A.N. Hey guys, surprise an update! Don't get used to having them so often, but this had the biggest response I've ever had to a fic so consider it a reward for being amazing! Hope you enjoy. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I think it's decent at least. I'm trying to stick with the cannon timeline as much as possible, but no matter where I looked I couldn't find out when Derek joined the BAU. Spencer joined when he was 22 so 2003, and since Derek is a few years older my headcannon is that he joined two maaaybe three years before this. Also, Garcia didn't join till 2004 officially (according to the wiki), but I wanted her there before Spence for this fic so assume she'd been recruited 6 months to a year prior to this. Finally, as narrator I will mostly be using Derek and Spencer's first names, but last names for everyone else. It's how I think of them. Enjoy and please drop a review :)

Loves' Denial

Chapter One

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."-Carl Jung

Spencer couldn't help but stare at all the amazing and new things around him as Gideon led him through the FBI's base at Quantico up towards the wind which was reserved for the BAU. If he was honest with himself he'd never really thought he would make it this far. Sure he was a genius with an IQ of 187 and able to read 20,000 words per minute, and yes he had 3BA's as well as 3 PhD's, but that was all just book smarts. Spencer was well aware that the FBI required more than just book smarts, and he was sure that without Gideon's help and support he would never have been able to so much as step foot in this place!

Spencer had met Gideon after attending a lecture on profiling the older man had been giving at Spencer's school in his spare time. Spencer had been so impressed with the lecture that he'd decided to stay behind to introduce himself to the other. Gideon had taken in his stick like body as well as his young age (only 20), and had treated him a bit sceptically at first. Thankfully after some discussion and a flurry of emails back and forth Gideon had taken him under his wing and now after almost a year of knowing him had almost become the father figure Spencer had longed for since he was young and his real father had left.

Gideon understood him. He listened when Spencer spoke and never pushed him on the things he didn't want to talk about. This included the cuff he wore over his soulmark. From the time he'd bought his first cuff soon after his father had left, Spencer had almost never gone without one. When he absolutely did have to he made a very conscious effort to not even look at the name on his wrist, the name that he knew would bring nothing but pain.

It wasn't taboo to wear a cuff over your name, but it was far from common and did cause people to wonder. Unlike others Gideon had never pushed him to reveal the story. He had only asked if the reason behind the cuff would interfere with his ability to work. Spencer had said no, and the subject had been dropped.

It had been after that conversation that Gideon had really begun to push him into joining the BAU. The process had taken another year, as well as multiple special exceptions to the usual criteria, but thanks to Gideon he'd gotten in.

The childish part of him radiated glee when he received his badge and gun (which he had actually passed his certification for) for the first time, and while he held it together as always on the outside on the inside he was jumping for joy. He'd made it. He could finally use his skills, his genius in a productive way; a way that could and would help others! He was truly standing on his own two feet-no soulmate needed thank you very much universe. He could take care of himself, and if his life up till now hadn't proven in then this certainly did.

Still, for all that he was ecstatic Spencer did have to admit that he was also nervous. He'd known Gideon for two years at this point, and he'd met their unit chief SSA Aaron Hotchner (Call me Hotch) numerous times while negotiations for his position had been going on, but this would be his first time meeting the rest of the team. In fact with everything else going on he'd never even learned their names. This was what was going on in his mind as the elevator reached their floor and he stepped off after Gideon clutching the strap of his satchel a bit more tightly to help ground him.

Following closely behind Gideon he pushed past fairly impressive glass doors displaying the FBI logo and stepped into a room that looked like almost every government office ever. The main room held many desks, each obviously belonging to a separate person as evidenced by the personal trinkets and photos scattered around. He assumed that the single empty one was to be his. At the far end of the office where stairs leading up to an open upper level which circled the rest of the room like a balcony. Spencer could see several office doors around the circle. He assumed these belonged to the senior staff like Gideon and Hotch. Finishing off the office look were the numerous professionally dressed agents bustling all over the area going about their business, and in the case of a few throwing curious looks at him and Gideon.

"This will be your desk from now on" Gideon told him while steering them through the sea of people and desks towards the empty desk he'd observed earlier. "That's Hotch's office up there, and mine right beside it if you need anything" he added pointing. Spencer nodded, the information already firmly ingrained in his photographic memory.

"Hey Gideon, who's the kid?" A light, but deep voice asked from Spencer's left. Turning he surveyed the male who'd asked the question. He was tall, African American, and looked completely at ease within his own skin. He seemed to project a completely comfortable and carefree air even as his sharp brown eyes catalogued every inch of Spencer. Something about the unknown male seemed to pull at Spencer, but he shut down those feeling quickly knowing it could do him no good to get involved with anyone else who worked here.

Gideon answered his question easily. "This is Dr. Spencer Reid. Reid this is SSA Derek Morgan, another member of the team".

Spencer forced himself to give nothing away as he met Derek's eyes and gave him a small polite smile. Any nerves that may have shown through appeared simply to be the nervousness of a new team member meeting an experienced one.

"Pleased to meet you, I hope we will be able to work well together" Spencer greeted holding his hands up to show that he didn't shake and accidentally exposing his cuff.

"Yeah, back at you kid. Gideon's been regaling us with stories about this genius he met; never mentioned your name, or that you would be so young though." Derek replied teasing a bit while flashing Spencer a casual smile, though his eye's did flicker towards the exposed cuff around Spencer's wrist a couple of times.

They lapsed into silence, and while the air around the two had a slightly awkward quality to it there was no notable differences between their first meeting and what would have been expected for the first meeting of two normal colleagues with as many differences as they had. Years of practice had ensured that neither gave any of what they may really have been thinking away in their body language, so the meeting of the two soulmates went completely unnoticed, even by said soulmates themselves. Both Derek and Spencer assumed because of the lack of reaction that the matching name was simply a coincidence, and that the other did not bear the match to their marks, causing them both to breathe inward sighs of relief.

Spencer was well aware that it was perfectly possible that he would meet another Derek Morgan besides the one he was apparently destined for. Years ago in a rare moment of curiosity about his mark he had looked up how many Derek Morgans there were currently in the United States. Not counting those younger then him there had been 184* people with that name. That gave each one including the one he had just met an approximate 0.54% chance of being the correct one, and that's not even taking into account the possibility that "his" Derek Morgan lived outside the states.

Derek for his part didn't know the exact probability that Spencer was his match, but he did know that it was perfectly possible if a bit rare to meet someone with the same name as your match before you met them since the mark gave only first and last names, not middle or nicknames which would help narrow it down. He also knew how people reacted when they met their soulmates. He'd personally witnessed many such meetings, both good and bad in the past and nothing in this Spencer's posture indicated that he'd just done so. Of course Derek conveniently glossed over the fact he'd just met a possible match and shown no reaction. The idea that his mate would make himself known at their meeting had been too far ingrained in Derek's mind for him to even consider that Spencer would just say nothing.

It was Gideon who inevitably broke the moment no one realized was happening by reminding Spencer that they needed to get on with their office tour. Derek shot them both one last confident grin before getting back to whatever he was supposed to be working on at the moment and letting Gideon and Spencer get on with their tour, which Gideon did by introducing Spencer to the team's media liaison Jennifer Jareau or as she preferred to be called JJ a perky but kind sporty looking blond. Gideon also showed him where her office was. Afterwards they headed into the bowls of the building a bit towards their last stop; the "lair" of tech analyst Penelope Garcia.

"Enter Mortals to the domain of the tech goddess" she called as they knocked. Spencer shot an unsure look at Gideon, surprised at the unprofessional greeting. Gideon for his part simply looked resigned if a bit unhappy.

Spencer's first impression of the self-titled "tech goddess" and her lair was colourful. The room was lit by the light of many large computer screens which Spencer had expected. What he had not anticipated was the volume of colourful nick knacks and fluffy pens which seemed to take up all available space. The woman perched on the chair in the middle of the room matched her decorating scheme perfectly.

She had bright blond hair, slightly lighter than JJ's which hung on either side of her head in ponytails. She was wearing a bright pink blouse which Spencer was certain was not regulation, but which perfectly matched both her heels and her lipstick as well as the flowers on her flowy white skirt. Accessioning this were two or three necklaces of various lengths, too many bangles to count on one arm as well as a few rings all of which seemed to have been decked out in sparkles.

"Oh hello sir, how can I hel-who is this delectable dish?" Garcia asked breaking off her original question as she spotted Spencer behind Gideon.

"Garcia, this is Dr. Spencer Reid. He is the newest member of our team" Gideon said showing not reaction to the eccentric female while Spencer offered her a small wave in greeting.

"Heya kid genius! Any info you need you come to me ya hear? Now, you have a cellphone yes?" Garcia demanded as she bounced up to him. Feeling rather shell shocked Spencer silently fished out his rather out of date phone and watched as Garcia snatched it out of his hands. She frowned in disapproval over the old model, and then programmed what he presumed was her number into it.

"There you go, now you always have a direct line to the center the center of all knowledge, moi!" She said giving him a thousand watt grin and confirming his hypothesis about what she had been doing with his phone. Still feeling rather overwhelmed Spencer managed to murmur his thanks as Gideon guided him out the door.

Gideon finished up the tour by showing Spencer pertinent places such as the break room and the washrooms, and then taking him up to Hotch's office to check in with the boss. They confirmed with him that Spencer had met the rest of the team members without causing any sort of catastrophes (that anyone knew of at least). Hotch welcomed Spencer to the team again, and put him straight to work by sending him down to his desk with a stack of forms he needed to complete, and so started Spencer's career at the BAU.

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."-Anais Nin

A.N. *I did not make this number up. I googled about repeated names and found a cite that told me how many people with the name Derek Morgan currently lived in the states. I took that number and did the math. It's probably not 100% accurate, but it gets the point across.