"Hey, Reid," Morgan says as he walks up to his team member and friend as he watches the younger man pack up for the night. "You up for drinks?"

"Not tonight, Morgan." Spencer tells him without stopping in his movements, having just texted Ryder, telling her he was leaving work.

"C'mon man, why not? You haven't been out with us in a while." Morgan tells him, suspicious of the kid. He had been turning down all the offers for drinks and food after cases lately. At first, he had been worried, thinking his friend hadn't been doing well but that worry soon left his mind when he noticed Reid's behavior. The lack of bags under his eyes, his light attitude, smiling and joking around. Well as much as Reid could joke.

"Another time, Morgan." Spencer said as he through his messenger bag strap over his shoulder.

"Another time, what?" Emily asks as she approaches the two, having caught only the end on the conversation.

"Pretty boy here is turning down drinks, again." Morgan tells her as he sits on the edge of Spencer's desk.

"Again? Come on, Reid, I feel like we never see you outside work anymore." Emily tells her younger team member.

"Sorry guys," Reid tells them. He was sorry, he enjoys his team's company and he felt guilty for not telling them about Ryder but he just wasn't ready yet. He felt that the moment the team knew about her it wouldn't be the same. She was his escape from work and everything connected to it if they knew, he was afraid it wouldn't be the same. But deep down he knew that wasn't true, he just wasn't ready to tell them. "Next time."

"That's what you said last time." Morgan pointed out, grabbing Spencer's jacket before he could.

"Morgan." Spencer said with a sigh, look at the older man.

"He's right, Reid, you've said that the last two times actually," Emily said, coming to stand next to Morgan as they both observed Spencer with curious eyes.

"Yeah, he did, didn't he?" Morgan said, holding Spencer's jacket behind his back.

"I've just been busy." Was Spencer's poor excuse.

"Uh-huh." Emily said in disbelief as Spencer tried to reach around Morgan to get his jacket.

"Not so fast, pretty boy." Morgan said, keeping the jacket from Spencer's reach. "Just tell us what you've been doing, or who." He added with a smirk, watching the heat rise in Spencer's cheeks.

"It's not like that." Spencer tells him after another failed attempt to get his jacket, Morgan's teasing a small reason he wanted to keep Ryder to himself.

"Oh, yeah? Then what is it like?" Asked Morgan, smiling at his younger team member.

"You know what? Keep it." Spencer told Morgan, referring to his Jacket before turning and walking out of the office. He had to meet Ryder and he couldn't be late.

"Wait, Reid!" Emily called out, smiling as she watched Spencer enter the elevator. "What do you think that was about?" She asked Morgan, turning to look at him as he regarded Spencer's jacket with squinted eyes.

"I'm not sure, but I'm gonna find out." He told Emily, sharing a laugh with her, setting Reid's jacket on his desk.

And he was going to stand by those words. One way or another he was going to find out his friends secret.

"I'm so sorry I'm late." Spencer told Ryder after she opened the door to her apartment. "You look amazing." He added once he got the chance to look at her properly.

Chuckling, Ryder moves away from the door, leaving Spencer to enter and close it behind him. "Don't worry about it, you're right on time. They're not even here yet."

"Good." Spencer mumbles, a sigh of relief escaping his lips as he looked at Ryder. She did look amazing, not that she doesn't always, in a short flowy, dark blue skirt, her legs being covered by black leggings, her grey, V-neck top swooping down, showing the top of her chest.

"How was your day?" Asked Ryder as she clicked on her last earing, coming to stand in front of him.

"Not bad. Got interrogated by Morgan." He told her after a quick kiss, watching an amused smile come to her face. "He took my jacket."

"Aww, he's just curious." Ryder told him as she straightened his tie. "You know, you can tell them about me." She said hesitantly, not sure how Spencer would react.

"I know," He admitted, sigh as he looked at the ground. "Just not yet."

"Okay," Ryder said with a head nod, not voicing her thoughts on the matter any further. She was slightly hurt that he didn't want to introduce her to his team but she also understood why he didn't. She wasn't going to push him on the matter, it would only cause more harm than good.

"That must be them." Ryder said when I knock sounded at the door.

"Ah, don't you look beautiful." Natalie said with a smile once Ryder opened the door to reveal her and Steve.

"I could say the same about you but that's nothing new." Ryder told her friend with a smile, the model never looking anything but perfect. It must be exhausting, Ryder though.

"Oh, shut up, you always look great." Natalie told her as Ryder allowed her two friends to enter her apartment.

"Hey, Steve." Ryder greeted her friend with a short hug before turning back to Spencer, seeing him standing a little ways away, hands in his pockets as he shifted uncomfortably.

"Natalie, Steve," Ryder started as she walked to stand next to her boyfriend. "This is Spencer. Please play nice." She added the last part as an afterthought, only half-joking.

"When have you known me to do anything but?" Steve asked as he approached Spencer, sending Ryder a playful smirk.

"Oh, I can name a few occasions." She told her friend as he gave Spencer's should a pat.

"Oh, Spencer just so you know," Steve started, looking the other man straight in the eye. "If you hurt her, no one will ever be able to find your body."

"Okay!" Ryder announced loudly, grabbing Spencer's hand. "That's enough of that. We'll be late. And I'm pretty sure it's against the law the threaten a federal agent."

"I wasn't threatening," Steve said defensively, taking Natalie's hand as they made their way to the door. "Just warning."

"Okay well either way, please don't do it." Ryder told him with a smile, appreciating the thought. Steve and Ryder had known each other for years, he was like her second older brother, he was naturally protective of the younger girl.

From Ryder's apartment, the four of them walked to a restaurant nearby where they all sat down and talked, Ryder's friends getting to know Spencer, avoiding the topic of his work as Ryder had asked them too beforehand.

"He's cute, I like him." Natalie told her friend as they walked together behind the two men down the sidewalk, watching them as they had a conversation about something.

"Yeah, he is cute, isn't he?" Ryder asked with a laugh, her eyes never leaving Spencer.

"Oh man, you are in deep." Her friend tells her, drawing Ryder's confused eyes to her.

"What?"

"Oh come on, you make it so obvious." Said Natalie, not helping Ryder's confusion. "You're in love." She finally whisper shouts to her friend once she saw her confused face.

"What!" Ryder squeaked, momentarily drawing the two men's attention. "What?" She repeated, keeping her voice barely above a whisper.

"Well, it's not a bad thing." Natalie assures her friend, only slightly surprised by her reaction.

"You guys are cute together and he obviously feels the same. He's barely been able to take his eyes off you all night."

"You're being ridiculous." Ryder dismisses, her eyes on Spencer as he walks ahead of her.

"Oh, I'm the one being ridiculous?" Natalie asks her friend with a smile, throwing her arm around the short girl's shoulders. "You're in denial, Ry."

Rolling her eyes at her friend, Ryder wraps her arm around her waist as the continue there walk down the sidewalk, no particular destination in mind. "Thanks for coming out tonight, I appreciate it."

"Of course, I've been dying to meet your man."

"I'm just surprised Steve finally asked you out."

"Yeah, I thought he'd never do it. He said something about someone giving him some really good advice." Nat says with a smirk towards Ryder.

"Good advice, huh? Wonder who that could've been."

"Yeah, I wonder." Laughing, the two girls continue until they catch up with Spencer and Steve, pulling away from each other to stand next to their boyfriends. "Well, Steve, why don't we go on? Leave these two love birds by themselves."

"Great idea, Nat." He tells the beautiful girl hanging off his arm, smiling down at her before turning to his friends. "We will see you guys later."

"Thanks for coming out tonight, Steve."

"Anything for you, Ry." Steve tells the young women he's come to know as a sister in the past years, giving her a quick hug and Spencer a fist bump.

"Bye guys." Waving their friends away, Spencer and Ryder turn their attention back to each other once the others are gone.

"Did you two just fist bump?" Ryder asks her boyfriend, wondering if she had seen what happened right.

"I think so." Spencer said, sounding equally as confused.

"So you guys get along okay?" Asked Ryder and the two started walking down the sidewalk together.

"Yeah." Spencer said shortly. He had gotten along with Steve, he liked the guy but he was still his awkward self, but Steve didn't seem to mind, willing to make small talk about anything. And he was someone who meant a lot to Ryder so Spencer would do whatever he could to get along with him.

"Yeah? That's all I get? What did you guys talk about?" Ryder asks, worried two of the most important people in her life weren't getting along.

"Different things, small talk mostly. I really did like him." Spencer assured Ryder, knowing him meeting her friends meant a lot to her. "What about you? What were you guys talking about back there?" He asked, wondering what had gotten such a reaction out of Ryder previously.

"Oh, you know, just girl talk." Ryder said. There's no way she was going to tell Spencer what Natalie had said, no way at all. "I'm glad you could come out tonight."

"I almost couldn't getaway." Spencer says as he remembers Morgan and Emily trapping him back at the office.

"Yeah," Ryder said with a chuckle. "It only cost you a jacket."

"It was worth is." Spencer told her, placing a kiss to the top of her head as they continued to walk.

"You staying at my place tonight?"

"Um, uh yeah." Answeres Spencer, causing Ryder to stop and look up at him with furrowed brows.

"Spence?" She asked, a little worry seeping into her voice.

"I mean it's not that I don't want to, but I always stay at your place, I was just thinking..." He trailed off, the worry leaving Ryder's face, replaced with a smile.

"Spencer Reid, are you inviting me to stay at your place?" She asks him, looking up at him with a smirk on her lips.

"Maybe I am." He responds, the previous nerves he had now gone as he looks down at Ryder's smile.

"Well, I think I would like that very much."

"Good." Spencer says, taking hold of Ryder's hand, leading them both back to her apartment upon request so she could gather a few things for her stay at Spencer's apartment.

"I expected nothing less." Ryder said upon entering Spencer's apartment, the cozy apartment smelling unsurprisingly of books and something else Ryder couldn't place, but she liked it, it made her feel at home as soon as she stepped inside.

Large bookshelves were lining most of the walls, piles of books sitting around the living room and they couldn't fit with the others, the dark hardwood floor going well with the dark-colored walls, giving the place a cozy, relaxing vibe.

"You didn't tell me you lived in a library." Ryder joked with Spencer as she ran her hand across the spines of the books. She wasn't sure why she hadn't been here sooner but now that she was, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave.

"Funny." Spencer said with a sarcastic laugh, coming to join her after setting their things down.

"Do I get the grand tour?" Asked Ryder as she wrapped her arms around Spencer's neck.

Giving a small laugh, Spencer led Ryder around his apartment before they ended up on the couch, watching tv. Ryder had talked Spencer into watching Friends, one of her favorite tv shows and he enjoyed every second of it. Watching Ryder smile and laugh more than he was watching the show itself.

And there they stayed on the couch until Ryder fell asleep on Spencer's shoulder. Smiling down at the girl, Spencer carefully lifted her petite body and carried her to his bedroom where he placed her on his bed and covered her with his sheets before joining her, falling into a peaceful sleep.