Jade was awoken to the sounds of early morning rain hitting her dirt streaked window. The sun was just beginning to rise, sending a beam of light straight through her apartment and into her eyes. She rubbed her eyelids that were thick with sleep and propped herself up more, blinking away the colors that swirled in front of her vision.

Spencer danced around the kitchen, attempting to correctly tie his tie and comb the knots from his hair and put himself back together all at once. She watched him in raw unaware silence, taking in the way his hair fell in curls around the frame of his face, and the way the light made his brown eyes appear almost green. He had two different colored socks on, one purple and one blue. His shoes were lost, drifting somewhere in the sea of clothes she had flooding the apartment. She looked down at her own pale feet, wiggling the toes that peaked out from the blanket, black nail polish dark and chipping.

She hadn't fallen asleep with the blanket on her, and she could imagine how she had shivered in her sleep, her body reacting to the unforgiving cold air of her apartment. He must have shifted the quilt onto her when he woke, covering her thin, frail and bruised-all-over legs, ceasing the jerking movement.

She noticed then that she was still shivering, though she knew herself better than to think it was from the cold temperature. She had went a majority of the night without giving in to her demons, and this is what she gained in return.

The quilt was thick and heavy, patched together by her mother when she was just a baby. Each patch represented something. She knew most of them, but some of them her mother had kept for when she was older. But that day never came, and now Jade twisted the ends of the worn out fabric between her fingers.

She stretched her arms up high and yawned, mimicking the way the pretty girl always woke up in the romantic comedy movies that she claimed she loathed but secretly admired.

He turned around and caught her then, in the midst of pouring himself a cup of coffee. He took his attention away from it then to focus on her. He smiled at her, cheeks red from the warm air that radiated off the windows which were permanently shut.

His perpetual clumsiness came into play then, causing him to spill the coffee down the breast of his shirt and the sleeve of his right arm. He jumped around then, and Jade knew that if he cursed he would have right then. She stood up and tugged down at the oversized flannel she had thrown over her body. She had no paper towels in the house, just toilet paper, so she grabbed a handful of that and attempted to soak up some of the liquid burning up his arm, causing him to wince in pain as she touched it.

She raised her eyebrow at him, toilet paper almost completely soaked through now.

"Let me get this straight. You've been shot before, right? And you're in pain over a cup of coffee?"

"I don't think you understand. The coffee was hot."

Jade let out a sad excuse of a laugh, throwing what was left of the toilet paper into her garbage can.

"Oh, I understand it just fine. Understand that you're a baby."

"Well, I'm a baby with an IQ of 187, then," he added smugly.

Jade snorted. "An IQ of 187 and you still can't manage to pour your liquids without getting them all over yourself."

He eyed her down carefully. "Don't push it, West. I carry a gun."

He patted at his tie with another crumpled handful of toilet paper, and she could tell he was late for work due to the way he was jumping around prior to him noticing she was awake. His moments had slowed now, though, and she wondered if just a part of him wanted to stay.

"I, ah, better get going," He said when her eyes never left his, glancing at the watch and then back up at her.

She nodded.

"You gonna call me?"

"Would it be okay if I did?"

And when she said yes, he slipped out of her apartment before the rest of the world was awake.

Jade didn't sleep much anymore. She stay up for most of the night and still managed to wake up relatively early. She used to spend hours in her bed when she was younger, wrapped up in blankets, without so much as moving for hours. She didn't like to do that anymore, not since she was sixteen and left the home that had caused her so much distress and strife. She'd been doing better since then. And even though she hadn't had sex in over a year, she couldn't shake the immediate feeling of emptiness that followed when someone left her apartment in the morning.

Jade stood at the local park closest to her place. It was a shitty neighborhood, the kind people rolled up their windows and locked their doors while driving through. She had her arms crossed over her chest, shifting her weight impatiently from foot to foot. She made the choice to meet him in public, wary of seeing him in any place too private or intimate. If she had it her way she would never see him again, but the harsh reality was that she needed what he had, and at the price he had it for.

She noticed him immediately, the way he walked carelessly towards her, hands deep in his pockets and smirk etched permanently on his clean-shaven face. She tried to avoid his gaze but his eyes never parted from her, looking up and down at the length of her covered up body. He approached slowly, like a shark circling it's prey. She had volunteered herself as victim, though, and had no choice but to wait for him to make the kill.

"Sup, sweetness?" he asked when he was within earshot, popping his gum and licking it from his lips. His lips curled up into the lazy smile he knew she always liked what seemed like a lifetime ago.

She looked over her shoulder, always looking out for any police that would bust them. The park wasn't exactly known for being child-friendly, and was instead where teenagers came to get laid and addicts came to get their next fix. It would be easier to just go to his house and pick it up, but she wouldn't be caught dead alone there anymore, not even for a minute.

"Long time no see, princess," he mused at her, eyebrows pulled up in a constant state of amusement. His jacket smelled like cigarettes and the cheap cologne he knew she always hated, and his breath smelled like whiskey. "Did you miss me?"

Jade scoffed.

"Not a chance." Her breath came out as smoke, and she pulled her sleeves over her hands. It was bitter out despite being early spring, but the sun was bright and strong and it caused her to squint her eyes up at him. Her nose was running, and the cold just made her shiver harder. It wasn't the worst she'd ever felt, but she needed more, and she needed it soon.

He made a tsk noise and held a hand over his chest, imitating the feeling of being hurt- one feeling she knew from experience he was incapable of.

"Just gimme my shit, alright?"

She meant to come off as intimidating, but he knew her too well to ever be intimidated by anything she said or did.

He shrugged and pulled the drugs from his pockets, holding it out to her and yanking it back when she was about to snatch it.

"Ah ah ah, Ms. West," he said with a click of his tongue, as if she was a misbehaved student, "I believe there is something you owe me first, hm?"

Just the sound of his voice was enough to make her nauseous, and the heat of the withdrawals were enough on their own. She wiped her running nose with the back of her hand before digging through her pockets to pull out the crumpled $20 bill. She hesitated with it for a moment, knowing that her source of income had been all but dried up recently when her father was locked away. She started blackmailing him when she moved away, being able to pry a good $250 a month from him in exchange for her silence.

She didn't like doing it, didn't like having to see him, even if it was only for a few minutes once a month. But she was desperate for the drug that made her feel home, and if she had to endure his sweaty hands slipping the cash into hers for a few seconds, then she would.

Now that he was away, she didn't know where her next paycheck would come from, and she was dwindling down to her last $150. It killed her to part with what little money she had left, but her body did not let up, causing her to ache from head to foot, and it told her that once it was back in her system it would not matter where her next meal was coming from, not a thing would matter. So she handed over the cash, fingertips grazing his, and he took his sweet time holding onto it.

He must have read her mood, cocking his head to the side and looking at her with knit together eyebrows.

"Money troubles?"

"Just give it to me."

"You know," he started, keeping the two small baggies just out of her reach, "word around here is that your old man's gonna be away for a long time."

Jade said nothing, just shrugged her coat closer to her body.

He took this as his cue to keep talking.

"If you need a discount, I'm sure we could come up with an agreement," he grinned, taking a step closer to her.

She kept her head low and her eyes down. It wasn't like it was a new concept, fooling around with him. They'd been somewhat of a couple for the better half of six months, before she moved out on her own. She was his shiny toy, and he was her distraction while she still lived at home. A distraction that she loved, but a distraction nonetheless.

He would take care of her if she let him, and she knew that. He would pay her electric bill and keep her fridge stocked with sweets and never let her worry about money again. It would be so easy to crawl back into him. So simple, to spend the days lying around naked on his mattress, sharing a cigarette and getting high. She could watch all his friends sit around the shabby kitchen table he had, packaging all the drugs they sold. She could rub his shoulders and bring them beer, sit around as a pretty thing for the men to look at while they were doing the work. It wouldn't be a good life, she knew that, but it's a life she's had before. A life she's used to. A life her mother had up until she left. The kind of life she was born into, and destined to grow into.

She didn't want to do that anymore, though. A year ago she would have accepted her fate, would have dropped out of high school just to play prisoner in his arms. But she didn't want to anymore. She didn't want to settle for his backhanded compliments and the way he slipped into bed smelling like another girl's perfume. She didn't want to keep believing that's what she deserved. She wanted to see what Spencer Reid had seen in her.

"I miss you, baby," he cooed, coming closer to her with every breath he took. She couldn't look him in the eyes, the ones that knew her too well; the ones that could look at her with the love she craved so desperately she was willing to give up her entire year of good work to feel again.

He tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear, and she closed her eyes and let him, let him move so his breath was on her, his face inches from hers, the heat of his body so warm and inviting she almost melted into his arms the second he brought his lips to hers. His mouth tasted like whiskey and his jacket smelled of smoke and the cologne she always hated. He pulled her closer against him, held her still to stop her from shaking, and took her home.

As he did, she thought about the tall doctor who had been in her apartment just that morning, the one with the curly brown hair and the smile that always looked lop-sided. She decided she would call him when this was all over.