oh boy. this is the chapter everyone has been waiting. for. goodness I hope i portrayed Reid ok and he's not too OOC. Feed back would be greatly appreciated! And don't worry! The story isn't over yet!

As soon as the team got wind that Emily and Spencer were hostages, they sped as fast as they could to the scene, all the while Ally wishing this wasn't happening again.

After the failed attempt to storm the church and the accidental shooting of the other officer that was with the two agents, Hotch, Rossi, Morgan and Ally were at a loss.

They sat back and listened to Emily take the blame of being the FBI agent, sparing Reid, and have the life practically beaten out of her. Morgan threw his headphones down and stormed off as Hotch and Rossi listened in silent anger and sadness.

"We'll get them back Derek." Ally said when she she went after him. But she couldn't convince herself of that. Reid was again in a situation far from her reach and she could feel herself breaking down. If he didn't get out of this in one piece, she didn't know what she'd do.

When a plan was finally formed, Ally overheard Hotch and Rossi.

"I know I can't go in there." said Hotch

"I'm going." said Rossi

"If something happens to Prentiss or Reid, I don't know..." he couldn't finish and looked down at the ground. Rossi just nodded and said;

"You're not alone." Once Rossi had walked off Ally walked up to Hotch and put a hand on his shoulder. A simple gesture, that made him look at her and give her a tiny smile for a thank you.

Reid had been completely blindsided by all of this. The taking of the hostages, Emily covering for him, her being beaten and Cyrus somehow trusting him. It was a little too much for even his brain to try and process, so instead he switched his train of thought.

He thought about past cases, the good times he and his mom had, the good feelings he used to get when he passed a class or wrote a really good paper...

Or when Ally would compliment his mis-matched socks, or poke fun at the unhealthy amount of sugar they both took in their coffee...

He knew she had to be upset. She could see it after the Tobias Hankel incident, but she would never admit to it. Like him, the team was her family and when something disrupted, or threatened that, she got upset. It wasn't like she liked him or anything. But he wished that was the reason.

When he listened to Emily being beaten his brain imagined it was Ally instead and something like rage welled up inside him. It took everything he had to keep cool and act like Emily was nothing more than a person he met that morning.

Everyone was geared up and ready for the strike. Morgan and Rossi were going in while Ally and Hotch were going to be waiting outside. When the time came both men and the rest of the group going in made their move. As the minutes ticked by, Ally could only imagine what was going on in there and had her hand hovering over her gun, waiting for the creep who did this to show his face.

Then suddenly there was a deafening boom followed by light and heat.

Hotch and Allison doubled over and covered their heads as the building exploded right before them. As they looked up at the fire blazing in front of them, Ally felt something change inside of her. Where were Morgan, Emily and... Reid?

Slowly figures became visible through the smoke and she spotted Emily and ran for her. They embraced and she took in the sight of her battered friend.

"Em, what did he-"

"It's nothing. I'm alright." They both turned and she could hear Emily whispering they boys' names. Ally felt her heart start to splinter as the moments ticked by with still no sign of them.

'Please... God please no...' her mind said, over and over.

But suddenly they were there, coughing and sputtering, Reid's slicked back hair a complete mess, both covered in ash and soot. Emily ran to them. She hugged Reid so tight, and Ally felt the lump in her throat.

She turned on her heal an walked off to the nearest SUV, tearing her vest off in the process and leaned up against the vehicle. Her body felt weak as the full force of everything came crashing over her, her legs no longer able to bare her weight. She slide down to the ground and let herself cry.

Though she didn't get to cry long, for Morgan was suddenly at her side.

"Those better be tears of happiness at seeing me alive kid." He said with a smirk. Any other time she would laugh but she just put her head on her knees, not even trying to cover up the tears. She felt him kneel next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"He's alright Allison. We all are. It's going to be alright."

But that was just the problem. They may be alright now, but who knew what the next case would bring. And that's when she decided this was it. After two and half years of pining and suffering, this was the last day he wouldn't know. She couldn't go through this anymore.

The plane ride was quiet. Allison was far from everyone else, staring out the window. She watched as Emily and Reid exchanged some kind of conversation, but other than that, she kept to herself.

Reid listened to what Emily had to say and smiled at her when she told him not to blame himself. He was half upset about the beating, half upset that Ally had disappeared when he emerged from the building, and had been avoiding him ever since.

When back at headquarters, and all settled in for a night of paperwork, Allison made her move.

"Hey Spence." she said quietly, giving him a small smile when he looked up.

"Oh. Hi Ally." He felt his heart thump at the attention she was finally giving him.

"How...how are you?" she asked, and he heard the concern, and slight guilt for not asking sooner in her voice.

"I'm fine," he said giving her a reassuring smile. "An explosion wasn't the worst thing that's happened to me. You know that. Also, the probability of me getting out in time was very high. We were quite close to the door so-" Usually Ally would have loved to hear this, but not right now.

"Reid, I need to talk to you about something." she said, interrupting him and staring at her feet. He tilted his head to the side called him 'Reid', and when she did that it was only when she was being very serious and needed to get a point across with out him rambling on.

"Uh, ok. How bout we go for a walk?" He said when he noticed Morgan and Prentiss watching them from afar. Did they know something he didn't? Ally nodded and followed him to the elevator.

They didn't talk. Even when they got outside and began walking it was silent. Reid was starting to get nervous, and was about to say something when she finally spoke up.

"Spencer when I saw that building explode... a part of me went with it when I realized you were still in there." His eyebrows scrunched together.

"I have stood on the sidelines and watched you go through so much. You were hostage after hostage, kidnapped, beaten, drugged," Her voice cracked a little and she had to stop for a moment.

"I watched you take those drugs from Hankel," she whispered. "I could have stopped you. I could have said something. But instead I let you take them, and watched you get addicted. You changed right before my eyes into someone I didn't know because I let it happen. Today... was just the final blow." Reid was momentarily stunned silent.

"Don't blame yourself for that. It's not your fault... and everything else? As Hotch would say, it comes with the job. I knew that when I took it and so did you."

"I know it comes with the job Spencer, but don't you think it's become too much of yours? Plus look at Hotch now. Divorced and unable to see his son," she said, a trace of anger coming through. Reid had to admit she had a point.

"What do you mean by 'final blow'?" he asked. She finally stopped walking and sighed, clearly working up the courage to say something. He watched her and waited patiently for a response. After a few more moments she looked up at him.

"I cannot have you go anywhere from this point on without telling you how I feel. Because if I don't, and something happens to you, something that you don't come out of, I'll never forgive myself."

His face must have shifted to a confused look because she shook her head as the corner of her mouth turned up in a half smile.

"You know Spence, for a genius you can be really thick sometimes."

He couldn't help but smile too, because again she had a point. Women were still a mystery to him.

"I like you Spencer. More than I should given that we work together. You don't know how hard I tried not to. Every time you were hurt all I wanted to do was hug you. All those stories you told about when you were a kid, I wished I had been around to be there for you, to stand up for you. I honestly don't care about the work thing anymore. If by some miracle you feel the same, I'll tell Hotch that I resign. But if not," She looked down at her feet again, and began scuffing them across the pavement. "Then I guess I should still resign to avoid the awkwardness and-"

"Allison," he said, cutting her off. This was really happening. He couldn't believe it. She liked him. He hadn't felt this way since Lila. This feeling of wanting to be with someone all the time. He was ready to burst with excitement. She looked at him. "I uh... I like you too. I have for sometime now."

Her eyes widened. "R...really?"

He nodded. "And statistically 44% of inter-office relationships lead to marriage." 'Marriage? Where did that come from?' he thought.

She let out a stifled laugh. "Do you think we'd make that statistic?" she asked, and inched a little closer to him. "You know, considering that Rossi practically made up the rule, and Hotch never gets the stick out of his ass."

He smiled. "Yes. I believe there's a fairly high chance of us making it. A relationship that is. Plus, no one has to know."

"Really? Fairly high, huh?" she said, moving closer. They were only a few inches apart now.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah... I'd like to think that we um, w-would fight for this if we both wanted it." he said, fumbling over his words from their closeness.

"And no one has to know? Being a bit of a rebel are we Spencer?" she teased and he laughed to himself. A gust of wind shot through the air, sending chills up both of their spines.

Reid reached out and moved a strand of her hair away from her face, then gently laid it on her cheek. She smiled at him, and slowly stretched up onto her tip toes. They both leaned in and their lips touched. Immediately, Reid's other hand came up to frame her face, and Ally's arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer. It felt as though every thing had just dropped into place. No more dancing around their feelings. It was finally out there. They broke apart and Ally rested her head against his forehead, their hearts both pounding in their chests.

"We should head back in." Reid breathed out, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb. She just hummed in response, leaning up to kiss him again and they got lost in each other for a moment. Ally didn't want to go in just yet.

When they broke apart this time, Reid dropped his hand from her face, and took one of her hands in his, interlacing their fingers.

"Come on. They'll get suspicious." Reluctantly she agreed, but only on one condition.

"What?" he asked her.

"Dinner. My place. Tomorrow night." He just smiled and nodded. She leaned up and kissed him again before they made their way back towards the FBI building. This would take some getting used to. On both ends. But deep down, both of them knew that now that they had each other, nothing was going to ever take that away from them.