The woman stood inside of the crowded room, looking around in discomfort at all the people dressed in their Halloween attire. There was only one familiar face, a brown eyed, dark haired man with his face painted white, dressed in a black and yellow jump suit with a pin on the chest. She forced a small smile upon her own painted face. She was far from the party type, but she had agreed to go to this Halloween party with her boyfriend, only if he had agreed to go as Data from Star Trek. She had dressed as his female counterpart.
"Keirsten, if being here is making you uncomfortable, we can always leave and go somewhere else... I'm not going to make you stay here if you don't like it," the man suggested as he raised an eyebrow slightly.
Keirsten blinked, and her smile faded. "I-I'm fine Spencer... you know how I am in crowds, especially when I don't know anybody around. Your friends haven't arrived, and they are the only people that I would know in this crazy place.
Doctor Spencer Reid gave a small smile and pulled Keirsten into his arms. "Sorry, also that's not true. Unless you aren't counting me, you do know one person here," he claimed.
"No, I'm not counting you, so as said, I really know nobody here."
"If you are sitting there saying you don't know me, I am turning right around and leaving this minute," said a woman with long blonde hair bunched up upon her head.
"Keirsten was thinking none of you were going to be here. She hates large crowds, knows nobody here besides you now Penelope," Spencer stated.
Penelope tilted her head and adjusted her glasses a bit. "Wait a minute... didn't you two meet at a Star Trek convention? I would think that's a pretty good sized crowd."
"It is, but at least there, Keirsten has something in common with everybody in the room. Here it's different, she doesn't share anything in common with anybody," Spencer stated.
Keirsten brushed a strand of dark red hair from her face, and bit her lower lip. She knew Spencer had been talking about her with his friends from work, while at work. But while she was standing right there, it made her feel very uneasy in her own skin.
She started to think back to the day she had met Doctor Spencer Reid of the FBI. It had been at a local Star Trek convention two years ago, her friends back home had sent her there for her birthday. They ran into one another, and she had been asked what character she was supposed to be portraying. The conversation about her own made up character had interested the man dressed as Captain Kirk. The rest of the time, they had spent talking about anything ranging from Star Trek, to books and music. At the time, she didn't know fully who he actually was.
She had found his vast amount of knowledge very intriguing. It wasn't very often a man with his brains and looks came around. At the end of the two day convention, the two of them had exchanged contact information, only to discover, they didn't live that far apart from another, just a county apart. The two of them had become inseparable, other than the travels Spencer had to take with his job.
Two months into their friendship, Spencer had asked to take things to the next level. He had introduced her to his friends at work, where she had finally learned that she had been spending a lot of time with a member of the FBI's behavioral analysis unit. When it came to the women on the team, the only ones she had hit it off with, were Penelope Garcia, and Jennifer Jareau. But when it came to Emily Prentiss, several of Keirsten's buttons were pushed nonstop.
A new smile came across Keirsten's face as she thought of all the time she had been spending with Spencer, including trips to other Star Trek conventions from time to time.
"Hey Spencer, looks like you've lost Keirsten somewhere, she's all spaced out. What were you doing? Rattling off some random facts or something?" a tall dark skinned man asked as he cam up and gave Keirsten a pat on the back.
Keirsten jumped slightly, and looked around with her face starting to turn red. She was grateful for the white face paint hiding her embarrassment. "I wasn't spaced out so you know Derek. I was just sitting here thinking is all," she claimed as she chewed some on her lower lip once again.
"I am really glad that this paint isn't toxic. You're biting your lip an awful lot," Spencer said with a frown. As not only a genius, but a profiler around, her paid close attention to people's behavior, and Keirsten was no exception to this. "Are you sure you aren't wanting to leave? We can always go somewhere else if you are starting to feel uncomfortable in this situation."
"Would you stop asking me that? I told you, I'll be fine. Just, don't go disappearing on me like you have a habit of doing," Keirsten said looking up at Spencer with a small smile.
"Why would he disappear on you?" Derek asked with a raised eye brow.
"He has a bad little habit when we're anywhere, of being there one minute, and then the next minute, poof. I'm spending a good bit of time looking for the vanishing man," Keirsten stated.
"If I was vanishing, you wouldn't be able to find me. And as I recall, you do seem to find me with little effort. Also, I normally warn you before I disappear, you just aren't paying attention at the time," Spencer claimed.
"Okay, fair enough... just don't disappear on me this time. Not here, please," Keirsten begged softly with a small pout on her face.
"I promise, I won't let you out of my sight," Spencer replied as he pulled Keirsten closer, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Is that close enough for you?"
Keirsten nodded lightly, looking around some. "Here comes everybody else, looks like the whole gang is here now."
The other three followed where Keirsten was looking, to see Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Jennifer, and Emily, all walking in their direction.
"Cute costumes, we have the Trekkie's and then you've got Frankenstein and his bride. Did you four plan to come dressed as couples, or is it just a coincidence?" Emily asked.
"The only way I could get Keirsten to come along with me, was to agree to come as Lieutenant Commander Data. Another thing, and this will drive me insane if I don't say something. Frankenstein was not the name of the monster, Frankenstein was the doctor. Therefore, we have neither Frankenstein, nor his bride standing before us," Spencer declared.
The rest of the team gave a small groan. They were always getting random facts from Spencer handed to them. Sometimes, they wondered where on Earth he learned all his information.
Keirsten had become more at ease when more familiar faces arrived. While the rest of the people at the party were dancing, she stood around with her friends and Spencer chatting.
Spencer had slowly unwrapped his arms from Keirsten's waist as she became more animated, it had become difficult to hold onto her. He watched for a bit as she held a conversation with his six closest friends as if she had known them as long as he did. An outsider would have thought she was a part of the team had they seen them all. When he had first introduced them all, Keirsten would only stand to the side, listening to conversations, or would avoid the whole group all together. It had taken Penelope and J.J to ease her out of her shell.
The idea reminded him of how hard it had become to talk to Keirsten after the Star Trek convention unless she was in her costume for a good bit of time. He liked the way she had made it easier for him to come and see her outside of the little female android character she had worked on creating for herself. Even if it meant her going around in public dressed as such, slowly removing bits of the costume week by week, until she looked like a regular person.
Spencer reached into his pocket, thinking for a few moments as he continued to watch the conversation carry on. He focused on Keirsten for a moment or so, before shifting a bit on his feet. "I'll be back in a few minutes, don't move around too much. I don't wish to go hunting down anybody," he claimed before starting to walk away from them.
Keirsten froze a moment, and looked at Spencer wide eyed. Sure, she was fine with his friends, but she still didn't like the idea of him leaving her in a crowd of people.
Spencer caught her look and smirked. "I promise, I'll be right back. You just stay here, there are laws preventing you from following me into the men's room I do believe," he said with a laugh. He placed a quick kiss on the painted cheek, before disappearing into the crowd of people.
Keirsten stood for a moment, watching Spencer blend in with the crowd, before slowly turning back to the BAU. "He's been acting very... strange as of late," she said glancing at Penelope.
"There's nothing about Spencer that isn't strange, he's a walking encyclopedia. What could be so off about him for one to notice?" Emily asked.
Keirsten's eyelid twitched as she glared over towards Emily. "Just... he seems to be keeping something back, like a secret or something. Do you guys know if there's something wrong? You do know him better than I do."
David Rossi shook his head. "Nothing is wrong. That kid just has a lot on his mind right now. You don't have to worry about it."
"Trust us, if something was off with him, we'd be the first to notice it. It comes with knowing him, and being a profiler for the FBI," Aaron stated firmly.
Keirsten nodded a bit. They were right about that part, but she wondered if they would tell her if anything was going on with Spencer. She didn't think of them giving her any information that she didn't need to know, not even about him.
"So, how have things been between you two anyways?" J.J asked trying to lighten things up a bit. She could only guess that things between Spencer and Keirsten Hunt were going well, simply due to the fact that if they weren't hunting down killers, they'd be listening to Spencer talk about Keirsten non-stop.
"Things are great. Last weekend he took me out to Vegas to meet his mother. She seemed really glad to see him... over looked me being there I think. She didn't say much to me," Keirsten claimed.
"Heh, don't feel bad. She doesn't mean to come off that way, it just happens. Things must be getting very serious though if he's taking to you to meet his mother. Not very many people get to meet Ms. Reid. We've only met her a few times, and we've known Spencer for a good long while now," Penelope claimed.
Keirsten nodded lightly. "She is a nice person. It was nice to see Spencer with his mother. Even if he seemed a little apprehensive, I could tell he really loves her. So, despite me being over looked, it was a very nice trip to see Spencer happy like that."
The group continued to talk for a few more minutes, before Keirsten let out a nice little yelp, and nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been caught of guard when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind randomly.
"Calm down... it's me Keirsten," Spencer said as he rubbed his ear that had received a majority of the loud screech from Keirsten.
"You know I absolutely despise being snuck up on like that Spencer," Keirsten stated firmly.
Spencer could only chuckle as he placed a kiss on Keirsten's head. "Sorry, I figured you would know it was me. How about I make it up to you?" he asked curiously.
"How are you going to do that?" Keirsten questioned looking up.
"Want to dance?" was all Spencer asked with a sheepish grin.
"Wait, what. Spencer you hate to dance, you told us all that when we tried to get you to dance at Derek's birthday a few years ago," Emily said quickly.
"I don't hate dancing... not with Keirsten, we go out to Keirsten's favorite country club at least once a month and dance," Spencer claimed. He took Keirsten's hand in his, and led her out into the crowd.
Emily blinked a bit and looked at the rest of the BAU. "She's changed him way too much. It's almost scary."
"Leave them alone. Keirsten is doing some good for Spencer, and at least she doesn't interfere with him doing his job," Aaron said defending the couple.
They all looked at the young couple in the crowd. It was strange to see the socially awkward Spencer Reid dancing and smiling with a woman. The turn around was really something they were still getting used to.
A slow song had started up, and Spencer pulled Keirsten closer to him, placing his forehead upon her's. He gazed into the deep hazel eyes he often found himself getting lost in.
"Do you know how much you mean to me Keirsten?" he asked curiously, not looking away from her.
"You've told me so much over the last two years. But it never gets old," Keirsten replied with a small smile.
"I'd do anything and everything to keep you safe. Same for seeing that smile of yours every single day of my life."
"What do you mean by anything?" Keirsten asked, pulling back slowly from Spencer and raising an eyebrow as she looked up at him.
"Just what I said. I knew the moment I met you, that there was something very special about you."
"Now, that's the first time I've heard that," Keirsten said blushing.
"I mean it, I should say it more... you mean everything to me. And I don't know what I would be doing now if you weren't in my life."
The music stopped suddenly. Before Keirsten could say anything, a spot light hit right over the two of them. Keirsten looked around as the crowd started to look right at them, and moved away. When her gaze reached back to Spencer, he was on his knee with a small black box in his hand.
"S-Spencer... what's going on?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I can't imagine, spending another minute without you as a part of my life. I've tried... and all I see is misery. In a short amount of time, you've changed me... from someone who can't talk to women about anything more than statistics, to being able to tell you anything and everything. My life has changed for the best because of you... Keirsten Rose Hunt... will you marry me?" Spencer asked, slowly opening the box to reveal a simple silver ring with a simple diamond in it.
A small tear escaped Keirsten's eyes as she looked at the man kneeling before her. "Yes Spencer... I will marry you," she said with a light smile.
Spencer pulled the ring out of it's box, and slid it gently on Keirsten's ring finger. Once he had it on her, he stood, and pulled Keirsten into his arms, placing his lips to hers in a deep kiss, his arms wrapped around her waist as the crowd around them cheered.
The next thing Keirsten knew, was they were outside in the glow of the Virginia full moon with the team standing around them.
"I still can't believe you gys are engaged. I can remember a time where Spencer couldn't talk to any woman without stammering all over the entire place," J.J claimed.
"Or came back saying he felt like a complete fool. It took him a good bit of time to just talk to us when we weren't deep in a case," Penelope piped in.
Keirsten looked at Spencer. It wasn't easy to tell if he was blushing or not through the paint. But the look on his face told her that he wasn't comfortable with his friends talking about him like they were.
She slid her hand in his, and gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze. She was well aware of how his past had been. His awkwardness hadn't bothered her one bit. In fact, it caught her attention even more.
"There's nothing wrong with a person being shy. A lot of people have a tendency to be shy," Keirsten claimed trying to defend Spencer.
"Statistically, there is not a single person in the world who isn't shy," Spencer claimed. "Even your most extroverted people have a tendency to feel shy, they just don't show it very well."
"Leave it to Doctor Reid to know that sort of information," Emily said.
J.J looked down as her cell phone started to ring. "Excuse me for a moment, I'll be quick," she said walking away from the group.
"So, how did you pull it off without letting any of us know what's going on here?" Derek asked.
"Being in the FBI, does have it's perks. Also, David and Aaron both knew about it. They gave me the equipment to give the people in charge of the music the ability to hear everything I said, and to know when the moment was right," Spencer claimed showing the ear piece he had been wearing the entire time.
He had hated to keep secrets from his friends, and keeping them from Keirsten drove him up the wall. But he had to keep it at a minimum as to who knew. On one case, he had disappeared for a short period of time to pick the ring he was going to give to Keirsten.
"Guys, I hate to cut the celebration short, and we shouldn't have to be there this late at night. But we just got a call in for a case. We need to get to the office," J.J said walking back over.
"Wait, what about Keirsten? I'm her ride home, and there's no time to take her back home. And you know there's no way in hell I'm leaving her here to wait for a cab," Spencer declared.
Aaron looked at the young couple. "Bring her with us for now. If we need to be in right now, there's really no time to spare here," he stated.
Keirsten blinked as the group started to walk away from her. She followed quickly, thinking to herself how strange they might have all looked on a regular day. You had a vampire, a zombie, the monster of Frankenstein, and his bride, a beanie baby puppy, and a witch. Then following at the end you had the two Trekkies.
Spencer quickly unlocked his car and got in with Keirsten. Once they were both in, he started the vehicle, and took off.
Keirsten sat in the corner of the room, watching the BAU do their job. It was the first time she had ever been in this room while they were discussing a case. So far, she had picked up on the fact that there was someone in a small Texas town killing people who were sitting in their cars at restaurant parking lots. She wondered why someone would actually be doing something like that in the first place.
"Okay, so our first victim is 20 year old Alexander Park, found in his car shot in the head. We think our unsub is using a silencer, because the victim's body was found hours after he had died, still in his car," J.J claimed as she started to discus the victimology.
Keirsten sat up quickly when a picture was placed on the board. She knew the face and the name. She sat silently while the other two victims were discussed. As each picture went up, she started to feel more uneasy.
The victim before Alexander, had been 22 year old Nicole Rapture, found in a parking lot hours after being shot, and the first, was 21 year old Hammelton Hare.
Keirsten got up from where she sat, and slowly walked over, her face as white as chalk. "C-call me nosy, but... where in Texas is this?"
"Dallas County, why?" Aaron asked looking up from the case file and looking at Keirsten.
Keirsten placed her fingers on the picture of the woman with long brown hair, starting to shake. "Last time I saw her, I told her she was a little know it all, and a liar, stating that nobody liked her. She used to be my best friend when we were freshman in high school. Alex and I... we had a secret relationship... his friend... was my ex... Hammelton..." she said. She started to back up from the board, before stumbling to the ground.
"You know all three victims?" Emily asked in slight alarm.
Keirsten nodded lightly. She told them all she had been born and raised in Texas. Spencer was the only person in the room to know what part of Texas she was from though. "Rowlett is a part of Dallas county, and Rockwall county at that. I grew up there..."
She grabbed her arm gently, looking down at the ground she was seated upon with some shame. "Alex was abusive... at first it was just verbal, I had pushed it off. One day, he decided that it would be funny to just sock me in the arm. We split up, but still saw each other in band on a daily basis. He was a huge bully towards me after that."
"You told me that there was a knot in that arm, but not what caused it. Was that him?" Spencer asked.
"Yes. I try not to think of that time though... it's not important," Keirsten said looking up.
"You two will have plenty of time to discus it later. We just found our first connection to three very different victims," Aaron said holding his hand up to silence the two.
"What, that all three had a falling out with Keirsten back in high school? I don't think that's a very good link," Spencer stated.
"Maybe not, but for now it's what we've got," David claimed.
Keirsten shook her head. She got up from the ground, and ran outside of the office. It was way too much for her to handle. She knew Spencer had been in Texas on several cases, but to have one that was in her home town, was way too much for her to handle. The worst part, was she had known all three of the current victims.
"Are you okay Keirst?" Spencer asked as he walked out of the office just as Keirsten collapsed to the ground.
"No... I should have stayed out in the car for this. Even if they were all seen as my enemies, I wouldn't wish for any of them to be dead. I'd never wish that for anybody," Keirsten said quickly as she looked up at Spencer.
Spencer watched Keirsten. He didn't know what to say. For the entire time he had known her, Keirsten always kept a strong front about her. To see her breaking like this killed him inside. He took a few steps closer to her, and sat on the ground beside her.
"Listen, this isn't your fault. It's not like you gave our unsub a gun, and told them here's a list of people I don't like, can you take care of them for me," he claimed.
"Maybe not. But this can't look good on my part, knowing all three of the victims, having a falling out with each. Lord only knows what everyone in there is thinking about me at this point," Keirsten defended.
Spencer shook his head. "Don't worry about them. I know you didn't have anything to do this, if they want to think other wise at this point, let them."
Aaron walked out of the debriefing room and over to Spencer and Keirsten seated on the ground. "Reid, get her home, get her packed, and you guys be back in two hours. Plane leaves in two and a half."
"Wait, what? I'm sorry, but Keirsten is not going with us on something like this," Spencer said as he stood up.
"You don't have a choice. Get her packed and ready to go, that is a direct order. Not from me, but from the big boss," Aaron declared.
Spencer's brow furrowed. No wonder they let him out of the room so easily. They had called their director to let her know what they had just discovered about the killings. He wasn't so sure he was fond of the idea about Keirsten going along with them. But he had no say in the matter, that had been made quite clear.
Spencer shook his head with a sigh, and helped Keirsten up off of the ground. "I don't like it, but fine. We'll be back shortly," he said before leading a very shaken Keirsten outside and back to the car.