A/N: This is my first CM fic. Recently got into the show and absolutely love the character of Reid. In fact, I love them all. What I did notice, though, is that Reid gets very little lovin' over there. I know there was Lila-but I wasn't the biggest fan. Therefore, I found him someone better! Hope you enjoy.

Chapter One

Dr. Spencer Reid sat at his usual table in the back of the coffee house. It was mid-morning, twenty minutes or so until he would have to head to Quantico. He was reading his book of the day-never took him longer than that to finish-and enjoying the rare time that he had to himself. He scanned one page and then the next, turning it over to continue. As he delved into a new chapter he felt someone approaching. He didn't bother to look up, thinking it perfectly natural that someone would come to claim the spare table beside him, although he did momentarily begrudge the invasion of his solitude. Moment gone, though, he paid little attention to whomever was joining him. This changed rather promptly when said person tripped and spilled their entire drink onto his charcoal pants.

"Shit," someone breathed out. When he looked up he saw that the voice belonged to a woman who appeared to be roughly his age. She had dark brown hair, wound into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. Equally dark eyes were wide with disbelief. If he were to profile her, he would declare her exactly the type of person to unintentionally spill their drinks. She had a wad of napkins in her hand and thrust them out toward him hurriedly, spewing a line of apologies while her lower lip trembled. He took the napkins and she sat heavily at the table beside him.

"I am so sorry," she said for what he counted to be the eighth time. "I can be such a klutz sometime."

"It's fine," he said, paying more attention to his pants than her. "It'll dry."

"I can't believe this," she sighed. "I finally work up the courage to come over here and talk to you, and I spill my damn drink." He looked up at her in confusion and said, "Excuse me?"

She looked positively downtrodden as she said, "For weeks I've been trying to pep talk myself into approaching you. And of course I blow it." She saw his narrowed, confused eyes and admitted, "I've noticed you." His gaze widened slightly and she said, "Not in a bad way! Gosh, first I assault you and then I creep you out."

"You've noticed me?" he repeated, still not fully understanding what she means. He couldn't remember doing anything out of the ordinary to draw attention. He hadn't slipped or made a similar spectacle of himself.

"I come here often," she explained quickly. "And I notice things. You're always here in the mornings around the same time. You sit back here with your book."

"That hardly stands out," Reid said.

"But it does. Most people are here with friends, or if they're alone they're typing away at their computers or are on their phone. You just have your book. It's refreshing."

"Refreshing?"

"And you have good taste."

"In books?"

"And ties." Her cheeks colored and she quickly added, "Not that I really notice that. Just, uh, once."

Logically, Reid knew she would have to have noticed more than once in order to determine his good taste, but his mind was still processing-a rare occurrence-so he kept that to himself. Instead he remained silent until she awkwardly held her hand in front of him and said, "My name is Cait. Figure I should introduce myself after ruining your pants."

"Spencer Reid," he replied, shaking her hand. He noticed that she had a firm grasp, something that ran contrary to her previous erratic behavior.

"Well, now that I have properly mortified myself I will let you get back to your book. It was, uh, a pleasure to meet you."

She swiftly rose from the table and moved to the other side of the coffee house. He saw that she was muttering to herself, shaking her head while she pulled a book from her large purse. His gaze lingered for a moment more before he returned to his book, thinking that she was a strange girl and that wet pants were rather uncomfortable. After several chapters, he looked down at his watch and saw that it was time to head to the BAU. He stashed the book back in his messenger bag and finished off the rest of his coffee. Standing up, he hoisted the bag onto his shoulder and headed for the exit. His gaze naturally found hers as he neared the door. While he had a frantic inner moment of deciding whether or not to acknowledge her, she settled the issue by quickly turning her eyes to her table. Letting out a breath of relief, he left the coffee house.

CM-CM-CM

When he arrived at Quantico the first order of business was changing his pants. Morgan caught him carrying the clean pair into the bathroom and smirked as he said, "Changing at work, huh? Someone had a good night."

"No," Reid corrected. "I had coffee spilled on me this morning. My night was average."

"Right," Morgan said with a wink. "That's what they all say."

"What? Who is they?"

"He's joking Reid," Prentiss supplied, shaking her head slightly. "Go change your pants."

Reid's face held a mixture of confusion and relief as he turned toward the bathroom. He slipped off the soiled pants and pulled on the other pair. Looking in the mirror briefly on his way out, he frowned at the fact that the other pair had matched better. If anything, Spencer Reid was a fastidious dresser, matching all the way to his socks.

He left the bathroom and joined his team where they were discussing possible cases. JJ had a few that varying officials had sent to her. If he were being honest, none of them sounded particularly promising. He noticed within his first few weeks with the FBI that fledgling police stations had a proclivity for sending their unsolved cases straight to the source. Whether it was worthy of such high consideration usually was not part of the equation. It was just a high reaching hope that someone behind the pearly gates of Quantico would take interest. More times than not, they didn't.

After dismissing a good portion of the cases, one struck Hotch as being unusual. A crop of child abductions spanning ten years in an underpopulated area in Illinois. The incidents were spaced across the time span but hailed from an alarmingly concentrated area. He told JJ to request the files and for Garcia to start looking into other open missing children cases from the area. They were given their individual tasks to pursue, and then they split up. Once the files were sent over, Reid worked on setting up a geographical profile with Prentiss. All the missing children were within a 250 feet area, bordering an Interstate highway. The dates of disappearance fell on similar days every three months. A pattern.

The BAU had found their next case.

CM-CM-CM

When Reid went to the coffee house the next morning, he found himself standing in line behind the girl from the previous morning. He didn't know whether he should say hello or if ignoring was the best route. He settled on feigning ignorance while he awkwardly cleared his throat. He didn't expect her to notice anything-people cleared their throat all the time-but she turned back and her eyes widened slightly.

"Hi," he said out of reflex.

"Hello," she said softly. "How-how are you?"

"Uh, good," he said. He didn't see a need to say anything further, but the expectant look on her face said otherwise. Slowly he added, "In need of coffee."

She smiled. "Me too. I promise not to spill it on you this time."

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that," he said, chuckling lightly. "My-uh-coworkers got the wrong idea when I had to change at work."

"Sorry about that." The line moved forward and it was her turn to order. She asked for a simple black coffee and then turned impulsively toward Reid. "How about I buy you your coffee? I really do feel bad about yesterday and this will make me feel better."

He had to smile slightly at her turning what should be a virtuous act into one more selfish. It was to make her feel better, not make up for the previous incident. There was so much at fault with that he could barely figure out where to start. "You don't have to."

"No, I insist," she pressed. "What do you want?"

She seemed set on getting him a drink and he reasoned that no real harm could come from the friendly gesture. Besides, he had been brought up to be respectful-particularly of the opposite sex-and such a dogged refusal of her offer would be rude. He relented, "Black coffee for me, too."

"Small."

"I'm getting you a medium," she said decisively, giving him a small grin before turning back to the barrista and repeating the order. After she paid, the barrista filled their orders and handed over the coffee.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to sit with you," Cait said, looking up at Reid. "I've traumatized you enough for one week."

"I'm actually leaving," Reid said. They were heading to Illinois in about an hour. He had only stopped to grab coffee. "But thanks for the coffee."

"No problem," she said, beginning to shift uncomfortably. He realized that she was possibly as disoriented by their exchanges as he was. "Well, nice seeing you again."

"You too." She offered him what appeared to be a cross between a wave and a curtsy-perhaps even a combination of the two-and then padded off to her table. He watched her for a moment and then turned on his heel, taking a sip of coffee. He found himself thinking about her on his walk to Quantico. Quickly he banished all such thoughts. There wasn't time for such silly thoughts, not when they were about to go after a child abductor. Pushing away all unnecessary thoughts, he cleared his mind and prepared himself for whatever horror awaited.

Still, he shelved one minor thought, at the back of his mind. After all of this was over, he had something interesting to come back to.

A/N: Thoughts? Do you like Cait?