Mágoa // Spencer Reid

Chapter 54

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.They're in each other all along."
Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi

A day had passed since Maria's final operation, she had been discharged from hospital- Penny had quickly gone over to Maria's apartment to grab some clothes for her to change into. She returned with a pair of dark grey cargo pants, a black tank top, black combat boots and a silver necklace- Maria was eager to get changed out of the hospital gown she had been living in recently so she didn't pay much attention to the necklace until she was getting dressed. She held it in her left hand, and allowed it to sparkle under the light- it was the necklace Spencer had bought her for her birthday, she thought that she had put it in a small box with some other things that remind her or Spencer, like her books that he recommended, or bought her, and the photos from her birthday ball with the BAU, photos of her dancing with each member of the group, including Hotch- the majority of the photos were of her and Spencer that Penelope had taken when the two weren't paying attention to anything other than each other. She concluded that Penelope must've been rummaging through her stuff, she wasn't really that bothered- it did feel like a slight invasion of privacy, but it was Penny- she couldn't be annoyed with her.

Not thinking twice about it she put the necklace on and headed outside, it felt nice to wearing normal clothes again. She hadn't seen Ben since before she was wheeled into the OR, she decided to text him just to see if everything's ok:
M: Hey Ben, how are you? I'm getting discharged today thank god!
He quickly replied,
B: Hey. I'm not too bad, at the moment I'm pretty confused- when you were in surgery that lanky guy, Simon was it? Told me that you aren't Naomi, something about you being undercover? Can we meet up? I'm seriously confused! :P
M: Ugh, it's a long story- one that I don't think Spencer should've told you. Yeah sure shall we meet this afternoon?

The two agreed to meet in a cafe at around 2, Maria quickly began asking Penelope about the undercover protocol, she did a bit of research online and told her that Spencer had probably broken protocol and that she would have to inform Hotch. Maria had attempted to argue that he had good intentions and that Ben wouldn't tell anyone, Penelope had told her that even though Ben is very lovely- the team don't know him, and had no reason to inform him about her undercover role. Hotch will be having stern words with the genius.

Maria asked Penelope if they could go and get the prescribed painkillers, so Penelope drove as Maria had to 'take it easy' and basically not do any driving or heavy lifting. As the two sat in silence a pot hole seemed to appear out of nowhere, Penelope attempted to swerve and avoid it which resulted in Maria hitting her sore cheek on the window- she winced in pain and her eyes began to water at the sudden intensity of the pain.
"I am so so sorry, Ria. Are you ok?" Penelope asked, Maria nodded her head and took a deep breath.
"I really need those painkillers now."

After stopping off at a nearby pharmacy Penelope dropped Maria off at the cafe, as she walked in she spotted Ben who was waving at her from a table near the back of the cafe. She slowly approached wondering what she was supposed to say to him, when Penelope had told Hotch about Spencer talking to Ben about the undercover situation he had instructed Maria to bring Ben back to the hotel to be debriefed. She silently took a seat opposite him and stared at her hands for a moment, once the two broke the awkward silence it was fine, Ben understood that he shouldn't know about Maria being an undercover agent- She apologised that he would have to be debriefed but he didn't mind.

"Honestly, I'm just glad you are ok." He smiled as the two left, Maria wanted to cry at the fact she couldn't drink alcohol or coffee while on the drugs- so while they were in the cafe where all she could smell was the bittersweet scent of the house blend, she sipped on a glass of water. Ben drove Maria back to the hotel, his car was a vintage Chevrolet Camaro- it was one of Maria's dream cars, along side a Mustang that is.