"You know, it's about time they put a coffee cart in the Bureau." Morgan says the words with a smile as he gets in line behind the two agents ahead of him and Spencer. Spencer stands beside him rather than behind.
"Well the security risks are most likely why; anyone who works here would have to be as thoroughly vetted as any agent, maybe more. It'd be an ideal way to get an incendiary device past security." Spencer blinks when Morgan looks at him with disgust. "What?"
"I don't even know why I bother with small talk. What I mean is, any coffee made in any coffeepot in this building automatically tastes like week old cop coffee." One of the agents in front of him, a woman in a dark pantsuit, unsuccessfully tries to muffle a chuckle and Morgan gives her a once-over before deciding to make contact.
"You know what I'm talking about, Miss?" The woman turns around and it's his turn to blink. Thick black hair surrounding her face, light brown skin, big brown eyes framed by black glasses and a pink mouth with upturned corners. Unfortunately for him, she looks too young to be an agent and too young for him to ever date her with a clear conscience. Her round face and still rosy cheeks make her look younger than she has to be.
"Yes, umm, I have a theory that the atmosphere of tension in here affects the machinery. Makes the coffee taste like crap, the computers break down at inopportune times. Essentially, Murphy's Law has twice the effect." Morgan scrunches his brows together, confused, and Spencer joins in.
"Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." He offers up and the woman, well, girl laughs.
"Yes, exactly." A moment passes between Spencer and her, their eyes locked while she smiles and Spencer appears to begin hyperventilating before Morgan intervenes, extending a hand.
"I'm SSA Derek Morgan and this is SSA Spencer Reid. We're BAU." She may look young but her handshake is strong and confident.
"I should've known! SSA Rowena Meyers, White Collar. Jennifer Jareau is in your unit, right? She was in my graduating class." Rowena shyly reaches for a handshake from Spencer and he extricates his hand from the depths of his pocket to shake it weakly, numbed by her presence. Oh dear God, her hand is warm and soft and he can faintly smell bright and fruity perfume.
"Y-yes, she is." He answers shakily. Morgan has to resist the urge to chuckle at how smitten his friend is.
"JJ and I get together every once in a while to catch up. I've heard quite a bit about your unit." The hint of a smile on her face should make it clear exactly what Rowena means and Spencer finds himself blushing.
"Miss Meyers, large with two shots of peppermint?" She turns to take and pay for her coffee and Morgan lifts his eyebrows at Spencer, grinning wickedly, to which the younger man glares, mouthing the words "Shut up!"
"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you both. Tell JJ I'll call her soon." The words are addressed to both but her gaze lingers on Spencer and she smiles secretively, walking away with a quiet chuckle.
"Kid." Spencer tears his eyes away from the fitted black slacks swishing away and looks at Morgan, his face still dazed.
"Yeah?" He mutters, preoccupied, as he orders their coffee and Morgan rolls his eyes, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him for emphasis.
"That girl is so into you!"
"No way." Spencer dismisses, taking a long slurp of coffee to gather time for a defense. Morgan takes his coffee in his free hand and uses the one on Spencer's shoulder to smack him on the head. "Morgan!"
"Reid; she knows what the hell Murphy's law is. She talks like an encyclopedia. She's cute as a button. What in God's name are you waiting for?" He has to pick up his pace to keep up with Spencer's frantic steps as they go back to the BAU.
"Morgan, forget it. It's not gonna happen." He squeaks out, voice high-pitched because of his discomfort with the topic.
"Not if I have anything to say about it. Hey, JJ!" JJ makes her way over from Prentiss' cubicle, followed by Prentiss as soon as she notices the Spencer's blush and Morgan's smirk.
"What's up, guys?"
"We just a met a friend of yours, Rowena Meyers." JJ smiles in recognition.
"Oh yeah, we went to the academy together, she's in White Collar. I'm convinced that there's a calculator where her brain should be." Both women simultaneously look at Spencer, who is pointedly staring into the distance and JJ tilts her head, her smile as devious as Morgan's. "She's brilliant, a bit socially awkward, granted, not quite as much as you, but still. I can definitely see that the two of you would hit it off."
"What? Hit off what? I don't know what you're talking about, nobody was hitting anything off." He finally stops babbling by the time Garcia comes up behind Morgan and he wraps his arm around her, earning a giggle from the redhead computer genius.
"Aw, baby genius is rambling. Did he meet a pretty girl?" She sing-songs and Spencer works his mouth without words for about ten seconds before huffing and walking away to escape the searching eyes and laughter.
"You know, I have no idea why I didn't think about hooking those two up before now. She kept her nose in books but her dad was a cop, so she joined Detroit PD after college."
"That's no joke." Morgan says solemnly, respecting the fellow cop in the pretty girl.
"No kidding. She was good, so good that she made Vice detective." JJ's blue eyes cloud over. Her friend's story has as many twists and turns as anyone's, and that's all she can say. This has all reminded her just how much she needs to catch up with Rowena though. "We went to the Academy together, meet up occasionally."
"When are you gonna see her again?" JJ checks her watch.
"I could definitely take a lunch break."
Spencer's mind churns with thought all that night and into the next day. On the one hand, Morgan was absolutely right. On the other hand, Morgan was absolutely right. Rowena (he loves even thinking her name) is indeed very close to perfect. Attractive and yet somehow not out of his league, smart, funny. Maybe even interested. But he sucks at relationships. The thing with Lila was a phenomenon on the scale of the Aurora Borealis and not likely to happen again if he did pursue that avenue. The bartender he snared with a few well-played magic tricks was sweet and had the best of intentions but after his eighth lecture on obscure literature, she bailed too.
It seems he can only maintain the façade of normalcy long enough to interest a girl but once he lets himself slip, becomes truly comfortable and starts talking about physics, science fiction, medieval poetry, it ends as fast as it began. These are the things preoccupying him as he sits at his desk, staring at a case file but not really seeing it.
"Kid."
"Yeah?" He murmurs, looking up to see Morgan leaning over his cubicle. Wordlessly, he nods towards the doors and Spencer follows the gesture to where Rowena is standing in line at the coffee cart. "Morgan, I can't, okay? I just can't." He sounds defeated and Morgan blinks in surprise, then shrugs.
"Alright, kid. But who was it who told me that the right girl will find you at the right time?" Spencer watches as Morgan walks away, then back to the person clogging up his mind. Damn it, Morgan's right again. Without another thought or word, he's up and out the doors like a shot and Morgan watches him run in awkward geeky fashion, smiling.
Rowena pretends not to see him emerge from the B.A.U. or get in line behind her, studying her heels the color of a Halloween pumpkin. A certain fair-haired media liaison suggested she wear something more dressy today since Rowena has a habit of wearing whatever happens to be in her closet, no matter the color combination, and wears flats despite the unofficial F.B.I. dress code of heels. Of course, she scoffed but decided on heels and a skirt, insisting to herself that it has nothing to do with the shy, handsome man she'd met the day before.
"Rowena, right?" He asks hesitantly, although he never forgets anything, let alone hername. She turns and smiles at him, making his palms break out in cold sweat.
"Yes. Spencer, right?" He nods to indicate the affirmative, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and shifting his weight from heel to toe, heel to toe. She waits for him to speak again but he can't, looking anywhere but at her and, disappointed, she turns forward again.
Spencer mouths several words he wouldn't actually say and starts to head back to the unit but is stopped by Garcia and Morgan standing behind the doors and motioning emphatically for him to stay put. He wheels back around abruptly, fighting down panic with some modicum of success.
"Rowena, uh, that's a very unique name." He says tentatively and is rewarded by receiving her full attention again.
"Yes, my parents were very fond of Ivanhoe."
"You strike me as more of a Rebecca." Spencer ventures and she lifts an eyebrow, her lips nearing a smile.
"Really? Is that a question or a statement?" She asks with mischief twinkling behind her glasses, setting him at ease and encouraging him past his normal comfort zone.
"Neither, actually, it was an attempt at a compliment." Rowena smiles and his heart does a back flip.
"Explain." He's confused at her meaning and she laughs. "That was a challenge, Spencer." She elaborates and his mouth makes an O of surprise before he smiles and lets loose.
"Rowena had everything done for her and was used to being obeyed. Rebecca had to use her skills and risk her life to save herself and her father, but was still treated like a second-class citizen. She chose integrity over the easy way to become nobility." Rowena lifts an eyebrow with an impish smile that sends shivers down his back.
"But she ended up without a knight. Rebecca didn't get her happy ending." She puts forth and daring takes hold of Spencer's sanity.
"Have you had yours yet?" It's a not so veiled way of asking if she's single and he gets the sense Rowena can see straight through the question when she chuckles and her smile becomes soft.
"No, I suppose I am yet the independent Rebecca. Compliment accepted. Thank you, Spencer." The way she looks him up and down, subtly, tells him his interest is well received.
"Next?" Rowena holds up a finger and turns to order. "Large with two shots of peppermint please." Emboldened by the fact that this hasn't gone terribly wrong yet, he steps up and orders as well.
"Large with room for cream?" She looks at him in question as he pulls out his wallet and then her brown eyes widen.
"No, I can't let you do that." Rowena protests but he hands over his money anyway. Spencer takes the coffees from the woman behind the cart and steps to the side, extending one to her. She hesitates to take it.
"Even Rebecca needed a champion." Spencer ventures, completing his attempt at flirting and his smile widens when Rowena takes the coffee and her fingers brush his.
"It's been a pleasure, Sir Knight, but I must return to my keep." She says wryly with a warm smile and Spencer's heart soars.
"The pleasure is mine, Milady." He replies, as comfortable with the Old English as any knight of the Middle Ages. Rowena begins to walk away again, not without a nod of farewell, and Spencer starts to go back to the B.A.U. but Morgan and Garcia are glaring at him.
"What?" Morgan sighs before pretending to dial a number and Spencer blinks, not getting it. Garcia darts toward a desk and grabs a pad of paper, coming back quickly with the words "GET HER PHONE NUMBER!" scrawled in huge black letters.
"Oh!" He barely manages to catch the elevator and is relieved that she's the only one in it.
"Spencer?" She asks, clearly amused.
"Ummm.." Rowena's unbuttoned her suit jacket and the cerulean of the ruffled silk blouse underneath causes his brain to short out before kicking into high gear. "May I call on you?" The properly medieval way of asking works and she laughs, a sound that he would love to get used to.
"Why, of course." She answers, offering him a card he tries not to snatch. His hand stays in the door and his eyes locked on her chocolate ones for a moment and Rowena chuckles, shaking her head. "Until next time, Sir Knight." She hints, still smiling, and he hurriedly takes his hand out of the door.
"My Lady." Spencer steps back, takes a bow, and grins as the elevator doors close on her smile. He resists the urge to whistle as he walks in the doors, practically skipping to his chair and spinning around.
"Well?" It's Garcia from her place next to Morgan, both staring at him expectantly.
"What?"
"What? Kid, you're smiling like a jack-o-lantern and did you just bow to an elevator?"
"I did, because I am a knight." He says innocently, taking a sip of the best coffee he's ever had.