Note: For those wondering what these mini-chapters are about: it's basically Sadie's point of view and fillers until Chapter six, which will be dark-themed. That was sort of a spoiler. My bad. But, you need to know. Just enjoy these before the story goes dark. That's my suggestion.

CHAPTER 5.3

Meet the family; or something similar

It was Wednesday afternoon, in the middle of her scribbling down notes for her new book, that her mobile phone rang. Sadie didn't cuss. She didn't quite like that. Instead, she reached for it and picked it up.

"Hello, Sadie?" Spencer's voice came through, surprising her.

"Hello, Spencer" she answered, "Is something wrong?"

Of course, the fact that he's called in the middle of the day just has to imply that something was, in fact, wrong. Very, very wrong, as she'd soon find out. At the moment, however, she was rather glad that he'd called.

"No, it's not that" he answered, sounding fidgety, "I was wondering if you're free this evening?" he asked.

Sadie frowned. Again, she should've realised that something was wrong. After all, the plans they usually made were 'There's a play I wanted to see with you', or 'A new restaurant opened up near my place, let's go check it out' and never 'are you free this evening?'

"Yeah, I suppose" she shrugged, still feeling giddy that he'd called her, the smile frozen permanently on her face.

"Can we meet at the coffee-shop at say five?" he asked. Sadie shrugged again.

"Alright, I'll see you then" she said, then hung up, her face pulled into a wider smile and the blood rushing to her face.

When Sadie skipped towards the coffee shop, the sight of the back of Spencer's head waiting for her at their table, made her grin. However, she stopped short when she noticed that he wasn't alone, he was in the company of a pretty blonde woman, who was grinning brightly at him and a tall dark man, who was trying very hard to suppress his grin as well. Sadie frowned. She knew Spencer had friends such as them, going by his elaborate descriptions. She stopped completely, wondering why he wouldn't give her a heads-up about something like that. She wasn't ready to meet his friends yet. What if they didn't like her? What if they thought she was too strange and had quirky habits that would be a hassle to Spencer in the future? Did that mean she wanted a future with him? A future with Spencer? That didn't sound too bad. But was it what he wanted too? Sadie frowned again, this time deeper and paced on the side-walk, completely in her own thoughts, wonderings and musings. So much so, she didn't notice Spencer had walked out to greet her and give her a heads up.

"Sadie?" Spencer said, making her freeze and turn to him guiltily.

"Spencer" she mumbled, forcing a smile, "Why are you out here?" she asked, curiously. Spencer frowned a little.

"I came to see why you were pacing out on the sidewalk instead of coming in" he said, uncertainly, "Why is your face red?" he asked, stepping close and inspecting her. Sadie froze as his eyes locked on hers' and she wondered why he was so dense when it came to emotions and personal space, and what the need was to inspect her from so close.

"I hyperventilated" she admitted, looking down and breaking eye-contact, "seeing as you invited your friends and forgot to tell me about it" she nodded towards the table. Spencer smiled apologetically, his lips pressed into a thin line, as if he were forcing it.

"They wanted to meet you" he admitted, "And I wanted you to meet them too" he added. Sadie sighed.

"Alright, I suppose" she said, shrugging, "Not like I have much choice now" she added, smiling. Spencer looked more apologetic.

"So, shall we go in?" he enquired brightly. Sadie bit her lower lip.

"Yeah, you go first, I'll follow" she said, nodding to the door. Spencer nodded and went in. Sadie followed close behind him, feeling better now that she could see him up close and knowing he was there in case she panicked.

"JJ, Morgan" he said, "Sadie O'Connell" he introduced. Sadie watched them from over Spencer's shoulders, by leaning up just enough so she made eye-contact.

"Hello" she muttered, uncertainly, stepping to the side so she saw them and, so they could see her as well.

"Hello, Sadie, I'm Jennifer Jareau" the woman said, standing up to shake hands. Sadie shook her hands, while trying a smile.

"Derek Morgan" the man offered, as Sadie shook as well.

"Shall we sit and order something to drink?" JJ suggested, smiling brightly. Sadie smiled slightly, sitting down beside Spencer, who looked pretty uncomfortable being there as well.

"Order?" the barista enquired, noticing the clean table.

Sadie glanced at Spencer as his friends ordered. He looked back, smiling encouragingly. Then, quite uncharacteristically, held out his hand for hers' under the table. Sadie smiled, slipping her hand into his and giving it a squeeze. He squeezed right back, which calmed her more than she'd thought it would.

"Sadie? Spence?" JJ asked, turning to them.

"Double espresso for me" Spencer answered, "And a double-chocolate macchiato for the lady" he said. Sadie wondered how he knew that would be her order, and made her surprise known by turning to him curiously.

"Wow, you two really just ignore the world" Derek Morgan offered. Sadie blushed dark, and looked down at her own lap.

"Morgan" Spencer said, his tone strangely firm.

"My bad" Morgan said, sitting back and half-laughing.

"So, Sadie, Spence tells me you're a writer?" JJ asked. Sadie looked up sharply, first at JJ, then at Spencer, almost accusingly.

"I've had one book published. It's just a collection of short stories" she admitted, cheeks still red, "I don't know if that counts for being a writer" she shrugged. JJ smiled.

"You're too modest, Sadie" Morgan said, looking at her seriously, "Spencer wouldn't praise anyone if he didn't think they were worth it" he added. Sadie felt herself blushing again.

"Thanks" she mumbled, "I suppose"

"Here, your drinks" the barista brought their tray of drinks.

"Thank you" Sadie said, glancing up at the familiar man, who smiled back at her kindly.

"No prob" he said, leaving them to their coffees.

"So" Sadie said, looking between JJ and Morgan, "You work with Spencer, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, has Spencer told you about that?" JJ asked, looking over to Spencer worriedly.

"Catching psychopaths, right?" Sadie said, glancing at Spencer, "Yeah, I've heard some of the stories" she admitted.

Soon, Morgan and JJ had found a lot of questions to shoot Sadie's way. Sadie managed to give them satisfactory responses, but the most important thing for her, was the encouraging squeeze of her hand that Spencer was holding onto and somehow, knowing he was right there was reassuring and she felt as if she could face a whole armada of such questions, if he were there, next to her, holding her hand.

Then, after three cups of coffee on JJ and Morgan's part, the two left Sadie and Spencer to go home.

"We hope we see you again soon, Sadie" JJ said, speaking for both of them, as she gave Sadie a quick hug good-bye.

"Yes, and I'm looking forward to meeting Henry soon too" Sadie said. Spencer had spoken about Henry so often, Sadie had come to like the little one even though she'd never met him.

"Yes, definitely" JJ agreed, grinning. Then, with a quick smile to Spencer, they both left and Sadie sank back into the chair, completely exhausted.

"You handled them well" Spencer complemented, sitting down and wrapping an arm around her chair reassuringly. Sadie leant her head on his shoulder and let out a heavy breath.

"Good Lord!" she exclaimed, "How can you work, with their intimidating stares fixed on you, everyday?" she asked, sounding tired. Spencer laughed.

"I think they were just being a bit mean since they like teasing me about you" he claimed, "Besides, they warmed up soon after you calmed down with your coffee" he added. Sadie frowned and pulled away.

"Wait, I've been meaning to ask, how did you know I would order a double-chocolate macchiato?" she asked, scowling. Spencer frowned slightly.

"Well, this morning you had the strawberry frappe" he pointed out. She nodded for him to continue.

"I've worked out an algorithm as to how you pick your coffee and I saw a pattern. Based on my assumptions and the times I've seen you order coffee, I've figured out that you go sideways on the menu, then down, the back again in a orderly fashion, so that you have a variety of flavours on all days and none of them are from the same category in the same week. With that knowledge I concluded that your next drink would have to be the double chocolate macchiato" he explained. Sadie stared at him in shock, her eyes wide and curious.

"I didn't know geniuses used their intelligence on such insignificant things" she said, amazed at the amount of time and effort he'd taken to come to that conclusion.

"It's something about you" he admitted, his cheeks burning red, "It's not insignificant"

Sadie felt herself blush dark red at his claim.

"You are such a sweet-talker!" she exclaimed, standing up, "Shall we get going? Grab a bite to eat before you retreat to your lair?" she joked. Spencer grinned, standing up and paying for their coffees.

"How do you like pizza?" he asked. Sadie smiled.

"Pizza and coke seem the way to go" she admitted.

As they walked to their destination, Spencer slipped his hand into hers', and Sadie felt glad to have done the coffee with friends. If it made him want to touch her more, she was more than willing to meet some more of his friends, even his mum.

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