Thank you for reading. This is my first Criminal Mind's fanfiction, so please bare with me as I work out the kinks. As we all know, a few members have changed periodically throughout the series. As far as I'm planning, at the moment, this will be with any characters seen during the time where Alex Blake was a member.

Updates: I will probably update sporadically and for that I will apologize ahead of time. I have a lot going on in my life currently and use writing as I kind of outlet and distraction. So while I will try to update on a regular basis, don't be surprised if you don't see a new chapter for a few days or weeks. If it exceeds a week you are welcome to message me and check to see where I'm at with updates, just please don't be rude about it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds in any way, shape, or form. Please give credit where credit is due and to the proper people and establishments. This disclaimer applies to all future chapters within the story.

Chapter One

Tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear, Adeline ducked into the coffee shop that was tucked in between two larger businesses. It wasn't a large establishment, a little Mom and Pop shop that a few loyal customers and was visited at times by busy shoppers looking for a quick fix and unable to wait to get to the Starbucks just up the street. Even though the menu wasn't extensive, it was her favorite place to go for a good cup of coffee and a relaxed atmosphere.

As was usual, the one of the owners greeted her warmly by name with a kind smile. It was the type of greeting that had her coming back to the place, a greeting from someone who considered her important and reminded her of family. It helped that they had some of the best coffee too.

There was a small line of two people already there, so she got behind the last person in line to wait her turn. While she waited she studied the person in front of her, a habit that she picked up in her youth when she had nothing else to do.

The person in front of her was a man with shaggy brown hair. He didn't seem to hold to the current fashion trends that she saw many guy's taking too. Instead he wore a pair of dark grey slacks, a button down white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a black sweater vest. The image was very professional, in a nerdy kind of way, except that he wore a pair of converse and she could see a gun safely holstered at his waist. On the opposite side of the gun, he had a tan satchel bag slung over his shoulder. He didn't strike her as a gun enthusiast, and the way he glanced around the room made her think law enforcement of some kind. However his dress and thin body made her wonder about that assessment.

The person in front of the man moved off with their coffee and the line shuffled forward, the mystery man up to order. "May I have a large regular coffee with room for sugar?"

His voice wasn't overly masculine like some guy's and his speech was carefully spoken, no mincing of words or slurring of words together. He was polite, a change from the norm as well, even when talking to someone who was serving him.

The shop owner quickly filled the man's order and gave him his total before turning to her. "Your usual, dear?"

Smiling, Adeline nodded and started to fish her wallet out. "That would be lovely. How is the husband, Charlotte? It doesn't seem too busy yet, but I suppose it's still a little too early for shoppers to really be out hitting the stores around here yet."

Charlotte, the one of the owners of the shop, laughed lightly and nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's about right. With schooling having started up not too long ago most of the customers are coming later in the day since they have to see their kids off to school or the like. I figure it will start to get busier here in the next hour or so, especially since that one fancy clothing store is suppose to be having that big sale going on. Henry is okay, he has his follow up appointment with the doctor today, but they have confirmed that he's cancer free and will recover from the treatments. It's a relief, I can tell you, I don't know what I would do without that man."

Putting some spare cash into the tip jar, Adeline couldn't help but let out a relieved laugh at the news. While Charlotte and Henry weren't family, she did consider them friends and was glad to hear that everything was working out. Henry had been diagnosed with cancer late the year before and the two of them had been battling it together from the get go. She had been awestruck with how the couple had taken the news, she'd seen so many people break down when told that they or a loved one had cancer. The two of them, though, had just smiled and looked at it as another challenge to overcome and while she was sure they struggled more than they let on, they'd been strong and came out on top.

"You tell Henry that I'm glad to hear the good news and that I eagerly await his return. I have some more horror students to laugh with him about when he gets back; I'm keeping a list so he won't miss out on any of the stories." She pulled out the correct change for her coffee from her wallet and handed it over to Charlotte in exchange for the cup. Unlike the to-go cups, Charlotte handed her a wide mouthed dark blue heavy mug that she used for orders that were going to be drank in shop. Yet another thing she loved about the little coffee shop.

After exchanging a few more words, Adeline took her coffee and went to the corner where she normally sat. The table offered her a good view of the flow of traffic throughout the shop and a bit of privacy as she worked. There was only one other table next to it, which was normally empty as it wasn't considered prime seating. However, this time the man from the line was sitting there, reading a thick volume.

Moving carefully, she set her coffee down at her usual table, trying to keep from looking over at the man, and settled into the chair. Pulling out her laptop, she got set up, but was quickly distracted by the sound of pages being quickly flipped next to her. The noise wouldn't have normally caught her attention if it wasn't for the rate they were being flipped. She'd have thought he wasn't actually reading the book in his hands if it wasn't for the fact that she saw his eyes moving quickly and finger skimming the page.

Unable to help herself, she watched the man for a few moments. His eyes never strayed from the pages of the book he was reading like many peoples. Unlike most people, he was fully focused on the book and only the book. The sound of the door chime didn't seem to bother him, or the low tones of Charlotte and the other customers. Not even the hissing of the coffee machine seemed to draw his eyes away. It was as if he was from a different time when books were big and reading was prevalent. However, she couldn't fathom him being older than herself, late twenties, and even her generation had a hard time focusing on books.

Unable to help herself, Adeline leaned forward and tapped sharply on the table, finally brining the man's attention away from the book as he gazed in a startled fashion at her.

Smiling sheepishly, she motioned to the book in his hand. "I couldn't help but notice that you were really interested in that book and was wondering what book it is since you seemed so absorbed in it."

The man blinked slightly, glancing down at the book and then back to her as if he was a fish out of water and didn't know what to say. Adeline started to feel as if she'd done something wrong, having interrupted him, until he finally spoke up, though with much less confidence than he had when ordering his drink.

"Oh…um…it's the complete works of Tolstoy. He's a 19th century author who wrote mostly Realism, a couple of his books are considered to be some of the finest works even by today's standards. Ah…most people know of his book War and Peace."

He seemed ready to continue babbling on nervously when Adeline interrupted excitedly. "Oh! I prefer his other long work, Anna Karenina, but am also fond of his novella The Kreutzer Sonata. I hadn't realized they released a book with all of his works in it, though I can't imagine why it hadn't occurred to me to at least look. While I can't say he's my favorite author – honestly who can pick one? – I would definitely say that I much prefer his work when it comes to the Realism style of writing, especially for the 19th century."

Her excited rush of words seemed to have caught the man's attention as he closed the book and turned more towards her with an interested look. "Not many people like to read books from the 19th century unless it's for some kind of class."

Adeline shrugged slightly and sat back into her chair more, getting comfortable. "I can believe that, my students often bemoan the books that I choose for them to read, but honestly some of the best works came from earlier years. I read a lot, though, and found a love of what people call the classics early on. I think there is more sustenance in the books written back then than most new books, though you can find some really good ones that are more recently published as well. They are just few and far between."

The man nodded in agreement with her statement, but seemed to have caught onto one part of her statement more than others. "Students, that means that you're a teacher then?"

He seemed genuinely interested, which surprised her. It wasn't the normal reaction she got when she started to babble about books or mentioned students. Some people would be interested in the student part, but most would tune it out as soon as she started in on the literature part. It seemed to go hand in hand for most people and caused them to lose interest.

Tucking the stray strand of hair back behind her ear, she nodded slightly. "Yes, that's correct. I'm actually a Literature Professor for Penn State, and before you ask how, I only teach online classes. My family is here so I didn't want to relocate. What about you? It's not often you see someone casually reading works by Tolstoy."

The man seemed surprised at the change of topic, but this time easily flowed with it unlike when she interrupted him, seeming to be more at ease. "Oh...I work in the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. We are brought into cases by local police to help solve cases that they are struggling with. My mom use to be a Literary Professor though, which is where I got my affinity for reading I suppose. How long have you been teaching?"

Adeline blushed slightly at the question and cleared her throat. There was a number of reasons that she'd tried to switch the topic onto the man and this was one of them. She wasn't use to getting into any kind of "deep" conversation with people and when she did she normally either scared them away or it was so uncomfortable that she made excuses to leave suddenly. She was on the verge of doing just that when she remembered that she'd been the one to open the can of worms to begin with. If she'd only just held her curiosity for a few more minutes the man might have left the shop none the wiser about her or her curiosity over his book.

Clearing her throat, she shrugged slightly. "Five years or so, I guess. I was somewhat of a prodigy I guess, ended up with a PhD in English of all things along with another in History. I'd started to look at getting another one in Behavioral Health, since I didn't know what I wanted to do, when my dad jokingly suggested I should just teach if I was going to keep going to school. It made sense I guess so…well…here I am. Except I can't deal loud noises, so teaching in a classroom didn't work out well for me; that's why I switched to online classes."

As she spoke she watched his reaction carefully, trying to judge how he'd react. She knew that some people, when they found out how long she'd been teaching for, assumed that she was older than she looked, but he didn't seem to. The reason she thought that was because instead of looking startled, which usually precluded the surprised "how old are you?" question or the uncomfortable excuse to shuffle away, he looked happy.

Adeline was about to open her mouth to ask something when he suddenly spoke up, the words seeming to tumble from his mouth. "I have 3 PhD's – Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics – and a B.A's in Psychology and Sociology. I have an IQ of 187 so I'm a certified genius. A lot of people thought that I should teach and I do guest lecture some times when I actually have free time, but it's not often. However, I thought that I'd do more good and be more challenged in the FBI so I went that route, and definitely enjoy it. I also seem to miss a lot of social cues so I don't know if I'd be able to effectively teach students since it would probably be like high school all over again just with me as the teacher."

Laughing lightly, Adeline nodded in understanding. "Well it's great to meet you…um…sorry I don't think we exchanged named. I'm Adeline Smithton."

The man seemed startled again at the mention of the fact that they hadn't exchanged names, and blushed slightly. "Oh…um…Spencer Reid." He seemed to want to say more when his phone beeped in his pocket, alerting him to something.

Quickly Spencer, as she now knew his name to be, answered the phone, a serious look on his face and spoke a few quick words. It was obvious that something serious was going on, and going based off what he said he did for a living, Adeline had a fair idea what it was.

Once he was off the phone, he quickly collected his book, seeming to have forgotten her, which made her sink back in her chair with a frown. She'd enjoyed their conversation, finding it easier to speak to him than she had many other people. Before he hurried away, though, he turned back around to face her, a nervous look on his face akin to the one that he'd had at the beginning of the conversation. "Um…it was nice talking to you. I, ah, have to go…work. Maybe when I get back we can talk some more? If you come here often, I mean."

Nodding quickly, Adeline tried to hide the giddy smile on her face. "Yeah, I mean…of course. Definitely. I frequent here most week days pretty early in the morning to about lunch time…I find it easier to work here than at home since my neighbors yell at each other a lot in the mornings and it's pretty quiet here since not many people frequent it. So I guess I'll see you when you get back…if we're here at the same time, I mean." She babbled before biting her cheek to stop.

Spencer seemed pleased, though, and smiled before turning quickly and hurrying out the door, obviously in a hurry to get to wherever.

As he left, Adeline sank more comfortably in her chair, blowing out an embarrassed breath even as she shot a scowling look in Charlotte's direction - as she was laughing openly at her. She couldn't believe that she met someone smarter than her. While she was considered a prodigy when it came to English and she picked up on History easily, she was a good twenty points or so below his IQ. It was refreshing and she had to admit that she hoped she'd meet him again.

Turning her attention back to her quickly cooling coffee and what she'd gone to the coffee shop to do, she booted up the learning center webpage and checked her messages from her students.

SR SR SR SR SR SR SR

Spencer took his seat at the round table where the team did their case briefings, trying to ignore the curious looks he was getting from Morgan and JJ. It was rare that he came into the office last and he knew that the other seasoned profilers would quickly pick up on the fact that for once he was. Thankfully Hotchner quickly indicated to Garcia to start the briefing, effectively distracting the nosey profiles from questioning his timing.

Even as he tried to concentrate on the briefing, he found his mind wandering back to the coffee shop. He'd been so startled when the lady next to him had caught his attention, even more so when she'd been enthusiastic about the book he was reading. She hadn't looked the part of someone who was an academic of any kind.

Adeline's brown hair had been messily pulled back and streaked with shocking purple. She'd been wearing a pair of jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt with a pair of trainers. Her grey eyes were hidden behind a pair of thick bright pink frames as well, not something he'd think a professor would wear. When he'd first saw her in line he'd thought her more of a student the way she way she was dressed. Finding out that she was actually a professor, and at Penn State, had been more than surprising to him, but in a pleasant way he hadn't expected. When the word "prodigy" had come out of her mouth he'd actually gotten excited.

Sure he'd met other people who were geniuses before, but he hadn't really been able to connect with any of them. They were always wrapped up in their own world much like he was. There was something about Adeline, though, that had drawn him out and he thought that they'd actually connected, if only for a few moments before he had to leave. He'd had common ground to talk with her about; it had been a change of pace for someone like him who had trouble connecting with most of the people around him.

He had to admit, he found the thought of future conversations with her terrifying and yet exciting and he was looking forward to it. He was definitely going to be going back to that hole in the wall coffee shop when they got back from the case.