she smiled, staring at him as he ate his sandwich. never in her life has gracen seen such a beautiful man like spencer reid. "spencer..."

his head snapped up as he replied with a "yeah?" with his full attention on her.

"you know, i don't know a lot about you." gracen started. "i mean, i know about your mother and the genetics thing, but other than that—"

"—there's not much." he chuckled, running a hand through his messy waves. "i-i mean, i can tell you about my dad."

"yeah. i was gonna ask you." gracen was genuinely curious.

"my dad left my mom when i was young because of her illness. there was this case...about this boy named riley jenkins." he cleared his throat, fiddling with his fingers uncomfortably. "i had dreams of my father killing him."

her eyes widened, and she nodded for him to continue.

"i went to las vegas to try to figure out what had happened. but-but it turned out that my mom found out the killer, gary michaels, was stalking me. i was going to be his next target, i think."

"jesus spencer, i'm so sorry."

he shook his head. "riley's father ended up being the one who killed gary michaels. my mom was there when it happened, and my dad had to burn the her clothes because there was blood on it." spencer smiled sheepishly at gracen. "that's pretty much it."

a soft smile made its way up to her face. "where's your dad now?"

"summerlin. he's an attorney. we don't keep in touch." spencer said. "but i'm fine with that."

she chuckled. glad that she knew one more thing about spencer. "thank you for telling me."

spencer nodded. "yeah, i have a plethora of crazy stories from my job also."

"enlighten me."

"well, there was this one case where we had to go to boston. there were a bunch of murders where people were strangled with household equipment like cable wires. when we caught the unsub—"

"what's an unsub?" gracen suddenly interrupted.

"oh yeah," spencer chuckled. "unsub is short for unknown subject." when spencer saw her eyebrows only furrowed deeper, he explained. "the bad guy."

"ah." she nodded.

"—after we arrested the unsub, his wife started to give birth to her child. we didn't have time to take her to the hospital, so—"

"—don't tell me you helped deliver a baby." gracen deadpanned.

a proud smile made its way up to his face. "i helped deliver the baby."

her jaw dropped. that was the hottest thing a man could ever do. in her opinion. to everyone else it was probably weird but whatever. "h-how?"

"well, i studied it while jj was pregnant in case she was ever gonna give birth in the field." he shrugged. "took me like two minutes to read the book on it and memorize the steps, so it wasn't that big of a deal."

"wow. you're amazing." the girl replied in awe, resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

spencer blushed, smiling. "thanks. not bragging or anything but they named the baby after me. it's one of my proudest moments."

she grinned as spencer sat in deep nostalgia. gracen was genuinely happy for him, but something inside of her made her feel a little hopeless. a man like spencer, who spends everyday saving lives, with a girl who does what, answer calls? it was ridiculous.

"there's one thing i'm curious about, if you don't mind me asking." spencer said. "what-what were your plans? for the future, i mean."

"before i was taken?" she asked. spencer nodded awkwardly. "well, i told you i liked the arts, right? my parents would spend a lot of money for me to go to vocal lessons, dance lessons, acting lessons—"

"—but i've always wanted to, you know, be on tv or something like that." gracen said, thinking back when she was 15, always getting the leads in the plays at her high school. "i used to be in little plays and stuff when i was little."

spencer smiled at the thought of little gracen trotting around on stage. "you can still do that, you know."

"do what?"

"what you like to do, gracen." he said. "you can still do it."

she shook her head. "it's too late. plus, if i ever got any media exposure, it would only put me at risk. i'm gracen to you, spencer, but i'm charis to the rest of the world. i can't risk anyone finding out. especially him."

"i guess you're right." spencer mumbled to himself, feeling a little down that he was lucky enough to pursue his dreams so easily, but some people like gracen, life just would never let them follow their dreams. "you know, i just want you to be happy."

"i am happy, spence." she muttered. "being able to wake up everyday not in that cellar, makes me beyond happy."

"i'm sorry." he said.

"about?"

"there's something i've always thought about. the fbi, cops, we have the ability to save lives—yet, there's always people that we skip over. like you."

"you can't save everyone, spencer."

"it makes me wonder, how many others are in the position you were? how many are being held in captivity with absolutely no one looking for them?"

"a lot." gracen muttered. "but it's not your fault. it's the sick people that do those things." her teeth gritted at the thought of ben. how messed up could a person be so that they think killing is okay?

"i know." spencer said, letting out a sigh. sensing his mood drop, gracen reached out and squeezed his hand. "but i'm sorry."

"what you do is really incredible. really."

"thanks gracen. really." he gave her a tight lipped smile before giving her a hand squeeze back.

"and you wonder why girls like you." gracen rolled her eyes.

"wow, you're really jealous." spencer eyed her. "do you like me that much?"

"huh? i'm not jealous." gracen suddenly started chewing on her bottom lip. she didn't answer the question, suddenly leaning into him. spencer stayed still, running his tongue over his chapped lips.

spencer thought she was about to kiss him. he had his eyes trained on her full pink lips the whole time.

"but on another hand, spencer, i don't anything about your love life." she whispered to him. spencer snapped out of his trance as a amused smile came to her face. she had no clue what she was doing to him.

he immediately sat back, leaning against the leather-covered booth, biting down on his bottom lip. she fooled him once again. spencer started to wonder if she really liked him at all. "there's not much to know."

"how many girls have you dated?" gracen asked.

spencer suddenly felt like he was being interrogated. timidly, he replied with, "two. one was back in high school who dated me as a dare and the other was when 6.5 years ago."

"what happened to the second one?" she asked, now curious.

"she didn't like that i was gone all the time because of my job." spencer said sheepishly. "the only downside of it. well, that and the fact that we get to see people getting murdered everyday."

she let out an amused laugh. "what do you mean? that sounds like a blast!"

spencer rolled his eyes. "maybe you should replace me then. i'll tell hotch i'm resigning."

her jaw dropped. "spencer reid, was that a joke?"

"obviously. i'm not letting you take my job." he said defensively.

"no, i meant like, you never tell jokes!" she exclaimed.

"what?" spencer furrowed his eyebrows. "i tell jokes all the time!"

"barely. the only one i remember is when you tried to tease me in the elevator." she deadpanned. "by the way, it didn't work and it never willllll." gracen taunted in a sing-song voice.

"oh, it definitely worked." spencer smirked. "you got red as a tomato, and you bolted out of there so fast—"

gracen gave him a kick under the table and spencer immediately shut his mouth. "fudge you."

"you would. i-i mean technically that's kinda impossible for females to but i mean i wou—"

"yes it is possible." gracen said.

"nope."

"if you want, i can show you." she said, joking biting down her lip and peering at him with coy eyes. gracen gave him a wink that made spencer's heart drop to his stomach.

"alright then, let's go back to my apartment." he joked back, standing up.

"gosh, you're no fun." gracen grabbed his arm and stood up, giving him a playful shove.

"i can be." he smirked.

—

"spencer, you're not gay right?"

the two were walking down the sidewalk in a peaceful area of town, listening to the crickets chirp into the night. their hands were tightly interlocked with each other.

the question made spencer freeze and look at her weirdly. "you think i'm gay???"

wow. spencer was really starting to think gracen was just fooling around with him until she got bored. would she do that? was that the kind of person she was?

all his life, spencer felt like he was the chaser. it took so much to get a girl to like him, nevertheless make them stay for god sakes.

gracen was really giving him a lot of ouchies tonight.

"no." she muttered. "but my friend said that guys like you are full of surprises. i was just making sure you're as serious as i am."

relief washed over him and spencer felt bad for doubting her this whole time. "of course i am. wouldn't trade this for anything else." he nodded towards their swinging hands and she giggled.

"i'm a lot to handle, so buckle up." she grinned.

whenever spencer was with her, he couldn't help but stare. under the night sky, the dim street lights hit her face with such complexity, annunciating her high cheekbones and defined facial structure. her white teeth were so perfectly aligned and straight it made him wonder if her kidnapper flossed then everyday or something for those ten years. she was just so perfect. a little too perfect.

"what?" gracen asked. "you know i get irritated when you profile me."

"i'm not profiling you." he snickered, pulling her into his embrace.

she sighed and sunk into him, her knees almost going weak. "then what?" the girl mumbled into his neck.

shivers were sent down his spine as he readjusted his arms to hold her waist a little tighter. "you're just a little too beautiful i couldn't help myself."

"spencer," the girl mumbled. "that was just cringey."

gracen jones really did not know how to take compliments. especially from spencer. "but you're not too bad yourself, handsome."

he laughed, his breath tickling gracen's ear. the two stayed in comfortable silence for a while.

"remember when you couldn't even touch my forehead without gloves on?" she asked, thinking back to five months ago when they first met.

"yeah. and now i'm all over you, aren't i?"

gracen let out a sigh in response. "i wouldn't want it any other way."

"you're one of the only people i'm comfortable with touching. other than my mom, and the bau." he said. "i get grossed out really easily by other people's hands." the man shivered. "disgusting."

"i'm glad you don't think i'm disgusting, spencer."

"you're welcome. it's the biggest complement you can ever get from me." he said.

spencer thought it was funny. it was funny how unlike himself he was around her. to others, he was closed off, timid, and a bit lame. but it felt like spencer could be himself around gracen, something he felt like he could never do around anyone else.

it was like a good breath of fresh air.

—