Spoilers for 1x22 and 2x01, "The Fisher King," and 2x06, "The Boogeyman."
For the first couple of months, Lila called Spencer almost nightly, as often as the nightmares woke her, and then the calls lessened as the nightmares did the same. But the damage had been done: the team had noticed the change in him and deduced that he had acquired a girlfriend. It wasn't quite the truth, but Spencer wasn't sure if they were wrong either. And for awhile he wasn't sure that he wanted to know. But as time wore on and the calls became less and less frequent, Spencer felt himself pulling back, telling himself that he was okay with the idea that he and Lila were just friends. After all, that's less than he can say for any of the other victims that he'd worked with.
September 21, 2006
It was Morgan who figured out who the mystery girl was, and he had mercy on his "pretty boy," deciding to keep the information to himself. At least, he didn't say anything to anyone until that September. With everything that had been going on concerning their recent case with the Fisher King, he knew that Reid was having a hard time with things, but he also knew that the genius wasn't going to talk to them about it. Spencer needs to talk to someone about it.
Derek knew that the romantic aspect of Spencer and Lila's relationship had cooled off; he wasn't even sure that they talked much anymore, but he knew that Spencer would talk to her about everything that had been going on, if only he were given the chance. He needed to be given that chance.
This decision made, Derek made his way into Penelope Garcia's "lair," saying, "Hey, Momma, I need a favor."
"Anything for you, my sculpted god of yummy-ness," Penelope looked up at him expectantly.
"Do you remember Lila Archer?" At Garcia's quick nod, he put in his request, "I need her phone number."
She gave it to him without comment, but then said curiously, "Can I ask why you need it?"
"Sorry, Baby Girl, not this time," Derek said, kissing her on the top of her head before making a quick exit while Penelope's narrowed eyes glared after him.
He ducked into the men's room for as much alone time as it took to shoot off a text to the actress in question.
This is Derek Morgan, one of Spencer Reid's co-workers from your case. I think you should call him; he needs someone to talk to right now.
And that was it. Derek tucked his phone into his pocket, left the bathroom, and went back to work.
That night, Spencer was almost surprised to see the caller ID number on his phone. She hadn't needed to call him in over a month. But then, he knew well that nightmares could come back at the oddest times.
"Hey, Lila," he answered.
"Hey," she repeated.
"Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, sure, it's just… a little birdie told me that you had been having a hard time here recently, and that you might need to talk about it. I told you to call me, Spencer, and I meant it. You helped me, and I want to help you, too, when and however I can."
He sighed, only a little surprised that someone on his team - it practically had to be someone on the team - would pull that stunt. "No, I - I'm fine, it's just… Our most recent case was kind of personal. It involved my mom."
Lila gasped, asking, "Is she okay?"
Spencer had never told her about his mother's condition, and he didn't intend to now, answering instead, "Yeah… she's…. she's fine."
"Are you 'fine'?" Lila asked gently.
"Yes," he instantly cringed, realizing that it didn't take a profiler to realize that he had answered her question far too quickly.
"Spencer…" she murmured knowingly.
This time his voice cracked as he answered honestly, "No… I've, uh, had a bad week."
"Talk to me, Spencer," Lila coaxed.
So he did. It all poured out - the case, his mom's involvement in it, Elle, her strange behavior, the bomb, his slight burns, and, ultimately, he even revealed to her his mother's condition and his own continual concerns about developing schizophrenia himself.
Lila just listened. She didn't judge, she didn't get scared or creeped out, or hang up on him, she just listened to all that he had to say, things that he had needed to get off of his chest. And it was then that Spencer realized that, girlfriend or not, he had found a real friend in Lila Archer.
For the next couple weeks, they called one another as close to nightly as they could manage. It wasn't that either one of them was that messed up, that they needed their little "therapy sessions" as often as that. At first, Spencer had thought that maybe that was what Lila thought of him when she kept calling him, but then he began to understand that she wanted to hear his voice as much as he wanted to hear hers. She wanted to make sure that he was staying okay.
It was something that JJ would do, he realized, and it made him smile. Lila was always a good note on which to end his day, and he was beginning to genuinely love her. Not the sort of romantic feelings that he had first had towards her - at least not quite that same fluttery, butterfly feeling - but something deeper, more abiding, something that was caught between friendship and what he could only think to call true love.
It was rare that they went a whole four days without talking, but it was after one of those spells that he called her, the tears that he felt gathering in his eyes coming through into his voice as he choked out the two words, "Elle left."
Spencer surprised not even Lila but also himself a little when he began to cry.
"I know it hurts," Lila voice came through the phone, heard over the sound of his own tears. "But it does get better; life does get to a new normal."
He didn't know if she was thinking of Michael's death, Maggie's deception, or something that he didn't even know about, but he knew that she was telling him the truth. And it helped him. Unfailingly, she helped him.
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