Chapter Nine

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination."
Tommy Lasorda

"That went well." Morgan commented as they made their way back to the van. The team were quick to jump out and walk towards them. Tina Mayson had left minutes ago, after a steady conversation about dates and times where she hadn't once directed a question or answer to Morgan.

"That was good." Hotch said to the pair and Lauren guessed this was the only kind of praise they would receive. "Is something wrong?" He asked Lauren. She shrugged as she looked down at the business card she had been given by Tina. It was obvious that she had scratched off another business name from the card and written hers on top of it.

"Look at this." She said, handing the card over to Hotch, he stared down at it, obviously noticing what she had.

"Guys," Emily said suddenly. "Look at the design." Lauren peered over the card, she hadn't taken much notice of the pattern surrounding the words. "It's a hibiscus flower." Lauren scolded herself for missing such an obvious detail.

"Let's get this back. We might be able to pull the business name that was previously on the card." Hotch said, turning and heading towards a black SUV.

Lauren let out a long breath, trying to relax her tensed muscles and regain herself wits after the experience. It had been disturbing to spend such a long amount of time with someone who could be a potential killer without arresting them.

"It's common for officers to feel even more tense after the operation is over, than when it is occurring." Spencer said. It was soothing to hear his voice and she turned to him. "It's probably because the mind hasn't got time or is not clear enough to process the situation at the time, so replays it after it is over." He smiled.

"Is that your way of asking if I'm ok?" Lauren asked teasingly. Spencer gave her a lopsided smile and looked at the ground. "I'm just happy as long as we catch her."

"I can see why she'd want you as one of her models though." Spencer said, nervously tucking his hair behind his ear. "You look very nice in that." He said, gesturing to the dress.

"You think I'm a target for her?" Lauren asked making Spencer's eyed widen.

"No, I, uh…" He stuttered. Lauren laughed.

"I'm only joking." She said and he gave a nervous smile at her words. "But thanks," She continued. "For the compliment." She was joking to an extent, but she did have the nagging feeling that Tina's focus may now be on her. But that's what they had the false name for, Tina Mayson shouldn't be able to find her as long as her cover stuck.

"I'm heading back." Morgan called to Lauren. "Wanna ride?" He asked. Lauren glanced between Morgan and Spencer.

"No, it's ok." She said. "I'm going to give Spencer a lift." Morgan shrugged at her response and followed JJ and Emily to one of the parked cars.

"I could drive." Spencer said.

"Not with what I heard from Morgan you're not." With another teasing smile they headed to the last car and jumped inside.

The drive back to the office was hot.

All of the windows in the car were open wide yet there was no breeze. Being stuck in traffic didn't help, Spencer looked over to Lauren. She lifted her long hair from her neck and tried fanning cool air onto herself with her other hand. Her neck and chest were still pale even in the heat of the sun, Spencer felt the heat rise a few degrees more and looked away sheepishly.

"Summers in England were never like this." Lauren commented suddenly, Spencer looked back to her.

"Usually weather is more consistent to seasons in America than in England." He explained.

"Do you know something about everything?" She asked, seeming genuinely interested rather than mocking. She held his gaze and he almost forgot the question.

"I, uh," He stumbled. "Not everything." He finally managed to say. "Though I think most people assume I know everything." He hadn't meant to sound so upset about his last statement. But she caught onto it straight away.

"You don't like that people assume things about your intelligence?" She asked, turning her body towards him.

"It's not that." Spencer said, feeling inclined to share it with her. "I don't want to disappoint them. Like if I don't know something about what they want to know." He'd never felt he could be so open with someone before; it was strange, now he had begun to share what he felt, he couldn't stop. "My intelligence is me. It's what people define me by. If theirs a fault in it…" He paused. "Maybe there's a fault in me." Lauren's gaze was soothing; she was really listening to him, and he liked having her undivided attention.

"Everyone has faults, Spencer." She said eventually. "Though I'm sure you have a lot less than the rest of us." She smiled broadly at him. "You shouldn't feel like only one thing defines you. You have a variety of things that make up who you are. Why do you think people fall in love?"

"Love?" He almost choked out, catching that one word more than any other.

"Yeah," she continued. "Think of the victims, they were just married. But our first victim, Karen Shiner, she had a bad case of OCD." Lauren continued. "Do you think if her husband defined her by that he would have married her?"

"I guess not." Spencer replied. What she'd said made sense. "How did you know that about the victim?" Spencer asked. He hadn't remembered seeing it in the case file.

"I did some research into all the victims. I always do." She admitted, jolting the car into life as they moved only a foot before stopping in the cage of traffic once again. "I don't think the victims should just be victims. They're people and that's how they should be treated." Spencer was moved by her words, he couldn't help but admire the young Detective for her forth rightness and honesty. But also her emotional involvement in her cases, even though it must be exhausting. "But really Spencer, if we all had only one thing that made up who we are, we would be so bland; no one would ever fall in love or make friends. It's the quirks people have, or the small things people don't realise they do that make up who they are and attract people to them." Her words had understanding behind them, and Spencer was inclined to believe her. "You're not only very clever, Spencer. You're also kind and understanding, and have the patience of a saint. And your actions stammer when you're nervous." She smiled widely at him and a small, soft laugh escaped her lips. "It's those things the people around you define you by. Why do you think your team gets on so well?"

"I guess you're right." Spencer replied looking to the traffic ahead. He was unsure of how toreact to the knowledge she knew so much about him. Had she been that much attention to him? Or was she just particularly perceptive? He knew which idea he preferred.

"You guess?" Lauren said accusingly, he turned to her and smiled a teasing smile at him and he smiled widely in return. He still wasn't used to her sense of humour.

The rest of the journey was relatively quiet, the traffic moved slowly but at a constant rate. The cars in front wavered in the rising heat and the temperature was steadily creeping up, but Spencer's mind was working overtime, processing everything Lauren had said.

Spencer was quickly gaining great respect for the young Detective as well as a feeling of closeness he had never made with anyone so quickly. It was an unusual feeling and hard to pinpoint. He just knew it made his chest tight and he nearly always couldn't help but smile when around her or when he thought of her. She also made his thought process foggy, his thoughts were always clear and to the point, he was quick to come up with memories or answers but when Lauren was around…he just couldn't think properly when she was there.