Title: Bloody Mary
Author: dum2u
Rating: FRT
Pairing: Reid/Austin the Bartender (HET)
Summary: Reid takes a trip back to Atlanta and "accidentally" runs into everyone's favorite bartender.
Warning: no beta

A/N: Hey! I haven't written fic in years, so my confidence level is pretty low lol. I was thinking about making this a series, but I'll need a couple of requests to know if I should move on or not. Constructive criticism is encouraged. For all those who wondered what happened to Austin, enjoy!

Austin tended to her customers as the music blared. The lights flashed on the patrons' faces giving most of them a demonic look. She could see demons in most everyone after the kidnapping, yet she saw something entirely different as she raised her eyes to the face of the lanky man who had just quietly claimed the stool at the corner of the bar.

"Spencer?"

He was staring awkwardly at the bar counter to hide the fact that he had been staring at her. He might be the profiler, but she could read him like a book. When he heard his name he looked up as if he was surprised.
"Austin!" He stuttered with his trademarked grin. "Wha...What are you doing here?"

"Well, I work here... Just like I have been for five years." She laughed melodically as she leaned against the counter. Spencer had to stop himself from closing his eyes as he tried to put his eidetic memory to work on that laugh. He furrowed his brow.

"It wa... It was here? I completely forgot!" He stared at her with forged disbelief.

She knew damn well that he never forgot anything. He was pathetic. Pathetically adorable.

"So what are you doing here?" Austin's red lips glided over her teeth as she spoke with a smile, and Spencer couldn't help but stare. She noticed. There was a moment of silence before Spencer snapped out of it.

"Well...well we got some vacation time at work, and I've always wanted to visit Atlanta on my own terms. I was taking a walk and thought this place looked fun."

"You were taking a walk in a sports coat and a sweater vest? And I thought you weren't a big bar guy." Austin couldn't help but smile as she saw the slight panic in his eyes. Spencer realized he was blowing his cover and changed the subject.

"Uh..umm. Well. Hey, I thought you said you weren't going to bartend anymore?"

She sighed and shifted her weight. "Well, I couldn't find a decent job in this economy, and money was getting tight. The owner of this place offered me double my old wage, and now I have insurance benefits. I kind of couldn't say no." She laughed and batted her eyes at Spencer. He hadn't heard a word she had just said.

"How long are you planning on sticking around?" She leaned a bit further over the counter. He averted his eyes and opened his mouth as if to speak, but she didn't wait for him to stop stammering.

"I get off at two." Her smile was huge as Spencer looked her over. Her red hair glowed as it framed her face.
Reid's smile widened ever farther across his face. "Okay."

…..

Spencer leaned awkwardly against the wall outside of the bar while he tried to figure out what he should do with his arms. He wondered why he had never realized what a hassle they were. When he found a natural-ish looking position, he decided his glasses were sliding down his nose. He adjusted his lenses, but the ear pieces dislodged a few infuriating stands of hair which immediately fell into his face. When he would push the hair back behind his ears, his glasses would move just enough to make him want to adjust them again. He repeated this tedious process a few times before somehow managing to keep his hair and his glasses in a way that he could live with. By this time he had forgotten what he was going to do with his arms.

He was getting ready to give up on life when he saw a pair of black leather boots. Attached to these black leather boots were impossibly tight jeans covering what must have been the most perfect legs he had ever seen. His eyes traveled upwards to meet the bottom of a leather jacket, then the ends of straight red hair, and finally a face that he felt he had been waiting his whole life to see. His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. Austin stood there with her arms in her jacket pockets and a messenger back draped over her shoulder. Her eyes reflected the neon lights outside the bar, and Spencer could no longer believe she was real. If she was real, she wouldn't have been standing in font of him smiling the way she was.

"You ready to go?"

Spencer nodded and followed her with wide eyes. He didn't remember walking to her car so he assumed he floated there. He fumbled with the handle on the passenger side as Austin disappeared into the driver's seat. Spencer eventually conquered the door handle of death and slid into the car. As Austin turned on the car, the familiar sound of NPR flowed from the speakers. Reid sat perfectly still with his hands on his knees looking uncomfortable in his own skin. Austin had never seen anything more attractive.

"Where do you want to go?" She propped her elbow up on the window ledge to get a better look at him. He glanced her way but quickly turned back to stare out the windshield.

"I don't know. This is your element. Take me wherever you want to go."

She looked up as she thought. "Well, we just came from a bar, so we can't do that. And I hate going to clubs or whatever," Spencer sighed in relief at that statement. "I guess we can go to this little Mexican restaurant where I eat after work sometimes. That sound cool?"

Spencer looked at her and pulled the corners of his mouth into a tight smile. "Cool." He then diverted his attention to his feet. Austin grinned as she put the car in reverse.

"But you can't tell anyone about it. Its kind of a diamond in the ruff that no one knows about." She looked over to wink at Spencer as he brought his eyebrows together in thought. He forgot about his inquiries when he saw how the lights passing by outside the windows danced over Austin's skin and seemed to highlight every perfect attribute of her body while she drove. He thought she didn't notice him staring, but she did. Suddenly his confusion about their dining location returned when she put the car in park in front of a Taco Bell. All Austin heard from him was "Wha-" before she snorted out a laugh and got out of the car. She walked quicker than normal towards the door of the practically empty 24-hour restaurant, yet when she reached the entrance Spencer was already holding the door open.

"What a gentleman! And they say chivalry is dead." She called to him as she ducked under his arm into to restaurant.

Spencer seemed comfortable for the first time that night as he went into one of his tangents. "The term 'chivalry' came into popular use in the middle ages, but it originally only really related to knights or knightly duties. So, technically, chivalry did die with all the warrior knights of old."

"Well, you are my knight in shining armor... Saving my life and all." She stared into his eyes as they sauntered to the counter.

He smiled and blushed before he suddenly found the floor very interesting.

"Just doing my job." He shrugged.

Austin scoffed. "Oh yeah! No big deal!" She laughed as she turned to the teen behind the counter.

"One of those 99 cent burritos, please, and a..." She looked up to Spencer as he squinted at the back-lit menu on the wall. He realized there was silence. His eyes darted between Austin and the waiter for a split second while they stared at him.

"Oh! Uhm, I'll have whatever she's having."

"Will that be all?"

Austin smiled politely at the then and nodded.

"That will be two dollars."

Austin reached for her purse, but by the time she got her wallet out Spencer had already handed the cashier the money. He smiled down at her and she smiled back. As the cashier turned around to arrange their order, Austin leaned over the counter, swiped two large cups from the dispenser, and jogged toward the soda machine. Spencer laughed and caught up with her in a few steps.

"I am a federal agent, you know?" He joked as she handed him a cup and filled her own.

"I won't tell if you won't." She winked.