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I was basically laying in the plane seat; my head was resting on Reid's shoulder, while our tangled-together hands were in his lap. The team was heading back from San Diego, where we were working on a white-collar related case. Given the distance between San Diego and Quantico, the flight's duration was estimated to be more than four hours; after the first one and a half, there remained just nothing to do. I already drank two cups of coffee, chitchatted with everyone, listened to music, and read some pages of the current book I had been reading. The next right thing was just laying and relaxing next to Reid, watching him read and just… be in his presence.
Prentiss and Rossi were sitting in front of us. Rossi, too, seemed worn out by the flight; he leaned against the wall, rested his head on his two fingers, and stared at the table. Emily on the other hand was very awake. She was fiddling with some Worden bricks between his fingers, tripping to match them somehow.
"What's that?" I asked a few minutes of watching later, switching my gaze between Emily's hands and her face.
"It's called a star puzzle" she answered. "You have to put all of the pieces back to form a perfect star. It's basically impossible to do because you have to take all of those pieces and fit them together exactly…"
I saw Spencer frowning at the wooden pieces curiously. When he got interested in something or focused really hard, he frowned unwittingly and a tiny but deep wrinkle appeared in the middle of his forehead, right above his nose bridge.
"The origin of it is kind of a romantic tale" Emily smirked at us. I squeezed Spencer's fingers.
"Which goes…?" I asked curiously.
Emily sighed, but leaned back and drew a breath to begin the storytelling.
"There was this young prince who wanted to win the heart of the fairest maiden in the land. So, he climbed to the top of the tallest tower in the kingdom and he caught a falling star for her. Unfortunately, he was so excited that he dropped it and it smashed into all of these pieces. So, he frantically put it back together again to prove his undying love to her, and he succeeded, and they lived happily ever after" she smiled as she finished. My lips reflected her beam; I found this story so beautiful, and it made me so emotional, listening to it while holding the hand of my own loved prince.
"This doesn't make any sense," Spencer said slowly, a few seconds of thinking later. Silence fell on the plane; I looked up at him, scanning his profile. "You can't catch a falling star. It would burn up in the atmosphere" he said, visibly confused. As my smile just grow wider, Emily on the contrary took it more personally.
"Yeah, but it's not literal, Reid" she stated coldly.
"Think of it like a cartoon" I tried to help. "There you can catch falling stars" I tilted my head tenderly.
"Yeah. Or… It's a fable" Prentiss added, shrugging.
"But there's no moral. Fables have morals" Spence argued further. The wrinkle on his forehead just deepened, making his bewildered look even lovelier.
"Okay, so it's just a romantic little story," Emily sighed. "The point is, it's basically impossible to do because you have to take all of those pieces and fit them together exactly…" she explained, but by the middle of her sentence she just ran out of words - rather, to be exact, something made her stop speaking.
While she was talking, during those exact 3 seconds of time, Spencer solved the puzzle and placed the now-ready star in my palm. Emily could only blink in shock.
"To prove my undying love," Reid said quietly, looking me in the eye. The unseen turn caused a wide, happy beam on my face. I leaned my head back on his shoulder, but before nudging my face into the crook of his neck, I pressed a shy kiss on his jawbone.
"Thank you" I murmured.
"Oh my God," Emily laughed. She even rolled her eyes pretending to be annoyed by our sweet moment. "So you did understand it" she looked at him challengingly in the eye.
"It's just a story" Spencer shrugged. I didn't see Prentiss' reaction; was too occupied with examining the star from every angle (and of course noting that it was indeed a Spencer Reid-level of hardness to solve). When I put it back on the table and tangled my fingers with Reid's again, my gaze jumped on our other colleague in front of us.
"What are you smiling at?" I asked Rossi, who was still smirking under his mustache.
"You two lovebirds just remind me of my second wife and myself, when we just began going out" he answered as he shrugged.
"Let's just hope they stay together for more than a single summer" we heard suddenly Morgan's voice from behind.
My jaw dropped; I had to cover my laugh with my free hand not to seem so rude. Spencer was laughing too (I felt his chest lifting up and down fast), but he wasn't that polite to hide it. Rossi's only reaction was that his eyebrows jumped high, and he nodded a little, in acknowledgment of the mocking.