Chapter two part eleven

Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited. James Cardinal Gibbons

Emily let herself into Spencer and Catherine's apartment quickly with the spare key from his desk. Morgan said his go bag was in their bedroom. By the dresser. She walked down the hall quickly and went into their bedroom and tried to ignore the feeling that she was breaking into someone's home. Don't look at the photos on the shelves, don't look at the books on the tables, just pretend you don't know these people. She had been to their apartment before, but this was different. She found the bag and picked it up. Emily turned and started back down the hallway. She was halfway across the living room when the door open and Catherine was letting herself in. She looked at Emily confused.

"What are you doing?" asked Catherine. Emily wanted to kick herself, Spencer had told them that Catherine was most likely not going to be home until later in the evening since she was supposed to have Junior Counsel tonight.

"Oh we caught an away case and Spencer wanted to start working on a Geographical Profile before we got on the plane and I offered to swing by and get his go bag when I got mine."

"Really he could have sent me a text and I would have brought it to him."

"He said that your had a meeting tonight?" Catherine let out a laugh.

"Yeah we did until some kid set off a bunch of smoke bombs. We had to evacuate everyone, talk to the fire department, fill out forms. God it was a nightmare." Emily had to smile and it was the first one she had all day.

"Well I should get going. This case shouldn't take to long...it's more of consultation really." Catherine nodded.

"Tell Spencer I'll text him later." Emily nodded and walked out of the apartment. She waited until she was out of the building before taking a breath. She felt horrible lying to Catherine, but it had to be done. Really what do I tell her...that Spencer could have died from Anthrax today and that he's in the hospital and she can't be with him. Lying was part of the job, it didn't mean she had to like it.

…...

It was rare for her to come visit him at work. She had come in that afternoon and he almost fell out of his chair. She was wearing a short black skirt, the stockings that came up to her thighs and a pale pink button up shirt. Her long brown hair was loose and curly. She sat down on his desk cross legged and was just wearing that smirk. The smirk that was just between them, when they were alone.

"Hi." She signed.

"Um...hi...what brings you here."

"Oh nothing. Just wanted to see you. Make sure you're staying out of trouble."

"What trouble would I get into here?"

"Oh...it's when your away that you get in trouble." It was the way that she was signing that gave it away. She was mad at him about something and he couldn't figure it out.

"Did I do something that I'm not aware of right now?" That smirk just got bigger and she shrugged.

"Nothing. I just wanted to see you. Tell you that I love you." she leaned over close to him. "And that you are treading on very thin ice sir." Spencer was just frozen in his seat and she kissed him lightly on the lips. She got off his desk and left the office. Morgan had been watching the whole thing from his desk cringed.

"Oh what did you do Pretty boy?"

"I don't know what I did...she's...she's scary Morgan. There is a disturbance in the Force." Spencer went home later on that night and went into the apartment careful. Catherine was sitting on the sofa reading and she had changed into her pajama pants and one of his MIT sweaters. He sat down next to her and she looked up him wearily.

"Hey. Can we talk?" Catherine shrugged.

"I might have an IQ of 187 but right now I feel like a clueless idiot who has no clue what I did to upset you."

"I'm not upset."

"You came into my office, dressed like...that and let me know I was on thin ice. So I must have done something to cause that." Catherine reached over to the table and handed him one of his business cards. It was one he given to a girl in Georgia, she had sent it back to him with a lipstick kiss on it.

"So you get those often?" Spencer mentally kicked himself. He had forgotten about it, he just stuffed the card in his pocket and went home. She must have found it when she took his pants to the cleaners.

"Catherine. It was nothing." He told her what had happened and she sighed.

"So Morgan taught you how to hit on girls and now they're following you home."

"Notice that I'm home with you and not her." Catherine bit her lip and realized that she had acted like an idiot. She just been so pissed to find that card in his pocket.

"I just..." she shook her head and Spencer understood. It was how he felt when he saw her last year with Paul or when he would see other guys looking at her.

"You know a little jealous never hurt anyone," he teased recalling what Garcia told him.

"Oh yeah..it makes me dress like a tramp and see you during my lunch break."

"But a nice tramp." he leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Can you do that more often, it freaks Morgan out too."

Spencer was laying in his hospital bed, recalling the small misunderstanding that occurred months ago and it brought a small smile to his lips. He couldn't imagine any girl being jealous about him and he wonder how she would react at the fact that he had to strip for a complete stranger to be hosed off. If you could tell her and you can't, she can never find out about this. Spencer looked up at the ceiling and wondered what they would have told her if they hadn't found the antidote in time.

"Hey kid I got you the Jello. You ok?" asked Morgan sitting the Jello cup down.

"Just thinking." He took the cup and started poking at the Jello cup.

"Reid," prompted Morgan and Spencer sat his cup down.

"You guys could have told my mom anything about what happened to me and sent her my ashes. But Catherine...what would you have told her if I didn't make it?" Morgan shifted in his seat nervously.

"I don't know kid." Spencer nodded, picked his cup up and started eating it. "You know that we would look after both your mom and Catherine if anything happened."

"I know that and yet it doesn't make it any easier you know."

"I know." Spencer ate his Jello cup in silence and thought about what he had told his mother and Catherine for what he thought was going to be the last time he told them anything.

…...

You always do this...how phenomenal stupid do you have to be to always do this, thought Spencer staring at the broken bottle of Anthrax. He was infected and he was going to die. He had just blindly walked into the shed and than he realized it was a lab of some sort and that a broken vial of Anthrax was on the floor. He had shut and locked the door before Morgan could also be infected. He had searched the lab and was able to find some things to help the team, but nothing really ground breaking yet. He couldn't focus. He kept seeing the dead bodies of those infected at the hospital and the fear in Abby's eyes when she realized she couldn't speak. Even if she could have her family with her she can't tell them anything. I don't want that.

He had sent this mother a letter last night and he had quickly said goodbye to Catherine this morning before leaving. When JJ said don't pack a go bag I assumed that I would be home tonight. He pulled out his phone and called Garcia.

"Hey Reid," she sounded so serious. Even when they had real serious cases she always had something funny to say.

"Reid, wow. No, ah no witty Garcia for me?" He wanted her to be ok. She was always making him feel better and he felt guilty for making her so sad. He knew that he was going to be asking her a huge favor and he wanted to try and make her smile once.

"I can't be my sparkly self when you're where you are," she said.

"Hey Garcia can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything."

"Um, I know that I can't call my mom at the hospital without alerting the staff there and I can't really call or text Catherine without alerting the school so in case anything happens I really want to leave them a message," before he could go on Garcia interrupted him.

"Oh you know that your going to figure out who did this and find a cure." Always trying to make others feel better and find a positive.

"But, just in case I really want my mom to hear my voice and I know that you'll tell Catherine what I'm about to say."

"Um, ok. Give me a second." he heard the clicking of keys and he waited.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yeah honey." Spencer took a deep breath before speaking.

"Hi mom, this is Spencer. I just really wanted you to know that I love you..." Spencer fought back tears and started to cough. "And I need you to know that I spend everyday of my life proud to be your son. You were an amazing mom and I couldn't have asked for anyone else. Thank you for everything you did for me." He had to take a moment to collect himself and for a second Garcia worried that she had lost him.

"Catherine, I want you to know that I love you and I know I really didn't say it that much during our relationship. It was because what I felt for you really couldn't be summed up in just those three words." Garcia could hear the heart ache in his voice and wondered if she would really be able to sign the tone of of this final message to her properly

"I wish I had words to tell you how happy you've made me and that if I could anything over it...I wouldn't have left that night. I would have stayed and we could have had more time together. I love you." Garcia heard him coughing again and she wanted to cry.

"Reid..."

"I have to go, Dr. Kimura is here." Before she could say anything else he hung up the phone and she saved his messages to her hard drive, she e-mailed herself a copy and she put another copy on her flash-drive. She had a feeling though she would never forget his words to the two women who had him.

…...

When Spencer woke up the next morning he still felt sort of sore and tired. Morgan had fallen asleep in the chair next to him. Dr. Kimura came into his room.

"How are you feeling Dr. Reid?"

"Still a little sore. Do I have to stay another day?"

"It's just to be sure that you don't have any lasting damage to your lungs." Spencer nodded, he understood that it was for his own good to keep him here.

"What happened to my cell phone and other personal effects?"

"We had to burn your clothes, but your friend brought you a change and we made sure the rest of your effects have been cleaned."

"Could I have them back please?" Dr. Kimura looked at him worried. "My girlfriend is Deaf and I text her at least once when I'm away. My co-worker already told her I was going to be out of town, but I still want to talk to her. I won't tell her I'm here."

"I'll see about get you your personal effects." She left the room and Morgan started to wake up.

"God these chairs are uncomfortable," said Morgan.

"The bed isn't much better or the food," recalling his dinner from last night. Dr Kimura came in with his bag.

"Your phone has a missed text from last night." She sat the bag on his bed. "I've ordered another chest x-ray for this morning and another round of the anti-toxin just in case. You can go home tomorrow morning." She left the room and it was all Spencer could do to not rip the bag open, he forced himself to calmly open the bag and pull out his phone and read his missed text.

You going to be home for the dodgeball grudge match? You can see how deadly I am with a ball of rubber. ^-^ Spencer smiled and Morgan shook his head.

"Wow she's not even sending you dirty texts and she makes you smile like that. Just marry her already," Morgan teased and he got up and left the room to see about getting them breakfast. Spencer sat there with the phone in his hand and his mind went blank. Why not...I love her...I've known her since forever and it's been serious for awhile. Why don't I just ask her to marry me?

…...

Spencer was checked out at noon the next day and let Morgan drive him home.

"Emily told Catherine that you we working a case and that you did a Geographical Profile and that was it. She doesn't know anything else kiddo."

"And she can't know," he said

"You think you can keep this from her?" Spencer looked at him.

"You think I really want to tell her that I almost died from Anthrax two days ago. Not a conversation I wanna have with her...ever." Morgan nodded. Spencer got out of the car and headed up to the apartment. He knew that Catherine wouldn't be home yet and he just wanted a moment to think. If felt so good to be home and he just stood there for a moment and took it in. He went into the bedroom and sat on their bed. She had changed the sheets on the bed, she did every other week. It was so normal and he knew that he wanted this more than anything. I want this...I want this life to be with her.

…...

Spencer gave his five dollar donation at the door and took his seat next to Garcia and Kevin in the bleachers. The gym was packed with students, parents and other teachers.

"Wow a lot of people will pay to watch teachers throw things at each other," said Garcia.

"Some people just like to watch others get hit in the face with balls," said Kevin. Garcia just looked at him.

"Don't make me rain death on your PC." Spencer looked down on the gym floor and saw Catherine was stretching out on the gym floor, she looked up in the bleachers and spotted him. She waved and smiled at him. He waved back and was just so happy to see her. They called the game to start and the rules were signed and spoken.

"No hits to the face. You catch the ball and your opponent is out and any team mates that were outed are back in. The winning team gets to donate their money to the class of their choice and the loser has to give their money to the winning team's class. Let's behave tonight children," signed the ref looking at Catherine and Saloo. Saloo has a tall black man with a modest Afro who taught Geology. They got along ok after Catherine had beat him last fall in dodgeball. They were giving other mock dirty looks and the students were catcall out to the teachers.

"Own him Ms. D!"

"Come on Mr. Saloo...don't take it again." The ref sat six balls out on the middle of the floor and stepped out of the way.

"Let's play," he signed and called out. The mad rush happened and most of the balls were taken up by Saloo's team, but Catherine's team was much better at dodging and catching the balls. They hurled their balls back and Saloo's team was quickly knocked down. It started to get rough and Spencer found himself cringing when a ball missed Catherine's head by inches. She slid on the floor, got a ball and chucked it back at Saloo. She hit him in the knees and he was out. The played four games in all and Catherine's team won three of the four, she had a bloodied knee to show for it and a scrap on her arm. But she was grinning and Saloo was just shaking his head.

"You fight dirty young lady," he signed.

"You just don't like losing to midget," she joked. He shook her hand and it was agreed that the money would go to the Junior class and they started whooping in their seats. Spencer made his way down to the gym floor and stood off to the side while she chatted with the students and a few of the teachers on her team. She looked over at him and said good bye to the rest of her team.

"So dodgeball has clearly gotten rougher since we were kids," joked Spencer. Catherine looked at her injuries and shrugged.

"The Junior class has some extra money for Prom now so I'm not gonna complain." Garcia and Kevin came down and Garcia hugged Catherine.

"Nice moves kid."

"Yeah that dodging and throwing was really good," signed Kevin and Catherine laughed. Garcia caught how Spencer was looking at Catherine. He had just been released today and she had a feeling that he just wanted to be alone with her right now.

"So we're gonna take off. You two have a nice night," Before Kevin could say anything, Garcia had taken him by the hand and was dragging him out. Spencer looked down at her and just smiled.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," He wrapped an arm around her waist and she followed him out.

…...

Catherine was sitting on the edge of bed, Spencer had the first aid kit out and was kneeling in front of her on the floor.

"God, Catherine you really messed yourself up." He cleaned up her knee and she winced a little. He shook his head, pulled out a band-aid and placed it on her knee. There wasn't much he could do for the scrap on her arm.

"You are far too dedicated sometimes," signed Spencer.

"Look who's talking? You almost got yourself blown up once so don't tell me about dedication," teased Catherine. I also refused to stop working a case after being exposed to Anthrax. He had his hand on her knee and moved it to her inner thigh. I missed you. Spencer bent down and kissed her slowly at first, letting his tongue linger on her lips. She opened her mouth for him and let him taste her. She took her hands and place them on his neck to pull him closer. He pushed her back further on the bed so he could position himself on top of her. He couldn't stop kissing her, sucking and biting on her bottom lip before sliding his tongue back into her mouth. I could have died and I would have left you alone and how unfair would that have been.

Catherine fell asleep a little while later and she curled up next to him,she had her arm around his waist and he was holding her hand. He could feel her breathing on his neck.

"You have no idea how happy I am to be home with you right now," he said to himself. He studied her hand, she had such small hands compared to him and he wondered how to go about asking her to marry him.

…...

"Hey JJ," she looked up from her files and smiled to see Spencer. It was his first day back since being released from the hospital. He smiled back at her and he came into her office and shut the door.

"Hey Spence. How are you feeling?"

"Good. Um...are you free for lunch today?" JJ wasn't a full fledged profiler, but she could tell that he seemed really nervous about something.

"Sure I can be free for lunch, but there is a catch," she teased.

"What's the catch?" he asked.

"You have to tell me why you're so twitchy?"

"I'm not twitchy," his voice raised an octave and she raised her eyebrow. He sat down across from her and took a deep breath.

"I need your help with something."

"Ok. What is it?" asked JJ.

"I need you to come with me and...help me pick out a ring for Catherine."

"What kind of ring," teased JJ. She had a very good idea what he wanted, but she wanted to hear him say it.

"You know." She leaned back in her chair and smiled. "An engagement ring," he admitted. JJ's smile got wider and she walked over and hugged him.

"Oh my God Spence. Congratulations."

"She hasn't said yes yet."

"And if she doesn't she will have three very upset female FBI agents on her doorstep. Why wouldn't she say yes?"

"I don't know...I'm pretty sure she's going to say yes, but I believe the saying about counting the chickens before they hatch applies here." JJ shook her head.

"I'll meet you outside at noon." Spencer nodded and left her office. She waited until he shut the door and called Garcia's office.

"Hey Garcia, can you meet me for lunch? We have a very important task at hand. Yeah, someone decided it was time to ask a question." JJ had to pull the phone away from her ear when Garcia started screaming. "Send Emily an e-mail please and you are not allowed to tell Kevin, Morgan or anyone else about this. See you at noon."

…...

Spencer was waiting for JJ on a bench outside and was wondering if he should have just gone by himself to pick a ring. He spotted JJ and she was with Emily and Garcia, he was now really starting to wonder what he had gotten himself into. Spencer stood up and was almost knocked over by Garcia hugging him.

"About damn time you made an honest woman of her. Oh god I have the most awesome idea for a cake..."

"Please get her off me she's scaring me right now," said Spencer.

"Let's take this one step at a time," said Emily trying not to grin. "First thing first, you want to get her ring."

"Let's walk and talk we have an hour," said JJ. It was like a force of nature, thought Spencer as the three women walked with him.

"I love weddings, I have spent the last hour looking up venues here in DC and Virginia...can I be bridesmaid?" asked Garcia.

"Really you're scaring me," said Spencer. JJ and Emily couldn't stop laughing and Spencer was really regretting his choice right now. "You know...I think I can do this by myself. Just don't tell anyone that I'm going to do this."

"Oh come on," said JJ.

"We're going to help you and it's going to be ok. Garcia is just over-excited since the closest she is getting to a ring is the Ring Pop that Kevin got her a week ago," said Emily.

"It was so tasty, but it wasn't shiny or lasting," whined Garcia.

"Ok, we are losing time and focus. Do you have anything in mind that you think she would like? Are you think bridal set or engagement solitaire. A cut or a color?" asked JJ.

Spencer couldn't help but grin. JJ was the practical one, Emily was the neutral one and Garcia was the excited one. He hadn't thought about asking Emily or Garcia, but now that they were here he was sure they would point him in the right direction. They walked a few blocks away and they walked into the nearest jewelery store. The clerk, an older white man with thick black hair looked up at them and the expression on his face was unreadable.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"He's looking for an engagement ring," said JJ.

"For which one of you?" he asked.

"Not for us," said Emily.

"Sadly," muttered Garcia. The clerk looked at him.

"Are the three sisters going to do all your talking?"

"I um...this is my first time doing this so...it's possible they will do all my talking," said Spencer. The clerk nodded and motioned for them to come over to a display case. The group walked over to the case and studied the rings.

"Don't get the ones with the pointy cut," said Emily.

"Why?" asked Spencer.

"They catch on everything and they stab your finger," said Emily.

"Agreed," said JJ.

"Can the boy get a word in?" asked the clerk. "We'll start slow. White gold or yellow gold."

"White, she hates how yellow gold looks on her." The three women looked impressed that he knew that. He might be a genius, but he was still a man.

"What does she do for a living? Does she work a lot with her hands, is it messy or dangerous. Can she wear it all the time?"

"Um, she a teacher, but she's Deaf so she uses Sign Language so her hands get looked at a lot," said Spencer.

"So something nice, but not overly distracting or large. Nothing pointy," said the clerk looking at Emily.

"Bridal or Solitaire?"

"What's the difference?" he asked and before the clerk could answer JJ was talking.

"A Bridal set is both the engagement ring and the wedding ring. They fit together after the wedding happens. They tend to be a little shower and the Solitaire is one that she would wear by itself and than she would stop after you get a wedding band." Spencer gave her a look and so did Emily and Garcia. "What Will and I have been looking?"

The clerk fought the urge to roll his eyes, Spencer really didn't want to go through this again.

"Let's go with a set," said Spencer.

"Smart boy," the older man started looking through a case and pulled out a ring.

"White gold, 1oK and ½ CT Diamond with a round cut." The clerk held out the rings out to Spencer. The engagement ring was a round diamond with a smaller diamonds around the larger round diamond with smaller diamonds in the band, the wedding band was cut so that it would link to the engagement ring and also had diamonds in the band.

"Yes, get her this one," said Emily.

"If she says no can I have it?" asked Garcia and JJ elbowed her.

"Would the man who is buy the ring please say something?"

"This one," said Spencer. He could see her wearing it. He could see him putting on her finger and the look that would be on her face.

"Ok." The clerk took the rings back and placed them in a black velvet box. Spencer paid, he really didn't care about the cost. Tradition said he was supposed to spend three months of his salary anyway. Thankfully it didn't come close to that much, but he knew her and that she would like this when she saw it.

"Just one thing," said the clerk.

"Yes."

"Leave the three sisters at home or they'll ask her for you."

"Count on it." Spencer shoved the ring into his shoulder bag.

"Ok...see that wasn't so bad," said JJ.

"She's going to love it," said Emily.

"So I can get you dinner reservations anywhere in town..." started Garcia.

"I think I wanna handle the asking part myself Garcia," said Spencer.

"Oh but I can pull strings and..." she saw the look they were giving her and she bowed her head. "I never get to have any fun."

…...

Catherine was sitting on the floor with her grading when he came home.

"How was you day?" he asked.

"Mr. Germanott from upstairs wouldn't look me in the eye when I got the mail this afternoon. Other than that it was good. You?"

"Good." He sat down next to her. "You know Emily was telling me that there is a traveling art exhibit from Japan coming to New York this summer. Maybe I can see about sneaking away for a weekend and we can go see it."

They had never really gone away just the two of them, if they left town it was for family reasons or it was for work functions. They had never just left town so they could be alone, unless he counted that time at Gideon's cabin which he didn't want to. Catherine sat down her blue pen of grading.

"Sure. I'm not teaching summer classes on Fridays. We can leave on a Friday afternoon and come home Sunday night." He just smiled at her and offered to start dinner.

Catherine picked her pen back up and found that she had lost focus. Spencer rarely offered to take time off and taking time off to go to New York was another story. New York wasn't his cup of tea and she understood that. They always found things to do here in DC and she was sure that if they waited a few months the show would come here to DC. Catherine picked her pen up and shook her head, he was just trying to be nice since he knew this was something she would like. Not like he has some elaborate marriage proposal planned. She loved Spencer, but his romantic gestures were the sweet and understated kind. He would just do something out of the blue and small that would make her smile. She shook her head and looked at Spencer, the grand sweeping gesture is not him. If he was going to ask he would probably do it while we're watching Dr. Who

Spencer started a pot of water boiling for pasta and grinned to himself. He would ask Hotch for the time off and he had more than enough saved to leave for a weekend. He would get them a nice hotel room in New York, take her to see the exhibit, and than over dinner he would ask her. He refused Garcia's idea of putting it in the dessert. He could only see that ending badly. He looked at Catherine. She's going to be so surprised.

…...

He was just about to go up to Hotch's office and ask for his weekend off when JJ walked past him carrying a huge file.

"Sorry...I need him first," she went into Hotch's office and less than ten minutes later they were being called into the conference room. They were heading to Canada, some man had crashed into a border guard's booth and had confessed to killing ten people.

"Oh Canada my home and native land," sang Emily to herself. Morgan grinned and headed out. Emily looked at Spencer.

"I hope you hid it somewhere good while you're away," teased Emily.

"Shut up," muttered Spencer teasing her back. He would just have to wait to ask Hotch for his time off. Duty calls...

No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time. James A. Baldwin

Ep's used-Amplification, 52 Pickup and To Hell and Back Part One.

The ring in question- . ?productId=12018225&kpc=1