Dr. Spencer Reid was a man of routine, it was the same thing every morning. Wake up, shower, get dressed, eat a dry piece of toast and grab a crappy cup of coffee from the dinner across the street from his apartment building on his way to work. That's why he couldn't for life of him figure out why he decided to skip the dinner coffee and walk into a little hole in the wall bookstore/café located halfway between his apartment and the bau. Still taking a quick glance at his watch he decided he had enough time for a cup of coffee but not an internal debate so he set aside the strange decision to analyze later and pulled open the heavy wooden door. Inside the small building was homey and beautiful, it was all painted a calming forest green which complemented the cherry wood tables and large bookselves beautifully. There was a counter with a single register and a display of delicious looking baked goods on the left side of the room, the right side was completely covered from floor to ceiling in used books and in between the two sides of the room was about eight small table and chair sets. Spencer figured the coffee must be decent enough because about five out of the eight tables were filled. There was a woman who looked to be in her early to mid-twenties bustling about behind the counter. She had a yellow apron tied around her waist and a baby on her hip, she glanced up when she heard the bell above the door chime and flashed him a quick grin, "Take a seat anywhere and I'll be right with you sweetheart" She called out and he flushed under her smile and nickname almost tripping over himself to sit down at one of the few tables left. She came waltzing over to his table a few short minutes later a pen and a small white pad of paper in her hand, adorably chubby baby still sitting on her hip he had rosy cheeks dark curls, big brown eyes and dimples, and he happened to be chewing on a piece of her shiny ink black hair. She had soft sky blue eyes under a pair of thick eyes brows, full pink lips and her tan skin was slightly flushed from working. She grinned at him again big and friendly and he nervously smiles back, "Good morning sweetheart what can I get for you today?" She asked sweetly. He flushed and cleared his throat once before speaking, "Can I just get a cup of coffee no cream, six sugars? Please?" He added as an after thought. A smile tugged at the end of her lips while she somehow managed to write his order and the pad of paper and keep a hold on the baby. "Sure thing sweetie. And what's your name?" she asked training her wide eyes on him and he stuttered of course, "M-my name? it's uh Dr. Spencer Reid but you don't have to call me that of course you can just call me Spencer. Spencer is fine." He managed to finish his face flush in embarrassment. She let out a little giggle shaking her head, "Alright then Spencer, I'm Elliot and this handsome little man is my nephew Demetri," She said bouncing Demetri resulting in his screeching laugh, "And I will be right back with your coffee."
Spencer watched her go with a weird heat in his cheeks and a strange palpation in his chest. When she returned nearly five minutes later baby Demetri was happily playing with a curly haired man at the counter who Spencer could only assume was the boys father and from the familiar shade of blue in his eyes he could also assume that he was Elliot's older brother. She set a bright red mug down in front of him filled to the brim with steaming dark roast coffee, she also set down a matching red plate with a big piece of chocolate chip banana bread on it. He furrowed his brow in confusion about to tell her that he didn't order it but she beat him to it. "I always give a free piece of chocolate chip banana bread to new costumers it's how I get them to keep coming back," she teased with a wink, he chuckled, "I assume it works fairly well?" He said glancing around at the nearly full room. She flushed shrugging her shoulders, "I do alright." She said while he took a sip of his coffee and nearly gasped at the flavor because it was without a doubt the best cup of coffee he's ever had. She laughed nervously tucking a piece of hair behind her ears. "Is that good or bad? I kind of left out two teaspoons of sugar and gave you a little vanilla? I can get you another one if you'd prefer."
"No, no!" He said waving the idea away, "This is delicious, thank you." He said honestly.
She looked pleasantly surprised at his declaration smiling at him softly, "Okay, well if you need anything else let me know." He nodded and she walked away he took a bite of his banana bread and hummed in appreciation watching as she blew raspberries on Demetri's cheeks and waved goodbye to her brother.
When Spencer left that day with a second slice of banana bread and another large cup of coffee with his name and a smiley face written on the paper cup he knew he would be back tomorrow.
….
And he did Spencer continued going to the café every morning that week before work as they were fortunate enough to not have a case, and each morning she would greet him with the same pretty smile and sweet words make him his coffee the way she had the first time and give him a piece of banana bread, they would have longer conversations each time, she had gotten into the habit of sitting down at his table when all the other customers were served and didn't seemed to mind when he raddle off facts and statics, in fact she seemed to love it. She would have Demetri more often than not, her brother Alec he had found out was a single father raising six month old Demetri and his four year old sister Lani who was now in preschool, by himself which is why Elliot watched the baby most mornings, and Spencer would now easily call her his friend.
This particular morning, it was Friday and since it has been calm all week long Spencer could already feel an impending case coming on but he still stuck to his new routine ignoring his slightly sour mood in favor of seeing Elliot again. When he walked into the café he was met with a very different sight then the previous four days, every table except for one was full, there were people everywhere talking and drinking coffee. Elliot was dressed in a long sleeve, pink Floyd shirt and a pair of well worn jeans, her hair was tied up on top of her head and Demetri was on her hip as usual, except today the baby was fussing in her hold was she ran around trying to get everyone's order filled and the poor girl looked about close to tears when he eyes landed on him.
She sighed smiling through the chaos at him she nodded her head toward the last empty table and he obediently took a seat. A few minutes later she dropped his coffee and banana bread in front of him and dropped into the seat across from him cradling Demetri against her chest. "You have no idea how good it is to see you," She said with a breathless little laugh, and he grinned at her, "Well you know it's always nice to see you too Elliot."
He knew most of their conversations would be considered flirting, he studied behavior for god sake, but he refused to acknowledge it because there is a very small percent that he's wrong and he wasn't going to risk it. Yes he thought Elliot was beautiful, and yes he could talk to her and day and not get bored which was nothing short of a miracle for the genius and of course he looked forward to seeing her everyday but what did that mean? Spencer was still surprised she wanted to sit and talk to him he wasn't going to mess that up for the off chance he might get to kiss her one day that was ridiculous along with this problem, they had only known each other for five days.
He didn't really know anything about her, he didn't know if she had any other siblings or what her parents are like. He didn't know her background or how she grew up which really should bother him more than it did he was a profiler he saw all the crazy the world had to offer every day, and still he didn't get one bad vibe from her. Spencer could only hope that wasn't because his genius brain was being clouded because she was pretty he would never live it down, especially if Morgan ever found out or worst Garcia. He wanted to shutter just thinking about it.
He opened his mouth to tell her that he has a feeling they might get a case today – she knows what he does, it had come up in one of their many conversations over the course of the week and she thought it was fascinating, only to have a group of nasally teenage girls call for Elliot to get them lattes at the same time that Demetri started to cry, and Elliot get out a frustrated whine.
Spencer chuckled reaching out his hands for Demetri, "I can take him while you get their drinks." The pure gratitude on her face made him flash as she thanked him profusely and handed over the chubby child hurrying away to make the lattes.
Spencer bounced him on his lap and shared his banana bread, while they waited. Demetri was eating solid food now and had quite a few teeth, he had seen Elliot give him actual bananas before so he figured it would be okay. He had just started a rousing game of peek a boo when his phone chimed with a text message. He cursed when he realized not only was he five minutes late for work, but they had a case like he feared they would and it would take him another five minutes to get there from here.
That was the minute Elliot sat back down, "Ugh sorry about that, Friday is my busiest day of the week I figure it's because it's the last day of the week and people really need that caffeine kick to make it through, of course you need that caffeine to make it through everyday" she laughed.
That's another thing, she rambles. And spencer finally knows what it sounds like when he does that and really doesn't see why everyone else finds it so annoying he thought it was rather endearing, that is until she saw the look on his face of course and then her face took on the same expression.
"Uh oh there's a face, don't make that face, what's wrong?"
He laughed despite himself and decided he wouldn't tell her that he was late to work, because that would only make her feel bad so he just settled on, "We just got a case, I have to go and I don't know when I'll be back."
She frowned slightly reaching out to take Demetri from him so he could stand up. She stood with him, "Oh okay, listen stay safe okay. And come see me when you get back, just so I know you're alright."
He smiled at her when she said the last part a little quieter as to not embarrass herself. He grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze running his thumb over her knuckles, he tried not to let the surprise show on his face when he felt the scarring there, instead he smiled again. "Don't worry I will."
Walking out of the building he couldn't shake the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach after finding the scars on her hands it could potentially be from anything, but it didn't stop him from wondering, or worrying.
He sighed glancing at his watch again and cursing when he saw the time, he was really late now, and hotch was going to kill him.