A/N: This chapter contains references the episodes Middle Man and Compromising Positions. This is a 3 part story, it begins during "Middle Man"

Disclaimer: I own nothing. the show, the characters, etc belong to CBS.

The case was over and the team was going home. There were questions, just like there always were at the end of a case. For Emily and Spencer, however, these weren't the normal questions.

Normally the questions after a case were things like: could they have found the unsub sooner? Was there a way the unsub could have been a normally functioning member of society? Would there ever be a time when the evil they saw day after day would end?

For the Emily and Reid, the questions were about their relationship. Were they picking up where they left off? Or had they arrived at a new place? Where was this going? Was it all about sex? Or more?

Could they hope to stay on the team if they continued?

They couldn't talk about these things now, on the plane surrounded by everyone. The truth was they were exhausted. Coming back from a case was always exhausting, and they needed time to think. So they agreed they would go home and talk later.

There were a few minutes here and there on the plane that Emily thought about how she could sneak off with Reid to someplace on the jet and join the mile high club. She hadn't worked it out yet. It would be more important, she thought, that they talk about their relationship first.

But she kept thinking about sex with him. She hoped no matter what happened, sex would always be an important part of her relationship with him, but if it was a choice between sex and a relationship with him, she would choose him every time. It surprised her how just a few days ago she decided she was done with him.

But you didn't really mean it, did you?

Her inner voice was dead on. She didn't want it to be, but she thought that's just the way it was.

So what do you want?

Him.

That's a dreamy, little girl's answer. What do you actually want with him? The real truth.

You know what I want.

Say it. Admit it to yourself.

I want to marry him. I want to raise a family with him.

Was that so hard?

It's impossible. It isn't realistic with the way things are.

Are you sure?

Emily kept having this ongoing debate in her head as she drove home. She couldn't see how things would work. She didn't really know if he felt anything like this. She just hoped.

That he says he loves me, that's enough. Let's just keep things as they are. It's safer for everyone.

When she got to her door, she saw there was a package for her. She opened her door and plunked her go bag on the floor. Then she brought the package in on the kitchen table. She didn't remember ordering anything. Did someone send her a gift? It wasn't even close to her birthday or Christmas, so who would send her anything?

She opened the box, mentally hoping someone didn't send her a disembodied head. It was sad that thought even crossed her mind, she thought, but it was part of her world now. When she opened the box, she saw that it wasn't a disembodied head.

It was a hand-bag. In fact, it was a perfect replica of the bag she damaged on a case a few weeks ago. She was talking to an unsub, trying a supremely soft entry, to get him to come with her out of a bar. It wasn't going well, and she could see that. She had her hand in her bag, her fingers found her gun. She had to shoot him through the bag.

She knew it would never be repaired as good as new, so she looked to find one just like it.

And looked.

And looked. She looked both in stores and on-line, but she didn't find one. And yet...

Someone had and they sent it to her. But who?

Card, see if there's a card. As she looked, she haw the shipping label said it was sent care of Spencer Reid.

Reid. Reid sent it.

Her mind reeled at that. Non-tech friendly Reid ordered something online for her? Then she found the card. It said:

Emily,

I guess it's over now. I knew this day would come, but somehow I thought it would be a more dramatic ending. I thought it would be a fight or you would tell me you came to your senses. Maybe you found someone else. I don't know.

But I don't regret what we had. This has been like dating the cheerleader in school. The popular girl like me. Me. This has never happened to me, and for that I will always be grateful.

But what I would hope, perhaps foolishly, is that it might not be too late to mend things. If I have done something wrong, I apologize. If I have been deficient in some way, tell me and I'll do better.

Even if it's too late, I want you to have this bag. I know how much you liked the other one, and I know Strauss will never let you get reimbursed for it.

Love forever,

Spencer.

Emily's head was spinning and swimming and she read these words. She had to remind herself the Spencer who wrote these words wasn't the Spencer from the hotel room on the case. This was the Spencer from before the case started, the one who thought it was all over.

You thought it was all over too, Emily.

A few minutes later, Emily found herself in her car, with her go bag and the package, driving to Spencer's place.

Spencer was sitting on his couch, lost in his book. At least, that's what a casual observer would think if they could observe him looking at the book. Those who knew him well, like his fellow profilers, would know something was wrong. Spencer seemed to be staring at the pages in the book, only turning one every so often. Since he only had to look at words on a page for a second to comprehend it, he obviously wasn't reading it.

The truth was that he was thinking about Emily. They were back together, right? That meant things were good again, right? Or was this only a temporary reprieve? Would they there relationship be like this always, times where they're close followed by periods of separation of one kind or another?

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Spencer wondered if he was beginning to want more out of this relationship than Emily did.

And what was it that the great genius of the BAU, Spencer Reid, want from this relationship? He didn't know.

Not exactly, anyway. He had a sense he didn't want to be apart from her for any length of time. He knew he wanted this to me more than temporary. He wanted it to be about more than sex.

He liked the sex. The sex was great, that couldn't be said enough. However, he wanted this to be about more. He wanted to have with her the life he never had before. A family. A real family

Not the broken home he came from or the surrogate one that was the team.

But was this a realistic hope?

This is what he was thinking as stared at the pages of his book without reading them, occasionally turning the pages. As he continued this odd meditation of his life with Emily when his doorbell rang. He hadn't been expecting company, so he was surprised. He stood up and answered the door, and was surprised to see Emily there with her go bag and a box.

That box...

The gift he sent her after Halloween. He had momentarily forgotten about it. Did he make a mistake sending it? He hadn't been sure and there was no one he dared ask advice from about it.

"Emily, I ….it's a surprise."

"It been a night of surprises, like this one I found on my doorstep." She walked inside and walked into his living room. She placed her go bag on the floor and placed the box on the coffee table. She then pulled the bag out. "Where did you find this? I looked, and I couldn't find it."

"I...it took a few hours on-line."

"A few hours?"

"OK, maybe all night one evening."

"Really? That's not like you."

"It...seemed like the thing to do."

"What really surprises me is that you ordered it online. I mean, you usually have to have an email account when you order on-line."

"I have an email."

"Since when? The only email you have that I know is your government one." She looked at for a moment. "You didn't use your government one, did you?"

"No." he sounded indignant. "I had to sigh up for a free one."

"Non-tech Spencer Reid, who won't get on Facebook, Twitter or MySpace got a personal email account and searched the internet just to find this bag for me?"

"It...it seemed like the thing to do." There was a better was to articulate that, Reid was certain, but he couldn't come up with it at that moment. Morgan wold have.

"And this was done when you thought we were over."

"Yes, well...yes."

Reid was totally unprepared for Emily's reaction, which was to kiss him fully on the mouth and then hold him in a tight embrace. "Marry me Spencer."

"What?"

"You heard me. I want you to marry me."

"Just like that. I mean..."

"Don't you want to marry me?"

"I..." Reid was trying to wrap his mind around what was happening, and found it surprisingly difficult.

"Please marry me, Spencer. You are the one I've been waiting for. The moment I saw the bag I knew it. I know that doesn't make sense to you but..."

Spencer said something in a voice so soft, Emily couldn't tell what it was.

"What was that?"

"I said yes." He cleared his throat. "Yes, Emily I will marry you. I want to marry you."

She kissed him again. A long passionate kiss, where their mouths opened as they kissed and their tongues seemed to be everywhere at once. When they stopped kissing, Reid spoke.

"How are we going to do this? I mean, if we get married...I don't think Strauss will let us stay together. And where do we stay? I mean I...there's a lot of details to work out, aren't there?"

"Yes, there are. But we don't have to work it out right now. I'm engaged to the man I love. That's all I need right now." She kissed him again, and she didn't stop for quite some time.