Chapter 12

Madeline's Garden Café
1030 E Green St.
Pasadena, CA

September 2001

"So how long have you been a Knight?" Shan asked once the waitress had moved on.

"Technically I'm not yet." Spencer replied. "If you're asking how long I've been a member, two years. Three next month."

"And you're still not a full Knight?"

"I, um...have yet to pass weapons proficiency." Granted the bar was set low for Knights of the Blue, they only had to defend themselves, not other people. He was just that lousy at it. "So, you know, can't move on to the last testing stage..."

"Oh, that sucks."

"Yeah. How about you?"

"Um, about a month now. I joined up in San Francisco, was almost immediately transferred down here for training and how funny is it that my grad school application was approved on the same day."'

"Funny that." He had stopped asking how those things happened years ago. So long as Mom stayed in Bennington he really didn't want to know. "So is your family involved?"

"Nope. I'm, um, actually a foster kid." She gave him the kind of smile that didn't want to talk about that. "Long story there. Thankfully not a horrible one, my foster parents were okay. What about you?"

"My Dad is of the White. My grandparents were members too."

"A legacy then? Pretty impressive. Must make it like family."

"Something like that." There was a longing in her voice when she said that. The waitress was coming back with the tea. "So why physics anyway?"

BAU Headquarters
FBI Building
Quantico, VA

June 2012

"Okay, that made for a very cute first date." JJ said. "I didn't know you could be that romantic."

"Neither did I." Spencer replied.

"Did you make it a regular thing?"

"Yeah, we did. Every Sunday. And we started having lunch together and dinner in each others' houses and studying together..."

"Sounds like you two spend every spare waking minute together."

"Um, yeah...kind of..."

Chandler Dining Hall
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena CA

April 2002

Spencer and Shan looked up from the notes they were going over as Random Student #63 came and sat down across from them. "Can you explain something to me?" He asked, looking at Shan and ignoring Spencer.

"Likely." She replied. "What?" As she talked she continued to doctor her food.

"How did someone as ethereal as you end up in a practical place like this?"

It took a moment, but both Spencer and Shan burst out laughing. "Dude. That is the worst pickup line!" She said.

For a moment Random Student looked abashed. "Not even slightly charming?"

"Even if it was I'm taken. Sorry, no." Her tone said that she wasn't at all sorry about turning him down. "People should know that by now."

"Yeah, but by who?" There was one woman at CalTech for every three guys, gossip ran rampant. Random Student leaned back, signaling his disengagement with the attempt. "No one can figure that out."

"Good, because it's not their business. I'm. Taken. Shoo." She glared at him until he left then went back to her meal.

Spencer studied her a moment. "Hob fae." He said.

She looked up. "What?"

"A hob fae. Hob fae are small creatures from Anglo-Saxon mythology, basically hearth spirits. They valued order, cleanliness and hard work and would punish the inhabitants for sloth by causing chaos, spoiling milk, turning over cupboards, that kind of thing."

The amazing thing was that Shan actually listened when he babbled. "Hob. I like it." She nodded and considered him again. "I know what you're thinking."

"You do?"

"That being a fae changeling might explain my family, in a romantic sort of way."

It was true that Shan looked nothing like her birth family. And they had treated her horribly before the state took her away. "I wasn't going to say that." He said, "I was just thinking that Physics would be a likely discipline for a hob fae, and would explain the presence of an ethereal being at CalTech."

"Yes, but you were thinking it." She replied. "And I kind of like the idea, in a romantic sort of way."

"Actually what I was thinking was that hob fae were traditionally paid in their preferred diet, specifically honey and grains." He looked to her plate, where she was enjoying multigrain waffles soaked in honey, something she had at least twice a day.

She looked down as well, then up at him with a blush and a grin. "Shut up."

It was said with kindness, so he grinned back. Just as Random Student #64 came up. "Okay, we all want to know." He said. "Who are you dating?"

Shan rolled her eyes. "Would you believe I took a vow of chastity for my church?"

Random Student #64 blinked at that. "Um, no."

"Okay, how about I'm dating Spencer here?"

"Reid?" Random Student looked at him. "I'd believe chastity first."

She rolled her eyes so hard she likely saw the back of the room. "It's not your business! And if this keeps up I'm going to start reporting people for harassment." She stood and started gathering her things. "Class?" She asked Spencer.

"Class." He gathered his things with her and they headed out into the sunlight. Thing was, they had both taken vows of chastity as part of the process of becoming Knights. But now he was wondering... "Ummm..."

She looked over at him with a smile. "Yes." She answered his unasked question. "It's taken you this long to figure it out?"

Oh. Oh. He didn't just have a friend, he had a girlfriend. Platonic, due to vows and all, but if the feelings were there... "Ummm..."

She grinned and reached down and took his hand. "Come along Sir Squire." She said. "Time for class."

"All right...Hob."

BAU Headquarters
FBI Building
Quantico, VA

June 2012

Now that Spencer thought about it. "I just really enjoyed her company. Things felt better when I was around her."

By now they were chuckling at him gently. "That's called falling in loooove." Morgan said.

"I just...I don't..."

"No, you two totally fell in love." Garcia agreed, "College sweethearts all the way."

"I want to know how long it took you to pass their weapons proficiency." Morgan said.

"Almost a full year after that. And three more tries." Yeah, now they were all laughing at him. But he was getting better all the time now so it was okay. "It took Shan a few tries to pass some of the tests as well. We both ended up taking winter term off the next year to make our finals."

"You know, I'm actually curious." JJ said