The next day, Emily sent Jessica a message. "I'm planning to go to the Humane Society and adopt a cat today. Would you like to come?"
Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Do you really need to ask?"
"Well, I didn't know if you already had plans for the day," Emily defended.
"Cats trump plans."
Several hours later, Emily had a black cat named Sergio and more cat toys than she thought she could possibly need. Jessica had also bought a pair of white collars and was coloring them in with the colors of the Italian flag, declaring that Sergio and Bianca were now a perfect pair of Italian cats and needed appropriate Italian attire. Emily was glad that she hadn't invited Garcia; she dreaded to think how much stuff she would have acquired if those two had teamed up.
One good thing came of Reid being left to hold the fort in Montana: he had plenty of time to arrange his coffee date with Dr. Donovan. On Saturday morning, he arrived at the coffee shop and found her standing outside, looking just as nervous as he felt. "Hello," she said. "You look nice."
"Thank you. S-so do you." Reid blushed at his nervous stutter.
"Thank you." There was a moment of awkward silence.
"Well, shall we?" Reid said, gesturing to the door. When Dr. Donovan nodded, he opened the door for her. They entered the shop, ordered their coffees, and sat down at a table by the window.
"So, what's your doctorate in?" Dr. Donovan asked.
"I-I actually have PhDs in mathematics, chemistry and engineering," Reid answered.
"Wow. Now you're making me feel like a slacker," Dr. Donovan laughed. "Which one do you teach? Or do you teach all of them?"
"I'm not a teacher?" Reid said, confused. "I work for the FBI, in the Behavioral Analysis Unit."
"Really?" Dr. Donovan said, sounding surprised. "So what brought you to a university campus with two teenagers on a Saturday morning?"
"That was my cousin Jessica and her friend Jeffrey. Jeffrey's father was originally going to take him to visit Mendel that day, but he got called in to work, so I offered to take Jeffrey instead."
"Ah, I see." Dr. Donovan took a sip of her coffee. "Is your cousin interested in Mendel too?"
"It's actually her top choice. It was already high on her list last week, but I think our meeting made up her mind. I told her not to let that influence her, but she seems pretty convinced now."
"She already has a top choice? Is she graduating this year?"
"Yes," Reid confirmed. "I, uh…I admit I definitely won't complain if she chooses a college close to home. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to leave."
"Imagine how her parents feel," Dr. Donovan remarked.
Reid awkwardly cleared his throat. "They're, ah…dead, actually. I'm her legal guardian. Or I was; she turned eighteen on the twentieth."
"Oh," Dr. Donovan said, surprised.
"Is…is that a deal breaker?" Reid asked nervously.
"No, not at all," Dr. Donovan said quickly. "From what little I saw of her, she seems to care a great deal about you, which I consider a point in your favor."
"Thanks," Reid said, heaving a sigh of relief. "So, do you teach, or do you mainly do research?"
"Mainly research," Dr. Donovan replied. "I advise some of the PhD students, but I rarely interact with undergrads. Unless I'm letting them crash on my couch. I don't normally ask them out for coffee, though."
"I don't normally crash on researchers' couches either," Reid replied.
"Seemed like you were a little under the weather," Dr. Donovan commented. "I hope you're doing better now?"
"For the time being. I've…actually been having chronic migraines," Reid admitted. "So far, doctors haven't been able to find a physical cause."
"That sucks," Dr. Donovan commiserated. "You know…I'm no physician, but I do know a fair bit about genetic conditions. If you have scans, I could take a look, see if maybe that's the culprit."
"I'm not crazy!" Reid snapped defensively.
Dr. Donovan looked taken aback. "I didn't say you were. It was just an offer; if you don't want to, that's fine."
"Sorry," Reid said, chagrinned. "My…my mother is actually a paranoid schizophrenic. And I'm well aware of my potential to inherit her condition. But I know the warning signs, and I haven't been displaying them."
"I'm sorry about your mother," Dr. Donovan said sincerely. "But even if you haven't inherited her condition, I still might be able to find something useful."
"…thank you, I would really appreciate that," Reid said at last. "And I'm really sorry for snapping at you."
"It's all right," Dr. Donovan said, smiling at him. "It's not often that I get opportunities to help people so directly."
"I definitely understand that feeling," Reid agreed. "It's why I chose to join the FBI, even with universities across the country clamoring to recruit me."
Dr. Donovan took another sip of her coffee. "Sounds like they are very lucky to have you."
"It went well and we've arranged to go on a second date next weekend," Spencer signed when he got home, forestalling Jessica's question. "She also offered to take a look at my MRIs and see if she could find something the other doctors didn't."
"That's awesome!" Jessica signed happily, smiling. Then she frowned. "When you say 'next weekend'…"
"Sunday, not Saturday, don't worry," Spencer promised. "I'm not going on any dates on February 5th."
"Good. We don't want any star-crossed lover stories in this household. Or anywhere, really."
"We definitely do not," Spencer agreed.
February 5th, 2011 passed without dire incident. However, it was less than a week later that Prentiss discovered a lilac in a gift box outside her door. Recognizing the veiled threat, she gathered up her cat along with several essentials and then left her apartment in a hurry. After some brief consideration, she decided it would be best to leave Sergio with someone else. She made her way to Reid and Jessica's apartment, constantly checking to make sure she wasn't followed.
Jessica answered the door. "Hi, Emily. Hi, Sergio. Is everything all right?"
"Why do you ask?" Emily demanded suspiciously.
"Because you look incredibly nervous and you have Sergio with you?"
Emily sighed. "All right, you've got me. No, everything's not all right. Something has come up and I was wondering if you guys could take Sergio for a little while."
Jessica frowned. "I wouldn't mind, but I think Bianca might. Cats can be pretty territorial."
Emily grimaced. "All right, I guess I'll ask Garcia."
"Well, we can try introducing Bianca and Sergio and see how that goes," Jessica offered. "You should probably let me take him, though. Otherwise, we won't know if Bianca is mad at him or mad at you."
"Fair point." Emily stepped back and let Jessica pick up Sergio. Jessica headed down the hallway to look for Bianca. Emily wandered over to the couch and saw Jessica's laptop open on the coffee table. She was playing an online game that looked like Scrabble. Jessica appeared to be using the username 'queenofthewild', while her opponent was someone named 'batmanlives'.
A couple minutes later, Jessica came back with Sergio and put him down. "No go. Bianca has declared that this apartment is a one-cat zone."
"All right, well thank you for trying," Emily signed with a sigh. She nodded at the computer. "You like Scrabble?"
"It was my dad's favorite board game, and apparently my friend Jeffrey's mother's favorite board game too. So we've started playing with each other."
"Have fun." Emily started to bend to pick up Sergio, then paused. "Be careful, okay?"
"Be careful of what?" Jessica asked, confused.
"Just…be careful." Emily reached for Sergio again.
"Emily, what's going on?" Jessica demanded worriedly.
Emily shook her head. "I can't explain it. Something bad is coming."
"Hey, I thought I was the psychic one," Jessica signed, only half joking.
"Let's hope that power helps you stay safe. Good night." Emily finally picked up Sergio and left.
Jessica hesitantly returned to her game. She had the feeling Emily wasn't telling her something. Something important.
Jessica considered asking Spencer if he knew what was going on with Emily, but he stayed out very late watching some Russian film and Jessica ended up going to bed before he got home. The next day, Claire sprained her ankle during gym class and Jessica got sidetracked helping her friend. Jessica eventually got home later than usual and immediately started making dinner. By then, Emily's odd behavior had been pushed almost completely to the back of Jessica's mind.
Jessica missed Spencer coming home, so she didn't see him until he emerged from his room for dinner. For a moment, the sight of him reminded her that she'd meant to ask about Emily…and then she spotted what appeared to be a pill bottle in his hand, and she forgot about Emily altogether. "What is that?" Jessica demanded.
"Magnesium supplements," Spencer explained. He held the bottle out so Jessica could see it. "Maeve thinks they might help with my headaches."
Jessica examined the bottle and concluded that Spencer was telling the truth. "And are they helping?"
"Too soon to be sure, but I haven't had any headaches so far."
"That's great," Jessica signed with a smile. "She definitely seems like a keeper."
"I hope so," Spencer agreed.
The next time the team flew out on a case, Garcia came over to the apartment and Jessica did a double take. "You're blonde again."
"Yes. I decided that classic Penny G is the way to go," Garcia replied.
"We need to get Henry and Seaver together to properly re-induct you into the Blonde Club," Jessica decided.
Garcia raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't we get JJ too?"
Jessica briefly froze, but recovered quickly. "She's even busier than you guys these days. You'd be waiting forever for your re-induction."
Garcia pouted and flopped down on the couch next to Bianca, who immediately hissed and trotted over to Jessica. "JJ promised she'd stay in touch, but I haven't seen her in ages. Maybe I should just go camp out at her place and surprise her."
Jessica's eyes widened. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?"
It took a few moments for Jessica to scrounge up an excuse. "She's probably really tired when she gets home. If she has spare time, she'll call you. She wouldn't forget you."
"Well then she needs more spare time!" Garcia complained. "Maybe I should hack the DoD servers and assign her some extra vacation hours."
"I wouldn't push your luck with hacking government agencies," Jessica cautioned. "You might get an arrest warrant instead of a job offer this time."
Garcia sighed. "True that. I just miss JJ."
"Me too," Jessica agreed.
When Sammy and Alison Sparks were finally reunited, Reid stood a short distance away with Lizzie Sparks. "I'm sorry about your brother," he said quietly.
"Thanks," Lizzie replied, swallowing.
Reid took a deep breath. "My mother and her sister actually had a very similar story to you and Charlie. They argued over what they thought was best for me, and it escalated so badly that they ended up completely severing contact. My aunt died a few years ago, and they hadn't seen each other in twenty-three years."
"That supposed to make me feel better?" Lizzie asked sardonically.
Reid shook his head. "I lost my dad when I was about Sammy's age. It was just my mom and me, and my mom was very sick. Life was…incredibly difficult. If I'd had any idea how to get in touch with my aunt, I would have asked her for help in a heartbeat. My point is, Sammy and Alison need you. You may have missed your chance with Charlie, but it's not too late to fix things. Be there for them."
"I will," Lizzie said quietly. "Thank you."
When Spencer got home that night, Jessica quickly spotted the keyboard he'd purchased. "Well that's new. Are you planning to serenade Maeve?"
"What? No," Spencer replied, surprised. "Our key witness was an autistic kid who communicated by playing the piano. We kind of bonded over it."
Jessica smiled. "That's sweet. And completely irrelevant to the possibility of you serenading your girlfriend."
Spencer blushed. "I never even played the piano before today! I'd like to put in some practice before I go giving performances."
"Okay. So serenade me."
"…you want me to serenade you?" Spencer repeated skeptically.
"I won't care if you're terrible at first."
"Fine," Spencer sighed. "Just give me a few minutes to get it set up."
"Quick question: do these sound okay?" Jessica attached a few audio files to the message.
"They sound beautiful. What are they?" Hotch replied.
"They're a secret."
"Have you been learning piano? Because if so, that's downright amazing. I once read that Beethoven kept composing after losing his hearing, but he lost it much later in life than you did."
Jessica was rather bemused by this. "I'm flattered that you think I could pull that off, but I think drums would probably be the peak of my musical talents. I can do rhythms, but not so much melodies."
"You play drums?" Hotch asked.
"No, but I like a good bass beat. I don't 'listen' to them much, though, because apparently the neighbors don't like it when I play songs loud enough to feel the beat. The building has some sort of 'excessive noise' rule."
"I can see how that would be a problem." A few moments later, Hotch sent a second message. "So who was the pianist, and why did you need my opinion?"
"I was hoping you'd be the most likely to let it drop if I say it's none of your business," Jessica admitted.
"Ah, so Reid bought a piano? Don't worry, the secret's safe with me."
Jessica winced. "An electric keyboard, actually. And I really hate profilers sometimes."
"Well, considering that Reid bonded with a witness from our most recent case by playing the piano, it wasn't much of a leap. Though now that I think about it, the fact that you're the one asking my opinion instead of Reid makes me wonder if he knows you were recording him."
"…no. He doesn't know."
"You should probably tell him and get his permission before sharing that with anyone else," Hotch warned. "He might not appreciate having an audience he doesn't know about."
"Good point," Jessica conceded. "But thanks for confirming that he really is a good pianist."
A week later, when Prentiss returned from the Cosenza house, she went to her desk and overheard Reid on the phone at his desk. "Yeah, I haven't had any headaches for over a month now…Thank you for checking in, but I do actually have a case right now…I will definitely try to make it on Saturday, but we'll see…bye." He hung up and put his cell phone back in his pocket.
"Who was that?" Prentiss asked curiously.
"That was…uh…my girlfriend," Reid admitted quietly.
Prentiss's eyes widened. "What?!" she gasped happily.
"Her name's Dr. Maeve Donovan. We've been seeing each other for nearly seven weeks now."
Prentiss glanced around the bullpen. "Does anybody else know?"
"From the team, only you." Reid also glanced around. "They'd make it into a big deal and start badgering me with dating advice, like I'm some teenager with his first crush. And whether things work out with Maeve or not, I need to do it myself, if that makes any sense."
"It does," Prentiss confirmed, nodding. "I won't tell anyone. And I won't give advice unless you ask for it."
"Thank you."
Prentiss flashed him another smile and then sat down at her desk, smile fading. If only her own secrets could be so innocent. Here was yet another reason she needed to find a way to stop Doyle, and soon.
On Saturday night, Spencer texted Jessica to let her know that the team was going out of town. "We're flying out to Boston. Apparently our unsub is someone Emily arrested when she was working with Interpol, and now he broke out of prison and is seeking revenge. Emily went rogue to try to stop him going after us."
Jessica froze upon reading this, suddenly remembering Emily's odd behavior from several weeks previously. "How long do you think Emily knew the guy was after her?"
"We think she's known for several weeks. Did you notice odd behavior too?"
"Yeah. She showed up at the apartment a few weeks ago and asked if we could take Sergio. She got really evasive when I asked why. All she would say was that 'something bad' was coming and she couldn't explain it."
It took several minutes for Spencer to reply. "Well, hopefully we'll find her before Doyle does and then there will be no more secrets and weird behavior."
Jessica swallowed. She couldn't help but think back to the last two times the entire team had gone to Boston—last time had been the Foyet case, and before that had been the Adrian Bale case. Jessica had the horrible feeling that the BAU was about to go three for three for horrible doom in Boston. But she was determined not to say anything. If she just didn't say it, maybe her bizarre psychic powers wouldn't make it real…