Spencer woke up to Morgan nudging him with a cup of coffee. He was laying on the couch, sprawled out, with Zoe asleep next to him, her head on his chest. He didn't remember falling asleep.
"Very professional." Derek said with a teasing wink.
"What happened?" Reid whispered back, noticing the change in Morgan's attitude.
"Break in the case, we found someone with her DNA, her half-brother was in the system. The result of a rape 22 years ago, and the mother is still alive. Hotch and Rossi are interviewing her right now to see what she remembers."
Reid sighed, trying to scoot away from Zoe. He managed to sit up without her waking, but she still rested on his stomach, her arm around his middle. He didn't mind, in fact, it had been so long since he was so physically close to a woman in such a manner, he felt warmed from the inside out. "JJ's on her way, Hotch thinks that Zoe should make a statement. You enjoying yourself?" he indicated the sleeping young woman.
Reid rolled his eyes and took a sip of the coffee. "This is weird." he admitted. "Not weird, but, different. I like it." he said, smiling in spite of himself.
There was a knock at the door, and Morgan stood to answer it. JJ walked in, wearing a long coat and her hair pulled back. She came around the corner and glanced down at Spencer.
"Hey, there, Spence." she said with a confused look on her face.
"It's not what it looks like." he said.
"Yeah it is." Morgan laughed.
After a few minutes of waiting, Zoe eventually stirred. She opened her eyes, and looked up at Spencer.
"Hi, you alright?" he asked. She nodded meekly, and sat up. She caught sight of Morgan and JJ watching her, and blushed deeply.
"Good morning." she said with a shy smile. Derek grinned back.
"I'm JJ, Zoe, I don't think we've been formally introduced." JJ said, sticking her hand out to Zoe.
"Hi, nice to meet you." she said. "Is it alright if I shower?"
"Yeah, of course." JJ said. Zoe turned to Spencer. "He won't be able to see me, right?" she whispered.
"No, it's okay, it's disconnected now."
She stood and returned to her bedroom.
"What happened last night?" JJ asked.
"Turns out that our man gave some kids five bucks to rain rocks down on the house." Morgan explained to the both of them. "And at the same time, to add the fear factor to this victim, he knocked out the power and sent the feed in of his most recent murder."
"She's not a victim." Reid said quietly, but defensively. JJ looked at him in surprise. "Did we ID the actual victim yet?"
Instead of addressing his tone, she answered his question. "No," she said coolly. "we're going to have to wait 'til he dumps the body."
"Great." he said, standing.
"Reid, do you need to go take a minute?" Morgan said. "You're handling this case unusually emotionally."
"Tell me about it." he said as he walked out the front door and into the front yard.
Despite the trauma of the previous night, Zoe felt unusually well rested. She dried her hair, watching herself in the mirror. Her eyes were rimmed with red, obviously from the crying, but the usual bags were gone from beneath her eyes, and there was color in her cheeks that hadn't directly resulted from being embarrassed.
She walked into her bedroom, carefully stepping around the broken glass around her window, and started to dig through her dresser for something to wear. She slid on a pair of underwear and a bra, and found a t-shirt she didn't hate.
She walked around the bed, t-shirt in hand, and stepped on something wet and sticky. She jumped back, looked down, and let out a deafening scream.
Half a moment later, her bedroom door burst open. She was pointing at the thing she stepped on, her back pressed against the wall.
"What is it?" Morgan asked, as he stepped closer, bending down to examine the object. Spencer peered over his shoulder.
"Human tongue." he said, a hint of disgust in his words.
Spencer turned to talk to Zoe, but averted his eyes as soon as he realized she wasn't properly dressed. JJ walked in the room, picking up a blanket from the bed. He looked back at Zoe, nearly unintentionally, his eyes drinking in the shape of her. Her angles, the slope of her breasts, the light tan color of her legs. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens for his photographic memory, and then felt guilty about it.
"Here, come out here with me Zoe." JJ said quietly.
"It must have been thrown in with one of the rocks last night." Morgan said. "I'll get an evidence bag. I can't imagine kids being able to handle a human tongue though, maybe he was out here after all."
"We shoulda swept the house last night after all that." Spencer said. "It must be the tongue from the last victim. I bet he prerecorded that video." he reached for the t-shirt that Zoe had dropped, and for the pajama pants she'd been wearing the night before. He also grabbed her glasses from her bedside table as Morgan went to go find some evidence bags.
She sat at the kitchen table wrapped in the blanket, her head in her hands, and JJ talked to her softly. She looked up when she heard Spencer approach.
"Here." he said, handing her the bundle of clothes and her glasses.
"Oh great, you noticed." she sighed. JJ laughed.
"There's not a lot that Spencer doesn't notice, trust me." she said. "He'll count every freckle on your nose before you've said hello."
"Really?" she asked him as he sat down.
"Yeah. Photographic memory along with an acute attention to detail, it's sort of habitual."
"What did you notice about me when you first met me, then, doc-tor?" she asked, leaning back and watching him with interest, grateful for the distraction.
"I took your pulse when I shook your hand, and it was unusually high for resting. I estimated how much sleep you'd had in the past week, determined it wasn't much. Your pupils were dilated: indicating either fear or sexual attraction, and I assumed fear due to the fact that your hands were shaking. You had a penmark on your neck, below your ear, and you'd put mascara on only one eye, but that wasn't obvious really." he recited quickly.
"Wow." she said in awe. "So my hope of you not noticing my almost nudity was definitely a long shot."
"Yeah, sorry about that." he said, smiling sheepishly.
"Wait, if you figured all that out, why did you ask if I was Agent Morgan's girlfriend?"
"You were sitting at his desk." he lied quickly, but JJ caught him do it. He glanced at her, and she nodded, indicating that yes, he couldn't get away with it in front of her.
"We should let you get dressed." JJ said. "And I've got to talk to you about a possible press conference I'd like you to be involved with."
"Public speaking isn't my strong suit." Zoe replied nervously.
"Don't worry, we'll walk you through it."
"Okay. I'll go get dressed in the back bedroom, I think." she said, standing. "Be right back."
When she was out of earshot, JJ turned back to Spencer.
"Why did you lie to her just then?" she asked once Zoe was out of earshot.
"JJ, because, the actual truth was a little forward." he said.
"Why did you ask if she was Morgan's girlfriend?"
"Because she was really...beautiful. I just assumed, because Morgan is always dating extraordinarily gorgeous women."
Right as he said this, Morgan walked in. He laughed.
"That is absolutely right, pretty boy. But they're never quite and pretty as you." he teased. Reid rolled his eyes. "And I approve of this one for sure. You should ask her out once we catch this guy."
Spencer shrugged, but the small smile on his lips let them both know he was thinking about doing just that.
A/N: Next chapter up soon! Thank you so much to everyone who's subscribed and reviewed, you're making this so much fun! Please please PLEASE review! :)