Chapter 8: Talking with a friend

When Spencer arrived to his apartment he got a text message from Emily "Hey handsome, can we meet tomorrow? At lunch?"

He answered almost immediately "yeah sure, where?"

A few minutes later she wrote back "at Gino's, is it ok?"

"Year, see you there" he answered.

"Ok see you tomorrow" was her answer.

He was curious about what she wanted to talk about. He was sure she would ask about his mental health and how he was doing with the doctor.

She will need him since they just lost an agent thanks to Mr. Scratch. Stephen Walker died in the car crash.

It still hurts him. He never got the chance to get to know him more because he was most of the time taking care of his mother or in prison.

But he knew he was an excellent agent and knew a lot of things. Spencer went to sleep with that thought so he woke up with nightmares of Mr Scratch.

He cannot get him out of his mind and he hated it. He was on his bed, eyes wide open at 3am.

He reached for that smartphone Max gave him and realized she sent him a messages on WhatsApp.

There were photos she and her sisters took last night. Some were of the family at dinner and some were focus on them.

He was smiling and so was her. He could not help but smile. This was just what he needed to make him forget about Peter Lewis.

The photos were beautiful and he could not take his eyes off Max. She was making him feel like a normal man and she helped him to relax and have fun.

She kept his mind out of the nightmares that haunted him for years. She was his anchor to the present. He understood Gideon holding to his secret place and how upset he was when the Fisher King stole it from him.

Gladly this time his secret place was someone and he just hope that when he has to tell her his demons she does not run away.

He did not realized he was falling back to sleep until his eyes closed completely and open again the next morning.

He stood up and took a shower then got dressed and ate some toast with coffee. It was early so he had time to meet with Emily.

Max called him "hey there. How are you?"

"Hey I'm good and you?" He said looking through some books in his bookshelf.

"Great, I'm on my way to work. How did you sleep?"

"Well I had some nightmares. But I had since I started at the FBI so..."

"It shouldn't be normal, did you tell this to the doctor?"

"No. It's part of the job" he sighed "I haven't had them since we met but yesterday they returned"

"Aww... Why?" She sounded concerned.

"My boss contacted me yesterday and I think that trigger the memories" he explained her "but I got back to sleep thanks to you"

He could imagine her blushing and smiled "oh really? And why is that?" He could imagine also her smirk.

"Those photos you sent me. Watching them helped me relaxed and before I realized I felt asleep"

"Well I'm glad I helped you. And I never liked to talk about other's dreams but if you need to talk, I'm open to listen"

"Thank you Max and I will consider it" he sat down "what are you planning to do today?"

"I'm on my way to school. Today I will decorate my classroom and set my books and painting equipments here"

"Amazing. Have fun" he smiles.

"Thank you" she laughed as she parks her car close to the school's door "my dad isn't sure about letting you play poker with his friends. I didn't tell him you were from Vegas but I told him you were pretty good" she held her backpack and walked to the school's door.

"You can tell him I was banned from every casino in Vegas so I will be alright"

She laughed "ok I will and I think that's could be a clue about how good you are"

He laughed then checked his watch "I have to go to meet with my boss so can we talk later?"

"Sure. I will call you later"

"Perfect" they hung up and walked out of his apartment and headed to the restaurant they decided to go.

He headed to the restaurant in his car. He was early so he took his time to find a good spot to park it.

When he finally park it he walked the restaurant and waited inside until Emily arrived.

"Early as always Spence" she smiled hugging him gently. He laughed as they both sat down "I missed you"

"I missed you too. It's been a hard time out of work. But I think I needed it"

"Yeah me too. The last few months were awful but we are finally free of Mr Scratch and you are out of jail so the team is complete once again"

Before he could talk the waiter handed them a menu for each one and left them pick their order "do you think the deputy director will let me return?"

"If he doesn't then they will have my resignation letter the next day... Maybe the same day at night" he smiled softly.

"Thank you Emily" they stayed in silence reading the menu then orders when the waiter arrived he looked at her and said "how was your free time?"

She sighed "well I started to go to pilates classes then some yoga classes because apparently I don't know how to breath" he laughed softly "what's so funny Doctor Reid?" She hit softly his arm.

"Ouch..." He faked to be hurt.

"And what did you do this free time?"

"Well I had to go the therapist the bureau recommended me, I sent my mom to a place where they will take care if her and I cleaned my apartment"

"That's awesome and I think it was the best decision for her" she looked at him "you can't take good care of her at home. Not just because she has a mental situation that is complicated, more than when you were kid, but because of your job..."

"Yeah and I ended up accepting that it can't be solved, her mental health will get worst and I understood that. It's hard but it's the truth" Emily nodded.

"Good, that's important to accept so you won't feel bad"

"I know but still feels bad. I used to sent her letter because I felt bad because I left her alone but now I realized it's the best for her but still hurts"

"Of course, it's your mom. But Spence, having her around was dangerous for her, a weakness your enemies would want to use against you and you couldn't go with the team to our cases which was a big lost for the team"

"I know and she is fine now but still..." She held his hand.

"Spencer, you are the best son a mother could ask for so don't feel bad" he smiled.

Then their food arrived and they ate and chatted about lighter topics. He told her about his day at the zoo with the kids and JJ. How he was dealing with his first real vacations in years. He never had free time to just sit and read or do nothing. No studying, no thinking about work. Nothing and it was good and helped him relax.

They finished and each paid part of the bill then walked out talking some more.

"You know Emily, I missed just talking with you about things... You are our boss but sometimes I miss my best friend"

"I missed this too so maybe we can plan more things like this. Because it's healthy and will help us to keep our friendship" she smiled and hug him "see you in a week Spencer. The vacations will be over next week so be prepared" they laughed and she walked to her car and then he walked to his.

It was still early so maybe he could meet with Max for coffee. So he texted her to meet him at the park close to the Lincoln Monument. She answered quickly saying she would be there in a few minutes.

OOooOOooOO

Not a very Maxcer chapter but I wanted something with Emily and Spencer. This is an underated friendship and I love them so much. I hope you liked it. Comments, likes, favorites, whatever you want. Love you and thanks for still reading my crazy ideas.

Maybe next week's chapter will have a kiss...