Chapter Seventeen

"Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity

to tell these people how much they mean to you." - Anonymous

"Spencer?…Spencer?"

"Hm?"

"Are you ok?" Penelope Garcia, the outgoing, overly optimistic computer technician looked worriedly at Spencer. Her gaze was joined by the rest of the BAU team sat at their desks surrounding him. Feeling suddenly aware of how his thoughts had run away with him again he sat up straighter and cleared his throat nervously.

"Yeah, yes, fine." He answered finally with a small, stiff smile. This was obviously a suitable answer as everyone once again got back to their own work. Day dreaming was becoming a bad habit of Spencer's and all of them seemed to revolve around one person. Five weeks had passed since the trip to New York, in fact four weeks, six days, five hours and…he looked at his watch, fifteen minutes. Yet still he couldn't get the helpful Detective Lauren Lewis out of his head. It was more than just a distraction.

But luckily it had been quite quiet at the BAU. The team had had time to catch up on their sleep and personal time, along with the mountain of paperwork that was required after each case. Currently Spencer was supposed to be filling out a report of his account of how the case went. He had managed to reach the point where Detective Lewis had helped them figure out the killer was a woman and he'd been stuck from then on. His head had not followed his instruction of concentrating and instead decided to wander through the memories he had of her.

Spencer smiled as he thought of her dazzling eyes and how her smile made them sparkle even more. He did his best not to mar the images with thoughts of how she looked when she had been injured. Those images made his chest constrict so painfully it was hard to breathe.

Yet now he could see clearly how she looked the day they had carried out the undercover assignment. She had looked so feminine in the white dress with her hair falling around her in waves. And the way she laughed, even the tone of her voice. It was like he could still hear her so clearly.

Spencer sat up straight. He could hear her clearly.

"It seems quieter than the last time I was here." His heart skipped a beat and then raced in his chest. Spinning around in his chair so fast he almost fell off he could not focus his gaze until they landed on a sight more wanted than anything in his life.

He couldn't take his eyes off of Lauren as she stood at the doorway. He didn't want to unless she disappeared. Also the body hugging, tailored grey dress she wore helped to keep his attention.

"Lauren?" Emily said as she leapt out of her chair and pulled Lauren into a friendly hug. Lauren smiled as the dark haired agent did so. She wasn't sure how the team would react to her unannounced presence. It was nice to think they thought of her so fondly.

"It' so good to see you." Lauren chimed as she let go of Emily only to be folded in the arms of JJ.

"What are you doing here?" JJ asked pulling away.

"Well, I-" Lauren began but was cut off quickly.

"She has been transferred to our unit. As a consultant only for now." Hotch's voice echoed around the room as he made his way down the stairs from his office. "But she will be under my supervision for training to enter our unit on a permanent basis if everything goes well."

Lauren thought that summed it up quite well and looked at JJ again.

"Really?" Emily asked and Lauren was happy to hear it was in an excited tone.

"I think that's the best news I've heard in quite some time." It was Morgan's voice now and Lauren looked to him. She was once again enveloped in a hug, though this time a little tighter. "You made quite an impression on us all." He said as he pulled away flashing a charming smile at her. Lauren laughed.

"I'm glad. I was worried you were sick of me after New York."

"Never." JJ said happily as she sat on the edge of Emily's desk.

Lauren was thrilled by the warm welcome but couldn't help but notice there was one person who she had yet to see. And as she thought about it she swallowed nervously. Her gaze flitted across the room and then she spotted him. Spencer moved slowly, making his way in between Morgan and JJ.

It was amazing how time could change someone's perception. When Lauren had first met Spencer she had thought he would be pretentious and far too egotistical. And then as she had gotten to know him over the short time she was proven wrong. He had turned into an actual nice guy, the kind women are told are out there but that you only read about in books. The fact he was shy and a little boyish just added to his charm.

The two stood looking at each other for a moment and Lauren had to suppress the urge to pull him into a hug and…She stopped her thoughts there, blushed and then looked at the ground.

"Hello, Dr Reid." Lauren said with a smile tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He seemed to be glancing over her and Lauren felt slightly anxious under his inspecting gaze.

"I, you- It's nice to see you again." He spluttered finally. Lauren's smile faded a little at his formal words. But before she could say anything else a hand rested in her shoulder.

"I thought Hotch had been a little busy lately, it must have taken quite a bit of string pulling to get you in here." Rossi said as he came into view.

"What?" Lauren asked confused. Hotch had said it had been an easy thing to get her here. Lauren looked to Hotch with a furrowed brow but he quickly looked away.

"You arrived just in time anyway." The voice was a slightly familiar one though Lauren didn't know who it belonged to. She glanced over the team to find a new face. The woman who had spoken was dressed in a colourful array of clothing and accessories and yet pulled it off very well. Her eyes were done up in a pretty palette of red tones framed by blue glasses. "Hi, I'm Penelope." She said holding out a hand.

"Oh, Penelope Garcia." Lauren said in sudden recognition taking her hand and shaking it. She remembered her from the phone conversations back in New York. "I've heard so much about you." Lauren said recalling the tales told by the team at the bar that one night.

"I'm glad." Penelope replied and Lauren thought she caught a small hint of mischief in the woman's eyes. It made Lauren laugh.

"If the greetings are finished we all need to get to the conference room, we've got a new case." Hotch ordered.

"Already? But she's only just arrived." Emily asked, but Hotch said nothing and moved away. "Guess that's a yes." Emily said smiling to Lauren.

Spencer was having a great deal of difficulty in moving. His feet seemed to be pinned in place, only his gaze moving to follow Lauren as she walked with the rest of the team. It was an odd and new feeling to have something you want so much within arms reach but not sure what to do next. But then he seemed to find himself getting rather a lot of odd and new feelings around Lauren.

As she moved out of sight Spencer finally managed to regain control over his body. He quickly rushed to follow the others. If he thought he was distracted before he had a feeling that he was going to be a hundred times worse now.

Could she really be here to stay? Was it selfish to wish for it? Why did it matter so much? Though Spencer knew exactly why it mattered so much he now understood one thing that made him pause. She was now a colleague and that was worse than her being miles away in New York. It was a well known and rarely broken rule for Agents to date. Spencer thought over this for a moment and carried the frown it brought right into the conference room.

There were only two places left and Spencer hesitantly took the place next to Morgan and exactly opposite Lauren. He cleared his throat and pulled the cream coloured folder Penelope gave to him closer. He flicked through the papers inside trying to absorb the information, normally an easy task but today it was the most difficult thing in the world.

For just a moment he gave in and let his eyes look up. It was a surprise to find a sparkling pair of brown eyes staring straight back at him. The butterflies in his stomach were practically bursting now as he flicked his gaze back to the sheets.
The quiet chattering suddenly silenced as Hotch entered and took a seat.

"I thought this case might be somewhat important." JJ said as she stood up nearing the monitor hung on the wall.
"How come?" Emily asked.

"Because it's happening right here in Quantico." There was a silence and even Spencer's attention was now fully focused.
"There have already been three killings linked over the past four months."

"Four months?" Morgan asked shifting in his seat. "How do they know it's the same unsub?" JJ didn't answer his question and only turned to the screen. As she clicked the button on her remote three pictures flickered onto the screen. Spencer's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow." Emily said, which was pretty much what Spencer thought.

"They look exactly the same." Lauren said leaning closer to the screen and Spencer noticed how her hair fell around her gently as she moved. But frowned and tried once again to solely focus on the case.

"Pretty much." JJ replied. Spencer looked at the men on the screen. Lauren was right, the difference between the men were minimal. They were all well built white men with dark brown, short hair. Each had the same strong facial structure with square jaw. "The first victim was Callum Kent, a thirty four year old from Colorado. He was staying with his cousin. The second was Jim Hunton, a 28 year old personal trainer who lived with his girlfriend. The last was murdered yesterday, his name was Turner Jenson, a thirty two year old swimming instructor. Each were killed in their homes at night when no one else was home. Each was tied down, beaten and then smothered."

"Smothered?" Rossi asked. "That's a pretty intense way to kill someone."

"Usually in such close contact killings the unsub feels personally connected to the victim." Spencer added.

"We should start with finding a common person in these men's lives." Hotch said and stood up suddenly "Morgan, Spencer go look at the latest crime scene." He paused, looked up and then glanced back down. "Take Lauren with you." Spencer barely contained himself as Hotch said it. "Rossi and Prentiss go talk to the families. Penelope help JJ find out about these men's lives, everything from their favorite color to their daily routine."

"Yes, Sir." Penelope answered and the team once again busied into action. Spencer felt a little guilty that he was more focused on the time he would get to spend with Lauren than on finding the killer of these victims. He hoped the sensation would pass, wanting to be with someone this much was exhausting.