Season 1: Episode 4

"So what are you doing for your birthday?" Elle's voice asked from behind Spencer while they were looking through the victim's room for their newest case. Spencer turned and raised his eyebrows to watch her walk in the room, putting latex gloves on to examine the girl's things. Spencer turned back to the books he was sifting through and shrugged.

"Usually I like to celebrate with some of Vladimir Nabokov's best works and a lot of Dr. Who." he said. Birthdays were never really special to him. His mother was sometimes too confused to even remember his birthday when he was kid and he really didn't have anyone else there to care about it so he usually dismissed them as just another day.

"Fun." Elle said with a hint of sarcasm. Spencer ignored it and kept looking for anything suspicious that could lead them to find the girl who was kidnapped. "You don't party or anything like that?" she pressed on, joining in the search.

"I'm not really the partying type." Spencer explained in a matter-of-fact voice. He heard Elle go "ahhh" in the background. He knew she didn't understand why he liked what he liked, but he was perfectly content with being alone and reading and watching Dr. Who reruns.

"Hey, kid!" Spencer heard a deep voice call out to him while he was packing up at his desk. They'd just gotten back from the case they had. They'd found the girl who was kidnapped and without having anyone else killed so it was a pretty good outcome for the most part. On the plane ride home, Gideon had given Spencer tickets to the Redskins game for his birthday. When he had asked if Gideon was coming with him he'd said someone else was coming. "The only person in the world who calls him Spence" Gideon said.

Spencer was scared nearly half to death while asking JJ to go with him. He knew there'd never be anything that'd happen. She was older than him, gorgeous, and most importantly his co-worker. She seemed excited though, and he didn't have anything to worry about as it turned out. Now he was prepared to be harassed by Morgan.

"Look at you go, Man. Jennifer Jareau." Derek said, his big goofy grin on his face as he slapped Spencer on the back, jerking him forward. Reid grimaced and rubbed his shoulders, avoiding eye contact with Morgan.

"It won't be anything, Morgan. Just a one time thing." Spencer said. He could sense Derek rolling his eyes at him. He knew Morgan loved the idea of being able to pester Spencer about girls since Spence was so inexperienced, but there wasn't anything to be pestered about.

"Oh come on. Where's the fun in that?" he asked, nudging Reid in the ribs.

"Let it go, Morgan." Reid said, even though a smirk crawled up on his face. "We are just going to hang out for a bit."

"Alright, alright." Derek said, his smile still painted on his face. He tousled Spencer's hair before walking off calling,

"Happy Birthday, kid." over his shoulder. Spencer smiled and shook his head while straightening out his hair. Derek harassed him to no end, but you had to love him.

That upcoming weekend, Spencer was pulling into the parking lot of a stadium. JJ was looking out the window excitedly at the crowd around her. On the opposite hand, Spencer was nervous as hell. It wasn't even just because he was with JJ as much as he wasn't used to crowds and he had never been to a football game.

"I haven't been to a game in forever." JJ said as Spencer pulled into a parking space.

"I haven't been to one at all." Spencer said, turning off the car. Before he could get out however, JJ grabbed his arm. He turned to her with a confused frown, but she didn't explain herself. Instead she reached into her bag and pulled out a Redskins hat, giving Spencer a mischievous smile.

"Oh no..."

"Oh yes." she countered, reaching forward and fitting the hat on his head. Spencer chuckled as she put her own on and took one last look at him.

"You have to show spirit if you're going to a game. Now come on, I've got to show you this one ice cream stand. It's to die for." she said, pushing the passenger door open and stepping out into the setting sun. Spencer stepped out as well, not realizing JJ came up behind him and nudged his sides, making him shy away. He let out a short laugh.

"Are you ticklish there?" she asked when they started walking, an amused smile playing on her lips. Spencer, all nervousness aside, grinned and rolled his eyes.

"No one knows that, and I'd appreciate it if it stayed that way." he said, giving her a lopsided smile. JJ laughed, and took his wrist, pulling him along towards the stadium doors. She had her hair pulled up in a pony tail that she put through the opening in the back of her hat. She wore a Redskins T-shirt with dark jeans and converse, looking a lot more relaxed opposed to her usual work clothes.

"So have you ever been out with a girl before? Ever?" JJ asked as they joined the line to turn in their tickets. Spencer pursed his lips and thought for less than a second.

"No, never." he said. JJ frowned up at him.

"Really?"

"Why are you so surprised?" Spencer asked through a smile, knowing very well he wasn't what people would think of as the "ladies type". Reading, theorems and PhD's didn't leave time for girls anyway.

"Well whatever Morgan tries to tell you, that's only how you can get one night stands. I'll show you how to go on a real date. One that will last more than a night." JJ said as it got to her turn to hand the lady her ticket at the front gates. Spencer felt himself smile shyly.

"You will?"

"Yeah, of course." she said casually. Once they were both through the gates, JJ started her "dating tips". They walked through the hustle of people, passing stands of various foods and merchandise.

"First thing first..." JJ said, turning towards Spence as they walked through the open halls. Through cement columns, Spencer could see the football field. JJ reached over pressed a hand on his abdomen and one on his upper back, pressing gently so he straightened. "No slouching. Seem more confident." she instructed. Spencer pulled his eyebrows together and nodded, squaring his shoulders.

"But keep your cute shy thing, because it's you." she said, continuing to walk until they came near a colorful ice cream stand. She held her arm out to stop him, giving him an excited glance before turning back towards the stand.

"What do you recommend?" he asked, looking at the menu above the employees head.

"I'd definitely go with the classic chocolate and vanilla swirl." she told him. He raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"I'll go get some." he said, earning an approving look from JJ.

"There you go, you do pretty well yourself, Spence." she said. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but your JJ. You're my friend and I already know you." he reminded her. She shrugged and smiled, letting him go get the ice cream.

Once they found their seats, ice cream in hand, JJ had told him a lot about what to do on a date. A lot of it was a whole lot different than what Morgan told him, but JJ was actually a girl so she was probably more credible. Overall though, Spencer was actually having a good time with her.

"And don't go for the whole yawn and reach over to put your arm around the girl. It's such an old trick and will only work with the kind of girls Morgan likes to pick up." JJ said. Reid frowned at her, genuinely confused. "What yawning reaching over trick?" he asked her. JJ looked up at him, baffled.

"For a genius there's a lot of things you don't know." she said. "Anyway, just relax. Like so..." she said, taking Spencer's wrist in her grip and wrapping his arm around her waist while they stood above their seats. Spencer raised an eyebrow at her actions, going along with it anyway. He held his arm around her as gently as possible, barely touching her. "Spence, it's okay." she said, pulling his arm closer to her. Spencer relaxed and tightened his arm around JJ, following her lead.

"There you go." she said, leaning her head into his shoulder. Spencer smiled, watching how comfortable she was. He never even expected to have a friend like her. Needless to say he felt grateful. For the rest of the night, they talked about a lot of things. He learned more about her than he had anyone else in the last five years or so. She told him about how she used to collect butterflies when she was younger and other small stories like that. She'd even listen to Spencer talk about random facts that popped up with whatever she was talking about.

"That was fun." JJ said, hopping back into the car after the game and the fireworks were over. Spencer got into the drivers seat, still smiling about the last comment JJ had made about the way Garcia and Morgan flirted. He had fun, honest fun. He'd never been so relaxed around anyone in a long, long time.

"Yeah, I never thought I'd have fun at anything that had to do with sports." he said, turning on the car. JJ chuckled and looked over at him while he was backing out.

"Thank you for taking me, Spence." she said as he got out onto the road.

"Thank you for coming. And telling me about... you know, girl stuff." he said.

Once they were at JJ's apartment complex, Spencer got out of the car to walk her up to her apartment door to make sure she was alright with getting in. At her door, JJ turned to Spencer and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a light squeeze. He was surprised at first, but hugged her back hesitantly nonetheless.

"I'll see you at work, Spence. We'll go to brunch sometime." she said, kissing his cheek. Spencer smiled, trying hard not to blush. He knew to his luck, it probably wasn't working.

"Okay. Oh, what about the hat?" he said, reaching to take it off of his head to give it back. Before he could, JJ put a hand on his own and brought it back down to his side.

"It's yours. I have way too much Redskins stuff." she said. "Thanks again, Spence." And with that, she unlocked her door and stepped inside, giving him one last smile before he turned and walked down the stairs, back out to his car. He knew JJ and him would never be more than friends but he was perfectly okay with that. He had a feeling that they were going to become close friends.

So new side story to go along side with the Superflous series! It was strange writing about Spencer and JJ before they were such great friends