Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was camping, but now I'm back with a ton of new ideas! ;) I realized the "link" I posted on the last chapter to my teaser trailer didn't work, so hopefully this will. If it doesn't though, please let me know in a review! Go to youtube, and search "Criminal Minds: Spencer Reid & Ava Gideon"

Ava looked up from Spencer's shoulder as she heard Hotch call her into his office. She looked up at him, which she did often, considering he was 6'1 and she was only 5'7, causing the top of her head to come to about where his mouth was. Ava offered him a weak smile before detangling herself from him, their hands holding on just a little longer than they should have. She turned a shade of pink as she realized the rest of the team was staring at them. Spencer collapsed into his chair at his desk, rubbing his temples and squinting his eyes, his head was pounding. Ava couldn't even think about what the rest of the team must be thinking right now. She strode into Hotch's office and sat down. He was leafing through a file when he started talking, his eyes never leaving the paper.

"Former SSA Gideon thinks that the UnSub may be Ian Harding. He was 15 when both of his parents were murdered in front of him. The killer was never found, and that was 18 years ago."

Ava processed this for a second before speaking. "Harding. That name sounds familiar. Did the double homicide take place in the area? I remember a case where there was this teenager, and he was in the BAU for a few days, but he never even spoke. I remember because it was when my nanny got married and went on her honeymoon, so my Dad had to bring me into the BAU. I would spend my days coloring on the files and playing with the computers. And this teenager would just sit there, all day, staring at me. But he would never speak to me. He would just sit and watch me color."

"Sounds like even as a child he fits the profile. Head down to Garcia's office and see what she can pull." Hotch ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Ava playfully saluted him as she left his office. But Hotch kept his eyes on the file until she closed the door behind her. And only then did he look up at where she had just been. He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in front of him, and lightly chuckled at the muse who had just fluttered in and out of his office.

Ava waltzed into Garcia's office light heartedly, and just as she came in, Garcia shut down all her screens at once.

"Pen, what are you working on?" she asked suspiciously, a devilish smile playing on her lips.

"Nothing." Penelope answered, eyes wide.

"Oh, really?" Ava questioned. "Well then, you wouldn't mind if I just…" Ava snuck up to Garcia's keyboard and typed in an FBI override code. And before Penelope could do anything, her screens powered up, revealing her last project.

"How did you…?" Penelope questioned.

"Eh, I did well in my computer units of FBI training." She shook it off. "What do we have here?" she leaned forward onto Garcia's desk.

"I knew I should have locked it!"

Before them, on the screen, was a picture of Reid and Ava photo-shopped into a heart.

Ava said nothing, just raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"Okay, I'm not a freak or anything!" Garcia exclaimed.

"I didn't say anything." Ava smiled and slumped into a chair next to her quirky friend and sighed.

"So are you two still cute-ing, or what?" Penelope asked.

"Are we still what?"

"Cute-ing! What? It's the verb of being cute!" She exclaimed.

"Oh, wow! Did you just make that up right now?" Ava asked.

"Maybe, for You and Lover Boy!" Garcia teased.

Garcia finally asked the one question Ava was hoping she wouldn't ask.

"So have you guys keeeeeeessed yet?" Penelope asked like a little girl at a sleepover. Ava just bit her lip and tried not to meet her eyes.

"You have! You kissed him! Ooh, I bet that was nice. Let's talk about that." She rattled off.

"Let's not. Look, I don't know what's going on right now with us. I kissed him, and it was…" she paused. "But, there are rules about relationships between agents, and even if there weren't, we live together, and as if that's not complicated enough, there is the added factor of me being stalked by an UnSub who is likely to lash out at anyone who enters 'his territory.'"

"That does make things a little bit trickier. Well, Baby Doll, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. Maybe all this is happening because you two are supposed to be together, maybe the universe is making you go through a rough patch to bring you to something amazing. Everything happens for a reason. Have faith in that."

"Thanks Pen. Thank you for being such a good friend." Ava smiled. "Oh my goodness, we haven't even done any research! " She exclaimed after checking her watch.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I've got lightning fast equipment and an even faster brain." Garcia smiled and shooed her out of her office. "Go talk to your boyfriend!" she teased as Ava walked out the door.

When Ava got back to her desk in the main office, Spencer was gone.

"He went to check out the old Harding house with Derek." Emily called out, noticing the way Ava slowed down when she walked to her desk, scanning the room.

"Oh, um, thanks." Ava somewhat awkwardly replied. Was it that obvious?

…..

"So what's going on with you and Little Miss Sunshine?" Derek asked as he and Reid pulled into the driveway of the Harding's house. It had been put into the possession of the government while the case was being worked, and because it was never solved, it remained in the government's possession.

"Little Miss Sunshine?" Spencer laughed at the nickname, but couldn't deny its appropriateness. "Well, I mean, she's so…full of life, she's always laughing, looking for a reason to smile. And she is so strong, with everything going on, I don't know if I could be as tough as her if the tables were turned. And not to mention she's gorgeous and brilliant- instead of walls in her living room, she has bookshelves covered with hundreds, maybe thousands of books." Spencer had to stop talking though, the light was killing his head.

"Woah, woah, kid. Hold on. I mean, I knew you guys had a thing, but there are rules about this." Morgan said, playing the older brother.

"Since when do you follow the rules?" Reid questioned.

"Just be careful, kid." Morgan advised as they walked to the door.

They had gotten a key from the local police department. The house was obviously run down after not having been cared for in eighteen years. The cheap white paint had yellowed and peeled off the grimy one story house, and as they approached, they heard the wind chime on the porch sing. But it sang a dark song, a warning.

Death was in this house.

They slowly tiptoed into the house. Even though they knew no one would be there, it always felt weird walking into someone's house without being invited in. They looked around the house, seeing it transform itself into the way it must have looked in its heyday. On the coffee table were several books laying disheveled in a pile, all of them on Greek Mythology.

"Hey, Derek, check this out." Spencer called from the bedroom. Although it had been scrubbed clean, the blood stains still showed.

"The report says that they were killed on the bed, presumably in their sleep, but there are blood stains all over the walls." Spencer recounted.

"There was a fight."

"Yeah, but there wasn't any mention of that in the file." Spencer pointed out.

"I'm sensing some sloppy police work." Morgan said.

….

Spencer rattled the apartment door open and threw his keys on the table by the door. He heard the shower running, so he didn't worry about checking on Ava just yet. Spencer collapsed onto the couch, covering his head with a pillow, and prayed this headache would pass. He kicked off his shoes and laid on the couch trying to block out the blinding light. It was like a thousand sirens screeching at him. He didn't even notice the shower stopping or Ava coming into the living room in her champagne-colored silk robe.

Ava saw Spencer curled up on the couch and quietly walked over to him. He still had the pillow clapped over his head, so she laid a hand over his, lightly prying the pillow out of his fingers. He tried to sit up, but Ava just pushed him back down on the couch. She just lightly lifted his head and slid onto the couch, laying his head on her lap. She toyed with his silky curls and thought about how dangerous this was, especially considering the thoughts she was having earlier. She knew how risky this could be for him…if Harding ever got to him…it would be disastrous. But this is just…comforting a friend. She reasoned with herself.

"What's wrong, Spence?" She whispered. "Migraine?"

"I, um…" he thought about lying to her. It's not like it would be any different from what he's been telling Rossi and Derek. But he just couldn't lie to her. "I've been having these headaches."

She slowed the twirling motions she was making in his hair. 'How often do you have them?"

"Every hour or so." He responded, trying to act casually.

"And they're bad. Like 'stop functioning' bad?"

"I guess you could say that."

"I understand if there's something you don't want to tell me. But give me a little credit. I'm a profiler too, you know."

Reid sat up then, leaning his elbows on his knees, trying to find the right words.

"My mother is a paranoid schizophrenic. I had to have her institutionalized when I was 18. It was the hardest thing I had to do. I was supposed to take care of her, but I couldn't. I was too weak. I just…gave up on her."

"Spence, you didn't give up on her. You can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped. But you're afraid because schizophrenia is genetic, and the headaches are a symptom." She read him like a book. It helped that she knew him almost as well as she knew herself.

"How is it you know so much about this?" He asked curiously.

"Well, before I started Behavioral Analysis, I was Pre-Med for two years." She said, like it was the biggest secret in the world.

Spencer laughed, "Wow! I was not expecting that!"

Ava smiled. "Let me get you something for that headache." She got up and walked over to the kitchen, searching for the right bottle. But then something caught her eye that made her blood freeze. On the photo frame that held the pictures of Spencer & Ava was written "He's Next."