Halloween Hijinks

Summary: My entry for the Halloween challenge over on CCOAC. Prequel to Midnight Tantrums, find out how Reid and Prentiss got together after a change to Reid's usual Halloween plans. AU.

A/N: Challenge 26 entry over on CCOAC. Chosen pairing: Spencer and Emily (obviously). Chosen Stephen King title: IT.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, just playing with them. If I owned them the show would be a WHOLE lot different. Used Google to find out about Hoover City, so if there's anything wrong, blame Google not me. Never been to America before. Oh, and Emily's views later on are completely mine.

For the first time in years, Reid's Halloween plans were not his usual Halloween plans. There had been another attempted terrorist attack and all flights had been grounded until at least November 5th, so the team were stranded in Hoover City just outside Las Vegas until the jet could get the go ahead to fly.

Luckily enough for Reid, the team were in his neck of the woods and he could still have a somewhat normal Halloween; unlike Hotch and JJ, who were holed up in a mini conference with Garcia and the two boys so the parents could see what their sons had chosen as their costumes. Rossi had managed to hook up a seminar at NLVU and Morgan decided to tag along and offer his input as well.

However, that left Emily on her own. Of all the places she had lived as a child while her parents travelled, Las Vegas was not one of them. Knowing what it was like as a child to be left out, Reid decided to take the initiative and ask her if she would like to join him in his plans for Halloween.

Emily was relaxing in her hotel room, reading the Stephen King novel IT. She had no idea why such horror stories appealed to her, after all, she faced some of the most unspeakable evils almost daily in her line of work. But the master of the macabre always seemed to appeal to her. Emily was so far into the mind of Pennywise the clown that she got a fright when there was an unexpected knock at her door.

"Hey Reid," Emily greeted as she opened the hotel room door. "What's up?"

"Everyone else seems to have made plans for tonight and I was, um, wondering if..." Reid began.

"Yeah?" Emily prompted.

"If you would like to join me in a Stephen King movie marathon at the local movie theater my treat?" Reid asked, then he suddenly back-pedalled thinking he had overstepped his bounds. "I mean, it's okay if you already have plans. But I just thought..."

"I'd love to join you," Emily interrupted. "I was just reading one of Stephen King's novels and this would be a lot better. I get to spend time with you, just let me grab my things."

Reid just smiled to himself, he couldn't believe Emily was willing to spend some time with him. He just hoped he didn't mess the night up with his random ramblings.

"I'll just text JJ to let her know our plans then," Reid said as he waited on Emily. "That way no one will worry when we're missing. The marathon lasts all night."

"Okay," Emily smiled as she returned and took Reid's hand in hers. "We can go for breakfast at that little 24 hour diner just down the road from the theater afterwards. My treat since you're treating me to a master of the macabre marathon."

All Emily got in reply was a timid little smile and a tender squeeze of the hand.

Emily couldn't believe how much fun she had with Reid that night. In fact, in the process of the night, she had begun to call him Spencer instead of Reid. She felt completely comfortable with him, enough to let out her geeky side that she tried to hide around Morgan, and show her fear at some of the more scary scenes in the films. She felt so comfortable that she didn't want to loose his company and was glad they had made plans to go to breakfast next.

"I thought you were reading IT before we came out tonight?" Spencer asked as they made their way out the theater, still holding hands.

"I was," Emily defended. "But I've not seen the film in quite a while. I forgot how scary Tim Curry was in the role. This may sound weird, but I prefer him in fishnets and a corset."

"Excuse me?" Spencer asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Please tell me you've seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show?" Emily begged, the shock evident in her voice. "You know; Dr Frank-n-Furter, Magenta, Rif-Raf? Brad? Janet?"

Again Spencer's face remained blank.

"When we get home you're coming round to mine," Emily ordered. "And we're going to watch Rocky Horror and any other cult classics you haven't seen. What about Little Shop of Horrors?"

"Nope, not seen that one either," Spencer said with a smirk. He was liking where this was going with Emily. "What about those parody films you and the other two talk about all the time? Will we watch those as well?"

"Believe me, Spencer," Emily began as she lay her head on his shoulder. "We'll make our way through my whole DVD collection and any others you want to watch. I'd do anything to remain in you're presence."

"Even go on a date with me?" the timid young doctor asked.

"Another date, you mean?" Emily asked with a smile. "And yes. I'd go to the ends of the world if it meant I could spend time with you."

Spencer just returned the smile with one of his own and pressed a soft kiss to Emily's lips as they continued to walk towards the diner hand in hand.

Who knew that something as simple as a macabre movie marathon would bring together two of the most unlikely people in the most romantic way ever.

A/N2: So, what did you think? The story kinda ran away from me so if it stinks let me know. On the other hand, if you think it rocks, let me know as well.