Chapter 58

The day after their next round of therapy appointments Spencer and Laura decided to perform the exercise requested and spend some time alone.

Before all this had happened they had both been essentially solitary creatures, interacting with and apparently affecting a remarkable number of people but never allowing themselves to be affected. That had, understandably, changed since The Incident. Now they were not only deeply aware of how many people they had in their lives and how important those people truly were to them but they were also now deeply enmeshed with each other. On the one hand this was considerably healthier than their previous isolation, but on the other hand they both needed to be able to function apart if Spencer was ever to go back to work.

So on this day they took the metro together, an experience sufficiently different to stave off any lingering sense of claustrophobia, got off at the Dupont street station, Spencer collected a nuzzling sort of hug and kiss, and they headed in opposite directions, Laura to something called a stitch and bitch at a yarn shop and Spencer to play chess. "Dude." Eric said when he sat down. "Took you long enough."

"That's actually called mourning." Spencer replied, settling in to the game.

"Sucks, man." Eric took his move and smacked the clock. "I am sorry."

"Thank you." Spencer replied, moving in turn. "And thank you for the blanket, it means a lot." An army blanket had been hanging in the chapel that day, with no name. Penelope said Eric had brought it, but when it came time for the reception Eric hadn't stuck around.

"It was from all of us. Passed the hat." Eric made his move.

"Wow." Spencer found himself almost choked up; he hadn't realized he mattered around here. Didn't stop him from moving though.

"Don't get weepy on me, dude." Eric moved again.

The goal was two hours. Two hours apart to start, working up to ten, which was their usual in-office day. When they could spend ten apart he could go back to work on desk duty until she was settled in their own place, with a security system and stout locks. Then he could go back to work. But today was two, which gave him ample time to play a number of games and her time to settle in to whatever she was doing and get in a bit of holiday window shopping. It was about then, when he was on his last game, that she called him. "Spencer, I think someone is following me."

Instantly he was on alert. "Why?"

"I just saw a man I spotted at the station behind me."

"That might be nothing." But he was moving already, she was less than a third of a mile away. "Go into a shop, see if he follows you in or lingers outside."

"Know where the bead shop is? Next to the Starbucks?"

"I'm familiar." Straight up Connecticut. "Can you come up with an excuse to stay in there?" He started heading that way.

"In a bead shop? Please."

"I need to get off the phone. Stay put and be careful. I love you."

"I love you too." She rang off.

The team was out of town and was too far away anyway. So while his long legs ate up ground Spencer called someone else.

"Okay, what am I looking for?" Spencer asked when he got her back on the phone.

"Black pea coat." Laura replied. "Black watch cap, red scarf."

He wasn't hard to pick out. He was a few doors down, looking in the window of Kramerbooks, but clearly watching the bead store. "Okay, finish what you're doing, come on out and head toward the circle."

A few moments later Laura did so. As she walked down the street the man split off and started following her. But he only made it a few doors along, as he walked past two people got out of the car and stopped him. "Excuse me." Will LaMontaigne said as he pulled back his coat to show his badge. "I'm with DC Metro, can I talk to you a…." He was cut short as the guy took off running.

While Will and his partner took off after the mystery man Spencer pulled Laura into Starbucks to wait. He told himself that he was holding her to stop her shaking, even though he was shaking right along with her.

"Who is he?" Hotch asked over the video link.

"Don't know yet." Will replied. "The ID he had on him was fake."

"Have Garcia look into it."

"She's already working on that but your case is taking priority right now. These two are safe, don't worry about them."

"I'm sending people to watch the house."

"All right, I'll let them know." After a few Will logged off and turn to where Spencer and Laura were sharing a too small seat and sipping now cold tea. "Hotch is sending someone to watch the house."

"I don't understand." Laura said for the umpteenth time. "Rudger is dead, Kipling never cared about us, and we can't testify to anything involving him. So why this now?"

"I don't know." Spencer sighed for the umpteenth time. "We're missing too much data to determine that."

"Garcia will get something off that ID." Will reassured them, "Just you wait."

And wait they did.