"What the hell was that about in the conference room, Reid?" Morgan asked as the two of them drove off to visit the M.E. "She didn't deserve you talking to her like that, no matter what she did." He added.

"Can we please not talk about this? We're supposed to be working-"

"Yeah, that's exactly it, Reid. We're supposed to be working, meanwhile you and your girlfriend are arguing about insignificant things when you know that both of you were right with your snippets of the profile. You're just angry with her and she was reacting negatively back." Morgan cut him off. "I mean, I've never seen you like this, Kid. She wants to work but your behavior is definitely not helping anything." Spencer sighed and looked out the window.

"We're done talking about this… He muttered, looking rather down-in-the-dumps and depressed. Being questioned about what happened between he and Aida just brought up things he not only didn't want to deal with, but also didn't have the capacity to deal with. He was honestly frightened by the prospect of having to work with his ex-girlfriend, whom he still loved very much, but he was really hurting from the way she had broken things off.

Spencer was getting ready to propose to Aida, since they had been together for just over three years, and he was head-over-heels in love, and his mother approved of her, and even though her parents didn't care for him, they cared for each other and he knew she was also very much in love.

They went out to dinner, and the whole time she looked incredibly depressed and like she was about to cry every time he reminded her that he loved her. She eventually noticed how often he stuck his hand in his pocket to make sure the box with the ring was still tucked safely away, and this seemed to make her mood even worse than when he had first picked her up.

They watched a movie after dinner and they drove to their favorite place to hang out; in middle of the park near the library that was exactly half way between their homes. Spencer's mother was already in her institution at that point, but she had only been there a few weeks, so Aida visited her a lot.

Aida started recoiling when Spencer would hold her hand or caress her cheek with his thumb, and he was getting increasingly more worried. He had seen her get into it with her parents about how much they disliked how awkward he was around everyone that wasn't her, and he figured they had said something that night before she left that had really shaken her up.

"Aida, what's wrong?" He asked.

"I-I…I…" She couldn't even speak; she was so upset, and tears began to fall. "I-I can't be with you anymore…" She muttered. "I-It's just that… M-My parents, they don't approve of you, and… And I can't go against them."

"Is that what's bothering you?" He asked as she looked away and down at the grass, which was covered in dew from the rain earlier that day. "Look, who cares what they think? I love you, and you love me, so it's completely irrelevant what they-"

"I-I can't do this anymore Spencer!" She yanked her hand out of his and turned away. "I… I love you so much that this is unbearable to do, but I-I have to do it because my parents are going to do something worse if I don't leave you…"

"Aida…"

"Just…" She took a staggered breath and held it for a couple of seconds while she thought of what she could say to keep Spencer away. "Just… I'll drive you home, I-I really can't talk to you right now…"

"Fine, then we'll talk about in the morning when you've gotten to sleep on it for a bit."

"Spencer, I haven't slept in days because I've been so stressed out by this. Please, just… Don't make this any harder for me." He could hear her voice crack and could see her trying her hardest to hold her sobs in so that he wouldn't be even more worried.

"Look at me…"

"I can't, Spencer… I can't, I just can't, please don't make me…" She shut her eyes tightly as she began to break down and he tried to hold her close to him. It wasn't quite hitting him what was happening at that moment; a small part of him still hoped this was just because she had been having a bad day, but he knew she was incredibly stressed. "Stop it! Don't touch me!" She shoved him away. "I hate this, Spencer! I hate it, and I hate you!" She said, hiding her face in her hands. "I hate you so much, Spencer! I fell in love with someone who doesn't even understand what's happening. You're an idiot! Why did you have to like me?! Why did I have to like you?!" She spent the next ten minutes tearing into him about how he wasn't worth her time, and he just sat there and took it because he had no idea what to say in response, and his legs wouldn't work and let him move. She eventually had nothing more to say than I really hate you. Spencer had never felt so hurt in his entire life, and he could tell she didn't mean it. "Just convince yourself that I hate you… It's best for both of us." She muttered, getting up and walking away. He didn't follow her to the car, as he had everything he needed with him. She got in her car and took a long last look at Spencer before pulling away and crying even more when she left.

He had never felt so alone in his whole life, and over the following years, he convinced himself that she really had hated him and that she was just the worst person in the world. It got so bad that if anyone ever mentioned her, like his mother, he'd snap at them about it and then get extremely depressed. But through it all, he had never forgotten the look in her eyes while she said horrible things to him. The look of pain, how he could she just didn't want to do what she was doing but had to because her parents decided to threaten her or something. He recognized the look immediately in the photo on the FBI site, and he knew she still carried that guilt and pain from fourteen years earlier.

While Reid and Morgan were with the M.E., Aida was with JJ and Rossi, interviewing the families of the victims and also wrestling with her memories of that night. She began to ask the mother of the most recent victim all the questions that the team wanted her to answer, and after a while JJ and Rossi wanted to step outside for a minute and think of anything that they could use to help catch the unsub. While they were doing that, Aida asked the mother for advice with regards to Spencer. She confessed to the mother what happened, and the old woman smiled sweetly at her and held her hand in understanding.

"Granny… Why…? Why Spencer and I?!" She started to cry, and the old woman patted her shoulder comfortingly as she continued to hold her hand.

"Things happen, and the only thing you can do now is let Spencer come to a place where he can forgive you and understand why you did what you did." The old woman smiled. "I know how you've felt; I was like that too once. I ran from Misaki's father when I found out I was pregnant with her… I up and left with no explanation and I just yelled at him about how it didn't work and how much I hated him, much like you." She sighed. "I am an old woman now, but in the end Misaki's father came after me, and we were married and he lived the last years of his life, which was all too short, with his only child and I, and we lived very happily… Spencer will realize what you did and why, and he will appreciate it eventually…" She hugged her. JJ and Rossi walked in and stayed as silent as possible to listen; of course, they understood nothing, since the conversation took place in Japanese, but they could hear Aida crying.

"Granny… I will find who did this to Misaki, I promise…" She muttered and the old woman continued to comfort her.

"I know, Ai-chan… I know…" She stroked her hair and sighed. "Please work things out with him…" She added. JJ and Rossi watched as Aiko knelt on the floor and bowed at the old woman's feet and began to say something over and over again in Japanese, though they weren't sure what she was saying.

Aida composed herself before they left and neither agent questioned what had happened, even though they were both very curious. They had her Reid's name, but figured it best not to ask.

"I know you're wondering what happened, so I'll just paraphrase it." Aida said as they drove back to field office. "That's my grandmother, Hiromi. Misaki Inoue was my aunt, my mother's sister, and I wanted to be there to tell her about it. After that, she asked about Spen- Reid, and I had to tell her that it had been a long time since Spencer and I had been on speaking terms, and she wants me to try and reconcile with him. She then told me a story about my grandfather and how she had been just like me when she was that age, and that eventually he'd come around…" She muttered.

"I know you really care for him." JJ said. "But he seems to hate you." She added, looking over at Aida.

"I told him to. I told him to hate me because it was what was best for us, but I knew it wasn't. Even back then, my stupid, eighteen year old self knew it wasn't good. Spencer has always been a relatively fragile person, and I shattered his world that night." She smiled a little. "My parents threatened to kill him if I stayed with him, they really didn't like him because he didn't fit in with us; he was a tall, awkward American kid, and we were non-awkward Asian-Americans who hated people that weren't one of us. I loved Spencer, I still do, and I'm never going to forgive myself for what I did."

"He seems to have no intention of forgiving you, either…" JJ muttered.

"Good. Because he shouldn't. I don't, and it was horrible, so he shouldn't forgive me." She smiled a little more. "I heard about his having that girlfriend, Maeve… His mother told me what happened, and she just said she wished I hadn't broken Spencer's heart." She sighed. "I was up for Spencer's position a year or so before he was, but an old friend of mine wanted me to forfeit it for Spencer, so I did. I let him have that job, and when he said that I didn't deserve to be a profiler because I couldn't get the job, it made me feel glad that I had let him get that job… He deserved it, and he's very good at his job, from what I've been told." She turned into the parking structure and parked. "So, now you know what I was talking to my grandmother about, and a little background on Spencer and I."

"Why did you break up with him?" Rossi asked. "You obviously didn't want to." He added.

"Of course not; I've met many men in my life, and many of them were very attractive in the conventional sense, but Spencer's the only man I've ever been attracted to. But I think that's because we're equally matched for brains and he was the sweetest guy I've ever met." She looked away from Rossi as Morgan and Reid pulled into the building. "I broke up with Spencer because my parents hated him so much they were willing to hire someone to kill him because he was everything that they didn't want in the Ivanova gene pool." She muttered. "I knew he was going to hate me, but I had to do it for him…" She sighed, walking away as Morgan and Reid approached.

Aida went back into her office and shut the door. She let herself calm down for a minute, but suddenly, she found herself dreaming. It was more like she was replaying her entire relationship with Spencer in her head as she watched it like a movie in her sleep, but she couldn't help but feel happier in her dreams than she ever did in real life.

She remembered the feeling of his hands holding hers, the warmth of his lips on her cheek, the sound of his laughter, and the way his smile just looked so dorky that she would just melt every time she saw it. She remembered how she had to tippy-toe just to kiss his cheek, and she remembered the way he looked at her when he said I love you.

Aida woke up and found herself under the blanket; the sun was barely coming up outside, and she wondered who had put the blanket on her. She spotted someone sleeping on her couch, and could tell who it was just by the pattern of their breathing; she smiled to herself and sighed, but quickly returned to being depressed. She got up and took the blanket over to Spencer and draped it gently over him; he looked like he was cold. She walked to the bookshelf behind her desk and grabbed a dusty photo album off the middle shelf and began to flip through it slowly, looking at picture and remembering how she felt when they were taken. The album had 愛の写真 (Photos of Love) written on the front cover, and it was overflowing with pictures of her and Spencer together over the three years they had dated. There were a few of her taking pictures of him while he took pictures of her, and then one of them riding home on his bike after going to the movies; it was before she had gotten her car. She also found, after further inspection of the shelf, a small collection of home movies of her and Spencer, each titled in kanji.

Aida pulled out her laptop and began to watch the home videos on her laptop (they were in DVD format) and couldn't help but smile at what used to be.

The first one she put in was one her friend Lizzy had recorded the day she asked Spencer out. It showed his reaction to her asking him out, and how he fumbled over a response for a good minute or two and she eventually couldn't handle it and busted out laughing.

"Wh-What?" He asked.

"You're so cute! That's why I like you." She beamed at him, and he smiled shyly back. "So is that a yes?"

"Y-Yeah, sure…" He muttered.

Aida felt so much better as she watched more and more of the home videos; then she reached their one year anniversary video, which Spencer had taken when he took her to the park for a surprise picnic.

"So uh, I'm sure that this seems weird, I mean who records a date, right? But anyways, today I'm taking my gorgeous girlfriend Aida to the park for a picnic. I told her I'd pick her up, but I never told her where we were going, so I can't wait to see her reaction when we get to the park and she sees the picnic set up!" The sixteen years younger Dr. Spencer Reid beamed at the camera before hiding it in his jacket pocket as he got to the door.

"Hey, kid!" Aida's cousin Misaki laughed and they struck up a conversation while Aida continued to get ready upstairs. A few minutes later, Aida came down and was dressed in her normal attire of sweatpants and a baggy hoodie; she was wearing her square, black glasses and her hair was up in a messy ponytail and she looked extremely happy to see Spencer.

"You ready to go?" He asked, to which she nodded quickly, and the two walked the park; he made her close her eyes on the way though. "I'll be your seeing-eye-dog, alright?" He asked. She giggled and made a little comment about him being like a dog because he was so loyal.

When they got to the park, he told her not to peak and let her get in front of him. He pulled the camera out of his pocket and pointed it at her.

"Okay… Open your eyes!" She did as he told her, and she gasped; there was a small bouquet of roses on a large picnic cloth and a cute little basket in the center and a red velvet cake next to that. There were also a couple of presents lying around near the basket.

"Oh my gosh! Spencer!" She turned to look at him and noticed the camera. "Hey! Not cool!" She laughed and so did he. "Spencer, you didn't have to do this!" She couldn't stop beaming.

"Yes I did! I had to make sure you'd remember this forever, so that's what I'm trying to do. Did I do a good job?" He asked.

"Oh my gosh… Spencer, I love you!" She tackled him with a hug and he dropped the camera, which was still pointed at them and she couldn't stop hugging him and saying he was the best boyfriend ever.

Eventually, she fell asleep again, and woke up when she heard Spencer chuckling behind her as he watched the video she had been watching before she had fallen asleep; they were hanging out that spot in the park where they had had the picnic.

"I wondered if you still had all of these." He said once she was awake enough to realize it was him.

"S-Spencer-!" He started to look at the small pile of DVDs on her desk and opened the photo album. "Hey, stop! That's private!" She growled, snatching everything from him and hastily throwing it into a drawer in the bottom of her desk.

"Not to me they aren't; those are also my memories, in case you've forgotten." He sighed. "Rossi and JJ told me what you said, and I've decided I'm going to do my best to ignore what happened and try to makes things better between us. A fresh start." He looked out the window, and the sun was up enough that Aida figured it was around 7:00 AM. Aida looked up at him with a very surprised look, but he responded with one of his signature awkward,slightly reserved smiles, and that was that.