Raven's Song

Raven hung up the phone after talking to her father to make arrangements to go to the race in Bristol the following next week on the twenty-second of March. It was the fifteenth one month since Raven and Spencer had their first date. They had managed to squeeze in dinner two weeks before, but with the both of them having busy schedules they had not had a whole lot of time to see each other. He had brought her a coffee at the store earlier that week on his way out to Quantico, and they talked on the phone, but with Raven on her own at the store she had less time on her hands than she did before. She was in the process of looking to hire somebody to help her out even that was a job in it self. A few weeks before she had made the decision to close on Sundays. It would not be too much of a loss since she was already closed most weekends anyway when she went to the races, and at least half of her business was online orders.

She started to get ready for her date with Spencer, he told her to pick where to go so she decided she would surprise him and do something a little different. She threw on her Eluveitie sweatshirt over her camouflage tank top, put on her sneakers and went to her driveway to turn her car around and back in. the weather was cold and it was drizzling, she was happy to have her car back so she would not have to drive her Cougar in this weather. Spencer pulled up on the other side of her and found Raven loading four big bags of cat and dog food, as well as two boxes of cat litter from her garage into her car. she had wanted to surprise him and take him to the pet shelter she volunteered at. She only was able to do it twice a month, maybe three if she had time. He got out of his Volvo and greeted Raven with a hug. She smiled when she saw the Converse on his feet and looked at her own camouflage ones.

''What is with all the pet food?''

''You'll see,'' Raven answered as she loaded the last bag into her back seat and closed her garage door. ''I will be right out I just need to grab my purse and lock up, were going to take my car today.''
Raven pulled up to the back door of a blue building that said Ramona's Pet Rescue and told him to wait while she went to the front. He leaned against the trunk of her car and waited for her. The back door open and she propped it open with a wooden wedge. ''You know your lucky you're cute or I would have to yell at you for sitting on my car.''

''I uh sorry, I was just-''

Raven cut him off, as she started unloading the food bags two at a time. ''It's alright, i am just kind of anal about my cars.'' Then she laughed, ''I was contemplating making you take off your shoes.''

Spencer laughed, ''I noticed how clean you keep it, you could eat off the floor.'' He grabbed a box of litter and followed her through the door.

''I'm really bad, with my cars, I am worse then most guys, I do all my own work on them. One day I will show you the pictures of the work I did on this one.'' She put the bags on a pallet in a storage area, and pointed to the shelf where the other boxes of litter were. Once they were finished unloading, Raven got a blank name tag for Spencer and handed it him to write his name on. ''We are going to spend the afternoon here, I thought we would do something non traditional date like. I do not get to come here as much I would like, but they appreciate, any help they can get, it is all volunteer run. Raven introduced Spencer to Ramona an older women with long red hair. Raven had met her at a NASCAR race in Richmond, while she had a booth set up for her shelter. ''This is where I got the two cats from, they were only three weeks old, I pretty much had to feed them around the clock.''

''That sounds like a lot of work.''

''It was , I took them to work with me until they could eat on their own.'' Raven said, opening a cage and grabbing the litter tray out of hit, she scratched the fluffy orange cat's ears, he purred happily. ''Anyway we are going to clean their litter trays and food dishes,'' she handed Spencer the empty food bowls and went to the cleaning area. She pointed to the sinks where they clean the food bowls , while Raven dumped the litter. After that were the do the dog cages. Spencer hesitated as Raven went to open the door to a cage where a large white Lab jumped up excitedly. ''Are you afraid of dogs?''

''Big dogs make me a little nervous.''

''I'm sorry, I should have asked you. Daisy is friendly though, some asshole left her on the side of the road and was brought in a couple months ago, she is still a puppy.'' She bent down to hug Daisy, Spencer walked up and started to scratch her her head. She tried to jump on him, wagging her tail in excitement.''No jump Daisy.'' The dog sat down obediently. ''She likes you. I wish I could take her but I am not home enough to be able to take car of a dog. Cats are more or less self sufficient, and they don't need to be let out several times a day.''

''What do you do when you travel.''

''I take them with me, I had my RV fixed up so they could travel with me comfortably. The whole cargo space is all done up for them, they got beds and toys and their food, pretty much everything and I do not have to worry about them when I am driving. I saw it one a TV show once, some old couple had six cats or something and they did that to their RV so I just had to do it. Plus they are pretty good they've traveled with me since they were little so they're used to it.''

''That is really interesting, you will have to show me your RV one day.''

''Never mind show you, you are going to come to a race with me one day.'' Raven took his hand, ''Come on now we get to feed some kittens, they're only a few days old, their mom got hit by a car and didn't make it, she was feral. If there is a nursing momma cat they try and get her to feed them but there isn't one here right now.'' She handed Spencer a tiny grey kitten and a bottle and showed him how to feed it. It cried until he put the bottle in it's mouth. The sight of him smiling made Raven smile. She picked up a grey and white one and began to feed it. It was almost five when they left the shelter. ''Well what did you think?'' Raven asked.

''I really enjoyed this afternoon, I would like to do this again sometime.'' Spencer answered.

''Ok, I would love that, I don't get here as much as I would like but we can definitely do this again sometime.'' They got into Raven's car, ''Coffee?''

''That sounds good right about now,'' Spencer answered. Raven drove to the little coffee shop where they went on their first date. The corner table was occupied by some high school kids so they sat a few tables over.The kids looked like the typical cheerleader and jock types. They watched Raven and Spencer and started snickering and making jokes.

''I wonder how much that dork paid her to hang out with him,'' one of the boys said. The blonde girl threw her head back and laughed. She kind of reminded Raven of the girl who had everyone throw eggs at her back in high school.

''Enough to buy some blood.'' The other girl also a blonde erupted into giggles.

Spencer furrowed his brow, listening to the high school kids reminded him of his own days in school.
''Don't listen to them.'' Raven told him. ''When they get out of school and into the real world they will what life is like.''

''You're right. I shouldn't let it bother me.'' But it did it wasn't what they were joking about as much as the memories it brought back. He tried to push it aside and enjoy the rest of his date with Raven. He was really starting to like her, even more so after the afternoon at the shelter. He saw something in her when he first met her, he wasn't what it was then, but he was starting to see it now. He saw the way she was with the animals at the shelter and that made her more beautiful then she already was. He wondered what she was thinking about him, if she liked him too. They hadn't even kissed yet, she never gave any indication that she wanted him too, nor did she try to kiss him. He was still in awe that she was even sitting across from him in the first place. His two meddling friends at the BAU were the only ones who knew that he went on a couple dates with Raven. He wasn't ready to tell anyone else yet, in case it didn't work out.

They sat and talked until seven, time had gotten away on them again. The high school kids were long gone and they were they only two left in the tiny coffee shop. Neither of then had realized it until Raven's phone went off. It a text from her mom. She sent her a message saying she would call her later. ''Wow time flew by on us again.'' Spencer said.''They're going to close soon here.''

''Maybe next time we will have to go a place that stays open later on Sundays.'' They got up to leave, Raven sensed that Spencer was still thinking about the nasty comments those kids had made, she could see it in his eyes. ''Are you still upset above what those teenagers said?''

''Well no, they just reminded me of kids I went to school with, that's all.''

''Whatever I really don' t care about what a bunch of snot nosed brats or anyone else for that matter think of me or think of us.'' She turned to face him when they got to her car,'' I would not be here if I didn't like you now would I?''

''What did you say?''

''Did I stutter? I said I liked you.'' Spencer looked at Raven and she the serious look in her eyes. His heart fluttered, at the fact she liked him back. He started to feel the awkwardness surface but fought it off. He stepped closer to her and gently put his hands on her cheeks, he pressed his lips softly his lips to hers. Raven's heart sped up, she put one hand on his arm, and ran the other hand through his hair pushing her lips into his. She had been wanting to do that for awhile, the chilly D.C. are did not seem as cold anymore. When they finally parted, Raven found her self feeling awkward, how was it they only had been on three dates and liked him as much as she did. Even the rambling he did, that first annoyed her, she thought was cute. She also found herself doing it as well, some she more or less did before, she just never noticed. He was different than anyone she ever met and she liked it. Her lips tingled from that first kiss, she wrapped her arms around Spencer's neck and brought him down for another.

They pulled in front of Raven's, neither of them really wanted the night to end, but being Sunday they both knew that they had a long week ahead of them. ''If you don't go out of town tomorrow and don't work too late bring your car over I will take a look at it, and if I can fix it I'll do that for you.''

''You really don't have to do that.''

''How about, then I will get to see you.''

''Well if you put it that way.'' Spencer leaned down to kiss Raven. ''Then that could be arranged.''

''Like I said it's no problem, and with you driving forty-five minutes each way every day, it should get fixed. If you do go out of town though I won't be able to fix it until next week, I am going to Bristol this weekend.''

''That's right.'' he said.

''I usually leave pretty early, around five, it's not that far but I like to beat the traffic it's picks up around noon near the track. You should also know that Rob has been my travel partner for the last twelve years so I mean, if this is going to turn into something more between us, then you just need to know we are just friends, nothing more. He is family to me and he is like a son to my parents. I had a jealous boyfriend once, and needless to say he did not last to long. I just don't want you to think-''

Spencer put a finger on her lips and smiled down at her, ''It's okay, you're lucky to have a friend like that. I know he is a good friend, I saw that.'' He kissed her once more. ''Most Mondays we just do paper work, so it looks good for me coming by tomorrow.''

''Okay, I will look forward to it, let me know, I will close up early, and I will even cook you dinner.''

''I would like that, alright I will call you tomorrow.'' They gave each other one last kiss and said goodnight. He waited for Raven to close the door behind her before getting into his car. Raven smiled as she locked the door behind her. She was looking forward to the next day, she hoped he would not have to go out on a case, but she knew it could happen. She went upstairs to put on some shorts and a different tank top and crawled into bed next to one of her cats. She closed her eyes and thought about their first kiss, how soft and warm his lips were. If there was one moment in her life she could have freeze framed, it would have been that one very moment in the coffee shop parking lot.

'