"Well, You See..."

"Reid," Hotch calls to the youngest team member as he approaches his desk late one night after a case. "Reid?" He says again once he's closer as he didn't gain a response the first time.

"Huh?" Spencer mumbles in response to his boss, only sparing him a glance as the older man towers over him.

"It's late." Hotch reminds him.

"Yeah, I'll head out in a bit," Spencer tells him without looking up from his desk.

Hotch knew this last case wasn't easy for Spencer after he watched a kid get gunned down. Whether he was the unsub or not, something like that is never easy. No matter how he acts around the team, Hotch knows he has a hard time dealing with some things. He's just always thought it was best to wait instead of trying to get him to talk as he knew he wouldn't if he didn't want to.

"Reid," Hotch said once more, finally gaining the younger mans attention. Opening his mouth to say something else, Hotch gets interrupted by Spencer's phone vibrating on the desk.

"I think you should answer that call." He decides to say when he sees who's name was on the small screen before walking away and back up to his office, pausing at his door to look back to Reid, watching as he brought the phone to his ear, a small smile appearing on the younger mans face.

Hotch had noticed a change in Reid's behavior. He hadn't been in a good place after the Tobias incident and although he had gotten better he knew it still wasn't easy on him and then Gideon leaving hit Spencer hard. But he'd noticed a change in him lately, a good change. Then that one day he was able to take Jack out for breakfast and he saw Spencer with a beautiful young women, huge smiles on both of their faces, he knew then that she was the reason Spencer was doing better.

And watching him now, a smile slowly taking over his face as he talks with her on the phone, standing to collect his jacket and messenger bag, Hotch knew she was helping him and knowing that, he couldn't stop the tiny smile that pulled at his lips.

"So I know it's getting late but I may or may not have ordered way too much Chinese food and there's no way I can eat it all and it's never the same after spending the night in the fridge so I was thinking if you were hungry, maybe you could come help me not waste food?" Ryder said in a hurried voice after Spencer answered his phone.

"How much food did you get exactly?" Spencer asks her, a smile slowly coming to his face.

Pausing in her back and forth pacing, Ryder looks over at her coffee that was now covered in Chinese take out boxes and bites her lip. "Well, you see, I may have thought I was more hungry than I was and everything on the menu looked really good."

"You ordered everything on the menu?" Spencer asked her, a small laugh in his words.

"Well..." Ryder says with another glance towards the food. "Not everything, just, a lot of it. Maybe most of it." She mumbled, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"Wow." Spencer says as he stands from his desk, grabbing his jacket and messenger bag.

"Oh don't make fun of me, are you going to come help me or not?" She asked, a pout in her voice as she finally stops moving and takes a seat on her couch.

Laughing, Spencer loops his messenger bag over his shoulder as he answers his girlfriend. "Okay, okay, I'm coming." He tells her with a laugh, waving to Hotch as he turns to leave, swearing he saw a small smile on the man's face.

"Okay, good."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Reid tells her as he waits for the elevator.

"Okay, see you then." Ryder says, fidgeting the sleeve of her sweater.

"See you then." Spencer says before hanging up the phone and stepping onto the elevator. The thoughts of his last case slowly slipping from his mind.

The thought of Spencer being inside of her apartment finally hits Ryder and she jumps up from the couch to look around quickly, making sure the place was in order and even though it all seemed to be, she still walked around, straightening things up.

She realized she was just nervous after straightening the flowers on her kitchen table for the third time. "Geez Ryder, calm down." She tells herself as she hears her phone ding from the couch.

Reading the message from Spencer telling her that he was almost there, she quickly texts him back with her apartment number before going back to her pacing until she hears a knock on her door.

Giving her apartment one last glance, Ryder walks to her door and opens it, smiling up at Spencer. "My hero." She says with a smile, moving to the side to allow him entrance. "I do hope you're hungry."

Smiling down at Ryder, her large sweater basically swallowing her as it goes passed her hands and down to her mid-thighs, tendrils of hair falling from the messy bun she had her hair in, Spencer couldn't help but think she looked adorable as she led him over to her couch where he finally saw how much food she had ordered.

"Wow, you really did order the whole menu." He jokes, hands by his side.

"I did not." Ryder says defensively, lightly slapping Spencer's shoulder, only earning her a laugh from her boyfriend.

"Hey." Spencer says after turn towards Ryder, hands leaving his side to reach out and find hers, the fabric of her sweater feeling soft in his hands.

"Hey." Ryder says back, lifting onto her toes to kiss him. "How was your day?"

"Uh, maybe we could talk about your day instead?" Spencer suggested, wanting anything but to talk about his day.

"Yeah, okay." Ryder agrees, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her chin on his chest as she looks up at him. He didn't have a good day, she could tell that, but something else was different but she wasn't going to push. If he wanted to talk he would, she couldn't push it, she just had to keep letting him know that she was there for him. "I'm here, you know."

"I know." Spencer tells her, placing a kiss on her nose before moving to her lips.

"Just don't forget it." She says, turning her head to rest fully against his chest, tightening her arms around his as his own wrap around her shoulders. "The food gonna get cold." Ryder reminded him after the stood there for a moment.

Chuckling, Spencer pulls back from the hug and removes his bag from his shoulder and sets it on the couch as Ryder walks around and takes a seat, Spencer soon joining her.

"Okay, there's a lot so just dig in." Ryder tells him, turning the volume up on the tv slightly.

"Okay, no, here let me show you." Ryder said as she leaned over to Spencer, taking his hands in hers as she shows him how to hold the chopsticks. "Just hold them between your fingers like this and just move them back and forth."

"It's just not practical." Spencer said, drawing a laugh from Ryder as she tried to help him.

"Do you want a fork?" Ryder asked him after another failed attempt.

"Please?" He asks, watching Ryder stand from the couch and walk over to the kitchen, pulling two forks from the drawer, returning and handing one to him, using the other one for herself which he found odd because she had no trouble using the chopsticks as he had.

"What?" Ryder asks when she caught Spencer eyeing her fork. "Chopsticks, what can I say? They're not very practical."

After finishing as much food as they could, Ryder snuggled into Spencer's side as they watched a random movie that was on tv, enjoying each others company.

"Thank you." Spencer whispered to Ryder, pulling her closer.

Understanding that he meant more than just for the food, Ryder only nodded her head as she relaxed against Spencer, enjoying the comfort and warmth he was giving off.

Looking down at the girl in his arms, Spencer feels a smile come to his face. He wasn't sure how he got so lucky but he did and he couldn't be happier.

Being with Ryder he was able to forget, forget all the bad things he sees every day. This last case had ended badly and he knew it was only the first of many more to come but he was able to forget about that and be happy when he was with her.

Spencer was starting to think he couldn't be without her.


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