Spencer Reid was sitting in the corner of his favorite coffee shop in DC. The place was quiet without the hustle and bustle of ordinary shops. It was the perfect place to catch up on reading when not on a case or before they were called onto one. He was rereading The Prince. It was a very stimulating read, in his opinion.

"Can you really read that fast?" a feminine voice interrupted his reading.

He looked up a saw a tiny brunette with bright blue eyes looking at him intriguingly. She was in business attire that seemed surprisingly comfortable with a large, yellow hardback book under her shoulder and a steaming mug in her hand.

"Yes, actually," he replied. I can read twenty thousand words a minute."

The woman looked impressed instead of giving him an incredulous look as many had before.

"Can I sit here? Everywhere else has someone who I doubt is as interesting."

Reid stared at her blankly before gesturing with his arm to allow her to sit. She put her mug down first before pulling the chair out so that she could sit.

"You know, we're pretty much the only one here. There are plenty of empty tables around."

"I know, but I thought you were cute, so I wanted to have a reason to talk to you, and I can't believe I said that out loud."

The blush that completely filled her face would have been funny to Reid, if only he wasn't blushing as well.

"Alex," she said, holding her hand out to Reid.

"Reid," he said, on instinct at that point.

Alex looked at him, confused. "That's an interesting name, for a first name, at least."

Reid blushed slightly more at his mistake. "It's my last name. I've gotten used to giving it out."

"Law enforcement?" she asked knowingly.

"How did you know?"

"I deal with lots of officers with that I do. "It's kinda a hazard of the job."

"What do you do then?" Spencer immediately asked. It wouldn't be the first a criminal took an interest in him.

Alex turned around and reached into a bookbag Spencer didn't realize that she had. She opened it up, pulling out a small piece of paper before closing the bag back up again. Turning around, she held out the paper, a business card, for Spencer to take, which he did. There was a small blue wing etched from the side with cursive "Angel's Salvation."

After looking at it a bit, she spoke up, saying, "I run a nonprofit that helps kids deal with bullying. Sometimes we have to call in law enforcement, or they just simply come to us. Sometimes these kids are taken to the point of no return, unfortunately."

Once again feeling safe in her presence, Spencer said, "You sound like you know something about it."

"I was almost there," Alex said sadly. "why not have these kids get help from someone who kinda understands. But let's move on to a happier topic."

"You don't have somewhere to be?" Spencer asked, remember that she was wearing business casual clothing.

"Nah. I have no appointments, and I'm the boss. I can go in whenever. What about you, Mister Law Enforcement."

"Just on call. Don't really have anywhere to be. So, what are you reading?"

Alex pulled out the book she had placed in her lap on the table.

"You're not allowed to judge," Alex said, almost skeptically. "This is one of my favorite books."

"I promise not to judge your reading choices too much," Reid said jokingly.

With a smile on her face, Alex put her book up so Reid could read it's cover. Its title read 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. The cover was a large bear with blue fur in a tiny ship with what he could only assume to be tiny pirates. He could see that it had been read many times with the spine having many creases.

"So, what is it about?" he asked.

The smile on Alex's face grew even bigger. Soon a conversation the could have been covered in five minutes spanned hours. After describing her favorite books' plot, they started discussing their favorite books, books they hated, and everything in between. They even discussed some books that one loved and the other hated. The drinks were long forgotten.

The conversation would have lasted longer except Spencer's phone rang out of nowhere. Seeing that it was Hotch calling, Spencer stood up, saying, "I have to get this."

Spencer walked into a small nook in the room. Once he was sure that no one could hear him, he answered.

"Hotch?"

"Spencer," he responded with a no-nonsense voice. He already sounded stress on the phone. "How soon can you be here?"

"Thirty minutes. What happened?"

"Eight women are dead within three weeks. We were called an hour ago to deal with this. We need everyone on this."

"I'll be on my way," Spencer responded.

The phone's dial tone soon followed. Spencer didn't blame him; he probably had more people to call before the rest of the team got to the office. Spencer walked back toward his table, where Alex was the first one to talk.

"You have to go, don't you?"

"Yeah, there's a case."

"I should probably go to work. It is noon," Alex said, also packing up her stuff in her small bookbag.

"I would love to talk to you again."

"You have my number, so maybe call me sometime," she said.

Spencer watched her turn around and leave the shop before turning and waving through the glass door. She then proceeded to turn right and continue walking. It took a moment before Spencer remembered that he also had to leave. He quickly walked out of the shop before heading to the left, where he knew he could easily catch a cab.