Chapter 34

"You see the problem." Hotch was meeting with the man who had been waiting at the University Club. "Reid is the best code breaker we have but we can't ask him. So we're asking for assistance. It's a private code, we believe created by John Rudger, head of R&D at GlobalSafe Technology. If there's anything we can do to help…."

But Harvey Petrossian was already looking into John Rudger's Experiment Journal. He smiled abstractly, shook his head silently, and dove into the lines of code.

Hotch took the hint and quietly went away.

Down in the bullpen JJ looked over at Blake, "Stockholm Syndrome?"

They had been discussing Spencer and Laura's strange behavior. "No, I don't think so." Blake replied. "With Stockholm Syndrome captives develop bonds with their captors, express empathy and sympathy. They don't call them a son-of-a-bitch and beat them to death."

"But they want to continue his experiment. Why?"

"I have no idea."

Spencer and Laura stood in Dave's kitchen like they had landed on a strange, new planet. "Relax." Dave said. "It's not like you haven't been here before."

"Not exactly," Spencer stood there, swaying slightly. "If I relax too much I might fall asleep on the floor."

"Not that comfortable. Come on, this way." He led them upstairs. "You two get showers while I make some of my Nanna's Pastina con uova, it's easy on the stomach. Then get some sleep, you're safe now."

At the door Spencer stopped. "Thank you." He said, earnestly.

Dave understood. Spencer had been protecting Laura for a long time, at least since whatever happened when the experiment ended. He was simply exhausted from being on guard. "Anytime."

The room wasn't much, a simple guest room with a small, attached bath, but Laura gasped the moment she walked into the room, "My quilt!" She pulled off the sheet to see. "You saved my quilt!"

"I talked to your boss, Hickory, when we were running the initial profile. She said how much work you put into it. We conspired."

"Is that the Farmer's Wife you were telling me about?" Spencer asked.

"Yes." She replied. She turned and eyed Dave carefully. "Please don't take this wrong…."

"I'll try not to." With that she turned and hugged him. "I never take those wrong." He said, returning the squeeze and letting go.

"Thank you." She looked over the quilt with the first true pleasure he had seen since he met her, but even that was tempered with whatever was haunting them both. "I think I'm going to take this as a good sign. I always meant this quilt for…" She stopped herself short.

"For?" Dave asked. He looked from her to Spencer, they were both almost wincing. "What?"

"I…think I'll take the first shower." She said.

"Help me figure out the cast cover?" Spencer asked him.

"Okay." He caught the 'you get this' hint Laura had been throwing at Spencer. They headed back down to the kitchen where he extracted the latex waterproof cover from the bag of things from the hospital. "What?"

"How angry do you think Hotch will be?" Spencer asked.

"With what?" Why would Hotch be… "Ah. How the hell does this thing work?"

"You stretch it over the cast and pump up a vacuum. It's SOP, right? Pacify the Unsub, don't provoke him, stay alive until the team gets there. At least it started that way." Spencer was staring off at nothing for a moment. "I honestly never thought I'd fall in love again. I think Maeve would be glad, she always believed that people shouldn't be alone."

"Huh." Dave figured it out and help Spencer stretch the waterproofing over the cast. "We're human, these things happen, Hotch will understand."

"We're getting married."

Now it was Dave's turn to reach mental vapor lock. "Sure you're in a good place to make that decision?"

"Oh I asked her months ago."

"Think they'll figure it out?" Laura asked as they watched Lizzy head for the stairs and eventually the phone.

"I doubt it. I'm pretty sure everyone suspected that I hadn't done this before." Spencer got up and joined her on the bed, stretching out beside her. "Why don't you want to leave?"

"Because it's so still. And you're here. Granted, I'd also do anything to get someplace safe." She was quiet a long moment. "You know…no one is going to be happy about this. They won't leave us alone like this. You know what they're going to want us…me to do."

"No." He said, reaching up to cup her sweet face. "Absolutely not. I won't let them."

"And we'll keep quiet to not raise a fuss," She said as if he hadn't spoken, "…and the next thing you know you'll be in DC and I'll be out in California and…" She took a deep breath, terrified to even finish.

"Not going to happen. I've wanted this for too long. You've wanted this for too long. We're going to be a family, no matter what."

"But you know what they'll all say."

"I know. We'll just have to make it legally binding, and then they can't say anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Marry me."

She sat up to look at him. "What?"

"Marry me. Make a family with me. Move into a house with me and…open up a joint checking account. I don't know, I just…I don't want to lose you. Ever."

She considered this, and him, a long moment. "You mean that?"

"Absolutely. Marry me. We'll do this together."

She considered a little more, as her smile grew, slow and sweet as the sun. "We're going to be a family."

A family. He had a family. A family of his own. This was what it felt like when your dearest dreams came true. "Yeah."

"We're going to be a family!" And she rolled into his arms and kissed him.

"I promised her we'd be a family when we got out." Spencer explained. "I intend to keep that promise, even if it means turning in my badge."

Okay, Dave thought, time to turn down the energy on this one before things got out of hand. Make some space to think. "I don't see why it would. When are you two planning this?'

"Sometime in the next 21 weeks. Given that I'm having trouble focusing for more than…however long we've been talking I can't be more specific."

"Well that gives us time. There." One temporarily waterproof cast. That done Dave set about collecting what he needed for supper.

Spencer just blinked at him. "You're okay with this?"

"Why not? It's your life. I think you should take your time with it, but from what I could tell you were thinking clearly until this 'experiment' ended. If you asked her before that…"

"Back in June, actually."

"Then I don't see why not." Wait a minute. "Does this have anything to do with the 'experiment'?"

Spencer blinked. "It does help provide an optimal environment." They heard the shower shut off. "Excuse me." He headed upstairs.

Dave sighed. This was going to be more complicated than he thought.