Author's note: Okay, just a short one-shot because I can't quite accept that Maeve is gone. No. Na na nope. Not happening. I just had a moment today where I was like "oh my god that bitch actually killed her, killed her dead." And there were feels- I'll stop my rambling now, sorry. So anyway, please read, review to let me know if you like it :)
Disclaimer: I do not own criminal minds or any of it's characters.
"Thomas Merton"
"Who's Thomas Merton?" Diane asked angrily with tears in her eyes, matching the ones in Maeve's.
"He knows"
"Who's Thomas Merton? Who is he?"
"He's the one thing you can't take from us."
At that moment, Reid knew. He knew that this was it. Maeve had made her decision. This was her way of saying "goodbye". Spencer couldn't let that happen. He loved her too much to let that happen. He'd been through so much pain and trauma before reaching 35. He knew that. The team knew that.
Hotch and Morgan were behind Reid. Watching the scene before them. Their hearts aching as they did. They of all people knew how much Reid deserved this. This chance that he had at love, with Maeve. They knew so little about her, yet they knew how good they'd be together. She was just his type. She was smart, pretty (although they knew that Reid saw past all of that, he didn't care what she looked like). They couldn't have imagined a more suitable person for him.
Hotch watched the three of them interact, only a couple of yards seperated them. When he entered the room, he chose an awkward place to stand. He was behind Reid and couldn't get a clean shot of Diane. Blake and JJ did. But he knew they didn't have enough skill and confidence to execute the shot. He had to move, and fast.
"He's the one thing you can't take from us." Maeve said, anger and sadness clearly evident in her voice. She felt a force from her side as Diane pulled her to her body. She almost felt anger and jealousy radiate from Diane's body.
Diane looked over to Reid. Who was only meters in front of her. Her eyes boarded into his. Tears, building up in her eyes. Silence filled the room. She came to a decision. She clenched her teeth.
"No"
That single word sent Reid into a panic. But he felt paralysed.
She raised the gun from Maeve's neck to her own temple.
"Wait!"
A gun shot rang out in the cold, grey warehouse. The blast echoed off of the battered, neglected walls of the room.
The dreadful sound paralysed him. He couldn't move. He was immobilised the second the ring of the shot reached his ears.
Reid closed his eyes and winced in pain. That was it. She was gone. He couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. He couldn't possibly open his eyes, and carry on with life without Maeve. His tears welled up and eventually fell from his eyes. He tentatively opened his eyes.
What he saw was like a spear in his chest. There she was. Lying in a pool of her own blood. Thick, red liquid pooling around her wound. She lay there, limp and lifeless in a heap if limbs on the cold floor. Her face though, her emotions, in direct conflict with the appearance of the rest of her body. Her face was calm, peaceful, serene. It was like death had set her free. She could be happy.
And then there she was. Standing on wobbly knees, desperately trying to process what was happening. She felt something warm on her face and her neck. Blood. Warm blood. She reached up with a shaking had and pressed it to her left jaw lightly, and pulled it away to examine the residue on her hand. She let out a shaky breath when she had confirmed what it was. She looked to her left, and down onto the floor.
Diane Turner. Lying in a pool of blood on the floor.
Spencer looked at what was happening before him. His features complexed. He had to be hallucinating. It was probable after the unbelievable stress of the day.
He knew Diane had raised the gun to her own head. He knew she was probably going to commit suicide, or force them to kill her. He knew all she had to do to kill Maeve and herself was squeeze the trigger. He knew that's what she was going to do. He knew Maeve knew that too.
But what he didn't know was, how could Maeve still be standing before him? She was so vivid and clear in his mind. He looked from Diane, to Maeve and back again. He performed many calculations in his mind to figure out how this could be true. He decided that the shot must have been taken back, and to the right of his current position. He looked over his shoulder. He saw a man standing there. He knew him. His chest clas in a flack jacket. He looked up to see his face. Aaron Hotchner. Hotch stood there as still as a statue with his hands firmly in front of him, holding his gun. He lowered his hands and looked over to his subordinate. He gave a small nod and gestured with his eyes for Reid to go over to Maeve, his love.
He exhaled shakily, and took a step forwards. And another, and another until she was only two feet in front of him.
Maeve still stood there, staring at the woman that lay dead on the floor beside her. She jumped when she felt a warm hand tentatively meet hers. She looked in front of her to see one Spencer Reid.
He pulled his hand away briefly when she jumped. Only to return it when he missed the contact.
Both of their eyes begun to well up with tears. But with tears of joy for the first time in a very long time. Both of them gave nervous, quiet chuckles and looked down at their feet.
"Hi," Maeve said nervously in her sweet voice.
Spencer extended his other hand to meet her other one. She wrapped her fingers around his. She looked up into his big brown eyes. Reid stood there in awe of her beauty.
"Maeve" He whispered, overcome with unbelievable happines.
Reid unwrapped his fingers from hers and moved them to sit briefly on the inside of her wrists. He moved his hands up her forearms until he reached her elbows. He pulled her to his chest slowly and gently. He dipped his head and captured her soft lips in a gentle kiss. She barely registered the kiss because her skin was still tingling from his touch. But she didn't need to because without even thinking she raised herself up on her tip-toes and kissed him back passionately but with the same level of gentleness as him. She ran her hands up his shoulders simultaneously and interwined her fingers behind his neck. When she moved her hands, Spencer extended his arms and locked them behind her back and pulled her closer yet to his body.
They broke the kiss when the excessive need for oxygen became too much. They didn't pull away but instead slid their cheeks together and burried their faces in the other's neck.
The team stood in awe at the pair before them. All of them had diferent expressions of genuine happiness on their faces. Jennifer had tears welling up in her eyes, as did Alex. Morgan grinned as he saw his Pretty Boy finally get the woman that'd make him happy for the rest of his life. Rossi looked at him with proudly, as if he viewed him as his own son. Hotch looked, relieved, overjoyed. And most importantly, he was smiling.
Rossi came over behind Hotch and clapped him on the shoulder. It was a pretty good shot. And after all, he couldn't let what happened to him with Haley happen to Reid. He couldn't imagine what being exposed to that level of pain would do to a person like Reid. Despite the nature of their job, Hotch and everyone else viewed Reid as a child. He was innocent, kind and a little naive at times. He'd suffered enough; he couldn't let this get in the way of his happiness. So he took the shot.
Spencer and Maeve pulled away from their loving embrace. They still held eachother, but just far enough away that they could see eachother. He moved a small, stray lock of rich, brown hair away from her face. He dipped her again and kissed her lips again quickly. He smiled as he pulled away and so did she. He pressed their foreheads and noses together and whispered,
"Maeve, I love you."
"I love you too." She wispered back.
"More than anything in the world." He moved his head to kiss her again.
"Yeah." She sighed happily and content.
They kissed briefly before Reid remembered they weren't the only ones in the room. He looked over his shoulder quickly and smiled as did she.
Maeve gasped and reached up to the wound on his arm, "Spence, I totally forgot, we need to go check this out. Is there an ambulence outside?"
Reid smiled down at her, "it's okay, it doesn't hurt that bad."
"It may not hurt but-" she sighed. "Just, please?"
"Anything for you." He hugged her tightly again before turning to the doorway and his team, his family. And walking out of the warehouse, virtually as the happiest man alive.
Author's Note: So I totally loved writing this, I can't believe it. I just love their relationship (as short as it was *sniffle*) Anyway, please review and let me know, might continue it idk. But updates will definitely not be constant. I have 2 multi-stories on the go as well as a one-shot and exams etc. etc. So BASICALLY, let me know in a review if you liked it, hate it or want me to continue it and uh... Thanks For reading! Farewell my pretties.
Additional AN: and btw, sorry for any bizzare typos, I wrote this on my phone at midnight (I wasn't sleeping until I finished this bitch)
