MC4A Secret Santa

Prompt: 1A (Love)

Representations: Harry Potter; Spencer Reid; Penelope Garcia; QPR

Bonus Challenges: These Boots; Second Verse (Not a Lamp; Unicorn; Zucchini Bread; Creature Feature; Middle Name)

Word count: 1,823

For Magi. Enjoy!

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. -Lao Tsu

Spencer winced at the small clink of porcelain as a cup was placed on the table by his head. He lay huddled up on the couch facing the back with his eyes screwed shut. The room was darkened by magic and pulled curtains. The couch dipped as Harry sat down and Spencer sighed as fingers started running through his hair.

There was silence for a few minutes as Harry drew out some of Spencer's pain with a muttered spell and the continued petting. This was a routine for them now. When Spencer's migraines became too much to handle, they would sit in the dark and the silence as the hot tea with pain-relief potion mixed in cooled down.

"Up you get, Spencer," Harry said softly as he coaxed the other man to roll over and sit up.

Spencer followed Harry's directions without opening his eyes, knowing that to open his eyes would cause a fresh burst of agony. A warm mug was pressed into his hands and Spencer sipped at the lukewarm liquid, feeling the pain-relief potion do its work while also revelling in the familiarity and comfort of peppermint tea.

"Better?"

"Much, thank you." The endless jackhammer in his brain had finally quieted down granting him blessed relief from the agony. He knew it would be back, but he also knew Harry would be there to help him.

Harry pressed a kiss to Spencer's head and his fingers resumed combing through Spencer's hair. "Any time."

Garcia sat in silence after she had given Reid the location of the closest payphone. Reid had a mobile, he had called her on that mobile so that wasn't out of order. Why did he need a payphone? Penelope may not be a profiler but she had spent a lot of time with them and watched plenty of mystery dramas. There were very few reasons that someone wanted to contact someone else on a non-traceable phone.

Either they were a spy, or…or they were cheating on their significant other. Penelope knew Harry (sort of, she hadn't actually officially met him yet) and she also really liked him. Spencer hadn't brought him around to team gatherings, but Penelope was nosy, and she had wanted to know who the person was that could make Reid smile like he had been. She had found one Harry Black (originally Potter, he had changed it four years ago before he had left Britain).

The two of them had been living together for a year and a half by now. Spencer hadn't seemed to be particularly stressed about going home or when he came into work, so Penelope didn't know what could have happened that would make Spencer need to call someone using a payphone. Unless Spencer was a spy, which wasn't really likely – especially given how he reacted when Emily had to pretend death and didn't tell him.

So, Reid was quite possibly cheating on Harry Black with some random person via payphones. And Penelope now knew about it. Great. As she scrambled to find information for the team out in the field, Penelope's mind kept returning to the fact that Spencer Reid was cheating on his partner of three years.

Penelope hadn't thought Reid had a cheating bone in his body, what was she supposed to do with this information she now found in her hands? Should she tell Reid she knew? Should she tell Harry that Spencer was cheating on him? Should she try and find out who the person on the other end of the payphone line was and find dirt on them? Penelope spun around in her chair fiddling with her pen as she waited for the search results to filter through and pondered what she should do.

She had not been prepared to have such a massive decision in front of her when she had answered Reid's call. Her computer beeped and the conundrum was pushed to the side as she went through the info, relaying the important bits to the team. She might call Morgan later, see if he could help without actually letting him know what she needed help with. Reid needing a payphone was weird enough. Right?

"So," Penelope said a few days later once she had successfully cornered Reid alone in the break room, "you wanna tell me why you needed a payphone when you had a perfectly good mobile on hand?"

"I just needed a consult." Reid's face was flushing and his hands were fidgeting on the coffee mug.

Penelope was unimpressed. "And the reason this consult couldn't happen via cell phone?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Penelope grabbed Reid's arm as he went to rush past her and into the relative safety of the bullpen. "Spence, I don't know what's going on but secrets almost never work out. Especially not these kinds of secrets. You should know, you've dealt with so many cases that are the fallout of one person betraying another. I don't want you to get hurt, Reid."

Reid smiled sadly at her. "I wouldn't keep it a secret if I didn't have to. It's safer this way."

She watched him go, more confused than she had been when she had started the conversation. Safer? For who? From who? All of her digging into Harry Black had said that he would stop at nothing to protect those he loved. He was only dangerous to those that threatened the ones he cared about. Surely Reid wouldn't need to be kept safe from Harry?

It was only later that she learned it wasn't Spencer who needed to be protected, but the girl on the other end of the line. And by then, it was too late. Maeve Donovan was gone and Spencer was curled up in Harry's arms as he mourned the loss of the girl he had only just met face to face but had fallen in love with all the same.

"I got you, Spence. It'll be alright, she'll be alright. I'll make sure of it. I got you." The words were repeated over and over, softly spoken as Harry rocked Spencer from side to side.

Spencer was crying heavily, tears streaming down his face and snot dribbling out of his nose. In his hands he clutched the book Maeve had given him. The words of Thomas Merton were written inside in Maeve's handwriting. Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone. We find it in another.

The only sounds in the darkened living room were Harry's soft assurances and Spencer's quieting sobbing. The stress of trying to find Maeve and then being unable to save her all caught up to him and he found himself fighting sleep. With Harry right there with him as a comforting presence and the hands he was running across Spencer's scalp, the profiler drifted off into an easy sleep.

Harry's eyes bled black once he was sure Spencer was fast asleep. A reaper appeared in the room, summoned by the Master of Death. When Harry spoke, it wasn't with the loving and comforting tone he had used just before with Spencer. It was with the wrathful and commanding voice that all those in the realm of Death knew to obey instantly.

"Diane Turner is not to be dealt with lightly. You will deliver her soul to Abaddon immediately and instruct her that she is free to use any torture she desires on Turner's soul." The reaper nodded and turned to go before Harry stopped them with one more instruction. "Take care of Maeve Donovan. She is to be looked after just as my parents are."

The reaper left and it was once more Spencer and Harry curled up on their couch. Harry sighed softly as he repositioned himself and Spencer so that they were both lying on the couch instead of sitting. Ahead of them lay a difficult road as they mourned Maeve – someone he had thought they would be adding to their home as a permanent resident eventually.

Harry was just grateful he could be there to help Spencer through it, that the other wouldn't be alone as he mourned. And when Spencer woke up, Harry would let him know that Maeve was okay; that she was being treated well in death, just as her killer was most definitely not being treated well. They would get through it.

"So he wasn't cheating on you."

Harry rose an eyebrow at the colourfully dressed blonde who plonked herself on the other side of his table at the café. When she looked at him expectantly, he placed down his tea cup and said, "I'm afraid you'll have to give me a bit more detail if you expect me to contribute to this conversation."

She huffed. "Spencer. He asked me for a payphone ages ago and there are only two reasons that someone wants to use a payphone nowadays. Reid isn't really a spy kind of guy so that left cheating; not that Spencer is really a cheating kind of guy but eliminate the impossible and what's left is the truth and all that. Except you knew about her."

"Yes, I knew about Maeve. I liked her, I had hoped to meet her one day when she felt safe enough or when her stalker had left her alone."

"Then I don't get it. You guys have been living together for almost three years! You're way too close to just be friends. Do you have an open relationship or something?"

Harry smiled at Penelope Garcia – he had known who she was as soon as she sat down, even if she hadn't introduced herself. "Spencer and I have a platonic relationship that goes beyond friendship in much the same way as being lovers does. There just aren't any romantic or sexual emotions mixed in with that."

Penelope let out a huge sigh of relief and sank down bonelessly on the chair she had claimed as her own. "Thank god."

"You've been thinking about this ever since Spencer asked you for a nearby payphone, haven't you?" Harry asked her, an amused smile on his lips.

"Yes," she groaned. "I didn't know what to do, or if I should do anything."

"Well, I thank you for your concern. It's good to know that Spencer has people like you watching out for him while he's at work." Harry drained the dregs from his cup, stood up, and patted Garcia's shoulder as he passed her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick up my zucchini."

He left the relieved tech expert and walked over the street to the building Garcia had exited from. In a few moments, Spencer would also exit and they would set off for home together as they had been doing since Maeve's death. Behind him, Penelope was mouthing the word zucchini to herself and making a mental note to research it when she got home.