Amarum

Chapter One

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

― Martin Luther King Jr

"What the fuck Manon?" Spencer yelled, gripping her hand with white knuckles.

"Are you telling me this is not the most fun you've had?" She yelled back, his head turned to hers and he saw the smile.

The smile he had been missing for five years. He had been living his life waiting to die, but when he saw Manon in New York, it lit a fire that he didn't know still had tender.

Being with her was like a breath of fresh air in a city of smoke.

Like cold water after swallowing a bitter pill.

"Are you gonna keep staring at me or keep up?"

Manon was exhilarated. She couldn't deny that she loved power.

And the fact Spencer still loved her after five years? She could only compare it to the high she felt after her first kill. The shower after, the water running red.

*

Spencer sped down the european highway. Driving on the left side of the road was strange, but not a lot stranger than the woman in the passenger seat.

"So Spence. Any lucky ladies in your life?"

"Not really. Maybe a date or to but nothing real." His voice raised a fraction of an octave, and his body language became more tense, closed off.

It didn't matter that he wasn't the best liar. She knew about Elle Greenaway.

They had known each other for years. After Elle left the BAU she was approached by Marcus and Terrence. They had also worked together before Elle left the corporation. She did what Manon never could, she got out.

They had reconnected at Marcus's funeral. It is customary to pay respects to the man who paid you millions. Since then, they had befriended each other. Elle would often invite her over. Elle's house was next to a beautiful brick mansion. Nothing insane but a big house nonetheless. A house with gorgeous stained glass windows, and a giant library. She came over whenever possible until Elle moved.

Manon shuffled with the seatbelt to reach her phone.

"Hey girl." Manon ignored the look on Spencer's face. He didn't expect her to have female friends, she would feel a threat to her dominance, it just wasn't in her psychology

"Hey. you on the way?"

"Yeah I am. See you in like fifteen? Can you get out some wine? We're gonna need it"

"Yeah. Celis is excited to see aunty Manon. See you."

"Bye Elle." Manon looked across the center console into Spencer's eyes. The hazel depths held flecks of skepticism, and pools of fear.

"You really thought I didn't know?"

Shit. This is just a replay of Cat.

"Part of me knew you did. And some crazy, insane part of me hoped you did."

"I haven't lost my touch then." She looked down, examining her nails.

"That and birth certificates and marriage licenses are public record."

"You know? Are you mad?" if there was one thing he wouldn't risk it was them.

"Yes. But I'm not going to do anything about it. I do have to admit my plan worked rather perfectly."

"Your plan? There are even things you can';t accomplish, and making me fall in love with someone else happens to be one of them."

"You really think you just ended up being neighbors with your former crush? With a one night stand that you had been missing for thirteen years?"

"I-I guess it's a small chance."

"Exactly. Besides, Elle's a good friend. I knew I couldn't be there, and I knew you would be a good father."

Spencer smiled. Celis. Spencer had always wanted to be a father, and after Maeve died he never thought that would happen. He had had a short lived romance with a girl named Max, but they never had true chemistry. It was like a last ditch effort to not end up alone.

Somewhere along the way he ran into his next door neighbor. His second love. She had been forced to leave the BAU, but since he had pondered what could have been. Elle was a widow. She had gotten married about two years after leaving the BAU, to a homicide detective from her Seattle days. He was shot in the line of duty, leaving her and her three year old at the time behind. They had moved back to DC.

Him and Celis had become fast friends, and a few months before she turned six he had legally adopted her, and married her mother.

He loved her name. Elle had thought of him when she named her. Or she told him that at least. A character from one of her favorite books was named Celis. It meant incomparable, celestial. Just like she was. He read her books all the time. She had read all the Harry Potter books by her sixth birthday.

Spencer was an incredible dad. He was kind and fair, but he never tried to replace her biological dad. He was for all intents and purposes, Celis's dad, but he tried to honor her father. He brought her to work, and helped her with homework. He suspected that she must have an IQ somewhere near his.

But she reminded him of Manon. She was a great kid, but full of ambition. She wanted success. She wanted to rule the world.

But this was all complicated thinking for an eight year old. All that really mattered was that he and Elle loved each other, and Spencer loved Celis too. Even though Manon guaranteed not to hurt them, she wasn't capable of empathy. She felt no remorse. 

So he kept his guard up.