A young woman with bright red hair and a bright pink dress grinned while holding the base of the microphone handed to her. "When can we expect the next season to come out?" She rushed.

"Some time around late September, that being the best case if we don't encounter any problems filming. Worst case scenario though is early October." Turning away from the mic to clear his throat, Spencer gives a rather lazy smile and scans the crowd for another person to choose on. Picking a guy wearing a wig and lugging around a heavy looking prop.

He takes the mic and, before asking his question, spouts a few words of praise for him. His mouth a bit too close to the mic made him sound geekier than intended. "Is your dilaudid addiction going to be brought up again this season?" He said with a casual tone that made it sound as if he were asking if he'd cut his hair.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Spencer shifts his gaze away from the guy for a second. A strained smile on his lips as he forces himself to speak and answer his question. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." His voice breaking a bit though seemingly undetected by the audience.

Twisting the cap off a bottle tossed at him, Spencer takes a small sip and rolls his shoulder to try and work out a crink developed over the hour. He'd left the

panel during intermission to take a quick breather from all the redundent questions asked. Deciding he wasn't in much a mood to meet fans, he promised to spend a few extra minutes after to shake hands and sign whatever they wanted.

"Tough crowd out there, kid?"

Spencer looked back and flinched as a hand came up to ruffle his hair. "You're late you know." He stated, annoyance lacing his words though his absence hadn't bothered him.

Morgan chuckled, a broad smile spreading across his face as he took a seat beside Reid. "Fashionably late, pretty boy. Gotta keep that cool guy status somehow."

Reid snorted, "You've been spending too much time with Garcia."

"She does that to a person." Gesturing towards the bottle set between them, Spencer nods and Derek

takes it. Chugging a good amount before setting it back down with a satisfied sigh. The Las Vegas heat not treating the Chicago man too well. "How's the crowd treatin' you?"

"Same as every other crowd," He muttered with a roll of his eyes. "More worried about whether we'll get together or if any minor past love interests will come back. I don't understand why they insist on me coming to these, you don't even to watch the show to be able to answer some of the questions I've been getting."

"Probably because of how big a disaster the last panel was." Morgan commented with a smaller swig of Reid's drink. "They need you here to answer all the technical questions about the show."

Reid rolled his eyes, a small pout on his lips as he shrugged a shoulder. "I hardly think questions about our relationship and my dilaudid addiction are considered technical."

The bit of water he'd been drinking caught in his throat and he struggled to keep it down and not spit it back out and on the pavement. Derek's shoulders shook as he buried his mouth in the crook of his elbow.

Spencer rubbed his back and nudged closer to him to try and support him. Biting the inside of his cheek,

Spencer, patting his back trying to help any way he can, bit the inside of his cheek and sat closer to him to offer him a bit of support. He should have known it was too early to joke about something like that, trying to make light of something that'd not only affected him but all his coworkers he'd considered family. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to try and sound-"

"No!" Derek quickly cut off, followed by another coughing fit. "It's fine, it just... caught me off guard is all."

Waiting till Derek cleared his throat and giving a final pat on his back to make sure he was ok, Spencer offered a smile and let his hand fall till it rested on the small of his back. "Making light of it's supposed to give it less control over me, I didn't mean to try and sound like I was asking for pity or make light of it."

He nodded and took a deep breath, lettng it out along with a soft chuckle as he nudged Spencers arm with his elbow. "You really caught me off guard for a second." Spencer opened his mouth to apologize but Derek brushed him off with a wave of his hand. "I'm not mad, just caught off guard, you don't need to apologize."

Spencer bit his lip and shifted his gaze back and forth from his hand and Derek. Still feeling somewhat bad for scaring him, Spencer rested his cheek on his shoulder and parted his lips to say something but was again cut off my Derek.

"If you don't feel comfortable answering questions I can always take your place, it's no big deal." He said calmly, though Spencer could tell he'd prefer to have him there by his side rather than alone by the way he tensed after. As much as Spencer disliked these panels, Derek hated them twice as much. As much as he loved talking about the show with fans and answering questions about what happens backstage, all the questions about his personal life and whether he had any romantical thoughts on any of his coworkers easily worked their way under his skin.

Spencer sighed and moved his hand in small circles around Derek's back. "I think I'm going to stay." He said, raising his head off his shoulder and smiling at him, a teasing look in his eye. "You'll just end up revealing too much about the next season."

Derek shifted to look at him and chuckled. "You're never going to let that go are you?"

"Letting it slip to focus on Gideon during the season was one thing, telling everyone know he was leaving the show is another." He smiled.

A broad, toothy grin on his face, Derek pressed a chaste kiss on the top of Spencer's head. Leaning forward and resting his forehead against Spencer's, he gave a breathy laugh and said. "I guess you're just going to have to be there with me every time I give an interview then."

His shoulders shook lightly as he moved his head to look Derek in the eye. Leaning forward till there noses touched, Spencer, with an equally broad smile, lightly pressed his lips against Derek's and smiled. "I suppose I do."

Short and sweet, first attempt at Criminal Minds stuff, feedback would be nice. Thanks for the read.