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“Alright, my lovelies,” Garcia began, holding up the clicker and taking her place at the front of the room.
“Should we wait on Rossi?” Emily questioned, only for a voice to pull their attention behind them.
“Here,” Rossi stood in the doorway, clad in a tux with a less than pleased expression on his face.
“Working on wife four?” Morgan whistled.
“No,” Rossi glared at the group but there was an ever-present humor behind it, “I had a speaking engagement tonight if you must know.”
“I’m sure they’ll miss you,” Hotch interjected, before gesturing for Garcia to continue.
“We have two victims, the first Marcus Grove, wealthy publisher and father of two kids,” A picture of an older balding man in his late 60’s appeared on the screen, “He was reported missing by his wife two days ago and was found shot, execution style under a bridge an hour from his home yesterday morning,” two pictures followed of his bloodied body from different angles where it had been found, “The second victim is one Nathon Kade, professor at Columbia University,” His picture showed a dark-haired man of 40, followed by three images of a similar composition to the other victim, “He was found in an ally in his hometown, this morning.”
“He wasn’t reported missing,” Reid asked, tapping his finger on the table as he thought.
“His wife said he was supposed to be in DC for an event and was staying here for a few days,” Garcia answered.
“But he never even made it out of the city,” Emily concluded.
“Wait, Garcia, you said he was a professor?” Rossi was glaring up at the photos curiously.
“Yep, he was a,” she glanced down at the tablet on the table,” professor of literature at Columbia.”
“My speaking engagement was an event downtown for those in the literary circles, professors, high class publishers, and authors in the area, is it possible that was the event his wife was referring to?” Garcia gave a considering humm and picked up the tablet, tapping a few thing in before quickly picking her head up.
“Yep, the event website has him listed under guest speakers.” Reid stood up from the table, his brow furrowed as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
“I think I might have someone that can help,” he managed as he walked out of the conference room, dialing your number.
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“I apologize for the change in schedule, but I promise these new perspectives will be just as amazing. Thank you all for coming.” you beamed at the crowd, concluding your speech, before exiting to the backstage. A sigh left your lips and you took a sip of water from the bottle next to your bag. This event took you months of planning and with your keynote speaking rushing out last minute and another seemingly mia, the night had already been stressful. Luckily, the stage was your friend, so smoothing things over wasn’t too difficult. Your bag began vibrating, snapping you from your thoughts. “Hello,” you answered, a smile spreading across your face as you heard Spencer’s voice.
“Um hey, (y/n), you’re at the literary event downtown right?” He stuttered slightly but there was something urgent in his tone.
“Ya, I am Spence, why?” “We’ve been called in on a case and it looks like the two victims were supposed to be there. I think you might have known them. Do you think you could come up to the office? We could use your help.” He paused, waiting for you to respond.
“Oh God,” you paused and the missing speaker came to mind, “Ya of course, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Reid muttered a ‘thank you’ before the line went dead and you grabbed your bag, finding your partner in setting up the event.
“Is everything alright,” she asked, looking up from a schedule.
“Something has come up and I have to leave. It’s an emergency. Do you think you can handle all of this?” She nodded immediately and you let out a relieved sigh.
“Absolutely, go do what you need to do.”
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You had met Spencer Reid a little over four months prior. After your first book took off, you decided to open a small bookshop in DC. You still wrote, spoke, and helped to organize events like the one tonight, but there was something about a quaint shop, surrounded by books all day that made you feel at peace. It was there that a certain doctor had walked through the doors and had brought a series of books in different languages, from the foreign section you kept, up to the register.
“Russian, French, and English,” you observed, offering the tall man a smile.
“Yes, I find books in their original languages convey the author’s intent better than those that are translated. It’s often difficult to convey it correctly when words or phrases don’t translate directly,” He stopped, giving you a nervous smile as you simply stared up at him a little dumbfounded, “Sorry,” he added quietly.
“No not at all, I agree. I may not be very fluent in anything other than a few lines of French but whenever I can find original versions, I try to get them in.” He grinned wider at you as you placed his books into a paper bag. He came back in a week later, picking up another armful of books. It was then you finally got his name, Spencer Reid. It was two weeks after that—two weeks of your mind constantly drifting to the shaggy brown haired doctor—before he returned. With a mention of your interest in discussing literature, you and Reid were exchanging numbers and setting up a coffee “date” for the following weekend. You soon learned about his job and fell into a friendship with him like it was the naturalist thing in the world. You saw each other most weeks when he wasn’t on a case and even spent a good bit of time at each other’s apartments, watching movies or simply talking. Yes, fortunately, falling into friendship with him was easy, unfortunately, falling for him was just as easy. You weren’t sure if there was anything other than movies and book references in your future but a part of you really hoped there was.
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The first person you saw was Morgan, someone you recognized from Spencer’s passing remarks about his colleagues, who you gathered were practically his family. You caught his eye and he walked over to you with a smug and curious expression on his face.
“Can I help you?” He asked, eyeing you wearily. It was then you realized how odd you must have looked. You were wearing a rather formal red dress that stopped a little above your knee, paired with black heels and meticulous makeup to complete the look.
“Um, ya, I’m here to see Spencer, Spencer Reid,” you clarified. Before Morgan could respond, you saw spencer walk up beside him.
“Hey,” he gave you a quick hug, “everyone else is upstairs.” He motioned for you to follow him up to the conference room and Morgan walked behind the two of you. All eyes were on you as you entered the room, “This is (y/n),” Reid introduced you.
“Miss (y/l/n),” Rossi called you by your last name, extended a hand for you to shake, which you did with a small smile, noticing his tux, “I was supposed to be speaking at your event tonight. I’m sorry I had to leave last minute.”
“Not at all, seems I did too,” you laughed slightly as Reid and Morgan shuffled into the room.
“You know Reid?” A dark-haired woman who you later learned was named Emily asked from her seat.
“We’re friends,” you smiled at Reid, before turning your attention to the group, “What exactly can I do for ya’ll?” Garcia opened her mouth to respond but Morgan stepped in beside you.
“We have two victims who were registered for your event. Pretty boy here thought you might know them.” He clarified as your eyes fell to the rather gruesome images on the screen.
“People come and go. I try my best to remember but I can’t always recall. I’ll do my best though.” Morgan muttered something about them sure remembering you, earning a glare from Garcia as you stepped up to the screen. One of them jumped out at you immediately, “Him, Grove I think, he was supposed to speak tonight but he didn’t show.”
“Do you have any idea who would have done this?” Hotchner asked.
“No, I’m sorry. I know he was one of the rather shady guests at the venue. He was a respected publisher but he lived even above his means. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got into something dirty.”
“Garcia, see what you can dig up.” He ordered and the blonde moved quickly from the screen, “Would you mind looking it over with her, seeing if anything rings a bell?” He directed the question at you.
“Of course,” you left the room just behind Garcia but Reid stopped you outside of the door.
“Thanks for coming,” He moved to stand directly in front of you, “I know this event was important.” He seemed apologetic in the way he spoke.
“Of course, I’ll help you save lives any day,” the way he smiled down at you melted your heart. Maybe after this case, you could finally tell him how you felt but for now, you peeled your eyes away and cleared your throat, making your way down to the room you had seen Garcia disappeared into.
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You spent the majority of the next half hour sitting in a chair behind Garcia. Occasionally you would speak up and mention something about what she had come across only to be quickly dismissed. “And,” she slid her chair to the side to type on another keyboard, “I’m done,” She downloaded something on her tablet and turned to you, her cheerful expression changing to more of a locked jaw glare, “You can get back to your little event,” she snapped. You were taken aback a little. From what you had heard, Garcia was this ray of sunshine in the office and you had no idea what you had done to make her hate you so quickly.
“Look, I’m not sure what happened but I think we got off on the wrong foot,” you began only for her to cut you off. “You walk in here and everyone is fawning over you, especially Morgan, I-”
“Whoa,” you put your hands up in defense as you stood up, “I promise you I have no interest in Morgan.” No of course you had no interest in Moran. You had barely even noticed his flirty nature. You were too occupied trying to keep your eyes off of Spencer in a room full of profilers. She gave you a glare that seemed to say “Ya right” and burn into your soul at the same time, “Trust me,” you smiled reassuringly, “I’ve had my heart set on someone else for a while now and besides there is one key thing you’re overlooking.”
“What’s that?” Her face softened slightly but she still looked at you suspiciously.
“I don’t hold a candle to you,” you winked playfully, earning a normal Garcia smile as you left to tell Spencer goodbye before you went home. You found his standing by his desk with Morgan and Emily. “Hey,” you greeted placing a hand briefly on Reid’s arm as you joined them, “Garcia said she was done so I’m gonna held out.
“Let me walk you out,” Morgan offered.
“I got it,” Reid quickly interjected and he followed you to the elevators, “Morgan likes you,” he nearly whispered when the both of you were out of earshot.
“Oh, not you too,” you sighed and he gave you a questioning glare and head tilt that made the edges of your lips upturn slightly, “Apparently Garcia thought I was interested in him,” you laughed.
“You aren’t?” He seemed genuinely surprised and you couldn’t help but laugh again. “Well, you see, there’s this one guy I’ve had my eye on for quite some time now,” you grinned, hoping he would catch on.
“Right,” he cleared his throat and you thought he almost looked sad, “of course.” Apparently, he did not catch on.
“Reid, I swear to God, for a genius you can be pretty dense. I meant you,” His eyes widened as he realized what you had said.
“Me?” you weren’t sure if he was talking to himself or to you. You placed a hand on his cheek and his eyes fell back to you.
“Yes you, I was gonna tell you sometime soon but I honestly thought I was pretty obvious.” You really thought you had been obvious, hell, you took every chance to hang out with him and basically flirted with him every time you saw him.
“I um,” he stopped, searching for what to say, “I like you too,” he managed and you pulled him down into a kiss. It was hesitant but sweet as you slid your hand from his cheek to the back of his head, tangling your fingers into his dark curls.
“You should get back to your team,” you finally said, pulling away.
“Yes,” he agreed still looking down at you with a sort of adorable nervousness, “Maybe I should tell them about..”
“About me?” you finished and he nodded, “Something tells me they already know,” you nodded to the side and he turned to see them all starring from the bullpen, various thumbs up and slacked jaws among them.