Scarlet Rose

7

Spencer and I got out of the elevator and walked into the BAU with me limping a little, but we'll enough to be off crutches.

JJ saw me first and a big smile lit up her face. "Vanessa! You're back!"

"Hey, JJ." I said as she hugged me, pulling back. "Come on. We're just starting a debrief."

"Okay,"

"Also, try to make it less obvious next time. You two look like lovestruck puppies." she said with a dramatic wave of her hand as we all headed through the doors.

"How did you know?" Spencer asked.

"Come on, Spence, really? For one, she's wearing your clothes which she hasn't done in like, 3 months. Second, you two both look like you haven't had a good night's rest. And lastly, it's just obvious that you two love each other so much." she said the last two words with a little laugh.

"Quit profiling us." I said and looked at Spencer and he just smiled, walking forward and holding the door open for me and JJ, entering just behind us and the three of us took our seats.

"Okay, so we got—Vanessa! You're back! The BAU was so boring without you." Garcia said once she turned and saw me.

"Yeah, because chasing serial killers is so boring." I said in a bored tone, getting a laugh out of Rossi and Morgan.

"Hey, kid. Congratulations on finally landing a girl." Morgan said to Spencer.

"What?" Aaron looked between me and Spencer and his usual frown lifted to a little smile. "Huh. Who would've thought."

"Not me." Spencer said.

"Oh, please, Reid, you've been a wreck at work without Vanessa here." JJ said, turning to me and leaning in. "He talks about you a lot."

"Because she's my roommate." Spencer said.

"And giiiiirlfriend." Morgan said with a smile.

"Morgan, we kissed one time." Spencer said.

"I'll give you five bucks if you kiss him in front of us." Emily leaned over and whispered, pulling out a five dollar bill and waving it around.

"Hmm. Would've done it for free, but I'm in." I said, turning to Spencer as he still argued with Morgan. "Hey, Spencer."

"Yeah?" he turned to me.

I leaned forward and kissed him, my hand resting on his shoulder as I pulled away. "Twice,"

Morgan covered his mouth with a hand and looked at the team, then me. "Been waiting to do that, huh?"

"Since we got in the elevator." I replied, taking my hand off Spencer's shoulder and reaching across the table, taking the five bucks from a smiling Emily's hand.

"Vanessa! You kissed me on a dare?"

"Hey, I told her I'd do it for free." I said, handing him the money. "But, on the plus side, we're five dollars richer."

Aaron smiled at the two of us and cleared his throat. "Let's get back on track. Garcia?"

"As I was saying....we're heading to California. The local police have called us in because a series of blackouts have happened, and at least five deaths have already occurred." Garcia said with a shudder.

"I've always wanted to go to California." I said in a dull voice. "Now I don't."

———

"Vanessa, are you okay with this?" Aaron asked me as the team and I stood outside the brown house with a flat roof, an old man with a gun standing by the window, holding a young girl.