A/N I'm sorry this is late, I DID warn you I was a bitch about updating from the beginning, not my fault you didn't listen! *dodges flaming pitchforks* I SAID I'M SORRY!

Warning: I decided to slyly slip in some more Hotchniss here, to balance the subtlety of last time :P Also, this chapter is extra sweet'n'fluffy to make up for the gutter-mindedness of the last chapter.

A shoutout to the ever-amazing livesinjournals, without whom this chapter would not exist, so kisses to you, and thanks for being my awesome Reiver buddy!

Disclaimer:

Me: NO!

Alex Blake: If you do...

Me: What?

Alex Blake: I'll teach you any language you want.

Me: I DON'T OWN CRIMINAL MINDS IT'S ALL PROPERTY OF CBS NOW TEACH ME KLINGON

Day 10: With Animal Ears

Ashley Seaver was sitting on the floor of Spencer Reid's living room, going through a dusty stack of old family albums.

It wasn't really spying, per se. It was more like just...poking around a bit.

So when a loud squeal brought Spencer running to his living room, he was completely unjustified in yelling, "ASHLEY! What are you DOING?!"

She looked innocently up at him. "What does it look like?"

"You- you're going through my personal-" he spluttered.

"I was just curious." That damn innocent look was winning him over. He could feel it. His defenses were crumbling, his initial anger softening into curiosity.

He sighed, giving up. "Okay, I'll bite. What caused you to elicit that unearthly sound?"

"This." She held up an album, turned to a page that Spencer recognized.

"Oh." He was dead.

"You never told me that you dressed up as Mickey Mouse for Halloween!" Ashley accused.

Spencer facepalmed. "That's not the kind of thing you're supposed to tell your crazy girlfriend."

"Why, thank you." She beamed at him.

"Now, about the picture," she said. He groaned.

"Have you ever seen those baby picture recreations?"

"What?"

"Like this." Pulling out her phone, she google-image searched it and pulled a few up. "See? Aren't they adorable?" she squealed.

"I guess, but wha- oh." He had finally put two and two together.

"So, I was thinking..." she began.

"No!" he exclaimed vehemently.

Ashley looked hurt. "You didn't even give me a chance."

At her face, Spencer relented. "All right, what?"

"We can do that with THIS picture!" she said excitedly.

He crossed his arms. "And what makes you think I'd agree to that?"

"You get to choose a baby picture of mine to do the same with." Her tone was suddenly businesslike.

Spencer considered it, then grinned. "We have a deal."

REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!

"No! Not that one!" she yelped, yanking a picture out of his hand.

"What?" He hadn't even gotten a chance to look at it.

"It's, um, very personal," Ashley explained, avoiding his eyes.

"Stuttering, avoiding eye contact, fidgeting, blushing - you know what I think, Agent Seaver? I think you're lying." And before Ashley even had a chance he ripped the picture out of her hand.

"Aha!" It was perfect for his needs.

Now it was her turn to groan and cover her face with her hands. "I would have been happy if you had never seen that."

"Too bad!" Spencer crowed. "That's what you get when you dress up as Minnie Mouse for Halloween!"

REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!

"Oh, this is really gonna suck,"** Ashley muttered as she looked herself up and down in the mirror: red-and-white polka-dotted dress, wide black belt, and, of course, the signature matching hair bow and ears.

"This is ridiculous." Spencer tugged at his too-short suit jacket, trying in vain to cover the huge gold buttons on his red pants. The mouse ears were just icing on the cake.

He knocked on the door of the bathroom. "Ashley? Are you done yet?" What takes women so much time to get ready? he wondered.

"Almost!"

"That's what you said half an hour ago!"

"But this time, I really mean it." Spencer rolled his eyes.

"Ready to face the fabulousness?" she called back.

"Undoubtedly."

The bathroom door opened. He stared.

"Went a little overboard with the polka dots, did we?"

Ashley's face took on the color of her dress - without the polka dots, obviously."What do you mean, 'overboard'?" she asked indignantly.

"You didn't have to coordinate the heels with the dress," Spencer pointed out.

"But I wanted to." She stuck out her chin and crossed her arms, looking so much like a petulant 5 year old at that moment that he laughed.

"Fine, let's go." He offered her his elbow. Giggling a little, she took it, and they walked out to the car.

"At least we'll look like a couple. No one will dare to hit on either of us." Ashley was ever the optimist.

"You'd think," Spencer muttered, thinking of Lola Archwood.

REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!

The plan was for them to go the carnival with the rest of the team.

They had not planned for the team's reactions.

As they approached the waiting Morgan, Garcia, Hotch, Emily, JJ, and Rossi, Spencer watched them all carefully, timing their reaction times.

Morgan looked up and spit out his drink in about 4 seconds, JJ, Emily, and Garcia (it was scary how synchronized they were) all squealed at approximately 6 seconds, Rossi started coughing violently at around 9 seconds, and Hotch, well, the clock was left running thanks to his 24/7 poker face.

"This is new." Rossi was the first to actually achieve coherent speech. "You do know that Halloween was weeks ago, right?"

"This isn't for Halloween," Ashley muttered.

"You two are the most adorable couple!" JJ squealed.

"After Hotch and Emily, that is," Garcia muttered loud enough for them all to hear. The brunettes in question flushed.

"I think it's a tie, actually," Rossi mused.

"Let's go before the lines get too long," Emily said loudly, partly to cover her embarrassment and partly to prevent further discussion of who was the cuter couple. Good thing the team didn't know what happened after they had woken up...

Hotch agreed profusely (the rest of them exchanged knowing looks) and the BAU proceeded to enter the carnival.

"Ooooh!" Ashley yanked on Spencer's arm. "Let's go on the Super Shaker!"

As no one had really bothered to figure out what to do, they all conceded. Entering the tiny, uncomfortable two-person booth, Spencer was starting to really regret that he had agreed. The huge machine was looking pretty creaky to him right about now.

But there was no turning back.

"Get ready to ride the rip-tootin', horn-hootin', free-for-all SUPER SHAKER!" yelled the operator in a cheesy cowboy accent.

"Oh boy," someone muttered underneath their breath.

REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!

The BAU climbed shakily off of the ride. JJ was the first to speak.

"Never...again." She voiced all of their thoughts.

"Never again letting Ashley choose the ride of never again riding that particular ride?" Rossi asked sarcastically.

"Both."

"Hey!" Ashley protested. "It's not like any of you were making any suggestions!"

"I'm sure that, given time, we would have come to a better conclusion." Hotch was trying to preserve his unshakable-boss facade, which they all saw through quite easily.

"Let's just go on ...I don't know, the Tunnel of Love," Emily offered.

"Yeah!" Garcia agreed enthusiastically.

"What? We're grown adults!" Morgan protested.

"Not today, Hot Stuff." Garcia yanked Morgan towards the queue.

They looked at each other and sighed.

"Do we really have a choice?" Spencer asked rhetorically.

"Unless you want to suffer the wrath of Penelope Garcia..." Hotch trailed off. They all knew what that would be like.

They followed the pair.

REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!

"Can't you two keep your hands off each other for more than an hour?" Morgan was getting a kick out of teasing Spencer and Ashley.

"Shut up, Morgan," Spencer muttered, rubbing his cheek where an old Russian lady had decided to pinch him...hard.

"But really? Making out in the Tunnel of Love? I think you traumatized that little kid behind you two. He'll never look at Micky and Minnie the same way again."

"Congratulations," Hotch deadpanned.

"Hey, you two aren't ones to talk. Just because you're in the back doesn't mean we don't know what went on back there." Garcia wiggled her eyebrows.

"Shaddup," Emily mumbled.

"How mature." JJ wasn't about to not throw in her own two cents.

"Let's just go get something to eat," Rossi suggested.

Everyone was pretty hungry, so off they went to raid the food cart.

"Ooooh, you two are just adorable!" the old lady running the cart squealed, pinching Spencer's cheek again, in the EXACT SAME PLACE where the other old lady had pinched him, causing him to wince. "Mickey and Minnie! Ah, I remember the days..." She handed them all their cotton candy. To Ashley she whispered conspicuously, "Don't let him get away, sugar pie. He's a good 'un."

At least Morgan had the decency to wait until they were out of earshot to say, in what had to be the worst imitation of an old lady's voice ever, "Yeah, Ash. He sure is a good 'un."

"Let's just not." Rossi cut off yet another inevitable bout of teasing-and-retaliation starring Morgan and Spencer.

"Ferris Wheel!" Garcia suddenly exclaimed.

Not that they had a choice.

REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!

Of course they would get stuck at the top.

Of course they would get down to the bottom in the middle of yet another passionate make-out session.

Of course Morgan would now have enough ammo to last for months of teasing.

REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!REIVER!

After they got home from that mortifying carnival trip, Ashley and Spencer flopped down on that infamous default-flopping-down place, the couch.

"Y'know, I kind of like you with polka dots," Spencer commented, fiddling with Ashley's bow.

She was about to laugh when she caught the tender look in his eyes.

"Well, at least I know you can rock the big gold buttons." She smiled at him.

He smiled back. "You know, I'm fairly certain I'm in love with you, Agent Seaver."

She almost froze. Neither of them had ever said the words "I love you" to each other yet.

But, she didn't have to think too much about her reply.

"I'm fairly sure I share that sentiment, Dr. Reid. I love you too."

Because, really, what says love more than dressing up as the counterpart to your partner's cartoon character costume?

A/N Whew! Finally finished that! I know, it's ridiculously late, but I've never exactly been one for punctuality :P My next chapter will probably be an actual drabble-length chapter, I have a lot to catch up with...BTS soon, which won't help :/

Reviews are love!

**First person to recognize who and which episode that line was said in gets blue virtual cookies!