TAKES PLACE SHORTLY BEFORE THEIR FIRST CHRISTMAS AS A COUPLE

"Find anything?" Spencer asked.

Avery looked up from the book she was holding to see Spencer waiting, one hand in his jacket pocket and the other curled around a book.

"Russian history." She said, closing the volume. "You?"

"Brief History of Time." He said, holding up the book.

Avery gave him a puzzled look.

"You've already got a copy."

"It's not for me." Spencer corrected. "No, it's for Henry. For Christmas."

"You can't get him that." Avery chuckled.

"Oh..." Spencer glanced down at the volume in his hand. "Why not? I loved it as a kid."

"Of course you did." Avery took the book gently from him, brushing past him and down the aisles of books, leading him back into the crowded shop toward the young reader's section.

"Kids books?" Spencer asked skeptically. "You don't think they're kind of... pandering?"

"To you, perhaps, Doctor Reid."

Spencer blushed at the name. She only called him doctor when she teased him.

"But he's not you." She trailed her finger along the edge of the shelf in front of her, scanning the titles. "He's a little boy. He likes...video games and Saturday morning cartoons, and... aha."

She pulled a brightly colored book from the shelf and handed it to her boyfriend.

"And grossing out his mum."

"Hands-on Grossology?" Spencer's brow furrowed. "What-"

"Science for kids." Avery assured.

"Science isn't gross." Spencer countered.

Avery gave him a doubtful look.

"I mean, there are some facets-" He amended.

"Henry's not you." She interrupted. "I know you want him to grow up and be brilliant, and he will. But there's time for him to be a kid, too."

Spencer considered her words as he looked at the title.

Avery shrugged. "I mean, if it were - " She stopped abruptly.

Spencer looked up. "What?"

"Nothing." She said quickly, her eyes wide.

"What?" He asked again.

"No, nothing." Avery repeated, shaking her head. "It was...weird." she added lamely.

"You were going to say "if it were our kid." Spencer finished her thought.

Avery jammed her eyes shut and turned away from him, her face flushing in embarrassment.

"Yeah." She admitted, fidgeting. "Slip of the tongue. Sorry. Really, really sorry."

"Why?" The young doctor asked, grinning.

Avery looked confused, her mouth suddenly dry.

"I - I mean, I just... we've only been dating, like... two months?" She said. "You don't think -"

Spencer shrugged "There are arguments that evolutionarily speaking, dating is a way to seek out and establish an ideal mate. Finding someone with similar goals and mores is programmed into us, not just for interpersonal closeness, but at it's basest root, for psychological well-being and even survival." He nodded, swallowing before adding quietly. "It seems reasonable at some point we'd talk about what we want for our futures."

Avery's eyes moved over the rows and rows of crowded shelves without seeing as she processed his response.

"Okay..." She said, a quiver of surprise still echoing in her voice. "Um... well, do you want the whole... family thing? Kids? Marriage? All that?"

Spencer tilted his head to the side, his gaze shifting away from her as he thought over his response. "I do. I don't know that I ever considered it a real possibility until I met Maeve, but... yeah, it's something I want."

He looked to her. "You?"

Avery jammed her balled fists into her jacket pocket, the way she did when she felt self-conscious and unsure of what to do with her hands.

"Uh... Yeah." She nodded. "Yeah, I guess when I imagine my future, I've always pictured kids..."

Spencer nodded. "Right."

"Right." Avery echoed, eager to change the subject. "Coffee?"

"Sounds great." Spencer tapped the children's book rapidly with his fingertips. "Just have to ring this up."

He turned, heading back toward the front of the shop, where the narrow cashier's desk stood. Avery breathed a silent sigh of relief, butterflies fluttering wildly in her stomach.