A year after leaving the BAU, Spencer Reid is restless and struggling to adjust to civilian life. Not finding any fulfillment or respite in it, he decides to take a position with Homeland. On assignment he meets you, a former Master Gunnery Sergeant...
Summary: Spencer exchanges Christmas presents with you and Alijah before leaving Iraq.
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The last week before Christmas leave went by like molasses traveling through mud. You spent most of your time holed up in your office with the door closed, avoiding the unit and more importantly, Spencer.
He couldn't believe himself! He knew how closed off you were and private, and still he'd exposed his feelings to you as though you would be likely to return them. It was a moment of passion he'd stupidly got caught up in.
He didn't regret it, not one bit, but by god was he embarrassed. You avoiding him didn't help at all.
Spencer tried to not let it get to him, but his heart was desperate. After months of dancing around you and your touch, getting the small blip of a chance to really feel you against his skin was an honor he'd never be able to describe. He understood your hesitation, and even though it hurt him he was trying to give you your space.
The unit chalked it up to your disdain for Christmas, letting you hide yourself away from the rest of the base and spend days with Alijah and General Dobbs, preparing for a week without your team. What was left of Mercer's unit would be filling in, and the unit had offered to stay behind so you wouldn't have to deal with them, but you'd staunchly denied that request.
You hadn't shown up outside the CHUs all week, either. Spencer spent seven nights waiting for you, sitting lonely in the dirt and missing your presence and stashed away cookies so much he could hardly breathe. He watched the moon as that horrible phrase you'd uttered went through his heartbroken mind over and over.
A dead thing over a dying thing.
You were a solitary person, protective of yourself and your personal life. He knew you just needed some space, but what he needed was you. You'd become his lifeline out here, and the absence of your grin and jeers were eating a hole through his middle.
Spencer was making his way to Alijah's cell with the present in his pack, wanting to surprise her. He wasn't looking forward to leaving her for a whole week, but he knew you were right. He needed time with his own family, time away from you and this warzone and every awful thing that came with it.
She was writing in a traveler's journal as he stepped inside, and gave him one of her megawatt smiles when she spotted him. Spencer closed the heavy door as softly as he could and made his way to his usual spot on the floor.
"That's new," he smirked, and she blushed as she closed it and set it aside.
"Y/N gave it to me," she said quietly. "It's just like the one Teddy used to carry."
Spencer's heart sank as it usually did when she mentioned him. He hadn't told her the truth, that Captain Teddy Alejandro Martinez died in a plane explosion, and after finally learning who Angel really was, he knew it wasn't his place.
