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Emily wasn't quite certain when the Awareness of him had started -- and in her mind, the sensation of knowing where he was definitely rated the capital letter.
It wasn't when they were trapped together in that compound. If someone had asked her then how she felt about Spencer Reid, her first answer would have been teammate. Her second might have been geeky little brother, but she also knows something started right there. His voice when he apologized to her in the compound, the pain in his eyes when he stared at her bruises, his acceptance of her choice to take the beating Benjamin Cyrus doled out -- these thing made her look at him differently.
She'd asked Rossi about it once.
"If everything I've heard is true, Reid was reciting epics of courtly love in Middle English at an age when I was still trying to sound out 'See Spot run,'" Rossi said. "I remember first wave feminism. I know how tough you are. He's spent all his life protecting his mother -- sometimes from herself, true -- but he's far more of a protector of women than I am. He may even beat out Hotch and Morgan on that front."
Emily had smiled at the sally, but it got her thinking about the men she worked with.
When Hotch went to the hospital, all her focus, the team's focus, had gone to him and to Foyet. No one visited Reid in the hospital. He came back to work, on crutches, within a week, and everyone talked about Hotch. Thirty days after Foyet's initial attack, Hotch was back. Reid was still on crutches.
Thirty days after that, Reid was still on crutches. He was back in the field, at least occasionally, but, unlike Gideon's departure where they'd all filled in smoothly even as they acknowledged the loss, every time Reid couldn't come with them or just wasn't there to make a connection the team felt incomplete.
Once he was on the cane, with them more often than not, Emily found herself looking at him and realizing how much he'd changed. His wardrobe was different. He carried himself with more confidence. He'd grown, for heaven's sake. And now, Emily looked at Reid and saw how the crutches had worked his upper body and filled him out. That's when the Awareness had started.
Today, JJ had called them into the roundtable room and put up a series of killings in Lincoln, Nebraska. The victims' cars were stolen as they bled out in parking lots. The unsub was lying in wait under the car, severing the victims' Achilles tendon to keep them from running and then cutting their throats, wrists, and thighs to bleed them quickly. The victims weren't important to the unsub, but the cars were all expensive vehicles with high resale value on the grey market.
Emily had found out most of that information after the meeting because when Reid walked in, he was wearing glasses. She knew he did, of course. Most of the team wore contacts, and they'd all shared solution on trips when necessary. But her teammates had never seen her in glasses, and she'd never seen Reid in his.
She couldn't take her eyes off him. When he'd first come in with a shorter hair cut, Morgan had teased Reid about looking younger with short hair than long. Somehow the glasses flipped that, and Emily was overwhelmingly aware that her colleague was a man, not a kid.
Once they were on the jet, things were better. They all had files on different aspects of the case; Reid had spread a map all over the table and was earnestly working on a geographic profile. He'd glanced at her a couple of times and finally headed to the bathroom.
It wasn't until he came out, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, that Emily realized she'd been staring so hard he'd thought there was something wrong with his face. She blushed and said, "I've never seen you in glasses."
Reid nodded his comprehension. "There was a mix-up with my new contacts, and I had to send them back. I'll look normal by next week."
He turned his attention back to the map before she could say anything.
***
The second time he caught her staring was on their second day in Lincoln. He just gave her a little half smile, and Emily picked up the train of thought she'd dropped as they gave the profile.
Later that evening, after the two of them had fielded a statistical call from Garcia, she found herself with a bunch of files in her hand once again staring at him.
Reid met her eyes, laid down his pen, and walked behind her. "Put those down. You look beat." He leaned back on the desk and said, "I could give you a shoulder rub."
"Would you?" The words escaped her before she could think them through.
"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it." He brushed her hair off her neck and she felt his thumbs begin to make circles on either side of her spine.
"I haven't meant to stare. It's just your glasses … "
"I know. They're old fashioned and not particularly flattering."
Emily raised her head. "Who told you that?" She felt his hands move to her shoulder muscles.
"Elle. But they're comfortable."
"I think they make you look, I don't know, professorial. It's a good look on you." For a bare moment, Emily thought his touch changed. She felt her nipples crinkle, and then Reid was once again just giving her a back rub.
"Thanks. Any thoughts on where our unsub could be hiding? I don't think we have more than one person, do you?"
Emily leaned into his touch. "No. I know I brought it up as a possibility on the plane, but I think we'd be seeing either a devolution or some sign of tension if it were a partnership. I just hope Garcia can track the chop shop."
Reid stopped for a moment. "I'm going to lean around you to press on both sides of your shoulder, if that's all right."
"Sure. It's been far too long since I've felt this relaxed."
He braced his right hand on her right shoulder blade and reached around with his left. His face was close to hers and Emily could feel his breath against her cheek. She turned slightly toward him and her breath fogged his glasses. Once again, Reid gave that maddening little smile he got when a new piece of evidence filled in a pattern.
The rest of the team came in, and Reid said, "I'll just do the other side, if that's all right."
She nodded.
Rossi said, "I don't rate a back rub? At my age, I need it more than Emily does."
"You shouldn't have thought more of your Italian leather boots than my knee." Reid grinned at him, and released her shoulder.
"Don't feel too bad, he's never given me one either," said Morgan.
"You don't know what you're missing." Everyone turned to look at Hotch. "After the case with Blackwolf, Reid gave me a neck rub." He glared at Rossi. "And do you really think it's wise to anger the guy with the eidetic memory. Of course, he'll hold a grudge."
Emily laughed. "Any good news out of all this?"
"Nothing," Hotch said. "Did you come up with anything?"
"Actually, I had an idea from something Emily said." Reid sounded diffident. "We agree that this is definitely one guy, but not every stolen car has a body beside it. Not even every high end car theft is ending in murder. Can we follow the grey market trail of a car without a murder and maybe find the chop shop or distributor that way?"
Hotch nodded. "It's certainly worth a try." He checked his watch. "Reid, send Garcia an email outlining the search parameters so she can start on it in the morning. JJ, come with me to talk to the Captain about this idea so he can have his people check and start pulling files on old cases with similarities. The rest of you head back to the hotel. We'll come back tomorrow at seven-thirty."
Morgan turned to Rossi. "I'm driving."
"Fair enough." He turned to where Reid was packing his satchel. "Ready, yet?"
Reid handed the satchel to Morgan. "Would you mind taking this in the car? It would be good for me to walk back to the hotel so my knee doesn't seize up."
Morgan grinned. "Can we trust you out there all alone?"
"I have a gun," Reid said dryly.
Emily surprised herself. "I could use a little exercise myself. I don't think I've left this room all day."
"See you in the morning then." Morgan said to Reid, "Anything you need tonight from this?"
"Nah. Just didn't want to leave it here overnight."
They walked in silence back toward their hotel. It was already dark out, but the air was soft. Every once in awhile, their knuckles would brush, and Emily had the sensation, again, that something was different, less impersonal, about the touch.
There was a glint off Reid's glasses, and he said, "I wouldn't mind if we held hands."
It took her a minute to realize what he was putting into words. Reid didn't care to touch people, but he'd touched her earlier tonight. She took his hand and stepped slightly closer to him. They continued to walk in silence.
About three blocks from the hotel, he tugged her hand, and they stepped into protective shadows. His eyes looked huge behind the lenses as his hands tenderly framed her face. The kiss was sweet. Emily found herself trying to cling closer to him, welcoming his teasing tongue into her mouth. When she moaned, it broke the spell and the kiss ended.
They didn't speak, but he took her hand again as they walked the short distance left.
As they approached the hotel, he squeezed her hand gently and let go, holding the door open for her. The light from the lobby hid his eyes behind his glasses briefly. They went up to their hotel rooms and parted without a word being spoken, but as she went in to her room, Emily glanced at Reid and was shocked at the heat in his eyes.
***
Garcia's search and a review of the previous year's car theft files allowed them to find three likely routes for the stolen cars and back trace them to Lincoln and the killer. It took two more days, and, sadly, another death to catch him.
On the plus side, the local FBI office and the Sheriff's office were planning a cooperative sting that would break the local crime lord's hold on auto theft and resale. The routes went as far south as Mexicali, as far west as Portland, and as far north as Alberta, Canada. They didn't need the BAU for the mop-up, so late Thursday the team got on the plane to go home.
Emily and Reid had worked separate aspects of the case once Garcia came through, so other than breakfast at the hotel, they'd had no chance to talk alone since walking together
It was just after midnight when the plane landed at their home air strip.
Hotch said, "Unless JJ or I calls you in for a case, no one is expected at the office until Tuesday. Strauss has suggested that she'll burst into tears and fire any of us she sees at our desks before then. So, see you Tuesday." He walked up to Reid. "Need a lift into the city?"
Emily was close enough to hear and spoke up. "He only lives a couple of miles from me." She smiled at Reid. "I can get you home."
Reid nodded and said to Hotch, "Get home to Jack. Have a good long weekend."
"Will do." Hotch went to his car.
Traffic was light enough that Emily thought they'd be in DC within the hour. When she saw the lights on the Washington Monument, she finally broke the silence. "You're usually more talkative."
"I can usually think of a good opening to say what I want to." Reid sounded a little nervous.
"Say anything."
"I'd invite you to my apartment, but I sleep on a futon on the floor."
Emily giggled. "Well, that was frank. I have a queen-sized bed if you'd like to stay with me tonight."
"Why now, Emily?"
She kept her eyes on the road. "The glasses are part of it. They made me look at you again, rather than just my colleague."
"I've been looking at you a long time. You were the only one who cared enough after Hankel to question my behavior. I resented it at the time." He gave a half smile. "But I know how hard it must have been even to ask me." He patted her thigh.
She nodded and kept concentrating on the road home.
***
How many times had she babbled and teased someone on her way to bed with them, she wondered. With Reid it was just a silent acknowledgment of what they both wanted with each other.
When he leaned in to kiss her, Emily reached up to take his glasses off, and he took her hands and pinned them behind her back. It was gentle; she could easily break his hold, but it was a definite message.
"I want to see you," he said.
"See me what? What fantasies are you harboring?"
Reid smiled shyly. "Top two? The first is I want to watch you take off your clothes, see you waiting for me on your bed."
She stepped away from him and took off her jacket, draping it over the back of a chair. She didn't play coy; she stripped efficiently holding his eyes, reveling in his appreciation of her body. She lay back on the bed and said, "Your turn."
He followed her lead and stripped quickly. Reid swallowed nervously when he took his shirt off, but kept going at her appreciative smile. When he took off his trousers, Emily made a low noise at the back of her throat to see him hard for her.
Reid stretched himself beside her on the bed, and she reached for his glasses again.
"Don't be grabby," he said. "Did you know that no one is perfectly symmetrical?"
"I did actually. What does that have to do with your glasses?"
"I want to find all your little asymmetries." He brushed his lips against her shoulder and began to stroke and lick his way down her body. "For instance, your right nipple flushes darker than your left one." He bent his head to suckle at it for a moment and she relaxed back against the pillows.
"I hadn't noticed it before, myself."
She could feel him smile against her navel, and she opened her legs to him as his explorations went lower.
"That second fantasy, I mentioned?"
"Yes."
"This." He flicked his tongue inside her and spread the soft liquid up to her clitoris.
She looked down her body and saw him looking up at her, cataloging her responses to his touch.
Emily relaxed into his touch feeling his tongue flick against her thigh and then swirl over her clitoris. Twice, she felt herself on the edge of climax, only to have him ease her back down to let her build again. As the lovely build started again, she wrapped her legs around his shoulders.
His eyes glinted mischievously as he slid his arms under her thighs and clamped her against his mouth. His tongue seemed to be everywhere, flicking and thrusting and swirling as her thighs and stomach tightened.
This time he didn't stop and she came hard, panting like she'd run a marathon. She relaxed and felt him lie beside her, cradling her head to his chest. When she leaned up to him for a sloppy kiss, she could taste herself on his lips.
An aftershock went through her and she pinned him back to claim the exact kiss she wanted. "My turn, Doctor Reid."
He grinned. "So formal?"
Finally, she reached for his glasses and slid them slowly off his nose. Emily put them on the nightstand and opened one of its drawers. She handed him a condom, then bent down to kiss each of his eyelids in turn. "Now, you can be Spencer."
She clenched around him again when his finger slid into her. He coated his cock with her wetness and slipped on the condom.
"It'll be easier for you to control things, if you stay on top," Spencer said.
Emily nodded. He held himself steady for her, and she eased herself down on his thick length. His smile matched hers as she sank down as far as she could.
Spencer let her set the pace. After a moment he put his thumb on her clit so she could grind down on it for sensation.
She felt a second climax building and Spencer propped himself on his elbows and thrust into her.
"I'm close," he said, and the words triggered another wracking orgasm from her.
Emily felt him flare and go rigid inside her and dropped forward onto his chest. "You know, Garcia bet you were some sort of ninja lover because she said CalTech engineers were all really, really good in bed. Will it bother you if I tell her she was right."
Spencer giggled. "No sharing. At least not yet. Let's see where this leads us first." He rolled them onto their sides and took care of the used condom.
"My bank account thanks you. It was a large bet." She left a series of sloppy kisses down his neck as she snuggled into him. "I'd like this to lead to more."
"Did you ever read any Heinlein?"
She pushed herself up to look him in the eyes. "Is this your idea of pillow talk?"
He grinned at her. "He introduced me to the idea that sexual relationships should always be the lady's choice." Spencer's fingers stroked her spine until Emily settled back against him.
"This lady chooses you." She kissed his nipple gently, and they drifted to sleep.