The Keeping of Words | Spencer Reid

15 |Something

"Maybe this was what love meant after all: sacrifice and selflessness. It did not mean hearts and flowers and a happy ending, but the knowledge that another's well-being is more important than one's own." – Melissa de la Cruz

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She had been home only one month. How many times could one person pack and unpack their life in the same city? Bianca had settled in to a new apartment in her old building (to her delight, it had a better view and a bigger kitchen than her old place), and was starting to get the hang of classes at Georgetown Law. It was strange to spend her days hearing mostly English, not needing to translate street signs or devote her attention to listening in French. She did however miss her friends, all of the fellows now back in their respective homelands. Eva's absence was the one she felt the most. Two years with the fiery redhead, writing essays and wandering through the Netherlands together had turned the pair into the best of friends. There were nights of laughter and practical jokes, weekends doing research in libraries older than the United States itself, and long discussions about the lives they lived outside of the program.

All good things had to come to an end, though. They still kept in touch, sending emails at least once a week, and sometimes even calling; but Eva had her firm to return to, as well as Lorenzo, and she had responsibilities back in DC, where a new routine was falling into place. She took the metro across town in the mornings to attend lectures and classes, and wrote her papers in the evenings. Her classmates were a wide spectrum of ages and backgrounds, and her professors ranged from temperamental to generous to downright cantankerous. Still, she enjoyed the work, knowing that soon enough it would pay off, and she would graduate with that coveted JD degree.

More strenuous than her course load was the effort she dedicated to avoiding any members of the BAU – Dr. Spencer Reid in particular. Garcia knew she was back in the District, but as far as she could tell Penelope had been true to her word. She was careful not to go to any coffee shop other than Swing's (she counted on him not wanting to return to somewhere that had been "hers") and kept her book browsing strictly to the Georgetown library and the secondhand bookstore not far from her apartment. As much as she loved Carpe Librum, she missed making trips to Second Story Books and browsing their antique copies. That store had been a favorite of his, and running into him there was far too likely.

Off-limits were also the Smithsonians, the art galleries, and most of the National Mall. Anything east of 13th Street was also too close for comfort, as were any of the metro lines running towards Quantico during the week. Naturally though, all bets were off when she had to go east for her classes at the Law Center. While the main campus was closer to the Potomac, the University's Law Center was strategically located near the Supreme Court and the Capitol – not even a full block from his apartment. She got off the metro two blocks away, and walked around the Center to enter from the door furthest from the Capitol Plaza Apartments. It complicated her schedule, but it was well worth it not to run into him accidentally.

There were several classes each day, and those studying different clusters of law took different courses and seminars. Her plan was to continue on the international law track, specializing in human rights. While her fellow classmates wanted to focus in areas ranging from tax law to family law, many of the first-year course requirements were general classes. Tuesday was one of the rare days when she had the chance to take one of her cluster-focused courses. Halfway down the hall to Refugee Law and Policy, her eye caught a glimpse of a paper taped to the wall, and she backtracked to double check. Sure enough, she had seen correctly. It was one of the upper division classes, one of the criminal justice seminars. Some of the professors were in the habit of advertising guest speakers, should any other students want to sit in. The blue sheet of paper announced: