The month I was in the hospital was spent with people poking and prodding at me with needles and questions alike. The only time I felt happiness was when the team visited me once or twice a week.

By the time I was discharged, I was so happy I could go home. Reid pushed me out on a wheelchair and helped me into his car, placing my crutches in the back before wheeling the wheelchair back into the hospital and coming back out.

He got in the car and buckled up, starting the ignition and backing out of the parking lot, turning onto the misty road of early evening.

"You happy to be going home?" He asked after a while of silence.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I'm just cold."

He chuckled and pulling up my hood on my grey hoodie. "That better?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He said, "hey, I got a surprise for you at home."

"What is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you. Then it's not going to be a surprise." He replied.

"Please? I just spent a month in the hospital. Give me some sense of happiness."

He chuckled. "Okay, I'll give you a hint. It's another gift."

"Did you get me a puppy?" I asked happily.

He let out another laugh. "As much as I would have loved to get a puppy, no, I didn't get you a puppy. It's small."

"Puppies are small."

"It's not a puppy." He insisted, a smile on his face as he stopped at a red light.

"Then can we go visit puppies? Pleeeeeeeease?"

He looked over at me. "Not tonight. Tomorrow, maybe. But today, you are on bed rest."

"Aw. Not again, Doc." I groaned.

He chuckled and placed his hand over mine, resting on the middle console. "I may make an acception later on."

My phone beeped with a message and I let out a little whine as I took out my phone and opened it up, seeing a text from Garcia.

"Everything okay over there?" Reid asked as the light turned green again and he moved forward.

"Yeah. It's Garcia telling me to get better, and to listen to you." I said, putting my phone away. "That woman has eyes and ears everywhere."

"That's Penelope Garcia for you." he said, turning into the parking lot and getting out, moving around to my side and getting out my crutches, helping me stand and get me in through the door, opening the elevator door and waiting for me to get in before he entered and the door shut, going up to Reid's apartment.

I shifted on my crutches and winced slightly, making Reid look at me with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just getting used to these crutches." I replied, hobbling out on the crutches when we got to our floor.

"I think this calls for some celebratory coffee." Reid said as he opened the door to the apartment, letting me in.

"Coffee? Really?"

"Hey, it's the only thing I know how to make without ruining it. Let me have this." he said as he shut the door, bolting it.

"Okay then. Coffee it is."

He looked at me and smiled. "You can go relax on the couch. I'll make us some coffee and we can finish the book. That sound good?"

I nodded and he left to go into the kitchen while I walked over to couch on my crutches, struggling to sit down and setting my crutches against the arm of the couch.

A few minutes later, Reid came back out with two mugs of coffee and handed me a mug before sitting down next to me and picking up A Midsummer's Night Dream, opening up to where we left off and reading in a soft voice.

I leaned over and set my mug down on the coaster of the coffee table next to Reid's, shifting my weight and leaning against his side, resting my head against his shoulder as his arm wrapped around my shoulders, rubbing my arm soothingly.

After reading a few pages more, Reid stopped and looked down at me with a small smile. "Are you tired?"

"Little bit. But I can stay up a little bit longer if you want." I said with a little yawn.

He closed the book and set it down next to our mugs, shifting around to lay on the couch and gently lifting me up to lay close to him, making sure to not bump my injured leg.

"I got you. You're okay." he said in a soft voice.

———

I woke up to the smell of fried bacon and eggs, opening my eyes and looking up at the ceiling, sitting up and yawned, looking towards the kitchen to see Reid come out with two plates of eggs and bacon on a tray, glasses of orange juice set on the tray.

"Thought I'd make up for the lack of a surprise yesterday. Turns out, I can cook. Breakfast." He said, walking over and setting the tray down on the coffee table.

"I always knew you could." I said with a little smile, making room for him on the couch and taking a drink of the orange juice. "Store bought?"

"Yeah. I wanted to make fresh orange juice, but we unfortunately ran out yesterday." he apologized. "Sorry,"

I chuckled a little and shook my head. "It's fine, Reid. I'll go out and get groceries when I'm all better and you deem me well enough to walk."

"I think we're at the point where you can call me Spencer, Vanessa."

"Hmm. Okay, Spence."

He smiled softly at me then his phone beeped and he sighed. "I gotta go to work."

"Really?" I asked with a slight whine. "I don't wanna be alone here."

He chuckled and stood up, pocketing his phone and looking at me. "You'll be fine. You can call me if you get lonely."

The second he walked out the door I picked up my phone and pressed on the 'call' button for Spencer.

"That didn't take long." He said with a chuckle in his voice.

"I'm lonely."

"Aw. Do you need me to come back and take you with me?"

"Yes, please."

"I'll call you when I get to work, okay? I'll put the team on so you can talk to them."

"That sounds nice. Drive safe, okay?"

"I always do. Bye, Vanessa."

"Bye, Spencer." I said and hung up, setting my phone back on the coffee table before picking up the tv remote and flipping through the channels.

I had settled on watching the news because there was nothing interesting on in television, and the news was sometimes interesting. Sometimes. This was one of those days.

"'A gas explosion downtown has left at least 15 people badly injured and 2 people dead. We have caught the killer so this city can rest easy tonight'"

I shut off the television and closed my eyes for a nap but unable to sleep. Grabbing my crutches and walking slowly forward to the bookshelves, scanning the covers and sliding out A Tale of Two Cities.

Making my way back over to the couch, I set my crutches down, opened the book and started reading.

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever.'

My phone rang and I bookmarked the book before closing my book and picking up the phone, seeing Spencer's Caller ID.

"Hey, Spence." I said once I answered the phone.

"Spence?" JJ asked.

"Calling him by his first name now, huh?" Emily asked.

"Oh. Hey, guys." I greeted the two girls. "Where is he?"

"He's dying of embarrassment because Morgan's teasing the kid again." Emily said.

"Ah. So a typical Tuesday."

"Yup. Hey, Reid! Come say hi to Vanessa!" she said with a raise voice.

"Yeah. Say hi to your girlfriend, lover boy." Morgan laughed.

"Morgan! Come on!" Spencer said, embarrassment in his voice and shuffling came from the other end before he answered. "Hey, Vanessa. I took you off speaker."

"Did you guys get a case?" I asked.

"No. It's been a surprisingly slow day." He said with a sigh. "should have stayed home with you."

"Told you. You would have missed out on this awesome news going on right now." I said with sarcasm.

He laughed over the phone. "What're you doing?"

"I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities." I replied, shifting around on the couch and lifting my still-healing leg up onto the cushioned seats. "How's everyone?"

"Glad you're out of the hospital and healing. They really missed you."

"And you got to spend the most time with me. How selfish of you." I said with a little smile.

"Mh, I know. I'm a terrible person." He said with a light laugh. "Hey, Hotch just called us in for a debrief. See you when I get off work?"

"Yeah. Say hi to Aaron for me." I said and hung up the phone, setting it down and opening the book back up to where I left off.

———

Around midnight, the door unlocked and Spencer walked through and shut the door quietly, setting his keys in the wooden bowl by the door.

"Hey," I greeted, looking at him from the couch, two books lying next to me with a third in my hand, halfway through already.

"You're still up. I thought you would have gone to bed by now. It's late." he said, walking over to the couch and leaning his elbows against the back of the couch.

"What was your case?" I asked, closing the book and leaning my head back to look at him.

He sighed and walked around the couch, gently lifting up my legs and setting them on his lap once he sat down.

"We went to Atlantic City to catch a serial killer who was copying past famous killers." He replied, "he's sitting in the jail cell there waiting for his trial."

"That's good. I'm glad you're home." I said.

"So am I. As much as I love the team, I can't deal with them all day every day."

"Which is why you hang around me?"

"That, and I enjoy your company." he said with a smile at me. "Did you have supper?"

"......does nachos and cheese count?" I asked.

He chuckled lightly. "Sure. For now. But tomorrow, I'm ordering out for us. What's your favorite restaurant?"

"Saigon Cafe. Aaron and I used to go there when we were little. He would always get the Kung Pow Chicken." I said, continuing on. "even when I was a criminal and I ate out, I would always order that."

He looked at me for a while longer before smiling. "I can't imagine Hotch eating Kung Pow Chicken."

"Well, it was his favorite back then. It's really good. Trust me."

"Okay then. We'll do that for dinner tomorrow." he said, looking at the clock on the wall above the tv. "Need help getting to bed?"

"I think I'm good." I said, standing my crutches up and getting onto them, saying goodnight to him before heading to the room, my hand pausing on the doorknob as I turned back to where he was getting situated on the couch.

"Hey. Um.....you know....you don't have to sleep out on the couch. You can come sleep in your room if you want."

He looked up at me. "It's fine. I've spent enough nights on this couch to get used to it."

"Spencer,"

"Vanessa, really, it's okay."

"....if your sure. But, I know I'd feel safer if you were with me." I said, "Goodnight, Spencer." turning back around and walking into the bedroom, closing the door behind me and getting ready for bed.

The door creaked open again and I turned to see Spencer enter and close the door, walking over to stand in front of me. "Do you want to know something?"

"What?"

"When you got kidnapped. I felt like it was my fault. That the reason why you got taken was because I wasn't.......wasn't strong enough to keep you from being taken. And I spent those 24 hours trying to convince myself that it wasn't. But it was. And when we found you......that was the happiest and most terrifying moment of my life."

"Spencer....it wasn't your fault." I said, placing my hand on his arm.

He looked at me with a soft smile before looking down. "I stayed with you at the hospital whenever I had spare time. I wanted to make sure that you were safe. I-I didn't want to loose you, too."

"Hey...look at me"--I waited until he looked at me--"you didn't loose me. I'm still here."

He just looked at me for a moment before leaning his head down and kissing me; his hands cupped my face as my eyes closed and my crutches dropped onto the ground, having his arms slide down to my waist and carry me over to the bed, laying me down.

A smile formed on my lips and I nestled closer to him as he slid in next to me, wrapping me in his arms and placing a soft kiss against my forehead.