Spencer and I drive separately to this cute little diner named Hal's Diner, and seat ourselves. Spencer orders a coffee and I order a green tea.

"Coffee at 8 pm?" I ask him, chuckling.

"I am addicted to coffee." Spencer exclaims, meeting her eyes.

The waitress serves our coffee and tea and then leaves us be.

"So..." I trail off, hoping that he will start the conversation.

"What did you mean by, we should talk about this." Spencer asks.

"You know what i mean." I say, trying to be serious.

He becomes more serious. "It all depends on what you want." He answers.

"Honestly, I think we should keep it professional right now, Spencer. I mean, we hooked up before we knew we would be working together. We probably would've never seen each other again."

"I agree. We shouldn't be together right now. We barely know each other. Let's just try and become good friends." He says back.

We both let out a sigh of relief as we finish our drinks, toss them out, and leave.

-

I wake up to the sound of my alarm going off at 6 am. I have to be at the BAU by 8. I roll out of bed and drag myself to the bathroom. I haven't gotten up this early in a long time.

I turn on the shower as I run my hands through my blonde hair, trying to control it a little.

Once I finish my shower, I brush my teeth and dry my hair. I walk into my closet and pick out my favorite blouse, and my favorite pencil skirt. it is an office day. I put on my white blouse, followed by my navy pencil skirt with a slight slit going up my left leg. I grab a pair of nude heels and set them by the door.

I walk back into the bathroom and do my makeup, and put loose curls into my hair. I glance at my watch and it is 7 am, and HQ is 30 minutes away.

I stroll into my kitchen and pour myself some cereal and milk, cereal first, obviously. as I chew, I look through my emails and texts.

Eventually, the clock hits 7:15, and I leave, knowing there will be traffic. I throw my go bag in the trunk just in case we have to travel, and drive to Quantico.

As I walk into the bullpen, hotch calls my name.

"Keller, meet me in my office once you set your stuff down." He states, turning around as he talks.

I'm startled at the fact that I'm being called in, but what for? My outfit is appropriate, I did everything right on the last case, what could this be about?

I hear everyone "oooohhhh" in the back and turn around and roll my eyes.

"Guys, it's probably nothing." I exclaim, setting down my stuff.

I glance and everyone, and then meet Spencer's eyes. He's staring at me. Once he realizes that I caught him, he immediately looks away.

"Lookin' good, Keller." Morgan says as he walks by me, causing me to turn around. "Really? What happened to calling me Stella?" I laugh.

"I like calling people by their last names. I'm not a first name type of guy." Morgan explains.

I smile, and set my stuff down, and head up to Hotch's office.

-

"So, a little birdie told me that there is something going on between you and Dr. Reid. If this is true, or if anything has happened in the past, I need to know now. If you tell me now, I won't tell the Bureau. If i find out you're withholding information, Strauss and I will make your job a lot harder than it is." Hotch explains in a very serious tone.

I sigh. "Well, the night before my first day, I was at a bar, and I met him. We went back to my apartment, and, I don't want to explain myself. You know what I mean. It was before I knew we were colleagues. Nothing has happened since, I swear. We talked about it, and decided to keep it professional."

"Okay, thank you for being honest with me." He says. It almost looks like he exhales a breath he had been holding in.

"If you don't mind me asking, who told you?" I ask, very curious.

"A couple of agents saw you guys leaving together last night." Hotch says.

"Oh, that was us going to talk about it. Nothing happened. I don't have feelings for him, and he doesn't have feelings for me." I answer, truthfully, mostly.

"Okay. that's all Keller, thank you." Hotch finished, looking back at his files.

I stand up and walk out and everyone looks at me as I walk to my seat, acting like I'm going to tell them what it was about.

I pick up my personal phone and text Spencer.

Stella: Spencer.

It took a few minutes for him to look at his phone, but eventually he did.

Spencer: What?

Stella: Hotch found out what happened the night before my first day. Apparently people suspected us, and he said if I told him the truth he wouldn't tell the Bureau. I'm sorry, but I told him.

Spencer: That's fine, as long as he doesn't make our jobs harder, or personally separate us at all times. I mean, people would've eventually found out.

Stella: Yeah. Hal's later?

Spencer: If we don't get a case, or if I'm not stuck here all night, sure.

Stella: Okay. :)

I set my phone down and look at the stack of files that I have to go through, and I glance at the clock. it is only 8:15. this is going to be a long day.

I never ended up meeting spencer at Hal's. We both got super busy and got out super late, only to be called back in that next morning at 7 am.

I didn't have time to shower, so I sprayed some dry shampoo and ran my fingers through my hair, and put on light makeup. Then I speed walked to my closet and put on black dress pants with a royal blue button up blouse thing. I don't really know what it's called. I grab a pair of flats, my go bag, a banana, and somehow get all of my stuff out the door and make my way to Quantico.

I am the second to last to arrive. we are still waiting on spencer. A couple minutes later, he strolls in.

"Sorry, there was an accident." he apologizes, everyone nodding in his direction.

Garcia begins to present the case. "Kristie Taylor was a runaway and a drug addict. She was reported missing from Farmington, New Mexico, around three years ago. Yesterday, she was found on a highway outside of Rio Rancho. They are connected through their marks. They were chained and asphyxiated."

Emily chimes in. "He is definitely a sexual sadist. blonde, teenage girls."

Morgan adds, "This unsub has a low body count over a long time frame."

"This unsub is in control of his urges. Sadists need new victims and new ways to torture." I explain.

"Are we sure this is the same unsub in both attacks?" Reid asks.

"There was a second connection between the victims. She was pregnant, and then she was killed minutes after giving birth."

"He forces these women to fulfill motherhood before he kills them. It's going to be a long flight, so wheels up in 30." Hotch orders, walking out of the round table room. We all get up and follow in suit.

On the plane, I plop down in a seat next to Spencer, and across from Prentiss and Hotch.

On the plane during the briefing, Spencer brings up a good point.

"Maybe this is what our unsub is trying to do here. He is trying to create a large family, using his victim's kids. He has kids with them, but then once they're born, he kills the mother. Maybe he's married, and they can't have kids of their own."

"But why not just adopt?" Prentiss asks while getting up to get coffee.

"Maybe they tried, and weren't fit enough to adopt a kid." I state.

"Alright, so JJ, check with the parents, and see if there are any similarities in the patterns between the victims before they were abducted. Reid and Keller, go to the dump site. We need to look at victimology. Morgan and Prentiss, go to the ME. Dave, you're with me to get set up at the station."

We all nod in response to Hotch's orders, and quietly shut our case files.

-

Spencer and I flash our badges at the police officers swarming the area. I examine the ground.

"I don't see any tire tracks. He probably didn't care how quickly they were found." I say as I turn to Spencer.

"This is weird. Dump sites reveal something about the unsub. A geographic familiarity, somewhere he knows he won't get caught. This doesn't make any sense." He replies, making eye contact with me.

"He dumped her very far from where he abducted her." I add.

"175 miles to be exact. Could this be a forensic countermeasure?"

"I don't know. He is interested in the babies, maybe that's where he will reveal himself." I finish.

As we get back in the suv, I turn to spencer. "I don't understand how someone could force a teenager to have a baby with him, and then just kill her. How is he okay with that?" I ask.

"People are sick, and they get sicker every case. I'll never understand these people's minds, no matter how smart I am, and that angers me."

"Spencer, you can't know everything. It isn't humanly possible."

"Stella, I know." He says, while turning away from me, and letting out a huge breath. My eyes grow wide as I am caught off guard by the tone in his voice. I decide to let him be, as we sit in awkward silence on the way back to the station.