"Morning, pretty boy." a cheery voice greeted him as soon as he stepped into the police department. He grunted in return, making his way to the coffee machine, not having is shot of caffiene yet which he desperately needed at seven in the morning. Derek chuckled. "Someone stay up all night thinking about a certain trapeze artist?"

Spencer rolled his eyes; it was too early for this. "No, Morgan."

"What's wrong with Boy Wonder?" Penelope said as she swept into the room, grabbing herself coffee. "Not get enough sleep?"

"I'm just tired." he replied right before downing scalding hot coffee.

She pinched his cheek. "Put on your days smile, and pretend to be chipper." she said brightly. "We've got a case to solve!" and with that she skipped out of the room, leaving Spencer wide eyed.

"Why is she so happy this early?" Spencer asked, rubbing his dry eyes.

Derek shook his head. "It's Garcia being Garcia." oddly enough, it was a perfectly reasonable answer. "You ready to go to the circus again today?"

Spencer was grateful he was so exhausted, because his casual shrug had to have been convincing. He wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep, but at the same time there were blue eyes haunting him.

Everyone met in the room they were in the previous day. "What do we got?" Emily asked.

"Nothing." Hotch said, getting right to business. "We need proof these men rode on these trains, we don't have their names so we can't track them in tax records. But we can't risk them finding out we know something is going on."

"So, have Garcia photoshop the picture we have to make them look less bloody, and show them to people casually." Derek suggested.

"Yes the problem with that is we have hundreds of people who could be responsible for this." Hotch said patiently. "If we show the picture to the wrong person, they would know we are catching on and without physical evidence, we have nothing. We need to stay on the down low."

"So what do we do?" Derek asked, looking frustrated.

"Use the cover to talk to people, get in the rooms on the train. Morgan, you said the trapeze artist would trust Reid?" Spencer got a kink in his neck for how fast his head turned to stare at Derek, whom looked guilty but gave one nod. "Use it." Spencer didn't know why he was annoyed, but something about him using the word use made him feel guilty.

They got to the fair grounds while the carnival was going on. Spencer was nervous, because it would be soon when he saw Molly again. Derek flashed his badge to some of the workers until the found out her car number was 28, which took ten minutes to walk to until they got the the 28th car, walking up the ramp and knocking on the metal door. "Come in!" a voice called.

Derek glanced at Spencer, then opened the door. They stepped into to find three sets of beds, but one girl. She was sitting at a vanity, staring at them in surprise. The vanity she was at was closest to the most colorful bed in a corner, with many large pillows, the ledge next to it littered with pictures, trinkets, souvenirs, or otherwise seemingly useless decorations. But what Spencer was staring at was Molly in an extremely short, silk, powder pink slip, that reached about mid thigh and a slight v-cut. He couldn't tel if it was spaghetti strapped because she wore a teal silk robe that reached the hem of the slip. She closed the front of her rob and stood up. "Hello Agents."

"Hello ma'am, we hate to bother you." Derek said politely. "Would you mind talking to us?"

She raised an eyebrow, standing up. "About the missing girl?" Derek nodded. "Of course not. Ask away."

They began to chat and Spencer, curious, started to examine her bed and pictures. Their were portraits of her in her act, in all sorts of glamorous outfits, and many with her and what he assumed to be performers, hugging, arms slung over each other, all smiles. It wasn't until he got to one particular picture that spiked his interest. It was her, crouched down to reach height level with a little person, his arm slung over her. He looked a lot like the most recent John Doe. He glanced over at Derek and Molly, the girl had her back to him, and he made eye contact with Derek, and mouthed 'Keep her busy' and Derek blinked in response, and began talking to her. Spencer took out his phone and brought of the camera mode, snapping a good as picture as he could get. He wrote, "Looks like John Doe, I need you to do face recognition" and sent it to Penelope. He shoved his phone in his pocket and stood up straight.

"Car ten then?" Derek was asking.

Molly nodded. "Yes, his name is Tom Bernard, and he should be up. He will know if anyone has come by yet."

"Thank you very much. Agent Reid, I'll be right back. You wait here." Derek seemed to smirk as he left, causing Spencer to go red. Molly turned to look at him.

"Would you like some coffee?" she asked.

"Yes, please." he swallowed. "If its not any trouble."

"Of course not." she waved. She let her robe expose her in her slip while she walked to what looked like a closet and opened it. Instead of clothes, there was three mini fridges, a microwave, a toaster, and a cupboard with a coffee maker on it. "Me and my roommates use the closet as a food station. Its kind of hard to get to the food car if the train is moving, so its just easier this way."

"Where do you keep you clothes?" Spencer asked out of curiosity.

She pushed a button on the coffee maker and it started to heat up. She stood and walked over to him then crouched down by her bed. Spencer watched as she pulled her bed skirt up and revealed a drawer the length of the bed and opened it a crack. "My brother built one for each of us. Mine was free." she smirked.

"Is your brother in the circus?"

She closed the drawer and stood up, walking back to the closet. "Yeah, he trains the animals. If you paid attention the other night, he was the one who tamed the lions." Spencer didn't remember any lion, his mind was too preoccupied.

But he said, "Oh." like he remembered.

She opened the cupboard that held the coffee maker and it held all sorts of syrup and creams. "Here, come help yourself." she said, letting a mug fill with coffee. Spencer nodded and did just that. "We have basically have our own Starbucks in here." she joked as she walked away to sit at her vanity again. Spencer was infecting his coffee with enough sugar to keep a colony of ants happy.

When his concoction was finished, he turned around and took a sip. "You can sit." she said, gesturing to her bed.

Spencer, never the one to turn down hospitality, thanked her and sat next to her on the bed. She was putting her hair up in a pony tail, and Spencer found she had four piercing on her lobe, plus on stud on her cartiledge. Each one was a different color, and for some reason Spencer liked it. "Its weird that the FBI is here for one missing girl."

Spencer stayed calm. "She crossed state lines." he lied. "Or we assume she did. Its our jurisdiction now."

"Ah." she responded, putting blush on her already rosy cheeks. He noticed that without make up you could see the faint freckles on her face, but with the make up they became invisible. "I guess that makes sense, but I don't know anything about law."

"Did you finish high school?" he heard himself ask, then almost slapped himself. Why would he ask t hat?

"Well, no." she answered. "I quit when I was sixteen, but I did get my GED, just in case. I started to perform when I was sixteen, and I thought why would I want to continue high school when I already have a career. Then I realized I'm bound to get old one day, and I wont be able to perform, I might need an education."

"Is that when you came to the circus?"

She shook her head. "No, I've been here since I was seven." at the shocked look at Spencer's face, she laughed. "My brother got custody of me, and this was his life. Then it became mine."

"Don't you wish you had a...Well, normal life?"

"This is normal to me." she shrugged. "Being baby sat by a man with 99% percent of his body tattooed and a split tongue was normal, living on a train was normal... I always liked to think I'm living the dream. I get to play dress up all the time, go places, ride on elephants, I love it all too much to go to normal normal. But, maybe sometimes I get excited a little excited when I'm around someone normal." she looked at Spencer. "Which is probably why I'm talking so much to you."

"I don't mind." Spencer stuttered.

She turned back to the mirror. They fell into a silence and Spencer watched her put mascara on. She got to do a job that made her and other people happy, and he worked with serial killers all day, every day. He couldn't help be jealous, but he had to remember that he was helping people, and what he did was important. Saving lives should have filled him with content, but with each murdered body he was he felt himself get more and more hollow. Suddenly, he heard someone come in. "Reid, let's go." he turned to find Derek, who then disappeared from view.

Spencer and Molly stood up. He sat his mug down. "Well, thanks for talking to me."

She bit her lip. "Yeah, hold on." she leaned over her bed and grabbed a pen, then grabbed her hand, tickling his palm as she scribbled something on it. Then she dropped his hand and holy- she stood on her tip toes and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

Girls didn't do this. Girls didn't hug Spencer. Nor did they kiss him on the cheek then whisper to him, "Thanks for listening."

Sam mumbled a goodbye and he left, catching up with Derek. He looked at his hand; It was a ten digit number, followed by two words.

Call me.

Derek hadn't gotten much with Tom, the owner. Spencer tried not go through the rest of his day without thinking about the number on his hand, which he shamefully admits to himself he went out of his way to not smudge until he got the number in his phone.

He didn't like things that confused him, he was a certified genius and he was never confused, but right now he just had no idea why she gave him his number. Maybe it had something to do with what she said about 'getting excited' when she met normal people. Maybe Spencer was the only 'normal' person that she has talked to and she might have just lonely. As much as he wanted to believe she felt the same feelings he felt, that just didn't happen.

But at the end of the day, he was in his hotel room, staring at his cell phone. He would pick up the phone, then set it back. He didn't know if calling her off the clock, unofficially could be against a rule. What would Hotch say? But then again, it was only a phone call. That's it.

Without thinking, he found her contact and hit call.

After two rings, a voice answered, "Hello?"

"Uh, hi is this Molly?"

A pause. "Agent Reid?"

"Spencer, but yeah."

"Oh, hi!" he suddenly heard someone, in a think Jersey accent, ask, "Who you talkin' to?"

Spencer laughed. "Hi. So, I called." why was his throat closing?

"Yes, I can see that." she laughed. "Are you done with work for the day?"

"Uh, yeah." he said.

"Want to do something?" she asked bluntly.

Spencer gave a nervous laugh. "Its kind of late." And I'm not sure if I can hang out with a possible suspect.

She made a noise of disapproval. "I can tell you don't have enough fun, you need to live a little."

"I have fun." he attempted to argue.

She snorted. "Please, you have such a serious job, that doesn't sound like fun. And I've seen enough TV to know you suits work too much."

"Well, someone has to do it." he murmured.

"So, come out and have fun with me." she said. "I promise I will get you back into bed at a reasonable time."

And because when he thought about saying no he saw those damn blue eyes looking dissapearing, he said, "Fine."

Molly had just gotten done with a show when he called her, so she said she need half an hour to get into 'clothing', as she put it. She told him to meet her at a bus station not too far from the fair grounds, and now he was sitting on a bench, his cardigan keeping him warm enough. He tapped his foot and checked his watch, waiting.

Suddenly, a voice was in his ear. "Nice of you to show up."

He turned to find Molly leaning against the back of the bench, smiling. She wore jeans and a navy blue, form fitting hoodie. "Did you think I wasn't going to?"

A smile played on her lips. "I'm just surprised you agreed to is all." she straightened up. "Well, let's go."

"Where are we going?" he asked, standing up.

They started to walk and she looked to be thinking. "I'm not sure."

"You don't know?" he asked. Who made plans without actually having plans?

"Its the spotneity. I had to sneak out to do this so we are going to do something fun damn it."

"Snuck out?" he asked, confused.

"We have a curfew the nights before performances. Tom says the only reason we would want to leave after eleven is to party or whatever, and he says an overly tired, shot out, or hung over performer is a dangerous performer." she said. "But it wont make a difference for me, I will get enough sleep."

"I don't see how you can give an adult a curfew..."

"The Playboy Bunny girls have a curfew." she pointed out. "It's like nine or something.

And I'm not supposed to even be out here with you, he thought. We're both breaking rules. "Oh, lets get a smoothie!" she said excitedly, pointing at a smoothie shop that was conveniently open. Spencer let her drag him in and she hoped to the counter. "I will have a wild berry, and he...?" she looked at him.

He read the menu in a second. "Mango."

She nodded at the guy, who then brought the total up. Spencer was about to get his wallet. "No, dummy, I got it." she went into her purse and pulled out a few ones. "Here." she smiled charmingly at the guy, who seemed to melt.

"Thanks." Spencer said.

"Its the least I could do after kidnaping you." she joked. The man handed her two cups. "Thank you." she handed one to Spencer.

"Maybe I could get a number?" he winked.

She snorted. "Please, you look like you're only sixteen. I don't think so."

Spencer resisted the urge to smirk and followed her out. They walking down the lit sidewalk, silent for a while. "Where to now?" he asked.

She thought. "I don't know. I just wing it, usually." he laughed. "What do you do for the FBI, exactly?"

Spencer almost groaned. "I do investigative work for teen runaways." he hated lying to her, but he already broke one pretty big rule, he didn't need to break any more.

"That's pretty specific." she murmured. "It could be worse, though. I would hate to have one of those more sad jobs the FBI has." You have no idea. "With those murders that get serious."

"It must really take its toll on an agent." he agreed, somewhat bitterly. In need to change the subject, he asked, "Why did you ask me to come out tonight?"

Molly looked at him. "You look so wound up whenever I have seen you, I like seeing you more relaxed. And I have been dying to get out."

"I thought you loved it there." he pointed out.

She frowned. "Well, I do, and I can't see myself anywhere else. But, I don't know, sometimes I feel like I'm missing out, doing the same thing every day. Most people think the circus life is exotic and carefree. I mean, its pretty much a twenty four hour adventure, but we still have routine, and after a while its the same thing everyday. I love it, I just like the change every once in a while." Molly shrugged. "I don't know what I'm thinking, maybe its all in my head.

"No, I think I know what you're saying." Spencer said. "Sometimes you want to feel normal?" Even though you have such an abnormal lifestyle.

Molly looked up at him and grinned. "What is normal anyway?"

And instead of giving a very Spencer answer, he grinned back. "I haven't the slightest idea."

They spent of few hours doing a lot of nothing, and Spencer loved every moment. He got so relaxed, it was easy to talk to her as the night went on. He told her about high school, graduating at twelve and so on. She connected pretty fast that he was a prodigy, and it obviously brought down her confidence, which it shouldn't have. He was spectacular in one way, and she was spectacular in many ways.

He listened to her stories about being on the circus, from wild parties, doing anything that would show death the middle finger for fun, traveling car to car while the train was moving(which Spencer informed her was very illegal). She did so many interesting things, he was jealous.

"That bitch!" she was saying, after he told her about a girl who asked him out then ditched him for a football jock.

Spencer snorted. They were sitting in the grass, leaning against a big tree. "I know."

"Screw her." she said. "She would be kicking herself right now if she could see you, and the only men interested in her are the kind of men who pay for her." Spencer was laughing, wondering why it was so easy around her. "She is only going to date losers who treat her crap, no one nice like you."

He shrugged. "I don't know, girls don't usually go for... Well, me."

She rolled her eyes. "That's because women for the most part like to date men who treat them like dirt. For every Spencer in the world, there are ten jerkoffs who get the girl." she grinned. "And they might be a little put out by how smart you are."

"It's not like I can help it." he defended, smiling.

"Have you ever had a girlfriend?" she inquired. He sheepishly shook his head. "Never?"

He blushed. "Have you? You're on the road all the time."

It was Mollys turn to go red. "Well, we stay a week or two in town, and everyone once in a while I will meet someone. I don't date them, so I guess I've never dated anyone. But when I meet someone who isn't a loser, we might..." she trailed off, blushing crazy.

Spencer got the gist. "More then I can say."

She paused. "You've never been kissed?"

Spencer looked at the grass, embarrassed. "Well, no... I'm so awkward, I wouldn't know what to do anyway." Great, she must dig this loser thing.

Molly seemed to think about that. "I think your special."

He looked at her, confused. "What?"

"I think you're special, different." she said, turning to sit on her knees. "I'd say we're buddies now, right?"

"I suppose."

"Well, think of this as a favor." before Spencer could ask what, one hand was placed on his shoulder and she kissed him so suddenly. He was shocked, beyond that. But she pulled away. "Do you mind?"

All he could do was shake his head. "Just, let me show you." she leaned forward again and this time Spencer closed his eyes and her lips were on his again. He felt so awkward, he knew he had to be doing something wrong, he probably looked like an idiot-

His brain short circuited when her lips moved against his, and instinctively did it couldn't think how wrong it was while another hand went to his face and she leaned more into him. He didn't know what to do with his hands so he awkwardly had them frozen at his sides. Then the tip of her tongue ran across his lip and he opened his mouth-

Wow. That's kind of... Awesome.

Without thinking, his hands found their way to her waist and for a small moment she led until her got the hang of it. But once that happened, her lips were gone.

Molly smiled at him. "Now you can say your first kiss wasn't by a brat who would end up hurting you. So when you meet the future Mrs. Genius, you'll know what to do."

Spencer felt so hot, his stomach was clenched so tight, he could only lamely squeak out, "Thanks."

...

The rest of the time they spent together wasn't awkward like Spencer thought it would. Molly acted as if she hadn't kissed him, and Spencer was a bit grateful.

When he was back in bed, all he could think about was the kiss and how it shouldn't have happened, he shouldn't have went out that night either. But he broke two huge rules and he was having a difficult time trying to care.

While Spencer battled his thoughts, his new trapeze friend was getting back to the train, to her car. The raven haired girl noticed her roommates were gone and suspected they weren't coming back until the next morning. However, he friends Tim was there, waiting for her since she texted him saying she was on her way back. "You are bad." was the first thing he said.

"Is there any specific reason?" she grinned playfully, closing the door and began to undress. Normally, the chances of her dressing in front of a guy were slim to none for Molly, Tim didn't exactly play for team 'straight'.

"Oh, sneaking out and making out with a federal agent are the first two off of the top of my head." he joked. "Seriously, Molly."

"He's never been kissed." she defended, pulling on her night slip.

He snorted. "Right, you just wanted a reason to kiss him. He is cute, so I wont hold it against you."

Molly shrugged. "He's different."

"Different from all of the nobodies you usually make out with?"

"You make me sound like a hoe." she complained. "And like I do it all the time."

"Well what do you mean by different?"

"He's sweet, and innocent."

"Ah." her best friend said. "Trying to corrupt him."

Molly threw a pillow at him. "God, do you ever listen to yourself? You are horrible."

He snapped his fingers. "Ah! You like him. I get it." she rolled her eyes, but otherwise stayed silent. "You travel on the circus hun, and I don't exactly see a circus performed and a federal agent living happily ever after."

Molly laughed. "I don't date. Period." she sighed, hands on her hips. She glanced at the picture on her nightstand. "I miss him."

"Who, Dalton?" she nodded, staring at the picture of her and the little person. "People quit all the time."

"He didn't have a reason to though. He was here, happy and stuff then gone."

"Trust me, Dalton ran away from the circus to join society. You know, he always wanted to go to Hollywood." she seemed to consider this. "Hun, he's fine."

"It sucks when they leave and don't stay in contact." she murmured. Molly sighed, regaining her composure. "Are you staying her tonight?"

Tim shook his head. "There is a party in Carols car. You want to com?"

She shook her head. "I'm tired."

Tim shrugged. "Night."

"Night."

...

The next day, Spencer and the rest of the team had nothing to do but wait for the face recognition. Spencer thought about Molly most of the time.

"The boys at Quantico say it wont be finished until tomorrow morning." Penelope said, walking into the room.

"Everyone might as well take off tonight." Hotch said, sighing.

Everyone started to pile up and Spencer caught Emily. "Prentiss, can I ask a favor?"

"Sure sugar what is it?"

"Can you come with me to watch the performance tonight?" he asked.

She tilted her head. "I'd love to. Any reason why?"

He bit his lip. "Can I tell you in the car?"

Half an hour to performance. Molly was in the dressing tent, squeezing into her outfit. Gems were glued onto her, her make up was just about done. Another night, another performance.

She was inspecting herself in the vanity mirror when Tim came up to her, his face stony. "Hey, is everything alright?" she asked immediately.

He looked over his shoulder. "I have to talk to you." he said quietly. Molly tried to search his eyes, and he looked nothing less then serious.

"What is it?" she asked, standing closer to him.

Before he could say anything, their latest Ringleader, Joshua, came up to them. "Come on guys! You need to get those hands powdered." he looked at Tim. "Everything alright?" Tim nodded. "Well, let's go."

Spencer and Emily sat down, the girl still in shock after the story Spencer gave it. "You are in so much trouble if Hotch finds out."

"He wont find out if you don't tell him." Spencer said firmly.

"I wont." she said. "Spencer, you're gonna' have to talk to her about it."

"I know, I just don't know what there is to talk about. She treated it like it was professional business. It didn't seem to mean anything."

"A girl you just met kisses you shortly after meeting you. I bet it meant something." Spencer rolled his eyes, he already knew it didn't.

Lights dimmed. "Its about to start."

A while into the performance, the aerial artists were waiting to perform, the lion act almost done. Tim looked sick. "What is up with you?"

He shook his head. "Later."

They were announced. Molly grave her friends hand a squeezed and the ran into the ring.

"There she is." Emily said. Funhouse by Pink began to play as they began to defy gravity.

He watched as Molly leaned forward to grab a bar and swung with it. Spencer held his breath as she let go, turned around mid air, and her legs hooked onto another one. As she began to swing forward, she held her arms out and one of the male aerielists with light brown hair leaned forward.

Molly, doing the same thing she did every night, was swinging toward Tim, like she did every night. Like every night, he lunged forward and grabbed onto her-

But as soon as she clasped both his arms with both hers, he seemed to slip down a little.

Well, that wasn't entirely rare. She would have to squeeze a little harder.

But before they even swung halfway to the other side, he slipped more. His arms were moist. They used a special powder so this never happened to Molly before.

He slipped more and the bar jerked as he instinctively kicked his legs. This slowed momentum and they were slowing. She tried to hold on tighter.

Spencer was staring at the scene, wide eyed. "Is this part of the act?" Emily asked.

"No."

One hand ripped away from her, and Molly screamed, using both hands to hold onto him. But it was no use, because now he was slipping away, out of her grasp. "TIM!"

Her first instinct was to drop, but that would be stupid because she would die. With all of her strength, she pulled herself into a sitting position and stood on it, leaping to the next bar and swinging to the ledge. She was halfway down the latter in a second.

He landed with a thump. Emily was standing, pulling out her badge. Spencer was following her and the two ran down the aisles. Emily was holding her badge, yelling, "Move, federal agents!"

They stopped in front of the body and Spencer knelt down. He noticed Molly was running at the, until the ringmaster grabbed her, holding her back a few feet away. She was yelling at him.

Spencer couldn't find a pulse. The boy was dead.