and he really likes the hours. It's obvious that the bureau isn't going to let him back after 'what he pulled', which I think is crap, considering he just found a loophole in the system."

Emily walked in, all but moving Derek out of the way to refill her mug. "Thirty. I have thirty case files to get through today. Right about now, I would kill for the days when I could toss a few over the divider, no questions asked." She turned to Derek. "For the love of God, please tell me you talked to him."

"...I dropped hints about how swamped we are, and told him about it when he asked about my day-"

"But did you tell him we're incomplete and totally suck without him?" Garcia asked.

He sighed. "I tried, believe me, I tried. But I don't think he's coming back. He loves his new job, he's never going to forgive whatever agent it is that ratted us out and therefore hates this place just for that, but add in everything that happened between him and Hotch? I don't see him coming back."

Garcia groaned. "Did you at least get him to agree to dinner on Saturday?"

"Yeah, he's in for that, and when he talks about his job? You guys need to be happy for him, because he's loving what he's doing and wants his family to be proud of him for doing something different."

JJ nodded, running a hand over her face and exhaling. "I can do that, but it's going to take a lot of self control not to beg him to come back and save us from this hole."

"That makes two of us," Emily mumbled, finishing her coffee and pouring another mug.

Garcia put up her hand. "Three."

Derek held up his own. "Four."

Rossi walked in, filling up his mug. "Make that five."