"Are you certain that you want to spend three hours doing this?"

Erin looked up from her breakfast, seeing that Spencer was frowning down at his cellphone, as if he couldn't believe that she had agreed to indulge him in something that he wanted to do. "When are we both ever going to get the opportunity to learn a craft direct from the source? And get to bring back our efforts? As long as you promise not to laugh at my creation, I think that it will be amazing. We have the afternoon to take that tour, we just have to be back to the hotel by two. And given that Mahmoud is a fantastic driver, I don't think that that will be an issue."

He nodded, but still didn't look convinced, and Erin let out a huff of breath as she reached across the table to gently bat the phone out of his hand and then clasp it tightly, squeezing until he looked up at her. "What?"

"Spencer Reid, if I didn't want to do something, do you honestly think that I would agree to doing said thing?"

"Well, you rather meekly agreed to start this vacation with me!" he hissed, and she squeezed almost painfully. "What? You did!"

"Because I was trying to be open. Things didn't work out between David and myself, and I was hurting. I would have been fine bunking with anyone, Spencer. And I can't believe that this is going to eb our first fight. Fuck, I'm going back up to the hotel room, and I'll meet you in the lobby a few minutes before we have to leave. Don't bother coming up to the room, because I am trying very hard not to blow things out of proportion, because you seem to be doing a fine job of that on your own."

Erin dropped his hand before shoving her chair away from the table, stalking over to elevators as she blinked back scalding tears. Once she was safely in the elevator car, she shoved herself into the corner and allowed herself to cry. By the time she had reached their room, all she wanted was to bury her face in Spencer's chest, all the ire gone as she unlocked the door and pushed her way inside. Blindly, she stumbled over to their bed and fell on it, burying her face in his pillow as she tried to stifle her sobs. A part of her knew that she had reacted in a completely irrational way, and she didn't know what it was that had truly set her off, but she wished that she could have a second chance at the morning.

"I'm afraid that I don't listen very well, Erin," Spencer murmured in her ear a few minutes later, and then she was heaving herself off the mattress and into his arms as she cried piteously on his shoulder. "Shh, I have you."

"This is stupid. I don't know why I'm crying. I don't know why I overreacted. And before you even think about saying it, I'm not pregnant, we haven't been together long enough for that, and Dave and I haven't had sex in the three months prior to this trip. I just feel so off kilter."

"It's all the travel, Erin. We're thrown off kilter because we're in a new time zone, and we've then kept on the move. It will get better when we're back in Tangier and able to relax. I'm sorry that I hurt you."

Spencer pulled away from her before cupping her face with his hands and then leaning in to kiss her deeply. Erin gave herself over to the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck in order to pull him closer to her body as she fell back against the bed. "I lov…" she started to say, only to break off her declaration, knowing that emotions were running too high for her to say something like that.

"I love you. But we don't have time for sex, if we're to get to the pottery shop on time."

She nodded as she looked up into his face, seeing the tenderness and concern there. "I can be so stupid."

"No, you can be so human. Same as me. It is thoroughly okay to admit that we're not perfect people, darling." He stroked her hair a few times before helping her to her feet and then pulling her into a tight hug. "And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have doubted that you'd want to participate in something that I wanted to do. I guess I'm still accustomed to people checking out on the things that I really like."

"I will try not to do that, Spencer. You just have to trust me. Love without trust is meaningless. For both of us." He nodded before kissing her once more. She sighed against his lips before taking hold of his hand and allowing him to bring her back to the elevators. "Do, do you want to have children?"

"I had thought about it, yes, but I'd be concerned about passing on the gene for schizophrenia. But if we make this work, I'll have three, sort of."

"But if we could, somehow, have a child together? I know, I'm a bit old, but it's not totally beyond the realms of possibility."

"Then I will love them, if and when they appear." He turned his head and pressed a quick kiss against her head before leading her into the car. As they rode down to the lobby, Erin took her purse back from him, slinging it over her shoulder as they stepped out and found a seat in the spacious lobby to wait for Mahmoud. "And I wouldn't mind having a little girl to spoil. If we're so lucky as to be blessed with a baby."

She nodded as she swallowed thickly. "Well, it's not like we've been exactly careful about protection, either." Spencer chuckled as he nodded, and she scooted closer to him, wanting to be as close as possible as they waited. "I'm not saying that it will happen so easily, because I am older, and I have a history of pregnancies that don't want to stick, but I wouldn't mind if we didn't use protection. I know that I'm clean, and I guess I just trusted that you would be as well before we became physical. I suppose we should have discussed this sooner?"

Erin's face was flamingly warm, and she looked down into her lap as she waited for him to reply. "We probably should have, yes. But at least we're talking about it now. And yes, I'm clean. The last partner I had was Austin, and that was years ago. I had assumed that Maeve would be my next partner, but that dream faded, only to be replaced with this waking dream that's sprung up between us. Things happen for a reason, and even though Maeve's death devastated me, it has also allowed me to find you, when we needed each other most."

Erin sighed a little as she nodded. "Our mutual pain has turned into something beautiful." Without thinking, she rested her head on his chest as they stared out the window. There was something so freeing about this honest, frank, conversation, and she felt more settled in the direction things were going, as if she had needed that reassurance that she wasn't making a mistake. And here, so close to him, she knew that she hadn't.