Chapter 36

"It's funny." Emily said as they waited outside Sarai's room. "It's hard to see them as aliens now."

Morgan chuckled, "You too huh."

"Yeah, they're just people. They're just having a hard time of it, that's all."

"Wish more of us could apply that to people from our world."

"Yeah."

"So, do you feel any different?" Blake asked.

Spencer looked over at her. They were driving back to the hospital to meet everyone. After that he was supposed to get an MRI to see if anything had changed. People were going to be studying scans of his brain for years to come; there was something amusing about that. "Sore and stiff," he admitted.

"That's from being in bed."

Spencer looked over at her, studying. "You're concerned about me, curious about what's going on, excited to be meeting real aliens…"

Blake put up an eyebrow. "Body language?"

"I don't know. Maybe," he considered. It was clearer now, her emotions were around her like a cloud, he felt like he had a sponge, he could lightly sample and identity them, "Maybe not."

"If they're right this experience might have brought out some latent gifts. Can you tell what I'm thinking?"

He tried. The sense of an emotional cloud got stronger, but no clear words or images. "No. At least if I can I don't know how. It's more picking up on emotions."

"Huh. Well that alone would be a skill to hone if you could. That and learning how to block it when desired."

"Really?"

She nodded, "Interviews."

Oh god, being able to read how a suspect or a victim was actually responding, that would be immensely valuable. At the same time, turning it off around some of the worst Unsubs would be essential. "I might have to work on that."

"Well, we still have an open protocol, you have the time. Take it now." She smiled. "Like you said once, the work will always be there."

He smiled in return. "I think I will."

They got to the hospital and found Morgan and Emily first. "So at this point we're thinking of just reading the team in." Blake said to them as Spencer moved past to find Sarai. "All things considered."

"What, you mean Reid?" Morgan asked.

"And that you're clearly planning on asking Yeave for a date."

"What?" Morgan looked shocked, even mildly offended. "You do not know that!"

"Oh please." Emily groaned. "You can see it when you look at her. And before you even go there yes, telepaths are out of this world." She gave him her best 'got you' smile.

"That and if Spencer encounters any lingering effects we'll have more eyes on the subject." Blake replied.

"You think there might be?" Morgan asked.

"Too soon to tell."

Spencer found Sarai up and moving, back in her boxy uniform, her hair up in a tight bun, actually making her bed. "Um, hi," he said. She didn't reply. "I'm sorry I wasn't here, everyone said it would be safer if I stayed away." No reply. Had he imagined everything? "Are you okay?" Which was just a query as to her state of being at the moment. Still no reply. Oh hell, he screwed something up somehow. "Look, about what happened…."

"You talk too much."

Spencer blinked. Her lips hadn't moved but he'd heard that clear as a bell. "People say that about me sometimes."

"Let me guess, especially when you're nervous?"

"Yes."

"What can I do to reassure you?"

A millisecond of thought flashed across his mind as he pictured exactly what would make her feelings absolutely clear, if that was the way they ran. "You don't have to…"

But she'd picked up on the thought before he could stop it. She put down her pillow, stepped into his arms, cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed him, long and slow. His third kiss ever, he realized and perhaps the most magical of all. "I think I like your Earth customs." She said.

He broke the kiss and smiled down into those eyes, the blue of the sky on another planet. "You know you never realize that telepaths can talk and kiss at the same time."

"You should try it." She said in clear, lightly accented English.

He just stood there holding her a long moment. He hadn't realized how good it would feel just to hold someone outside of a dream. "I know you can feel it…" He felt it from her.

"…but you need to say it…" She continued.

"…I think I'm falling in love with you." He paused to consider. "No, I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with you." There. Now he had not and would not make the same mistake he made with Maeve. That was an immense relief.

"That's good." She said with a nod. "I'm quite sure I'm falling in love with you." She stretched up to kiss him again.

Only he stopped her. "May I, please?" He leaned down to kiss her, pulling her in warm and close. First time he ever got the chance to initiate a kiss and yes, he liked it. He liked it a lot. Now to try this new thing. He felt the connection between them, like a pipe tricking water into his mind, and sent a thought/trickle back. "So now what?"

"Ha, there you go." She broke off with a smile against his lips. "I don't know. It's your planet. I was just going to finish the bed."

"They strip them down, actually. Some specific way…you're better off just leaving it."

"Oh. All right then." She left the bed and picked up her uniform jacket. "Any chance of this real food Leander keeps going on about?"

"If you can call it real food. Whatever it is we can do better."

"If it's not out of a pouch it's magical." She replied. "Having to process all those chemicals dims your abilities."

"Good to know."

"And at some point I'll have to teach you how to control telepathy."

"Yes, please." He took a deep breath, "I'm supposed to go have an MRI. A scan of the activity of your brain. I know Ken and Andy had them, I'm sure they would love to have one of you. It's not invasive, it doesn't hurt."

"Sure." She replied with a shrug. "I'll have to ask my brother first."

Huh? "Why?"

That question seemed to stop her, "Because he's the King."

"So you have to ask your brother's permission to do stuff."

"Some things, like answering requests of foreign governments." Sarai picked up on where he was going and turned to him becoming more serious. "Spencer, I know you're about to tell me that I'm an autonomous person who has every right to her own body and her own life and who can make her own decisions. And you are absolutely right about that."

"Okay, then why ask him?"

"Because who we are, what we are, and the manners and customs we use with each other and with the others is all that's left of our culture. That and the Noble gametes are literally all we have left to start rebuilding. And rebuilding our culture matters to me." He could hear the emotion in her voice and remembered the stacks and stacks of books on the subject, memories stored in her head. "So even though I know he'll tell me to do as I please I'm going to ask because that's what we do."

He nodded. He couldn't fight her, not when she was making her choices more clearly and openly than perhaps anyone else he knew. "What can I do to help you rebuild your culture?"

She smiled and took his hand. "You asked." He heard within his mind. "That's a start."