Two High IQ's Make One Great Romance

Spencer kissed me after walking me to my office. I knew I would see him in just a few seconds, but we both knew that he would be leaving for a case today, and therefore would be in danger for the first time in months. So that was probably why we were being a bit more clingy than usual.

There was a banner hanging in front of the computers when I walked into the room. Penelope was standing in front of it with a plate full of cupcakes. I covered my face in embarrassment.

"Welcome back!" She yelled, laughing the entire time. She set the plate down and we hugged. I laughed at Penelope's constant excitement for every little moment in life.

"You didn't have to do this... It's not like it's my first day back at work." I sat down and started peeling the wrapper from a cupcake.

"But it is! It's your first day back at the BAU! Silly little bird, things have been different, but now, ah yes now, they are back to normal." Penelope said in the way that only Penelope Garcia could. We laughed together for another minute as Derek walked in the door.

"Welcome back." He said, grabbing a cupcake. "I uh, noticed a nice little hickey on Reid's neck. Know anything about that?" He smirked. I smirked right back.

"If this is you announcing that you've given hickeys to my boyfriend, I can't say that I'm too surprised." I smirked as I bit into the cupcake. Derek shook his head in amusement.

"You caught me."

Rossi poked his head in the doorway at just the right time. He looked down to the cupcakes in confusion, realized that Penelope had acted in her normal ways, and looked back to our faces.

"How come I wasn't invited?" He asked. Penelope grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into the room.

"Help yourself to the Piper and her cupcakes, but I've got to get everything set up for the meeting." She looked down at her watch. "See you in ten."

She left the room quickly and I was left with Rossi and Derek who started a conversation about the most recent football game that was on TV, one that I had conveniently missed.

Spencer entered the room about a minute before we had to leave for the conference. The men ignored him as they continued their heated debate. He kissed the top of my head and rested his hand on my shoulder as he stood behind me, waiting for the moment when I would stand up and we could walk to the debriefing room together. It was a nonchalant moment, something that maybe no one else would notice, but it made me smile to think about how close we truly had become. Small moments like this were ones that a treasured. It didn't hurt either that it was the night after we had made love for the first time, and we were still as casual as ever about our relationship.

"We should head out." Spencer said as he looked at his watch. Rossi and Derek led the way as we followed quickly behind, walking close but not touching.

I set up my laptop after we sat down. I took my usual seat between Derek and Spencer which attraction some amused looks.

"It's good to have you back in that seat. I hope your ready to go back to full time crime solving." Emily said from her seat across from me. I nodded.

"Always ready." I had a brief flashback of my encounter with my attacker and my hand went to my face, feeling for the bruises that I had gotten used to. Spencer noticed my moment of weakness and took my hand from my face, squeezing it as if to tell me to be calm and forget about what had happened. I looked to him and smiled, taking my hand away and putting it on my keyboard, ready to type in whatever data Penelope was about to tell us.

The meeting was brief and not as informational as we all would have liked, but it made me smile to be in the room with the team again. Watching everything via web cam was never as good as being there in person.

The team was heading out and I grabbed Spencer's arm, squeezing as if never to let him go.

"Be safe." I said quietly. He leaned down and kissed me deeply, smiling into it and rubbing my arms up and down.

"Don't be worried. You stay safe too. Don't forget to lock your doors and whatnot." He kissed me again after finishing his sentence. I felt unbelievably nervous about having Spencer leave on a case again. We weren't the luckiest people in the world when it came to serial killers.

"I love you." I said to him.

"Love you too."
He turned and joined the team as they headed for the plane. This time would be different from others. We were separating now, and I would be worried more than ever.

XXXXXX

"You'll know when I know." I said to Hotch as my fingers flew across the computer. He sighed and shut the phone, knowing that I was working as fast as I could. He was asking me to cross reference thousands of names in data bases with people who had worked previous as park attendants in a small town in Ohio. It would take maybe a half hour to finish, but of course he needed the answers now. I did the best that I could to speed up the process, but Rossi also had me looking into a background check for a Miss Carla Simmons, who's daughter was currently missing. Rossi has a suspicion that she knew more than she was letting on, and I believed him considering the information that was coming up.

He answered the phone after two rings. "Rossi."

"Hello there my dear Special Agent. It seems as though Carla has a bit of a past." I said as pages on pages of her history continued to pop up on my screens.

"Let's hear it then." He put the phone on speaker and I was now sure that I was talking to the entire time, except for Hotchner, as well as some local police.

"She was arrested at age thirteen for vandalism, served some time in jouvie and then was released at age fourteen only to be taken into foster care. Not too long after she had to be taken into different care because of alleged rape from her foster parents. That was not the end of poor Carla's life, as only three years later she was arrested yet again for assault and attempt at murder. She served time and was released three years later. It was that year that she got pregnant and had her daughter Caitlin. She has had no run in's with the police since that time."

"Thanks Piper. Keep us posted if anything else comes up." Rossi clicked the phone off. In my busy state I still had time to think about how strange it was that I was speaking to Spencer, as well as the rest of the team, without getting a response. It was the work relationship that we always had, but it was still weird to me. For the past two months we had worked together, in the same house, morning noon and night. But now when we were working, we were strictly business and there was barely any room for us to be a couple without blurring the lines of professionally.

God only knew if he felt the same way as I, which was weird, but still I had a sense of familiarity at the same time. It was almost as if this was how our relationship was supposed to function. We were meant to be partners in crime, and then be a couple only hours later. It was strange, but I couldn't think of anything about our relationship that wasn't weird.

My phone buzzed, as if on que, and I answered it with a slight smile, but still ready to work.

"Hey."

"Hey are you almost ready with those names that you cross referenced?" He asked in a polite tone. I knew it was an unusual tone for him to be using when on a case, usually he was very focused and sometimes assertive. I had heard him on the phone with Penelope before, and he never spoke like that to her when asking her to do something for him. But of course, he was trying not to be so straight-forward.

"Maybe five minutes." I said as I shuffled through some papers on my desk, looking for where I had put my pen. "I'll send it to all your phones when it's finished, but the system does not work as quickly when there's thousands of names to go through."

"Right." He said with some hesitation.

"Is there something that you need? I'm available for information input." I had my fingers at the ready. Spencer laughed.

"Actually, never mind. Garcia's on it." He said, clearly looking to Penelope.

"Alright."

"I'll call you later tonight." He said before hanging up. I couldn't be mad at him for hanging up so quickly, he was a stressed as he always on a case.

I sent all of the information to everyone's phones and leaned back in my chair, taking a deep breath before getting started on more work.