The house was totally still.

Lila reached over and turned off the television. She snuggled back up against Spencer's chest for a moment. She could hear his heart beating, feel his breath against her face.

It had been a fantastic night. They had gone for a swim, goofing off like a couple of grade school kids. Spencer had actually seemed to relax.

She liked him, she really did. It wasn't just because he saved her life. She knew that was what a lot of folks were thinking. That he'd helped her and now she had some hero worship crush on him.

Okay, maybe that was it in the beginning. That and perhaps a bit of lust cause, face it, Spencer Reid was hot. He could have totally been a model. And he was a great kisser, even if he didn't realize it. And there was something totally hot about how he was so unsure of himself. The complete opposite of the cocky guys she saw all the time. He was so not a Hollywood guy that she loved talking to him. Sure it was only email most of the time, but it was great. She'd tell him about what she was doing, he'd tell her about cases.

Eventually they got to more personal things. She told him about growing up and wanting to be an actress. He told her about growing up a genius and feeling like a freak. He told her all about how he wasn't every good at talking to people, especially people his own age. How he always felt like an outsider. He didn't hold anything back. When he told her that he wasn't sure why but he felt totally comfortable telling her all that stuff, she knew she'd found someone special. Maybe things between them were doomed to fail as a relationship, but she sure was going to give it a try.

Lila carefully got up, trying not to wake Spencer up. She quietly picked up the plates and trash from their impromptu take out dinner. She hated having a messy house, couldn't go to sleep with even one dirty dish in the sink. As she slipped out of the room, she could hear something that sounded like a moan.

Spencer was still asleep but he was no longer relaxed. He was muttering to himself, breathing like he was running from something.

"Spencer." Lila knelt down next to him, gently shaking his arm, trying to wake him up.

"No. No. Somebody."

"Spencer." Lila shook a little harder.

Spencer snapped awake, sitting up suddenly.

"Hey, you okay?"

There was a moment before he looked at her.

"You were having a bad dream,"

"Yeah. I get them a lot. Hazard of the job." Spencer said, a little embarrassed.

"You never mentioned that before." Lila sat next to him, his hand in hers.

"It's not something I really like to talk about. It always sounds sort of"

"Crazy?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I already know you're mad as a hatter. You like my co-stars." Lila said with a smile. "Trust me, this won't make things any worse."

"They aren't always the same. Sometimes I'm being attacked and I don't have my gun. Or I have it but it won't fire. Sometimes Im searching for someone, usually a child, and I can't find them. I'm in the woods, or a house with hundreds of rooms. I can hear crying but I just can't find where it's coming from. Or someone I care about is hurt, bleeding everywhere and dying, and I can't stop it. I can't save them."

"Sounds awful." Lila gave him a hug. "But with your job, I guess you have a lot of things like that to worry about. All that gives me nightmares is the thought of bad ratings and that doesn't count."

"It's not as bad as it used to be. For a while, I was having nightmares every night. They were so horrible I couldn't get back to sleep. I thought Hotch was going to put me on forced leave at one point."

"Did he?"

"No, but he made me go see the unit therapist. Who told me what I already knew. That the nightmares were just manifestations of the fear that I would fail and people would be hurt. Hearing everyone say that I couldn't carry all the blame myself doesn't make it stop. It doesn't make the dreams go away."

"I guess it wouldn't. But you said it's getting better, right. You don't have them as much."

"Not as much. But I still have them."

"Well I know what will stop them." Lila smiled. She stood, pulling Spencer to his feet.

"What?"

"Me. I might look sweet and innocent but I'm really a total bad ass." She pulled Spencer toward her room. "You're sleeping with me tonight and any nightmares that come around are in for some major trouble."

"I don't know."

"I do. Trust me." Lila grinned. "Just be warned. If you try anything, I'll kick your butt too."

"Fair enough."