Chapter 1

Standing in the hospital waiting room waiting on news from the doctor about Garcia was not how Dr. Spencer Reid thought his night would turn out. When JJ showed up on his caller ID he was expecting a work emergency, not a life threatening emergency. But depending on how you look at it they both could be considered a life threatening emergency.

For not the first time in his life Spencer felt helpless. He couldn't help his mother no matter how hard the little boy he once was had tried. And he couldn't mentally will Penelope to get better no matter how smart he is.

I need to get out of this room.

"Uh, guys? I'm going to get some air. Call me if there's any news." JJ and Prentiss look up at him from across the little room with faces that only profilers could see behind. Years of looking at dead bodies and the worst of humanity had taught the entire team to control their faces even in the worst emotional turmoil. JJ was trying not to cry and surprisingly so was Prentiss who has yet to show any tears that Reid has seen.

"Okay, take your time Reid. This is hard on everyone." Hotch, always the one to under dramatize everything.

Even at midnight the hospital is still bustling with people. Reid makes it to a seemingly empty hallway and leans up against a wall. Closing his eyes he tries to stop the thoughts and statistics of how probable it is that Garcia won't make it out of that surgery alive. He heard some nurses and doctors talking, plus he took a 3 second look at the paramedic paperwork. It didn't look good. He softly bangs his head against a wall, trying uselessly to stop his always buzzing thoughts.

"scuse' me? Are you okay?" he hears a soft voice say. His head comes up quickly. He didn't hear anyone come down the hall, plus with his anxiety already high, he got spooked, he whips his gun out and points it at the ground. Now he hears a soft squeak and looks up into the most peaceful eyes he's ever seen. She stands at about 5 ft 7 with a curvy body. With long brown hair to right below her shoulders, she has an oval face with hazel eyes, they're not brown and not green but a mysterious mix of both.

She's hot. Spencer thinks stupidly.

And even though she's frightened, she has this innocence written all across her face and the way she holds her body tells Spencer that she doesn't believe he'll shoot her.

"I'm sorry to have snuck up on you like that, I saw your eyes closed and I should have made some noise or somethin'." She says in a slight southern accent. Not enough to be noticeable but enough for a trained profiler to hear. He guesses lower Virginia or North Carolina. Reid takes in her clothes. She has khaki pants on with black converse and a green polo shirt with the hospital name on the breast pocket. She has a name tag, Sarah , Volunteer.

"No it's my fault. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have scared you like that. I'm Spencer Reid." He puts his gun away and holds out his hand smiling at her, and to his surprise it's a real smile, not the fake one he uses on other people. She softly smiles back then quickly looks away. Shy.

"No, it's okay, um, why do you have a gun in the hospital? I'm pretty sure there's some sort of law against that somewhere." She says quietly, almost timidly, and then raises her head smiling at him with a soft laugh. To his surprise he laughs with her. She's like pure innocence. Truly not scared that there is some maniac in the hospital with a gun and she could be his first target. She hasn't seen the things he has in his life and to his surprise he has the strongest urge to make sure she never does, to protect her innocence.

"There is, but it doesn't pertain to a federal employee, I work with the FBI. What's a volunteer doing at the hospital this late? I'm pretty sure they don't let you stay this long." He sees a little shock on her face as well as a little relief. He chuckles at her expression.

"Oh, they don't I'm on my way to the E.R. to help file some paperwork. I go to school during the day. This is the only time I can volunteer and my cousin knows the radiology head here who is married to the volunteer coordinator so I can do my volunteer work during the night. It's actually pretty nice, I don't do well with a lot of other people so I just come in for a couple hours do some paperwork and then go on my way." Instantly Reid wonders why? What does she study? Where does she study? And why does she not like other people? Why does she feel the need to volunteer when she could just go home and sleep?

"Oh." He says stupidly, not really knowing what else to say because he doesn't want to seem overly curious. He can interrogate the worst serial killers but this young woman really kind of flusters him.

"Sorry that was probably too much information, when I get flustered or nervous I babble it's one of my most annoying qualities along with my love of reading trashy romance novels, but back to my original question before you pulled out your weapon. Are you okay?" Reid notices that the more she talks the less shy she becomes, and he thinks her rambling is cute. Then he remembers her question and remembers Garcia fighting for her life in the surgery room. His shoulders slump and he walks over to a little alcove with two chairs in it and sits down.

She follows him and sits next to him. She feels this connection to him that's unknown and foreign but she likes the feeling. He's tall and kind of skinny but handsome with his boyish brown hair and soft caring eyes. Those eyes are soft but with hidden depths like he's seen too much in his little span of life. When he slumps down in the chair and puts his hands over his face. She softly puts her hand on his shoulder, their first contact. He slowly turns his head and lays it on her hand. She feels like she was meant to be here to help him get through this. So she slowly leans her head down, with him being so tall her head only reaches his upper arm, and lays her head against him. Just offering comfort the only way she knows how, with just being there.

SRSRSRSRSRSRSR

Reid didn't know how long he'd been sitting there with Sarah leaning against him. Somehow they had fallen together where his arm was lying on the back of her chair and she was curled up against him with her head on his chest. She had just started to dose. Reid was shocked to say the least. To fall asleep with someone implied a sense of trust or extreme exhaustion, and she looked well rested. As he watched her she looked so peaceful and angelic, so innocent. He kept coming back to that word. And then like a light bulb went off in his head he realized that the entire time they had been sitting here, he hadn't thought about the horrible cases he had worked and his mind hadn't started to think. It had been at peace, just like Sarah sleeping next to him had been a balm for all his emotional wounds. Just then his phone started to buzz. Trying not to jostle her he picked up his phone. It was Morgan.

"Hello?" He whispers.

"Hey kid, where the hell are you JJ says you left like an hour ago. What you go get a snack or something? Why the hell are you whispering?" Morgan always straight to the point.

"No, I uh, I'm on my way back." He hangs up the phone quickly, not really sure what to say. No, guys I'm fine I just pulled out my gun to almost shoot someone and then sat down to stare at a wall while she takes a quick nap on my shoulder. Ps. she's really smoking hot, plus she makes me laugh and smile. Don't worry I'll be back soon.

"Are you okay?" Reid looks down at her sleepy face. She slowly stretches and it makes her top kind pull against her breasts. He's guessing C cup.

"Wow, that's the third time I've asked you that, but you've still yet to answer. And I know nothing about you except your name and you work for the FBI. Well I'll tell you something about me. My name is Sarah Rains, I'm 23 a student at Georgetown, here on scholarship, I know a little old to be in college but I did quite a bit of coursework at the local community college. I'm studying to be a diagnostic medical sonographer. I'm from a small town in North Carolina." Reid just stares blankly at her.

"Do you know how dangerous it is to give out that sort of information?" he asks kind of sternly. Her sleepy smile falters into frown.

"Well, I didn't think you were dangerous and I just wanted to see if you would open up to me and let me help. But I guess you don't want that, so I'm going to just go." Her voice cracks a little at the end.

Damn it Reid, you hurt her feelings. Make it better, now.

She moves to get up but Reid grabs her hand.

"I'm sorry; it's just in my line of work I deal with the crimes of people who are just too trusting." He tries to explain.

"What like, Identity Theft?" he chuckles softly.

"I wish it was just Identity Theft. But um no, I work in the BAU, the behavior analysis unit. We study the behavior of serial criminals and it helps us find them." and with just that little bit of information her face lights up again, her smile is back.

"That's really cool. Like Jeffery Daumier and Charles Manson?" she asks.

"Yeah, but we go into a lot more detail. But, my name is Dr. Spencer Reid, I'm 27, from Las Vegas, and I'm currently in the hospital waiting on word of our team's technical analyst Penelope Garcia. She was shot outside her home tonight." She lets out a little gasp, she has such concern on her face that it makes him like her that much more. She has such concern and caring for a person she has never even met. Then to his shock she kind of lunges at him and wraps him in a hug.

"I'm so sorry. She must be a really good friend." He closes his eyes and hugs her closer not knowing how much he needed the human contact of a hug until now.

"Yeah she is. And from what the paramedics charts say it's not to good." That makes her hug him harder, which makes her breasts press up against his chest and him getting hard right now is not what he needs. He lets her go quickly, jumping up.

"I need to go to the waiting room with the rest of the team. Morgan just called and said that I've been gone for a long time." He face falls at this news.

"Sure. It was nice meeting you Dr. Reid. I hope your friend is okay. And tell Morgan I'm sorry from keeping you from her." She says politely. Reid wonders why she all of a sudden polite and detached.

"Oh, um, Morgan's a guy, Derek Morgan." He suddenly realizes that she thought Morgan was his girlfriend or something. She smiles and then looks at the ground, embarrassed. He reaches out and lifts her chin, looking directly into her eyes.

"Thank you, for sitting with me, I thought I wanted to be alone but I really didn't." He smiles down at her. Looking into her eyes like that, he realizes how close they are; he really couldn't say who leaned in first all he can say is that suddenly they were kissing. A sweet kiss, that was comforting and felt like the most natural thing in the world. He pulled back first and her mouth followed his as he pulled away. Her eyes open and she looks up at him with sleepy, smoky eyes, and makes him start thinking about finding the nearest supply closet around him. And just when he was about to kiss her again his phone starts to buzz. She lets out a breath across his face, minty, she pulls back and blushes, then looks at the floor. He lets out a little frustrated growl, and opens his phone without even looking at the screen.

"Hello?" he huffs out.

"Kid, where the hell are you I called you like 20 minutes ago?" Morgan, again.

"I'm on my way give me a couple minutes." He hangs up, not even giving Morgan a chance to say anything else.

"Sarah, I've got to go, but I want to continue, uh, whatever this is. Give me you number and I'll call you soon. Maybe we can go out to dinner or something? I mean if you're not seeing someone or if you don't want to we don't…"

"Spencer, I would love to go out with you, let me have your phone and I'll program it in so you don't lose it, okay?" She takes his phone out of his hand and quickly gives it back after putting her number in. She then looks at him and gives him a quick chaste kiss.

"I hope your friend is okay and I really hope you call me." She gets up and walks towards the elevator. He watches her walk in and wave to him as the doors close.

Then like the balm is ripped away he starts to think again and he wishes she hadn't have left. He wishes that she could have gone with him and given him some peace back at the waiting room. But on the other hand he wants to keep her to himself, a little innocence that he had lost so long ago. He gets up and walks back to the waiting room. The moment he walks into the hallway where everyone else is, Morgan starts in on him.

"Reid, where have you been all this time?

"I was sitting, just thinking, I needed some space, plus no one called me with news. Has there been any updates?" Morgan must have got the hint to back off.

"No, I just needed to see you man. Make sure everyone was okay, you know?" Reid understood his need to see everyone he cared about. He had a similar feeling when he first heard about Garcia, but he got over it, even though he still wanted to see Sarah, but he had a feeling that was for an entirely different reason, when JJ was about to speak the doctor came around the corner.

"Your friend is going to be just fine, she's a fighter, let her rest until morning then you can go see her."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, but all Reid could think about was a 23 year old college student whose chaste kisses set him on fire and put his mind at ease.

I hope everyone likes my first chapter. It's just a thought that's been bugging me for a long time now. But I think it's the beginning of something great.