Chapter 10

Spencer's POV

Spencer woke the next morning to the smell of bacon and pancakes. He jumped up so quickly he got light-headed and nearly collapsed back onto the bed. No else lived in his apartment, how could there be bacon cooking? He wasn't totally complaining, it smelled delicious, but he slowly crept to the door to peak into his small kitchen area. Through the crack between the door and the frame he saw Cat standing at the stove in one of the few t-shirts he actually owned with a pan full of sizzling bacon. A plate of pancakes was on the counter next to her, steam still coming off them.

With a sigh of relief he opened the door the rest of the way and walked up next to her. "This smells amazing." He said as he took another whiff of bacon.

Cat startled a little at his words but relaxed just as quickly; if Spencer wasn't so observant he wouldn't have noticed her jump. "Good morning sleepy head. How'd you sleep?" She asked while she took a few pieces off the pan and put them on a plate next to the pancakes.

"Fantastic actually. I didn't realize you would still be here; I figured you would have to get back to the hospital," he looked at her quizzically before slowly going over to the bacon.

"I called my boss and asked for a personal day; said there were some family things I needed to take care of. Hey! No stealing!" She gave his hand a light tap when he tried to take a small piece of bacon. Spencer gave a small laugh but stopped when his neck began to throb. "Oh no are you okay?" Cat put down the spatula and went over to look at his neck.

"Yeah, just hurts to laugh," he took deep breaths until the pain eased away then looked at the bacon starting to crisp. "Go finish the bacon, that's the main concern here."

Cat laughed the hardest he's ever heard her laugh before. It was a true heartfelt laugh, nothing force about it. The most beautiful sound Spencer had ever heard. He smiled as he grabbed the plate of pancakes and brought it to the table.

"You know, your couch is the most comfortable bed I have ever had. If you don't mind I might steal it and bring it back to my apartment."

"Don't you dare, I need that to nap on. I once spent two weeks on that couch and actually considered making it my permanent sleeping space," he grabbed some syrup from the fridge before sitting down.

"Dang, I might just have to camp out here for a while; that's the most sleep I've gotten in god knows how long," Cat put the last of the bacon on the plate and then joined Spencer at the table.

"I wouldn't be opposed to that, as long as you continue to make breakfast every morning."

"Tempting offer, Dr. Reid. We'll see. But I'll need to restock your fridge. This bacon was about to go bad in two days, and you have absolutely no orange juice. That is practically un-American," she looked Spencer dead in the eye before smiling and grabbing some bacon. Spencer was so relieved to see this side of her again. After a week of no calls or texts or coffee meetings, he was afraid he had scared her off with his heartfelt speech. He had even confided his fears to Derek, and while he did offer some good advice, his closest friend was more concerned about the fact that Spencer had kept news about a potential girlfriend from him. But what else could he expect from him? He cared about Derek very much but the guy was determined to get Spencer set up with a girl.

"I'll see what I can do. It's kind of hard to keep a fully stocked fridge when I'm gone so much. But if you actually do want to stay more I can try," Cat looked up at him with a smile, as if sharing a joke, but her face became guarded when she saw how much Spencer meant it. "I am very happy you came to check on me. I was getting worried when I hadn't heard from you, and if it's not too much, I actually really missed you."

"Well, I was a little worried when I heard you got shot in the neck. But yes, I did kind of miss you too," she seemed sincere but Spencer could still see her guard was up again. She had made a big step coming over but he knew it would still be a little while before she told him about whatever she was afraid of.

He knew Rossi was keeping something from him after his last phone call from Garcia, and even she wouldn't tell him whatever information she had found. There was something bigger going on and he was determined to figure out what it was. Cat was afraid of something and Spencer would do anything he could to keep her safe.

"So what do you want to do today? My unit chief gave me the day off to recover and you called out, so we have a lot of daylight to burn without work. I can't remember the last time I had any free time," Spencer said as they finished the last of the bacon and pancakes.

"I believe I saw a chess set in your living room and I kind of want to challenge the great Dr. Reid. Savannah told me you have some pretty mad skills," Cat gave him a sly grin as she washed off her plate. "And maybe we can play that game you suggested a few weeks back."

"Game?"

"You know, the one where we ask each other questions to get to know each other better? After your speech I have a few more questions about you."

"Well then, let's get started."

Rossi's POV

Coming out of the elevator on the floor of the BAU, Rossi stopped to look at the newest addition to the wall of fallen agents. It had become a new habit of his to take a few moments to pay his respects to Erin Strauss. He missed her more than he ever expected. Today was different though. While staring at her picture, he glanced quickly to the picture on her left and then glanced over again. Rossi walked a bit closer and looked at the name plate on the frame.

Name: Terrance Warner

Age: 37

Killed: April 24, 1997

Where: Stafford, VA

Rossi looked up at the face of the man named Terrance Warner. He had the sandy blonde hair of a swimmer but it was well kept and combed away from his face, laugh lines surrounded his eyes and mouth. He had high cheek bones and tan skin with a few freckles across his cheeks and nose. There was nothing unusual about the man, he was a little familiar to Rossi which meant he had probably worked one or two cases with him in the past. But what had caught his attention was the man's piercing blue eyes. They were clear but even in the picture you could tell they were full of life despite the horrors he had most likely seen on the job. It was haunting.

Looking over towards to the doors of the BAU, Rossi saw Hotch about to go in but quickly called out for him, "Aaron! I need to ask you something!"

The Unit Chief turned towards the sound of his friend's request and walked over to look at the picture Rossi was staring at so intently. "What do you need, Dave?"

"What do you know about Agent Warner?" Rossi pointed to the picture next to Strauss'.

"He was the Section Chief before Strauss. I believe he actually was named Chief a few days before he died."

"What happened?" Rossi did his best to sound nonchalant about his curiosity in the old Chief.

"I don't know the details since it was around the time I had just joined, but from the bits and pieces I heard around the office after the event, he was killed in his home by an Unsub the BAU had failed to catch." Rossi looked at Hotch in surprise, trying and failing to keep the horror off of his face.

"I thought he looked familiar to me, I thought it was because we had worked together but maybe I had worked on this case."

"Well he should look familiar to you, he was a part of the BAU before he was named Section Chief. Everyone thought you or Gideon would get the job but Warner was elected instead. I can't believe you don't remember this Dave." He glanced back at his old friend and saw concern written on his face.

"When his promotion took place it was around the time I decided to retire, everything was weighing down on my shoulders so I guess this whole commotion was just pushed to back of my memories. He had kids, didn't he?"

"Yeah, two. A son and daughter." Hotch had accepted his answer but Rossi knew he wasn't completely convinced. Rossi wasn't convinced of it himself, either.

"We worked this case for months but the trail of the Unsub went cold."

"Why are you bringing up Chief Warner now? It was a long time ago."

"No reason. I guess I'd just never looked past Erin's picture and today thought I should remember some of the others on this wall," Rossi looked down at the number of pictures that continued past Warner's. There were so many. Deciding it would be best to change the subject Rossi asked, "Have you found a replacement for Blake, yet?"

"No, but I have a few candidates coming in this afternoon. I don't think anyone will be quite as impressive as her though," he turned to head towards the office so Rossi decided to follow, an idea forming in his head.

"Well, even if you don't find one today, I think a relaxing evening is in order. Why don't we have the team over for dinner at my house tonight? Everyone can bring a guest or two and I'll make a famous Rossi original recipe."

Hotch stopped and turned to Rossi, not even trying to hide his surprise. "Are you sure you're okay Dave?'

"100%. I just believe it's time we take a good refresher after that whole mayhem down in Texas. And get to know the new people in each other's lives. Morgan has been spreading word that Reid has a potential girlfriend," that last comment was enough to get Hotch to look past the very odd behavior Rossi had just exhibited. But if it would get Hotch to give the okay, Rossi would deal with it.

"Fair enough, what time should I tell everyone to be there?"

"Seven thirty. Eight at the latest, otherwise they don't get any wine." Rossi hid his excitement. He had hatched a plan to get answers but he just hoped Reid would follow through on his expectation, otherwise he would have to find another way to confront Cat Grant.

Cat's POV

It was around noon when Spencer's phone rang and he got up from the couch to answer it. They had given up on chess after only twenty minutes. They were evenly matched but they kept getting distracted in answering each other's questions. Cat had decided she wanted to be completely honest with Spencer on almost everything in her life. The incident however was something she wouldn't burden him with. Michael's story would have to satisfy him for now.

She was happy with how open he had been to her as well. She was blown away with how much he trusted her with everything he had been through. For such a young FBI agent, he had seen horrors she had never dreamed of. If her father had told her about his job, she wondered if he had experienced the same sorts of things Spencer had. How could he sleep at night with those images in his head? And Maeve. She was honored to have Spencer tell her about his relationship with the geneticist; she seemed like an amazing woman and Cat hope she could be as good to him as Maeve was. Cat felt her eyes get a little warm with tears as she remembered how defeated Spencer seemed when he recounted the story of Maeve's death.

"Cat?" Spencer re-entered from the kitchen where he had taken the call. Cat quickly blinked back the water in her eyes and looked at him over her shoulder.

"What's up, Spence? Everything okay?" She gave him her best smile, trying to be supportive when she saw the worry on his face.

"Do you want to go to a dinner tonight?"

"Sure? Why do you look like it's an end of the world dinner, though?"

"Well, Rossi is throwing it. Which is weird because he never voluntarily invites people over, but anyway, it means if you go you'll be meeting the people I work with."

"I'd love to go Spencer, but only if you want me to go with you."

"Of course I do!"

"Then that settles it, I'll be your date to a dinner party."

"So will this be like, our first date then?"

"I guess it will be." She smiled up at Spencer, unable to stop the heat rushing up to her cheeks. But it didn't matter to her when she saw her blush mirrored on Spencer's cheeks as well.


They arrived at Rossi's gigantic house at around 7:40, Spencer freaking out because they were late. Cat was laughing while trying to convince him that they were fashionably late and that was acceptable. It was partially true since they had needed to get clothes from Cat's house since Spencer had no female clothes, which was a slight reassurance for Cat. Not that she thought Spencer had any other girls in his life, but she was not the most confident person when it came to dating. They waited outside Rossi's front door for a little bit after they rang the doorbell. A faint, "I got it!" heard from inside.

Cat felt incredibly nervous for this dinner party. Would Spencer's teammates like her? She had met them briefly at the hospital but that was in a professional environment. There was food at this gathering. And no sterile atmosphere with a tinge of death in the air to keep her nerves in check. Standing on this doorstep made her remember how awkward and shy she really was. Maybe she should have chosen a different dress. She hadn't wanted to seem too formal, so she had gone with a short blue spaghetti strap dress with white lily's scattered around it and an off-white sweater. And since she knew her nerves would get the best of her coordination skills black flats had seemed like the best shoe option. She tried to calm her fears with a deep breath and continued to stare at the door.

"Would it be okay for me to hold your hand?" Spencer murmured to her, keeping his eyes on the door.

Cat looked up at him when she heard the timid tone of his voice. He was as awkward at this as she was. This gave her stomach butterflies and she responded by slipping her hand in his. She felt him give it a light squeeze just as the door opened.

"Welcome welcome! The lovebirds have arrived!" Rossi called into the house. He had a towel over his shoulder and a few spots of flour stood in stark contrast to his dark blue button down.

"Morgan told you all, didn't he?" Spencer tried to sound upset but he smiled down at Cat as they followed Rossi inside. Spices from the kitchen filled Cat's nose.

"Everyone needed to know that you have game, Pretty Boy," a deep voice responded from the direction of the kitchen.

"Don't worry Dr. Grant, we are all very friendly people who do know how to keep secrets," Rossi stared directly into Cat's eyes when he spoke. A knowing look passed between the two and her breath caught in her throat.

Rossi knew.