There's no ruder awakening than my phone ringing. Alarms, birds, even my niece screaming into my ear would be preferable to the buzz of a phone. I groan as Elle wiggles away from me, grabbing her phone off the stand. Gideon's name is displayed on the screen and she huffs, answering it.

"Greenaway." She says, putting it on speaker so I can hear.

"Sorry to wake you. We need you here, we're heading to California."

"Case?" I mumble and she shoots me a look, reminding me that the team has no idea about our relationship. She'd all but moved in with me after the shooting, having only returned to her apartment twice in the three weeks since.

"We don't have a lot of time, so get here as soon as you can." Gideon continues.

"Got it." She says.

"Ask him if I can come. Ask!" I whisper and she shakes her head, grinning as she holds her hand over my mouth. I try to make an indignant noise but her hand muffles the noise.

"I'll be there soon. Bye." She says, hanging up.

"Elle!" I whine, shoving her hand off my mouth.

"You are still on leave." She says. "And we agreed, the team does not need to know about us, especially not through a phone call, Soy." Her eyes are amused, though, and I grin back.

"Fine. I'll stay here. By myself. Bored. Alone. Sad. Unloved."

"Drama queen." She says fondly, pressing a kiss to my lips. She slides out of bed and I sigh, falling back into the pillows. I watch as she gets dressed, the sun beginning to rise outside my window.

"You look good." I say and she smiles, kneeling on the bed and leaning over me.

"I'll be back before you know it." She says and I smile, pulling her down to kiss me again. Eventually, she has to go, and I lay in my bed and watch the sun come all the way up before finally getting out of bed.

The first day she's gone is insanely boring, and I spend most of it looking at old cases, trying to improve my profiling skills. Elle texts me when they land and promises to call me if she gets a chance. It's clear that Gideon has them working hard, since she sends a regretful text that she won't have time.

The next day, I find myself walking towards the BAU doors, knowing damn well I'm not supposed to be there. I reason with myself that the team is gone, so they can't get mad, and I'm really only here as a friendly visit to Penelope.

"Hey." I whisper, cracking open her door. She spins around and her face lights up.

"Sawyer!" She says, hopping up. "God, how are you?"

"I'm good, Pen. Bored, but my shoulder is okay."

"Well, glad to hear that, gorgeous." She says. "Come, sit, sit, I have cookies."

"Ahh, I was counting on that." I say and she laughs brightly. I pull up a chair next to her and eat the snickerdoodle she hands me, watching as she types furiously, doing things I can't even begin to understand.

"Oh, incoming from the team." She says and my eyes widen.

"They can't know I'm here." I say and shove my chair out of view as she answers the video call.

One "Hey, babygirl." from Morgan is all it takes and I burst out laughing. Penelope kicks my foot and I try to stifle my laughter.

"Is there someone there with you?" I hear Hotch ask. From my vantage point I can see all of them looking curiously at the camera, and my eyes fall on Elle. Her arms are crossed and she looks the most suspicious out of all of them.

"No, sir." Penelope says and Hotch nods slowly.

"We need you to cross reference our geographic profile with men living way above their means. Look for debt, recent big purchases."

"On it." Penelope says, typing quickly.

"I've got about five. Rich neighborhood, people feel pressured to fit in." She says.

"Do any of them have medical training?"

"Two. Ray Barnum is a surgeon, Scott Wallen is an insurance consultant."

"What do you mean they're living above their means?" I hear Morgan ask. "Those jobs, they should be loaded."

"Mr. Barnum appears to have quite the gambling problem, and Wallen...That's weird." She says.

"What?"

"His financial records aren't making a lot of sense. They look...something's off."

"Let me see." I whisper and Penelope shoots me a look. Financial investigations were what I'd started out in at White Collar, eventually extending to the whole scheme of rich people doing bad things.

"Garcia, is Sawyer there with you?" Gideon asks and Penelope freezes.

"No, sir?" She sounds completely unsure. "Okay, fine. Yes."

"Put her on. She knows this stuff."

"Scoot." I say, sliding my chair next to hers. I avoid looking at Elle on the screen, knowing I'm in trouble with her for being here.

"Okay. Let me look." It takes a minute, but with Penelope's help, I'm able to isolate the legitimate records, showing huge losses, and several big purchases.

"He recently bought a house in...La Costa. That fits. He can't afford it, takes out a loan, hasn't been managing that very well, he's way in debt. He also bought-oh for pete's sake-a Ferrari. How cliche is that? Anyway, yes, debt, and some sketchy looking financial records."

"Good work, you two. See if you can figure out who's loaning out to him. Any connection to the others. And get us his address." Hotch says. "And also, Vandy, go home. You're on leave, act like it."

"I was here for a visit! I wasn't working until now!" I hold up my hands and finally look at Elle, who still has her arms crossed. I grin and see a hint of a smile creep onto her face as Hotch shakes his head.

"Go home and stay there." Hotch says, and the call ends. Penelope laughs and I grin.

"Hotch is right. You should go home. Or do something fun. You've got time off, use it wisely."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll take your advice." I stand, grabbing my jacket.

"Whatcha gonna do?" She asks.

"Hmm, hit up a strip club, steal the Declaration. DC experience, right?"

"Yes, that's exactly what the DC experience is." She says deadpan and I laugh.

"See ya, PG. And thanks for the cookies."

"Anytime. Thanks for the financial expertise." I grin and leave her office, grabbing a few files from my desk before heading home. I collapse on the couch and read until I get a text from Elle that simply says 'Call me'.

"Hey, babe." I say into the phone as she picks up.

"Hi." She says.

"Okay, I know what you're gonna say, and I swear I was just there for a visit."

"You should be resting."

"It's been three weeks. It feels fine."

"Yeah, but you're not sleeping very well." She says and I sigh. Elle's right, the shooting had left me with a strange chronic feeling of fear, even when I was wrapped up in Elle's arms.

"It's better than, like, the first night."

"Yeah. It is." She says softly. "I'm serious, though, Soy. Take care of yourself."

"I am. I will." I say and she hums. "Speaking of. It's dinner time for me, I'm gonna put you on speaker while I cook, okay?"

"Sure." I start cooking. Elle's voice flows through the phone, telling me about the case as we volley theories back and forth. They become increasingly ridiculous and farfetched until she sadly says she has to leave, to eat dinner with the team.

"I miss you." Elle says.

"I know. I miss you too." I say back.

"I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yup."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Go have fun."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." I hang up and eat my dinner, all the while wishing Elle was with me.

hey squad!! first of all, thank you so much for 1.4k reads, i literally can't believe that people have actually read this. and thank you for the stars, i appreciate each and every one, as well as all of your comments :) 

second of all, i just wanted to inform everyone that the chance of there being any smut in this book is very low. there will most likely be some references to it, but actually writing it makes me kind of uncomfortable (i'm 16 lmao) so, if you're expecting that, you'll be very disappointed. with that said, i'm looking forward to continuing their relationship, and i think i'm going to try to upload more often.  thanks for reading, let me know what you think!! -sasha <3