T H I R T Y  O N E

SPENCER FROZE WHEN he heard the all too familiar voice of his coworker, yelling at him to hold the elevator.

"Thanks." Scout mumbled, removing the drenched hood of her raincoat. Her eyes glanced towards the tall man and instantly shied away to the other side of the metal box.

His cheeks reddened but refused to make eye contact, "Y-Yeah, no problem."

The elevator felt like it was moving in slow motion, every floor seemed like it took minutes to get to. Scout bobbed her head to the commercial jazzy music, biting at her lower lip.

"So um-" She cleared her throat and turned towards the doctor, "Do you think we've got a new case or-"

Her voice trailed off from a whisper to silence. If she was going to work with him then she decided it would be best to make things as least awkward as possible. But she didn't feel like she was helping.

"Uh no," Spencer's voice rasped as if he hadn't used it in days, "Just some routine paperwork, Hotch has us go over past cases every couple of months to see how the trials are going."

"Oh." Scout raised her brow and nodded.

The elevator dinged, signaling that the pair had arrived on the correct floor of the BAU. Spencer's eyes had yet to land on Scout. It didn't bother her much, but when he walked out without saying another word, her throat started to tighten.

It was a stinging feeling that she had not felt in a long time. And she hated it. But instead of mopping, Scout blinked back whatever was causing her vision to blurry and took in a deep breath. After all, she was the one who did this to herself. If she could handle the cut, then she could manage the stitch.

Scout darted directly towards her desk and shrugged her bag to the floor. There waiting for her, stood a pile of manila folders that was almost as big as her head.

"Is it not the biggest coincidence that the strongest rainstorm in Virginia lands on paperwork day?" She mumbled.

Rossi, who was walking by with a cup of coffee, chuckled and patted her back, "Einstein said, Coincidences are God's way of remaining anonymous."

"And a teenager in Ohio said, Look Jesus is on my grilled cheese sandwich." She rolled her eyes and begrudgingly sat down.

Morgan stifled a laugh from his desk by covering it with a cough which brought a smile to her face. Across the pathway, Spencer had tried his hardest not to listen but couldn't help himself. And Scout noticed the small curve to the corner of his lips, feeling accomplished.

"So, it's either the BAU or Spencer. And you choose the BAU?"

Scout sighed, shifting uncomfortably in her chair, "No, I'm not choosing."

"Then what? Pretend like you don't have feelings for him?"

Scout sighed as she opened up the first file on her desk. It was typed in small lettering, causing her to squint to read the fine print.

But her work didn't offer a good enough distraction. Instead of reading, her mind wandered back to the conversation she last had with one Penelope Garcia.

"Okay, so," Penelope tapped into her mug. "What are you going to do next?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are you going to do about Spencer? Are you going to tell him how you feel? Maybe see where this could go?"

"I can't."

"Scout, you're one of the most badass girls I've ever met and we work for the FBI, that's saying something right there. It would never have even crossed my mind that you're afraid of anything, especially not a genius geek like Spencer Reid and especially not yourself."

"I don't even know everything about him-"

Scout knew what was holding herself back from Spencer. It was the fact that she would be going into it blind, without knowing everything. It was against all her instincts, all her training.

And the question that plagued her mind would not let go: who is Maeve?

It wasn't like she could find the correct file in the FBI database, she didn't have that type of clearance. And passwords were changed all the time, especially for agents with special tasks.

Garcia certainly wouldn't tell her. And Scout already ruled out asking Spencer. It wasn't because she wasn't desperate enough, but the thought of having any serious or emotional conversation made her uncomfortable.

'Maybe-' She thought to herself, eyes landing on the key card that hung from Spencer's satchel.

Scout shook her head. It would be too risky and she knew she couldn't get close to the doctor without causing suspicion. They clearly were not on good terms and the whole team could tell. The usual puns and jokes had subsided between the pair; conversations of sci-fi movies, fiction books, and historic rock albums were no longer discussed.

"I'm gonna make myself some tea," Scout sent a lopsided grin to Morgan, who's desk was closest to hers. "You want anything?"

"Coffee, please."

"No cream, no sugar."

The dark skinned agent charmingly smiled, "Right you are, Tater Tot."

"Please, tell me that isn't going to catch on." Scout groaned, "Tater Tot is not as complimentary as Baby Girl."

Morgan merely winked at her before going back to his pile of work. She struggled not to grin at his flirty side but let it go.

Once she made the drinks, Scout walked back towards her area in a slow pace. She had filled the mugs to the brim with lukewarm liquid from the kitchen. When she passed by Spencer's desk, she eyed the satchel on the floor and took a deep breath.

When the bag came in contact with her foot, she dropped to the floor along with the mugs drenching her sleeves and spilling on the carpet. Spencer immediately jumped up with eyes bulging, darting to her rescue.

"Fuck, that hurt like hell." Scout cursed under her breath, rubbing at the knee that hit the floor.

The doctor crouched down next to her, "Scout, are you okay? Did you burn yourself?"

"No," She shook her head, not letting go of her leg. "The water wasn't warm enough."

He immediately grabbed the two mugs on the floor that thankfully hadn't smashed. Scout's fingers laced themselves around Spencer's key card and tucked the plastic in the side of her boot.

Morgan quickly ran to the scene and offered a hand, picking her up. She smiled gratefully, wiping her wet hands on her jeans.

"You don't have to do that," She grabbed the mugs from Spencer's hands but he wouldn't let go. "It's my mess, I can clean it up."

He shrugged, "It's my workspace and I don't want anyone else to get hurt. Besides, 26% of the 8982,730 nonfatal work injuries resulting in days away from work in the past year were related to slips, trips, and falls."

"Wow Doc Ock, you never cease to amaze me."

His eyebrows furrowed together, "Who's Doc Ock?"

Scout rolled her eyes and pointed at her wet jacket sleeves, "I'll go and clean up while you speed read the entire inter-web. Who ever's done last is a rotten egg?"

Instead of going to the bathroom like she said she would, Scout found herself outside of the locked filing room that belonged to BAU cases. While everything was mostly digitalized, the FBI preferred to have backup paperwork for each case if there ever were a moment when they were hacked or computers became inaccessible.

Scout dug Spencer's key card from the side of her boot and swiped the barcode against the scanner. If anyone were to question, she could always say that she was missing a file from her desk and needed it to complete her work.

Once instead the large and elongated room, she eyes grazed over the writing on each box. They were categorized by date so she sighed not relief that whatever happened to Maeve was within the last 3 years. She passed by the most recent files that were labeled 'January 2015' and stopped when she reached 'January 2013'.

'According to Spencer's journal, whatever happened to Maeve was between October 2012 to January 2013. This seems like a good place to start looking.' Scout thought, pulling down the heavy box and dropping it to the floor.

Her fingers pushed each file away, reading the date and location before deciding that it wasn't the right one. Towards the end of the box, she pulled out the intriguing file that was labeled 'Quantico, Virginia'.

"Doctor Maeve Donovan-" Scout read aloud, "Wait, she's a doctor? Of course the nerd would fall for another nerd."

"Doctor Maeve Donovan: born July 5th, 1981 and deceased-" She paused. "January 16, 2013."

"Donovan worked as a geneticist and viewed the MRI scans of Doctor Spencer Reid, a SSA agent in the BAU, and his brain when he started suffering from headaches in 2011. During the year of 2012, the focus of a dangerous stalker who had been following Donovan around, prompting her to stay inside her house most of the time and keep the curtains drawn and the doors locked. She and Dr. Reid had been in contact with each other for six months during these events and the calls were claimed to be intimate for some time. It was also stated that Reid was fully aware of her stalker, which reasons as to why phone records show that he spoke to her using a payphone. Reid claimed to have offered once to help her, Donovan firmly denied his help, fearing the stalker would hurt him. She however, had no idea who her stalker was or if Reid was truly endangered."

"In January 2013, Donovan was abducted by her stalker, revealed to be a woman named Diane Turner. Turner kidnapped and murdered Donovan's ex-fiancé, Robert Putnam. When officers and Agent Reid arrived at the scene Turner kills herself by a shot to the skull. The bullet goes clean through Turner and to Donovan, killing her as well. Agent Reid was seen physically and mentally distraught as his and Donovan's relationship lasted for a total of ten months."

Scout glanced through the pictures included in the file. Images of the crime scene did not bother her but the single headshot of Maeve cause her to linger.

She was a beautiful woman with delicate features and was clearly feminine, opposite to herself. Her eyes were soft and warm, accenting a bright smile and her figure was lean and tall.

"Wiley?" Scout glanced up from her sitting position from the floor and slammed the file shut. "What are you doing in here?"

The peculiar face of David Rossi came into vision as he walked toward her, hands in pocket with one eye narrowed as it usually was. She immediately stood up from the floor and held tight to the file, but the small picture of Maeve slipped from the bottom and glided towards the feet of the older agent.

"Uh, I-" Scout started to stutter but it was too late. He had crouched down to pick up the image and held it between his two fingers like a playing card.

"Doing some light reading?"

She glanced down and pulled the file towards her chest, "Define light."

Rossi sighed and held out his hand once he was close enough. Scout bit her lip, handing him the file as he flipped through the pages.

"We all need secrets. As long as they don't kill us, they keep us warm and safe. Reid, on the other hand, has always been an open book for as long as I've known him. Which only makes me wonder, why would you rather sneak into the BAU storage room than ask him yourself?"

Scout turned away, "I was afraid."

"Afraid of what? Finding out a truth that you couldn't handle knowing?"

"Afraid of getting close to him, of getting hurt."

"Because if you asked him, he would find comfort in you. And you would trust him more and he would get closer to you." Rossi nodded, "Pain makes us make bad decisions. Fear of pain is almost as big of a motivator."

"Most people find it easier to ignore the truth." Scout shrugged.

"And since when has Scout Wiley ever been known to take the easy way out?" He chuckled, placing the file back into the box.

She stayed silent, not knowing what the man's next move was. But the look on his face was enough of a sign for her to read.

"What do I do, Dave?" Scout sighed, tucking a strand of falling hair behind her ear.

"Mia dolce," Rossi chuckled, pressing a hand to her cheek, "Let yourself be happy for once in your life, and I say this as if you were my daughter, own up to your mistakes."

"And what? Tell him what I did? Tell him I dug - this up?"

"Do you care about, Spencer? About his safety, his well-being, his happiness?"

Scout crossed her arms, "Of course, I do."

He glanced towards the glass door entrance of the storage room and she followed, seeing the tall doctor walk by dressed for the rain. Spencer didn't notice the two as he got into the elevator.

She glanced back to Rossi, the knowing look her gave was all the answer she needed. If she didn't do something now, she knew she would never have the courage to do it again.

"Spencer," Scout whispered with a gasp and ran out the door. With the elevator in motion, she beelined to the stairs as her dark hair flew past.

Agents and other workers moved out of her way, annoyed and confused at the same time. But she ignored them. Their looks didn't matter, not one bit. Scout busted open the main doors and drew back quickly when she remembered the heavy rain, cursing herself for not grabbing her coat.

She could see Spencer's yellow umbrella across the parking lot and shook her head, "Fuck it."

Spencer stood unlocking the door of his old Volvo Amazon when he heard the loud and fast footsteps against the wet concrete coming towards him. His eyes narrowed, taking in the image of the short agent in front of him.

"Scout?" Her hair was soaking and covering her face, clothes sopping from the rain.

"Spence," She inhaled deeply, trying to catch her breath.

"What are you doing outside like that? You're going to get sick."

Scout fished for the key car in her pocket before handing it to him, "This belongs to you."

"Wha- how did you-"

"I stole it. I took it from your bag so that I could get access to the storage room with al the previous case files."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because - Because I was afraid. Hell, I'm still afraid. I overheard you and Hotch talking about someone, Maeve, on our undercover mission in Nee Jersey. So, I snuck in to read her file in the BAU."

"You did what?!" Spencer's face filled with rage, a type of anger that Scout had never seen before in the calm and reserved doctor.

"Spence-"

"No, Scout! What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know what you did?"

"Yes." She exclaimed.

"You invaded my privacy, and for what? Just because you were curious about my private life? I mean, what kind of a person does that?"

"I do. And I did it because-"

Spencer scoffed, not caring about the rain. "I don't care why you did it, Scout. It was wrong-"

"I know that, will you let me finish?"

"No, I won't because you don't deserve that. You don't deserve me listening to whatever made up reason for digging up my past-"

"I did it because I was afraid to get close to you!"

Spencer froze.

"I did it because I like you so much that it scares me and that's why I keep pushing you away, even though all I want to do is be close to you." Scout heaved, out of breath from nerves. "Because, Spencer Reid, you are the most frustrating, oblivious, incomprehensible human being that I've ever met. But I still want to be with you, despite every fiber of my being telling me not to."

His gaze softened from its harsh glare, the anger inside of him melting away, "I can't believe you, Scout. Do you know what you're doing to me?"

Spencer's voice started to raise from frustration, "Do you have any idea how hard you are to understand? Because I'm not the incomprehensible human being here, you a-"

Scout grabbed at the end of his tie, pulling his neck and bringing his tall statue to hers, "Oh shut up, Reid."

But instead of tugging at his tie again, Spencer willingly leaned down and pressed his lips against Scout's, shocking her. His lips moved carefully, not sure if he had made the right move until she kissed back with more confident force.

Spencer dropped his umbrella, not caring that the rain was now consuming them as he was far too preoccupied consuming the taste of the short girl in front of him. He grabbed the crook of her neck with one hand and pulled her in by her waist with the other firmly.

She leaned into him, not caring about how chapped his lips were from the cold winter. And for the first time in her life, Scout didn't hate the taste of coffee as much as she did before.

With the sound of rain pouring around them, the silence that followed Spencer around like a cloud of lighting with no thunder changed. He no longer waited after the flash of light to hear a boom that would never come.

Instead he knew, that after the lighting, there would be a roaring thunderstorm.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Are you screaming? Because I am.
Spencer and Scout finally kissed!
I hope you're happy readers cause this has been a long time coming.
BUT, it's only the beginning of their relationship!
Who knows what kind of mess will happen after?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you think!

ALSO QUESTION: do you prefer the OG team?
(Reid, Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, JJ, Garcia, Prentiss)
OR do you prefer the new team?
(Luke, Tara, Matthew)
I'll let you know why in the next chapter.

a special thanks to readers who comment:
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