KATHARINE WOKE WITH A START THE NEXT MORNING. Flashes of last night's nightmares still swam around in her mind, images of her torture at twenty-three, and a room in which she tries to save all of her loved ones but ultimately fails.

It's a terrible nightmare that's been plaguing her dreams recently, every single person that she loves just dematerializing in the wind. She rubbed her temples, trying to erase the images from her mind.

She crossed her legs, criss-cross applesauce, very reminiscent of a child. Katharine looked off to the right side of her bed, faintly remembering the genius that had fallen asleep next to her the previous night.

It wasn't uncommon for Spencer and her to share the bed on the nights he stayed over. Within the first couple of times, he had gradually shifted from the guest room bed and into hers on account of the fact that she woke up screaming a few times too many.

They found that sleeping in the same bed kept the nightmares more or less at bay and if she did wake up screaming, he would be right there to help her through it.

She blinked, still trying to wake up, the details from her nightmare slowly fading out of her mind. Katharine smelled the faint scent of bacon frying and figured Spencer had woken up earlier to make breakfast.

Katharine climbed out of bed, drawing her blankets around her like a cocoon. She trudged her way to the kitchen, sleepily making her way into a seat at the island. She laid her head on the countertop, greeting Spencer when he turned around to say good morning to her.

"Do we have to go in today?" she asked, barely opening her eyes. She heard Spencer set something down in front of her and smiled at the mug of coffee he had made for her.

She reached out and grasped the mug with one hand, taking a sip and sighing as the warmth of the liquid moved through her system. If she could inject the beverage straight into her veins, she would.

"Hotch gave us the day off on account of what happened last night," Spencer told her, plating two dishes and turning off the stove. He left the fan on for a little while longer to dispel any of the smoke that might have accumulated during cooking.

Katharine accepted the plate of food, setting it down in front of her and shifting her blankets so that they were draped across her lap instead of wrapped around her body. She could remember the first time Spencer tried to cook for her. It had been about three or four weeks ago, he had stayed over and somehow managed to wake up before her.

Within the first ten minutes, he had managed to burn the toast and Katharine woke up to a burning smell in the kitchen. Thinking something was wrong, she had grabbed one of her firearms and made her way into the kitchen to find Spencer holding the plate of still-smoldering bread under the faucet and the stove hood running on high.

She had laughed and made them breakfast that day, taking it upon herself to teach the man how to cook a decent meal himself.

Spencer was a quick learner, though he would insist it was due to her superb teaching skills. Today, he managed to create a decent looking breakfast with whatever Katharine still had in her fridge considering she had yet to go grocery shopping. There were fried eggs, toast, bacon, and baked beans, all four of her favorite breakfast foods plus a few slices of fruit in a bowl on the side.

"What's the occasion?" she asked, motioning to the breakfast. She finally looked up at the brown-haired boy as he took off her "Kiss the Cook" apron.

He shrugged, settling into the seat next to her. "I don't know. A thank you for being there for me last night."

Katharine leaned sideways on Spencer's shoulder, squeezing his bicep slightly. "I'd be there for you no matter what."

She hopped off the stool, pulling her blankets back into her arms. "Let me go brush my teeth first," she said, already making her way back into her room.

Deciding to be lazy now, she dropped the heap onto her mattress and moved into her personal bathroom to brush her teeth.

Halfway through the second minute, she received a phone call directly to her home line. Figuring it was just some telemarketer, she let it go to voicemail.

As she was cleaning up, she heard the familiar voice of her favorite Playboy Philanthropist.

"Hey Songbird," he said. "Nina wouldn't give up your personal and you are one hard woman to hack through. Anyways, there's a situation going on at the Washington Monument right now and I would appreciate it if you got down there and helped on damage control, you're the best! I owe you."

Kathrine cursed under her breath as she rushed to get ready. She pulled on her blazer and picked up her phone, requesting Jump Jet 04-08, her personal ride courtesy of Natasha Romanoff. She grabbed her utility belt from when she worked SHIELD missions and clipped it around her waist.

She emerged from her room just as the Jump Jet landed in the street out front.

"Katharine?" Spencer called, still sitting in her kitchen. She emerged from the hallway, looking from the blinking light on the landline in her kitchen to what was turning out to be a relatively pissed-off Spencer Reid.

She kissed his cheek, picking up a piece of toast and stuffing it into her mouth. "You heard?"

He nodded, passing her a travel mug full of coffee.

"I'll make it up to you when I get back," she promised, grabbing a gun from under her dining room table. She passed it to Spencer and winked. "Dinner and a movie, your choice."

"What if we get called in?" Spencer asked, following her to the door. They both knew that a day off didn't really mean a day off, at least if not filed by them. This day off was more of a, Don't come in if you don't need to, type of situation.

"Then tell them to keep the helipads open," she said, exiting her home. "I'll call when I'm on my way back. Love you!"

KATHARINE WANTED TO KICK HERSELF. In the ten minutes that it took her to get to Washington DC, she had managed to realize what she said to Spencer as she left the house.

Love you.

At least she hadn't said, I love you. The omission of the 'I' would have to be enough that she could reason that her words were friendly in nature.

But Katharine didn't want that, no. She wanted the 'I' and the 'love' and the 'you.' She wanted the right to wake up next to Spencer every morning in more than just a friendly capacity. She wanted to be able to call him hers and be able to kiss him whenever she felt like it. She wanted him.

She shook the thoughts out of her head, trying to focus on the mission on hand. She dialed up Nina's number, connecting her device to the Bluetooth capabilities of the jump jet.

"Nina's Crematorium. You kill 'em, we grill 'em. How may I help you today?"

"Hey Jupiter," Katharine said, smiling slightly at Nina's pick up.

"Oh, hey gorgeous. I wasn't expecting a call from you so soon. How's life?"

"Life would be amazing if you can get me access to the Spider-Boy's suit. I just need to be able to talk to him."

"Right, anything for you," Nina said, giving her access to the suit just as the boy in the suit nearly fell to his death. "He's in your comms."

Katharine parked her jet at the base of the monument and started setting up a perimeter with the tech SHIELD had provided. Blue barriers appeared around the area, blocking anyone that was not of importance out.

"What's the situation, Spider-boy?" she asked into her comms. Looking up, the situation didn't look like much from the outside.

"Uh, who is this?" he asked as he flung himself away from the building yet again.

"A friend," she replied, moving to talk to one of the park rangers that had come over to question her. "What can I do to help?"

Katharine watched as DC helicopters flew around the boy, probably not helping his level of anxiety.

"Make sure the police don't shoot me down?" he asked, swinging into the window and trying to break it.

Katharine gave her affirmative, showing her badge to the park ranger.

"Hi," she said. "Katharine Morgan, FBI. I need direct contact with those choppers in the air."

The park ranger was quick to comply upon seeing her badge. She was quickly shown to one of the officers at what seemed to be a communications station. She showed her badge again.

"You cannot shoot that man on the Washington Monument," she commanded, tucking her badge away. "Call off your choppers Get fire and ambulances out here."

They did as she asked and a few moments later, Katharine watched as Spider-Man managed to use the helicopters to his advantage, using the aircraft to swing around and crash through one of the windows atop the Washington Monument.

A few moments later, a breathless Spider-Man was able to report back to Katharine that everyone had been rescued.

"Good job," she praised, walking back toward the monument. "Now get everyone out of there and then we'll talk."

It took all of an hour for everyone to get back down to the ground level. She watched as a young Peter Parker was reunited with his friends. He made his way over to her, a sheepish look on his face.

"Mr. Parker," she greeted, her arms crossed. "The next time you decide to interrupt my breakfast, can you make sure you actually need my help?"

"What?" he asked.

"Tony, my favorite asshole, thought it best to call me away in order to help you, only to find that you didn't need my help," she said, a smile on her face. "Very impressive."

It was weird, the fact that Katharine actually had to act like an adult when everyone in her professional life knew differently. After all, she was still a twenty-something-year-old "kid" according to several credible sources (her mom and Rossi).

"It was nothing," Peter said, trying to be modest.

Katharine watched as Peter's teacher approached them, putting a hand onto his student's shoulder.

"Peter, who's this?" he asked, looking at the woman wearily. "Are you MJ's sister?"

Katharine frowned. Who was MJ?

"Uh," Peter said, moving slightly to the side. "No, this is Agent Katharine Morgan with the FBI."

"Are you in trouble?" he asked, before looking at Katherine. "Is he in trouble?"

Katharine laughed. She shook her head. "No, not in trouble. But I did want to talk with you Mr. Harrington. How would your team like a tour of Quantico? You wouldn't need to worry about any travel expenses, my treat."

The teacher looked shocked. He stuttered out how that would be an amazing experience and left to round up his team.

"You ready for another field trip today, Parker?" she asked, starting to walk back toward his group. "Maybe I'll even let you drive the jet."

He ran up next to her, the excitement easily written across his features.

"Really?" he asked, bounding up next to her like an overexcited puppy. "Can I?

Katharine laughed. "No, but I'll let you sit in the cockpit with me and let you say you drove the jet."

WHEN KATHARINE LANDED ON THE HELIPAD WITH A JET FULL OF KIDS, she could tell that her boss had half a mind to yell at her.

After some gentle begging and a little bit of, "but you owe me," Hotch was on board and allowed her to use the round table room to present some of their older cases to the students. He even went as far as to reel in the rest of the team, allowing the students to view their team dynamic.

Derek elbowed Katharine halfway through JJ's explanation about what she did on the team. "Hey, did Aunt Grace have another you or am I just tripping?"

Katharine looked at the girl he was referring to. In all honesty, Katharine couldn't see the resemblance between the two. Sure they had the same hair texture and were relatively similar in skin tone but other than that, Katharine couldn't find any more similarities.

"I think you're just tripping," Katharine said, a smirk on her face.

Once JJ had finished up telling them about one of their more recent cases, Katharine clapped her hands and stepped back to the front of the room.

"Okay," she said, facing the teenagers. Surprisingly, they all still looked ready to learn. "Legally, I cannot fight any of you, but if you all want to come with me, I can give you a sneak peek of what FBI training entails. My usual sparring partner is sick today, so as a treat, you all get to watch me knock my cousin on his ass!"

Immediately the kids were on their feet, eager to see how Katharine could effectively knock the brick wall that was Derek Morgan on his feet.

They made their way to the gym together, Katharine and Derek in the front with the kids in the middle while the rest of their team took up the end. They led them through a pair of key card accessible doors, allowing the students to file into the open gym.

Katharine kicked off her shoes as Derek did the same, shrugging off her blazer and dropping it by her things. She handed Spencer her utility belt and weapons, asking him to keep them safe for her.

"You still owe me dinner and a movie," he said, draping the belt over his arm.

Katharine laughed and blew a kiss in his direction. "If you bet against Derek, I'll make you a full three-course meal."

Spencer watched as Katharine met Derek on the mat. He made his way to the other side of the mat, where Garcia was taking bets between their teammates.

"I'll have fifty on Katharine," Spencer said. Rossi cocked an eyebrow.

"I'll take that action. Fifty on Morgan," he said.

JJ and Emily both placed their bets on Morgan as well while Garcia and Hotch bet on Katharine.

When asked, Garcia just replied that she believed in her baby Hot Chocolate. To Spencer, she admitted that she had gotten Katharine's training reel from the time she was at SHIELD.

"Five to one, Katharine came out on top," she said, a mischievous look in her eye. "You, me, and Hotch are walking out of here fifty bucks richer."

JJ walked onto the mat. She relayed the rules, standard training rules, before stepping off.

Katharine and Derek circled the mat. While Derek might have had the size advantage, Katharine was quick on her feet and had much more combat experience than Derek had. He might have been a cop longer, but Katharine had been learning how to fight even before she entered SHIELD Academy.

Spencer was on the edge of his metaphorical seat and he could tell that the students on the other side of the mat were as well. He watched as Katharine made the first move, using the fact that she was smaller and faster than Derek to her advantage.

It was over too quickly. Derek had barely managed to land a hit on her before he was on his back, staring at the training facility's ceiling.

"Come on, Derek," Katharine taunted, barely having broken a sweat. "I thought you were gonna be a challenge! That's why I asked you instead of Hotch."

"Hey!" Hotch said from the sidelines, not looking the least bit offended. "I'd like to think I'd last three seconds, at least."

Derek got back up, laughing. "Where'd you even learn to fight? I wasn't even able to land a hit on you."

Katharine clicked her fingers and shot her cousin two finger guns. "That's for me to know, and you to never find out."

Katharine took the next round to teach the students a little bit of self-defense.

Still using Derek as her test dummy, she showed them how to execute several ways to break out of a person's grip. She even showed them how to throw off an opponent bigger than them using their attacker's own body weight.

After a few demonstrations, she invited the students up to try it themselves. When no one stepped forward, she called Peter out by name.

If anything went wrong, Katharine was reassured that his fast healing would kick in before Tony could yell her ear off about hurting his protegee.

She coached Peter through breaking out of Derek's tight grip, applauding when he successfully pulled it off. She ended their session with little goodie bags filled with FBI memorabilia, the standard grey FBI shirts that their cadets were given, and a water bottle as well as her and her teammates' business cards.

She walked them out to the bus she had rented for them using Tony Stark's bank account and sent them on their way.

"I'm glad Stark has you in his internship," Katharine said to Peter when they were just within earshot of Peter's classmates. The boy that had been tormenting Peter the entire day, Flash, had his jaw dropped as if he couldn't believe that Stark actually had given Peter the internship. Katharine smirked, deciding to take it one step further. "And please let Spider-Man know that the tech you added to his suit seems to be working amazingly."

She winked at him as he stuttered out a thank you, saying his goodbyes as their teacher herded them onto the bus.

"Thank you for this, Agent Morgan," Mr. Harrington said, shaking her hand.

Katharine smiled at him. "It was really no problem, Mr. Harrington. I'm just glad that your students got to have a tour that went relatively well today."

Katharine said goodbye and watched as the bus left Quantico, sighing happily as it disappeared around the corner. Spencer walked up to her, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

"So what happened in Washington DC today?" he asked. Katharine had noticed how much more relaxed he was around her rather than the team. It made her feel all nice and happy inside, that he could be himself around her.

"Nothing much," she said, turning her head to face him. "Helped Spider-Man save that group of kids. Earned another IOU from Tony Stark. You know, normal things."

"Ah, yes," he said, turning them around and heading to the parking lot. "Now if I remember correctly, someone said they'd be making me a three-course meal if I bet on them."

Katharine furrowed her brow.

"I remember no such thing," she said, feigning memory loss. "Must've been a hallucination."

Spencer attacked Katharine's sides, tickling her until she managed to escape his grasp.

"I surrender!" she called, hiding on the passenger side of his car. After a few months of seeing the atrocity, she had to admit that it had grown on her. She even affectionately nicknamed it 'Betty' much to Spencer's displeasure.

He gave up, unlocking his car door and allowing Katharine to get in peacefully.

"What do you want for dinner then?" she asked, telling him to go to the market on the way home.

"Surprise me," he said, pulling out of his space and heading in the direction of the market they frequented together.

Katharine nodded, thinking back to a meal that she and Nina had made together the night after their graduation from the academy.

"I've got the perfect thing."

THREE HOURS AFTER THEY HAD FINISHED EATING, Spencer and Katharine laid on the couch while a movie played on the screen. Katharine was barely paying attention.

Instead, she was focused on the way Spencer was absentmindedly drawing shapes into her skin. The feel of his fingers dancing along her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.

It was oddly intimate for the two friends, the way he was holding her. Even if Katharine had fallen into the habit of kissing Spencer's cheek whenever she could, it was safe to say she did that for most of her friends.

She kissed Garcia's cheek often enough and it wasn't uncommon for Katharine to be seen leaving kisses on Emily's cheek either. Derek left kisses on Katharine's head in true big-brother fashion and even JJ could be found leaving a kiss pressed to the crown of Katharine's head whenever she was distraught.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked, shaking her from her reverie. She blinked a few times, coming back to reality.

"Nothing," she said, sinking further into Spencer's arms. "Just thinking."

"About?" he prompted, taking his focus away from the television.

She looked up at him in contentment, "I adore you, you know that?"

Spencer blushed deeply. It wasn't uncommon for Katharine to tell Spencer that she adored him, after all, they were friends that deeply respected one another. But somehow this time... this time was different.

"And it's not really in the way I just adore music or I adore The Princess Bride," she revealed, her heart beating fast in her chest. "I adore the way you look into my eyes and hold me. From the way you talk to the way you allow yourself to be with me even when my nightmares come alive at night. Spencer, I absolutely adore you in the same cheesy way that could almost just mean that I love you."

There it was. The "I" that belonged with the "Love you" she had so casually tossed at him earlier that day. I love you, displayed so broadly as if she had just bared her naked soul for him to view as he pleased.

She waited with bated breath as Spencer looked her in the eyes and if this was the climactic event of a coming-of-age movie. And when he leaned in, Katharine could swear she could hear nothing but the blood rushing through her ears as her heart screamed in her chest, beating faster... faster, faster, faster, until it stopped.

His lips were on hers and she melted into his touch, finally understanding what they meant by True Love's kiss.

And if anyone were to call her out for going soft, she wouldn't hesitate to let them know that it was one Dr. Spencer Reid that made her feel the way she did at that moment. And that was okay.