Author's notes: So.. There's a scene that repeats in Breaking the Cycle and this story. I don't want to make those who don't want to have to read BtC (Although I think you should, but I'm biased) so it's kind of necessary. Although, I think that reading just Chapter 19 of that story would be beneficial, but hopefully not necessary. I hope that I'm explaining what happens in that story well enough in this story that it stays that way. Is anyone reading this story that isn't reading BtC? Are you confused, do I need to explain more? Leave some reviews, let me know.

Also, I know that these "phone conversation" chapters are a lot talk, which is why the Elle/Morgan drama is kinda seeping in this story just to give some action, but the story will pick up. I thought about skipping over these until they see each other again, but I do think there's some good relationship building that could happen over the phone. There's something less...scary about talking about yourself and your stuff on the phone than standing face to face with someone and I think that's good for Reid, you know? I don't know. We'll see what happens.

"Reid." He answers the phone, looking at the files of the case. He was expecting Lila to call, she usually called earlier than this.

"Hola mi…ahh.. Shit, hold on.. amigo caliente!"

He laughs. "Hey, Lila." He closes the file. "How are you?"

"Muy Bueno! How are you? How's Mexico? Did you go to the beach?"

"No. We're working a case. I can't go to the beach."

"That sucks. You know who the bad guy is yet?"

"No, not yet, but we're working on a profile."

"That's cool. You should catch the bad guy and then come to LA, since you're so close."

He bites on his bottom lip. "I…don't know. Aren't… you working?"

"Yeah, but…" She sighs. "You're right. I'd be stuck at work all day. You wouldn't have much fun. My week is horrible this week. My character is going through some big things right now, so I'm filming more scenes than usual. But I want to see you again, you know without someone trying to kill me."

"You want to me see again?" He asks and she chuckles. Even though she had admitted to liking him, it still felt strange to him. Like it wasn't real.

"Of course. I was thinking we could start over from after the night at the art gallery. You could call me…ask me out to dinner and we could just forget about all the crazy stalker, you worked my case and saved my life stuff that made you all weird."

"I wasn't weird. I was just trying to follow protocol."

"Yeah, you were weird. Had to jam my tongue down your throat for you to even kiss me again!"

"You didn't have to pull me into a pool to kiss me."

She laughs. "But it was so much fun wasn't it? Come on, you know you liked it."

He rolls his eyes, but can't help the smile that comes over his face.

"What if I don't want to forget that night?"

"Well… we could not forget anything too. I mean, I kind of think it's sexy that you saved my life. You're my white knight."

"Morgan said I was your hero." He says, with a blush.

She chuckles. "Is that what you want to be called? My hero?"

"No! No, I didn't mean it like that!"

"Hush. You were my hero." She tells him. "But that's not the reason I like you, you know… even if you didn't work my case, I would like you. I looked up transference, mister."

He smiles to himself and she continues.

"I just don't want you to think that is why I called you. I mean, I had given you my number before then if you remember."

"I do."

"Then… you know that I wanted you to call me. And then you never did."

"Morgan told me that it-"

"Well Morgan's an idiot." She cuts in. "But it's okay, because I called you and now we're talking and you're going to come visit me soon, right?"

"Right."

"Good."

Deal Breaker || One Small Step

"What's going on in that head of yours?" JJ asks, sitting next to him.

"Do you think relationships work? Elle and I were talking and she says that you should just get what you need and leave. Plus, Morgan told me not to call Lila, inducing that it wasn't worth the trouble. Gideon's divorced and Hotch - " He pauses. Hotch was still married and happy. "well if Hotch can do it, can't someone else?"

"Well what do you think?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. I think that Elle and Morgan are both afraid to trust in people…but do they have reason to? I've been here for almost two years now and I know that….a lot of bad things happen in the world, but science tells me that for every reaction there is an opposite an equal reaction. So everything has to equal out, right? Doesn't there have to be just as many good things as bad things?"

"I think so." She shrugs.

"Then why not try to gain the good things? Why focus on the bad?"

"Because it's easy to remember the bad things more. I mean, think about it, what was your worst experience?"

"High school." He frowns and she laughs.

"I know what you mean" - but she doesn't - " but do you remember any good memories from high school?"

He pauses, thinking about it. "A couple." He had met his former best friend in high school. He really needed to call Ethan. It had been years.

"Does it equal out?"

He frowns. Ethan was a great friend, but nothing could equal out the torture that was high school.. "No. It was awful."

JJ laughs and ruffles his hair.. "Well, bad example then. But still, I think it all equals out. Maybe It just takes some time, but I believe that it comes around. We just have to continue to help the good win out, you know?

He thinks about it. "So you think that I should continue to try and make Elle tell Derek she likes him?" He asks, before his eyes widen. He wasn't supposed to share that! Elle was going to tell JJ he liked her now.

JJ's eyebrows shoot up before a grin comes over her face. "Keep talking."

"I can't. I didn't mean that."

"Oh no. You did. Tell me more." He looks at her. She's giving him a look he can't resist. He gulps, looking around before he leans in. "You can't tell Garcia!"

"Of course. Our little secret."

Deal Breaker || One Small Step

JJ and he had had a long talk about Elle and Derek. JJ had already had suspicions, so he didn't feel like he had completely broken Elle's trust. She could have figured it out on her one. They were only trying to help. He told her that he had tried to convince Elle to tell him and JJ had told him that she had saw the two together and Elle looked like she going to anything but admit her feelings. They get a lead to the case before they can continue to discuss the problem, but as soon as the case was over, the two begin to plan a way to get the two to finally admit it. He stands at Elle's door, waiting to confront her about not telling Derek. Elle stops when she sees him, looking annoyed.

"What?"

"JJ told me about the coffee." He says, trying his best to sound disappointed.

She crosses her arms over her torso. "The coffee?"

"You and Derek. I thought you were going to tell him that you li-"

She pushes past him to unlock the door before pulling him before he can finish his sentence.

"Spencer. We had this talk."

"And you said you would tell him."

"I said I'd decide if I would and then I decided that I'm not. The end."

He glares. "But you agreed that-"

"Spencer. I love you, I do. You're adorable and smart and a great guy, but mind your business."

She moves to the bathroom to shower.

"You are my business."

She turns back to him before walking up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Chico, I'm going to say this one and you're going to listen, okay?"

He nods, looking down at her.

"If you don't get out of my room, you and our unsub are going to be twins. Yo entiendo?"

He gulps. "Y-yeah."

She smiles and pats his cheek. "Good night, Spencer."

He nods and moves towards the door, a little nervous. Maybe this plan was a bad idea. Once she found out that he had told JJ about her and Derek and planned out a way to get the two agents together, she was going to hurt him. He needs to go talk to JJ.

Deal Breaker || One Small Step

"Hey, cutie. Crack the case? Lila answers the phone as he makes his way back inside his room.

"We did. We leave tomorrow."

"Bueno Job-o!"

He laughs. "Job-o?"

She laughs. "What can I say, I speak French."

He sits on the bed. "You speak French?"

"After my parents divorced and custody was decided, my dad took me to France for the summer. I think he was trying to make up for the divorce and the fact that my brother and sister stayed with my mom. He felt like he had to compensate."

"Did he?"

"No. I stayed with my dad because I love my dad…but France was amazing. We made a annual thing until I got into McCallum."

"McCallum?"

"It's a fine arts high school in Austin."

He nods to himself. "Have you been there since?"

He was intrigued to be learning more things about her. The night he had spent the night with her, they had talked about random things, like favorite color and what you wanted to be when you grew up. Things that weren't essential to the real personality, but this was different. This is things that had made her who she was.

"No, I worked my ass off in high school to get in Juilliard and then got busy with everything New York had to offer. Then Michael found me in New York and brought me here and I mean, I feel like I haven't stopped. I need to. I need to go home, spend time with my dad. He speaks French like it's his native language, but I think that if I hadn't choose to live with him, you know?, he would have moved there and became some great artist or something. When I get my first big movie roll, I'm going to buy him a villa in Paris."

He smiles to himself. Her circumstances had been so much different than his own. The complete opposite, almost. "That's nice." He says, wondering what it would be that close with his own father.

"What about you? Where'd you go to high school? I read you went to CalTech. You're some kind of genius? I didn't want to Google you, I thought it might be a little creepy."

"I don't really believe that intelligence can be calculated, but…" he pauses. "Yeah, I'm sort of a genius. I graduated high school at 12 and went to CalTech at 13. I got my first PhD at 16, in math."

"But you're just 'sort off a genius'?" She laughs. "Your parents must be super proud of you, a doctor in math and a super FBI agent?"

He sucks in his bottom lip, unsure of what to say at first.

"Yeah, really proud." He says, eventually. It's not a complete lie, although he knew it wasn't the truth either. if his father had known, he would have been proud of him, Spencer assumed, and his mother had always been proud of his accomplishments when she was lucid. He would tell her the truth eventually, but at the moment, he just didn't know how. How was he supposed to tell her that his father didn't want to be around him and his mother, when she wasn't under medication, thought he and the government were trying to take her away? One couldn't just say that over the phone without appearing crazy themselves, and especially did not want Lila to think that.