So sorry this took me so long, guys. There's no excuse. Thanks so much for your lovely reviews and suggestions, I will try to take them all to heart as best as I can.

Xx

"So how long have you been a private investigator?" Spencer asked curiously, pulling his thick coat more snugly around his body.

It was two hours after they had left the restaurant, and Aaron was sitting in Jessica's car outside of a building owned by David Rossi, Spencer next to him. The night around them was quiet and devoid of movement; merely the soft sound of the radio and their own breaths surrounded them.

Aaron sat stock still in his seat, using much of his concentration not to move. Next to him, Spencer was fidgeting, fingers hitting the dashboard nervously over and over again. It seemed partly because of nervousness, mostly though because it was freezing what with Aaron's window being open.

The older man hesitated, torn. He almost reached out to close the window, hating the sound of Spencer's teeth shattering, but he still wasn't sure enough of himself to cut off the air circulation in the car completely. Maybe a few more minutes…

"I started when I was twenty five," he answered vaguely. It wasn't a lie technically; it simply implied that he had been an investigator for about ten years rather than eighty.

"Isn't that a very lonely profession?" Spencer asked, brows furrowing, "I mean, observing potentially dangerous people all day and night can't leave you much time for hobbies or friends, can it?"

Aaron glanced over at him and Spencer blushed immediately, embarrassed, "Uh-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, I just-"

"Don't worry about it," Aaron was quick to smile reassuringly, "And you're right, it can get lonely. Which makes tonight a nice change in my routine."

Spencer gave him a slight, somewhat shy smile in return and Aaron hoped it wasn't too obvious he was staring. They barely only met each other , yes, but so far Spencer seemed surprisingly comfortable in his presence. After all, he trusted him enough to get into a car with him and let him drive him to some dark, unknown part of town. He decided to take that as a good sign and not a show of questionable instinct on Spencer's part. It was a basis for them to get to know each other better, maybe much better eventually.

Just at that thought though, Spencer unwittingly did what he had done for the past few days to ruin his mood. He reminded him that he was here because of that Derek guy, that he was his client.

"Are you sure we shouldn't go in to make sure he's even there?"

Aaron clutched the steering wheel tightly, keeping his voice even as he shook his head, "No. Even if we did find him, we probably wouldn't get out alive. If they are not here, we'll try another location tomorrow and so on. And once we find out where they are, we figure out when Morgan will be alone and get him."

The plan sounded logical enough for his client to nod in agreement. Aaron didn't mention that he was already pretty sure that they wouldn't find anyone here –or that it would be easy for him to quickly get into the building unnoticed, kill some guards and drag a still-human out of there before Rossi would even notice. The full moon –Morgan's deadline -was still a week away anyway and this way, he would have some more evenings with Spencer.

Another two hours later:

There was no change, still no movement. Not that Aaron had expected it. He was staring at the windshield blankly, completely honed in on Spencer.

The young man next to him had been lost in thought for a while now, clearly oblivious still to the fact that Aaron was currently only mesmerized by the sound of his heart beat, fixated on him instead of the supposed surveillance mission.

He was currently conducting an experiment of sorts. Now that he had Spencer close to him again, he wanted to test how hard it would really be to be in the human's presence.

So far it was going pretty good. Yes, the heartbeat had him on edge, distracting him greatly and Spencer's scent was all enveloping, making his mouth water -but it wasn't unbearable. He could think past it. The realization gave him hope, lifting his mood slightly.

They had been quiet for a long time now it seemed, Aaron simply staring out of the window, pretending to observe the on goings in the building when he heard them grow more and more shallow, his pulse slowing slightly. He looked over to the passenger's seat, only to realize that Spencer had dozed off right there, his body slack with exhaustion, his head facing him.

Aaron stared at the kid's face for a long time, marveling at the way it was illuminated by the street lamps outside. He couldn't remember the last time a human had been relaxed enough to fall asleep around him. He found he like it.

For the longest time he just sat there in the darkness, taking in very little detail of Spencer's face, pondering the situation. Fact was, he hadn't been this attracted to someone in a long time. He had made it a habit to stay away from humans as much as he could, because any connection ultimately always ended in pain for one or both parties. He didn't want Spencer to get hurt.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an unmistakable sound from outside. Within half a second he was completely alert.

With a flash he was outside of the car and across the street; not three feet from him a slender figure separated from the shadows, swaying towards him. Her dark brown hair swayed in the wind, the moonlight gleaming off the sharp fangs in her mouth.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" a feminine voice chided him quietly, disapproving.

The male vampire frowned deeply, glaring at the woman approaching him.

"I'm observing David Rossi."

"Clearly," the woman said in a clipped tone, her dark eyes flashing with irritation, "What I would like to know is why. And why you are doing it while some skinny college kid is sleeping in your car?"

Aaron glared at her, not pleased to have his motives questioned. She didn't have any authority over him but he knew he should better answer her anyway and maybe try to get her on his side before she decided to rat him out to Gideon. The old man probably wouldn't be happy with his extracurricular activities.

"I'm helping him find his friend," he shrugged, "Dave kidnapped him apparently."

He had hoped the mention of David would distract her from Spencer's presence but of course she was far too sharp for that.

"Aaron, what's really going on here?", she called him out, "You know that if David Rossi took anyone it's for one reason and one reason only. It's a full moon soon. Whoever it is, they are probably going to turn that night. If you're going to kill him, do it before, or better yet go to Gideon for help."

Aaron scoffed quietly, "Don't say you're worried about me, Elle."

"Of course I am," she stepped closer, her expression softening slightly, "You've been alive much longer than I, you know perfectly well an encounter with a werewolf could kill you. The Aaron I know wouldn't risk it, especially not over a couple of humans."

"It won't come to that," he shook his head, sure of himself.

"Of course it will. You know Rossi wants us dead, as does everyone in his pack. The Balance has barely been kept up these past decades, and only because of The Truce. Gideon worked hard on achieving that. Are you really going to risk ruining it all? For what?"

To that, he could have given a lot of different answers, a lot of excuses; he chose not to because he knew Elle had already figured him out anyway. The female vampire sighed, expression now truly worried and more than a little irritated.

"You want him that badly? He tastes good enough to risk all of our lives?"

"No!" Aaron growled, eyes flashing red. Elle took a step back in surprise, not used to seeing him lose his composure. Aaron sighed, shooting her an apologetic glance as he tried to calm down.

"No, I don't want him as food. I want him to be mine. In every aspect."

He wasn't surprised to see Elle's eyes widen at his words. Like him, the concept of vampires caring for humans this way was only a matter of legends to her. His heart was racing in fear that this confession might be used against him, especially if she told The Council –but it was the safest thing to do at the same time. This way every vampire would soon know he had a claim on Spencer.

Elle caught herself surprisingly quickly, and he was grateful for it. He was also grateful she didn't ask him if he wasn't scared to accidentally kill the human, or questioned his capability to even truly care for a human at all.

She merely looked over to the car, where Spencer was still napping, quiet for a long moment.

"Does he know what you are?" she finally asked.

The lack of answer was answer enough.

"What if he doesn't want you once he finds out? You know we can't risk him spreading our secrets." She shook her head sadly. "If you ask me, you're in for a whole lot of pain."

With that, Aaron knew he'd had enough of the conversation. He didn't want to hear her talk like that, didn't want to be reminded of his own worries.

"I'm not asking you, Elle."

With that, he turned around and walked away from her. When he was under the street lights on the other side of the street he glanced back, only to find she was already gone.

I know, not much happened again apart from a little hinting at the War. Very sorry. This was a longer chapter but I really wanted to post it today. I will try to post the second part in a couple of days.

Next is a little more bonding, then Morgan makes a visit to Reid, and someone unwanted becomes aware of Hotchs fascination with Spencer.