"Why do serial killers have to steal all the good names?" I grumbled as I stared down at my phone screen.

Reid looked over from the driver's seat, shaking his head as he forced himself not to smirk.

It'd been a couple of weeks since the dinner at Rossi's and while we'd managed not reveal our secret yet I was starting to get antsy. I hated lying, especially to Garcia who despite being absolutely clueless, wouldn't stop asking me about weddings and babies. I knew for a fact that she was just teasing, but every single time she brought it up I had to bite my tongue and force myself to keep quiet.

At this point I was getting excited, because in a couple of weeks we were scheduled in for our first proper ultrasound. The whole appointment was just a routine check up, but according to Reid it'd probably be the first time we'd get to hear it's heartbeat, which was crazy. While I definitely had the symptoms of a pregnant woman I didn't feel pregnant.

"Why are you looking up names already? We don't even know the gender, yet."

I scrolled through the list in front of me, furrowing my brow. "Naming a kid is a big thing," I responded.

"Yeah, but we have two hundred and twenty-eight days to figure it out."

I rolled my eyes. "You say that like it's a lot of time."

"It is," he laughed.

"It isn't," I argued. I poked his shoulder roughly, causing him to flinch and narrow his eyes. "What if we decide on a name and suddenly we look at the kid and it feels wrong? Or what if it gets bullied? I don't want our kid to get bullied, Spencer!"

He reached over and grabbed my hand, shaking his head again. Unlike me, Reid was so calm and always managed to find the right things to say to make me feel better. "How about we just relax and take it easy? I'm sure the right name will just come to us when we're least expecting it."

I let out a sigh of defeat and nodded my head. Like always, he was right, so instead of pressing the matter further I threw my phone into my bag and leaned back in my seat.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Reid unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over to plant a quick kiss on my face. As he did I closed my eyes, smiling to myself as I felt his warm lips make contact. When he pulled away I looked over at him, biting my lip as I pulled him in for another; this time pushing my lips against his.

For a while we sat in the car, making out, despite knowing we should probably leave. It was my first official day back at work and while I was definitely excited, right now I was more interested in kissing my boyfriend.

Reid laced his fingers through the hair near the base of my neck as he pulled away, quietly gasping for air as he smiled in my direction. "Why are you so distracting?"

"Because you love me," I simply retorted, "and hormones."

"Ah, yes," he raised his brows, "it's all that excessive estrogen and progesterone."

"Exactly." I gave his chest a light slap before pulling away and reaching for the door. As much as I wanted to continue our fun little rendezvous I knew we had to go. As I got out of the car I let out a heavy sigh, gripping the edge of the door as I stepped out and closed it behind me. Reid did the same, pushing a couple of strands of hair behind his ears as he looked over the hood and flashed me a small smile.

Over the last couple of weeks life had been literal bliss. I wasn't sure how we'd gotten so lucky, but the team hadn't been pulled out of state for a single case, so my time with Reid hadn't dwindled in the slightest. Unfortunately though, I knew it was only a matter of time before that changed, so at the back of my mind I had to keep telling myself it wouldn't last, especially now that both of us were working again.

On top of that, now that I was nearing six weeks I knew it was probably time I talked to my family. Reid, while still a bit skeptical on the earliness of it, but he supported me regardless. As much as I wanted to make sure everything was fine and dandy before going ahead and telling everyone I couldn't help, but feel guilty, especially since I still hadn't really talked to them. It wasn't like to me to go so long without contact, so I knew they were probably worried.

I grabbed Reid's hand as we walked across the parking lot, giving him a small smile as I pulled him up the front steps and pushed open the door. In unison we showed off our credentials and wandered inside, stopping just in front of the elevator to kiss each other goodbye.

"Don't forget to stop by my office before you leave." I gave his tie a quick readjustment, patting the fabric before looking up at him. Sometimes I forgot how beautiful he was, which seemed almost impossible given how much time we spent together.

"If we leave," he responded.

"When," I corrected. I could tell, despite enjoying his time at home he really missed the traveling. Like me, Reid was quite the workaholic so doing simple cases around town and menial paperwork was starting to get old.

He rolled his eyes, giving me a light shove as he shook his head and wandered into the elevator.

"Love you too!" I called out.

He stuck his tongue out at me as the doors closed, causing me to laugh. The more we hung out the sassier he seemed to get, which was something the rest of the team could definitely attest to. According to Morgan, not only was he more argumentative than usual, but also cruder; often joining in on the inappropriate banter he typically avoided. I thought it was pretty funny how much I was rubbing off on him, until I realized he was doing the same to me.

For fun, I was now reading a lot more, taking the majority of my day to do some research on the creature growing inside me. While a lot of information I absorbed was pretty interesting, some of it was straight up terrifying. Often times, I relayed the terrifying tidbits out loud, doing the same did you know spiel that Reid always did. At that moment I realized he wasn't just morphing into me, but also me to him.

"Riff-Raff!" I turned on my heel to see a very disheveled Cooper waltzing to my side. In the crook of his elbow he held a stack of files, while his hands were wrapped around a set of coffee mugs.

"Dick Cooper!" I called out excitedly. I raised my arms in the air, watching as he gave me fake look of disgust and pretended to turn around. When I frowned, he laughed and handed me one of the mugs. "For me?" I placed a hand over my heart and batted my eyelashes.

"Yes, now c'mon, Benson's got a couple of bodies for us to look over."

I followed him into his office, watching as he tossed the stack of files onto the desk and sighed. Quickly, he took a sip of coffee and placed his drink down before sifting through the stack and eventually grabbing a pair of files near the middle. "Double homicide in Freeny Field Park," he mumbled.

I took a step forward, grabbing the files from his hands. Awkwardly, I tucked my drink in my elbow and opened the top file, giving it a quick glance. According to the police report a couple were on their usual morning run where they were stabbed to death. Instantly I let out a heavy sigh. "How boring," I responded.

Cooper scoffed and shook his head.

"What?" I asked, half laughing.

"Most people would kill for the chance to get such a cut and dry corpse," he responded.

"Yeah, well, I'm not most people," I retorted, "it's obvious it was just a mugging." I moved over towards him, pointing out some of the details. "Most of their person affects were stolen."

He rolled his eyes, reaching for his coffee. "It's like your asking for a serial."

"It'd be more fun than this," I retorted.

"While I appreciate your lack of remorse I have to please ask that when you go to sleep tonight that you don't pray for that." He gave me a threatening look.

"I ain't promising shit," I laughed.

After that I wandered to my office to drop off my stuff and get ready. I grabbed a hair tie from my desk drawer, pulling my hair up as I walked back to the examiner's room and threw on my coat and gloves. Thankfully, Cooper trusted me enough to leave me alone this time so as I worked I threw on some music.

Bobbing my head to the beat I started doing the usual protocol; taking a good look at the outside of the body before digging in. Just as I suspected there wasn't a whole lot of foul play. Both of the bodies had your average, run of the mill injuries, most of which were just defensive wounds, along with a couple of contusions to the face. As I looked, I took a couple of notes for the report, writing out as much detail as possible as I sang quietly to myself.

Once I started cutting open the body a pair of knuckles tapped against the door. I pressed my lips together tightly, hoping they hadn't heard me singing as I turned to see Reid with his arms crossed over his chest. He was leaning against the doorway, one leg tucked under the other, as he smiled from ear to ear. When I rolled my eyes at his sudden presence he hopped in front of me, planting a quick kiss on the top of my head as I moved my bloodied gloves away from him.

"Hello," he cooed.

"How long were you standing there?" I peeled off my dirty gloves and tossed them into the trashcan before running over to the sink to wash my hands. As I did he wandered up behind me, snaking his arms around my waist as he snuggled up to me. I rolled my eyes again and tried to shove him off, but he wouldn't budge. "Excuse me doctor, but some of us are trying to work here."

"I'm working," he argued defensively.

"On what? Trying to get your girlfriend pregnant again?" I retorted.

He ran his hand along the left side of my neck, pushing the collar of my shirt down as he moved in for another kiss. Gracefully, he suckled my neck, causing me to bite my lip and close my eyes. While I definitely appreciated the warm welcome, I couldn't help, but feel somewhat nervous. We were at work after all.

"Spencer stop," I giggled and shoved him away, giving him a narrowed eyed look as I shook my head and held back a smile.

"Sorry. You told me to come down when we had a case." He gave me a sheepish smile as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks.

"I told you to come down and say goodbye not hump me from behind," I replied jokingly.

"Please don't hump near the bodies," Cooper appeared at the doorway, shaking his head as he walked over to the two of us and handed me a file. As soon as he did I groaned, giving Reid a look of annoyance, while he looked away in embarrassment. "Sorry to kill the mood, but Hotchner sent this over. Wants you to take a look."

I raised my brow in confusion, glancing over at Reid who merely shrugged.

Cooper tapped the front of the file with his index finger. "Says he wants your input."

"Why?" I scrunched up my face in confusion.

Cooper just shrugged his shoulders. "Don't shoot the messenger, kid. I just deliver."

Curiously, I opened up the file, positioning it so Reid could see. He grabbed the other side of the cover and together we scanned the first page. Almost immediately I knew exactly what this was about and without asking Reid I flipped over the page to grab the photos, placing them carefully on the sheet in front of us.

There, in all its nerve racking glory was a picture of a burnt up corpse laid out on the floor of bedroom. I looked over Reid who gave me a look of concern before pointing to one of the pictures. In the background was the same wickerman as last time, sitting on edge of the bed frame.

"Well shit," I blinked, unsure of what else to say.

"What?" Cooper looked over my shoulder, narrowing his eyes. "Well, that's not good."

"No, it isn't," Reid responded.

"Is this the case you guys are working on right now?"

Reid nodded his head. "We think it might be a copycat."

"Makes sense," I responded, "you can tell they didn't burn the body quite as well." I pointed to the corpse's face, which unlike the bodies back in Jacksonville still had some of the skin in tact.

"Typically copycats have lower confidence," Reid responded. "It would make sense for the unsub to be sloppy."

"That's true." I narrowed my eyes and inspected the torso, which unsurprisingly had a series of stab wounds. "This was definitely more personal though. The original MO only called for one stab wound." I bit my bottom lip, trying to recall the details of the original case. Even though it hadn't been that long my memory was definitely a little foggy.

"Those stab wounds aren't very clean," Cooper added.

"They definitely hesitated," Reid responded. "Based on the jagged edges of the cut you can tell they weren't as sure of themselves." He pointed to one of the bigger cuts along the chest with his pinkie finger.

"Do you think this is their first victim?" I raised my brow.

"Hard to say," Reid shrugged, "according to recent fire reports the level of arson in the area has gone up, which could either be a coincidence-"

"-or directly related." I finished.

He pressed his lips together and nodded.

"Hm." I tapped the back of the file curiously.

Cooper cleared his throat, causing both Reid and I to look over. "How about I take over this for a little bit, while you guys talk to boss man?" He pointed to the bodies on the table, giving me a small smile.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I finished all my paperwork anyway and you said it yourself, this isn't exactly the most exciting autopsy."

Reid gave me a concerned look, while I merely nodded and closed the file in front of me. "Okay. I'll be back soon. Just text me if you need anything. I put my notes on the desk over there."

Cooper gave me an over exaggerated salute.

Out of habit I grabbed Reid's hand and dragged him out of the room. As I walked I felt my heart pound quickly in my chest. I wasn't sure why, but all of a sudden I felt extremely nervous. Maybe it was the familiarity of the case or the idea of potentially getting to help put together a profile, either way all I could feel was my chest bouncing anxiously.

As went entered the elevator I let go of his hand and gripped the file to my chest, letting out a couple of heavy breaths as I closed my eyes.

"You good?"

I looked over at Reid and nodded.

When the elevator doors opened I basically ran up the ramp to Hotch's office. Reid followed closely behind, staring at the rest of the team who were talking casually at their desks. As I knocked on the door I heard Hotch call out, signalling me to open the door. When I stepped inside I saw his eyes move to me. Almost instantly he nodded his head, motioning me to sit down across from him.

"Hey, so I looked at the file." I set it down in my lap, watching out of the corner of my eye as Reid took the seat next to me.

"And?"

"Well, first off, I'm a little confused on why you're asking me for advice," I admitted, "I know we're close, but technically I'm not apart of the team anymore."

Hotch leaned forward, resting his elbows against his desk. "Yes, but you and Reid basically ran that case," he responded.

"I wouldn't say ran," I narrowed my eyes curiously.

"You were the most knowledgeable," he corrected.

"Yeah, but, I'm not SSA anymore," I retorted, "I look at bodies. Not profiles."

Reid's eyes darted between Hotch and I, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to keep up. I could tell he was just as confused as I was.

"While your classification is no longer the same as ours, I know for a fact your knowledge isn't lacking," Hotch responded with a sigh.

"Yes, but what exactly it is you want from me?"

"I'd like for you to tag along as a consultant." Hotch motioned to me casually, his brow darting upwards as he spoke. "You and I both know that with you and Reid together we can stop this unsub before things get out of hand."

I looked over at Reid again who despite his typical professionalism was holding back a small smile.

"I talked to Strauss," Hotch added.

"And?"

"She's on board."

"Really?" I asked. To say I was surprised was an understatement. Erin Strauss was not the kind of person to tread lightly, so getting her blessing was nothing short of a miracle.

Hotch nodded. "I also talked to Cooper who agreed it was in your best interest to join us."

"He said that?"

"He agrees that while your talents in the medical field are outstanding your skills as a profiler are even better."

I pressed my lips together, unsure how to respond. What exactly did he mean by that?

"We're leaving in an hour. Is that enough time to go over the profile with Reid and get your stuff?" Hotch asked.

"Yes," Reid responded.

When I looked over at him I broke out in a smile. Even though I was still very confused I was also excited. After eight months off the field I was back in business. Well, at least for one case.

"I'll have some paperwork ready for you when we get on the plane." Hotch stood from his desk, adjusting the jacket of his suit as he gave me a small smile.

"Sounds good." I stood up too, awkwardly offering my hand to him. "Thanks boss." I smirked.

He rolled his eyes and took my hand, giving it a rough shake.