A/N: Chapter 10! Ta Daaa!
Later that night Allie found herself back at her apartment, with nothing but thoughts to hound her. After finishing her plethora of Chinese Food that had been delivered, and doing the dishes, she heard a soft knock at her door. She opened it to find the one and only Spencer Reid, in his usual dress pants, dress shirt, and sweater. In his hand was a modest bouquet of flowers.
"Oh good," Reid said, sounding relieved, "I'm glad you're home. You're not busy, are you?"
"No," Allie replied, and looked at the flowers suspiciously. "For me?" she inquired.
Reid held them out to her. "To help you feel better," he said.
Damn, Allie thought to herself. Emily was right. She then accepted them and said "Thanks," letting Spencer in to her apartment that was finally clean. "Can I get you something to drink?" she offered as she searched for a vase for the flowers.
"No," Reid replied. "I'm good." He approached Allie as she filled the vase with water and set the flowers on her counter.
"They're very nice," she said to Reid, admiring the flowers.
He just shrugged in reply. "But how are you?" he asked, as she turned to face him.
"As I've told you, and everyone, I'm fine," Allie replied.
Reid reached out to her and pulled her in for an embrace. Allie accepted the hug, sliding awkwardly into his arms. Whispering into her ear, Reid told her, "I was so worried about you. I just want you to know… what you mean to me…"
Allie pulled away gently. "I know," she said.
Reid looked down at his hands nervously. "Do you?" he questioned.
"Well…" Allie stammered nervously, "I think so."
Spencer decided to drop the subject and began to wander into the living room and asked Allie, "Read anything good lately?"
"Oh!" Allie explained. "I meant to show you. I was out at this half-price bookstore right before the last case, and I found the most interesting book…" she ran off into her room to find it. While she was in there Reid approached the stereo with Allie's iPod in it.
"Music?" he called out loudly to her.
"Sure!" She replied, walking back into the living room.
Reid began to fiddle with the playlist. He didn't know what really was on it, and he didn't know much about contemporary music artists anyway. He decided to just put it on shuffle and let Allie make the decisions. The first tune that came on had begun with a steady hip-hop beat. "Round and round, upside down; Livin my life underneath the ground…" When Reid turned around, he saw Allie's face had gone pale, and the book slipped from her hands. "What's wrong?" he asked, walking up to her.
"Atmosphere," she said vaguely.
"The gaseous envelope surrounding the earth?" Reid asked, confused. "What about it?"
Allie shook off her trance slightly. "This song," she said. "It was the one they played at the house. Where I was taken to. And the band, it's Atmosphere. It was Slug's voice I was hearing." The feeling of being bound and bleeding came back into Allie's mind. She remembered the splitting headache, and mouthing along with the lyrics. One of her favorite groups, based out of her home state, and now the song just made her sick. She felt Reid's arm wrap gently around her shoulders, and he led her to sit down on the couch. "It's okay," she said. "It's just the song."
"Well," Reid said, "music has been found to affect and stimulate parts of the brain that help store and recall information. So, it's understandable that you would be having this experience."
He received a smile back from Allie. "Thanks for the fact, doctor," she joked.
"Sorry," Reid said.
Allie just shook her head. "It's okay," she said. She then stood up and went to turn the stereo off. "I just guess music probably wasn't the best choice." She then went to grab the book and handed it to Reid and told him, "This is what I meant to show you…"
They spent the rest of the evening conversing on pretty much any topic besides the incident, or the relationship between the two of them. Towards the end of the night it was Reid who did most of the talking, and Allie began to fade away into sleep. She was awake enough to add an "Mmmhmm," and "Yeah," here and there. Eventually Reid noticed her lack of consciousness.
"I think I'm losing you," Reid said.
"Mmmhmm," Allie replied.
Reid laughed. He poked her on the arm. "Al? Al? I think it's time I get you into your bed." She awoke and shook her head. "I can do it," she said defensively. She got up and trudged toward the bedroom, and emerged in a plain white shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, and sat back down on the couch next to Reid. A silence ensued.
"It's late," she said wearily. "Stay here." Allie herself wasn't sure why she asked this, but she knew there were some things left to be said and understood between her and Spencer. And she knew she didn't want to be left alone that night.
"I guess I can just set myself up on the couch…" Reid trailed off.
"Yeah," Allie said softly. "I just don't want to be alone tonight. I'm sorry. I just…"
"You don't have to explain," Reid interrupted. Allie went into her room to grab a spare blanket and pillow which she gave him. She again sat down on the couch next to him, desperately wanting to say something, but not at all sure of what she needed or wanted to say. "Go to bed," Reid said, patting Allie on the leg, "I'll be here."
Allie returned to her bedroom, haunted by the song she couldn't get out of her head, and the feelings she couldn't decipher.
Startled, Spencer woke up at 3:30a.m., hearing desperate shouts coming from the other room.
"Untie me," Allie was yelling, over and over, twitching and struggling in her sleep.
Reid stood up and ran into the bedroom, grabbing a hold of Allie's shoulder to stop her from moving. She fought with him a little, but once he repeated her names a few times she awoke from the dream she was having. Her breathing was irregular and fast.
Once her eyes focused on Reid and she began to calm down. "I'm sorry," she breathed. "So sorry."
"Shhh…" Reid soothed, pushing her hair back out of her face and pulling her into his arms. "Just a dream," he said, lying back with her in his arms. Fifteen minutes later they were back asleep.
Four hours later the sun was beginning to shine into the bedroom, and Allie woke up silently, finding herself resting on Spencer. She poked him to wake him up. "Hey," she whispered.
His eyes fluttered and he squinted in the sunshine. "Hey," he said groggily back. "Those dreams go away?" he asked.
Allie nodded. "Thanks," she said.
Reid looked down at her fondly, "don't mention it," he said. With that he gave her a kiss on the top of the head.
Allie looked up at him, pulling herself out of his embrace. "Spencer?" she asked, her tone getting serious. "Things are changing, aren't they? Between you and me?"
After a moment Reid simply nodded. "Yeah," he said uncomfortably. Then, they both began to speak at the same time. "I have something –" Allie started while Reid said, "Listen." Both blushed, and Allie, in her nervous state, began to insist that Reid go first.
"Okay," Reid said. "Well, there are just things I think are important for you to know. I'm not usually very good at being in touch with… emotions, really. I don't know if you know, but a few years back with the BAU during a cased I was taken, and I was forced to take –"
"- I know," Allie interrupted softly.
"Yeah," Reid continued nervously, not keeping eye contact. "Well, when I feel into the spiral of my addiction to that stuff, I lost a lot. I lost the trust of my colleagues. I no longer really cared about what I was doing, and I didn't even care about myself. I was angry about the fact that everyone was profiling me, talking about me. I guess, what it came down to, was that I felt like I had nothing. When I went through recovery, things got better. But I still felt this emptiness, this darkness. But the day you started to come into my life is the day all of that changed." With that statement Reid finally had the courage to look up and see Allie in the eye. "With you, I have someone I can trust, say anything to. You're more than just someone I work with; you're like… my other half. And the term 'friend' works, but I don't think it really sums up how I feel about you. Because I feel a lot of things, and a lot of them are beyond just being friends."
With that he reached out and took Allie's hands in his. She shyly kept eye contact away from his. "Spencer…" she said. Reid silenced her by leaning forward and softly planting his lips on hers. It was a soft, loving kiss that lasted but a moment. After that Allie rose and got out of the bed and began to pace around the room. "There's something," she said. "that I need to tell you. And I don't know if I should tell you. I don't know…"
Reid was instantly filled with fear and dread. "Oh," he said in a deflated voice. "It's okay," he mumbled, "I should probably go," he added in a practically inaudible voice.
"What?" Allie asked sharply. "No," she added. "Just. Bear with me for a sec. Because I barely know what's going on with my life right now. But something happened a couple days ago…"