Authors Note: Please review. This is going to be a really short chapter, mostly because I don't feel like this would fit anywhere else, with any of the episodes, and this is just one thing that I wanted to really stand alone. So please enjoy.

Any who, on to the usual disclaimer: This story takes place in the Criminal Minds universe with the occasional crossover into the Bones universe. As such, I only own my own original characters and everything else belongs to the writers and networks, blah, blah, blah.

Hope you enjoy. And please review at the end. I love hearing what you all think of Spencer and Harley. And if you have any suggestions or ideas for this story, I may not use them, but I'd like to hear them, and I'd really appreciate any suggestions you send my way. Message me, or leave your idea in the review section, I'll be looking at both.

Thank you all for your reviews and support, and all your kind words of encouragement, weather you use your account to post the review or do it anonymously! Now on with the chapter…

Chapter 16: December 2008

"My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me"

― Winston S. Churchill

Spencer ended up proposing to Harley on Christmas Eve under the dark night sky of Trenton, New Jersey. The snow was at their feet, and they were bundled up in their jackets and scarves outside of her grandmother's bakery with the Christmas Eve celebration going on inside. They'd just finished dinner, the teens where in the kitchen washing the dishes, and the grown men where in the back room getting ready to unleash this years "Santa" on all present. So Spencer had taken the time to pull Harley aside and walk outside with her.

She was looking up at the sky with a smile on her face. "It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful."

"Don't do that. That sounds like something Tony would say. Not you," Harley grinned, turning to look at him. "You can come up with better lines than that."

"Still," Spencer shrugged. Spencer thought back to the last few weeks, and asking both Kieran and Rossi for her hand in marriage, something Spencer knew was important to Harley. He'd even gone as far as to ask both her grandfathers. He was kind of glad he did that part over the phone, because he probably would have lost his nerve if he'd had to sit there watching them laugh after he asked them. It was much easier on the phone. "You are beautiful. And you've stood by me at some of the darkest times of my life."

"You've stood by me through mine," Harley shrugged. "You where there at the hospital when I woke up after brain surgery. You were with me through last May."

"I know. And that's why this is so important. Harley, I look in your eyes and I can see the rest of my life in your eyes. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Harley. Will you marry me?" Spencer asked grabbing her hand and bending down onto one knee. He knew he could have gone off on some long dramatic monologue, but it's likely that at some point he would have ended up rambling and that wasn't what he wanted at the moment. Besides, Harley already knew all the words he'd have wanted to say, and she was one of those believers in actions mattering more than words. So instead he cut his speech short and swore he'd show her how much he loved her for the rest of their lives.

Harley didn't seem to mind a bit as a smile lit up her face like one of the Christmas trees in the window. "Yes. Always. Now show me the ring."

Spencer's eyes widened and he fumbled around reaching into his pockets.

"Don't tell me you forgot the ring," Harley told him, her grin widening across her lips.

"No… no. I… I have it." Spencer pulled the ring box out of his pocket and pulled it open, letting Harley look at the ring for a moment before he pulled it away from the box and slid it up Harley's finger.

She looked at it for a moment. It was a lotus shaped ring with a circular opal in the center, surrounded by small circle cut blue topaz and amethyst and set in rose gold. It was beautiful and unique. And Harley loved opals. But it'd never fit under her latex gloves at work. She gave him a look.

Spencer pulled out another, thinner and longer box out of his pocket. He opened it to show her a long rose gold chain. "I figured that you'd like a more flashy ring, and it reminded me of you when I got it. But I know the limitations of latex gloves, so I also go this so that you can still wear it at work, even if it's not on your finger."

"It's beautiful, Spencer," Harley grinned, helping him place the chain around her neck. "And thoughtful. I love it. And I love you."

Spencer grinned, kissing her on the lips. "Okay, let's go back inside, because I swear, your mom is going to come out here soon if I don't take you back in with that ring on sometime soon."

"She scares you," Harley smiled, teasing him.

"She scares most people," Spencer informed her.

Harley laughed. "Come on, Pen. Time to face the music."

Spencer and Harley walked back into the bakery to the sound of congratulations and women who wanted to see and admire the ring now adorning Harley's hand. They stuck by each other's side as they were assaulted with questions about the wedding that had yet to be thought about, and more and more cousins who wanted to stare and Harley's ring. The next day, they'd have to do it all again, with the Irish side of Harley's family. Then again when they visited his mom in New York. And again when they went back to work.

Shit.

Spencer hadn't thought about that before. He really wishes he had now.

But despite all of that, Spencer was happy. Really, truly happy. He had a whole future to live out with Harley, and he felt like he was only at the beginning of that future.

It was exciting.

"So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday."

― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook