Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

5 September, 2008

Dr. Spencer Reid had never paid much attention to women. Well, that isn't a completely accurate statement. He had paid attention to women in a clinical sense – watching and dissecting their behaviour scientifically in one of his unending quests for knowledge and understanding. But he had never paid attention to a specific woman in a romantic sense. Also untrue. He had never paid attention to a specific woman in a romantic sense with any real expectation that she would ever see him, much less know his name. True. Pretty girls in the library at CalTech or a women ahead of him in line at Starbucks… they never knew he existed and he had never had any intention of making his existence known.

Why should he? They would simply have looked him up and down and, if they were nice, politely say no or that they had a boyfriend or, if they weren't so nice, laugh in his face. He was the awkward one. Socially clueless. Inept. Spencer Reid felt no reason to invite more ridicule than was already heaped upon him.

So now, sitting on the couch of a woman so far out of his league they were in different galaxies while he waited for her to be ready to leave, Spencer stared at his feet. He didn't know what else to do. Why was he so nervous? They had already been out once. It had gone well. No one had died. So why was he nervous?

It was their first real date, one where he had actually dialed her phone number, fumbled over asking her to dinner and then accidently hung up on her because he was so relieved she said yes that he paced right into the coffee table and tumbled headfirst over it to the floor betweent he table and the couch. He'd been too mortified to call her back right away and she had called back laughing.

Tonight took forever to appear, dragging its feet and producing nothing but mountains of paperwork and, once it was upon him, he had been so nervous he showed up on her porch forty-five minutes early.

"Spencer?" Her hair was still slightly damn and she wore a bright fuchsia robe with orange terrycloth chrysanthemums exploding off in all directions. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I-I-I'm sorry. I'll go wait at the coffee shop," Spencer shifted awkwardly and made to turn to leave, but she stopped him with a hand on his elbow.

"Spencer, you can wait here," she laughed with a smile. "C'mon. Do you want something to drink?"

"Uh, no, I'm fine. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, Spencer." Her hazel eyes laughed at him, but her smile was kind as she closed the door behind them. A jazz clarinet played through the speakers, a song Spencer didn't recognize, and he looked around the bright house. It was every bit as he imagined Calliope's house would be. "There's some books on that shelf or the remote for the TV is on the table by the couch. I'll be back. Hopefully with dry hair."

He was such a moron. Forty-five minutes early? He might as well have written 'I've never done this before' across his face in permanent marker. Finally looking up from his shoes, Spencer reached out and picked up the jewel case sitting out on the coffee table. A teenage girl with long, blonde hair held a clarinet and across the top 'Samantha Shane' was scrawled in pink script. He turned it over and read the song list.

He couldn't do this. What was he? Insane? Asking a woman like Calliope out? And she said yes? What was wrong with her? He must have lost his mind when he picked up that phone to call her. It had only taken seventeen tries before he finished dialing the number and actually hit 'send.'

Spencer put the Samantha Shane CD case down and looked around the room. Above the fireplace hung a beautiful portrait of Calliope with her grandparents flanked on either side by vases overflowing with sunflowers. The built-in bookcase below the windows overflowed with books smashed in every empty space Calliope could find. A copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was crammed between The Grapes of Wrath and The Perks of Being a Wallflower and had a copy of Nancy Reagan's autobiography shoved between the top of the books and the next shelf.

The door behind him opened and Spencer turned. His jaw almost dropped to the hardwood floor. Calliope smiled as she closed the door behind her. From head to toe, she committed to her outfit a hundred percent and Spencer wanted a picture. Her skinny legs were encased in lacy yellow tights underneath a bright, clover green denim skirt and a matching pair of green Chuck Taylors. A blue sweater barely hung onto her shoulders and red curls cascaded down her back, held away from her face with a bright yellow lace ribbon tied in a bow on the side of her head. Little purple Eiffel Towers hung from her ears. All in all, she looked like a very adorable box of crayons.

Marry me.

Spencer bit back the words before they flew out of his mouth without his approval. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," Calliope tucked a strand of shocking green hair away from where it had escaped the ribbon. "You're not too shabby yourself. I like your tie."

"Uh, are you – are you ready to go?"

"Yes. Just a second," Calliope grabbed a remote and, a few seconds later, the music stopped. "Okay. Now I'm ready."

Calliope laced her fingers through his and they walked towards the door together. The door was locked and they walked towards Spencer's battered old Volvo Amazon. Spencer opened the door and helped her in the way his mother had taught before hurrying around the other side. Slipping into his seat, Spencer bit his bottom lip and smiled at the yellow lace bow in her hair.

A/N: This is a birthday present to one of my favouritest people in the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD! I love her sooooooo danged much and today (the seventh of March) she's turned the big 9-0. /sob. She's gonna diiiiie soon. Hahahaha! I'm kidding! She turned 20! Happy Birthday, Babe! Love you so much!

There is no quote for this, because it's inspired by a challenge to write a 1000 word vignette prompted by a provided picture because "a picture's worth a 1000 words." Hur, hur, hur. So witty. Anyways... [flicker. .com/photos/sarafaniceto/5459407379/in/photostream/] That's the picture. Just omit the spaces between the flicker and the .com...

These characters, of course, are the two lead protagonists in most of my one-shots and in my multi-chapter Mystery Muse. If you want to find out more about Dr. Reid and Ms. Sellers you now know where to find it! I hope you enjoyed this vignette and enjoy the rest of my Mystery Muse universe.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it and, please - tell me what you think - good or bad!

Love, Thalia