A/N: Hello again, everyone!
A shout-out to ahowell1993, Sovictian, Spinellifan03, Vixencute101, Kelly, Skylar, Martha, Betty, Susan, and Amy for either reviewing Chapter 36, favoring and/or following the story. The occasional scenes from episodes of Criminal Minds in this story belong to the writers of Criminal Minds and CBS. No copyright infringement intended.
My apologies if I had made any mistakes but please do enjoy the chapter!
Also, I would like to credit ahowell1993 for helping me with this chapter.
Make sure you are all safe and sound with the COVID-19 pandemic going on.
"Here we are, babe," Élise said to Reid as they stepped off from their first-class flight and made their way to the crowd at the McCarran International Airport.
"I can't believe we're actually back in Las Vegas," Reid said as they gathered their luggage.
"Well, we did agree to go come back here one last time before the wedding in two weeks," Élise replies as she carries her luggage and handbag.
"True." Reid agrees. "Plus, this could be our one last adventure before I say, 'I do' to the most beautiful woman in the world." Reid takes Élise's hand and kisses the palm.
Élise giggles, "And I get to say, 'I do' to the most handsome man in the world." She pecks his cheek before asking, "So, what should we do first?"
"I say before we visit my Aunt Ethel, I need to get a haircut." Reid runs his fingers through his long hair.
"Now that you mention it, I need a new 'do as well." Élise tucks some loose hair behind her ears. "I have to look like a masterpiece."
"You're my masterpiece," Reid whispers in her ear, allowing her to giggle again.
"Are you sure she'll like it?" Reid asked Élise for the umpteenth time as they parked the car and got out. Reid looks at his new short shaggy haircut one of the car's side mirrors.
Élise answers as she and Reid close the car doors, "It's short. I'm sure she'll like it." Élise soon asked as they walked up the driveway, "She'll like my new hairdo, right, babe?"
"She's going to love it." Reid gushes before knocking on the door. After seven seconds—Reid counted,
"Yay!" An overjoyed Ethel greets Reid with a heartfelt hug. "Thank God you don't have that long hair anymore." She gives him a playful smile before eyeing her attention to Élise, gasping "My-my-my, Élise. Your hair looks absolutely stunning."
It was a gorgeous glossy shoulder-length bob with a fairly short centre-parting and the straight fringe bangs beginning behind the hairline and swept down to her eyebrows.
"Thanks." Élise prattles. "Naomi Campbell was the inspiration behind the new 'do."
"Interesting." Ethel nods her head before turning her attention back to Reid, "So…Spencer. What are you doing here?"
"Élise and I figured we should have one last visit before the wedding."
"Well, that's just great. I'm so glad you two are here. You two are not…?"
"We're not intimate," Élise assured her.
Ethel sniffs his hair before telling Reid, wagging her finger, "You better not." Ethel soon runs her fingers through Reid's new haircut again. "You kept your promise to me that you cut that hippie hair before the wedding."
Élise chuckles as Reid pressed his lips together, "Hmm-mmm."
"Okay," Anna brought out a cake slice and placed it on the table. "For the bride: Red velvet and vanilla bean marble with a cream cheese vanilla filling and white chocolate buttercream."
"Oh, Anna. This looks delicious" Élise smiled as she grabbed her fork and took a bite, "And it even tastes delicious. Not too sweet."
"Are you trying to make my bride-to-be fat," Reid joked before Élise gives him a bite. "Delicious."
"Thank you," Anna replies before she wheels in some slices of chocolate cake. "And for the groom: we have chocolate with coffee frosting, German chocolate cake with a coconut-pecan frosting, Devil's food cake, Death by Chocolate, and just simple chocolate."
"Oh!" Élise grabs her fork again and takes a bite out of the coffee frosted cake. "Hmm." Swallowing, "The coffee frosting is not too overwhelming, but still nice."
Reid nods his head, "True." Reid takes a bite of the German chocolate cake, "And this one is good, too."
"But you're thinking about food allergies with the coconut-pecan frosting, huh, babe?"
"Yeah." After swallowing, Reid takes a bite of the Death by Chocolate, "This one is really good."
"But a little too sweet." Élise comments.
"I guess you can't go wrong with simple chocolate," Reid offers her another bite.
"Yup."
Reid concludes, "So, we're saying yes to this chocolate cake."
"And definitely yes to my marble cake." Élise declares her decision.
"Now, onto the food tasting?" Anna cups her hands.
"Oh, my…" An amazed Élise said as she and Reid glanced through a wedding cake design book. "That one looks nice."
"And that one looks nice, too." Reid points a simple three-tier rectangular cake.
Élise replies in a doubtful tone, "Looks too simple. I want our wedding cakes to have some meaning."
"What kind of meaning?" Reid asked.
"I want our wedding cakes to tell a story about us. Our personalities. Who we are as people. Just dig deep and use your imagination."
"Okay." Reid plants a kiss on Élise's head before he continued strolling through the album before he sees something that catches his eye.
"Oh." Reid points to a stack of antique and vintage books inspired wedding cake. "This one…"
"Is very you." Élise lifted her eyebrow before she starts browsing for her own wedding cake. "Hmm…"
"What made you say 'hmm,' my queen?" Reid questioned.
"Hey, Anna," Élise exclaimed, catching her attention.
Anna replies, "Yeah, Élise?"
"Tell me about this one." Élise shows her a three-tier circular wedding cake.
"Oh. You picked an interesting one. You can write down what you want on the cake. Do you have some words in mind that you want to put down on the cake?"
"I have some in mind." Élise answered before continuing, "Mind if I send them to you by tonight or tomorrow morning? I want the words to be absolutely perfect."
"Of course."
At the Bennington Sanitarium, Reid walked in, side-by-side holding Élise's hand and sees his mother sitting by herself; he even noticed she was writing something.
"Dr. Reid. Élise." They were greeted Dr. Norman. "Great to see you two again. Your mom didn't tell me you were in town?"
"She doesn't know I'm here," Reid assures him. "I'm not working a case; I'm just in town one last time before the wedding in a couple of weeks."
"How are you two feeling?"
"Nervous but we're ready to be wedded."
"Congrats again. You two deserve everything."
"How's my mom?"
"Your mother's doing wonderful; the meds have been stabilizing her symptoms, but she still has her days. She's had just a couple outbursts and episodes, but nothing extreme."
"That's great news," Élise said. "She must be excited to see her only child getting married in a couple of weeks."
"She is, indeed," Dr. Norman nods his head before he heard his cell phone ring, "I have to take care of this, but it was great seeing you both again." Dr. Norman walks in the opposite direction, leaving Reid and Élise to walk slowly to Diana.
"M-mom?"
The sound of her son's voice causes Diana to look up from her book,
"Spencer!" She immediately gets up from her seat and give Reid a hug and observes his new haircut. "Nice haircut."
Reid chuckles, "Thank you."
"I've always preferred you with shorter hair, anyway." Diana soon gives Élise a hug. "Élise! How are you two?"
"We're great, Mama D." Élise smiles.
"Oh. I can't believe my baby's getting married in a couple of weeks." Diana coos. "Will I be getting grandchildren within a year?"
"That's one of our goals." Élise assures her.
"Are you two nervous?"
"That's putting it mildly." Reid answers.
"Don't be." Diana rest her hand on Reid's lap. "You two are going to have a richly, wonderful fulfilling life together. I know that you two will."
"Because a mother knows?" Reid remembers what she told him when he visited her before his own case involving Riley Jenkins.
"A mother knows." Diana beams. "And this mother also knows that you better give me some grandchildren."
….
Back home in Virginia…
"Do you think everyone will like my new haircut?" Reid asked Élise as he has another quick cup of coffee.
"Even if they don't like it, I love it, which outweighs any opinion."
Reid gives her a kiss on the lips. "You always know how to make me smile."
"Indeed, I do."
As Reid looks at his watch, gulping down the rest of his coffee, "I better get to work since thunderstorms caused our flight to be delayed and made me late for work."
Élise grins before she blows a kiss to him. "Love you."
"Love you too."
"…They went missing roughly two months apart..." JJ said, explaining the case to the team as she noticed Reid walking in.
"Well, hello." A surprised JJ comments as Reid sat down at the roundtable. The room was silent for at least six seconds before,
"What? Did you join a boy band?" Hotch dryly comments, causing everybody except Hotch & Reid to chuckles
"No," Reid replies.
Morgan plays with it a bit, "Well, I like it."
"Thanks, Morgan."
"Even if it makes you look like a wannabe Backstreet Boy." Morgan laughs.
"Spencer!" Élise exclaims as she answers her cell phone.
"Hey."
Élise's eyebrows lowered as she noticed his voice sounded shaky. "Are you okay?"
"Not really," Reid exhales, placing his hand on his stomach. "I, uh…I just witnessed an unsub strangle a woman to death."
"Sweetheart…"
Reid bursts out, "I had to dash out of the room. I know, I just…"
"You have a tough job," Élise understood. "I get it."
"It's not that. It…Tobias Hankel."
Now Élise's eyebrows raised when he mentioned Tobias Hankel. "What about Tobias Hankel?"
"When he held me captive, he…made me chose who to be saved. And when I did, he killed a couple by the name of Pam and Mike Hayes. Because they defended accused criminals." Exhaling again, "And I watched him do so."
Élise had her hand to her stomach. "Oh, baby…"
"I really needed to hear your voice."
"Oh. When you get some, I'll bake you not only cookies but also a souffle, okay, my husband-to-be?"
Reid smirked, "I guess that does make me feel a little better. Other than you, my wife-to-be."
"Aw." Élise admires before looking at her computer's clock. "Aw, babe. I have to get going; I have a meeting."
"Okay. And again, I really needed to hear your voice."
"Love you."
"I love you more." Reid hung up and took a deep breath before walking out, but not before running to,
"Hotch."
Hotch sighed, "I apologize for making you stay in the room and watch the live feed. Tobias Hankel…"
"I know." Reid nods his head. "I just needed to clear my head."
"I'll make sure that in the future you won't have to witness anything like that again."
"I'd like that."
During the flight home after the team concludes on the case,
"So, Reid," Morgan closed his file, "Still can't believe you're getting married in five days. And before me, I might add."
"Because you're still single?" Reid retorts.
Morgan counters, "I'm single by choice."
"Uh-huh." Prentiss doubted.
"Just wondering, will Élise be paying for our flight to Las Vegas?" JJ asked.
"Élise will be chartering a private jet for her family," Hotch spoke up.
"And us?"
Rossi raises his hand, "Actually…I've taken the liberty of chartering a private jet for the invited party, including us."
"Really?"
"It's the least I could do," Rossi smirked.
"Did you and Élise come to a compromise?" Reid figured.
"Yup. Otherwise, I'd be heading into another Hurricane Élise." Rossi chuckles.
"Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm glad the case is over." Reid respired.
"Because you're getting married in five days?"
"Well, that, and I get to go home to the soon-to-be Mrs. Spencer Reid who has cookies and souffle wanting for me."
"Hi, honey! I'm home!" Reid announced as he steps into the house and locks in the security alarm. Reid sees Opal sleeping in her pen before sniffing something that led him to the kitchen.
Élise was dress in a blush blouse, white pants, and Chanel flats. She also wore a black and pink apron and purple oven mitts.
"Welcome home, honey!" Élise smiles as she sees Reid and gently sets a chocolate souffle next to a plate of freshly baked cookies.
"Aw, you came through with the cookies and souffle."
Taking off her mitts and cupping her hands to Reid's face, "Anything for you." She pecks his lips. "In five days, I'm going to marry the greatest and most handsome man in the entire universe."
"And in five days, seven hours, eighteen minutes and forty-three seconds, I will marry the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the entire universe."
"I love it when you give me the statistics." Élise purred.
