Riley awoke to a rustling from the closet. She opened her eyes, wincing at the soft light in the room. Looking around, she spotted her husband, Spencer Reid, buttoning his shirt in front of the full length mirror on the inside of the closet door.

"Are you leaving me?" She mumbled, rolling onto her other side, the better to see him.

Reid glanced back at her, "I was hoping I wouldn't wake you before I left." He mentioned with an apologetic look. "JJ called at five this morning, we need to be in by 8."

"An hour early." Riley realized, "Must be an intense case. Do you know where you're headed?"

"Not yet, but I was told to pack for at least five days." Reid explained, turning back to his reflection. "I know from experience that means it's serious."

Riley did not like the idea of her husband being gone for almost a week. "You'll be careful, won't you?"

"Of course, I will," He replied. His shirt fastened, he tucked the hem into his pants. "I'll call you as soon as I know where we're going."

A glance at her bedside table told her it was just seven now. "You don't have to be in until 8. You're a little early, aren't you?"

"I'm going to take the subway." Reid explained. "I thought it would be better to leave you the car."

"You don't have to do that," Riley said. She lay back under the sheets draped over her torso, revealing the top of her night shirt. One bare leg stuck out from the covers, and her hair spread around her as she rested on her pillow, watching her husband in awe. Reid was fitting his belt carefully through each loop on his pants. She admired him, from his mismatched stocking feet up the slender, gawky body she adored so much, all the way up to his chestnut brown hair, slicked back a bit from his shower. He had cut it at the beginning of the year. It had been awfully short, but cute. Now, in the middle of May, it was just starting to grow out again. Maybe it was Riley's imagination, but he seemed incredibly attractive. Even more than usual.

"How soon until you have to leave?" Riley asked innocently as he slipped on his wedding ring.

"Well, I want to grab coffee before I have to get on the train so… within the next ten minutes if I want to get to the BAU on time." He glanced back at her. "Don't worry, I'll start the coffee maker for you before I leave."

"Thanks…" She continued to watch him dress, beginning to wish it were her hands working in the reverse process. "Do you think you could be… just a little late?" He glanced back at her in question, and she shrugged, "It's not like they'll leave without you."

"I suppose not, but why?" He wondered just as he began to realize what that particular sparkle in her brown eyes meant.

"Nothing, I just…" she ran her tongue quickly over her bottom lip, an act she learned not long ago drove him crazy, "…I can't help but notice just how sexy you look this morning, Dr. Reid."

"No," he stated plainly, heading to the closet for his sneakers.

"Oh, come on, why not?" She whined, at last sitting up. Riley moved closer, kneeling before him on the bed. "Don't you think I'm pretty?"

"Nice try," He said, standing up. He couldn't help but look her up and down, taking in her curves surrounded by the cotton of her short night shirt, black and printed with roses. "You know I think you're beautiful, especially when you first wake up in the morning… but I have to go to work."

"But you're leaving me." She complained, her hands landing on the hem of his pants, pulling him closer. "You're going to be gone… for five days, at least… you're going to miss me."

"I'm going to miss you like crazy, I always do." His hands involuntarily landed on her hips, lingering on the hem of the shirt. It took everything in him to resist pulling her warm body against him. "And… if it wouldn't make me late, I wouldn't even give it a second thought. We just don't have enough time."

Riley wasn't done arguing her case. Her fingers walked up from his belt buckle, past his navel, stopping on the first fastened button of his shirt. They lingered there, waiting for his permission to go forward. "I know, but, see, I figure if we skip the fancy stuff and anything that's not absolutely necessary… we could be done in ten, fifteen minutes tops!"

She leaned to meet his lips, no longer waiting as she undid the first button moving to the second, "Sweetheart," he pleaded into the kiss as they pulled apart. His hands grabbed hers in order to make her stop undressing him. "As tempting as 900 seconds of passion sounds, I have to go."

"No you don't," She reclaimed the use of her hands, untucking his shirt while her lips moved to his neck. "Please…" She moaned into his flesh, "I want you… I ache for you, Spencer… please make love to me…"

Nothing was more difficult than denying her when Reid wanted her so desperately, especially hearing her beg for him like that. It was amazing just how quickly the feel of her lips could remove all rational thought from his abnormal brain. Mustering up all his strength, he sternly cried. "Riley, no." A tone both of them knew could not be denied. Reluctantly, she stopped, sitting up to meet his hazel eyes. "I'm sorry. I want you, too. But I can't be late, that's not fair to the others. I promise, I will make it up to you when I come home."

It was a lost cause. Riley nodded. "Okay." She whispered, disappointed.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise." He added, placing his hand behind her head, leaning his brow on hers, looking deeply into her eyes.

"You always say that," She moaned.

"I always come back." He clarified. "I love you,"

He was glad when she smiled; she wasn't mad. "I love you, too."

He kissed her softly, hearing her moan, slightly frustrated. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"Because I am a stupid, stupid genius," His muffled response sounded, just as disappointed as hers. Reid pulled away. He grabbed his shoes again and headed for the door.

"Wait," Riley cried, jumping off the bed. She hurried to her husband, pulling him into one last kiss; heavy and sweet, like syrup. The tip of her tongue slipped teasingly in his mouth for a moment, his body brought fully against hers. Reid longed to feel her bare, supple skin against his while at the same time desperate to keep his hands from touching her.

Before he lost all willpower, Reid pulled away. "I'll call you later," was all he said, meeting her eyes one last time and headed to door, sneakers in hand.

It closed with a soft snap. His hand lingered on the knob a moment. He tried to catch his breath in order to ease himself. It wasn't working, and that gave him two options. Either he could continue to the living room where his go bag sat waiting, pull on his shoes, and head to work feeling frustrated and miserable… or he could go back into the bedroom and make love to his wife before he left her for a week.

Dropping his shoes on the floor, he reopened the door. Riley was just about to climb back into bed. She looked to him with curiousity, expecting him to say he'd forgotten something. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Now that I think about... I can be a little late." He assured.

She giggled as he hurried to her and swept her into another kiss. As they pulled apart, she asked, "What ever made you change your mind?"

"That was a dirty trick," He growled. Reid guided them easily onto the bed, "You know perfectly well you can't kiss me like that and then send me away."

His body hovered over her. Moving to her shoulder, he pushed the fabric aside to feel her soft skin under his lips. "Mm, I know," she replied, continuing her work on his buttons. "You always come back."

"Meredith!" Alexa called, pouring orange juice into a plastic Hello Kitty cup. "Get down here in two minutes! And I mean, two minutes!"

The music playing upstairs was sending vibrations through the entire house. Alexa doubted her daughter had even heard. She handed the juice to her six-year-old daughter, Penny, who ate her breakfast hungrily, the only one of her three children at the kitchen table.

Right now, she wore slipper socks and her bathrobe. Alexa hadn't even time to brush her hair, let alone dress and fix herself up. That was the price of the working mother, her time and energy was devoted to her family.

"Peter, Sweetie," She cried up the stairs. "Come on, we've got school today."

She went to the counter to at last pour herself a cup of coffee. Stirring in the cream, the sound of her husband coming in alerted her. Alexa tried to ignore the feeling of dread of having to talk to him.

"Is there coffee?" His way of saying good morning.

"Isn't there always coffee, John?" Alexa questioned in return. "In the twenty years we've been married, has there ever not been coffee?"

He scowled at her, "You're going to start this early?"

With a glare, she went back to the breakfast table. Alexa grabbed a napkin, wiping the spilled oatmeal off her daughter's face. "You start your new job today."

With his own cup, he looked over with an annoyed expression. She matched his eyes, looking determined to not be intimidated by the man. "Are you going to at least try to keep it this time? Really try?"

"I didn't take the job," he contradicted. John seemed to get a sick pleasure out of the look of fear and wrath spreading over her face.

"John… it was a good job, why didn't you take it?" She demanded.

"It was a nothing, pansy ass, burger flipping job." He corrected, "I'm holding out for something better."

"Something better?" She asked. "First of all, it wasn't McDonald's, you would have been working in a real restaurant. It paid good money, which we need. You've been out of work for almost a year now, you can't afford to be picky."

"Well, I have a little more dignity than you, I guess." He pointed out.

Alexa did not like arguing like this in front of her child, but she had to get her husband to see reason. "I'm a waitress, it's not like I'm stripping. It's a paycheck, it pays the rent. It keeps our children clothed and fed."

"Have you looked at yourself lately?" He asked, indicating her body, "Do you really expect me to believe the first concern for food is our children?"

"Oh, you are one to talk!" Penny was completely forgotten at this point."You still think you're some hot high school jock. You can't even make it up the stairs without running out of breath. And that's not the only thing you don't have the stamina for."

"Well maybe if you lost a few pounds and fixed yourself up a little bit, I might find a little more energy for that."

His words hit her like a knife. How had they gotten to this? At one point, he had been barely able to keep his hands off her. There wasn't a boy in school who didn't give her a second look when she walked by, especially in her cheerleading outfit. She could get anything she wanted, just because she was pretty. He was Most Athletic, she was Most Likely to Succeed, and both were Cutest Couple. Now they couldn't even be in the same room without fighting.

"I don't have time for this," She snapped, heading back to the steps. "Excuse me, I have a household to run. I have children to get off to school and a job to get to so someone can collect a paycheck in this house!"

Alexa rushed up the stairs, the music getting louder as she got to the second level. The first room next to the bathroom had its door closed. A KEEP OUT poster with a skull and cross bones hung on the wood.

"Meredith," Alexa cried over the door with a knock. "Come on, we're going to be late."

She knocked a second time, but no one answered. With a sigh, she headed down to the next bedroom. She'd deal with Meredith later.

"Peter," she said softly, heading into the twins room. She expected to find her son in his dinosaur pajamas, sitting on the floor playing with his Buzz Lightyear and Woody toys. Surprisingly, he wasn't awake.

The blankets and sheets on Penny's pink bed were tossed back from when she got up this morning. There was a lump in the center of Peter's bed. "Peter, baby. What's wrong, don't you feel well?" She hoped he wasn't sick; she couldn't afford to take off a day of work.

Pulling back the baby blue sheets, however, all she found was a pillow. "Peter?" she called again. Alexa got on her knees to check under the bed. He wasn't hiding. "Peter!" she called, wondering if perhaps he was in the bathroom and she had just passed him.

A glance inside told her she was wrong. "Peter!" she kept calling, getting a little more anxious and annoyed. This wasn't like him. A check through the master bedroom told her he wasn't hiding in there, either. "Peter, please come out for Mommy!"

Perhaps he couldn't hear her over the blasting music. Hoping the door wasn't locked, Alexa went back to Meredith's room, pushing open the door.

Inside, she had her Keisha music blasting. Alexa's eldest daughter was already dressed for school, head to toe in black, dancing and jumping to the music, her hair bouncing wildly around her. Alexa hurried over to turn the music off. "Meredith!"

"What?" Meredith snapped, looking over her mother with annoyance.

"Help me find your brother, he's hiding." She explained. "And you have to get ready for school anyway."

"I am ready for school." She stated. The teenager was a Punk replica of her mother at that age. "And what, you can't find your own son?"

"He must have heard your father and me fighting and decided to hide." She stated, going out into the hall, heading to the linen closet.

Meredith followed, leaning on her doorframe. "If he's hiding because of that, that's ridiculous. The kid should be used to the yelling by now."

Alexa glared at the disrespect of her daughter. "Go check the downstairs bathroom, please." She commanded.

"Fine, but I bet he's playing outside." She said, heading over to the front stairs. "You guys may want to consider closing the front door after you get the paper."

Curious, Alexa followed her daughter. "What are you talking about?"

"This morning…" She grumbled, like it were obvious. "I went down to get something when I got up… you or dad left the front door open."

"Sweetheart, I haven't gotten the paper yet." She said in shock. "And your father just got up."

"Well, somebody left the door open." Meredith shrugged.

"Oh, my God," Alexa cried, hurrying down the steps as fast as her slipper socks would take her. Peter had to be just playing outside. It was already a warm day, he just wanted to play outside before he was shut up in school. Reaching the front door, she tore it open. "Peter!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "Peter! Peter, where are you!"

Reid knew he was in for it. At twenty after 8, he was tearing his way towards the air strip. He had tried the conference room first, but just as he suspected, the others had already departed. Luckily, he ran into Garcia who informed him the others were waiting on the plane. She would alert the others he was on the way so they wouldn't leave without him.

He made it outside and the sun blinded him for a moment. Spring was in full swing now. The morning was brisk, but once the sun got into the sky, the air would warm up. Not that Reid would be here to see it. As fast as he could, Reid ran to towards the plane, the door still stood wide open in anticipation of his arrival.

On the plane, the others were getting restless. They tried to focus on this new case, but it was difficult. They were anxious to get into the air. Hotch was pacing a bit and it was obvious he was struggling to hang onto his temper.

"Where the hell is that kid?" Morgan grumbled, checking his watch.

JJ grabbed her phone as she heard it ding with a text message. Quickly she read it. "Garcia just spoke to him, he should be here in a few minutes."

"I hope everything's okay." Emily mentioned, looking up from the folder in hand.

"I'm sure everything's fine." Rossi said across from her. There was a slight smirk on his face. "He is still considered a newlywed, after all."

"Come on, they've been married a year and a half." Morgan picked up his coffee for a sip. "The honeymoon period has got to be over by now."

"Obviously, you've never been married." Rossi replied. "With the exception of my third marriage, the honeymoon periods lasted for at least the first two years."

"Your third marriage didn't even last two years." Hotch mentioned, glancing out the window. He caught sight of someone dashing across the strip towards the plane.

"Please, we weren't even married two days before we started fighting." He remarked, bringing a light laughter from everyone around.

In a moment, there was a clamoring up the steps and finally, Reid appeared on the plane. He was panting and clutching at a stitch in his side, "I'm here," He managed to heave.

"Glad you could make it." JJ teased. "Everything okay?"

After a moment, he stood up straight, his neat appearance disheveled and raggedy. "Yeah... sorry, I accidentally fell back to sleep after you called."

"Uh, huh." Emily mentioned, sharing a knowing glance with Morgan. "Why didn't call to tell us that?"

"I..." He meet Emily's eye and hated the knowing grin on her face. They knew the truth, he was sure, but he was not about to shot himself in the foot and tell them straight out. "I need some coffee." Reid moved past everyone to the galley.

"I'll go tell the pilot we're ready to leave." Rossi announced, getting out of his seat.

The stifled giggles burned Reid's ears as he grabbed himself a mug. There was one person of the group who wasn't happy however, and quickly caught up with the young man to tell him so.

"Reid," Hotch said quietly, trying to shut out the others from the conversation. Even in such a soft tone, the man was very foreboding.

"Yes, sir," He said, turning to face him. He made the decision and now he had to face the consequence.

"I know you're a young and in love, and that's wonderful. I'm happy for you, but this has to stop." He stated sternly. "You've been coming in late two or three times a week since you've gotten married. I've been nice about it up until now. I've never written you up, but you've never been this late and you've never done it while we working on a case. I won't report you now, but I'm warning. If it happens again, I will report it to Strauss."

That was the last thing he needed. Reid nodded, "I understand, sir. It won't happen again."

"Good," He replied. He fixed Reid with another stare and he swore, there was a slight twinkle in the older man's eye. "Do I need to call Riley and talk to her about this, too?"

"No..." Reid said slowly. "Why... why would she need to know."

"She is the reason you're late today, after all." Hotch mentioned, his voice suddenly a bit louder. "Unless you burned yourself repeated with a curling iron this morning."

The others couldn't contain their laughter as Reid's face turned a bright red, his one hand covering the many sore spots on his neck. Embarrassed, he turned back to quickly make himself some coffee.

The plane was getting ready to take off as Reid took the empty seat across from JJ. She was looking at him significantly, much different than the others were. Reid looked up and met her eyes, "What?"

"Nothing..." She shook her head. "You just... you look different this morning."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Hotch mentioned that."

"No," She smiled as she shook her head. "Not that, I just mean... there's something about you. You just seem... it's better than happy, I can't describe it."

The others were looking at him now. True, Reid had been feeling extremely happy this morning, and it felt a lot more powerful than the joy of having morning sex with his wife.

"I don't know," He finally said with a smile. "I can't describe it, really... it's just a feeling something special is about to happen... I have a really good feeling about today."