A.N. Well, this surprised me. I wasn't planning on writing it. Apparently I was just too irritated by the 'finale'. So here we go, set immediately after Echoes, which follows on Her Voice. Thanks to all who've enjoyed those stories. Special thanks to those who've reviewed. You've been most kind.

And I guess it's offically "romance" now. I honestly wasn't sure when the series started. Had to wait for my profilers to tell me.

Reverberations

Chapter 1

The ride home seemed so much shorter than had the ride over yesterday. Maybe that's because I'm flying!

He missed JJ already, and he'd just left her. But this time, he'd left with the confidence of seeing her again, and again, and again….

This morning, he'd been having a most pleasant dream….rare, for him…. when oomph! Something heavy fell on him. Or, more precisely, landed on him. He woke up to Henry's face inches from his. He'd been tackled on the couch.

"Yay! We had a sleepover! Uncle Spence, why didn't you sleep in my bed with me?"

Reid heard JJ's chuckle from the kitchen. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and lifted Henry so he could get up. "Hey, little man, good morning."

Walking into the kitchen, he greeted JJ as well. "I guess I fell asleep on your couch?" It was a question.

JJ nodded with a grin. "I came out here to open a bottle of wine, and when I went back inside, you were out cold. So I stretched you out, stuck a pillow under your head and covered you up. I hope you're not too sore."

He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I think I had the most wonderful dream…?" This was also a question.

"Hmmmm. I think I might have had the same one." Her smile brought out his.

It was real.

"Can't wait to have it again." Spence's eyes sparkled. JJ's grin widened.

They were both figuring out they'd have to speak in code around Henry.

"Are you gonna stay with us all day, Uncle Spence?"

The two adults shared a look, but Reid shook his head. "I think I need to get going, Henry. Maybe we could play for just a little while after breakfast."

"Well, could be have another sleepover again? And this time you sleep in my bed, Uncle Spence."

The adults' eyebrows raised at the first sentence, and they laughed at the second.

"Maybe, buddy. We'll see. How about you eat your breakfast now?"

With that, Reid motioned JJ to the next room with a nod of his head. He couldn't wait until after breakfast for what he wanted.

With Henry settled behind his pancakes, JJ followed Reid. She'd barely gotten into the room when he swept her by the waist and into his arms. "I think I need to remember that dream….will you help me?"

Her laughter was abbreviated by his kiss. They both were caught up in it until they needed to stop for breath.

"I love you, JJ. I don't think I'm going to be able to stop saying it."

He felt that same jolt of electricity he'd felt before and thought, it's like a kindling.

"Then don't." She was smiling. Then more seriously, she said, "Spence, I can tell we're both feeling something here." His eyes were studying every part of her face, not sure where she was going with this. "I think we should take things slowly. Not because I don't want to," she held off the reply he'd started to give, "but because I do. I want us to take our time, to have a sure foundation. This is too important to me."

"To us," he corrected. "You're right, as always. I've waited a long, long time for you, JJ. I can wait longer. Because then, I hope, we'll have forever."

She stared into those intelligent brown eyes before embracing him. "I hope so, too, Spence."

"Mommy! Uncle Spence! Aren't you going to eat breakfast?"

Arriving home, Reid realized what a mess his place was….the flotsam and jetsam of a life gone awry for the past week. He'd had no energy or will to straighten anything up before. Now, he tackled it with vigor. He was in love….well, technically he'd been in love for quite a while, but now he could openly admit it. And, most importantly, he was loved in return.

This is what a good high feels like.

He tried to get a little of his philosophy work done, but found his ability to concentrate on what he was reading was no better than it had been the week before. This time, he didn't mind. He gave up and headed out to the park to see if he could roust up a game of chess. He didn't think he'd be any good at that either today, but that was a win/win situation. The kids would be thrilled to beat him.

On the way, his cell sounded. It was Emily.

"Hey, Reid. How are you?"

"Fine, Emily. What's up?"

It seemed like she was sounding him out. "Well, I just thought maybe we could hang out today, if you're not busy."

They'd done a little socializing before, but it wasn't a typical thing. It dawned on him that she was worried because of how he'd been all week. He felt a pang of gratitude for being blessed with such a good friend.

"I'm okay, Emily, if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm not wor..…well, yes, I guess I am. Are you really all right? Because you sure haven't looked it. You've been looking like you haven't eaten or slept in ages."

"I'm really all right. You can see for yourself. Do you want to come for dinner?"

"You cook?"

"Since I was a kid. If I hadn't learned to cook, I would have grown up on cereal."

"Oh. All right, then. I'll bring wine. Maybe we can find a movie afterwards. Just not a five hour one in Russian, okay?"

He laughed. "You're on. I'll see you in a bit."

He detoured from the park to the grocery store and got the makings of dinner. After not having an appetite for so long, pretty much everything looked good, but he settled on salad and steak.

As he returned home, he wondered if it was too soon to call JJ. Actually, he'd wondered that about four times already, but didn't want to wear out his welcome. Having gone through high school before puberty, he'd never learned about the rudiments of 'boyfriend behavior'. And he'd certainly gotten little experience as an adult. Idly, he wondered if he could Google a protocol for it. Then he wondered if he was brave enough to ask Emily.

His fingers decided on making the call for him. "Hi, Spence." He could hear the pleasure in JJ's voice. He could get used to this.

"JJ, hi."

"What's up?"

"Huh? Oh, right, I called you." A pause. "Nothing, I guess. I just wanted to hear your voice."

He thought he could hear her smile through the phone. "And I'm glad to hear yours."

"What did you guys do today?"

"Well, we went to church, and then we came home and I had an exciting afternoon doing laundry. Henry's been outside playing with Karen. You remember, his sitter? She heard about his accident and wanted to spend some time with him. That's one of the reasons I feel so comfortable leaving him with her. How about you?"

"Not too much. I tried to get some reading done, but couldn't concentrate. So I was headed to the park for some chess when Emily called. I think she was worried about me."

They both were silent as they remembered that most painful week that seemed like a year.

"She's going to come over for dinner. That's the only way I could convince her I was okay." He wondered if he was supposed to do things like this now….like having dinner with another woman. But it was Emily….. He was really going to have to find out about that boyfriend stuff.

JJ seemed to be laughing to herself. "Spence, there's something you should probably know before you see her. Garcia told me that the team….not Hotch of course, but the rest of them…..had placed bets on when you and I would get together."

"What?"

"Yep. I was pretty shocked myself. But now I'm a little bit touched, I guess. She said they'd had us pegged for a while, and were just waiting for us to figure it out."

"More like waiting for me to figure it out," he mused.

"We both needed to get there, Spence. Anyway, I realized they were all rooting for us, wanting us to be happy. So guess their having a little fun in the process is okay."

"JJ, this is making me think. How do we do this at work? I mean, do we tell anyone? Act differently? I haven't thought about any of this."

Mostly because I never thought I'd be so lucky.

"They're profilers, Spence. There's no point in trying to hide anything. If you want to tell Emily, go ahead. I'm sure I'll be getting a call from Garcia wanting to know how yesterday went."

"You tell her, it went astronomically, googliciously, well!"

"Have a great dinner with Emily, Spence. Give her my love."

"I will. I love you, JJ. And I love saying that!"

Emily stood at the door, waiting for Reid to answer. She'd prepared herself to be a shoulder to cry on, a wise 'Aunt Emily', a friend to a friend in need. She hadn't prepared herself for the bouncing, bubbling Reid that opened the door.

"Reid? What's going on?" She was looking around as she entered the apartment, as though searching for a punchline.

"Going on? I thought we were having dinner."

"Well, we are. But…...you look... happy."

He caught her eyes, sent her a message. "That's because I am."

She stared at him with wide eyes. "No way! I had you down for next month!" And they both laughed at what had gone unsaid.

He returned the hug Emily gave him. "I'd be upset about the bet, but I know it only means you guys love us. Who won?"

"Garcia, of course. I'm sure she had an inside track on the whole thing though. Unless you want to fake it for a while?" Emily was teasing him.

"Don't think I could." Then he turned just a little more serious. He'd been able to talk to Emily about a great many things over the years. Maybe she could help him with this.

"Emily, I've never been in this kind of a relationship before. What should I do? What shouldn't I do? Help!"

"Pour the wine, Reid. I have a feeling we're in for an interesting evening."