Much to Spencer's disappointment, he wasn't able to get to Lagniappe the next night as yet another case came up that kept them out until Monday. However, he and Remy had exchanged numbers Thursday night and Remy had told him to call whenever he felt like, even just to chat. Surprisingly, they'd done just that, chatting a few times during downtime on the case. The idea was slightly foreign to Spencer. He didn't know quite how to deal with a lot of this. Things just seemed…easy. Part of him kept wanting to question the easiness of this all. The rest was just going along for the ride.

Monday night when Spencer was tucked in his apartment, exhausted from the case and knowing that he needed to get sleep for work the next day, he still somehow found himself picking up his phone and dialing the numbers he'd memorized. He settled down into his bed, tucked beneath the blankets with only a low lamp for light. He didn't realize that a small smile was already starting on his face, even before Remy's voice answered on the other end of the line. "Bonsoir, mon trésor. I was just thinking about you."

"Oh." A warmth spread through Spencer. A little nervous, he joked "Good thoughts, I hope."

"Mais oui." Remy gave a husky little chuckle. "The best, Spencer."

That warmth grew and his nervousness faded. How does he always manage to do that to me? He just makes my nerves fade away. "You're rather good for the ego, Mister LeBeau." He teased.

"Glad to be of service, Monsieur Reid." They both laughed and Remy dropped the formal tone, his voice returning to normal once again. "It's later than you usually been calling. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything's fine. I just, we're back home but I have work in the morning and so I was just lying here in bed and I, well I…wanted to…" Spencer's voice trailed off into an embarrassed little mumble.

"What?"

Sighing, Spencer laid his head back on his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Blush heated his cheeks. "I said I just, I wanted to hear your voice."

The line went quiet for a second and Spencer worried his lip, afraid he'd said too much, afraid of what Remy's reaction was going to be. He was just about to stammer out something—what, he wasn't sure—when Remy finally did speak. His voice was just a little bit thicker than before. "Now who's good for the ego? You're the sweetest thing, Spencer."

"I wasn't really trying to be."

"I know. That's what makes it so sweet. You don't play games like others do. It's one of my favorite things about you. You're refreshingly honest."

Spencer smiled and let his eyes drift shut so he could simply enjoy their conversation. "I don't see the need for the games that people play. Most of the time, I don't understand them, either. If you enter into a relationship under false pretenses such as these 'games' create, then your relationship is nothing but a sham from the start. Then the person isn't actually with you but with the persona of yourself that you've presented to them."

"Exactly. I wanna know the person I'm with is the person I see, not some front they put on because it's what they think I wanna see."

"And if you can't even trust them to show you who they really are, how are you supposed to trust them for anything else? There's no relationship without trust." A slight note of bitterness came in at the end of Spencer's words that he barely noticed. At least, not until Remy quietly asked "Is that what happened with you and the man from the bar?"

It took just a second for Spencer to realize that Remy was talking about Paul and another moment to realize that his last comment had been a little too bitter, a little too personal. Obviously Remy had picked up on that. Briefly he debated brushing it off. He caught himself before he did, though. They were just sitting here talking about trust. He couldn't go from that to dismissing an honest question. Plus, he figured Remy had earned that right to ask. Not just because he'd separated them that night, but because of everything since then.

Spencer hadn't realized how long he'd been quiet until he heard Remy call his name. "Spencer? Spencer, you don't have to answer that. I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable or anything."

"No, it's okay." He hurried to reassure him. Once more his eyes opened, staring at the pattern in his ceiling. "Paul's a, well, a tender topic, I will admit that. But I think you've earned the right to ask about it." That ache flared up, still present though not as strong as it had been. It was dulling slightly with each passing day. "Paul and I, we broke up three months and five days before that incident in your bar. Trust was a very big part of it. He…he was taking a shower here one night and his phone rang. When I answered it, the woman on the other end of the line ended up being his wife."

Remy let out a low curse. "I hope you decked him."

"No." Though Remy couldn't know, his comment had Spencer wincing. "I confronted him when he got out of the shower. The fight was…monumental. There were quite a few things said on either side. I tried to get him to leave and he refused, so I tried to leave before we did something we could regret. Paul…grabbed my arm and flung me into the wall." This time Spencer didn't pause to listen to Remy's curses. He spoke right over top of it, wanting to finish this. "I got up and, while he was apologizing repeatedly, I went down to my room and I pulled my service weapon out of the safe. I proceeded to tell him he could leave, or I would assist him in leaving. He left."

"Merde, Spencer!" Remy exclaimed softly.

"It's fine, Remy. For a while, I admit, he wasn't getting the clue that I was done. He called, stopped by, wrote letters. But Morgan helped me to get my number and my locks changed. And I haven't run into him since that night at your bar."

"Makes me kind of wish I'd hit him."

The casual comment broke the tension and Spencer couldn't help but chuckle. "Might I say I'm glad that you didn't? I'm rather pleased with the way the evening turned out just as it was."

He could hear the smile in Remy's voice once more. "So am I, mon chéri. So am I." Then suddenly Remy was sighing. "I hate to do this, but I gotta get back in. I'm short one girl tonight, so I'm filling in on the tables. I was just starting my break when you called."

"Oh! I don't mean to keep you."

"I didn't mind. I'm glad you called, Spencer. I like talking with you."

"I like talking with you as well, Remy."

"Sleep sweet, mon chéri. And maybe you dream of me a little in that empty bed of yours, oui?"

Spencer smiled. That shouldn't be too hard. In a moment of boldness, he dared to say "I will, though I'd rather you were here with me."

He heard Remy make some kind of soft sound that he couldn't quite decipher. "I'd rather be there too. Maybe you can come see me after work tomorrow? Come to the bar and then we'll go get a bite to eat and go back to my place. I can make sure you're up in time for work the next day."

That sounded perfect. "Barring a case, I'll be there."

"Then sweet dreams, Spencer. I'll be watching for you tomorrow."

"Good night, Remy."

When he hung up his phone, Spencer lay there for a long moment, still staring at his ceiling. There was a goofy smile on his face. Who knew something as simple as a little phone conversation could make him feel so good? Talking with Remy left him with a nice feeling inside of him. Holding that feeling close, he rolled over and set his phone on the nightstand, deciding to go ahead and try to get some sleep. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The next morning when Spencer made his way into the bullpen at the BAU, his mind was still replaying scenes from his dreams last night. He had dreamed of Remy through the night and those dreams had left him waking up in one hell of a good mood, in more ways than one. There was a light feeling inside that had him relaxed and even smiling when he walked through the doors. There was only one person that he saw in the bullpen so far and that was Penelope. She was standing at his desk, her back toward him. Spencer paused for a second, blinking in surprise. What was Penelope doing at his desk?

Curious and just slightly amused, he walked over to his desk. When he got close she finally noticed him and she looked up with a bright smile on her face. "Oh, Reid! You're here!"

"Good morning, Garcia." He stopped by his chair, pulling his messenger bag off and setting it on the ground beside the chair where he usually put it. At the same time, it allowed him to step around her and see what exactly it was about his desk that held her attention. When he saw what was there, he froze. Right in front of her was a green, fluted vase, holding a bouquet of orange and yellow calla lilies and baby's breath. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind who had sent these. No doubt at all. The arrangement was too specific. They're just flowers a small voice whispered. Just flowers. No reason to get upset. Only, he knew better. He knew it wasn't a good thing for him to be getting these kinds of 'gifts'. This was the exact arrangement that Paul had given him on their first date, down to the exact same vase and even the same number of calla lilies. If Paul was sending him gifts, that meant that he still wasn't accepting Spencer's efforts to get him to back off. While he might want to ignore this, the profiler in him couldn't.

He missed whatever it was Penelope said to him. His attention didn't jerk back to her until she tentatively touched his arm. Then his eyes snapped up toward her face in surprise at the touch. She was watching him carefully, concern written in her eyes. "Reid, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'm fine." The automatic response. He was far from fine.

She knew it, too. It was written right there on her face for him to see. And apparently she wasn't planning on letting him get away with it. "You and I both know that's not true. Something's been going on with you, sugar plum. You think we haven't noticed, but we have. Now, you want to try that again, or should I go tell Derek about these flowers and how badly they shocked you? Because I bet he'd have a clue what's going on."

Surprise had Spencer's mouth dropping open. He found that, for a moment, he could only stand there and stare at her. Usually Penelope was the kind, gentle one. Yes, she was a master at getting information. That was part of her job. But she'd always been just kind and supportive to him. This was the closest she'd ever come to sounding like she was threatening him! More than that, he had a feeling she'd do exactly what she said, too! If she did, he knew he'd end up explaining himself anyways. Looking at her, he knew he couldn't just ignore her concern. Instead of brushing it off or trying to find some way out of this, he found himself telling her "Not out here."

She nodded as if that were completely understandable. With one hand, she gestured for him to follow her. Spencer did—making sure to take the vase off his desk and deposit it in the first garbage away from the bullpen—still not quite sure what he was doing. Was he really just going to go and spill his guts to Penelope after keeping quiet about all of this for so long? Sure, Derek said he was silly for keeping something like this from his friends. Not to mention that, out of them all, Penelope was the one he was worried the least about. But was he really just going to go and pour all of this out to her?

That appeared to be exactly what he was going to do. No sooner had they entered her office and she'd sat them down at the table than Spencer opened his mouth and found himself blurting out "I'm gay." Almost instantly his cheeks flamed and he looked down at his lap as he corrected himself. "Well, technically I'm not gay. I'm pansexual, meaning that I'm attracted to a person, not to their gender. Gender is actually irrelevant to me when determining whether I'm attracted to someone else or not."

"Okay." Penelope said the word gently. "I mean, I'd already kind of figured that out, Reid. But I'm really glad you feel comfortable enough to tell me. But what does that have to do with what's going on?"

Wait…what? Shock widened his eyes. "You'd already figured it out?"

"Well, yeah." He looked up to see her smiling brightly at him. She reached out, patting his arm. "Honey, I figured it out pretty easily when I called you and I heard a man in the background. It was like two in the morning." She didn't even give him time to be any more flustered about it. All business, she brushed past this as if it weren't even something important; as if it were simply a part of him she was so used to she didn't worry at all about. That casual acceptance left him stunned. "Now, talk to me. I've been worried for you, sugar bean. You've been perking back up lately, getting more talkative and rambly and all Dr. Reid-ish, but those flowers look like they threw you for a loop."

Still a little stunned by her casual and easy acceptance of his secret—and of the fact that she'd already known!—Spencer could only shake his head at first. How could he have thought that he'd ever keep anything from this woman? Penelope might not be a profiler, but she'd been around profilers for years. She was talented at reading her friends and at noticing when there was something going on with one of them. Just as she was very protective of them all. She treated them all like they were here babies sometimes that needed cared for—even Aaron and Dave. She already knew some of his secrets and she'd never betrayed those. He could trust her with this now. Spencer took a deep breath and looked up at her once more. "If I'm remembering the call you're referring to, the person you heard in the background was Paul. The uh, the relationship I just got out of was with, with him. I found out that he was married." Twice now in twenty four hours he had to say this. It brought back that sharp pang of hurt and anger in his gut.

"That creep!" Penelope exclaimed. She looked outraged. "I can't believe it!"

"Yes, well, needless to say, that ended it for me. But Paul's having a bit of a hard time letting go. I've changed my number and my locks and I've told him clearly to back off."

"And the flowers?"

Grimacing, he looked away from her. To give himself something to do, he reached out and stole a sucker from the little cup on her table. She always had some form of candy here and she kept the flavors that she knew her 'family' liked. He selected a root beer Dum Dum and settled back in his chair. "That arrangement is an exact replica of the one he gave me on our first date. It's not a good thing, him sending me gifts. Morgan's not going to be pleased about this."

"So he knows what's going on, then?" She settled back in her chair as well, watching him carefully.

"He does. He's the one that helped me change my number and such." Realizing how that sounded, Spencer looked up from where he'd been fiddling with his wrapper, wide eyes going straight to Penelope. "I don't mean to imply that I trusted him more than I trusted any of you, Garcia. It's simply that he stopped by one time and Paul was there so that was how he knew and since he already knew, it seemed natural that he be the one I go to with this when it all started to happen. I trust all of you, truly I do. I've just had not so pleasant experiences when people find out the truth. I've had a few negative reactions. Seventy five percent of people committing hate crimes are under the age of thirty and one in three are under eighteen…"

"Reid, honey, it's okay." Penelope reassured him quickly. She was smiling when she cut him off. "Really, it's okay. You're not required to tell us everything. Goodness knows we all try to have something private with as much as we're stuck together." All of a sudden she froze and her eyes went wide behind her glasses. "Oh. Oh!"

Spencer furrowed his brows, wondering what had brought that reaction on. "What?"

"That boy at the bar! The one that gave you a ride home! Oh my gosh! We just thought you guys were friendly!"

Oh. Heat filled Spencer's cheeks and he looked down to his hands once more, twisting the wrapper again and again. He didn't realize that some of the tension had slid off his face, or that his lips were starting to curve a little. She let out a little squeal at the look on his face and she rolled closer to the table. "Okay, spill the beans, genius boy. You can't get that little smile and not tell me about it. Come on! Spill!"

That was easy enough. He'd much prefer talking about Remy to talking about Paul. Plus, he found he wanted to talk about this with someone. Talking with Derek was one thing; that was another guy. It would be good to get a woman's view on this. Spencer crossed one leg over the other and relaxed a bit, able to actually look up at her now. "His name is Remy and he's from New Orleans. He has an accent thicker than Will's and when he talks, he throws in the random word in Cajun French. It takes a little bit to catch on to what they all mean."

"Sounds delicious! What does he do?"

"Actually, he owns the bar we were at." He smiled at her surprise. "He was there because he likes to be more than just the owner. He pitches in and works a shift the same as the rest of his staff, even though he doesn't really have to."

"So he's got good work ethic and a sexy voice. Is he cute? Have you kissed him yet?"

Spencer felt it as the heat rose to his cheeks. He couldn't stop his smile from growing either. Was Remy cute? Cute isn't the right word. He's gorgeous. Absolutely, sinfully, gorgeous. And we've done more than kiss. Much, much more. He couldn't say any of that to Penelope, though. He just couldn't. However, he didn't have to. He was blushing all the way up to his ears and that was answer enough for Penelope, who started laughing. "That's it! I have got to meet him." She declared, right as her door opened.

Derek smiled at the two of them when he walked into her office, shutting the door behind him. "Meet who?" He asked. Pausing by Spencer, he ruffled his hair, making Spencer duck down slightly to try to get away. One look at Spencer's blush and at Penelope's grin and Derek's own smile grew even more. "You told her. Way to go, Reid. I told you it'd be fine!"

"Of course it's fine!" Penelope exclaimed. "Now, when are you seeing him again, Reid? I want to meet him. We should all go out to dinner together or something so we can see how he treats you. I have to make sure he's treating you right."

Spencer saw the excitement and determination on her face and he knew he wasn't going to get around this one. "I'm not going to be able to dissuade you from this, am I?"

"Nope, sweet cheeks."

He shook his head, but he was still smiling. He looked at her and Derek—who was still grinning broadly—and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Fine. I'm supposed to go by Lagniappe tonight after work. Why don't the two of you join me? I'm sure he'd love to meet you both."

"Sounds perfect!" Penelope agreed at the same time that Derek nodded and said "Works for me, kid."

Spencer could only shake his head once more. He felt a moment of sympathy for Remy. The man had no idea what was coming for him.