Spencer had finished his final report regarding the Belinda Copeland case. He sat back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head. His shoulders were tight and beginning to ache. He looked at the clock and sighed. It was almost 8 pm. His stomach rumbled with hunger, and he was about to grab his go and messenger bags when JJ entered the bullpen.

She smiled at him as she left a file on Morgan's desk. "Hey, you're usually the first one to finish. Everything okay?"

He felt his face heat as he tried to think of something to say other than, "Oh, I was distracted thinking about you talking to that reporter." Instead, he said. "I was thinking about the case and Billie's father."

"Yeah," JJ said. "I'm hoping for a miracle."

Spencer resisted the urge to regurgitate statistics about cancer survival. He said. "Yeah, me too."

"Spence," JJ said, and there was something in her eyes as she spoke. "You want to go grab something to eat? I know it's late, but I'm starving. A bag of Cheetos isn't enough." She held up a hand that showed minute traces of orange on her fingers."

Spencer stared at her. JJ wanted to go to dinner!

"Yes," he said and almost burst out in nervous laughter.

"Good, grab your stuff."

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Spencer sipped his coffee as JJ finished the cheeseburger she'd ordered at the all-night diner. It was a calm atmosphere on a Wednesday night. Five other people were in the booths around them, all having separate, low-tone conversations.

JJ had been quiet as they ate, and Spencer couldn't think of anything to discuss. He cursed himself for his inability to talk about something other than work, but – he looked at her face when she lifted her eyes. He realized that she appeared – upset and a bit angry. Was it him? Had he done something or said something? Was he too quiet?

"JJ," He said and surprised himself with his next question. "Is everything okay?"

"Hm, yeah."

He fell into silence as she wiped her mouth with a napkin, took a sip from her water glass, and sighed. "I'm sorry. I asked you here because I wanted to leave the office and stop thinking about work. I wanted to talk about something other than blood and death, children in danger, and idiotic reporters.

"Me too. I mean everything but the reporter part, although the one you seemed to know was out of line."

He watched for her reaction and saw her smile. "Yeah, Hal's a real piece of work. I guess you realized we know each other more than colleagues." She said the word like it was a curse.

Spencer had gathered as much and had felt his gut twist at the realization, but he'd also seen JJ's reaction to Hal's question in the press conference. He nodded, and JJ continued.

"We dated in college. It lasted two months. I thought I was in love until I realized he's a self-serving, entitled jerk. He comes from money but decided to leave it all behind and become a reporter. I guess he thought it was the noble thing to do. Anyway, he tried to play on our past to get me to give him a scoop. I told him to rethink his tie instead."

Spencer almost choked on the last of his coffee. He coughed, reached for a napkin, and then - laughed. "I wish I could've heard that."

And I was seething with jealousy while JJ put him in his place!

JJ grinned at him. "Well, he reminded me of something I've been thinking about since Secret Santa."

The change in topic almost made him cough again. "Oh."

"Yeah. The other reason I asked you to go to dinner is that I wanted to say – "

"I like you," Spencer blurted out before she could finish her thought. He felt his face grow hot, and he dropped his eyes.

What are you doing?

"What?" JJ said, and something in her eyes changed again. Happiness!

"I like you," he whispered. "More than a friend, but I thought –"

"I would never notice," JJ said, and she reached out to touch his hand.

He resisted the urge to pull away. He fought his germ phobia and relished the warmth of JJ's fingers on his hand.

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, it took a year, but I realize you're cute, sweet, smart, kind, and awesome at your job. You impress me every day."

"I do?" He squeaked, his face growing even warmer.

"Yeah, except for some of the tangents you go off on," she said.

"Oh, sorry."

"I'm kidding," JJ said. "They used to bug me at first, but for some reason, during the Tommy Killer case, you made me want to laugh with your comment about looking up death on a search engine. If you tell anyone this, I'll never talk to you again, but I have done that."

"You have," Spencer said, forgetting his nerves as she made eye contact with him again.

"Yeah, I work for the BAU."

"True."

"I'll bet Morgan has too," She laughed.

Spencer joined her laughter, and one of the couples near them turned to glare at him. He smiled and waved. They looked at each other and went back to their conversation.

JJ looked over her shoulder and then back at him. She was still smiling. "We better keep it down."

"Agreed."

"So –"JJ said.

"What do we do now?" Spencer asked.

"That's what I want to know."

"What do you want to do," Spencer asked.

"We could think about going out again, but let's take it slow. I don't want the whole FBI to know about us - yet."

Spencer sighed in relief. "Me too."

They talked for another hour, and then JJ drove him to his apartment. As he watched her drive away before going to his place, he wondered how he'd gotten to this moment but decided it didn't matter.