After Spencer had finished telling her everything, she started to shiver. He looked at his watch and realized it was almost 3:30. They had been outside for over three hours walking, sitting and talking. The sun was setting below the tree line and any warmth they had felt from the clear day was now gone. He apologized that he wasn't thinking about how cold she was. She told him, she was so engrossed in the conversation that she hadn't noticed until just now.
They walked quickly back to the car and he turned on the heat. "One of the best features of a Volvo is their heating system. It gets very cold in Sweden." He was right, the car warmed up very quickly and she was pulling off her hat, scarf and gloves in no time.
By the time they were back in the city, she mentioned she was getting hungry again. He agreed. It had been over 5 hours since they finished their food. They had lingered with coffee and then gone for the walk. At 4:15, it was after lunchtime and before most restaurant's dinner hour. Most of the places that were open were coffee shops. Chelsea had enjoyed the quiet day she had spent with Spencer and preferred not to go to a noisy coffee shop. "There is a great deli in my building if a sandwich is OK with you. We can take it upstairs to my apartment to eat. I have plenty of drinks and some fruit there."
Spencer liked the idea of seeing her apartment. The furnishings and surroundings can tell a lot about a person. He nodded his agreement and headed towards her place. When they arrived, she led them towards the back to the underground parking structure's entrance. She told him that when she purchased her unit after college, she had a roommate that helped her pay the mortgage. She had negotiated two parking spots in the deal, so the roommate would be able to have parking included in her rent. The second spot was always open unless her mom or grandpa came over or she had an out of town friend from college visit.
The parking lot had a key card entrance and cameras located at the entrance. There were also cameras on every parking level that could be viewed by the security guard in the lobby. The elevators led only to the lobby and you needed to go by the security desk to go up to the apartments. Spencer was impressed with the security here. Although no system is full proof, this would stop all but the most determined criminal. Chelsea motioned towards the deli at the far end of the lobby. There was a glass wall between the two rooms with one entrance from the lobby of her building. The main entrance to the deli was on the street.
She had noticed him checking out all of the cameras and said "My grandpa was happy I chose this building when I was shopping for my own place. He approved of the security. He didn't know about my stalker, but that was one of the main reasons I liked this place."
"Stalker?" Spencer was shocked at the casual mention of one.
"I'll tell you later," she walked towards the counter. Spencer was still thinking about her having a stalker when a loud voice boomed "Chelsea!" He turned his attention to a very fit Italian man that looked to be in his late 50s wearing a white apron over a polo shirt and jeans heading towards the counter from the back room. "What can I get you?"
Then noticing Spencer he continued. "…and your friend." Just then his eyes caught Spencer's gun and asked, "You a detective?"
The whole situation stunned Spencer, but he recovered quickly and shook the extended hand while Chelsea introduced him. "No, this is Dr. Spencer Reid, he is a profiler with the BAU at the FBI. Spencer, this is my friend Frank Bassi."
"Cool, the BAU. Welcome to my deli." Turning towards Chelsea, "Little Franky would love to meet him."
Chelsea nodded and explained to Spencer that Franky, Frank's son just finished the academy and was a rookie with the Virginia State Troopers. She continued that all of Frank's family has been in law enforcement since his great-grandfather came over from the Basilicata region of southern Italy. "Yep, I'm the black sheep of the family" he looked amused by the whole conversation and continued. "My dad was a DC cop and my twin brother and I both went to the DC Police Academy after two years at a junior college. After graduation he became a cop in DC also, but I quit and followed my dream of owning a deli."
"Frank was the first one here to recognize that I had a stalker when I moved in and told me I could call him for protection any time I needed it."
"Yeah, weird little fellow was always hanging out across the street and when Chelsea would come down he'd get very agitated. I told her to call the police, but she refused. I have a license to carry a concealed weapon, so I gave her my number because I could be at her door or car much faster than 911. Fortunately, he stopped hanging around."
Spencer was surprised she refused to call the police with all of her connections, but he could tell by her look that she didn't want to talk about it right now so he kept quiet.
Frank asked what they would like and they both ordered. When Spencer tried to pay, she told him that she had a line of credit here and the bill was already paid. Spencer was upset because he was unable to pay for the brunch also. The Virginia Rifle Club didn't accept money; you had to charge it to your membership. He was uncomfortable with her paying for both of their meals that day. He also was not comfortable to argue about it in the deli full of patrons and glared at her while putting away his wallet. She looked like she read his mind when she stifled a laugh.
Frank started to put the sandwiches and potato and pasta salads they had ordered on a tray. Chelsea stopped him and told him it was to go, they were taking it upstairs. Frank raised his eyebrows at Spencer and said, "You must be pretty special; she never lets any men up there. Not once since I've known her, except of course her grandpa."
For the second time that day, Chelsea's face turned bright pink. This time it was Spencer's turn to stifle a laugh.
As they entered the sparkling clean mirrored and silver elevator to go up to her fifth floor apartment, she looked a bit embarrassed, "It's true; I don't invite guys up to my place. I've never wanted to spend enough time with anyone or to get to know them enough to feel comfortable bringing them up here" she said as the door opened on her floor. Perfect timing, as he did not know what to say just then.
They walked out onto a small bright landing. The wall in front of them was glass from floor to ceiling and behind them was the elevator and a small door to some sort of electrical room on one side and the door to the stairs on the other. On either side of them was a larger door leading to the apartments. Changing the subject, he asked "Are the two apartments on this floor identical to each other?"
"Yes, all the floors from the fifth to the tenth have two three-bedroom apartments all identical to this. Above that, the eleventh and twelfth floors are single penthouse apartments. Below us from the second to the fourth floor, there are four one-bedroom apartments on each floor."
As she unlocked her door she continued as she pointed to the glass wall straight ahead of them. "The outside wall around every floor is floor to ceiling glass. I think that was a design flaw that made these apartments more difficult to sell than they should have been. Even though there is a barrier there, many people even with a light acrophobia, can't bring themselves to live here because of the feeling of vertigo. This apartment had been vacant for over a year when I bought it." Spencer looked around the living space that had a very homey and comfortable appeal. There was not a lot of furniture, but it was all high end and in perfect condition. He noticed a large flat screen TV on one wall and on the same wall several feet over, a built in fireplace. From the rooms he could see, this was the only one that had curtains drawn.
She saw him looking at the room and mentioned that she kept the curtains drawn in that room both to make it easier to see the TV and to keep the furniture from fading. The glass walls had a mirror like finish on the outside and were treated with many layers of a sun filtering protection, but over long exposure it still could fade things. In the other rooms, she wasn't worried about fading, but she loved both the couch and chair she had ordered for this room and didn't want them ruined.
They hung their coats and scarves on a rack by the door and headed back towards the dining area with adjoining kitchen. On the left side there was a granite countertop three-fourths across the entrance to the kitchen with four bar stools. The kitchen cabinets looked like a light stained Maple. There were waist high counters across the glass wall with a sink and dishwasher, making good use of the space. The wall opposite the bar stools was floor to ceiling cabinets for a pantry and storage. The refrigerator was on that wall also with the same wood finished panels to blend in. The stove, oven and microwave were on the wall opposite the windows. It was a compact space, but well planned.
Across from the bar stools was the formal dining area. She had a large glass table with two cream, black and burgundy marble pedestals holding it up. The eight dining chairs were high backed with deep burgundy damask fabric and black lacquer legs. It had a modern, but still homey feel. The two-sided fireplace was also in this room on the wall dividing the living and dining rooms.
Chelsea went to the black lacquered chest of drawers and pulled out two burgundy, pink, and green floral placemats with matching napkins. "The problem with a glass table, is that the plates rattle and make noise while you are eating if you don't use a placemat. I use placemats every time I eat here, even if it is only a snack while working on my laptop. I have my office to work in," she pointed to an interior room close to the entrance backed up to where Spencer knew was an identical room in the adjoining apartment. He could see a table type desk in the center of the room with a large wood bookshelf along the far wall. She continued, "But I enjoy looking at the view over the city while working and this table gives me lots of room to spread out the paperwork," as she set out the place settings.
She went to the kitchen and pulled out two plates, forks, spoons and knives and a couple of serving spoons for the salads. She handed them across the counter to Spencer who set the table while she pulled out a bowl of grapes and some berries and brought them to the table. "If you come to the refrigerator, you can see what I have to drink." She opened the refrigerator and he casually placed his long arm over the open door and leaned in to look as she spoke. "There is bottled water, Coke, and in the two pitchers are ice tea and lemonade. I think I'll have an Arnold Palmer, half ice tea with half lemonade."
Spencer said that sounded good to him also, but with more lemonade than tea and turned towards her. Their faces were almost touching. He leaned forward to kiss her and she closed the distance. It was a sweet, soft, quick kiss. He leaned back and almost started to apologize, but stopped when she smiled at him he smiled back. She turned back to the refrigerator and pulled out the two pitchers. She set them on the counter and grabbed a couple of glasses. Motioning towards the freezer door, above the refrigerator she asked if he'd grab a few ice cubes for each glass. She poured the drinks, both with more lemonade than ice tea, handed him one and they went to the table for their early dinner.