Two High IQ's Make One Great Romance

Spencer was lightly snoring when I woke up. It was Saturday, and I had to go into the dance studio for the day. I regretfully got up, even though I really just wanted to stay in bed with him. I looked at him for a minute while he slept, wishing that our relationship came with less job complications.

I got ready and dressed in my usual dance outfit with tights, a leotard, and a tank top. But I topped it off with a plain black sweatshirt and black knit ankle warmers. I didn’t bother wearing make-up or anything because I knew I would sweat it off anyway.

I put on my warmest coat, as I noticed that it was snowing heavily. Thankfully I remembered to buy (and install) an automatic car starter so that I wouldn’t have to wait for my car to warm up.

The girls were excited to see me, as I was excited to see them. I loved coming in on these days and just having fun dancing with the girls who always managed to make me smile. It was fun to teach, and added fun to learn from them as well. They were less cranky than they were the previous week, so it was much more entertaining to be there.

After four hours of dancing, laughing, talking, and teaching, Maria was walking me out the door of the studio. The crowd of girls and parents was clearing out, and only a few people were remaining.

“So how is the house?” Maria asked. I buttoned up my coat and smiled.

“It’s great. Everything is great and Spencer and I are happy and the house is…. Well it feels like home.” I said to her.

“You’ll have to have me over for dinner sometime!” she said, patting my shoulders.

“Definitely! I’d love to!”

Marie let out a long and joyful laugh. “Alright kid, get out of here and go give that nerdy boyfriend of yours a smooch.” She joked. I waved to her and some of the girls still in the studio and left to do exactly that.

He was, of course, sitting in the library by the fire when I got home. He stood up when I walked in, looking happier than ever to see me.

I ran into his arms, feeling like I hadn’t seen him in days. “Hi baby.” I said, wrapping my legs around his middle, forcing him to hold me tighter. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. The house really looks amazing and I’m sorry I couldn’t help you unpack.” He kissed up and down my neck, setting me down. We just stood there for a while, holding each other and kissing occasionally. Finally I moaned and shifted, releasing myself from him.

“Hey now.” He said, pulling me back into his arms. “Where are you running off to?”

I moaned again. “I’m tired. Bed?” I asked him. I knew he was probably exhausted too. Typically on Saturdays the only reason he woke up at a reasonable hour was to see me get home from the dance studio. Or to read. Usually both.

We headed up the stairs, and we both knew that we weren’t going to sleep, just lay around like usual. This had been the plan last week end, but an imprudent murderer just had to ruin it for us. Luckily we knew that there would be no call today.

I changed into a pair of pajamas, and since Spencer hadn’t gotten out of his since he woke up, he crawled right in to the covers. I followed him into the bed, excited to lay with him for the first time in a week.

We just lied there and talked for hours, me curled up around his body and his arms embracing me closely. He told me about the trip and how his room was. He told me about how Rossi was extremely strict (which I already knew, but was going to let him tell me about it anyway) and how Penelope was stressed out the entire time. I told him about the conversations I had with Brianne and my Dad, and how unpacking was surprisingly easier than I thought. He said that it was probably because I was excited to get all of my things in the house so I was anticipating being done early.

Finally, when the sun had set, we decided that we should probably get out of our warm nest that we created and do something productive. He went for a trip to the book store, and I decided to continue on with the renovation of the guest room into a closet. I moved clothes and shoes around until everything was somewhat organized, and I made a list of things that a contractor would have to do to finish renovating. Spencer came home and handed me a few books that he thought I would deem interesting, and I left him alone to read as I continued on my work in the closet.

By the end of the night we figured that we were done being productive and headed back into bed.

“You know, no one else in my life has ever made me this lazy before. I used to do fun things.” Spencer said. I chuckled.

“I bought you a piano and you’re blaming me for ending the fun in your life?”

“I’m just joking. I love lying in bed with you all day I was just saying that I’ve never had the opportunity to do so before.”

“Ah I know..” I squeezed his face and kissed him quickly. We spent the rest of the night reading and discussing politics in depth before falling asleep.

XXXXXX

Christmas was fast approaching, and Spencer was getting anxious. We both told each other that we were not getting presents, and I insisted on sticking to that. I caught him looking at tickets for ballets online, and immediately told him to stop because we were not getting each other more presents. But to be completely safe, I did go out and buy him a new watch. It was a Swiss army vintage watch, which looked cool to me and that was all that mattered. The salesman assured me that my nerdy boyfriend would love it because it had multiple faces and a sleek leather band, so I bought it.
But if he didn’t get me a present (which I was hoping he wouldn’t), then I would return it. It was merely a back up.

I was decorating our tree one day when the phone rang.

“Hey Mom.” Spencer said, answering the phone. He was happy to hear from her. He walked into another room and they chatted for a bit. When he came out, I stopped my decorating to look at his face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him. He set his phone down and sat on the couch with his face in his hands.

“She wants me there for Christmas…. But I know that’s impossible. We usually have cases up until the day of Christmas and there wouldn’t be a way to fly there in time to see her… I just… I’m such a bad son.”

I jumped up from the floor and wrapped my arms around his thin shoulders, hugging him tightly.

“You’re not a bad son. You’re not a bad anything… It sucks that you can’t be there but I’m sure your mother understands.” I kissed his cheek. Spencer took his face out of his palms and buried it into my shoulder.

“I wish there was more I could do.”

“She knows that there’s nothing you can do. She, just like my father, is hoping that we can be around all seasons. But we can’t. We visit often, and we just saw her a few weeks ago. Don’t stress over this.” I turned his head and looked to his pouty pink lips. I kissed them gently and ran my tongue over the bottom lip, smiling a bit as I did so. He took my hands in his.

“Thanks for the pep talk.” He smiled.
I continued decorating and let Spencer read as we listened to the radio quietly.

“Hey.” I said, thinking of an idea. “Let’s go for a walk. We haven’t been on one in a few days and it’s just starting to snow. It will be nice.”

Spencer looked up from his paper and smiled. “That does sound nice.”

We bundled up, I dressed in a black pea coat and Spencer donning a similar navy jacket. I giggled as he put on his hat, because he looked so young with it on.

We started off walking in the direction of a particular coffee shop that we both adored, and stopped in for a cappuccino before continuing on for a while. Ours fingers intertwined and his thumb occasionally caressed my fingers. I sighed while I watched my breath reach into the air with his, mingling with the snowflakes that fell on our heads. I reached my free hand up to his head to snatch his hat, placing it on my own head. I didn’t do it because I was cold; I did it to watch the snow fall on his hair. He knew what I was doing once he realized that I was staring at him. His lips curled lightly and the blush on his cheeks turned rosy. The way the snow tipped his brown curls was one of the most amazing things I’d seen in a long time, I thought. It was this simple thing that made me think about how sexy Spencer was.

“Piper..” He said with a smirk.

“Yeah, babe?” I asked him. We stopped walking in front of a park not too far from our house. He turned to face me and grabbed both of my hands.

“Let me buy you something for Christmas. I don’t want anything from you… I really don’t… let your Christmas present to me be allowing me to purchase you a gift.” He brought my hands to his chest. I pinched my eyebrows and tried to hide a smile.

“No way. We agreed that presents were off!” I argued.

“Please.” He leaned down to me and set his forehead against mine. His breath lingered over mine, and while I wanted to stick to my guns and not be so careless with our spending, I was quickly letting myself give in to his demands.

His plump pick lips hovered above mine for a miniscule second before lightly pecking them.

“Spencer…. You drive me crazy.” I sighed.

His head tilted and I saw his smile creep on his lips once more. “So that’s a yes?”

I hesitated. “Why do you want to do this so badly?”

“Because I’ve never loved someone like I love you and I want to show you that.”

“But you have showed me that. You show me every day. No present would prove that.”

It was his turn to hesitate. “Then let me do it just because I love you.”

I nodded. “Okay.”
He pecked my lips once more and leaned away so I could admire the snow in his locks once more. I ruffled his scalp and turned to start walking again, tugging his hand.
We cuddled into bed once we got home.

XXXXXX

Everything was done. The tree and decorations were up, presents were bought, and outfits were picked out for the work party. We had decided that we would attend a church service on Christmas Eve, and spend the entire day of Christmas at home with each other, and then perhaps at the end of the night invite over Derek and Penelope. That part we weren’t completely sure on, as we didn’t know their plans as of yet and didn’t want to interfere with anything the two of them had going on.

We were finishing up a case file at work when Penelope approached me.

“You and the boy taking off pretty soon?” She asked me. It was December 22, the day before our work party.

“Whenever I get done with all of this paper work. I think he’s waiting in the break room.” I said to her, not looking in her direction but instead focusing on all of the forms in front of me.

“Well I wanted to warn you… I’m getting word that we might be getting a case… rather soon.”

“What do you mean by… soon?” Heat rushed to my face and I stopped working. Was Penelope implying that they would be gone for Christmas?

“Within the next few days. There’s been a stretch of disappearances in a small town outside of Missouri. The police are claiming it has something to do with the upcoming holiday… and well… something is up… is all I’m saying.”

“No, Penelope no I can’t have everyone leave before Christmas… what will I do?”

She frowned and took my face in her hands. “This is the job you signed up for. But like I said… it’s just a rumor right now. Hotch is looking it over.”

Immediately I thought of running into Hotch’s office and demanding that they didn’t leave. “Uh uh uh,” she pointed a finger in my face, “No interrupting him. He’ll be twice as mad and therefore twice as likely to take out his aggressions on us. Remember that he has his son to think about too. It’s whatever decision is best for the team.”

I sighed and leaned onto my elbows. “Yeah, I know. Whatever. I’ve got to finish all this up.” I said, wrapping my scarf tighter around my neck and tried to deny the possibility of not spending Christmas with Spencer.

Penelope patted my shoulder, knowing how this was upsetting me, and left me alone.
A few minutes later as I was writing in the last of my report, Spencer walked into the office and kissed the top of my head. “Almost done?”

I groaned. “Yes. I’m done. Let’s go home.”

Spencer grabbed my hand and we walked out together, heading for the subway station. He could tell I was a bit on edge, and I didn’t really want to tell him why. He would find out sooner or later, though, if they were to be leaving on a case.

“You’re quieter than usual.” He said, turning to me while we were on the subway. I sighed and looked toward our feet.

“I guess there might be another case in the next few days… and I’m worried that it’s going to fall over Christmas.” I paused to look at his face, which didn’t falter. “You don’t think I’m a terrible person for wanting, just this once, for the murders to go unsolved for another few days?”

This raised Spencer’s eyebrows. “I uh… I could understand why you’d want us to stay here… but that statement is a little disturbing.”

I took my hand from his. “It’s not like I don’t want them to go completely cold, but I just want you here while I have you.” I knew he wouldn’t quite understand what I meant. I rubbed my forehead with my thumb and index finger. Now he was going to think I was heartless.

“But murder is not something you can just stop. That’s really insensitive of you to talk about it that way. And frankly it’s a bit childish to wish for a murderer to continue on the loose just because you want me here for a holiday.”

My mouth was agape for a few moments before I got angry. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I slid a couple inches away from him. How could he think that I would want innocent people to die just to have him home? That of course was not the case; I suppose it just sounded that way to him. But of course he took everything in a literal sense, and would not even come close to understanding what I really meant when I said something like that.

“I don’t really know what you meant. What it sounded like to me was that you want people to die to have me to yourself.”

Again my mouth was open. “You make me sound like an insensitive bitch because I want you here for me. I was saying we could delay the case for a few days just for the holidays, which frankly is a reasonable idea considering everyone has a family to be with. But now I’m not sure I want you here if you think I’m such a terrible person all of a sudden.”

“Now you don’t even want me here! Jesus, Piper, what exactly do you want?” Spencer was shouting on the subway now, which was thankfully nearly empty. The few people who were sitting on the train pretending to be wrapped up in something other than our business.

“Stay away from me Spencer. Just don’t even talk to me right now. I feel like I don’t even want to talk to you.” I sputtered out some words and put my hands up to separate myself from him. The train came to a stop and I got up without looking back at him. I practically ran from him, walking a fast but reasonable pace. Spencer’s voice carried throughout the hollow subway station behind me, shouting at me to slow down so we could talk. I shook my head, knowing he could see, and kept straight for our house.

I reached home and looked behind me, seeing him as just a speck in the distance. As long as I knew he was safe, I could walk in the house and immediately head for the shower. I was still fuming as the heat from the water boiled my skin. How could he think that about me? How could he possibly think that I was such a terrible person? I would never, never think that about a murder, and I was honestly just trying to tell him how much I wanted him home for Christmas but he had to warp whatever I said into something sadistic. It sickened me to know that he could even think I would consider those things.

Spencer was sitting on the bed when I emerged from the shower. “Please just talk to me.” He said. The eye roll I created was practically audible.

“I don’t really want to.” I stripped in front of him and changed into a pair of boxers and a tee shirt.

“Don’t be mad at me. I just thought that you were saying you’d rather people die so I could be home… I thought more about it and I realized that’s not what you were saying.”

I stood across from him with my arms crossed my hip sticking out. “I would never think something so hideous, and it honestly fucking sickens me that you would think I was capable of thoughts like that. If I was so malicious, why would you even be with me?”

It was his turn to have an almost audible eye roll. “You’re being really dramatic.” He said. I threw my hands in the air.

“And you’re being really stupid!” I threw a pillow at his face and grabbed a blanket from the bed and headed for the guest room.

“Don’t…” He groaned, following me.

“Why shouldn’t I?” I said, realizing I was sounding like a bratty teenager, but not caring. The way he spoke to me was practically insulting. He spoke down to me like I was an idiot or someone beneath him. If he wanted a struggle, he was going to get one.

“Because I want you in bed with me.” He grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to look up at him.

“And I wanted you home for Christmas, but I guess that’s too much to ask without it sounding murderous.” I said with one last spiteful bit. I pushed him out of the room and shut the door, locking it. I wanted to be by myself where I could punch the bed as many times as I wanted without him judging me for acting like a child.

After I tired myself out from being so frustrated, I lied down in bed and covered myself up, knowing I wasn’t sleeping for a while. Thoughts were running in and out of my head so quickly I couldn’t keep track of them. The blankets suddenly felt like they were suffocating me.

Didn’t my father always say not to go to bed angry? Because you never know what could happen the next day? I admitted to myself that I was acting childish, but I felt that I had reason to. Ugh. I didn’t want to talk to him, but the adult side of me knew that I had to. We shared a house together, and a stupid fight like this one shouldn’t mean that we slept separately. There had to be much larger fights to get into before a step like this happened.

I tip toed into the bedroom, knowing he could hear me the entire time. “Are you asleep?” I whispered.

He flipped over on the bed, and I knew he was awake but I was going to wait for a response. “Spence?” I whispered again. He didn’t move this time, so perhaps he really was asleep. Maybe he was easier for him to sleep during a fight than it was for me. Oh well. I still didn’t want to sleep alone.

I got into bed and pulled the covers over me, trying somehow to cuddle with him while he was sleeping but not managing to find a way without waking him up or bothering him. I still couldn’t sleep.

He wasn’t asleep, I thought. I was getting angrier at the fact that he wouldn’t stay up to talk it out with me. If he really cared, he would have talked it out. He would have sat up when I called his name and would have told me to join him so he we could work out our fight. But then I knew I was being irrational again. He had a long day, as I did, and he probably was more exhausted. I groaned, not knowing how a felt.

I ultimately fell asleep with tears in my eyes, feeling worse about my relationship than I had in a long while.