Evie frantically scrambled around the apartment, trying to make sure they had everything packed. She hated this last minute frantic state she got in right before a trip. Granted, she hadn't taken one in a while, but that may have made it even worse.
"Did we get our toothbrushes?" she asked while rushing into the bathroom and throwing up the drawers to sift through the stuff inside to see if she missed anything important. She heard Spencer approach the doorway behind her. In the mirror out of the corner of her eye, she could see him lean against the doorframe with an amused look.
"Calm down darling, we have everything. Trust me." he said, watching her kneel down to look throguh the cupboards. She stood after searching through each compartment and put her hands on her face, taking a frustrated breath.
"I feel like we forgot something." Evelyn said, trying to rack her brain to see what they missed. When she wasn't looking, Spencer came up behind her and put his hands on her hips, pulling her back into him so he could lay a kiss on her neck. She sighed and melted into his touch.
"I never forget anything." he reminded her, making her smirk.
"Okay, genius." she said, feeling his arms wrap around her waist to pull her closer. He laid his head on her shoulder and nuzzled her gently. She enjoyed the moment until she thought about phone chargers.
"Shoot..." she muttered, pulling away from Spencer to rush into the bedroom and pull open the nightstand drawer next to her side of the bed. Empty. She must've already packed them. Maybe Spencer was right, maybe they did have everything. Evie supposed she was just nervous about meeting Spencer's mother. She meant so much to him so she meant a lot to Evie. Evs really wanted Diana to like her.
"Already have them." Spencer said, coming up behind her again to let himself fall onto the bed, pulling Evie down on top of him. She grunted from the impact, but smiled. Before she could even try to get away he secured his arms around her waist, pulling her tight.
"Spence..." she said gently as if to a child. She ran her hand through his hair causing him to close his eyes and hum happily. "I have to finish packing."
"You are finished!" he protested, pulling her down closer to him so he could repeatedly kiss her all over her neck. She writhed in his arms, trying to get away but giggling in the process.
"Spenceeeeeeer." she whined, going limp and giving up as he continued to kiss up her jaw to her temple and back down again.
"Spenceeeeeeer." He mocked her in a high pitched voice. She laughed at his attempt to imitate her and just let him do what he wanted. She couldn't say she didn't love his spontaneous cuddly moods, especially after his strange outbreak a couple days ago when she'd tried to ask him what was wrong. She'd left him alone for a while and he hadn't bothered even talking to her. It wasn't until he crawled into bed with her that night to kiss her collarbone and tell her he was sorry when he finally gave in.
After Spencer got tired of kissing her all over, she just lied on his chest while he rubbed circles on her back under her shirt. She felt fatigue begin to take her over while listening to the steady sound of Spencer's beating heart and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. She could feel him drifting as well. It was only six thirty since their flight left at seven thirty. Shoot, their flight...
"We have to go!" Evie said suddenly, looking over at the clock on the nightstand. Spencer glanced back and groaned, knowing she was right. He loosened his arms from around her to let her jump up and pull him upright with her.
"Goodbye apartment," Evie said, taking hold of one of the suitcases and slinging her purse over her shoulder. She heard Spencer chuckle at her as he took his own suitcase. With one last look around to make sure they had everything, Evie rolled her suitcase out of the door, ready for Las Vegas.
The flight was alright. She was just glad they got there in time. On the plane she was jittery and didn't know why. Spencer put a hand on her knee that she was bouncing up and down frantically. She just got nervous when meeting any new people, but this person was even more important.
"Alright, I know why I'm nervous, but why are you?" Evie asked when they got into their rental car after leaving the airport. Spencer glanced over at her with a guilty forced smile before turning the key in the ignition to let the car roar to life. Evelyn had been learning a whole lot about profiling lately, but you didn't need to be a profiler to know that Spencer was growing more and more uncomfortable as they got closer to seeing his mom.
"I don't know." he lied, turning back to look out of the back window before pulling out of the parking lot. Evie watched him, knowing he could feel her staring. Once they were out onto the road, Spencer sighed and glanced over at Evie before opening his mouth to speak.
"It's just that every time I see her I feel guilty. I think of how she begged me not to send her away and I did anyway. I don't even visit her enough." he said, much quieter than usual. Evie felt her chest ache knowing he hurt at the thought of him doing that to her years back. He'd told her the story before. Her schizophrenia had just been getting worse and worse and he didn't know what else to do. Evie always told him he did the right thing, but she knew it'd always hurt him.
"You didn't do anything wrong, sweetheart." Evie said, squeezing his hand that wasn't steering. He gave her a small smile but she could tell it was fake. She brought his hand to her lips so she could kiss his knuckles while he drove further into the city.
"So does this place bring back memories?" she asked, looking around at the dense groupings of buildings around her. There were people bustling around the streets going from one place to another. She saw a few homeless people sitting on corners and curbs too.
"Yeah..." he answered plainly. As they turned the corner, he nodded his head towards a big brick building on Evie's side of the car. "That's where I went to high school." he told her, keeping his eyes on the road, refusing to even give it a glance. She watched his expression that he tried to keep emotionless.
"You didn't like it there much?" she asked, watching a smile flicker across his face.
"You are getting better at your profiling." he told her, a bit amused. She smiled proudly, but still awaited his answer. "And no, I was a twelve year old senior and Las Vegas doesn't have the nicest of people." he said, stopping at a red light intersection. He sighed and looked over at Evie with his chocolate brown eyes. She always knew Spencer was bullied, but he never delved too deep into what had happened.
"You still remember everything that happened?" she asked as the light turned green and the car started forward again. "Well I mean, you have an amazing memory so that's probably a stupid question. Plus why wouldn't you, I mean those people sounded like they were awful to you. I don't knpw what they did, but-"
"Evie." Spencer said through a smile, halting her mindless rambling. She always did that when she didn't know what to say.
"Sorry." she said, also smiling a little. It was silent a while before Spencer cleared his through, frowning at the road ahead of him. Evie watched him intently, wondering what he was going to do.
"They uh... Well, I was in the library and, um... Harper Hillman comes up to me, and she tells me that, uh... Alexa Lisbon wants to meet me behind the field house. Alexa Lisbon's like, easily, the prettiest girl in school." He began to tell her, and already she knew this story was headed in a bad direction. "You'd think being a twelve year old prodigy, I could figure out how stupid that sounded." he added in a bitter tone as if he still blamed himself for being ignorant. Evie bit her lip and watched his expression. It was still pained as if this had all happened yesterday.
"Anyway, when I got there, Alexa was there, but so was the entire football team. They... stripped me naked and tied me to a goalpost. So many kids were there, you know, just watching." Spencer said, turning onto a less used street with his eyes still on the road. Evie could tell that his mind was somewhere far off though, even if he didn't want to show it.
"Di- didn't anyone say anything?" Evie asked, trying to find her voice. The thought of how mean they were to him was horrifying her to say the least. It seemed everytime Spencer talked about his childhood it got worse and worse.
"I begged- I begged them to stop, but they just... watched. Finally they got bored. It was like, midnight when I got home. My mom was having another episode so she didn't even notice I was late." Spencer said, his voice grim. Evie looked forward with wide eyes. She wished more than anything that she could take back so much pain away from his past, but she knew she couldn't. Instead she leaned her head into his shoulder as he pulled into a parking lot of a big building that Evie guessed was the Sanitarium.
"I'm sorry, Spence." she whispered when he stopped the car and let his body relax back into the seat with Evie still leaning into his shoulder. He reached forward to take one of her hands and rub his thumb over her knuckles.
"It's okay, that was years and years ago." he said, sighing and getting some of that lighter pep back into his voice. "Now i have the most beautiful, sweet, talented girlfriend in the world. Joke's on them." he said, sweetly looking down at her with big brown eyes. Evie felt herself gush with warmth and love for him.
"You're too sweet." she said, smiling while burying her face into his neck. Spencer smiled too and kissed the top of her head. They stayed like that for a while. She traced patterns on his chest with her finger tips lazily while listening to the sound of him breathing. The car began to get cold after a while without the heat going, so Evie pulled back and grabbed her purse to start getting out of the car.
"You know, we could just stay-"
"No, Spence. Come on, you'll be fine." Evie interrupted his attempt to divert the discomfort he felt when seeing his mother. He sighed and unbuckled his seat belt, getting out of the car and together they walked towards the building.
The inside was obviously made to be warm and inviting. It reminded Evie a little bit of how her grandmother's nursing home looked before she'd passed away when Evie was thirteen. There were nurses rushing by to smaller hallways that had doors lining each side, probably patient rooms. The lobby they stood in was filled with patients sitting around table and on couches, light shining through the big windows on the other side of the room. Spencer sighed next to her and started for the front desk, his posture rigid and tense. Evie followed, watching as a lady with red hair looked up from her papers at the front desk.
"Dr. Reid." she said with a surprised, delighted tone. "What a nice surprise. Are you on a case?" she asked. Spencer nodded a hello and put his hands in his pockets nervously.
"Uh, no. Just to visit." he said, biting his bottom lip. Evie watched and observed his nervous 'tells', or the actions he did to signal he was nervous. She reached over and tugged the bottom of his coat sleeve to pull his hand out of his pocket so she could hold his hand. Spencer glanced over at her, giving her a small flash of a smile before turning back to the lady at the desk.
"Does she know you are coming?" she asked, typing something into he computer in front of her.
"She knew I meant to come visit around the holiday, I didn't say when." Spencer explained. The red head nodded and glanced over her shoulder to a nurse in pink scrubs behind her.
"Debbie, is Diana in her room right now?"
The nurse turned and raised her eyebrows, looking at Spencer and Evie before turning back to the woman.
"No, I believe she's in the dining hall. Do you know where that is?" she asked, looking at Spencer. Evie looked up to see him press his lips in a thin line and nod.
"Uh, yes. Thank you." Spencer said, beginning to turn to walk away, but the lady behind the desk called out before he could.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name." she said, looking at Evie. Evs unraveled her hand from Spencer's to shake her outreached hand over the desk.
"Evelyn." she said, smiling. The woman smiled and nodded, glancing from her to Spencer.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Andrea. Ask if you need anything." she said kindly. Evie thanked her and took hold of Spencer's hand again before they turned and walked through the lobby. He was holding her hand really tightly at this point as they went through a hallways with rows of doors on each side. Evie looked up at his face. His eyes were looking straight ahead, but it looked like his focus was far off.
"Spence..." she coaxed him out of his daze quietly while they walked. He glanced down at her, his features softening. He kissed her cheek but didn't say anything more. Evie leaned her head into his shoulder for a moment, running her thumb along the back of his hand. His grip relaxed a little, but only a little.
They turned the corner into a big room with windows similar from the lobby. It had circular tables covering most of the floor and there was a cut out in the wall where they had people handing out food like a school cafeteria. There were patients sitting at tables, most of them alone or with nurses. She frowned, not too familiar with how Diana looked. She glanced up at Spencer, watching him scan the room with his eyebrows pulled together. His sparkling eyes stopped, looking across the room. Evie felt him take a deep breath from beside her. He gave her hand a squeeze and made eye contact before nodding his head in the direction he was looking.
Evie nodded and let Spencer pull her along.
"Don't take anything she says into offense. Not that she'll be rude or anything, she just doesn't really think before talking sometimes." Spencer warned her. Evie nodded. She was already prepared for this. They weaved through tables until they came upon a table near the back with a woman in a white blouse and dark brown pants sitting and reading. Instantly Evie was able to tell that it was her. There was obvious resemblance between her and Spencer.
"Mom..." Spencer said quietly, causing her took look up from her book. Evie nearly felt her heart melt watching Spencer's mom's face light up just upon seeing her son's face. She put the book down on the table and began to stand.
"Spencer..." she said as Spencer let go of Evie to reach forward and wrap Diana in a hug. Evie couldn't help but smile. Spencer looked calmer all of the sudden after seeing his mom. When Spencer pulled back. Diana put a hand on the side of his face, studying him.
"You got a haircut." she said, looking up at his short ruffled hair. "Good." she said approvingly, making Evie smile wider. Spencer chuckled and glanced back at Evie, taking her hand lightly to pull her forward. Diana's eyes fell upon her and she looked surprised for a moment.
"Mom, this Evie." Spencer said, looking at his mother's face, probably studying her reaction. Evelyn smiled and reached forward, shaking Diana's hand.
"Mrs. Reid, nice to meet you." Evie greeted. Diana smiled, studying Evie as well.
"So you're the girl Spencer can't stop talking about in his letters." she said, looking up at Spencer who was biting his lip and blushing. Evie tried to hold back a laugh. She took his hand again and he subconsciously entwined his fingers in hers.
"I was just about to go back to my room." Diana said, picking up her book. Spencer looked over at Evie and shrugged. They all followed Mrs. Reid back to her room in the hallway they had walked through to get there. Her room had a queen size bed and light walls with a big window on the other side of the room. There were drawn pictures of 15th century authors above her bed and bookshelves filled with old books. Evie loved how much she was like Spence.
"So when are you getting married?" Diana asked abruptly as she put away her book on the shelf. Evie held back her urge to laugh at how blunt the question was. She covered her mouth and pressed her lips together, diverting her eyes from Spencer who nearly did a double take.
"Mom, we've been together for like, four months." Spencer said. Evie turned to see a smile creeping up on his face too though. He closed his eyes almost as if in disbelief for his mother's comment.
"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." Diana said, ignoring Spencer's remark.
"Mignon McLaughlin." Evie and Spencer said at the same time, naming the author who had said the same quote Diana had just spoken. Mrs. Reid raised her eyebrows like she was impressed and nodded.
"I like her Spencer. Be good to her." she said plainly as if just telling something as casual as the weather. Spencer chuckled and wrapped an arm around Evie, pulling her to a couch across from Diana's bed so they could sit.
"So you work with Spencer. You aren't the government are you? I can't have those fascists infiltrating-"
"Mom, mom." Spencer tried to calm her as her voice became louder, angrier, and more frantic at the end of her sentence. Spence had told Evie a little bit about his mother's episodes. Sometimes she'd believe the government was out to get her, sometimes she thought she was a professor of 15th century literature again; the scenarios varied. "She's not the government and the fascists can't get you. I promise." he assured her. Diana frowned for a moment before her face softened.
"Uh, yes... Well technically I'm an intern on Spencer's team." Evie explained, trying to choose her words carefully so as not to set Diana off. Spencer's mom looked at her with a sad gaze, tilting her head to the side a bit.
"Such a dangerous job. Spencer, you know I don't like the idea of..."
"I know, Mom, I know." he said, standing to pull up a chair next to the couch for his mom to sit in. She put a hand on his arm and thanked him before sitting down.
"Have you been eating more? You look like you have some more muscle in there." Diana said, while Spencer sat back down next to Evie. "Still so thin..." she muttered. Spencer bit his lip through a smile, rolling his eyes a bit. Evie didn't care how embarrassed he was by his mother's constant fretting over him. Evs thought it was cute.
For the next hour or so, they stayed in Diana's room just to catch up. Spencer told her about the latest case they did where Evie caught the unsub. He didn't however, mention that she shot and killed him. Evelyn was appreciative of that. That wasn't the first impression she wanted to have on Spencer's mom.
"Oh he was the cutest little thing. He had these big glasses, but he was blind as a bat without them. He'd run into walls sometimes..." Spencer's mom was going on about cute things Spencer did when he was little.
"Mom..." Spencer whined, running his hands through his hair, his face red from her tons and tons of stories. Evie was thoroughly enjoying herself though. She knew that there weren't any other family members to tell anyone about his life when he was little. She felt honored to be able to hear all of the stories that haven't even been heard by the team yet.
After that, they went to eat dinner with her in the cafeteria. Evie talked to her about 15th century literature, enjoying how Diana's eyes lit up with the mention of some of her favorite works. Evs didn't know why she was so nervous. She knew they'd have a lot in common since they both liked literature, she just didn't know how deep in a conversation they could get. At one point when they were discussing the stories of Le Morte d'Arthur, Evie could catch a glimpse of Spencer out of the corner of her eye. He was watching them with a small smile of fondness. He looked content with the fact that his mom and Evie were getting along so well. Evelyn knew the feeling.
The Sanitarium closed at nine for visiting hours, so they eventually had to say goodbye.
"You're coming back tomorrow, aren't you?" Diana asked, sounding terrified of the thought of them not returning.
"Of course. We'll see you tomorrow, Mom." Spencer said, giving her a hug and kissing her cheek.
When they eventually got back to their hotel where they were staying, Evie was exhausted. Even though it was about 9:00 in Las Vegas, it would've been 12:00 in DC and she wasn't used to the time change. To say the least, she had severe jet lag.
"Thank you." Spencer thanked the desk clerk as she handed him two keys for their room. Spencer gave one of the plastic cards to Evie and wrapped her hand in his, pulling her along to the elevator as she trudged tiredly along behind him. The elevator ride up to the seventh floor seemed like forever just from Evie having to stand. She leaned heavily on Spencer, letting him wrap an arm around her to support her.
"We could've come back earlier, why didn't you tell me?" he questioned her, kissing the top of her head and taking the strap of one of her bags off of her shoulders to put it on his instead.
"I was having fun." Evie said through a yawn. Spencer chuckled and gave her a tight squeeze.
"I'm glad." he said.
Their hotel room was considerably nice. The ones in Las Vegas usually were for the most part. Evie didn't even bother getting dressed into her pajama pants. She dropped her bags at the door and collapsed on the bed, too tired to even get under the covers.
"Eeeeevieeeee..." Spencer cooed, coming to her side to stroke a piece of hair from her face. "Sweetheart, at least get in comfier clothes." he said gently, lightly tugging her arm.
"How are you not tired?" she asked, letting Spencer pull her off of the bed so she could stand again.
"I stay up a lot." he said, wrapped his arms around her waist so he could pick her up off of the floor and carry her to her suitcase. Evie giggled tiredly at the notion, groaning as Spencer set her back down by her bag.
"What are you talking about, you go to bed at the same time as me." she said, getting her pajama pants out of her bag as Spencer went to his own to get ready for bed.
"Yeah, but for a while I just like to watch you sleep." he said. Evie smiled and shook her head. He was weird in the best possible way.
Thankfully they were in bed in a matter of a couple of minutes. Evie lied on her side and Spencer came to lie behind her with his chest against her back and his arm around her waist to pull her into him.
"I love your mom." Evie said tiredly. Spencer smiled behind her. She couldn't see it, but she could feel it.
"She loves you." he said. "I'm happy you guys get along." he said.
Evie's tried to listen to his words, but they were fading off like she was underwater. She heard him call her name a few times, but she couldn't find the strength to answer. She let herself relax into his body, hearing him say one last goodnight and kissing her hair before she completely drifted off into a deep sleep.