When Spencer returned home from the Wade Hatchett case, Jessica noticed that he had a slight limp. "What happened to you?" she asked.

Spencer looked pointedly at her ankle, which was wrapped up. "What happened to you?"

"I discovered that one of the bleachers is broken. You?"

Spencer sighed and eased himself onto the couch next to her. "Rossi made me climb into a ditch."

Jessica frowned. "I thought you weren't supposed to do any climbing yet."

"I'm not."

"So why didn't you tell him that?"

"I did."

Jessica sprang to her feet in outrage, then instantly wobbled and fell back onto the couch. "And he made you do it anyway?!"

"I think he didn't want to get his new shoes dirty," Spencer offered.

"I think you're more important than a pair of shoes," Jessica retorted.

"It wasn't that bad," Spencer signed defensively.

"If it's got you limping badly enough for me to notice, it's bad," Jessica insisted. "I'm seriously tempted to drive over to his place right now to give him a piece of my mind."

Spencer sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Please, just let it go? I only started limping on the way back from the Metro. I'll be fine if I just drive to work for a few days." He paused. "Speaking of which, I should drive you to school to keep you off that ankle."

"You wouldn't be able to pick me up for hours after school lets out, though," Jessica pointed out. "And that's assuming you don't get another case. I'll just ask Claire for a ride."

"You spent months doing everything in your power to prevent me from walking anywhere, and now I can't even drive you to school?" Spencer signed in mock indignance.

"Fine, you can drive me to school, but I'm still asking Claire for a ride home," Jessica conceded.

"Deal." Spencer gave her a quick hug, then stood up. "Good night."

When the team next flew out on a case, Rossi received a text from Jessica. "If you try to make Spencer climb anything else, I will break into your house and ruin all your fancy shoes."

Rossi frowned as he replied. "You really shouldn't tell a federal agent you're planning to commit a crime against him."

Jessica wished he could see her faux-sweet smile as she typed her response to this. "But I'm not planning to commit a crime. Not unless you're planning to callously disregard the well-being of your teammate again."

"He's been off the cane for months. He's fine. And aren't YOU supposed to be resting your ankle?"

"Oh, so NOW you care about doctor's orders?" Jessica retorted. "Or do you only care when it suits you?"

"You're telling me his doctor really did forbid him to climb into ditches?"

Jessica stared incredulously at that. "Do you really think Spencer is the kind of person who lies to get out of unpleasant tasks? He was LIMPING when he got home from your last case!"

"He was?" Rossi typed, surprised.

"Yes, he was!"

Now Rossi felt very guilty. He had honestly thought Reid was young and hale and much better suited to the task of ditch-climbing. He got up and crossed the jet to sit opposite his younger teammate. "It seems I owe you an apology."

Reid sighed. "I told Jessica to drop it."

Rossi chuckled half-heartedly. "Somehow, I doubt even the President of the United States could make her back down if she believed you'd been wronged."

Reid stared blankly at him. "Why would President Obama get involved?"

"Figure of speech, kiddo. Anyway, I overestimated the progress of your recovery, and I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Reid said, unconsciously rubbing his knee.

Rossi shook his head. "No, it's not fine, and it shouldn't have taken a seventeen-year-old girl to make me realize it. I thought I had outgrown the notion that I always know better than those younger and less experienced than myself. It seems I was wrong, and you paid the price."

Reid stared silently at Rossi, looking awkward and unsure what to say to that.

"…Kid, if you've got nothing else to say, could you at least accept my apology so your cousin won't destroy my house?"

Reid opened his mouth to say he would never let Jessica actually do that, then realized she would probably ignore him if he tried to forbid her. "All right, I accept your apology."

"Thank you."

A few weeks later, Jessica received a text from Jeffrey. "Hey, do you have a Skype account?"

"Yes. Are you looking to add me?"

Jeffrey did not text back; instead, Jessica received a Skype friend request a few minutes later. Almost as soon as she accepted it, Jeffrey initiated a video call, which she answered.

"Hello," Jeffrey signed. "I've been teaching myself to sign and decided it was time to—" The camera jostled. "—you. How am I doing so far?"

"Be careful with your webcam," Jessica replied.

"My what?" The camera shifted again.

Jessica typed out a message in the instant messenger instead. "Your camera keeps moving, it makes it hard to see."

"Oops," Jeffrey muttered. There was more jostling, then the image from his end finally stabilized. "Sorry."

"That's better," Jessica signed approvingly. "Why didn't you tell me you were learning?"

"I didn't want to…" Jeffrey paused, looking flustered. "E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S myself by signing badly."

Jessica shrugged. "So long as you're really trying, that earns points in my book. Reading lips isn't as easy as a lot of hearing people seem to think."

Meanwhile, Garcia had arrived home and walked around the couch to see who Jessica was talking to. When she realized it was a teenage boy, she squealed in excitement. "Hello!" she signed, leaning over Jessica's shoulder. "Who are you and why don't I know about you?" Before Jeffrey could respond, she frowned. "And will I find any skeletons in your closet if I run a thorough background check on you? Scratch that, don't answer, I'll find them whether you tell me or not."

"I…have no idea what you just said," Jeffrey replied, thoroughly lost. "I'm guessing you're Penelope?"

Garcia turned to Jessica, staring. "Wait, he can hear?"

"I understood that," Jeffrey said, somewhat triumphantly. "And yes, I can hear."

Garcia continued staring at Jessica. "How do you know a hearing guy?"

"Why do you assume the BAU are the only hearing people I know?" Jessica responded, annoyed. "I do go places other than Quantico and school."

"We met in the hospital when her cousin was shot," Jeffrey explained, trying but not entirely succeeding at signing along. "I'm Jeffrey Barton. I don't know if you remember that case, but my dad was the guy that Spencer took that bullet for."

"Oh!" Garcia exclaimed, finally speaking as well as signing. "You're that kid that risked his life going to school because he didn't want any innocent people to die?"

"Yeah, that was me," Jeffrey confirmed, slightly pink.

"On second thought, you pass the background check," Garcia decided. "If Jessica were so inclined, I would totally give you the official Penelope Garcia stamp of approval to date our girl."

"But I am not so inclined, so it doesn't matter," Jessica responded, mildly annoyed again.

"And I've been kinda flirting with this girl in my chemistry class," Jeffrey added. He had long since come to terms with Jessica's total lack of romantic interest in him.

Garcia's eyes immediately narrowed. "What's this girl's name?"

Jessica gave Jeffrey a warning look. "Don't tell her, she just wants to run a thorough background check and possibly ruin your classmate's credit score."

"Um…okay," Jeffrey said, slightly nervously. "What's…" He tried to imitate Jessica signing 'credit score'.

"Oh, I doubt she has a credit score for me to ruin yet," Garcia said, an almost predatory look in her eyes. "But I can always tag her file for later."

Jessica glared at Garcia. "No. Bad. No ruining credit scores! And no interfering in my friends' love lives!"

"Fine," Garcia pouted. "I guess I'll just go see what I can dig up on this British hottie that Emily is supposedly hitting it off with, then…" With that, she headed into her bedroom.

"She's…I-N-T-E-N-S-E," Jeffrey commented, still looking slightly nervous.

"Very," Jessica agreed. "She's very nice, though…just don't hurt her babies."

"B-A-B-I-E-S?" Jeffrey fingerspelled, not sure he'd understood that right.

"Yes, that's what she calls the team and their kids."

"I am…" Jeffrey floundered for the right sign, then gave up and typed a message instead. "I am suddenly very glad I'm not your boyfriend."

Jessica laughed. "Probably smart."

Jessica had just gotten home from school when she received a text from Garcia. "Ugh, the good guys are supposed to be GOOD! Police aren't supposed to be killers!"

Jessica frowned at this. "They're also not supposed to pull over a car that's going five under the limit and issue a speeding ticket. Beth, Claire and I are still trying to decide if that cop was racist or just thought teenage drivers must be reckless. He was talking really fast at first, all we could tell was that he had a bone to pick. And then it definitely didn't improve his attitude when he realized he'd pulled over a group of deaf girls."

"Did you get his badge number?" Garcia asked. "I will make his online world a living hell."

"Please don't. At least not until Beth has had a chance to go to traffic court and dispute the ticket."

"But you have his badge number?" Garcia persisted.

"Beth does. Ask her."

"I will, and then that cop will regret the day he ever crossed my babies," Garcia vowed.

As soon as Spencer got home, Jessica nearly crushed him in a hug. He returned it and patiently waited her out. "Is everything all right?" he asked when she finally let go.

"Yes," Jessica replied. "I'm just glad you're home safe."

"I wasn't even part of the takedown," Spencer assured.

Jessica shrugged half-heartedly. "Beth and I were talking about cops who don't deserve the badge, and I made a comment about how those killer cops in Texas had better not put you back in the hospital. As soon as I said it, I remembered what happened when I made a joke about that back in September, so I was pretty worried."

"It was just one cop," Spencer clarified. "And your joke did not land me in the hospital. The bullet to the knee did that."

"And I'm very much hoping that will be the only bullet that ever hits you," Jessica replied.

"Me too," Spencer agreed with a grimace.

Jessica hugged him again, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

The first weekend in May, Spencer was supposed to take Jessica to visit Georgetown University. However, the team got called out to Florida instead. Jessica was fully prepared to spend a lazy Saturday reading and playing with Bianca, but then Spencer texted to let her know he'd asked an agent who sometimes taught at Georgetown to take her instead.

Jessica sighed as she got dressed. She was not looking forward to spending an entire day talking via her phone. She really wished Spencer would have simply postponed. But no, her education was the one topic on which he seemed determined to act like a normal, rule-setting parent.

At 9:00 sharp, the doorbell went off. Jessica answered it and found herself face-to-face with a brunette woman who looked to be about Aunt Diana's age. And much to Jessica's surprise, the woman greeted her in ASL. "Hello. My name is A-L-E-X, my name sign is Alex. I assume you're Jessica?"

Jessica stared for a few moments before responding. "You sign?"

Alex smiled. "I teach linguistics. I know several languages, including ASL. Don't worry, your cousin would never send you off to hearing school without an interpreter."

Jessica flushed sheepishly. "Right. Sorry." She grabbed her bag and headed out the door, locking it behind her. "So, you're the linguistics professor he sometimes lectures with?"

"That would be me," Alex confirmed. "Reid has told me quite a lot about you. I can tell he's very proud of you."

"Thanks." Jessica pushed the 'down' button at the elevator.

"So, he's told me you're interested in biology, but have you thought about what you would do with a biology degree?"

"I want to work toward helping endangered species," Jessica signed enthusiastically. The elevator doors opened, and the two of them entered before Jessica continued. "There are so many animals dying out there and not nearly enough humans who care. The human race is a relatively young species; a lot of our fellow residents of planet Earth were here first. What right do we have to just come in and destroy their homes and their food? With great power comes great responsibility, not just to our fellow humans, but to everything that shares our planet."

Alex gave her a thoughtful look before responding. "I'm impressed. A lot of kids your age aren't even sure what they want to study, much less what they want to do with their lives, but you seem to have put quite a bit of thought into this."

"I've always loved nature," Jessica replied. "And it makes me sad how it keeps getting destroyed."

"That is a sad thing," Alex agreed.

Late that afternoon, Spencer got a text from Jessica. "I love Alex. Can we keep her?"

"What do you mean, keep her?" Spencer replied, baffled.

"All the girl agents the team has had so far are like big sisters. Alex is like a mom. And she already signs. Is there room on your team for a mom agent?"

"That's not quite how this works."

"So you're telling me that Hotch and Rossi aren't dad agents?"

Spencer had to concede that point. "Okay, they are, but that still doesn't mean they're allowed to bring in a new agent just to be the mom of the team."

"Hmph. They should." A minute later, Jessica sent a second message. "But other than that, everything's going okay down there?"

"Our unsub kept a LOT of journals. And Morgan and Emily pawned off reading duty onto me."

"…I will get revenge for you."

When the team returned to Quantico, Morgan and Prentiss found their respective desks piled high with biology textbooks, along with a big paper packet on top of each. "What the hell…" Morgan muttered, reaching for his packet.

Prentiss unfolded hers and read it aloud. "You have three days to complete this take-home test. It is worth 100% of your grade. Should you fail the course, you will have to retake it as many times as necessary until you pass."

"Is this for real?" Morgan demanded incredulously.

"Absolutely," Hotch said, walking past. "Barring any further cases, I expect your completed tests on my desk in 72 hours."

Morgan and Prentiss shared a look. "If Hotch is in on this, we're doomed," Prentiss stated.

"I said you guys owed me," Reid spoke up from his desk, smirking at them.

"And this is how you want to collect?" Morgan complained.

Reid checked his watch. "71 hours and 59 minutes now. Tick tock."

Friday of the following week, Beth spotted Jessica anxiously pacing around a reading nook in the library. Beth immediately marched over to stand in front of her friend. "Okay, what's going on with you? You've been getting more and more worked up ever since Spencer's team left on their latest case."

"They're in backwater Alaska with no cell service, which means they're using special satellite phones that make phone calls but do nothing else, which means they can't text, which means they can't tell me if something goes horribly wrong, and things went horribly wrong the last time Spencer went somewhere with no service, and how am I going to know if something goes horribly wrong while they have no service?!"

Beth gently pushed Jessica into the nearest chair. "Okay, breathe. Do you really think nobody would find a way to tell you if anything happened? Couldn't Henry's dad pass along a message? Or maybe Penelope's boyfriend?"

"Sure, they'd probably tell me eventually, but how long would it take for them to remember that I'm out of the loop?" Jessica fretted.

"Okay, so maybe try asking one of them to get an update for you right now?"

Jessica blinked. "…that is actually a very logical idea."

"I am a very logical person," Beth agreed, smirking slightly. "Are you sure you don't want to stay over with me or Claire? Hanging out alone in your apartment is probably not helping your anxiety levels."

"Probably not," Jessica admitted. She shut her textbook. "Okay, I'll feed Bianca, then I'll come over."

The following weekend, Jessica, Beth and Claire all gathered in Jessica's room to prepare for their junior prom together. Showers were taken, dresses were donned, accessories were debated, and now the girls were trying to decide what to do with their hair.

"Come on, you've got to do more than just straighten your hair!" Claire signed to Jessica.

"Why? I'm not trying to impress anyone, you know!" Jessica complained.

Beth gave her a stern look. "You do realize how incredibly sexist that is? You don't have to look nice for guys, you can just look nice for you. And for the photos that we will treasure forever and will hopefully make the yearbook."

"So? I think my hair looks nice the way it is," Jessica insisted.

"But it can look nicer!" Claire wheedled. She picked up a hair brush and hair tie and advanced on Jessica.

Jessica ducked her friend, headed into the hallway and pounded on Spencer's door. The moment he opened it, she pushed past him to hide in his room. "Make them stop! I don't need my hair styled!"

"So you don't want this, then?" Spencer responded, holding up a blue headband with a satin flower that matched her dress perfectly.

"…okay, I'll take that," Jessica relented, putting on the headband.

"Lucky," Beth complained from the doorway. "My dad doesn't understand hair accessories at all."

"Neither do I, I just knew this was the same shade of blue as her dress," Spencer admitted. "I can style hair, though."

Claire gave him a suspicious look. "Why do you know how to style hair?"

"Because my female coworkers got very drunk one night and insisted that I needed to know."

"Can you do mine?" Beth asked, giving him puppy dog eyes.

"I can try," Spencer replied, sizing up her many thin braids. "Yours is a bit more…braided…than my colleagues', though. I'm not sure how much of a difference that will make."

"No time like the present to learn!" Jessica signed cheerfully. She pushed Spencer toward Beth.

Fifteen minutes later, Beth was admiring her reflection. Claire turned to Spencer. "You're wasted as an FBI agent."

"Actually, my work with the FBI makes far more use of my various degrees than hair styling would."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Just accept the compliment."

"That was a compliment?" Spencer repeated, confused.

"Yes." Beth hugged him. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Spencer replied, still confused. "So…are you all ready for photos now?"

The girls shared a look, then nodded. Spencer snapped about a dozen photos before letting them leave for their prom. Then he sent the photos to the rest of the team, knowing that the promise of photos was all that had kept them from mobbing his apartment that night.

Shortly after 1:00 am, Jessica staggered back into the apartment. "Hello, kitty!" she signed cheerfully. She frowned when she realized that Bianca hadn't come to greet her. "Where's the kitty? I want to hug the kitty!"

Spencer put down his book. "Bianca is napping. Are you all right?"

Jessica giggled. "The punch tasted funny. Now everything's funny. Except Bianca. Napping isn't funny." She pulled an exaggerated frown.

Spencer's expression instantly darkened. "Jessica, it sounds like somebody spiked the punch."

Jessica's eyes widened in horror. "What?! I'll kill them!…except I won't, because then you'd have to arrest me, and you'd be sad."

"Don't worry, I will be reporting this," Spencer signed grimly. "In the meantime, you're going to sleep this off." He slung an arm around her and steered her toward her room.

Jessica reached up to lightly tug on a strand of his hair. "Your hair's so curly now. Why is it curly? It used to be straighter. Did you used to straighten it? Can I straighten your hair?"

Spencer pulled away. "No! You may not straighten my hair!"

"But now my hair's straight and yours isn't and that makes no sense because you're straight and I'm not."

"Hair and sexual orientation have nothing to do with each other."

"They don't?" Jessica signed with a gasp, as if this was a huge revelation.

"No, they don't." Spencer pulled her pajamas out of her dresser and shoved them into her arms. "Now please, get ready for bed."

"Fine," Jessica signed with a pout.

Spencer closed her door and returned to the living room to fetch his book, absently running his fingers through his hair. Maybe it was time for a change of hairstyle. He knew far too many women who apparently fixated on hair when they were drunk.

In the morning, Jessica stumbled into the kitchen, clutching her head. "Please tell me I wasn't actually drunk last night."

"You were," Spencer replied grimly, giving her a glass of water and an Advil.

Jessica downed them both. "I will never trust drinks at a dance again."

"Probably smart," Spencer agreed.

"It…was kind of fun," Jessica admitted, shuddering. "I don't want it to be fun! Drinking is supposed to be horrible! Oh god, what if I had tried to drive? I don't remember if Claire had any of the punch!"

Spencer gave her a brief hug. "You made it home safe. One night of spiked punch won't turn you into an alcoholic. But you're right, that was incredibly dangerous, and I will definitely be having strong words with the school administration about investigating this."

"I hope whoever did it gets expelled," Jessica grumbled. "No one should ever be intoxicated against their will."

Spencer grimaced again. "No, they definitely shouldn't."