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The team met on the plane. Hotch and Rossi were there first. Then Morgan. Emily. JJ. And finally, Reid.
Reid ran up the steps right before the plane was about to start take off procedures. The team was starting to worry… Well, they had been worried. Reid was usually one of the first on the plane. Most definitely there before Morgan and JJ. When Reid arrived, they’d expected him to start rambling about how bad the traffic was, or come up with some excuse as to why he’d almost missed the plane.
He didn’t. He simply went to sit down in his usual spot, opening up the case file that was waiting for him there. He wasn’t oblivious to the curious looks from the rest of the team, but he wasn’t going to talk about it. After all, if he were to tell them that he’d put off heading to the jet because he didn’t want to stop talking to a beautiful young woman, he would never hear the end of it. Morgan would be teasing him about it for the rest of his life.
Spencer pulled his phone out of his bag, after a moment looking at the case, deciding he needed to respond to Penny’s text. He still had a little while before they’d go over the case, given that they usually waited until they were in the air, and he wanted to respond before he was too caught up in the case to do so.
‘Just Penny? No last name ;)’
He texted back, adding what Garica had once told him was a winking emoji. He was about to put his phone back in his bag, when he realized he should confirm that she got the right number. Quickly, he texted ‘(This is Spencer, by the way)’.
“What’s her name?” Morgan asked, leaning close to Reid.
“What?” Spencer asked, looking up in surprise. How could Morgan know? There was no way…
“You’re last to board the plane, and now you’re texting,” Morgan commented. “So… What’s her name?”
Spencer balked. He didn’t realize he was that obvious. Still, he didn’t want to say her name. He didn’t want to tell them about her. He was afraid if he did, she would disappear. Maybe the beautiful young woman in the library who’d agreed to go on a date with him had just been his own wishful thinking.
He’d wait to tell them until after his and Penny’s first date… If even then. Maybe he’d wait until it was more than just dates. Until it was something serious.
His phone buzzed, and he looked at it… But he was disappointed to see it wasn’t Penny. It was Garcia, who was giving him some information on Sci-Fi-Gate. He was planning on going that year… It was months away, but if he was getting ahead of himself, he hoped he’d be able to go with Penny… But he had to have that first date first.
His phone buzzed again, this time, a text from Penny.
‘Penelope Hope Granger’ the text read. Spencer smiled. It was a beautiful name.
“Hey, pretty boy,” Morgan said, snapping Spencer back to reality. “What’s her name?”
“Penelope,” Spencer answered, truthfully. He knew Morgan would simply assume it was Garcia, and if he needed to, he could even show the text Garcia had sent him.
Spencer saved Penny’s number as a contact. Using her nickname, to differentiate from the other Penelope who’s number was saved in his phone.
“What’s Garcia texting you about?” Morgan asked, looking downright confused.
“She was giving me some information on Sci-Fi-Gate,” Spencer replied. “I’m planning on going this year.”
His phone buzzed again, and he immediately checked it. Once more, a text from Penny. He couldn’t hide the involuntary smile when he saw it.
‘I thought you didn’t do much texting’
‘I don’t. But I also don’t give my number to women at libraries, either. I guess you are the exception.’ Spencer replied.
“Are you saying that some nerdy convention is making you smile like that?” Morgan asked.
“They’re going to have Roxanna Dawson at one of the panels, and while Voyager isn’t my favorite Star Trek series, I’m interested in what…” Spencer said, going off the information Garcia had sent him. Rambling, until he got cut off by Morgan throwing his hands up in mock surrender.
“Alright, alright, I get it,” Morgan said.
It’d been just over a week since Spencer had met Penny, and he’d gotten to see her twice since. Because of his work, he took the first chance possible to take her out for coffee. They’d met up the morning after he got back from the case in Washington. They’d talked about poisons and head injuries, before somehow the subject changed to Star Trek. Once they’d started talking about Trek, they didn’t get off the subject. They talked for almost an hour, before Spencer needed to leave for work. He wished he could just do his paperwork at home, later in the day. But he still had to follow his work schedule, no matter how much he wanted to play hooky for the first time in his life… Or, maybe, the second.
They arranged their next get together, Spencer’s job willing, for Saturday night. The plan was for a Star Trek Marathon. At Spencer’s apartment, since he had most of Star Trek on DVD.
“I don’t have to worry about you being some serial killer or anything like that, since you're in the FBI,” Penny had said, when Spencer had suggested she come over to his apartment. “Normally, I wouldn’t go over to someone’s place so soon after meeting them, but since you’re law enforcement, I know I’m safe.”
She’d given him a smile that felt like it could make his heart stop, even though he knew it wasn’t physically possible.
“Actually, Law Enforcement Officials are just as probable, statistically speaking, to commit a crime as anyone else,” Spencer had replied. Having been taken off guard with her beautiful smile, and suddenly having an overwhelming urge to kiss her, he fell back on what he knew. Statistics. Though, he realized, he’d just warned her away from his apartment. That wasn’t what he’d meant to do. “I didn’t mean…” He’d said, going red.
Penny laughed. A beautiful sound that made Spencer stop speaking, and smile in spite of his sudden embarrassment.
“But if you were dangerous, you wouldn’t be telling me how likely you are to commit a crime,” she said, breathy with laughter. “I don’t think serial killers usually warn their victims away.”
“Actually…” Spencer began to say, but then he stopped. Smiling. This wasn’t a time for statistics.
Spencer had gotten them indian food, from the 24 hour place near his apartment. They switched between episodes of TOS and Voyager. Since Penny wanted to show him her favorite episodes. Watching Voyager led to him bringing up Sci-Fi-Gate, and the fact that Roxanna Dawson was going to be on one of the panels. She got so excited, and asked him for all the information he had on it.
He didn’t exactly invite her to go along with him, since it was still months away, and way too early to plan so far ahead. But it sounded like she wanted to go… So if they just happened to both go, might as well spend time together while there. Not a set in stone plan, but a reason to hope.
When Penny saw the Tardis pen holder on the bookshelf, they got into a conversation about Doctor Who, and made tentative plans for her next day off. Wednesday evening. They’d meet at Spencer’s apartment again, so he could show her some of the Original Series of Doctor Who. All Penny had seen was the reboot.
Unfortunately, Wednesday morning brought a case. As they were leaving the briefing room, JJ came up to him, to vent.
“I guess I’m going to have to call Will. We were planning ot go out for our anniversary,” she said, in a long-suffering tone. “I guess we’ll have to postpone it till we’re back from the case… You’re lucky you don’t have plans.”
“Actually…” Spencer said, then stopped himself.
It was still too soon to tell them all about Penny. If they knew about her, they’d want to meet her. And he was afraid they’d scare her off. Morgan would probably want to make sure she knew all of his faults, so she’d ‘know what she was getting into’. And JJ would probably try to analyze if she was ‘good enough’, which of course Penny was. She was more than good enough. She was too good. He… He liked her. He really liked her. And he didn’t want to lose her because he introduced her to the team before she was ready.
“What, you’re saying you’ve got plans?” Morgan asked, with a scoff. He’d been listening in, rather unintentionally. Spencer Never had plans. “What, were you planning on a Star Trek Marathon or something?”
“Doctor Who, actually,” Spencer replied, and left it at that.
Spencer was waiting on an answer from a search Garcia was doing for him. He worked the geographical profile, as he waited. Coloring in all the spots of importance on the map. JJ and Emily were in the room with him, going over victimology. When Spencer’s phone started ringing, he picked it up immediately.
“Doctor Reid here,” Spencer said, as soon as he answered.
He’d seen Garcia’s contact information, before he’d answered, and had wished for a slight second that it had been a different Penelope calling him. But of course, she didn’t call him. She always texted, and he called her.
“Who’s your favorite?” Garcia asked, in that bubbly tone of hers she got when she had information for them.
“Uh…” Spencer said, shoving his free hand in his pocket.
He usually had playful banter with Garcia, not as much as Morgan, but… This time he just couldn’t bring himself to answer her as he usually did. Because he had a favorite person, and it wasn’t Garcia. It was another Penelope who he very much wished he was talking to at the moment.
“Okay, Boy Genius, what’s going on?” Garcia asked, suddenly distracted from what she was calling about. “You’ve been acting weird for two weeks now. Do you have a secret girlfriend or something?”
“Do you have something for us, Garcia?” Spencer asked, his voice strained. He could feel the heat rising up the back of his neck, and hitting the tips of his ears. She couldn’t know, could she?
Emily and JJ both looked up at Spencer’s tone of voice, realizing that something was up.
“I’m right, aren’t I? You changed the subject… That means I’m right!” Garcia said into the phone, a bit too loud and excited. Loud enough for Emily and JJ to hear.
“Garica, I’m focused on the case right now,” Spencer said, trying to get her off the subject. “My personal life has nothing to do with that. So, do you have something for us?”
Emily and JJ exchanged a look.
“Yeah, I have something for the case,” Garcia replied.
She told him what she’d found, and he thanked her, hanging up before she could say anything else.
Spencer added the new information onto the map, pointedly avoiding the curious looks of the other profilers.
Spencer had gone to the M.E.’s office with Hotch, and Morgan and Rossi had returned to the precinct, when Garcia called Emily. Prentiss answered, and put the phone on speaker so all of them could hear.
“What’s up Garcia?” Emily asked, thinking Garcia had some big break in the case.
“I think Reid has a girlfriend,” was Garcia’s immediate response. “Since I’m not in the field with all of you, I don’t exactly have proof. But… Have you seen anything to prove me right? Cause Spencer changed the subject when I asked him.”
“I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary,” Emily commented, as the gathered team shared looks.
“Wouldn’t you know better than any of us, baby girl?” Morgan asked. “He’s been calling you almost every night since we took this case… actually, I think for the last few cases.”
“He hasn’t,” Garcia replied. Confused. “He calls me when he needs info about the case, but you know I’m more into texting than calling. And why would he call me at night?”
“I overheard him talking to you the other day,” Morgan countered. “Talking about one of your guys’ nerd shows.”
Everyone was slightly confused now, and no two were more so than Morgan and Garcia.
“He even called you Penny,” Morgan added, to jog her memory.
“Chocolate thunder, our Boy Genius hasn’t called me Penny a day in his life,” Garcia countered.
“Then who the heck was he talking to?” Morgan asked.
“Maybe his girlfriend,” Rossi suggested.
“Maybe,” JJ agreed.
Morgan was getting his go bag ready for the trip back to Virginia after the case, when his phone started to ring. He picked it up immediately, since he saw that it was Garcia. The case was over, so he assumed Garcia was calling him about a movie night or something. They’d just finished the case in LA, which meant a six hour flight home, then they’d have the weekend off. Maybe Garcia was planning ahead for the weekend.
“Hey, babygirl, what’s up?” Morgan asked as soon as he answered the phone.
“I did a thing,” Garcia replied, sounding upset. “And now I feel bad about it.”
“What kind of a thing?” Morgan asked, as he zipped up his go bag, and grabbed the hotel room key card.
“I snooped through Reid’s phone records,” Garcia admitted, miserably. “I shouldn’t have done that…”
“Garcia,” Morgan chided.
“Well, it’s been driving me crazy the last week and a half, wondering about Spencer’s girlfriend,” Garcia explained into the phone. “Spencer isn’t telling me anything. And after what you said about his demeanor change from last night to this morning… So I snooped through his phone records, to see who he’s been calling. There are a few repeated numbers. He calls us, of course… Burt there are a few more numbers he calls regularly, or that regularly call him. There’s Bennington Sanitarium, which isn’t a surprise. Then there’s his local library. They call him a lot… I’m guessing he regularly has books on hold… But the other number… It belongs to a Penelope HOpe Granger… So, of course I did some more snooping.”
“Babygirl,” Morgan chided again. But he was interested, so the chiding was more halfhearted.
“She works in Betty’s Diner on Seventh Street,” Garcia explained. “I have absolutely no idea how our Boy Genius met her… I haven’t snooped as low as going over his financials, or else I’d know if he met her at the diner or someplace else, but… But I found a picture of her.”
“What does she look like?” Morgan asked, wondering what kind of girl his friend would date.
Garcia inhaled sharply. “She looks exactly like the victims in our last case,” she explained.
“Ah, so that’s why Pretty Boy was so stressed,” Morgan surmised. “The victims reminded him of his girlfriend.”
“Yeah,” Garcia added. “I wonder what they talked about, that led to his break in the case…”
“Babygirl, you couldn’t pay me to ask what kind of things Pretty Boy says to his girlfriend,” Morgan replied. “I don’t want to know.”