FIREWORKS

It was a few weeks since the massage incident as Rhiannon started to call it in her mind. In that time, Spencer had two more headaches which she "cured" with her massages. She initiated the first one, but it as Spencer who came to her with the second one. She was correct in assuming that their relationship would change. Spencer had, for a lack of a better word, become more attentive to her. He started opening doors for her, making sure to bring her fresh sugar with coffee whenever her went to get a refill of his. Rhiannon had chuckled when she realized that they actually drank coffee in very similar manner. They had exchanged sheepish grins once Spencer realized the same thing. She had also found herself writing less reports for some reason. She had taken to hiding in JJ's office one morning when she arrived at the office before Reid. When she saw that it was Spencer who took three of her ten reports, she found herself one third amused, one third irritated, and one third touched at his gesture. In turn, she stole two of his reports when he took a toilet break. He gave her another sheepish grin when he realized he was caught in the act.

It was on a normal Tuesday morning, ten minutes after their plane had started their flight to Montana, that Spencer got another migraine. It seemed to be worse than the others she had witnessed from him. As she was the only one sitting on the longest bench in the airplane cabin, she gently called Spencer's name. He looked up from where he was starting to slouch and gave her a questioning look. Without saying anything, she motioned him to come closer. Again, he obeyed her. When he stopped in front of her, she took a deep breath to calm herself down and took his hand in hers and pulled him down to sit next to her.

"Lie down," she told him, trying to hide her stutter. He again surprised her with bestowing her with one of those intense looks he was giving her lately and moved to lie down. He hesitated a bit before his head finally rested on her lap. She had to fight her instinct to brush his hair with her fingers. She let the comfortable silence between them linger for a few more moments, before she gathered her courage and started talking in a quiet, soothing voice.

"Do you remember one of the first cases we had together?" I believe we went to Washington."

Spencer let out a confirming noise and Rhiannon almost smiled at the relaxed tone of it.

"Do you also remember the forest we went in to find the victim?"

"Mhm," was her only reply. Okay, I can do this, she told herself.

"Remember the meadow we found? It was like we stepped into a fantasy world, it was so green and full of flowers... remember the soft breeze that played with the tall grass, creating patterns... remember the dandelion blowballs that were floating in the air... can you see it?"

She received another murmur of consent.

"Now imagine yourself in the middle of the meadow and close your eyes... can you hear the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees? There are birds singing in the forest and now and then you can hear woodpeckers banging their beaks against the wood..."

She paused there to take a peek at Spencer's face and smiled to herself. There was no creases of pain on Spencer's forehead. She took another deep breath and continued while closing her eyes as well.

"A small ray of sunshine manages to break through the cloudy sky and you lean your head back to catch its warmth automatically... even when it disappears behind the clouds again you keep your face in the same position... there's a soft sound of thunder and a small drop of rain falls on your forehead... it doesn't bother you... it feels pretty good actually... as more raindrops splatter on your face, you feel yourself relax... it's as if the raindrops are massaging your face and the headache you have is disappearing with each drop... the wind starts to become stronger and it starts to blow through your hair, like fingers brushing it softly... you feel as if all the pain in your head is disappearing under the wind's soft ministrations... you feel very relaxed..."

She shouldn't have started this relaxing therapy after being up all night, she realized as she felt her own body relaxing as she spoke. She tried to keep talking about relaxing things, but dropped off to sleep with her fingers unconsciously brushing through Spencer's hair.

Something tugging at her hair was what woke Rhiannon up. She blearily opened her eyes and blinked sleepily. Looking down at Spencer, she realized that it was him that tugged at her hair. He seemed a bit preoccupied as he twirled her hair around his long fingers. With another jolt to her heart she realized that her fingers had once again found their way into Spencer's hair. Her mind was screaming at her to remove them, but her heart was of the mind that she should just give in already and let herself enjoy the physical contact she had with the man she liked.

Embarrassment flooded over her when she realized that she had once again missed the fact that Spencer was looking at her. She gave him a shy grin, but didn't remove her fingers from their entangled position in his hair. She noticed that he didn't remove his either. They spent another few moments staring at each other again. And then Rhiannon asked him for the first time, since she started their "therapy sessions".

"Is this helping?"

Of course, subconsciously she knew that it did, and the fact that Spencer was always relaxed after the massages was a huge give-away as well, but Rhiannon wanted to know for sure.

"Of course it does," Reid acknowledged her efforts. The colour of his voice was a bit different from usual. It was a bit deeper and softer than usual as well.

"You have no idea just how much this is actually helping," he continued while looking her straight in the eyes.

"I just couldn't watch you in pain any more," she whispered. "I wanted to help you. I'm really glad it's working."

His fingers finally left her hair, but gently brought her hand that was resting in the empty space between Spencer and the back of the bench, to his mouth. Rhiannon could only watch, her heart beating a hundred miles an hour, as he kissed the back of it. He looked her in the eyes again and said,

"I think we should talk after we come back home... would you like to have dinner with me?"