Spencer made his way to his car, when he saw JJ. He had parked next to her and saw that she had popped her car hood and was looking under it.
"Something wrong," Reid asked. He watched her jump a mile high before she turned around and glared at him.
"Don't sneak up on me, Spence," she said angrily as she turned back to her car.
"Sorry," he said laughing. "I thought you heard me walk up. What's wrong?"
"Let's see, I woke up half an hour late so I missed breakfast; I spilled coffee on my silk white blouse and I forgot a jacket; I remembered I had an extra blouse in my car, and as soon as I walked into the bull pen right after I had changed, Derek accidentally spilled his coffee all over me. Now my car won't start. My day has been the embodiment of Murphy's Law."
"Anything I can do?"
"Can you turn back time and tell me I should call in sick?"
"No, but I can give you the keys to my car so I can wait for a tow truck and you can get home and relax."
"I knew there was a reason I kept you around," JJ said smiling for the first time that day.
"See you at home," Reid said, smiling as he handed her the keys.
JJ took them and climbed into his car and drove to their house. She shook her head at the thought. They'd been living together ever since the Fisher King incident, but there were times it still didn't feel real.
She pulled into their comfortable two story home outside of Arlington and made her way inside. She walked in the front door and put her briefcase down after digging through it and pulling out some files she needed to go over that night. After setting the files down on the kitchen counter, she headed for the bathroom and started a hot bath.
As she lay there soaking, her mind inevitably drifted toward her life with Spencer. She smiled as she thought about the Monday after the football game.
--
"Alright, spill," Penelope said as soon as JJ walked into her computer room.
"I'm having a good morning, thanks for asking," JJ said sarcastically.
"Yeah, yeah, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood and all that. Now spill. What happened between you and the good Dr. Reid?"
"Garcia, you know a lady never kisses and tells. Or, you know, makes out and tells," JJ said with a smile she hid behind the coffee she was drinking.
"That's my girl," Penelope said smiling. "So, what was he like?"
"I'm not telling," JJ said laughing.
"Come on," Penelope begged, "I haven't had a date in two months. Please, have pity on your friend."
"No."
"Tell me before I get annoying," Garcia threatened.
"And that would be different from the way you normally act how?"
"Trust me, my dear, you ain't seen nothing yet."
Just then JJ's cell phone went off. "Sorry, I need to take this."
"Don't think we've finished this conversation," Penelope yelled as JJ left the room.
--
"You called," JJ asked, stopping at Spencer's desk.
"Yeah, we've just got called out on a case. A U.S. District Attorney's daughter was just kidnapped and we're leaving in a few minutes…"
"Which is your way of telling me you won't be able to make it tonight," JJ guessed when Spencer didn't finish his thought.
"I'm sorry JJ."
"Don't be," she said, waving her hand, trying to hide her disappointment. "It's the job. I understand. I mean, look at Hotch. He has to leave his wife alone while on bed rest."
Derek watched JJ and Reid from the coffee machine when he saw Penelope for the first time that day. "Morning Baby Girl," he said quickly glancing at her before focusing again on the pair.
"I'll show you a good morning, Hot Stuff," Garcia responded as she filled up her cup.
Smiling, he turned to her and said, "I bet you would. One of these days you're going to have to make good on your promises, Goddess. Can't just keep teasing me like this."
"Oh I will," she replied with a gleam in her eye, "as soon as I'm convinced you have the endurance to keep up…"
Once he'd stopped laughing, he looked back over to where Reid and JJ had been standing, just to see that neither one was there any longer. "Do you know what's going on with Spencer and JJ," Derek asked Garcia, nodding his head to where he'd last seen them.
"I'm starting to get some info out of JJ, but I'll let you know once I know more."
"Which is why you'll never know," JJ said, sneaking up behind Garcia. "Derek, the others are waiting for you by the elevators." She quickly walked away and into her office. Once she was sure the door was shut she started laughing so hard she was almost crying. The look on their faces had been priceless.
--
"You look comfortable," Reid said, standing over JJ.
His words brought her back to the present. "I am," she replied with a smile as he moved to sit next to the tub. "When'd you get here? I didn't hear you come in."
"Just a few minutes ago," he answered. "They towed your car to the dealership and gave you a rental to drive in the meantime. Since we just got the car, it's still under warranty. They said it should be ready by the end of the week."
"Ok, good." Just then JJ's stomach loudly rumbled. "I missed lunch," she said sheepishly when Reid gave her a surprised look.
"I'll go start dinner so you can finish up here," Reid said, leaning over and kissing JJ's forehead as he stood up.
"I won't be too much longer," JJ responded.
After letting the water out of the tub, she quickly dried herself off and threw on a comfortable pair of sweats. She headed out to the dining room, but stopped in surprise when she saw what Spencer had done. He'd put a white linen tablecloth on the table and there were two candles burning.
"What's all this," she asked once she could find her voice.
"You're out sooner than I expected," Spencer said, transferring the spaghetti from the pot he cooked it in to a serving bowl. "The garlic bread still has a few more minutes."
JJ stepped further into the dining room, hovering a few feet behind Spencer. "That doesn't answer my question," she said with a smile.
"I just wanted to do something special this evening, that's all," said, avoiding her eyes.
She could there was something else, but learned a long time ago not to push. Reid always explained everything at his own pace. So instead of asking more questions she just hugged and thanked him before helping him finish setting the table.
Throughout dinner, JJ noticed how Spencer seemed really tense. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Reid jumped a little at her question. "N-no. Why would you think that?"
"You just seem a little tense that's all," JJ said.
Reid took a deep breath, and said, "Well, actually there was something I wanted to ask you." When he saw he had JJ's undivided attention, he took another deep breath to steady himself. But before Spencer had a chance to ask his question, JJ's phone went off.
"I'm sorry," JJ said, mentally cursing whoever was calling. "It could be important." As the team's media liaison, it was part of her job to review any potential cases to present to the team. Because of this, detectives from all over the country would call her and plead their cases to her trying to convince her to send the BAU to them. She had no trouble fielding their calls, it was just annoying sometimes to field calls at night. This usually happened when a detective from the West Coast forgot about the time difference on the East Coast.
She checked the caller ID, but didn't recognize the number. Assuming it was a detective from across the country, she answered, "Jareau." When she heard the voice on the other end of the line, she almost dropped the phone. "Detective LaMontagne… Will… I wasn't expecting your call, that's all..." She looked over at Reid and mouthed sorry before walking away.
As he listened to JJ try and get Det. LaMontagne off the phone, he fingered the ring in his pocket. He was going to ask her to marry him tonight, but now he was having second thoughts. It had been a week since the New Orleans case, a week since he confessed to JJ about his addiction to dilaudid and started attending NA meetings.
He was looking at his plate, pushing the rest of his food around when JJ came back.
"Sorry about that," she said. "You had something you wanted to ask me?"
Spencer looked up at her before asking, "Do you want anything more to eat?"
When she shook her head no, he got up and started putting the leftovers away and cleaning the dishes. JJ watched him from where she sat wondering what was wrong.