Penelope and I were relaxing in the bullpen when a rather exhausted team strolled in late that evening. Surprise registered on Spencer's face when he saw me, even more so when he saw my arm.

"Mickey? What happened to you?" He asked, dropping his bag by his desk before rushing over to see me.

"I'm fine," I assured him, resisting the urge to smack him for his recklessness. Penelope had warned me not to, but there would be a conversation later, just not here in front of the entire team. "I fell out of a handstand this morning and dislocated my shoulder."

Concern was written all over his face as his hands moved to my shoulder, poking and prodding until I flinched in pain and pulled away.

"Looks like they set it properly," He nodded, satisfied with his inspection. "Does it hurt?"

"Of course they did, I went to a hospital," I rolled my eyes. "And yes, it does. Not as bad right now, but it fucking killed this morning."

"Dislocations are the worst," Emily shouted up from where she was organizing papers on her desk. "I dislocated my shoulder when I was a teenager. It's agony when they pop it back in, but somehow also the best feeling in the world."

I laughed at her accurate description of what I'd been through that morning.

"It wasn't much fun," I nodded. "And now I won't be able to work properly for ages."

"Who knew yoga could be so dangerous," Derek chuckled. "Maybe it's tougher than I've been giving it credit for."

"That's what I keep telling you," I smirked. "I'll rope you guys into a class one day, you just wait."

"Oh, that would be so fun!" Penelope clapped causing a look of horror to flash across pretty much everyone elses face. I laughed again, not surprised by the lack of enthusiasm.

"You don't know what you're missing," I informed them before turning my attention to Spencer. "Can we get out of here? It's been a long day."

"Of course," He nodded, pulling some files out of his bag and tossing them on his desk before reaching for my hand.

We said our goodbyes and quickly headed home. Luckily he'd driven to work before this case because I was in no mood to tackle the metro. I was in pain, exhausted and annoyed at Spencer's actions, but also sympathetic and sad that he was so torn up over how the boy they'd dealt with was feeling which left me feeling very conflicted and cranky.

Spencer, however, was too exhausted to notice how moody and sulky I was which was why I decided to leave our discussion until the morning. I was still determined to talk about his reckless actions, but he'd had an emotionally draining day and I didn't want to make it worse. It would also probably be a much more productive conversation if we were both well rested and had clear heads.

I didn't get much sleep that night. Spencer was out almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, but I was finding it much more difficult. I liked to sleep on my stomach, usually curled into Spencer's side when we spent the night together, but with my shoulder that wasn't possible. I tried laying on my back and even on my side with my injured shoulder facing up, but it took forever for me to finally drift off. And when I did, all I could see was Spencer getting shot by the boy he'd confronted earlier that day. I startled myself awake several times until finally, around 7am, I decided to give up and get out of bed.

The pain in my shoulder was intense as soon as I stood up, but after tossing back a few pain killers I decided to take a bath instead of putting my sling on straight away. Spencer was lucky enough to have an old, massive, clawfoot bath tub that was deep enough to easily cover my shoulder and I figured the warm water might do my sore muscles some good.

I carefully snuck out of the bedroom to let Spencer sleep before running the tap and filling the tub. The water was soothing as I climbed in a few minutes later and I could instantly feel the muscles in my shoulder and upper back relaxing from the warmth. I let my eyes slowly drift shut and tried to think about what to say to Spencer.

My initial anger at his actions had dulled a bit, but I was still annoyed that he'd been so reckless and hurt that he had done so without thinking about what he had to lose. I knew Spencer was used to being independent from his younger years, but he had his team to think about now and me. What would we do if anything happened to him?

I'd been pondering life in the bath tub for almost an hour when I finally heard Spencer wake up. I'd left the door of the bathroom cracked open just a tad so he would be able to figure out where I was, but I watched as he walked by, rubbing his eyes sleepily completely oblivious. I listened as he put the coffee maker on, leaving it to percolate while he searched for me. It didn't take him long and a few moments later there was a soft knock on the door before he poked his head in.

"Good morning," He said quietly, his voice hoarse with sleep. "You're up early."

His hair was wild and dishevelled and he had a sleepy smile on his face. He looked adorable and it was hard to be annoyed.

"My shoulder was bothering me," I told him, being at least partially honest. "I thought at bath would help and it did, but I didn't really think about how difficult getting out would be with only one arm."

I shot him a sheepish smile and he chuckled, stepping into the room. He grabbed the big fluffy towel that I'd left on the counter before moving towards me. Luckily my bad arm was towards the wall so Spencer managed to hook his arm under my good shoulder and hoist me out of the tub before helping me step out.

"Thanks," I smiled as he wrapped the towel around me. "I'm not used to being an invalid."

"You're not an invalid," He laughed. "You should have more strength in a few days if you keep using the sling to support it for now."

"I know," I sighed. "I'm just frustrated with myself for letting it happen. It's such a big setback."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Spencer frowned. "Obviously you should have been more careful when you were trying something you're not comfortable with yet, but accidents happen all the time. You shouldn't beat yourself up over it."

"It was just so preventable!" I whined. "And now I can't work for at least a week and who knows after that. I'm hoping that the girls will let me take on more of the beginner classes for a while, but putting all the advanced classes on them might be a strain. Plus, what if I don't heal as well as I'm hoping and can't teach for weeks? How am I going to pay rent?"

These worries had been bouncing around in my head all night and even through my relaxing bath, but I hadn't meant to blurt them all out at Spencer like that especially while he was still half asleep. He seemed unphased though as he leaned back against the counter.

"I'm sure you'll heal just fine. Your muscles and tendons are probably in good shape from all the yoga you do so they should heal faster than the average person's would," He insisted before a look of something I couldn't quite place flashed across his face. Anxiety? Excitement? I couldn't tell. "But to ease your worries about paying rent, you could, uh, you could move in with me?"

My jaw dropped slightly at his suggestion as water dripped onto the floor around my feet. It wasn't that I was against the idea, but I was surprised he'd suggested it.

"What?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

His cheeks twinged pink probably due to my hesitation, but he simply shrugged.

"It's the logical thing to do," He said quietly. "We're together almost every night I'm in town anyway and it would help with your finances if you do have to take a break from teaching."

"I can figure that out," I assured him. "Finances shouldn't be the main reason we move in together."

Spencer ran a hand through his hair nervously and I could tell my reluctance was putting him on edge, but I wanted to be sure. The thought of moving in here and the fact that he'd suggested it made my heart flutter, but I wanted to be sure he was asking for the right reasons.

"It's fine if you don't want to..."

He looked at me like a puppy who'd just been told he couldn't have a cookie and my stomach dropped.

"It's not that I don't want to," I insisted. "I do, I'd love to live with you, but not because it's logical. I want to live with you because it's what we want to do and because we think
we're ready for it."

"I do think we're ready for it," He said, his voice firm as he met my eyes in a much more confident stare. "I want to be able to come home to you after every case and wake up next to you every morning without one of us rushing home to get ready for work. I want this to be our home, not just mine."

I smiled at his words and the sincerity behind them and stepped forward to stroke his cheek with my hand, placing a soft kiss against his lips before resting my forehead against his.

"I want that too," I agreed. "I would love to move in here. I'll give my landlord my notice today."

"Wonderful," Spencer grinned. "I've been wanting to ask you for a while, but I was nervous."

"You never have to be nervous to ask me anything," I smiled, knowing my words were ironic as I was now even more nervous to bring up the thing I was about to. I stroked his cheek gently as if trying to ease the blow of my next statement. "There is something I would like to discuss though. Can I get dressed and then we can talk?"

The grin dropped off Spencer's face at my words just like I knew it would, but he nodded and watched as I walked out of the room.

Once I was dressed and had my sling back on, I wandered back to the kitchen and found Spencer standing by the counter with two coffee cups next to him. I mumbled a thanks as he passed me one and almost wished I hadn't mentioned anything because of the sad look on his face. I sighed and decided to jump right into it.

"I was in Penelope's office yesterday afternoon when you confronted the unsub," I admitted causing his eyes to widen as he probably realized where this was going. "I know I don't have the clearance to see any of that, but she was looking after me and I didn't know Hotch was going to call and it all happened so fast, but what the hell were you thinking, Spencer?"

"You definitely don't have the clearance to see that," He told me, his jaw tight and an unreadable look on his face. "And I wasn't thinking really, it was instinct."

I felt the anger bubbling up inside me again.

"Instinct? It was instinct to confront a suspect with no gun and no vest and to even go so far as to block the rest of your team from shooting him if he tried to hurt you?!"

I tried not to raise my voice, but I could feel my emotions getting the best of me as images I'd seen were playing through my head again.

"I had the situation under control," Spencer told me, his voice calm which only made me more annoyed. "I didn't want them to panic and shoot him unnecessarily."

"He could have killed you before you even realized what was happening," I insisted. "Did you even think about me for a second?"

"I was thinking about you the whole time," Spencer snapped, anger flashing in his eyes at my accusation. "But I know what Owen went through. I was him when I was a kid. I knew what he was thinking and exactly how he was feeling and I wasn't going to let them kill him when he didn't need to die."

"You didn't need to risk your life like that."

Spencer opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again and took a deep breath before explaining himself.

"When I was in school, there was one day when I was in the library," He started, his eyes focused down on a spot on the floor. "Harper Hillman came up to me and told me that Alexa Lisbon, easily the prettiest girl in the whole school, wanted to meet with me. I went with her, but it wasn't just Alexa waiting for me, the entire football team was there as well. They stripped me naked and tied me to a goal post and no one tried to help me or get them to stop. I didn't get home until midnight."

I felt my anger waver as concern crept in, but I still couldn't understand how that sympathy could make him risk his life.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Spence," I told him sincerely, placing my coffee cup down on the counter. "But I still don't think you needed to put yourself in the situation that you did."

"Sometimes I think that it's all just happening again," He confessed, finally lifting his eyes to meet mine. I was confused, but waited for him to continue. "I look at you and see that you're the prettiest girl in all of DC and I'm just waiting for it all to be a big joke, for you to leave me and for everyone to laugh and wonder how I ever thought you'd actually want to be with someone like me."

"Spencer..." I frowned. His actions were becoming more clear, but I couldn't understand where these other thoughts were coming from. "When have I ever done something that would make you think my feelings for you aren't genuine?"

"You haven't," He admitted. "But I can't shake the thought. It's not your fault, it's nothing you've done. It's just...that day is burned into my brain and as stupid as it sounds, I'm scared it will happen again."

I sighed, burying the hurt that I'd felt at his words despite his assurances and moved towards him, awkwardly hugging him with my one un-slinged arm. I waited for him to wrap his arms around my waist as he always did, but when he didn't I pulled back slightly.

"I'm sorry, but this is the best hug I'm able to give you right now so you're going to have to help me out," I said sternly. He got the hint and offered up a small smile as he wrapped his arms around me. "I love you, Spencer. So much. More than I ever could have expected. You're so important to me and I would think the fact that I was ready to fly to Texas and shoot you myself for your moment of insanity would show that."

"It does," He whispered into my hair. "I love you too and I'm sorry you were watching when I confronted him. That must have been hard to see."

"I was terrified," I said against his neck before pulling back to face him. "I know that's part of the job and I know there will be times when you take risks like that, but please be careful. Don't go out of your way to put yourself in danger."

"I'll try," Spencer agreed, gently rubbing my back.

"Good," I nodded. "Especially if I'm moving in here. This place is way nicer than my apartment, there's no way I could afford it all by myself."

Spencer rolled his eyes with a smile, knowing that was pretty low on the list of reasons I wanted him to stay safe, but I needed something positive to lift up our mood. We stayed like that for a while, tangled together against the counter, fawning over each other with assurances of love and various compliments as I tried to make Spencer see that I wasn't going anywhere and certainly hadn't so much time with him just as a very elaborate joke. I knew it was a tough battle though trying to silence your insecurities and I made a mental note to remind him more often just how smitten with him I was.

Once we finally moved out of each other's arms, Spencer topped up our now lukewarm coffee with what was left in the pot and we headed to the couch where we spent the day resting, cuddling and planning how to make room for my things in his apartment.