Christmas came and went in a fairly uneventful fashion. I left DC in mid december to fly back to California to see my parents, something I was not looking forward to as my bad behaviour had left our relationship fairly soured over the years.

My mom and I had been close when I was younger. She was a bit of a hippie, very free spirited hence why she got along so well with Penelope's mom, but my father had always been the opposite. He was serious and unaffectionate and expected a lot from me. I knew they both loved me though so the balance was good. My mother was there to let me explore who I was and my creative side, but my dad was there to focus us and make sure I was properly disciplined if I misbehaved.

Things changed after the accident that took Penelope's parents away though. My mom was devastated. Barbara was her best friend, practically a sister, in the same way that Penelope was for me. They'd known each other almost their whole lives and she didn't know how to cope with such a tremendous loss. She was never properly diagnosed, but she fell into a pretty severe depression for a while that maybe she never came out of it, but if she did she was a changed woman. Her positive outlook had been massively dampened and instead of debating with my father to soften his strict ways, she went along with him, fearing that the world was much more dangerous than she'd ever thought.

I obviously fought back against that belief, wanting my own freedom and then when I got myself into a situation where I really needed their support, I felt like they'd just given up on me as a lost cause.

We hadn't spoken much since I moved to Europe. I still called my mom every few months to check in, but my relationship with my father was pretty much broken beyond repair. I hadn't seen them in years though so I felt it was my daughterly duty to spend Christmas with them now I was home.

Penelope did offer to come with my as a buffer since my parents still loved her and admired the fairly prestigious job she had and the success she'd made of herself, but I declined. I knew she'd much rather spend Christmas in Washington with her little found family because even in the short time I'd known them I would have preferred that as well.

Spencer and I exchanged our gifts just before I left. I bought him a copy of Dumbo, a reference to our date when I'd compared him to the little elephant, and a gift card to his favourite secondhand bookstore. I was stumped about what to get him for a long time, but I knew he would appreciate anything. I still felt a bit silly though when I saw that he'd bought me a high end yoga mat that I'd mentioned I was planning to buy myself as soon as I had enough money. It wasn't a cheap gift and made mine look quite pathetic in comparison, but Spencer seemed quite pleased with the movie and assured me he would make great use of the gift card so I figured I'd done alright.

I saw Spencer the day I got back, but January turned out to be a very busy month in the yoga studio. That whole thing of everyone decided this is going to be the year they get healthy or enlightened was driving people to us full force. It was good though because it meant I was no longer just filling in for other teachers, but actually given a few classes of my own. But it did mean I didn't get to see Spencer very often especially with his job being so busy as well.

Which is why when he invited me to a big night out with the BAU crowd, I couldn't resist. I didn't have classes to teach the next morning anyway so I had nothing holding me back.

I did have one late class at five pm though so by the time I'd gone home to chance for the evening, I was the last one to arrive. I looked around the bar, but it was a popular after work place so I couldn't see anyone until my eyes landed on Spencer standing by the bar.

"Hey handsome," I purred in his ear as I slid next to him at the bar. "Can I buy you a drink?"

His head snapped in my direction, anxiety on his face until he realized it was me and he smiled.

"Hey," He said softly as he leaned in to kiss my cheek. "How was your class?"

"Good," I nodded. "It was a good workout so I've definitely earned myself a drink."

"It's my round," He smiled. "What can I get you?"'

"Just a gin and tonic, thanks," I told the bartender as he poured the drinks for Spencer's coworkers. "Am I far behind?"

"Just a couple rounds," Spencer assured me as we gathered the drinks and headed back to the table. I handed them out as per Spencer's instructions before he pulled out a stool for me. "So obviously you know Penelope and I think you've met Aaron Hotchner before, but this is Emily Prentiss and Hotch's wife Haley. Everyone, this is Mikayla, my, uh, girlfriend."

Everyone's eyes, including my own, widened at his announcement.

"Girlfriend, wow," Penelope said after a moment of silence. "I didn't know you were at that point yet."

Spencer's cheeks were pink and I knew that due to his lack of experience in this area he was probably feeling uncomfortable discussing it with everyone. It wasn't what I was expecting to be introduced as, but it was probably the best way to describe our relationship now so I grabbed his hand and flashed him a smile to put him out of his misery.

"Well neither of us have been seeing anyone else for a while now," I explained. "So it just makes sense."

"Well I'm happy for you both," Penelope decided. "But I will still kill you if you hurt him."

"Please don't," Hotch butted in. "Then we'd have to arrest you and we'd lose our best technical analyst."

I stuck my tongue out at Penelope, glad that someone was on my side before I looked around and realized not everyone was present.

"Where's Derek and JJ?"

"JJ is off schooling some guys at darts," Emily informed me. "And Derek is over there dancing up a storm with some ladies."

We all turned our attention to the dance floor where Derek was currently entertaining at least three women.

"Look at him move," Penelope groaned. "He's like a cat."

We all chuckled as Emily shook her head.

"More like a dog!"

"He did not ask them to dance," Penelope defended him. "They asked him."

"Why aren't you out there?" I asked her as I took a gulp of my drink, trying to catch up.

"You know I don't dance, Mickey. I would just embarrass myself. I prefer to watch."

"I bet Derek could teach you," Hayley smirked causing a mischievous glint to appear in Hotch's eye.

"Or we could," He told her before grabbing her hand and standing up from the table. "C'mon Haley, let's show them how it's done."

"Are you much of a dancer?" Emily asked me as we watched the Hotcher's join the dance floor.

A cheeky smile slid on to my face.

"I am actually," I admitted, glancing at Spencer. "I love to dance."

"Oh great," Spencer said sarcastically. "Well Morgan's right over there and it looks like he could use a new partner."

The women he'd been dancing with were heading over to the bar leaving Derek to toss back what was left of his drink on a nearby table before twirling Haley away from his boss.

"I don't want to dance with Morgan," I pouted. "I want to dance with you."

"I don't dance."

His tone was firm, but I wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Please, Spencer," I whined, batting my eyelashes and giving my best puppy dog eyes. "Not even one dance?"

Spencer sighed and took a swig from his beer.

"Alright," He relented, sounding far less than enthused. "Just for a bit!"

"Wow," Emily laughed. "That was easy."

I flashed her a smile before kissing Spencer's cheek and grabbing his hand with the one that wasn't holding my drink.

"Well if it isn't little miss yoga!" Derek shouted as we placed our drinks on a table close to the dance floor. "Glad you could finally make it!"

"She's Spencer's girlfriend now," Hotch informed him with a smirk causing a loud, bellowing laugh to come from Derek.

"Good on ya, bud," He patted Spencer's back. "It's about time."

Spencer's cheeks were pink again so, ignoring his tipsy colleges teasing, I pulled him a little bit farther away from the group so he wouldn't feel as self conscious as we danced. They were playing good music so I slowly moved my hips to the beat, but Spencer just stood still in front of me, bobbing his head slightly like an old man chaperoning a school dance. I giggled and moved towards him.

"You gotta relax, Spence," I told him, draping my arms over his shoulders. "Just feel the beat and move with it."

"I don't know how to do that," He insisted. "That's why I said I don't dance."

"Just don't overthink it."

I moved my hips again, this time moving my hands down to his hips to help demonstrate how he should be moving them. He was stiff at first, but eventually loosened up even though as soon as I moved my hands away he stopped. I looked up at him with a pout on my face, but he simply shrugged his shoulders. I was about to let him have his way and go back to the table when an idea hit me.

I turned around so my back was to his chest and slowly began moving my hips again. He froze, but I persisted.

"Just put your hands on my waist," I said, tipping my head back so it was leaning on his shoulder. "And move your hips with mine."

Spencer swallowed hard, but did as I instructed. Again, his movements were awkward at first, but as he got into the rhythm his bumping and grinding could give even Morgan a run for his money.

Almost as if my thoughts drew his attention, Derek turned and saw our dancing.

"Woohoo," He cheered over the music. "Look at you go, pretty boy!"

I felt Spencer chuckle before he moved his hand from my hip to grab my own and spun me around so we were chest to chest. We were as close as we could possibly be, our faces just inches apart. There was tension, so much it felt like I was drowning in it so I did all I could think of doing and stretched up just slightly to press my lips against his. Unlike many of the kisses we'd shared (and there had been plenty over the last few months), it didn't start of gentle and delicate. It was a hard, passionate kiss that I'd hoped conveyed just the effect that the feel of his hips against mine had on me.

It wasn't until I pulled away few moments later that we noticed the entire BAU staring in what seemed like shock at our actions. It must've been strange for them to see Spencer making out with a girl on the dance floor of a bar and I could tell by the way he gripped my hips in a more anxious way than he had been a moment before that it was strange for him to be seen that way too. After forcing us to wallow in the awkwardness for a few moments, Derek slowly began clapping his hands together, picking up speed as everyone joined in causing the other patrons of the bar to look over suspiciously.

This time I felt my cheeks go red too so I slipped my hand into Spencer's and led him back to our drinks before we rejoined Penelope, Emily and now JJ at the table.


By the end of the night it was safe to say we were all quite drunk, well most of the team was. Spencer was just a bit more tipsy than I'd ever seen him before and I was probably one drink further gone than he was. But the rest of his team was wasted. Even the Hotchner's had really let their hair down.

"We should get home," Haley announced, looking at her watch. "Jack has no sympathy for hangovers and he'll be awake in about five hours."

Hotch nodded and gathered their things, helping Haley into her coat.

"I should go home because I can barely see straight," JJ giggled, holding onto the table to stop herself from swaying.

"You can stay at my place?" Emily offered. "It's closer than yours."

JJ nodded and the pair of them headed out the door as well after waving their goodbye leaving just the four of us once again.

"I'm gonna be feeling this tomorrow," Derek groaned as Penelope cooed something about 'her poor baby' and rubbed his neck.

My attention however was on Spencer.

"Do I have to pretend I can't see straight to get an invitation to stay at your place?" I asked, playing innocent as I fiddled with my straw in the drink in front of me.

I heard Derek snort at my comment, but I ignored him as Spencer's cheeks flushed.

"Uh, no, no, of course not," He stammered. "You're welcome at my place any time."

"Well would you like me to stay at your place?"

He nodded and I took that as our cue to leave as well. We quickly said goodbye to the two at the table, ignoring Derek's hollers and singing of 'bow chicka bow wow' and rushed outside to get ourselves a taxi.


The taxi ride home was quiet as if we were both deep in thought. I was sitting in the middle seat, tucked into Spencer's side, my hand resting on his thigh and his arm around my shoulder, but no words were exchanged.

I was ready, I'd decided. We'd taken it slow, been seeing each other for a while without going past kissing, it was time to move things along. At least I hoped it was. Obviously Spencer had some say in the matter too, but I was starting to get more and more worked up every time he kissed me and I knew I couldn't last much longer.

Once we got to his apartment building, he paid the driver and we went inside. He seemed nervous as he mumbled something about getting us some water so I followed him into the kitchen and hopped up onto one of his counters.

"Come here," I said softly, reaching out for him.

He hesitated, but put down the glasses before doing as I'd asked and standing in front of me, my seat on the counter bringing us eye to eye for once. I tucked a strand of hair behind his ear before cupping his cheek slightly.

"We don't have to do anything, but sleep tonight if you're not comfortable with more," I assured him. "I'll be perfectly content with a good cuddle."

"It's not that," He insisted, spreading my legs slowly as he moved between them. "I just don't want to let you down."

I felt my heart rate increase as he leaned in until his lips were inches away from my own.

"You won't, I promise, you won't."

And with that Spencer closed the gap between us and pressed his lips against mine.

Again, it wasn't a gentle, sweet kiss, it was passionate and filled with longing. My hand tangled in his hair as he pressed as close against me as he could while I hooked one leg over his hip to keep him in place and our tongues battled.

I was ready, I was so ready and it seemed like Spencer was as well so I was disappointed when he pulled back a bit.

"Shall we, uh, move this to the bedroom?" He asked, causing relief to flood over me as I nodded frantically. He reluctantly moved away from me and I hopped off the counter. "I'll meet you there in a moment, I'm just going to use the bathroom first."

I nodded again, not trusting my voice to speak in my frazzled state and placed a kiss on his cheek before going to wait for him in the bedroom.

I took the opportunity to make myself a little more seductive, slipping my dress off my shoulders and silently thanking God that I'd thought to wear some sexy underwear. I wasn't expecting this at all when I'd gotten ready earlier, but obviously it was meant to be. I tousled my hair as I sat on his bed before laying down and facing the door.

I'd been in Spencer's room a few times since we'd started seeing each other, but I hadn't spent the night since that one time we shared the couch so I'd never been lucky enough to experience how comfortable his bed was. I was almost ready to just give in to it's soft, inviting pillows when Spencer came back into the room, his pants draped over his arm leaving him in just an untucked shirt and his boxers and I perked right up again.

"Wow," He breathed out as I batted my eyelashes and shot him what I hoped was an inviting glance. "You look amazing."

"So do you," I purred as he put his pants on a chair.

I sat myself up slightly as I watched him. He seemed nervous and as endearing as it was, I didn't want him to be uncomfortable at all tonight.

"Not as good as you," He insisted. "I-I don't have the muscle tone you get from your yoga and I'm too skinny, my mom says it's because I drink too much coffee, but I've always just had a fast metabolism. I'm not underweight though, this is just my natural body type. I-"

"Spencer," I started, cutting off his self conscious ramble with a smile. "I think you're incredibly handsome and have a wonderful body. One that I would really like to be on top of mine right now."

Spencer blushed a dark red, but obliged my request and crawled on top of me as I moved up the bed until I was resting my head on his pillows.

He hovered over me for a moment before connecting our lips again. My hands roamed over his shirt and up to his hair, teasing the base of his neck with my fingers, earning a little groan from Spencer that made my stomach clench in anticipation. After a few minutes I got bolder and slipped my hands underneath his shirt, sliding it up slowly until it was over his head before tossing it on the floor.

"Perfect," I mumbled, leaning forward to place a soft kiss on his chest.

"Hmm, but now we're not even," He pointed out as he looked at me, his eyes wide with arousal, the evidence of which I could also feel pressed against my thigh.

I leaned up on my elbows so my back wasn't pressed against the bed.

"Then I think you should do something about that," I suggested.

Spencer nodded and reached behind me to carefully, but with surprising ease, unhook my bra allowing me to quickly slip it off and toss it next to his shirt. His eyes roamed my chest with such a look of adoration that I felt tingles all over my body.

"You're incredibly beautiful," He told me causing a blush to colour my cheeks.

I wasn't used to this kind of care and appreciation during sex and as much as I did enjoy it, I wasn't sure how to respond so I simply pulled him back in for another kiss. It was different this time though, more needy and full of want. The sensation of my now bare nipples rubbing on his chest as his hips rocked against me was almost too much to handle and I felt a soft moan slip past my lips.

Spencer pulled back for a moment, flashing me a smile before moving his lips down my neck. His hands stayed at my side as he used them to support himself and I was almost ready to beg him to touch me with them when his mouth met my nipple and all other thoughts left me head.

I felt like a work of art being worshipped the way Spencer was paying attention to my body. He caught my cues quickly, what made me arch my chest up towards his mouth vs what earned little to no reaction and within minutes of his sucking and nipping, I was writhing beneath him.

"Your heart is racing," He informed me as he rested his chin between my breasts. "Are you alright?"

"Mhmm," I nodded, trying to catch my breath. "But you're not the only one who's nervous tonight, Spence."

He frowned at that confession.

"Why're you nervous?"

"It's been a while for me," I admitted. "I haven't really had much, uh, action since I turned over my new leaf."

"It's been a while for me too," Spencer smiled. "And I guarantee you it's been longer, but just say the word and I'll stop, alright?"

I shook my head frantically.

"Don't stop, please. I'm so ready."

Spencer finally moved one of his hands from next to my shoulder and slid it down my stomach and into my panties. I shivered at the sensation before gasping as he finally made contact with the area I'd been dying for him to touch all night.

"Hmm, you really are ready, aren't you?"

"Please, Spencer," I groaned as he slid one finger inside of me. "I need you."

He pouted slightly, his head still resting on my chest.

"But I wanted to take my time," He told me as another finger joined his first causing me to moan and press up against him. "I wanted to taste you."

I tossed my head back as he curled his fingers against just the right spot causing me to wonder how he found it so quickly. It wasn't surprising though that a genius who's read probably every book in existence had a great understand of anatomy.

"Later," I panted. "Or tomorrow, or every day forever, but please. I want you inside me, I need to feel you."

Spencer sighed, slipping his fingers out of me causing me to whimper with disappointment.

"Alright," He relented. "If you insist."

I lifted my hips quickly so he could slide my panties down my legs then watched as he rid himself of his boxers, finally seeing all of him for the first time. And I was not disappointed. It would seem Spencer was gifted in more areas than his brain.

He stroked himself absentmindedly as he crawled back on top of me, a sight that almost finished me off right there, but as he lined himself up, my nerves came back.

"Just go slow, okay?" I asked quietly, sliding my arms around his neck to pull him close to me.

He nodded, swallowing hard before gently pressing into me. I gasped with pleasure, causing him to check that I was alright, but as I nodded, he continued. It felt like heaven. Every nerve ending in my body was on fire and my brain felt like it had stopped functioning all together. All I could think about was the man on top of me and how good he was making me feel.

He let out a groan as he slowly pushed in and out of me, shifting slightly each time until he hit the spot that made me see stars. I moaned and dug my nails into his back, bucking my hips up against his.

"Do you like that?" He asked, even though the smirk on his face gave away the fact that he already knew the answer.

"Yes," I moaned. "Faster, Spencer, please."

He obliged my request and began moving his hips with more urgency. I could feel already that my release wouldn't be long, no doubt thanks to his earlier actions and I pulled him in for a kiss, wanting us to be as close as possible. That is until he moved his hand down to rub against that little bundle of nerves and I tossed my head back with pleasure.

"Fuck, Spencer, I'm so close. Please, keep going."

"M'not gonna stop, Mick, promise," He groaned, through clenched teeth.

His whole body was tense with concentration and with one more flick of his wrist and thrust of his hips, I felt my body tense as well as my release washed over me. I let out a guttural moan, gripping him so tightly I wouldn't be surprised if my nails broke the skin as I felt myself twitch and pulse around him. He kept going all the way through, his head buried in my neck, whispering encouragements until he finally stilled his hips inside me and let out a moan of his own against my ear.

We laid there for a moment, chests heaving as we fought to catch our breath, a thin shine of sweat covering us. I felt like I was on cloud nine and as Spencer rolled off of me onto the bed, I could tell he felt the same.

"That was amazing," I told him, pressing a kiss against his shoulder as I curled into his side.

"It was," He nodded. "Sorry I, uh, sorry I didn't last long."

He looked over at me sheepishly, but I silenced his worries with a gentle kiss.

"We all got there in the end and that's what matters," I assured him. "I think we were both pretty speedy."

He chuckled and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to his chest. We laid in silence as our bodies cooled down and it wasn't long before I felt myself slowly drifting off to sleep feeling content, relaxed and happier than I'd been in a long time.