Chapter 12
Spencer looked over to the passenger seat, watching Scarlett play with the kitten. Mama cat slept contentedly on her lap while the fluffy ball of fur kept climbing into Scarlett's hair.
"We can stop at the pet store that's over off of Wisconsin Ave," she told him, pulling the kitten off her shoulder and nuzzling him. "I know it's a chain store, but odds are they are open Christmas Eve… and we've got to get Gus-Gus some food, yes we do…" she started baby talking to the kitten as it licked her nose and started to try nibbling on it.
"Gus-Gus?" Spencer laughed as she cooed at the kitten. "Where did you come up with that?" he asked.
Scarlett held the little grey fuzzball in both her hands up to her face. "From Cinderella? The chubby mouse?" she reminded him.
Spencer thought about that a moment, shaking his head. "I don't remember a mouse in Cinderella…" he frowned.
"Not the fairy tale, farm boy… the Disney cartoon. Tell me you've never seen the cartoon," she stated and saw him shake his head. "Alright then, I'll make a note to have a Disney marathon with you one day…" she giggled as the kitten patted her nose with his paws.
"Don't cats chase mice?" he asked, his brows furrowing. "Do you really want to name a cat after a mouse?" he teased.
Scarlett giggled as the kitten nipped her nose. "Oh, geez…" she rolled her eyes. "I didn't think about that… Fine then, he's Walter…" she told him.
Spencer laughed. "Walter? Why Walter?" he asked as he pulled into the pet store parking lot. He put the car in park and looked over at Scarlett.
She pulled the kitten out of her hair again. "He looks like a 'Walter'," she shrugged, looking into the kitten's face.
"He likes being up on your shoulder…" Spencer observed, as Walter sunk his baby claws into her shirt, trying to get back in her neck and hair.
Scarlett let out an exaggerated sigh as she unhooked him again. She set the baby down in the box of blankets at her feet. The mother cat moved off Scarlett's lap to lie down in the box next to the kitten.
"Good momma," Scarlett praised as she rubbed the larger cat's head. "She's such a precious girl…" she crooned.
Spencer shook his head as he watched her interact with the cats. "If I had known you loved cats so much, I would've suggested we get one before now…" he mentioned.
"I never really thought about it… I never had a pet," she admitted, still petting the mother cat's head.
"Never? Not even a goldfish?" he asked, interested in her past. He slid out of the driver's seat and moved around to open her door.
"No…" she stated as he took her hand, helping her out of the car.
"John had a python that I used to pet and carry around…" she told him as they entered the store. "And he had horses… but neither of those are really 'pets' that you cuddle up on the couch with," she mused. "Well, sometimes I did with Voodoo, but he was exceptional for a snake…"
Spencer watched her wide eyed. "You could cuddle a snake?" he squeaked.
Scarlett laughed at his stricken look. "Spence, he was a pet… John raised him from a hatchling. I didn't pick up a wild snake and wrap it around my neck," she teased.
"Still…" he said with a grimace.
"Awe, Voodoo was a sweetheart. He would keep his head next to my ear and whisper to me," she grinned at the memory. "He was beautiful…"
Spencer shivered and gave her a smile. "I'll take your word for it, and stick to cats and dogs, myself," he teased as he took a cart.
They headed over to the cat aisle, hand in hand. Spencer pulled a cat box off one of the top shelves while Scarlett grabbed a bag of food tossing it in the buggy.
"I sort of had a dog, once," Scarlett commented, placing a bag of litter into the growing pile of necessities.
Spencer smiled over at her. "How do you 'sort of' have a dog?" he asked.
"Mmm, well, it was a little mutt from the streets. I fed him and played with him every day. But when it started getting cold at night, I felt sorry for him, so I brought it home. I thought, maybe, if I was quiet, I could keep it hidden in my bedroom," she gave a soft smile, remembering the little dog.
"I was eight- well, almost eight, my birthday was coming up… so I gave myself a birthday present…" she shook her head sadly.
Spencer watched her eyes closely. "What happened?" he asked quietly, realizing at that age, she would have still been under Rowan's care.
"I couldn't have a pet…" she shrugged. "I, uh… so I cleaned him up really good and found him a home with the family up the street," she smiled. "He ended up having a good family," she told him.
Scarlett rubbed her hands on her jeans nervously, fidgeting. Spencer noticed and took her hands. Standing before her, he kept his gaze locked on hers.
"What happened?" he asked her again, bringing her hands to his lips. He didn't want to push her, but bits and pieces of her life only came about in moments like these. So he watched her eyes, making sure she wasn't going into a flashback, and asked the question.
He could see she was uncomfortable, but her eyes stayed clear and fixed on his. She sighed heavily.
"I kept the pup in my room for two days without Rowan knowing," she told him. "The third day, he found me sneaking it food. He threatened to kill it, right then, in front of me for bringing it inside his house," she pushed the story out, holding on to Reid's hands tightly.
"I let the little guy go, knowing I'd find him later, letting him escape…" she shrugged. "Then, that's what I did… I found him, and got him to that family. I told them we weren't able to keep him anymore."
Spencer felt her pull her hands from his. She moved them to her neck, rubbing at it. Her eyes started to change, looking away from him.
"Scarlett," he called her attention back to him. She shook her head, clearing the images and focusing back on him. She took a deep steadying breath.
"He, um… he wrapped a belt around my neck, choking me… as a punishment," she told Spencer in a quiet voice, following through with the rest of the story.
"I'm not sorry I did it, though. He was a sweet pup," she stated, as if defending herself.
Spencer took her hands again, pulling them away from where she was still nervously rubbing at her neck, as if trying to remove the belt.
"Scarlett," he said her name softly, pulling her closer, keeping his voice equally low.
"You were eight. You wanted a puppy. You did nothing wrong and never deserved to be treated that way…" he told her firmly. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, hiding his face from her, his brow furrowing in anger and pain when he imagined what she'd gone through.
"What was the pup's name?" he asked her, knowing she'd remember, as he moved so his chin rested against her head. Scarlett swiped at the tears in her eyes and gave a slight chuckle, knowing he was redirecting her thoughts away from the bad images.
"Spot…" she gave him a half-hearted giggle, poking him when she heard his laugh. "I didn't have much of an imagination…"
Spencer held her another moment, as she collected herself. "Hey, 'Walter' is very imaginative," he reminded her, pressing a kiss to her hair.
She laughed. "I've gotten better as I've gotten older," she told him, giving him a tight hug.
"Mmm-hmm," he responded, moving his hands up to frame her face, pulling her eyes to meet his, dropping a kiss to her lips. When she looked at him, her still damp eyes full of love and trust; his heart skipped a beat in his chest.
"I don't even know when your birthday is…" Spencer confessed, her story reminding him to the fact.
Scarlett sighed. "I don't celebrate my birthday, Spence. Bad things always seem to manage to happen on my birthday," she scowled.
They kept talking as they walked through the store.
"How so?" he asked her. "And I'd still like to know it…"
Scarlett moved to stand on the back of the cart as he pushed it up the next aisle. She took some toys from the shelf, tossing them in the basket.
"It's October 13th…" she scowled. "My birthday is a jinx. I refused to celebrate it, that's why you hadn't heard it mentioned. Derek and Pens know better…"
"Scarlett," Spencer started with his 'you can't really believe that' tone and she threw him a dark look.
"Seriously, Reid… I do not consider that my birthday," she huffed; looking around to make certain nobody was within earshot.
"That day Morgan came and took me to the ER… the one you've seen the police reports of?" she saw him cringe inwardly and nodded. "Exactly… Spencer, that was my thirteen birthday. The ones before were variations of that… So please, please understand when I tell you I am very serious about not celebrating it… Bad things happen on my birthday…" she bit her lips together.
Spencer thought back a couple months, trying to remember where they were or what they'd done on her birthday past, to try to show her it couldn't be all bad…
Scarlett watched his face, seeing clearly that he was trying to pull up an argument against what she was telling him. She tilted her head.
"So I just ignore it…" he asked, still trying to remember seeing the date in his mind. Nothing was coming to him.
"Yes…" she told him, hopping off the back of the cart and stepping up to him. She reached up to touch the lines on his forehead. "You're going to give yourself an aneurysm," she teased. Spencer watched her.
"You know…" he crossed his arms. "Why can't I remember anything from October 13th ?" he asked.
Scarlett rested her head against his chest for a second, listening to his heart.
"You were in surgery that day, boy… The doctors had some follow up to work on, with your injuries from Alaska… remember now?" she asked, running her hand over his torso where she knew some of the scars still rode on his skin.
"Oh…" he stayed quiet for a moment, watching the top of her head as she traced the scars that lay under his clothes.
"Sorry," he told her. Scarlett picked her head up at that and met his eyes. She tried not to giggle.
"Spence… you can't be 'sorry', you didn't do anything," she teased, shaking her head. "It's not as if you decided to go out and get stabbed," she rolled her eyes.
"If I'd known it was your birthday, I'd have had them schedule the surgery for a different day," he told her.
Scarlett nodded. "Precisely why I never mentioned it," she told him.
"Anyway," she pulled away from him a little, starting to push the cart towards the cashiers. "I don't celebrate that date. After the hospital, when Ian went into hiding, I got to stay with Frannie. I moved in with them for Halloween, so if we celebrate anything, I do it then… Mama calls it my 'gotme' day," she chuckled.
Tilting her head back, she looked up at Spencer. "Can you understand?" she asked him.
Spencer nodded, kissing her forehead. "I understand," he told her. He grinned slightly. "You're 'gotme' day wasn't bad this year then," he said thinking back. "You went to a party at least," he said, meaning Rossi's Halloween party.
They paid the bill, leaving the store and began packing their purchases into the trunk.
"Umm-hmm," Scarlett agreed, reaching over as she dropped a bag in, touching his face. "As I recall, I also proposed and you said yes…" she grinned.
Spencer took her hand. "And you are wearing my ring," he said, kissing her fingers. She turned her hand, running her thumb lightly across his lips.
"So… you are trying new ways to figure out how to work around my mental malfunctions…" she mentioned casually, switching the conversation completely once they were alone in the car. Scarlett peeked into the box where the cats slept, checking on them.
Spencer saw her grin and shrugged. "I hadn't realized I was being quite so obvious," he told her, knowing there was no sense in denying it. "I hope you aren't mad… I just, I want to hear more about you. I like hearing about your past…"
"But it's a minefield, and so you decided to learn how to avoid or defuse the bombs as we navigate through them," she stated.
Spencer cocked his head at her. "That's one way to put it, I guess. I was thinking more of like a chess game…"
Scarlett laughed. "A chess game isn't going to blow up in your face, as I'm likely to do…"
"You're not, you are getting better at saying what you are thinking, instead of 'blowing up'," he told her.
"You direct me to think of other things…" she told him, letting him see what she'd noticed.
Spencer blushed slightly, hoping she wasn't getting angry, knowing how she felt about being treated like a study…
Scarlett saw his discomfort, letting him squirm for a moment before she leaned over the car seat and kissed his cheek.
"I'm grateful," she told him quietly.
The words were not what he expected. Spencer looked down at her quizzically.
"For what?" he asked her.
Scarlett took his hand, tracing her finger along his palm. She watched the lines that crossed his hand, instead of his eyes. She could feel her embarrassment burn on her cheeks.
"For so many things, Spencer… First, I'm grateful for the fact that you've hung on with me, instead of running away from my insanity. You've looked at me as puzzle, something worth putting together to see the big picture. Secondly, for not throwing in the towel and saying, 'this isn't worth the aggravation', when I've closed up and closed you off… you just held me and waited patiently," she told him, meeting his eyes briefly.
"You are still waiting, still being patient with me," she told him, shaking her head slightly as she looked away again.
"Then for caring enough to try to work around those mines… to help me try to navigate through them also… and for holding me, keeping me safe when I do trip one off… You give me hope, that maybe I can learn… Maybe finally be normal…"
"Scarlett," he took her chin, pulling her face up to meet his eyes. "You aren't abnormal," he told her. "You are special. You see things so differently… hell, you see me differently… and that amazes me. You amaze me. I want to learn everything, how your mind works, why you think the way you do, how you see things like you do… I can't help it. You are just that unique and precious to me…" he told her.
"You aren't a 'smear on a slide'," he stated, using her words from the other night. "But I do watch you. I can't apologize for that. Because, I don't watch you because you are 'abnormal' or because of your 'mental malfunctions'," he said as he leaned forward, catching her lips with his. He lightly nipped them, teasing, tasting until she yielded under his kiss, pulling him deeper.
Spencer broke away, looking into her eyes. "I watch you because I love you, Katy Scarlett. You are everything to me and I want to know every facet of you," he told her. "If that means we have to navigate through some mines," he shrugged, taking her hand again, "well, then, so be it. I'm willing to dance through them, as long as you are with me…" he said, kissing her fingers again. "For all time…"
Scarlett touched his lips, moving up on her knees in the middle of the seat to straddle his hips. She saw his eyes widen, looking around the parking lot. She giggled.
"Don't worry farm boy, I'm not trying for an indecent exposure citation," she teased, settling on his lap. He relaxed a little, pushing her hair behind her ear.
She framed his face, making him look up at only her. "I love you, Spencer…" she skimmed the words over his lips. "You keep me whole…"
