"Penny I need you to show me the e-mail." I asked loudly as Reid and I entered her office. She clicked a few buttons and my e-mail account opened up on the screen.
I read it out loud, "He's mine." It didn't make sense all of a sudden, if it was the girl in Starbucks she would have gotten to Reid sooner while I was in the bathroom.
"Who's 'he'?" Reid asked, I didn't know what to say, I also didn't want to freak him out so I lied,
"I don't know, but I've got a feeling it's someone we work with."
"We need to get everyone together and let them know. Can I see the first e-mail Garcia?" He asked, sure enough with the push of a button the first e-mail opened and Reid's eyes skimmed over the words. "It's clearly a female unsub, she seems determined to get what or who she wants but she's not letting on and for some reason she's after Lia." Reid concluded,
"Oh my baby!" Penny said before standing up and hugging me like it was going to protect me until we caught the unsub.
"Aunt Penny I don't think restricting my airways is gonna help." I complained as her grip tightened, then loosened. Penny looked at me apologetically, "We can't tell the rest of the team that the killer's after me, Hotch won't let me carry on the case." Reid and Penny nodded their heads in agreement as we all walked out to find the others.
The briefing room seems cramped when there's 8 people stuck inside it, but when you're alone; it's the biggest, emptiest room you'll ever walk in to. I marched to the evidence filled corkboard, followed by Reid and checked over everything the team had so-far been able to find; scanning the papers for anything we may have missed or gotten wrong.
The rest of the team began to filter through the door as Reid and I finished flicking through the notes and pictures.
"What's going on?" Hotch demanded as he sat at the dark wood table. Reid and I briefed the team on how we have reason to believe that the killer is a woman and she's after man who we all may know and what Garcia and I noticed in the murder scene pictures and even thought we currently don't have a specific location, we have a hunch she lives in or around Quantico. Hotch nodded, understanding us. "Good work, we need a clearer idea on a location before we can go after her." He stood up, nodding to the team and walked back to his office. I made sure he was out of ear shot before I spoke
"What's up with Hotch?" I asked intently,
"I'll go ask him, good work guys" Rossi commented before walking out too. I looked at Spencer puzzled wondering if maybe Hotch knew something that we missed whilst researching. Reid just raised his eyebrows and smiled meekly in retaliation. We stood beside each other and watched as the rest of the team filtered out of the conference room.
"So…" I started to feel a tiny bit awkward, Spencer looked over at me, "We should probably get back to work." I shifted towards the door,
"Yeah, we should." He replied, I started to exit the room before Spencer grabbed my wrist lightly, "Or we could stay in here for a while and finish what we started earlier?" I turned around to face him and blushed, he smiled sweetly at me.
"We should really be working." I chuckled and pulled him out of the conference room gently but before we were in eyeshot of anyone else he pulled my arm back so I twisted back towards him and fell into his chest. Reid wrapped his other arm around my waist and placed his soft lips on mine. My free hand found its way into his hair and I rested it on the base of his neck. I closed my eyes and smiled into the kiss as I heard Penny and Morgan start to laugh and wolf whistle. I pulled away slowly and blushed like crazy,
"Sorry," Spencer blushed and smiled, "I've wanted to do that for weeks." He confessed letting out a satisfied sigh. I still had held of one of his hands so I toyed with his fingers, sliding mine in-between his,
"Maybe we should do it more often." I blushed again and tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. Spencer leant down and kissed me softly again. He smiled and brushed his fingertips along my jaw line,
"You're so pretty," Reid said, making me blush again. He took my hand in his and smiled down at me,
"We should probably get to work." I smiled and walked out of the conference room but not before squeezing Spencer's hand. I kept my head down as I entered the bull pit again and sat down at my desk, pulling out the case files from my desk. I looked up to find everyone, bar Hotch and Spencer, gathered around Emily's desk, all staring at me. "What?" I asked they all shifted nervously and started rambling on about various different things; I just rolled my eyes and turned back to my desk. I was setting about putting information files into sections with other relevant files when Derek came over to my desk, "If you've come over to ask about me and Spencer then take a number because I've got work to do." I carried on typing, but as expected, he didn't move.
"Actually I wasn't going to ask anything. I just came over to say I told you so" I looked up and tried not to smile. Derek flashed his brilliant white teeth at me and patted me on the shoulder before striding back to his desk. I smiled a shook my head lightly, turning back to my computer to saw that I had a new IM;
SSA S.R. says: Hey, I'm sorry if I made you feel awkward earlier
SSA O.R. says: Its okay I didn't feel awkward, I was just a bit overwhelmed
SSA S.R. says: Phew, I thought I blew it with you
SSA O.R. says: No you haven't
SSA S.R. says: So, what are you doing this weekend?
SSA O.R. says: Moving into my new apartment, you?
SSA S.R. says: Cool, need any help? I'm not doing anything.
SSA O.R. says: Thanks that would be really awesome
Spencer and I carried on talking for hours on end whilst working on the case notes we were given and before long it was time to pack up for the night. I stood up and picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. "Hey Lia!" I heard Spencer as he walked over to me, "What time shall I meet you tomorrow?" He asked with a smile on his face,
"Tomorrow?" I asked in return, genuinely confused,
"Yeah, it's Saturday tomorrow" He gave me a weird look. I must have been so caught up in my work that I was losing days from my memory now,
"Oh, right, I totally forgot," I giggled, slightly embarrassed, "Well the moving guys are coming round at about 12, so 1 maybe?"
"Sure" He smiled brightly, "can I walk you to your car?" I blushed and pulled my coat off of the back of my office chair,
"Okay," I smiled back and started walking, swaying a little bit like I usually did when I felt warm inside. As we reached the lobby, Spencer's hand brushed lightly against mine so I stepped closer to him. I felt my cheeks starting to burn up as he slid his fingers between mine, I looked up at him and smiled, he blushed as I caught his eye and his smile got wider. We walked the rest of the way to the car park in silence, Spencer holding on to my hand like he was never going to see me again and walking in step with each other. "Well, this is me." I broke the silence as we reached my car, "I'll see you tomorrow, Spence." I smiled at him nervously. He slowly lowered his neck and placed the sweetest kiss on my lips before pulling away again.
"See you tomorrow Lia." He replied and pulled my hand up gently and kissed my knuckles too before walking over to his own car. He looked back and waved goodbye to me as I closed my car door and started up my engine. It's safe to say that I thought about him the whole ride back to my Aunt's. There's something dark and mysterious about Spencer Reid, something scary but strangely sexy too.
I pulled up in Penny's front yard and locked my car up. Before I even had a chance to retrieve my house key from my bag the front door swung open.
"What happened with you and Spencer?!" She yelled to me, I walked past her and shrugged my shoulders,
"Nothing" I grabbed some orange juice out of the refrigerator, I heard the front door slam.
"A big ol' smackeroony on the mouth is NOT 'nothing'!" She sounded shocked, "Why didn't you tell me? I'm your aunt!" She looked at me with wide, sad eyes,
"Because I knew you'd react like this," I chuckled to myself, "And for another shock to your system, I won't be needing your help moving in tomorrow" I smiled sweetly and started to run upstairs to my room, closely followed by Penny.
"What? Why not?" She asked, I grabbed the rest of my loose things, like my hair products and books and threw them in my last empty suitcase and turned to face my aunt,
"Because I kind of invited Spencer to help me move in," I looked down at my feet, hoping that she wouldn't be mad. She stopped and stared at me, I wasn't sure if it was a good shock or if she was about to scream at me.
"That is…" She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head slightly "SO cute! Oh my gosh I knew you two would be an item soon! From the moment I saw you two lock eyes I just knew it!" She carried on with her ramblings and squeezed me tightly in a hug. I hugged her back and let her carry on talking in my ear. I was really going to miss gossiping with her, but then again I wasn't going to miss her bugging me every night about how things were going at work and how things are with Spencer. She finally decided to go to bed and get some rest and so did I realising that it was almost midnight by the time I was actually ready to get into bed.
I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes and my Aunt shouting up the stairs to me. I dragged my legs out from underneath my warm covers and slid out of bed, pulling a thin blanket from my bed with me down the stairs. I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders as I reached the top of the stairs and started to descend them, almost tripping over the blanket. I walked into the kitchen and poured myself some juice.
"… Hold on, I'll go get her up." I heard Penny say before doing a double take and joining me in the kitchen. "There you are! You have a guest." She smiled mischievously before poking her head out of the door, "She's in here!" She yelled dramatically to my 'guest'. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my juice, deciding then that I wanted a coffee instead.
"Hey Lia!" My heart skipped a beat as I heard Spencer's voice from behind me, making me spill some coffee on the counter. I spun around slowly and smiled,
"Hey Spence," I giggled shyly. I suddenly became self-conscious, remembering that I had only worn shorts and a tank top to bed last night. And God only knows the state that my hair was in! He smiled warmly at me as I blushed, looking down at myself, "I'm gonna get dressed real quick then we can get going." I smiled and stepped towards the kitchen door,
"Okay," He smiled again; I skipped quickly back up the stairs and into my room and grabbed some jeans and a shirt. I brushed my thick red hair and put on a little make up before throwing it all into a big handbag to take with me to my new apartment. I rushed back downstairs to find Penny and Spencer talking about work.
"God, do we ever escape that place?" I chuckled and blushed when I heard Spencer laughing at my joke.
"I'm afraid not, sweetie." Penny smiled and handed me my cold coffee, "You took forever getting dressed so it's freezing now." She laughed about my coffee,
"It's cool, it's a Frappuccino now." I smiled and took a sip of my beverage, then tipped it out in the sink, "Shall we go?" I grabbed my bag and smiled at Spencer,
"Sure," He stood up and waited for me as I hugged my aunt goodbye. We headed out the door and packed my bag into the trunk of my car. We both sat down and buckled our belts as I started the engine and left the driveway.
We pulled up in front of my new apartment; it wasn't a typical ten story apartment block with noisy neighbours and a mean landlord. It was a three floor converted hotel that looked slightly shabby and retro on the outside, but once you get inside you'll find that its decorated with vintage wallpaper and grand ornaments all around the lobby area. We jogged up the first flight of stairs and I unlocked the front door to find most of my furniture, like my bookshelves and my couches already in place, including my bed and my makeup desk in my bedroom. Along with the boxes of everything I owned already in the rooms they belonged in, I took time as I was packing to label the boxes with what rooms they go in and where they needed to go. "Wow, this is really nice." Spencer said, looking around,
"Thanks," I replied looking around my new place and taking in how big it actually was. The kitchen was situated at the back of the living room, I pulled out my kettle from one of the boxes labelled 'kitchen' and plugged it in. "Well, the movers did a pretty good job of pre-setting things up, so I guess all we really need to do is paint." I smiled and lifted up a big tub of mauve matte paint.
"Sweet, I love painting." He stated and smiled, I handed him a brush and we got stuck in, trying not to get paint on the carpets or on any of the furniture, but we did however, manage to get it all over ourselves. My living room turned from a boring shade of cream to a warm dark heather colour, my kitchen was an earthen cream and my hallway was a creamy gold. Spencer and I decided to take a break before moving on to the bathroom and my bedroom.
"You know what?" I asked before handing Spencer a cup of coffee and sitting on my plastic covered couch. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows as he took a sip, "We did a pretty good job so far." I smiled; Spencer looked up from his lap and smiled in return,
"I'll drink to that." He laughed and raised his cup of coffee, I raised mine and we clinked them together, before both taking a sip. "So," Spencer piped up after a few moments of silence between us, I looked back up at him to find him playing with the hem of his shirt, "What colour do you want to use next?" He smiled innocently, I looked down at the box of paint tubs that I was resting my feet on,
"I was thinking either blue or red for my bedroom, but definitely the turquoise colour for the bathroom." I saw Spencer look down at the box too, obviously thinking about the colour choices. "What do you think?" I asked him, removing my legs from on top of the box.
"Well, it's your room so it's your choice," He smiled, "But I kinda like the red." I put my cup of coffee on the small table next to my couch and stood up, picking up two pots of red paint,
"Shall we?" I asked, Spencer stood up and put his cup down too, picking up another two tubs of paint and together we walked into my room. We grabbed some brushes and started to make idle chit-chat as we began to paint. We talked about work and the case we were supposed to be working on right now and what theories we had in mind already, and then somehow the conversation moved on to our personal lives and then back to work and then changed completely.
"So, do you have a boyfriend Lia?" Reid asked, not looking at me while he spoke,
"No," I started, glancing at him quickly, "I had one a couple of months ago, but he was a real jerk." I slightly chuckled, "Do you have girlfriend?" I asked him,
"No, but I really like someone." He looked over at me, I half smiled,
"Well you should tell her that you like her." I said back. Spencer put down the paint brush he was using and stepped closer to me, putting his warm hands around my waist. He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes as he spoke,
"I really like you Lia, and I know that we're not allowed to have inter-office relationships but, I was wondering if you wanted to be my secret girlfriend" He was talking so fast that the only part I heard of what he'd said was 'secret girlfriend'. I blushed as he opened his gorgeous brown eyes to look at me again,
"Yes." I replied simply as a huge smile spread across my face. I started to raise myself on to my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his. I tried to pull his body closer to mine, but felt something in the way. We both pulled away and looked down to find a red blotch of paint from the paint brush that was still in my hand staining Spencer's white shirt; another should-be-perfect moment ruined by me forgetting something. "I'm so sorry," I apologised, shocked my own stupidity. I put the brush down on the towels I'd laid down on the floor and looked back to Spencer's shirt, "You'd better take it off before it seeps through, I'll go find you another shirt. I'm so sorry." I continued as I left the room, heading for the box with all my clothes in. I was sure that I had one that was slightly too big for me somewhere, I dug around in the box before pulling out a black rolling stones shirt that I decided probably would fit my paint splattered Romeo. As I was about to walk back into my bedroom Spencer walked out with his shirt in his hands. I couldn't help but stare at his body; not only did he have a perfectly chiselled face but he also had a beautifully sculpted, hairless chest. Spencer smiled nervously when he realised that I was staring at him,
"Umm, where shall I put this?" He asked, stepping forward a few more feet to meet me,
"Umm, by the… uhh, by the washer." I stammered, I could feel my pulse rising and my cheeks start to burn up as he got closer to me, "Umm, I got you another shirt." I breathed. Instead of taking the shirt I offered him, he put his painted shirt on the plastic covered couch and put the clean one down with it. I looked at him, confused, but as he stepped even closer to me, I realised what he was thinking of. He put his hands around my waist once again, and leaned his head closer to mine,
"Why don't we finish what we started?" He whispered in my ear, brushing away my hair with one hand. I couldn't speak so I just about managed to give him a slight nod, letting him know that I was agreeing with him. He gave me a sideways smile before touching his lips to mine softly; I pulled my arms up and let them slide up the length of his soft arms until my hand reached his collar bone. I let my fingers explore the contours of his chest, feeling every muscle and bone that was there. Spencer deepened the kiss and pulled me closer to him by my waist and started to pull me over to my bedroom door and onto my bed. He rolled me over on my back and laid down, half on top of me and half beside me, not once breaking our first real kiss. I took the opportunity to run my hands over his back, feeling his muscles contract and release as he moved on top of me. I felt Spencer's warm hands on my skin under my shirt as he started to pull it over my head.
"Spence, wait." I pulled away and looked up at him, nervously,
"What's wrong?" He looked down, his brow was furrowed. "Did I hurt you?" He sat up beside me and handed me my shirt. I sat up and slipped my shirt back over my head and turned around to face him.
"It's nothing really; I just think that we're going a bit too fast." I looked up into his eyes, and put my hand on his,
"Oh," He looked relived in a way, but disappointment still showed in his brown eyes, "Well, we can just watch a movie if you want?" He looked up again and smiled, I kissed him softly on the cheek,
"I'd like that." I smiled and pulled him off of my bed and back into my living room. I grabbed the box with my favourite DVDs in and put them in between Spencer and myself on the couch, "Go ahead and pick one." I smiled, Spencer gave me a heart-warming smile and started to rummage through my collection, pulling out a few that he obviously didn't recognise to look at the casing then putting them back in. After a moment of looking through the box he pulled out a horror movie and helped me remove the plastic covering off of the TV and the couch so we could sit down. I made us both a coffee while the trailers were running when I felt a pair of warm skinny arms around my waist. I looked back over my shoulder and was greeted with a kiss on the cheek,
"You look beautiful." Spencer said simply and rested his head on my shoulder,
"So are you." I replied and turned around to face him and wrapped my arms around his neck,
"No I'm not, men can't be beautiful. Only women can." He protested and furrowed his brow,
"Well, I think you're a very beautiful man, and you should be happy." I smiled and pecked him on the lips, a smile spread across his lush pink mouth,
"I am happy, I have you now." He smiled down into my eyes and kissed me softly,
"But only in secret." I added, leaning my head on his chest,
"I don't care as long as I get to hold you in my arms." I looked up at him, noticing that he'd leaned his head on top of mine and closed his eyes, pulling me closer to him. I leaned my head up and kissed his neck softly,
"Shall we watch the movie?" I giggled as he opened his eyes and pulled back, Spencer simply smiled and kissed my forehead before letting go of me and picking up the mugs of coffee I had made. I grabbed some cookies from a box of preservable foods on my counter and we both headed over to the couch. Spence placed the coffees on the table as did I with the cookies and we sat down on each end of the couch. I looked over at the distance between us and felt curious, so I scooted closer to him only to have him wrap his arm around my shoulder and pull me into him. I laid my head on his shoulder again and closed my eyes.
