:D Thanks for all the support! I'm glad I'm not the only one who wanted to see more of Austin/Reid. Here's the next installment...

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Chapter Two – Don't Let It Form Us

She hated getting drunk. Or buzzed, for that matter. Losing control over her speech, actions, and the general course of her life was just not something she ever aimed to do. And then there was history to disprove that getting smashed was ever a good idea. So whenever she was in a social situation where alcohol was involved, she always enjoyed in moderation. Sometimes she would designate herself the driver of her group; sometimes she would enjoy a beer or two, or something that could barely be considered alcoholic. And this attitude he was rarely buzzed, let alone drunk.

But on the eve of her plane ride home, she was enjoying herself imprudently.

"It was so stupid of me to get my hopes up!" She declared, leaning up against the table, nearly tipping over the glass that only held ice now. "I know what kind of work he does, and I knew there was a chance he wouldn't have time for me. But I just wanted to see him so bad!"

Her time in Albuquerque was nearly spent, and he never called. The rational part of her knew that his job had to come first—the missing children that he and the team were searching for obviously held higher prestige. But that didn't stop the foolish, emotionally-driven part of her from wishing she could have just had one moment with him. To hear his voice. To see his face.

So she attempted to fill that little void in her heart with Amaretto sour.

When the bartender wandered by, offering more drinks, Charlotte refused for the both of them. Austin was about to protest when she raised her hand. "I think you've had enough."

"I'm thirsty!" She groaned, pressing her forehead against the table and burying her head beneath her hands. She wasn't drunk—she knew what she was like drunk—this was a rapidly growing buzz. And despite her longing to forget her foolish wishes, she knew that this alcohol consumption just couldn't continue any longer. "Actually, can I get a glass of water?"

The bartender agreed, and went off to get the cool glass of water. Charlotte smiled proudly at her little sister. "That's very grown up of you."

"I know. When did I start becoming an adult, and how do I make it stop?" A wry giggle escaped her lips. She had always been the young one. As a child, it had been a physical trait. Then Charlotte grew up and got married straight away, and acted responsible. And it was Austin that was off on her own adventures, living for herself and herself alone.

A fraction of her wanted to live for something—someone—else. Perhaps that was what Spencer, or at least what her idea of Spencer's companionship, was. Someone else to live for.

To call or not to call...

The only way anyone was going to be able to make it through the night was heading out for drinks together. The image of Ian Matthews' mutilated corpse resonated with all of the agents, and was a particularly mortifying image. It had been at Emily's suggestion that they headed to the Moonlight Lounge and unwind before their flight tomorrow afternoon.

And while the others sought to forget the tragedy of a young life cut short, Reid had something else on his mind.

He had not made any attempts to contact Austin in the last three days. And while he hoped she would understand that it was his job that occupied him so fully, in all honesty he was afraid. Afraid that she would take it personally. Afraid that he had somehow managed to screw up the last good thing to happen to him in a very long time.

Afraid that, if he were to actually hit send on his phone—the phone he had been staring diligently at for the last twenty minutes—he would face his inevitable rejection.

"Are you going to actually make a call, or just stare at it all night?" Emily asked, the first smile gracing her lips since landing in New Mexico. It was not amusing to Reid that his personal anguish and contemplation entertained his coworkers. Even Hotch cracked a faint smile as the young genius turned a fierce shade of red.

Morgan stood from his perch and wandered towards Emily and Spencer. "Now hold on a second. This doesn't have anything to do with your behavior these past three days, does it?"

"No!" He practically squealed, his voice too high to not be telling a lie. Surrounded by profilers, he knew his secret would be discovered inevitably. "I was thinking of calling an old friend that lives in the area."

"A friend." Morgan said that word with such disdain. "This is a girl we're talking about here, right?"

"Just out of curiosity, what makes you think it's a girl?" David Rossi asked as he sipped on his beer.

"What else would make our little genius here blush so much?" Morgan's demeanor had gone from playful teasing to scientific inquisitive. As if Spencer's social life had become something in need of analysis. "An old high school rival? No. A relative? Not a chance. Only one thing makes our boy blush, and that is a member of the fairer sex."

The easiest way to derail an awkward conversation was rambling about theories or statistics. "You know, it's a common misconception that the phrase "fairer sex" refers to skin or hair color. In fact, there is no studies that suggests women are "fairer" in that sense before or after puberty."

"You're avoiding the subject, Reid." Morgan cut straight through Reid's diversion. "Why don't you just call her? What do you have to lose?"

He cleared his throat. "My dignity, self-confidence..."

Morgan picked the phone up from the table, and slapped it into the young agent's hand. "Take a chance, Reid. You never know if your gamble will pay off or not unless you take the risk."

"It's getting late, and you've got a plane to catch tomorrow." Charlotte looked down at her watch, and then back up at her sister. Austin looked across the room at the neon-lit clock. It was only 8:20. Since when was her sister such a square? But rather than put up a loud and sloppy fight, Austin agreed to return home and sleep off this unfortunate state of regret and misery. It was probably for the best.

"I'll go pay the tab, you get the car." Even though she was able to walk in a straight line and think coherently, there wasn't a chance she would let herself drive. She grabbed her purse and headed towards the bar to pay their tab.

She was two steps away from the register when her shoulder grazed a passing man's, causing the drink in his hands to spill on her. The salt-and-peppered man was instantly apologetic.

"I am so sorry, miss." His sincerity in apologizing was unmistakable; but that did not stop Austin from smelling of beer, or being a little peeved by their encounter.

The bartender, who had witnessed the spill, rushed to the duo, napkins in hand. She patted them against the red fabric of her dress, hoping that it wasn't beyond repair.

"I'm real sorry. Why don't you let me buy you a drink to make up for it?"

"I'll take a rain check." Not that she ever had any intention of getting a drink with this stranger. He seemed much older than she was, and that was definitely not her thing. But still, Austin couldn't shake the feeling that this man seemed familiar. Like she'd seen him before… That is definitely the liquor talking, she convinced herself with a laugh. "I was just heading out anyways."

He pulled out a slip of paper from her hand. "Here's my card. Call me if you ever want that drink." A business card and a wink. If this was flirting...

She read the professionally-designed card, and noticed his place of employment. "You're from the FBI?"

"Guilty as charged." He answered with a crooked grin. The pieces fell into place. He had been there that fateful night. That was what had made him feel so familiar. And if one FBI agent was in this club, then odds are there were more of them. Her heart palpitated at the thought of being in his proximity.

"You don't happen to know Spencer Reid, do you?"

Reid snapped his phone shut, thoroughly disappointed with the results his risk-taking had yielded. And even though he could not blame his lack of social skills—that would require a pick-up and some dialogue—it was undeniable to the team's youngest agent that he was to blame.

"She probably has it on silent or something." Emily noted Reid's dejection immediately and wanted to comfort her crestfallen coworker.

He slipped his phone back into his pocket, and took a sip of his water, wishing it had been something a little stronger. "It went straight to voice mail. She's probably screening her calls."

"Or maybe her phone was off. Dead battery. It could be anything, Reid. Don't be so hard on yourself." In an abrupt turn-about from earlier, Morgan's previous derision had turned to a sympathetic pat on Reid's skinny back.

For the first time the entire night, Reid declared, "I think I need a drink."

Not one of the other agents protested at the genius' mission towards the bar. He had not been gone for two minutes when Rossi walked from the opposite direction Reid had headed, and was leading a beautiful brunette.

"Sure didn't take you long to find someone." Emily muttered under her breath and under the cover of some loud jazz music blaring.

"You will never guess who I ran into." David Rossi declared, a grin saturated with self-satisfaction. But as his eyes scanned around the table, he noted one absence and his smile faded. "Where's Reid?"

"He went to get a drink." Morgan stated, then offered his hand to Austin. "Derek Morgan."

"Austin." She loathed formal introductions, and was still a little wary of giving out her last name. Years of being a bartender taught her to hold on to some information. "I'm actually an old friend of Spencer's."

The agents all exchanged knowing and semi-amused glares—could this be the "friend" that Reid had just tried calling?

"He should be back pretty soon, unless he fell in somewhere." Emily laughed, though a part of her knew that Reid was a magnet for mischief and peril. "Why don't you join us? Have a seat?"

"I can't stay. My sister's waiting outside for me." Internally, she was cursing herself for giving such a paper-thin excuse. It wasn't that late, and Charlotte would understand. "I just thought I'd say hi before I left."

And the way things were looking, she'd be leaving without seeing Spencer. Her heart sank a little at the thought. She had been waiting anxiously for three days, glaring at her phone and mentally willing it to ring. Would she really squander this opportunity so easily?

Time to take a risk, she thought to herself. "Actually, I think I'll stay."

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"How long does a glass of scotch take?" Reid muttered; for him, five minutes was an awful long time to be waiting for a drink. But the crowd had grown since they entered the club, so an increased volume of drinkers was inevitable. It did not ease his impatience knowing that fact.

Finally, the bartender slapped a drink in front of him. "Sorry for the wait, sir."

"Not a problem." It had been a problem, but it was his experience just to let those kinds of things slide. He took his drink, and began navigating through the crowd. Pushing through groups of strangers standing in circles, he had to fight to return to the group. When he reached the table they had been occupying, it surprised him to see only one female—a brunette with hair a much lighter shade of brown than Emily's—sitting alone.

Of course they'd move without me, Reid sardonically thought to himself. He tapped the woman on the shoulder, hoping she had some information as to where his company had wandered off.

"Excuse me, miss. Do you know where..."

At that, the mysterious woman turned around and turned out to be not so mysterious. Austin greeted him with the most dazzling smile he had ever encountered. As if she had been living in the dark ages, and he was the first light.

"About time you showed up." He had almost forgotten how beautiful her voice sounded. And the way her wispy hair brushed against her smooth skin. Every detail that he enjoyed about her suddenly returned in an instant of absolute rapture.

In essence, he had forgotten how beautiful she was, and how much he missed her.

"Austin, I'm so sorry that I never called. The case was much more difficult and time consuming than first anticipated, and it's not that I didn't want to call…" He was bumbling. Of all the rehearsed speeches he'd imagined on their meeting, this apologetic whimpering was not envisioned. He was hoping for something a little more debonair. Something that would possibly sweep her off her feet.

Of course, he would go off on a run-on sentence sprint like that.

"Forget it, Spencer. You're here now." With those six words, she silenced his rapid fire words instantly. Her voice was so even; not one hint of offense rested in her speech. Like she wasn't even upset that he never called her. "We're here. Together." Reid sat down across the table from her, clutching his glass of scotch, hoping that his shaking hands wouldn't give away how nervous he was.

He took a sip from his drink, and she took a sip from hers.

And it was the last thing either one of them remembered doing.

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I'm sorry of this chapter wasn't very good, it felt very awkward to me. But unfortunately I am far too exhausted from graduating (!!) to re-write. Updates will be coming sooner now that I am liberated.

But please review! They make me so perfectly and incandescently happy. ;)