Thanks for the support! Keep in mind that this is an ongoing project so don't expect a new chapter every day.

#3

Music is only love looking for words.

~Lawrence Durell

Sadie Keller looked at the half empty coffee shop and sighed. What was her manager thinking, booking her on Wednesday night? She was also tired and stiff from sleeping on her sister's bumpy couch. Elly kept insisting that she play gigs closer to where she lived and worked in DC but Sadie wanted to keep traveling up and down the coast. She should have known better than to have taken advice from a lobbyist even one she was related to.

She tested her strings and began to play a few notes on her guitar to get warmed up. No one seemed to notice or care. It wasn't much better or worse than a bar.

"Hi my name is Sadie Keller," she announced as a few took notice of her.

"I'd like to thank this fine establishment for allowing me to play here tonight."

"My first song is 'Oceans of the Night' about the stormy waters we all face."

She began to play her guitar and sing. She let herself get lost in the music. The vibrations of the strings filled her soul the way nothing else could. She sang about the stormy world everyone faces and tries to wade through. It was a sweet little song that could have come from Miley Cyrus pre-Wrecking Ball or a sound track to a Nicholas Sparks movie adaptation. If only she was more talented.

When she looked up and finished a few people clapped but most were lost in conversation or playing with their phones. Gigs like this were tough.

The next song she played was called 'Dream On.' It was about girl who was very particular about the guys she chose to date. It could easily fit on to Taylor Swift's song list. If only she had her connections.

She looked up and people were starting to leave. So much for having a captive audience. But she had to keep playing. This was the musician's life. She played the rest of the set.

It was a half hour until closing and Sadie had enough time for one more song. She wondered if she should bother. The place was mostly empty. But then again now was as a good a time as any test a new song. Especially one so different from her usual set.

"Thank you all for sticking around," she said clapping her hands. "You've been a great audience," she lied.

"My next song is called 'Misty Memories' and it's a little different. I hope you enjoy it."

"Daddy tell me about the time when I fell from the swing you held me until I stopped crying.

Tell me about the first time you caught me kissing the boy across the street and as my face turned red you smiled so wide I could count all your teeth.

Tell me about the time you walked me down the aisle and couldn't stop crying.

Daddy remember me. Remember me. Remember when I was young.

Remember when I was older and foolish. Remember when I got a little wiser but still needed you like I need you now.

Daddy please remember me.

It was an emotional song. She felt tears coming down her face and when she looked up briefly and saw a scrawny young man standing between the tables with a coffee cup in one hand and gripping tightly his messenger bag with the other. She continued to play.

Tell me about the time you added salt instead of sugar to my birthday cake and it was awful but we laughed all night.

Tell me about the time I lost my kite in a tree and you climbed up to get it and got attacked by squirrels and I couldn't stop laughing and you couldn't stop cursing.

Tell me about the time you brought me to see mama and my baby brother and he threw up on me and I declared him gross while you said he truly adored me.

She began the chorus and saw the same man was standing still between the tables. She couldn't see in the dim light but if she had to guess, he was crying. She sang harder then. She sang as if this wasn't some ordinary gig but in a recording studio or a full auditorium. It took one man to get her to sing her best.

When she finished there was a small but loud applause. Sadie thanked the owners of the coffee shop and said goodnight.

As she finished packing up her equipment she saw the man approaching her.

"Hi," he said nervously as though he were talking to Carrie Underwood. "I liked your last song. What I came in to hear at the end not that I mean the whole thing wasn't good I just didn't hear the start of it."

She offered him her hand. "I'm Sadie Keller. What's your name?"

"Spencer," he said nervously, "Spencer Reid."

"Nice to meet you Spencer," she said happily. "Why don't walk me out of here and tell me about what you liked about my last song? The part you heard anyway."

"Sure," he said while gripping his messenger bag.

She slung her guitar over her shoulder and carried her sound equipment.

"That isn't about your father," he stated.

"How could you tell?" as they walked out the door.

"I have a job that involves reading people," he said. "While you're an incredible performer something about it didn't ring as personal."

"You're right, it's my uncle," she said as they walked to her car. "He developed early-stage dementia about a year ago. It is awful watching and seeing my cousins Luke and Terry come to grips with their father seeing them as strangers.

She set down her equipment in front of her car and looked at him. "Who do you know?" she asked softly.

"It's my mom," he choked out and reached for a handkerchief.

"Oh you poor thing," she said as she reached out and hugged him.

"I'm sorry," he said between sobs. "I'm no one to you and you're a stranger to me."

"You're not no one to me," she said. "You're the first person who has been really touched by my music."

He pulled away from her. "I don't even like country/pop music. I only listen to Beethoven and it drives my team crazy."

"You can't choose how music reaches out to you. Sometimes it finds you and fills your soul whether you want it or not."

Reid was breathing more steadily. "You really love your music don't you?"

"I wouldn't still be at it if I wasn't," she said. "Now I was planning on getting a drink tonight. Do you know of a nice quiet bar around here?"

"Yeah there's Culp's around the corner."

"Then I'll meet you there."

…

"What's this I hear?" Morgan said leaning in towards Reid while he read with headphones on. "I hear music with lyrics!"

Reid quickly turned off his player.

"It's nothing," he said turning red.

"It is not nothing," J.J. said. "What tore you away from your beloved Beethoven?"

Reid sighed. "Its music I heard at a coffee shop."

"What kind of music?" Rossi asked.

Morgan quickly grabbed to player and turned it on. "It sounds like country. Who is it?"

"Just a woman named Sadie," he said. "She hasn't 'made it' but I think she can with the right connections."

"It sounds like you really know this Sadie person," J.J. said.

"She's become a friend," he said.

"Maybe more than a friend," J.J. said.

Reid couldn't help but blush more deeply.

"Why must you guys know everything about me?"

Morgan handed him his player back. "Because we're family kid. And if this girl breaks your heart I'll be there for you."

J.J. smile. "And then I'll slug her for Morgan because he won't beat up girls."

Reid laughed in spite of himself.

"There will be no beating of people who break Reid's heart," Hotch announced. "Though a non-threatening verbal reprimand is not out of the question."

The whole team laughed.

…

Sadie and Elly drank beer together on the Sadie's new bed. Elly upon hearing that Sadie did want to stick around, took it upon herself to convert her office into a bedroom for Sadie.

"I am sensing a guy changed your mind," she said.

"Why do you say that?" Sadie said coyly. "Maybe I like DC."

"You hate DC because the music scene is terrible," she stated.

"It isn't all bad," she said. "I've arranged a few good gigs and found a cheap recording studio."

"There is still a guy in this," she said.

"So what if there is," she said taking a sip. "He may not be my type but he sees something in me that I can't seem to identify."

"Maybe there is a hole in your heart that he fills," she said.

"You are a featherweight drinker," Sadie said.

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong. Can you imagine taking this guy to award show?"

"That doesn't matter. Love is love and I'd take him anywhere even if he had eleven fingers."

"Funny."

Sadie just sipped her beer. She liked Spencer. She liked him a lot. She had a feeling it would take a lot of time and effort to make it work but she was determined to do so. Maybe she might get a few songs out of it too.