Front Lines| Spencer Reid + Anne Grey

eighteen

"What time is it, Dr. Reid?" Alexander Miller questions. It was the fifth time he had asked within ten minutes, so Reid had started to assume that his warning was close.

"Two twenty three."

As expected, he responds, "You have five minutes."

He looked pleased with himself, unaware of the plan Spencer had been executing for the past 45 minutes. It wasn't two twenty three. It was one thirty.

"Where is it?" Reid inquires, faking urgency. "We have five minutes. Please, just let me reduce collateral damage." It was all part of the game. If he seemed like he was falling apart, everything would feel even more realistic to Alexander.

He smiles, replying, "I'd rather not."

Spencer shakes his head, trying to look disappointed, with a tinge of fear. He leaves the room, letting the door shut behind him as he makes eye contact with Grey.

She was the only person there,since the other were positioned across the city, waiting on a location to go to. It wasn't just a matter of disarming the bomb, but finding it, as well.

"Now what?" she asks, putting her thumbs through her belt loops and rocking back on her heels. She knew the gist of Reid's plan, but it was still fuzzy in her head.

"We wait ten minutes."

Anne nods, staying quiet for a moment. She was thinking about whether or not it would be weird to change the subject, and before she could decide, Spencer did it for her.

"Are you excited for this weekend?" he queries, no longer looking at her. He was now looking through the one way glass, observing Alexander's demeanor.

She grins at the mention of their vacation. "Extremely. Yourself?"

"Stoked," he assures, vaguely gesturing his hands about. "It's the last week of all this being private."

Unprompted, Grey starts laughing, tipping her head over in entertainment. Knowing Reid would be confused, she tries to get it together, explaining, "Okay, see, you said 'all this', and for a split second, I imagined that you meant interviewing an attempted bomber."

"That's...not what I meant."

She grins, confirming, "Yeah, I know." Sighing and settling her laughter, Grey adds, "I can't really tell how I feel about 'going public' with everything. What do you think?"

Tilting his head and acting as though he hadn't been considering that exact question for upwards of a month, he slowly answers, "I think it would be a couple less casual bookstore hangouts and more actual public dates."

"Yeah, that'll be nice." Beginning to stare through the one way glass as well, she continues, "You think it'll be a shock?"

"What, to the team?" When Grey nods, Spencer rattles off, "Gideon, no. JJ, yes. Garcia, yes. Morgan, sort of. And Hotch...well, I don't know."

She laughs, nodding. "I'm not sure about him either. The rest of it, though. Muy precisa."

Looking quite amused, he asks,"What's your reason that Gideon wouldn't be shocked?" He had a solid reason, so he assumed she would, as well.

"All that time ago when you spilled coffee on me and he saw us before I went to get changed in my car," she explains, trying to keep herself from giggling. "He was already convinced, and assumed we were having sex somewhere. We would obviously never, but credit where it's due." Glancing toward him, her voice questions, "What's yours?"

"After the case when we recruited Garcia, I told him that you invited me to a wedding, and I could tell."

Anne exhales, softly grinning. "You know what's funny about that?"