The Picture – Six months ago
The case was over, the unsub caught, they were back on the plane toward home. This time nearly everyone was asleep. Reid was sitting in the corner, looking at a small, leather folder.
Emily Prentiss couldn't help but look over as she left the galley and headed for her seat. It was a picture of a young woman, with long, auburn curls and the brightest blue eyes. She looks just like a china doll, Emily thought as she slipped into the seat beside him, jarring him out of another of his funks.
"Wow, she's pretty Reid. Who's that?"
"That is Dr. Gwendolyn Reid. That's her official faculty photo for Cal Tech."
The confusion on Emily's face was clear. "Reid, I didn't know you have a sister." That might explain why all the cases with younger women got to him so badly.
"I don't." He replied….
The Picture – Then
It had been a year and a half since the night that he'd discovered that Gwen's kisses tasted like butterscotch. He had had ample opportunities to confirm that observation since then, and he had availed himself of them as often as he could. He had also completed his Doctorates in Mathematics, Chemistry, and would be completing his dissertation in Engineering over the summer. Gwen had also completed Mathematics and Chemistry, and would be completing her third in Classical Studies. Engineering was simply not that interesting, she insisted, and besides, she needed to catch up to him, or so she said. But it would take her an extra semester, she had been offered a research slot for the summer, had accepted, and was on her way to get the picture taken for her Official Faculty Photo.
The problem was one of housing.
Now that he was eighteen he no longer needed a sponsor, and so would be moving into the faculty apartments. This was excellent timing because his former sponsor, Professor Fleinhardt, was moving on to do some work for NASA. But that left Gwen without her safety net, one she had used more and more often as puberty had its way with her. She'd only grown an inch taller, coming in at exactly five feet, but her curves had filled out in ways that he tried to only think about in the shower.
"I still don't see why you can't stay with me when you need to. I mean, the apartment has two bedrooms."
"Because you're going to be eighteen. A sixteen-and-a-half year old spending the night in the same house as her seventeen year old boyfriend with a chaperone is vaguely charming according to current social mores. A sixteen-and-a-half year old spending the night in the same apartment as her legally adult eighteen year old boyfriend, without a chaperone, is illegal."
He turned to walk backward, the better to talk and to admire the way the morning breeze tossed her curls. He'd finally gotten her to wear her hair down on campus, and to save the glasses for when her mother's boyfriends were around. After all, the admiring glances on campus were just that, admiring. Everyone knew that Dr. Gwendolyn Ryder was quite taken.
"So next Sunday it's fine, next Monday it's illegal. You know that's ridiculous."
"Yes, I know. But that doesn't help us solve the problem."
"Well, as near as I can see it, there's only one solution left. Marry me."
Even though they were already very nearly late, she stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"
"Marry me. You can, you know, you just have to have your parent's legal permission. Just wait until your mother is drunk enough to not know what she's signing and put the form in front of her. I'm leaving for Vegas at three; you can fly out and join me tomorrow. By the time we get back, we'll be able to share the apartment." He didn't expect they would be sharing a bedroom right off, and he honestly didn't care. Gwen was not only beautiful; she was his intellectual equal in every way. He didn't want to lose her presence in his life. If that meant the physical side had to go slowly, so be it.
"I don't want to get married in Vegas! Not like that anyway. I want a ceremony. I want vows and formal oaths. I want a dress. I want flowers in my hair." He thought her flustered blush was utterly lovely.
"Since when are you a romantic?"
"Since it involves my wedding!"
They had resumed their walk across campus, now it was his turn to stop. "Wait, so you are objecting to the style of the ceremony, and not to the concept?"
"Yes. A wedding deserves a certain ritual, a formality. You know they have lovely weddings at the faculty club, we could have it there with all of our friends as witnesses. It would be perfect"
"So that means you'll marry me?"
"What?"
Something took over. Some sense of chivalry or of decorum or of the moment being momentous. Something made him drop to one knee in front of her and take her hand, causing a small crowd to gather, causing her sapphire blue eyes to go very, very wide.
"Dr. Gwendolyn Ryder, will you marry me?"
She turned rosy pink, and in a heartbeat went from ambitious academic genius to flustered girl. "Yes, yes, Dr. Spencer Reid, I will marry you."
He pulled her into his arms and swung her around as the small crowd applauded. The kiss made them late for her appointment.
The Picture – Six months ago.
Reid looked down at the small travel frame. Gwen's faculty picture showed the results of that day. She looked so happy, so confident of the future. So much the woman he loved.
You'll get that back, he thought, or I will find you peace.
"I don't." He replied to Emily. "She's my wife."