Okay so I write nothing for a couple of days and then 2 chapters at once. What can I say, my muses started speaking to me again. Next on the agenda will be the trial of icky stalker dude and Valentine's Day! Yippee!-J
"If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you."-Jim Croce 'Time in a Bottle'
The pair was settled into their bed that night reading like an old couple that had been married for years. It made Maggie smile to think of them that way. She felt relaxed for the first time since she couldn't even remember when. Things had been so chaotic and she knew she had been a challenge for her dear sweet prince. She vowed that someday she would make it all up to him and find a way to repay him for putting up with her nonsense. She absently twirled the ring on her finger trying to fathom the strange turns one's life could take. Just last spring she had half of her life the exact way that she wanted it and resigned herself to the fact that the rest just wasn't meant to be. She was a full professor at a very highly esteemed college and not quite to her mid-thirties which was pretty damned good for someone who hadn't graduated high school at twelve like some other people she could name. Her personal life wasn't all she had dreamed it could be but she did what she could to make it as good as she could and she had found ways to be happy. She had her kitties and her home with her porch and its perfect swing. She filled her non-working hours with baking and music. Sure she had hoped to find love but deep down she always knew that was a bit of a pipe dream. She was fundamentally broken in so many ways and not exactly a ravishing beauty. She was awkward and didn't always know what to say to people and had a tendency to go on and on about the most boring subjects. Her personal style was a little off center too and she was aware of this but didn't really care. Her shyness was often misinterpreted as being stuck up or icy. She'd rarely dated and had only one person prior to Spencer that she even would have referred to as a boyfriend. His name had been Todd and they went out on a grand total of five dates and once he had slept with her, he was gone.
Then one day while walking across campus delighting in the fresh spring day, she spotted this intensely beautiful man hunched over a book. He had longish, silky hair hanging half in his face and delicate features. His hands were the hands of an artist or pianist. His skin was creamy and flawless with perfect full, pink lips moving slightly as his finger sped down the page. He seemed exquisitely unaware of his surroundings and she recognized him immediately as faculty even though she didn't know his name or even which department he was with, she knew she had seen him sitting with staff at various assemblings. Surely it couldn't hurt just to talk to him. Perhaps they could be friends. Somewhere deep in her stomach there were butterflies beating their wings to try to tell her that she didn't want to be friends with him. Of course she knew that's all she could be. He was so lovely, if he wasn't already taken it had to be because he didn't want to be and he wouldn't be changing his mind about that for some homely poetry nerd like Maggie. She certainly never could have guessed that this man would be as wounded as she or as lacking in self esteem or social skills. Certainly she hadn't even dared to hope that he could find her beautiful or intriguing or loveable. But here she was with an engagement ring on her hand that he had put there. When she was frightened, he lent her strength. When she was hurting he gave her comfort and when she was happy he shared her joy.
Her thoughts left those musings when she realized that Spencer was no longer reading. He read so quickly that she could tell when he stopped because the pages quit turning.
"Are you alright, Spencer? Do you want me to turn off the light so you can sleep?"
"No, Maggie, you're fine. I'm still reading too."
"You are a big old liar. I can hear you flip pages and I notice when you aren't flipping them anymore."
"I guess my mind kind of sidetracked away from my book."
"I know how that can be. Are you worried about your mother coming? I really feel badly that I didn't talk to you about it first. I know I should have."
"Actually I was thinking of how amazing that was for you to do that. Thank you Maggie. You know what's good for me when I don't even know. Do you remember all the times I tried to leave your place after Ohio?"
"I sure do. I remember I had to go so far as to block the door with my body once."
"You were right and I am better because of it. I might eventually have gotten over the trauma on my own but it wouldn't have been this soon and I surely wouldn't have gotten back to work that quickly without you. I never thought anyone would be able to know me this well but I think you have a better understanding of me than I have of myself."
Maggie closed her book that she hadn't really been reading anyway.
"It's because I love you so damned much."
He closed his book as well and turned out his bedside lamp rolling toward her smiling. It was a lecherous smile that she wouldn't have ever thought the lovely creature reading speedily on campus that buoyant spring day to be capable of. She turned out the lamp at her bedside and turned toward him only to be intercepted by a kiss and roaming hands.
Reid walked into the conference room the next morning with a large cup of coffee.
"Good Lord, Reid, that coffee is as big as you are!"
"I needed some extra caffeine this morning, Morgan."
Morgan thought about making a lewd comment but then, out of respect for Maggie, thought better of it. It was one thing to tease a single Spencer Reid about a woman who may or may not be real but completely different to tease an engaged Reid about Maggie, his fiancée. Besides, with all that Maggie was dealing with, a late night might not have any hanky panky involved anyway.
"So kid, how's Maggie? Is she still scared?"
"Probably a little but she seems more normal and relaxed than she's been in a long time. She was reading when I got home last night. Have you ever seen her in her glasses?"
The tone of Reid's voice told Morgan that his original thought might have been right after all.
"I think I've only seen her in contacts. Pretty hot with the specs?"
Reid just smiled and nodded as he sat down to see what J.J. had for them that day. Before he knew it he was calling home to tell Maggie that he wouldn't' be home that night and probably not the next few nights either. She was naturally disappointed but didn't seem frantically frightened. He did stop by Garcia's office before heading toward the plane and asked her to stop and check on Maggie when she headed out for the day just to make sure she was really okay.