hearing spencer apologize to her so genuinely—it made her feel beyond guilty. gracen immediately regretted saying those things to him. she was hurt that he kept profiling her, and that he never reached out for those five months, but it was because of all those moments she spent with him—she got attached and got hurt easily. and it wasn't even for that long.

but gracen had to remind herself of the things he's done for her. if spencer reid didn't step inside her hospital room to question her that day, she'd still be in pieces from the incident ten years ago.

spencer reid didn't deserve this. she didn't deserve spencer reid.

she was still in his arms for the next few minutes after he apologized, and they said nothing, only basking in each other's warmth and presence. the warmth that radiated off his body that she missed so much.

"spencer—" gracen started, lifting her head to meet his eyes.

"yeah?"

"i didn't mean it." she said. "i-i don't know what got into me—"

"it's okay." he smiled at her. "you confuse sometimes but it's okay." the man leaned his cheek into her head. "it'll always be okay."

"i'm sorry." gracen whispered. "you've done so much for me. i don't think you even know."

spencer said nothing, and she took it as a cue to continue.

"i-i just—sometimes it's hard to handle, you know? no matter how much i try, i can't distract myself from that-that man and i just got angry because you talking about it only gave me another reason to remember those fucked up moments." she said. "i'm so sorry, spencer. and i forgive you. i'll always forgive you."

he pulled back to see her face and nodded, his smiling only growing, showing his white teeth. gracen swooned. "gracen, you've changed a lot."

"so have you." she replied.

spencer couldn't help it. she was beyond pretty. not just pretty as in "beauty in the eyes of the beholder" kinda thing. gracen jones was scientifically, and mathematically perfect. he scanned her face, drawing an imaginary grid on her features. her eyes, nose, mouth, face shape—my god, everything. it was the ideal ratio for a human. gracen jones was the ideal human being.

"what?" she asked, when she realize spencer was looking at her with such intensity.

he snapped out of it, the grid disappearing, leaving just her. "ah-nothing."

"..."

"i was actually calculating your face."

"um excuse me, you were what?" she asked, baffled.

spencer chuckled softly, the sound like music to gracen's ears. his arms now loosely draped around her waist, allowing space between them. "there's something called the golden ratio. it's about 1.6 inches and it means—" he picked up his hand from her waist, tracing a line from the corner of her eye to the side of her head, the distance between her eyes, her nose to the cupid's bow of her lips, and so on.

gracen shuddered, the sensation of her drawing these invisible lines on her face hitting her. but confusion was also hitting her. this man, who looked so fascinated in drawing on her face with the tip of his finger, fascinated her. everything about spencer reid enticed her.

"—it means," he finished, his hand dropping back down to his side. even then, gracen could feel the tingle of the ghost of his finger on her skin.

"that your face is ideal." spencer smiled. "well, scientifically ideal. all seven out of seven regions of your face measure to about 1.6 inches."

a blush crept up gracen's face, and a red one, too. it was such a weird way to compliment someone—talking about whatever this golden ratio business was that was coming out of his mouth. but to gracen, this was the best compliment she had ever heard from anyone. her heart did about a thousand flips over and over again thinking about it. spencer reid thought she was pretty.

there was only one man—there could only be one man—that could ever flatter her like this. with science and mathematics.

god, she felt like she was falling in love with him, the feelings were just coming back stronger than last time.

"spencer," gracen chuckled shyly. "it would've been easier to just say you liked my face."

he shook his head. "but that's incorrect. it's not just me that likes your face, it's the whole damn world."

her heart fluttered again, her stomach tumbling with butterflies. gracen jones was at a lost for words.

"t-that's pushing it." she giggled, wriggling out of his arms awkwardly. now it was her turn to be embarrassed. gracen jones suddenly didn't know how to act—she felt like a teenage girl again crushing on some hot football guy.

except that hot football guy was a hot and nerdy doctor. which gracen found was much better.

"i-i should be heading home now, spencer." gracen said, grasping his hand and intertwining their fingers. she played around with the watch on his wrist, lovingly smiling.

"okay." he said, a grin still plastered on his face.

"okay." she said, letting go, but he caught her hand again. gracen looked up.

"let's—let's not make this the last time we see each other again, okay?" he asked.

a happy, warm feeling swelled in her heart and she nodded. the two parted their ways.

—

"when you said that we should meet again, i didn't think you meant this soon." gracen said.

spencer whipped around, his eyes widening.

funny story. after gracen and spencer parted, they both drove back to their own apartments. so when gracen spotted spencer walking through the apartment entrance, she was utterly confused, but it dawned on her. quantico usually offered cheaper housing in certain apartments to their workers, and it was obviously provided in one building.

no wonder spencer and gracen found themselves together once again at their apartment building a solid 15 minutes after parting their ways.

"no freaking way." spencer said. "don't tell me you're living here too—"

gracen nodded. "well...this is a little awkward isn't it?"

"no—i mean, yes—but that's besides the point." spencer was getting excited, as they stepped inside the building. "wow. you were right there this whole time—well, that's what i thought at first when you said you were working at quantico, but now this??! you were really, right in front of me this whole time!" he turned around, grinning happily. gracen had never seen spencer reid jumpy and ecstatic like this—like a child. it was cute.

she grinned, her cheeks aching from how much she was smiling. "i really was. right here, the whole time."

"wow." spencer said in awe. "just wow." spencer usually wasn't a man that believed in magic, or fate, or anything superstitious like that. but in this moment, it felt like there was some outside being who controlling their lives and making sure they ended up together. that's what it felt like.

as they climbed into the elevator, they pushed the floor buttons that they were on, making sure to remember each other's floor numbers.

"what room are you in?" spencer asked gracen, as she was about to step out into the third floor of the apartment building.

"this one." she pointed to the room directly in front of the elevator, 344, spencer noted, as she took her keys out to unlock the door. before the elevator door closed between them, gracen stuck her foot out and it opened again. she smiled at spencer, and he noticed how happy she looked.

"thank you." she said. "for this amazing night."

"i'm glad we're on good terms now." spencer said. "better than good."

"better than good." she repeated, chuckling. "goodnight spencer."

"goodnight gracen." he said. "see you tomorrow."

she nodded, stepping inside her room and closing the door behind her. gracen collapsed against the door, slowly sliding down until she was sitting against it. she let out a dazed sigh. spencer reid. he was a dream to her, something so unreal yet so real to her. even now, her heart was racing uncontrollably. gracen didn't have to think twice—she felt like she was falling hard for this man.

but spencer reid was thinking the same thing. it had been so long since he'd seen her, yet right at that moment, spencer started to forget what he was like before she came into his life. he was just boring, lame old spencer—now, there was finally something there, in his life—a spark. spencer knew it was early—maybe a little too early—to say that he was starting to like her again, but nothing else could explain it.

spencer reid was so happy.

—