Two High IQ's Make One Great Romance

I stood in front of my car with my hands covering my face. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.” I muttered to myself. Spencer came up beside me and placed his hand on the small of my back.

“If you keep saying stuff like that I’m going to leave you.” He joked. “Stop thinking so pessimistically; it’ll start to affect your blood pressure.”

I leaned into him and took my hands away from my face. I had just officially moved all of my things into Spencer’s house and was now standing outside my old house, making sure that it was emptied before locking it up one last time. I would be renting it out to people visiting D.C.

“I know.”
Spencer laughed and kissed my cheek before leaving me by myself so that he could climb in the driver’s seat of my car. “Are you coming? Or am I leaving you here for the night?”

I turned on my heels and climbed into the car, leaving my house behind me. I was happy. I was more than happy, actually. I didn’t have to words to describe exuberance I was feeling from moving in with Spencer. Things were great in our relationship and I deserved to be happy. But, just the mere fact that everything was moving so quickly was a bit startling. My father didn’t much approve, and Brianne and others felt as though it was unnecessary, but I was following through with my plans anyway.

“Are you happy?” He asked me, looking at me from the corner of his eye. I took his free hand in both of mine and kissed it.

“Yes. I’m always happy when I’m with you.”

Spencer looked over and smiled. “You know Christmas is almost here…”

I looked back at him. “And…?”

“Well I’m just wondering if like… well what were our…”

“I was thinking we wouldn’t do presents because we already just bought each other amazing gifts like two weeks ago.” I said with a laugh.

Spencer sighed. “Honestly I have no idea what I’d get you because you have everything.”

“Don’t get me anything. Our Christmas presents to each other should be remodeling the kitchen and putting in the new giant closet.”

We pulled into the driveway of our house and we lazily shuffled in the front door. We had moved mostly everything ourselves, but Derek and my Aunt offered to help move the bigger things. It wasn’t like I had too much to move, but the extra help was nice. Both of them, however, declined to stay for dinner as they wanted to give me time to organize my things.

“Shall we organize?” I asked Spencer, looking at all of the cardboard boxes lining the living room and leading up the stairs. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed my neck.

“I’d rather put it off for another day.” He moaned into my neck, resting his head on my shoulder. I laughed and stroked his hair.

“I thought you’d say that.”

We lazily strolled up to the bedroom where I had already bought a new comforter and bed frame. I decided that was all I wanted to do to the room, because I already love the antique look of the furniture. Spencer told me that he had a decorator do some work in here before he had even moved in. It wasn’t crowded in the room and was rather large, so there was enough room for the stuff I had planned on putting in there, such as a new dresser just to fit my underwear, bras, and pajamas. The guest room across the hall had indeed been turned into our new closet, and we were in the process of rearranging everything and doing some minor construction to make it officially look like a walk in closet. There was another guest bedroom downstairs new the library, so we didn’t feel as though we were losing a room in the remodel.

I collapsed onto the bed, feeling exhausted. The first part of my day consisted of dance lessons, as it was a Saturday, and for some reason the girls were not interested in learning today, but were more interest in causing problems for their teachers.

The second half consisted of moving my things into Spencer’s house. Both halves were equally exhausting and left me feeling unbelievably tired.

“And you wanted to organize? Yeah right...” Spencer mocked me, throwing himself onto the bed beside me.

“I just know that it’s going to end up being me organizing by myself while you’re off in some other town.”

Spencer rolled over and began rubbing my back soothingly. His eyes closed and his face buried into the pillow. “We have all day tomorrow and you know I’ll help you when I can.”

I leaned into him, wanting to feel closer. His arms embraced me warmly . “I know. I guess I’m just tired and don’t want to think about it.”

He smiled coyly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”
And we fell asleep quicker than ever.

Spencer was not around the next morning. I scratched my head and sat up, looking around the box-filled room to see that he was not there and nothing seemed out of place. I shuffled down the steps and heard nothing coming from the library or living room, so I wandered into the kitchen. There was a container sitting on the counter with a note on top of it.

Got some breakfast. Went to the library. Won ‘t be long.
Love you.

I laughed lightly at his short sentences and improper phrasing, knowing he never usually did so. I opened the Styrofoam and saw a stack of pancakes with a side of syrup. I shook my head at him. I could have made this at home, he didn’t have to go out and buy anything just for me. But then I knew that he was probably feeling that this was a special day because it would be the first official day that we lived together.

As I thought more about that, I realized that I was more worried than ever now. I took a few bites of food and contemplated. If we got into fights (which were rare, but small ones did happen) I wouldn’t be able to run to my house to get away from him. I would have little to no personal space, and we would be with each other almost 24/7 when we weren’t on a case. Everything in the house was our stuff, not one or the others. We were splitting bills and payments and food. We might as well be married, because we were living as married people.

I knew logically that I was being unreasonable and we weren’t really living like a married couple, but the concept was the same. I told myself that I had to stop focusing on the things making me nervous, and focus on the fact that we were so in love that living together was not only a possibility but a reality, and if any couple could make it work it was the two of us.

As if he heard me thinking, my wonderful boyfriend walked into the kitchen holding a stack of books. Most of the books, I knew, would be finished by the end of the day. But then he probably got so many so that I could read some as well before he took them back and exchanged them for more.

“Hey babe.” I said, smiling and tilting my head up to kiss him quickly. He put the books down and pecked my lips, sighing and licking his lips, tasting the syrup on them. “Get a few books?” I asked sarcastically.

“Ha. Yes, only a few. How are the pancakes?” He asked, taking one book and flipped to the back cover and almost immediately setting it down after reading it in seconds.

“Delicious. But you know I could have made these. You didn’t have to go out and buy them.”

“I went out for a walk and just went to breakfast. It was nice to get out in the cold weather.”

I looked to his outfit, which consisted of brown slacks, a black pea coat, and a sweater. There was a bit of snow glistening on the tips of his hair and his glasses were getting steamy from coming inside to the warm weather.

“I bet. You look cute, but go put your contacts in your glasses are getting all steamy.” I brushed my hand through his hair and felt the cold water dampen my skin.

“Aw but you like me all steamy…” He said, pouting. As he spoke, his glasses became even more fogged.

I pushed his face. “If you want to stay in them, go for it. But you’ll be the one who can’t see.”

He took his glasses off and wiped the steam with his shirt, only worsening the problem by smudging the lenses. I laughed at him and he rolled his eyes as he began to walk up to the bedroom to get his contacts.

I finished the pancakes and took a few of the books Spencer had brought home into the library where I plucked one from the pile and curled up onto one of the leather chairs next to the fire place. Spencer came in soon after and took a book as well.

“Do you know how to light this thing?” I said, pointing with my feet towards the fireplace.

“Sure do.” He said, setting down his book and getting on his knees to start a fire. He messed around with a few of the logs and finally got the fire going, which was entertaining to watch. Spencer is not a ‘fire starting’ kind of man. He might read a few books on the subject, but actually doing so takes more work than reading the words off of a page. But he did in fact have a roaring fire after a few minutes.

“Looks like you do that a lot.” I joked.

He smirked and sat back down on his chair across from me. “You’re welcome.”

I got up and kissed the top of his head. “I’ll make some hot chocolate. Is this the kind of day we’re having?”

“I guess so.”

“We should be unpacking….” I said, walking out the door.

“It can wait.” He said after I had left the room. We really should have been more productive, but something about the day made me want to lounge around and read with Spencer. He loved to read more than anything (sometimes even more than he loved me, I was sure) and if he was happy just sitting around a fire, drinking hot chocolate, reading old books, then I was happy too. I knew I would end up unpacking all of my stuff when he was off on a case and I was home alone, and I was okay with that.

I brought two mugs full of hot chocolate with three marshmallows each. He sipped at it and grinned, satisfied. “Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

For the next two hours we sat in complete silence as Spencer finished all of the books in the pile while I was halfway through the first one I picked up. We laughed once in a while at ourselves or at the books, and I would lean over and show him a line I thought was particularly funny, but for the most part we were quiet. The only real noise was of the crackling fire, and Spencer’s constant page turning.

Eventually I began to yawn, and I looked over to him with tired eyes.

“Need a nap?” He asked me. I laughed and set down the book after marking the page I was on.

“It’s so sad that I can barely get through a Sunday without a nap.”

“I’m okay with it if you are.” He said with a smile.

We slowly walked up to the bedroom, kicking boxes aside and sighing at the amount of stuff I had cluttering the room. I collapsed onto the bed, not really wanting to sleep but wanting to sit with Spencer. He opened up his arms and I crawled into him, allowing him to gently close them around me.

His soft lips kissed my forehead, a loving gesture.

“We’re so lazy when we have nothing to do.” I sighed. As if on que, both of our phones began ringing. Our groans were simultaneous. Neither of us moved for a moment.

“We’ve got to answer them.” Spencer said quietly. I nodded, and we both answered at the same time.

After we hung up the phones I tossed it onto the night stand. “I’m showering quickly. They should know better than to call us in on a Sunday.” I said, stripping and heading into the bathroom.

“Hotch said this one was urgent or he wouldn’t have called us in. It must be pretty important.”

“Well they can wait a few minutes for us to shower, right?” I asked him. He smiled and started stripping as well. “We really can’t take long though… let’s make this quick.”
We did surprisingly take a quick shower, only because of the importance of the case.

We were in casual clothes when we arrived at the office and Spencer brought along his go-bag.

“Sorry we had to shower before coming in.” I apologized for the both of us as we took our seats at the table.

“That’s alright; I understand that this call came in short notice.” Hotch said. Garcia stood up and began her presentation of the murders, and the team began brainstorming already as we sat around the table. As soon as everyone was finished getting prepped, the team got ready to leave and I headed into my office.
Spencer followed me in, alongside Penelope.

“Be safe.” I said to him, looking up at his face while I sat at my chair. “You too crazy girl.” I looked at Penelope.

“We always are.” Penelope answered. I sighed and began researching the murders and pulling up background information.

“Now leave me be so I can get to work while you guys are on your flight.” I said to the screen in front of me, intending the statement to be directed to the people standing behind me. Spencer came up and grabbed my hand, removing it from the keyboard.

I stopped and looked up. “I love you.” I said.

He kissed me. “I love you too. Call you soon.”
They both walked out and left me to my work. I already began working on the case, researching the victims and trying to connect them in any way possible.

Hours later, I realized, my eyes had not left the screen. The only reason I knew it was so much later was because I was receiving a phone call from Rossi.

“Speak to me.” I said, answering the phone and putting it on speaker.

“Hey. So Marly Johnson moved to Atlanta only a year ago…” He began.

“She had a baby a few weeks before moving to the city.” I said. We went back and forth, and soon enough Rossi was satisfied and hung up after giving me a thanks.

Another phone call came soon after, and I knew who it was before I even answered.

“Have you taken your eyes off of the screen?” he asked me. I sighed and leaned back in my rolling chair.

“No.” I covered my eyes with my hands and shook my head.

“We’ll I suppose it’s going to be a long day for the both of us.” He said. Already I knew that the scene must be pretty serious over in Atlanta where they were.
Spencer continued on to describe the scene to me, which I already knew of somewhat because of the crime scene photos. But I knew there was nothing like seeing a scene in person.

“How soon until he strikes again?” I asked Spencer.

“Could be weeks. Could be days. If he continues his pattern, it should be within two weeks. Hopefully we’ll get him before then.”

“We can only hope.”

XXXXXX

I threw myself onto the couch and sighed after the long day. There wasn’t much progress on the case, and I knew that this would be a more difficult case than one we’d had in a while.

I scanned the boxes scattered throughout the house and sighed once more, knowing that I had to begin unpacking. I begrudgingly opened the first few boxes and put my stuff in their respective locations, clearing space in each room for my own things to do. I placed my night stand next to the bed, and my own computer chair in the library in front of the desk that I had purchased to go along side Spencer’s. We were going to share the desk like we had been, but we both knew that eventually we’d butt heads over who got what side and where to put each other’s things.

I started organizing pictures and hanging things up that I knew suited both of our tastes. I placed some silverware and plates into the kitchen that were more feminine than the cutlery already in the drawers. Things continued to get unpacked and soon enough all of the boxes on the first floor were officially emptied. Spencer would be shocked when he got home to a new home, full of our stuff.

My feet trudged up the stairs as I decided that I would leave the rest of the things to be put away some other time. I didn’t bother changing into pajamas before falling asleep on top of the covers.

XXXXXX

The case was finished in a week, which was longer than it usually took. Normally, if we were given a lot of leads and clues, we could find an unsub in a matter of days, but because this one was so severe, it took a bit more information and a lot more piecing together of information to catch the man behind the crimes. He was, in fact, truly insane, and it was good thing that we caught him before he harmed the family he had held captive. It was a close call, and he was about to shoot a father of four in the head before Derek barged in the door, gun pointed at his head. Close calls as such were rare, but we were all glad that Derek got to the unsub before the unsub had a chance to ruin more lives.

The team was on their flight back, and I decided to be nice and clean up the tech room before Penelope came home and took one look at the mess I had created in the past week. Normally I would not have been such a slob, but because I was cooped up in the dimly lit room for almost an entire week, I had no opportunity to clean up the office. I dusted and cleaned the screens, and cleared up all of the garbage that I had stocked up on the counter. I even sprayed the room with one of Penelope’s favorite scents so she would be pleasantly surprised when she came in.

I sighed and clicked off the lights on the way out, figuring that I’d be in bed before they even got back.

The house seemed emptier than usual as I walked in the door. It smelled a bit odd to me. I looked around and smiled, figuring that the odd smell was the culmination of our stuff getting settled in its new house. There were no boxes left, and I had officially moved in. I had even found a tenant to rent out my old house, which I was letting my Aunt Lucy take care of because she knew that kind of stuff better than I did. To my surprise, however, our house did not seem as cluttered as I imagined it to be. That was probably because I had cleaned the entire place while Spencer was gone, and had managed to pack some stuff up and put it in the attack. He would be surprised when he came home to our new house.

I showered and cleaned myself up, putting on some perfume that Spencer liked so I would smell nice for him when he came home. I always felt nice when he liked the way I looked or smelled, so occasionally I would do things just for him. It was a girly guilty pleasure.
I tucked myself into bed and flipped on the television just so it didn’t seem so lonely in the bedroom.

It was pitch black in the room when I felt Spencer lay down next to me. I peeked an eye open, seeing him still in his work clothes.

“Hey.” I said, raspy and tired. He rolled over and kissed my forehead.

“I didn’t mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep.”

“How was the flight?” I asked, not really awake but wanting to talk to him.

“It was good. Go back to sleep sweetie.” He kissed me again and draped his arm over my middle and pulled me in close to him. I sighed and felt myself drifting back to sleep.

But before I let myself completely doze, I felt the need to ask him, “How does the house look?”

Spencer laughed. “It looks great.”

I drifted back into sleep, happy because my boyfriend was home with me.