"She touches my cheek, and I quiver –

I tremble with exquisite pains;

She sighs – like an overcharged river

My blood rushes on through my veins"

- Ella Wheeler

They were wrapping up the week's work. Nearly everybody was hunched over their desks, finishing paperwork. Reid, on the other hand, had finished his with turbo speed. He packed up his desk for the weekend and slung his bag across his shoulders.
"See you on Monday, everyone", he announced before leaving the office.
His phone began to ring. Shaking his head, he answered it.
"Monica, I'm on my way. You can stop worrying"
"I'm not worried. I'm just excited. Aren't you?"
"Of course I am"
"Good. Get your butt here within the next hour. I want to capitalise on my hard-earned weekend with you"
"Like I said, I'm on my way", he smiled.
"You better hurry"
He laughed,
"Get off the phone and I will"
She did an impression,
"No, you hang up"
"Monica..."
"I'm just teasing ya! Now get over here already. I'm waiting for you. Bye"
"See you soon"
He hung up and pulled his car door open.

Six months of dating, texting each other a hundred times a day, the midnight calls, having the deepest and weirdest conversations, hugs and kisses - it had finally brought them to what Reid considered a milestone.
Spending the weekend together.
He glanced at the overnight bag in the seat next to his. He had packed it before coming into work that morning. Monica was way too excited about him staying over. He found it endearing. But it did little to mitigate his anxiety regarding what was expected of him that weekend.
Sex. Obviously.
They had been together long enough for that to happen. When he had accepted her offer of staying overnight, she had produced the following sound -
"Hwo"
It was fair that she would expect physical "activity" from him while they were going to share a bed for two nights.
'Relax. It's no big deal. It's just Monica. You love being with Monica'
His grip tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles almost turned white.
It wasn't the act itself that made him nervous. Hell, he hadn't even bothered to think about the germs that might be involved. Somehow, Monica and germs seemed completely separate from each other. What scared him was the prospect of not making her happy.
She had come to mean so much to him. It wasn't just the things she did for him.
Finding him just the kind of books he loved.
Making Christmas presents by her own hand for him and his Mom.
Crying when he had told her about Maeve.
Writing him love letters.
Planting a Wisteria in her yard and naming it Wisteria Reid.
He smiled at the memory.
No, it wasn't just what she did for him. It was how she made him feel.
Strong. Stronger than he had ever felt.
Braver. Brave enough to take on the world.
And above all - happy.
How could he have said no to spending the weekend in her arms? She was the woman who had awakened him to his feelings again.

When he parked in her driveway, he immediately heard the sound of her door being thrown open. He had to put his bags on the ground to catch her from colliding into him full speed.
"You're here!", she exclaimed.
She had climbed his waist in a second, coiling her legs around him and throwing her arms round his neck. Planting a big smooch on his mouth, Monica drew back a little to breathe. She giggled.
"Sorry! I just..."
"It's okay", he couldn't help smiling too.
"I just...", she tried to explain, "I haven't seen you in two weeks. I... I missed you"
He admitted,
"I missed you too"
She smiled at that and kissed him again.
"Let's go inside"
Letting go off him, she carried his overnight bag to the house, despite of his protests.

All through Friday evening, they talked of the time they had spent apart. Reid told her about the Boston Strangler copycat they had had to deal with. She told him about her students' reactions to her plant perception class. Dinner was sprinkled more with conversation than with salt.

"Here. These are for you", she handed him the rubber gloves.
Spencer joked as he put them on,
"So you planned to make me wash dishes all along"
"Noo", she began soaping up a dish, "I knew you wouldn't let me do it alone. And I know you are a germophobe. So I got you the gloves"
"How thoughtful"
She snickered to herself.
"What?", he asked.
"The first time I tried to kiss you, you looked like I was gonna give you cooties"
"I did not!"
"You so did!", she grinned.
A pleasant silence fell over them. Reid glanced at her through the corners of his eyes. She looked radiant that night. Her top was slightly off one shoulder, exposing the tiny mole on her collarbone. It made him wonder if he would be seeing any more of such secret beauty spots by the end of the night.
"Monica?"
"Yes?"
"Where am I going to sleep tonight?"
"In my bed. Or do you wanna sleep by yourself? Then you take the bed, I'll take the couch"
"Before we... do anything, I wanted you to know something"
That made her look up. Reid went on resolutely,
"It's too soon to discuss this and you most likely haven't even thought about it yet, but... I have decided never to have biological children of my own. My genes carry the threat of Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. I don't want to pass that on. So... if... if we ever get to the point where we consider having children, they are going to have to be adopted"
When she was sure he had finished talking, Monica began.
"There was this one time you were telling me about Jennifer's son, Henry. And a thought passed through my mind", she smiled coyly, "That if we ever had a son, I'd want him to be named Spencer Jr"
His hands stopped moving. Monica went on cleaning and smiling as she spoke,
"So you're wrong. I have thought about it. But I understand why you don't want to have kids. If you're wondering whether that affects my relationship with you, it doesn't. And if you're implying that you don't want to have a physical relationship with me..."
"No", he said too quickly, "No, that's... that's not what I meant"
She looked up at him with a grin. He had to look away to compose himself.
"Hey..."
The way she said it, it felt like her hand was resting on his soul.
"...I want you more than you can imagine. But if you say stop, we stop"
He managed to say,
"Thank you. Same goes for you"
She whispered with her lips against his ear,
"And if you say "Don't stop", you can bet your sweet ass I won't"
He managed to keep a straight face despite of the tingling sensation along his neck.
Her seductive whisper implied what she intended to do with him tonight. The very thought of it turned his ears red. To his relief, Monica soon changed the topic.
"Okay, we're done here. Do you know where you want to sleep?"
His voice was low, but sure,
"With you"
That got her attention. He watched the clockwork of thoughts in her mind stop for a full moment, before it got a hold of itself again.
"Awesome. I'll go make the bed"
Spencer watched her leave the kitchen.

He was already in his under-shirt and shorts, debating whether to remove his socks in her home or not. He ultimately decided against keeping them on. By the time he heard the shower in her bathroom turn off, he had put away his things and was walking to her bed. The door opened and in a cloud of steam, Monica stepped out. She was wearing a night dress that could only be called a negligee. It was tailored to showcase her physical "assets". Assets he found himself staring at.
Monica applied lotion to her hands. She smiled at him,
"You comfortable?"
"Yeah"
She climbed into bed next to him and he got goosebumps. With her arms and shoulders bare (except for the flimsy straps), her chest largely visible, and the fresh smell emanating from her skin - Reid was almost in sensory overload.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, she smiled at him,
"Hi"
"Hi", he croaked.
When her arms went around his neck, he released a long breath. Monica wasted no time. She placed kisses along his jawline, right up to his ear. He tentatively put his hands on her waist. He slipped off the strap from her shoulder, wanting to find that mole he had seen before. It was right on her collarbone. Before he could graze it with his thumb, Monica made him gasp. She drew back, biting her lip.
"Too much?", she asked.
Reid rubbed his neck where she had nibbled on it. He shook his head "no".
"You know you can tell me, right?"
"Yeah"
Monica traced the round collar of his shirt.
"Can I take this off?"
"O-okay"
Surprising him, she sat back down on her knees. She didn't sound offended.
"You're still so tense, Dr. Reid. What can I do to help with that?", she answered her own question, "Wait. I know what to do"
Rising on her knees, Monica pulled her nightdress off. Reid gaped in shock.
And admiration.
"Your shirt and shorts", she held out her hand for them.
Though skeptical of whatever her plan was, Reid obeyed. Monica took both the clothing items and put them on her dresser. Then she cuddled up to him. They sat face to face on her bed.
"We don't have to have sex tonight. Let's just get used to each other being... like this", she smiled.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah", she trailed her fingers across his chest, and kissed his nose.

Maybe he needed to learn to trust her more. It had only been an hour since they had stripped in bed, and he no longer felt self-conscious with her.
"And this", Monica showed him the scar on her shoulder, "...is from when someone opened fire during a protest in college. The bullet ricocheted and hit me. It hurt like hell"
Reid touched the scar,
"What were you protesting?"
"The murder of Jerome Johnson. He was a 14-year old kid, shot by the cops"
He remembered reading about it.
"They said the bicycle pump in his hands had looked like a rifle in the dark"
"I don't wanna talk about it"
"Sorry"
"It's okay", she traced the scar on his thigh, "What's this from?"
He looked down at it.
"From when I stabbed myself in prison"
"To get away from Shaw?"
"Yeah"
He was touched that she remembered. Caressing the mole on her waist with the same affection, he said,
"You have four of these in different places"
She shuddered a little and took his hand off her waist.
"I'm ticklish there", she told him, "And it's actually five"
He recounted - waist, collarbone, wrist, ankle. His memory never deceived him, especially not when he had just seen them.
"It's four", he told her.
She gave him a demure smile.
"That you can see"
"Where's the fifth one?"
Sitting on her knees again, Monica reached behind her back. She undid the clasp and off came her bra.
It was in that moment Reid understood just how nudity could be classified as "beautiful".
Monica took his hand and placed it on her hidden mole.
"You can feel my heartbeat when you touch it"
Indeed, he could. Hers under his fingertips, and his own in his ears.
"Dr. Reid?"
Embarrassed, he looked away. He mumbled,
"Sorry. I didn't mean to stare"
"I was hoping you would"
When he showed no signs of unfreezing, she gathered the sheets over herself and lay down on the bed. Spencer followed suit. Monica touched his cheek,
"Have I made you uncomfortable?"
"No one cares about my comfort as much as you do"
She brightened up on hearing that. Her index finger wrote her name on his shoulder.
"They are fools then"
"Monica?"
"Hm?"
"Can we have sex?"
Catching her off-guard, he watched the sentient smile transform into a blush on her cheeks. His hand came to rest on her hip under the sheets, persuading her. Monica shivered again when he glided his knuckles along her waist. Her answer was merely an audible breath,
"Yes"
And the hand on her waist pulled her close.