"I love you too, Mom," Spencer Reid said into his cell phone, still looking through his closet for a decent shirt. Laundry day had been put on hold during the case the team just tackled. He was down to mostly the Morgan collection. "But I've gotta go… I'm spending Christmas Eve with my girlfriend."

On the other end of the phone, Diana Reid got very quiet – Spencer could basically hear her eyebrows going up.

"So when do I get to meet this girlfriend of yours?" she asked with a note in her voice that suggested she might jokingly elbow him in person. "Is it still that cute redhead from the picture?"

Spencer blushed, still pushing clothes on hangers out of the way.

"Yeah, I'm still with Lorraine," he told his mother.

"You didn't answer my question, Spencer," Diana reminded him, a touch of gentle teasing in her voice. "I need to meet my son's girlfriend, right?"

The genius profiler could only mumble noncommittally about "soon" as his face darkened to a marvelous shade of eggplant. He dropped a shirt that read "They say I have A.D.D. They just don't understand… Oh look! A chicken!" That one, he actually did wear on a semi-regular basis, but not where anyone could see.

"Okay, Mom, I've really gotta go so I'm not late!" he croaked rather desperately, yanking a shirt off a hanger. "I love you, Mom!"

Diana laughed into the phone, a surprisingly welcome sound to her son.

"You're not off the hook, you know," she told him. "I love you too, Spencer. Merry Christmas!"

Spencer couldn't help laughing with his mom. Then he checked the shirt for any trace of writing. Satisfied that his one clean button-down had nothing on it besides some of Hawkeye's hair, he smiled again at the telephone.

"Merry Christmas…" he returned, finally closing his phone and sticking it in his pocket. Shrugging into the shirt, he let his mind drift to this evening. His eyes found the neatly-wrapped box on the dresser and he sighed. For the first time in a long time, he really felt like he had found something perfect. Straightening the collar of his shirt, which did not have anything foul on it, he turned to go. Yes, he'd had to check one more time. He carefully picked up the box and slid it into a bag Prentiss had given him. It continued to snow as he exited his apartment and made for the Metro.

With the usual festivities involving Hawkeye and the door out of the way, Spencer found himself with a happy, blushing redhead pressed against his front. Lorraine took his hand and led him on into the living room. She had no Christmas tree, her intention being to go home for Christmas. However, she had every form of decorative Christmas stuffed animal known to man. The teddy bears, Spencer understood, but the… cow? Upon examination, he discovered that pressing a hoof caused the thing to play "Jingle Bells." Blushing, he set it down and seated himself beside his girlfriend on the couch and set the bag in his hand on his lap. Lorraine reached into a side table drawer, coming up with something that she would not let him see.

"So… It's Christmas Eve," she started – Spencer could hear the trepidation in her voice. "I'm going home to Atlanta tomorrow, so… D'you want to…?"

Her voice trailed off and she turned five shades of red, staring at Hawkeye as he snuffled in the fur of his back end. Spencer smiled back just as shyly, his brown eyes shining in the light of Lorraine's many Christmas candles. He fiddled restlessly with the bag on his lap, causing the tissue paper inside to rustle.

"Do I want to…?" he echoed, the corners of his mouth turning up just a bit more. Lorraine continued shifting to hide whatever it was from the drawer. "Do I want to what?"

The redhead fidgeted around in her seat, saying nothing. After another few moments, she held out a small, rectangular box. The wrapping paper had Snoopy and the Peanuts gang on it, the corner bearing a red bow. Still without saying a word, she held the box closer to him, almost nudging him with it. Shifting the bag around a bit, Spencer freed both his hands and accepted the box. He carefully peeled back the paper on the end. Inside, he saw blue leatherette. His eyes widened as he unwrapped the box further. The gold lettering on top of the leatherette box read "Sailor" with some Japanese characters below it.

"You're always talking about how you lose pencils," Lorraine volunteered, removing the bow and placing it on Hawkeye's head. The dog drooled happily and grinned at his humans. "I sort of figured you wouldn't lose this."

Spencer carefully pulled the clamshell-style box open and his eyes widened further, his expression very close to awestruck. A gray velvet strap held in place a beautiful red lacquer-barreled fountain pen! He carefully slid this free, turning it over and over in his hands with fondness in his eyes. His gaze returned to Lorraine's face, beaming at her as he returned the pen to the box. Still looking shy and partially unsure, he leaned in close like he had something to say. When she leaned in to hear him, he stole a kiss on her cheek. Both of them blushed as he closed the box.

"It's beautiful," the profiler near-whispered, reaching for his girlfriend's hand – she blushed deeper and squeezed his gently. "I promise you, I'll never lose it!"

This time, Lorraine leaned over and would have kissed his cheek had he not turned his head so that her lips touched his!

"Got you back," he told her softly, kissing her again one more time before pulling back and carefully setting the box on the arm of the couch. Next moment, he shifted and picked up the bag in his lap, holding it out. "I hope I've done as well…"

Lorraine took the bag from him with utmost care, setting it in her lap. She tossed the tissue onto the floor for Everett to play with. The cat swatted the thin red paper fiercely, hissing at it. Almost holding her breath, the redhead lifted a cranberry-red box out of the bag. It bore no pictures or words – nothing to indicate the contents from the outside. She tilted it from one side to the other to see if whatever was inside might shift, but nothing happened. Looking to Spencer for a hint proved useless as well. He only smiled and indicated with a nod that she should open the box. Watching her take a deep breath as she lifted the cardboard flap, he found himself holding in his own.

"That's a lot of Styrofoam!" Lorraine whispered excitedly. "Spencer, what is this?"

The profiler only smiled, refusing her any more of a hint. His girlfriend stuck her tongue out at him and lifted one of the bits of Styrofoam out. Next moment, Lorraine sucked in a breath that made Spencer think she had choked! The bit of Styrofoam went flying, followed by another, both watched by Everett. Even Hawkeye had to pick his head up off the floor at the sound Lorraine made. She lifted the object out of the box as though she were handling a saint's relic. Her face had gone very pale, except for two hot pink spots in her cheeks. Both hands shook as she brought the precious object up to her face.

"Spencer… Oh my… You didn't!" she intoned in near-shock. Bright hazel-green eyes flashed from the thing in her hands to Spencer's face. "Where did you even…?"

He followed her gaze down to the figure of a monkey in Persian robes playing the cymbals. The two of them sat in reverent silence as Spencer reached out and guided Lorraine to turn the figure over. He, the little monkey, sat affixed to a box with little clawed legs. Underneath, Lorraine saw the little key that Spencer pointed out. She turned it cautiously until she just felt a tiny bit of resistance from the tiny machinations inside. Releasing the key, she almost choked on her breath again. The high, tinkling melody of "Masquerade" from "The Phantom of the Opera" started and the monkey began to play. His small cymbals didn't quite touch, but the effect was there. So, so carefully, Lorraine set the music box down on her end table and stared at it with Spencer.

"Seriously, Spencer…" Lorraine started once more, leaning comfortably back against her boyfriend and snuggling in. "Where did you get him?"

The profiler smiled into her hair, trying not to enjoy too much the scent of her conditioner – almost like some kind of candy with beach in there.

"Nope," he told her. "Magician never reveals his secrets!"

Lorraine jabbed him playfully in the ribs with her elbow, but figured she'd be getting nowhere at the moment. Besides, it was entirely too entrancing to just watch the little monkey play his cymbals and think of her other favorite musical. She had wanted to start singing along on the refrain… but that might be just a little creepy at the moment, mightn't it? There on the couch with Spencer, she felt so content that she almost began to get sleepy! At his soft, happy sigh, something told her he felt just about the same. His hands covered hers and he shifted so that she could lean her head back on his shoulder.

The next morning, Spencer saw Lorraine off at the airport. He could feel people looking at the two of them as he held her hand. In a couple of minutes, she needed to go on through security. For the next week, she would be in Atlanta with her whole huge family. The speech therapist had asked her boyfriend if he wanted to go, but he had regretfully declined. For some reason that even the genius Spencer Reid couldn't put his finger on, Christmas and crime went hand in hand. There always had to be one serial killer who had to act on Christmas Day and ruin everything for everybody.

As if on cue, and nearly causing him to yell profanities in the airport, the profiler's cell phone rang. He gave the caller ID a cursory check – yes, it was Hotch, and surely something absolutely terrible had happened. Annoyed and distressed, the genius finally decided to do something spontaneous. With Lorraine giving him a questioning look, he dropped his messenger bag. It clanked to the floor – a security guard looked up at the noise. However, before either Lorraine or the security guard could do much, Spencer had acted.

Lorraine let out a surprised but quite pleased yelp as she found herself with Spencer's long, thin arms around her. It always delighted her to get reminded that he was a lot stronger than he looked! With a blast of emotion not usually characteristic, Spencer caught his girlfriend's lips with his own. Vaguely, he heard her carry-on bag hit the floor too with a thud. Her arms fixed hard around him and the two held each other impossibly close. Lips, tongues, and breaths tangled together as the cell phone continued to ring insistently. Lorraine's hand clawed up his back before tangling in his hair. Next thing he knew, Spencer felt a tap on his shoulder and both he and Lorraine flinched and broke apart. Both of them turned to face the security guard.

"Sir… Ma'am… You're creating a disturbance and blocking the security aisle," the guard told them both. He raised an eyebrow and Spencer tried his best to discreetly run a hand over his wild hair. Lorraine smiled genially, looking a bit bemused with the proceedings. The security guard rolled his eyes, wishing he was home with his kids. "Okay, ma'am, I suggest you go on through security. And sir…"

Whatever he had been about to tell Spencer to do was lost in the guard's thoughts as the damnable cell phone rang again. Clamping his jaw to keep from swearing, the profiler reached into his pocket. Retrieving the cellular apparatus, he actually rolled his eyes before he flicked it open. His other hand still had hold of Lorraine.

"Spencer Reid speaking," he answered in his most official FBI voice ever. "… Yeah, I'm on my way."

He turned and kissed Lorraine more fiercely than usual one more time. Before the security guard could say anything else, he pulled back, still holding her hand. Lorraine seemed to understand before he said anything.

"Be safe," she told him breathlessly.

"You too," he replied, kissing her cheek quickly.

"Catch the bad guy!" she encouraged, squeezing his hand.

"We will!"

Lorraine returned the cheek kiss.

"Merry Christmas!" she exclaimed.

"Merry Christmas…" whispered Spencer.

He couldn't resist cradling her cheeks in both hands and kissing her one more time.

"I love you."

Lorraine turned the same color as her hair.

"I love you too."

She grabbed her carry-on and blew him a kiss as she headed down the security aisle. Spencer grinned like rather an idiot and nodded jovially at the guard. The guard cracked his neck and rolled his eyes and decided not to yell at the obviously-mental skinny guy for practically sprinting away. On the other end of the phone, Hotch scrubbed at his face with his hand. Reid had neglected to hang up the phone…

Wheels were supposed to go up in thirty.