The Keeping of Words | Spencer Reid

32| An Exchanging of Vows

October first arrived, and they both woke with butterflies in their stomach. They took separate Metro lines to the hotel where their out-of-town friends were staying. He went to one room, she to another, each preparing for the evening ahead. When bow ties had been adjusted and dresses zipped, they converged at Saint Mark's Church. With such a small group of guests, they had nixed the idea of bridesmaids and groomsmen, but Spencer was grateful to have a best man – Morgan – standing next to him. If he was alone on the altar, he feared he might panic and bolt.

He stared at out the small gathering assembled on the pews. The BAU was close together, members present and past there, along with their families. Bianca's friends were scattered in groups, and Dr. Baker was sitting at the very front. He scanned the rows, realizing he didn't see his mother. Panic automatically took over.

Unbeknownst to him, Eva had beckoned her away to a back room at Bianca's request. "My family isn't here," she explained to Diana. "So I don't have anyone to walk me down the aisle. I know it's not exactly traditional, but it would mean a lot to me... if you would."

The processional began at the sound of a piano, and Spencer tried to breath evenly as he watched Eva make her way towards them, coming to stand opposite him and Morgan. And then she was there. He noticed his mother first, unexpectedly, and then he saw her. Holding Diana's arm, dressed in white, and stealing the air from his lungs.

It felt surreal. She was beautiful, and she was walking towards him, and this was really going to happen. Diana gave them both a smile, and took a seat as Bianca met him on the altar and he learned that yes, she was the kind of person to cry at a wedding.

There was an exchange of vows, the ones they had written before the binding ones. He went first, pulling the papers from his suit jacket pocket. Out into the crowd he glanced, taking a last long look at his friends and family. All of them smiling, Rossi giving him a thumbs up, and Blake nodding encouragingly. With a deep breath, he looked down at the words he'd written weeks ago.

"I don't believe," began Spencer, "that intelligence can be accurately quantified. There are too many variables and factors to add to the equation to provide for a standard solution. Perhaps it is best measured by what one is capable of doing, whether those skills lie in reading or mathematics or kinesthetic motion. See, there's the theory of multiple intelligences, which postulates that our brains possess different skill sets and types of intelligence: logical, inter and intra personal, emotional, bodily, and verbal, to name a few. And while I study behavior for a living, I tend to do far better in areas of logic than in emotional or social situations."

He kept his eyes on the paper clutched in his hand Too nervous to recite it from memory, he held on to it with the hope that if he didn't look up, he wouldn't trip over the words. That his voice would sound calm when masked by an air of certainty. If he looked up at her too long, he would lose his place entirely, and he wanted to do this right.

"Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to understand and regulate emotions, the capacity to empathize, and to recognize how emotions evolve over time. Love is one of the most complex emotions we feel, so powerful that the Greeks had four different words for it, and centuries of art has been inspired by it. Wars have been fought for it, and some people even write poems about it." He paused, looking at her with a smile. "Despite all this, we still can't explain it. There are theories, about lovemaps and neurotransmitters and the triangular theory of intimacy, commitment, and passion; but there's nothing concrete. Which is hard for someone like me to accept. I want to be able to explain the world around me, but there's no logic to what I feel for you.

"I know it exists though, because I feel it so strongly. Like all emotions, that love has evolved over time, just as our relationship has. The more I think about it, the more I believe love cannot be accurately quantified either. We can only measure it what we learn from it, and what we're capable of doing because of it. You've taught me more about living and about loving than anybody else, and I say that as someone with three doctorates. You've shown me how to forgive and how to love unconditionally. And I intend to do just that – to love you as much as I can, for as long as I can. You've saved me in more ways than one, always managing to find me. So I'm standing here today, to promise you that I won't leave you. That I'll stay, that I'll be there for you no matter what comes our way. I promise to build a home with you, to make you smile every chance I get. I promise to weather the storms with you, and to love you with my whole heart. There's nobody else who makes me feel so much. There's nobody else I would rather have by my side in this life. And I promise I will never take that love granted."