It was a lovely spring day with apple blossom petals floating blissfully through the air. Somewhere on the historic campus of the College of William & Mary, sat Spencer Reid lost in a book. His finger flew down the page and he was completely oblivious to the life around him on the campus. Nearby there was a game of Frisbee going on and young lovers walked hand in hand between their classes. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his brilliant mind he thought that this must be what it was like to be a regular, normal person. Or at least what a person with a normal job might experience. He could never fathom leaving the BAU but on this warm and oddly hopeful spring day, it was a welcome change of pace and he felt the corners of his mouth raise ever so slightly.

"Whoa, slow down there, Slugger. You're going to get an upset stomach."

Reid looked up in the direction of the voice absolutely confused. He blinked as the sun assaulted his eyes and into focus came a woman. Backlit as she was by the sun, her hair was illuminated creating the illusion of a halo.

"What?" Reid managed to choke out.

"You're consuming that tome a tad quickly Mr. Bookworm. You're going to get indigestion."

Spencer opened his mouth to start rattling off the facts to inform this woman of how illogical a statement this was and then decided that this was a time when his first thought didn't need to fall out of his mouth. Instead he just studied the woman in front of him. Her style was caught irrevocably between bohemian and perhaps Victorian. He wasn't even sure how those could exist in the same space and yet it worked for her. She left her long dark tresses loose and allowed the curls to take where they wished and stay straight where they wished. She smiled and as she did, her whole face came to life. Her green eyes sparkled. This mystery woman took a step toward Spencer and he delighted in the soft jingling of her bracelets. She extended a hand to him.

"Dr. Margaret James, literature."

Spencer took her hand and shook it but could not seem to shake his gaze from her smiling eyes.

"In polite society this is your cue to tell me your name—unless you prefer Mr. Bookworm."

Spencer cleared his throat trying to disguise the fact that he wasn't sure exactly what his name was.

"Um, Dr. Spencer Reid, mathematics."

" Ah, the infamous Dr. Reid. The new wunderkind. At last we meet."

Spencer was certain she was teasing him mildly but was equally certain that there was no malice behind it.

"You can just call me Spencer, if you like."

Dr. James smiled brightly making Spencer's stomach flip. "It just so happens I do like. I'm Maggie by the way. The Dr. James thing is just for my students."

Spencer repeated, "Maggie" more to himself than to anyone else.

"Correct! Wow! You are smart, aren't you?"

Spencer looked a tad uneasy. At his discomfort, Maggie frowned. It had been her intent to put this man at ease and now he looked like Bambi staring down an 18 wheeler.

"Hey." She said cheerily, "was just heading for some coffee. Care to join me?"

Inside her head she hoped she sounded more confident than she felt and that her voice wasn't as shrill as it was in her own mind. She must have done alright because he seemed to relax.

"I'd love to," he said.

Over coffee the two talked easily.

Once Spencer caught himself rattling off a string of statistics about kidnapped children. He froze terrified that she would find him an incurable geek but she just smiled and asked him to finish his thought. And later in the conversation she was relating a rather obscure story about Shakespeare's writing process and stopped herself mid-sentence before Spencer urged her on. Things were going very well and both parties were encouraged until Maggie caught sight of her watch.

"Son of a butter biscuit!"

Spencer looked at her quizzically.

"New Year's resolution to quit cussing. I'm running late for a meeting. I'm afraid I have to take my leave. This was fun, Spencer. Call me?"

With that she was gone with only a brief pause to give him a quick kiss on the cheek and squeeze his shoulders. And Spencer was alone. He could never have believed how bright the world could be one moment and how dark the next.

For the next week, Reid was distracted. Not that he let on to his teammates, of course. A case came up and off he flew with the team. The case was solved and back home he came. Truth be told, his mind never truly left Williamsburg. This was uncharted territory for him and he knew he needed advice. He supposed that most men would call their fathers. Unfortunately that was still an awkward situation. He could call his mother but depending on the day, she might not even fully comprehend who she was talking to on the phone. His mind raced along the members of the team turning the pros and cons over in his head. Finally he made up his mind. He tentatively knocked on the door. From inside he heard the answer.

"Enter if you dare the cave of the cyber queen!"

"Hey Garcia," Reid said as he quietly entered the domain of Penelope Garcia and closed the door behind him. He walked across the room and perched timidly on the edge of a chair.

"Hey Junior, what brings you to my abode away from abode?"

"First I need to know that you can keep a secret."

"Scout's honor, hacker's code, cross my heart and pinky swear!"

"I need a little advice."

"And you came to me? Oh be still my heart! What kind of advice?"

"There's this woman-"

"Oh!" Garcia nearly bursts into tears. "Stop right there. I just need to take this all in. My little baby is getting all growed up and coming to Auntie Penelope for advice."

Reid gets up to leave. "This was a mistake."

"No, no! You have to let me help you. I never get to help any of you with anything happy. Please, Reid. I won't make fun anymore."

Reid sat down as Garcia leaned forward in conspiracy.

"So where'd you meet her?"

"She's a professor at William & Mary. We had coffee and things seemed to go so well. But then she had to run off to a meeting. That was a week ago."

"So what did she say when she left?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like 'we should do this again' or 'have a good life' or what?"

"She said it was fun and told me to call her and kissed my cheek."

Garcia squeals. "Ooh! She likes you Mister. And don't look so shocked. You're quite the little cutie and many of us gals like the smart guys. You need to call her and ask her out!"

"Where do I take her and what should I say?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself here, kiddo. Just call her right now."

"I can't call her with you sitting here."

"Well, I'm not letting you out until you call her. Besides, I can help. I am a girl, you know."

Reluctantly Reid dialed the number.

"Hello, Maggie? It's Spencer. Yeah, Mr. Bookworm."

Garcia stifled a giggle as Reid shot her a look that could certainly kill.

"Yeah, I'm still here, Maggie. Sorry about that. I was out of town for work. All done with that one. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to have dinner sometime. I mean I'm sure you have dinner regularly but I mean with me? When?"

Spencer looked inquiringly at Garcia who mouthed "Friday."

"Friday? You would? Great. I'll see you then."

Reid hung up while Garcia bounced up and down.

"I told you she likes you!"

"Garcia, you know you can't breathe a word of this to anyone. Promise me, please!"

"On one condition."

"What?"

"I get the full play-by-play when you come into work on Monday."

"Wait, no, I can't—"

"You may edit things appropriate for a gentleman to edit. I'd not ask you to dishonor your lady but I want everything else."

"Deal. Now what do I wear?"