Three months later

"I am so sorry," panted Anthea as she slid into the chair opposite Spencer. "I completely lost track of time and –" an abrupt sneeze cut her off, and she groaned. "– and I think I'm sick."

Her normally perfect hair was in complete disarray, and slightly wet, probably from her morning shower. There was no make-up on her face, even though Spencer knew she preferred to wear lipsticks in various berry toned colours, if nothing else. Her trench coat was beige, and her boots were black: he had never seen her mismatched before. "And you overslept," he noted.

"I wish. I haven't slept all night," Anthea accepted the glass of ice-cold coffee he pushed towards her with a grateful look and took a large sip. "I've been stuck in meetings with professors and they've given me two seminars to lead so I've been trying to prepare for those for four days."

"Is that bad?" he asked in confusion.

When Anthea giggled, he realized he had once again displayed his complete disregard for social norms and the habits of normal people, and he winced. He expected her to poke fun at him, but she still looked amused. "Not if your reading speed is over five hundred words in five minutes, I'll admit," she joked easily. "But I prefer all my reading to be done in bed, preferably with Zeus as a foot-warmer, so this is really cramping my style."

Spencer finally offered her a hesitant smile. "You're secretly enjoying it."

"Of course!" she looked oddly delighted that he seemed to have caught on to her. "But it's killing me." She sneezed again.

Spencer frowned in concern. Anthea was about as health conscious as the average twenty-nine-year-old woman, but the bags under her eyes, the pale tinge to her skin and her slightly bloodshot eyes told a different story. "You need a nap. And something that's not so cold," he nodded towards her drink.

Anthea screwed up her nose thoughtfully. "I could never get into hot coffee. It just made me sleepy."

Spencer shook his head. "At least eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"Anthea." He wasn't surprised at how disapproving his tone sounded anymore. He ended up using it a lot with her. She would walk in the rain without an umbrella, trip over ledges while entering restaurants, and more recently she had taken to forgetting her keys in the lock while entering her apartment.

"Fine," she sighed and picked up the menu. "What do you recommend?"

Three hours, two cups of herbal tea and a full breakfast later, Spencer could tell Anthea was about to keel over from exhaustion, even though she actively took part in their conversation as she always did. They had just finished discussing the newest fad that Anthea was going through - South Asian writers and postcolonial literature - when a large yawn interrupted her rant on British rule in the nineteenth century.

"And on that note, I should walk you home," he sighed. Anthea pouted, but it was a testament to how tired she was that she didn't even bother to protest. Spencer squeezed her shoulder comfortingly as they walked out together - touching her was no longer a chore - and the bright smile that lit up her face almost made up for the fact that he wasn't sure when he would see her again.

"You could come in, you know," she pointed out finally when they were only a few minutes away. "Zeus won't bug you."

Spencer couldn't help but snort. "Zeus doesn't bug me. That would imply I find him small and annoying. I actually find him terrifying."

"I know," Anthea snickered. "It's so cute how you cower behind me every time I open the door."

His stomach did a strange flip when she called him cute, but he was too busy firing back a retort to dwell on it too much. They kept up an easy banter on their walk, and Spencer consented to coming inside for a while. There was a train he could take home if he left after roughly an hour.

"I don't hear Zeus barking," Anthea frowned as she neared her door. "That's weird."

Spencer nodded politely, silently praying the dog would be asleep. To say Zeus had warmed up to his mistress' new friend would be an understatement, but he didn't growl at him anymore, which he took as a sign of reluctant acceptance. He did make it a point to try and shuffle in between them if they ever sat too close together, however. Considering how hard Spencer was trying to overcome his aversion to physical contact, specifically with Anthea, it was a little annoying.

But it made her laugh, so he dealt with it.

Anthea unlocked her door and stepped inside, beckoning Spencer in after her. There was no blur on four legs to greet her, and her eyebrows shot up.

"Zeus?" she called out, the slight panic not lost on Spencer as he followed her, closing the door and dropping her keys onto the table they frequently rested on. He noted the lack of noise as well, and immediately felt uneasy. Anthea was clearly experiencing the same sense of something not being quite right. She hadn't even bothered to take off her coat or shoes. He could hear her in the living room now. "Where are you – Oh!"

Her gasp was one of surprise, not fright, but Spencer acted on an instinct he didn't he know he possessed. Within seconds, he had crossed the small hallway and stepped into the room, pushing her behind him. His hand went to his gun, again an instinct he hadn't realized was drilled into him to the extent it clearly had been. It took him a few more seconds to realize what he had done, and he blinked when he did. He was holding her arm very tightly behind him, his body positioned protectively in front of hers. They still weren't touching, except for his grip on her arm, but her body heat encompassed him from all sides and it took him a while to realize there was clearly nothing to worry about. Zeus was lounging in his bed in front of the television, which was showing a football game, and he would have never been calm if there was a threat to Anthea: Spencer had seen the dog accompany her to her front door every time the doorbell rang, and he would growl dutifully at whoever was on the other side of it, be it someone delivering food or a next door neighbour. Clearly, the man sitting on the sofa with a friendly grin on his face and his feet on the coffee table was no threat.

"Spencer? Hey, don't worry," Anthea's voice jerked him out of his observations. Her voice was soft, despite the slight hoarseness that came along with her cold. "That's just my older brother," a warm hand touched his lightly as she gently extracted her arm from his grip and stepped out from behind him. She squeezed his hand, threw him a smile and then finally turned to the other man. "You idiot!" she scolded immediately. "You could have called!"

"Sorry, Thea, but you wouldn't be introducing me to your new friend if I had," answered the man as he got up. He held open his arms in an obvious invitation, and Anthea huffed before launching herself across the room, allowing him to encompass her in a bear hug that made her laugh. He was tall, broad, and fair, with blonde hair and blue eyes, a direct opposite to Anthea's slight build, auburn hair, dark eyes and tan skin. The similarities in body language, and even the clear comfort with physical contact showed Spencer that they were related, but other than the identical looks of affection on their faces as they looked at each other, there were no physical similarities. Was she -

His thoughts were interrupted. Zeus had gotten up and trotted towards Spencer, who still hadn't moved, pausing long enough to sniff his hand before sitting down next to him, as if his presence was a show of support. He didn't even try to bite him, but Spencer quickly put his hand into his pocket, unwilling to test the new-found acceptance. Anthea looked back and laughed again at the sight.

"I think that's his way of showing Robbie that he likes you," she commented, letting go of her brother to come back to Spencer's side. She scratched Zeus behind the ears affectionately, and the dog licked her hand. "Spencer, this is my brother, Robert Grayson. Robbie, this is Dr. Spencer Reid, a friend of mine."

"Doctor? Friend?" Robbie raised an eyebrow as he came to stand in front of the trio, but offered his hand willingly enough. In milliseconds, Spencer made his decision and accepted it, just before he saw Anthea shake her head discreetly at her brother from the corner of his eye. The surprise radiating off of her was almost tangible, and Spencer was happy to have surprised her, but slightly chagrined that she felt the need to excuse him in front of her relatives. Fortunately, Robbie didn't seem to notice, so Spencer decided to make conversation. It was a day for firsts, it seemed.

"I'm, uh, not a medical doctor," he clarified. "I met your sister at Georgetown."

"You're a student or a professor?" Robbie narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Spencer could feel himself break out into sweat. Were all older brothers this protective of their sisters?"

"Not that it's any of your business," interjected Anthea finally, her own eyes narrowed at her brother. "He was at the recruitment fair."

"Recruiting? For what?" Robbie's tone remained hostile.

Anthea hesitated. She glanced at Spencer, and he saw her desire to tell her brother what it was exactly that he did, but she was clearly leaving it up to him. Normally, Spencer would have stuttered and stammered his way out of such a confrontation, but Anthea was different. So he took a deep breath. "I work for the FBI. Behavioural Analysis Unit." And he waited for the inevitable demand that he leave Robbie's sister's house immediately.

It never came. "Oh," almost immediately, Robbie's expression cleared and he grinned. Spencer blinked. Wasn't his career choice odd? Why was this man smiling at the prospect of his sister befriending an FBI agent? "Well, you should have said something."

Spencer opened his mouth, the confusion clear on his face, but Anthea nudged him. He looked at her and saw that she was smiling. "Robbie's a cop, back in Chicago," she said, her tone reassuring as she made her way towards the kitchen. "Coffee?"

"No sugar!" called back Robbie. He collapsed into one of the armchairs and gestured for Spencer to have a seat on the sofa. Still trying to wrap his head around what was happening, Spencer obeyed automatically. "17th District, Albany Park. Heard a lot about the BAU, you guys helped the South Side guys a few times, right? And Uncle Mike says he knows David Rossi."

"I met him too!" chimed in Anthea's voice from the next room.

"Yeah, like you met the governor when you were sixteen!" Robbie rolled his eyes and shook his head at Spencer. "She's an exaggerator. You know Rossi?"

"Yeah, uh, we've been to Chicago a few times. And, Rossi, he's my team-mate," said Spencer, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. It was a habit now. He was always awkward with new people, but at least Robbie was still smiling at him. "He's the one who introduced us. Your uncle was there too." He neglected to mention Morgan's involvement with the South Side cases.

"Hmm, so Thea wasn't lying?" Robbie frowned in though and put his feet back on the coffee table, only to have them knocked off when Zeus jumped over the table and onto the sofa. "Whoa!" he yelped and threw a cushion at the large dog, who merely barked and settled down next to Spencer. "Easy there, killer. No jumping on the furniture."

"He's my dog, not yours, Robbie, if he wants to jump on the furniture he can," said Anthea, entering the room with a tray carrying two mugs of coffee and a glass of water. She handed one to her brother and gave the other one to Spencer, sinking onto the sofa next to him and allowing Zeus to lay his head on her lap. "What are you doing here, anyway? You didn't have any vacation days."

"I came to see you," Robbie shrugged. Anthea sipped her water and merely raised her eyebrows. Suddenly, he grinned wickedly. "When were you going to tell me you're dating an FBI agent?"

They both choked.

"We're not dating," spluttered Anthea, while Spencer tried control his gasps for breath. Anthea maintained her glare towards her brother but offered Spencer her water, and he accepted it without thinking, taking a few gulps to ease his coughing. Once he was done, he realized he had drunk from the same glass as her, and he was amazed at himself. Did no rules apply when it came to her?

Four hours later, when he was laughing and eating take-out Chinese food with Anthea and Robbie, complete with Zeus sniffing at his side for left-overs, he decided that no, they didn't. Not with her.