Echos of a Genius | Spencer Reid

A Little Thing Called Love

Spencer

I told Stephie everything, everything that was going on with my mom. Everything that happened with Cat, even though she already saw it. I can't say she wasn't pissed off, because she was. I get it. I kept a big secret from her. One that could change our lives one day, my mother is a schizophrenic Alzheimer's patient. What's to say I don't meet the same fate?

Stephie sighs as she flops herself next to me on the couch, we're still in search of the perfect house.

"What's wrong?" I put my book down, knowing I'm definitely not getting back to it tonight.

"I'm bored," she mutters, her voice heavy with an unspoken weight.

"Why don't you see if Emily or the girls are free? You could go out for drinks or something."

Stephie shakes her head, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I don't feel like going out tonight. I just want to... I don't know."

I shift closer, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, but she tenses slightly. I can tell what she's thinking before she says it, but I try anyway. "We could—"

"I'm not in the mood for sex either, Spence," she interrupts with a soft smile, but her tone leaves no room for argument.

I don't push it. "Okay." I know better than to push this woman.

She sighs again, resting her head on my shoulder before slowly sliding down, her head ending up in my lap. For a while, we just sit there in silence, the hum of the city beyond our apartment filling the room.

Then she starts talking. Little things, random thoughts that seem disconnected but carry the same thread of restless energy. She talks about the houses we've seen, about a funny conversation she overheard at the grocery store, about the weirdest cases she's worked on.

And I listen. I listen to it all, because I know she needs this. Needs the space to ramble, to unload her mind without any judgment or expectations. It's what I can give her, even when she doesn't want anything else.

By the time her voice starts to slow and her words become fewer, I know she's close to falling asleep. Gently, I run my fingers through her hair, offering silent comfort.

"Thanks," she murmurs, barely awake now.

"For what?"

"For not pushing... just letting me be."

"Always," I whisper, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

I do find it weird that she didn't want to go out for drinks with her friends, it's unlike her to turn down and chance to get drunk with Emily.

Actually, now that I think about it, Stephie been acting weird all day. I can't help but wonder about all the what ifs that are currently going through my head.

"I'll be right back," I say lifting up her head so I can stand up.

"Where are you going?" Stephie is quick to ask and she seems very on edge.

"The bathroom.." What she does next completely makes me freeze up.

She cries.

I freeze at the sound of her sobs, my mind racing. Stephie isn't the type to cry without a reason, and something about the rawness of it has my heart pounding in my chest. I turn back toward her, forgetting all about the bathroom.

I sit back down next to her, unsure of what to do. "Steph, hey... what's wrong?"

She doesn't answer right away. She just pulls her knees tighter against her chest, and it's like the floodgates open—her whole body shaking with the force of her tears. I'm freaking out inside, trying to figure out how to fix this, but I can't even begin to guess what's going on.