Human Connections

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Wednesday my wonderful readers! Do you know what we have this chapter? DRAMA! We have lots and lots of Drama! I hope you guys are as excited for what's coming next as I am. As always don't forget to leave a review or drop a fav or follow and I'll see you guys next week!

Chapter 10

Spencer knew things he shouldn't.

That wasn't abnormal. Most people were constantly saying that the number of things that he just knew from his constant reading, were things he shouldn't know.

But that wasn't what he meant that time.

He knew that Emily Middleton had no interest in him. And yet she kissed him on New Year's Eve. He could have counted that as a simply New Year's Eve kiss, nothing but a tradition, of course, but he knew it wasn't the case.

Emily had kissed him as a distraction. And there was only one thing that Emily would want to distract him from.

He could see it now. That Ryanne had a bit of a school girl crush on Morgan, it was clear as day now that he had realized it. The way she looked at him, the smile that lit up her face when he was near her.

And if she had a crush, it would make sense that Emily would do her friend up so she was pretty for him. Like she had at the party.

It would make sense that at the New Year's count down, she would appear beside Spencer, who was far beneath her, for the traditional kiss. There were a million more suitable males at that party, many of which had been flirting with her before this, she shouldn't have picked Spencer out of all of them.

Because Spencer hadn't been trying to be one of them.

It would make sense that she would kiss him though if she was trying to keep him from realizing someone else was about to get a kiss.

And he was pretty sure Derek had kissed Ryanne. Her red lipstick had been smudged when she returned to Spencer's side. And though he had tried to wipe it off, it still stained his lips ever so slightly. Not enough to be completely obvious, but enough.

Then, of course, the two of them shared covert glances at one another for the rest of night.

He wasn't sure if that meant that Morgan was interested in her too, but Spencer had known him for a very long time. He knew that Morgan went through women like some men went through socks. He was always flirting with women or being flirted with and Ryanne… well Ryanne deserved someone who was going to shower her with love. Not treat her like his next option, or conquest.

He didn't want anyone to hurt his sister, least of all Derek Morgan. So, he was going to have to shut that down. As soon as possible.

So, the next time they were at work, when Morgan came up to him in the break room and asked how Ryanne was doing he knew that now was the time to deal with this situation.

"Ryanne's fine, why do you ask?" Spencer asked him being sure to pair that question with a suspiciously cocked eyebrow so Morgan knew that he was onto him.

"Well… because she wasn't doing well after the Christmas debacle and uh… I didn't hear if you two had talked out the awkwardness?"

Yes, they had. Spencer had told her that having a fucked-up family was normal, sure hers was a little more white-trash than normal, but he dealt with fucked up families all the time, so that had been nothing. He also mentioned that most people with mothers like Louann Walters ended up as serial killers, so the fact that she managed to come out normal was a miracle.

She had laughed and that had been it. Blanket of awkwardness had been lifted and the two of them had gone back to normal.

"Yeah that's fine, thanks for asking," and then he turned away to finish make his coffee, which meant spooning five more spoonfuls of sugar into it. He had lost count of how much sugar he had put in before but he was sure it wouldn't be enough.

"And uh… is she… you know still in town?"

Spencer turned back to him. By now Morgan would have teased him about the amount of sugar he was putting in his drink. He purposely put in two more spoons and found that Morgan, though staring at him, said nothing about how much sugar was going into his drink.

"She is," Spencer confirmed and a little smile grew on Morgan's face that he quickly squashed. "I'm actually seeing her for lunch…"

"That's great…" Morgan started but Spencer stopped him.

"You know, it's funny but uh… I did have a favour to ask of you," Spencer said and Morgan nodded. "It's uh… it's come to my attention that Ryanne might have a bit of a crush on you."

Morgan's eyebrows shot up his forehead in surprise, but there was a smile there, like Morgan thought that that was a good thing. But Spencer didn't feel that way.

"I know there's no way that she's your type," Spencer continued at that smile faded. "So, I'd consider it a personal favour if you were to you know… let her down easily. You know, because she's dealing with a shit family, I don't want her to be… led on."

For a moment the two men stared at one another. Morgan silently stared at him as he digested the request and then he waved it off.

"Yeah sure, no problem," he said.

"Great," Spencer said back picking up his coffee. "Thanks Morgan."

Then Spencer and his coffee were heading back to his desk, already feeling better.

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Ryanne had never been so excited to walk onto the BAU floor before. It wasn't that she wasn't excited to see her brother, but this visit had another purpose. One that Emily had sent her there for, with all the right words to say. She had even done her make up for her again before she headed out for her next job. A little more subtle this time seeing as a full face had practically stopped his heart.

Emily's words, not hers. She didn't think he was that wowed by it, he probably just didn't like it. That much make up had never been her style, she didn't know why she had let Emily convince her into doing it that night.

Ryanne first went to Spencer hoping to get a glimpse of where Morgan was, and to see her brother.

She caught a glimpse of him alright, the second he saw her he went ramrod straight in his seat and then got up, heading for the breakroom. Perfect they could talk in there privately.

"Hey Spence," she said going to her brother first.

"Hey Ryanne, I'm almost finished and then we'll go," he said. Ryanne was already n the process of walking around the desk. She hugged him from behind and felt him smile into it, though he just put a hand up to her arm to acknowledge the hold she had him in.

"Would you mind if I went to get some water?"

"Not at all," he said. "It's in the break room."

Yes, exactly where she wanted to be!

She tried not to rush off but totally ended up practically running to that break room. She found Morgan helping himself to cup of coffee.

"Uhm… hi," she said once she realized she was just standing there staring at him.

He smiled warmly at her. "Hey Ryanne. I heard there was another lunch date today…"

"Yeah, I'll be leaving soon." She cleared her throat. "I was actually hoping to talk to you…"

"Me too actually…"

"About the other night… New Year's I mean…"

"Oh yeah?"

Ryanne paused. "Did you just say you wanted to talk to me too?"

"I did, but you go first…"

"Oh! Well uhm… I just uh… I enjoyed New Years and I suppose I was wondering if you'd like to… " "—Nope I should have gone first," he said cutting her off.

The smile faded from Ryanne's face. Oh, that wasn't good.

"Look, you're cute. Don't get me wrong. But uh… you know, it really wouldn't work. You and I."

Yep. Not good. How had both she and Emily read this, him, so wrong? She was always bungling things like this up, but Emily was usually spot on.

"You know, with my job taking me all over the country and you, you know, not living here," he continued. "It wouldn't make sense starting any sort of relationship with you, even if it were casual."

Well that part was true. Could have at least said yes to one date, but why get their hopes up?

"And Reid… Spencer I mean, he works with me. And if things go belly up with us, it would make things awkward between Spencer and I. He and I both think…"

Ryanne felt the color drain from her face. Wait a second… what did he just say? "Did… did Spencer tell you to talk to me?"

"Well no, I mean we did discuss this… but... He's right, things with you… if they don't work out, which, let's be real here, probably won't, would make things awkward between me and him so…"

Ryanne plastered a fake smile onto her face but even then, Morgan could tell that she was upset.

"It's got nothing to do with you, really. You're one hundred percent my type, so don't…"

"Uh thanks," she said. "For your honesty, I mean. I've got… you know a lunch… so I'm going to…"

And then she walked away, even though he was asking her to stop. She got to the elevator, planning to head back downstairs only to have Spencer call her name.

"I'm coming, hold on."

She stood there waiting for him, watching as he slung his shoulder back over his shoulder. He got there as the elevator doors opened, standing beside her as the doors closed.

"So, I was thinking we'd try the little café, you know the one, downtown…"

"Did you tell Morgan he's not allowed to ask me out?"

She had thought she wasn't going to confront him about it but there it was, out there. Out in the open. Apparently, that's what they were going to do today. They were going to argue.

Spencer turned to her surprised. "Is that what he said?"

"No, he said you and him discussed it and it would be awkward… for you… if me and him dated."

She turned to look at him and found him wide eyed and clearly not expecting her to know that. Or maybe he didn't feel like she should be mad even though she clearly was.

"So that means, you two were discussing me, and whether or not I was interested in him, and he and me, and you told him that work came first and now he's not interested anymore…"

"I mean, that's not really, I just meant that… he's a dog! Did you know that? He's always picking up women and… and… I just didn't want…"

"So basically, you made the decision for me. Like my mother. So, who were you doing it for? For me or for you?"

The elevator doors opened to the lobby and Ryanne stormed out. "Lunch is cancelled!" she called over her shoulder and then rushed out of the building.

She wished she had never found Spencer Ried.

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Ryanne slammed the door to her hotel room still on the phone with Emily.

Emily was working, she had a photoshoot somewhere in New York, so she hadn't answered, but she knew she'd call back.

"I really need you to call me when you get this," she said once she got to the voicemail beep. "We were wrong and I… just call me please."

She hung up on the call, then ignored another call from Spencer before putting her phone on silent so she wouldn't hear all the times he called.

She wanted to get out of the state, like right now. Right that second. That's how embarrassed she was.

But where was she going to go? Vegas would cheer her up, the Middleton's were great for that, but Vegas meant she might run into her family. They did not cheer her up.

She could go to New York, hole herself up in her penthouse apartment and work on her new book. Maybe rent another cottage up in the Hamptons, not the rich part, of course, the more affordable side.

Or maybe she'd just ask where Emily was, and stay with her. They always put Emily up in great hotels, they could do spa days and drink out of the minibar.

She'd wait to talk to Emily to decide where she wanted to go. She knew she wouldn't have to invite herself though, if she went to where Emily was her friend would insist she come there.

Maybe, if Emily had the time, they could go to the Hamptons together. Lord knows they hadn't been on a real vacation together in years.

"You've been ignoring my calls…"

Ryanne jumped at the sound of the male voice behind her. She turned to find a man she didn't recognize coming out of her washroom.

What the actual hell.

"What is… how are you… what the hell are you doing in here?" she cried. "You know what, I don't care. Get out."

She turned back to the door. "I won't be leaving with you, my dear, not this time anyway."

Ryanne didn't even get a chance to turn around, by then it was too late.