Winnie

ok

"What the hell happened?" Hotch asked sternly, walking toward Spencer

Spencer was sitting in the waiting area, lost in thought. He held Winnie's paperwork tight in his arms. 

"I don't know," Spencer said, looking at the ground. He kept rethinking everything that had happened leading up to finding Winnie. 

Garcia and Emily ran in next, "Where's Winnie," "What happened?" Worry written across their faces. 

"I don't know," Not changing his gaze, but his voice grew slightly louder. 

Morgan hurried into the waiting area, followed by JJ and Rossi. Before they had a chance to ask, Hotch gave them a look that said, don't. 

"I don't know what happened," Spencer stated, "We had planned a movie night but before I got there..." He trailed off. "I don't know. She's in surgery right now but it looked mostly like a flesh wound. There was a lot of blood though..." The last part was more of a whisper to himself to the others.

"I'm sure she's gonna be fine," Emily sat next to Spencer and put a hand on his shoulder. "What are those papers?" 

Spencer looked down in his arms. 

We can't let these out of our sight.

Winnie had explained on the ride to the hospital. She had two stacks of paperwork. One stack was her student's math homework, the other was police files that she was working on. 

"Evidence?" Spencer assumed. "Winnie was working on a few different cases. Whoever broke in took the wrong stack of papers. I guess he must've been looking for something in here." 

Emily reached for the files. Spencer tensed at first but let her take them regardless. 

The team then sat in the waiting room for the next hour or so looking through the case files. Spencer tried to focus on the file in his hand but was distracted by his thoughts. Spencer looked around at his team, studying the focused look on their faces. None of them knew what exactly they were looking for, but Spencer was happy for their help.

Not long after a doctor came to call them in. Spencer was the first to jump up. 

Winnie was laying the bed. Her shoulder now wrapped correctly underneath the stiff hospital gown. Her eyes lit up when Spencer walked in. He tried to keep himself composed. Seeing that she was okay was overwhelming but he held back his tears of joy. 

"Winnie..." Spencer trailed off. The rest of the team then walked in. 

"Winnie!" Garcia said excitedly, knowing that her friend was okay.

"Hey guys," Winnie smiled at the group and went to push her self to more of an upright position. She sucked in a quick breath, pain shooting through her arm. Looking at the worried expressions in front of her, she added, "I'm fine." 

"Reid here almost lost it in the waiting room," Derek added moving the topic of conversation away from Winnie. "Poor kid, you would've thought he was the one who got shot." 

A small pained laugh escaped from Winnie's lips. Spencer blushed slightly. 

"Yeah, well..." Spencer paused. Awkward tension filled the room. 

"So we've been looking at the case files," Hotch changed the subject again. "Any idea what this guy was after? Do you remember what he looked like?"

Winnie shook her head no, "I didn't have my glasses on but he was tall. I think he was wearing a mask." 

Hotch's intense stare remained on Winnie, "Was there any defining feature you remember about him?"

"Well, I shot him so there's that," Winnie said, which raised a few eyebrows from the group. 

"You shot him?" Emily asked, searching for clarification.

"Yeah, well, I just never really felt safe after... " Winnie trailed off, "So I bought a gun. It's small, just for safety." She looked across the faces in front of her, faces that held a mix of concern and surprise. 

"It's a good thing that you had one," Rossi broke the silence. 

"The blood in the hall," Spencer paused, "It was his blood, not yours." 

Hotch left the room followed by JJ, Emily, and Morgan. He gave them each different tasks to figure out who broke in, which case file they were looking for and to contact the local authorities to get a forensic team at the crime scene. Rossi and Garcia followed them out and took on tasks of their own as well, leaving Spencer and Winnie alone in the room.

Spencer walked closer to Winnie. He took a seat on the chair adjacent to the bed. 

Winnie met his concerned gaze, "You were right."

"About?" 

"I should keep my doors locked," Winnie stated, recalling their conversation over four weeks ago.

Spencer smiled, remembering the day. The day he had asked her out the first time. His smile faded slightly at the fact. 

"Spence," Winnie noticed the hurt behind the falter. "I'm sorry. I'm just not very good at the whole relationship thing. And not just you, with everyone. I've never really had friends before, much less a boyfriend." Her words came out softly, under her breath. 

Spencer realized that he was being unfair. He shouldn't risk the first meaningful friendship Winnie had by confusing her with relationship drama that she didn't know how to navigate. 

"I'm sorry too," Spencer replied solemnly. 

"Spence?" 

"Yeah?"

"I think I love you too." Winnie said quietly, "Maybe more than a best friend love? I don't really know, but I want to find out." 

Spencer's heart jumped, "We can figure it out together if you want to?"

"That would be nice" Winnie smiled. 

Spencer's mind wandered back to earlier that evening, "Um, Winnie? If it's not too personal, what's the scar on your back?"

Her smile dropped.