morning, spencer basically skipped his way into work. he had a good sleep last night—without any nightmares—which was surprising because he had been getting them for the past few months almost every single night.

"hey, you guys notice that reid's being weird today?" rossi whispered to jj and morgan, who were all huddled around a desk.

jj looked at boy genius, who was smiling at his fat stack of paperwork to do, while humming to himself. "yeah, something definitely happened."

"never seen that kid more excited to do work." morgan said. his bushy dark eyebrows furrowed. "you don't think..."

jj and rossi both looked at him and each other in disbelief. they were all thinking the same thing.

"...that hotch may have given him a pay raise??" morgan asked, his mouth forming an "o" as he voiced his realization. the man proceeded to shrug. "well, either that or reid got a girlfriend."

"pay-raise." rossi said, nodding to himself like it was a rhetorical question.

"agreed." jj followed. "but what about us? why wouldn't he give us one too?" she asked, suddenly feeling betrayed.

"listen, listen. i swear—hotch basically babies reid. i mean—i wouldn't be surprised if big boy boss gave it to him and not us." morgan explained.

"ridiculous." rossi said, clicking his tongue. "if only i was young, smart, and a know-it-all—"

"guys, i don't have to have a hyperacusis disorder to hear that you guys are talking crap about me right now—" reid interrupted from the other side of the room, squinting his eyes at the three gossip girls.

"he did give you a pay raise!" morgan pointed against reid accusingly.

"we all knew reid was the favorite—" jj started, but was cut off by a daunting hotch who was passing by.

"round table in 5. we have a case." the dark haired man said in his usual serious tone. hotch paused, turning around. "also, what's this about favorites? i don't play favorites."

rossi, morgan, and jj glanced at each other, all mouthing liar. reid rolled his eyes.

—

while spencer reid was skipping around at work all day, gracen jones had felt like she was gonna throw up from the moment she walked into quantico.

on the positive side—she had a good sleep last night, an amazing one, in fact—but her anxiety was off the roof—and especially today. the girl was jittery, bouncing her leg up and down and picking at her cuticles constantly. gracen jones knew exactly what was going on.

her conscience was swallowing her whole.

excusing herself, gracen attempted to casually walk to the women's restroom without looking like she was going to pee her pants on the way.

the restroom door slammed closed behind her, and gracen made her way to the sink, resting her palms on the counter and looking at herself in the mirror.

who was she kidding?

the fact was, gracen jones/charis johnson (now), wasn't all spencer reid knew her to be, and gracen knew that. after all, they only have known each other for a week straight, and then they just met again yesterday.

she didn't know him at all, and he didn't know her. regardless of how close she felt to him—like she had known him for years—that feeling was fake, and made up like some kind of romance movie.

the anxiety was eating her up, and gracen found it hard to breathe. she was scared of him finding out what she was truly like. but for what reason? she thought. over some stupid man?

gracen jones had commitment issues. for the past five months, she had dated on and off, and her love life was based mainly off of hookups. the men that stayed she ended up chasing away with one of her psychotic breaks. it got to the point where gracen let men in, just to shove them away, off to the side. she really didn't want anyone going into her life.

so why was she being so anxious over spencer reid, someone she had only known for a total of eight and a half-ish days? it disgusted her, to be honest, at the thought of her being so clingy—so vulnerable— to someone.

not only that, but gracen was afraid. there was always that anxiety inside of her that someone wasn't all that they seemed to be, just like how she wasn't all that she seemed to be. not to mention, she was scared of him getting hurt because of her—or even worse—hurting him because she was mentally incapable of loving any other human being and her psychotic breakdowns will only scare him away because she's simply just terrifying to be around when it strikes and no one ever knows when exactly it strikes and—

"AGH!!" gracen slammed her hand down on the counter, the little devil whispering in her ear disappearing. she could basically imagine it giggling as it left.

"my god, what the hell is wrong with you?" gracen asked her reflection. "you're literally crazy." she said in disbelief.

gracen had to remind herself it wasn't that big of a deal at all. spencer reid was not that big of a deal and she was not falling in love with him. it had been a day.

one. single. day.

she wondered if he was doting on these conflicting thoughts like she was at the moment. it was unlikely. that man probably lived with no worries on his shoulders.

so should she then. fuck it, am i right? gracen jones let out an amused laugh at her own reflection, just as someone walked into the bathroom, flashing her a weird look. gracen ignored it, smiling to herself as she fixed her makeup and appearance. i can give myself some pretty damn good advice.

—

reid hurriedly gathered his things at his desk, shoving them into his bag and checking the time on his watch. 9:44 pm. he wondered if gracen was still here.

"bye, see you all tomorrow!" spencer said, flashing his team a smile before bolting to the elevator.

"hotch, did you give him a raise?" morgan asked.

hotch's eyebrows furrowed. "why would i give reid a raise?"

"then what the hell is up with him?" morgan asked, shaking his head and chuckling.

"i recognize that behavior." emily prentiss said. "it's how teenage boys act when they, you know, like, like someone." she said in a mocking tone, bumping jj with her elbow.

"oh, poor, poor henry." jj mumbled to herself, thinking of her son.

—

when spencer made it down to the second floor, the communications center, he was delighted to see a certain brunette sitting at her desk, silently working away. he had been really excited all day to see the girl.

"hey."

gracen jumped, letting out a small shriek when spencer whispered the single syllable down her ear, making a thousand hairs on her neck stand up straight. she was scared for .2 seconds before spencer spun her spinny-chair around and gracen caught a glimpse of his face.

the man was smiling so widely she thought his face was going to tear in half. gracen wondered how it was possibly for one to be so happy. she envied him. but fake it 'til you make it, right?

"spencer." she breathed out, astonished by his handsomeness.

"hi." he said, realizing they were a little too close, as he was still leaning down, both hands gripped onto the arms of her chair. spencer backed off, rubbing his neck. "nice place." he said, referring to her desk.

gracen tiredly rubbed her eyes. "really?" she asked, scanning her area covered in scattered files and paperwork.

"nope." spencer admitted. "messy."

"whatever." she side-eyed him, a small smile on her face. "are you leaving?"

"not until you are." spencer replied simply, like he had rehearsed the line fifty times already.

it low-key disappointed gracen that spencer was no longer all too nervous around her. she wondered, did this mean he would get bored of her quicker, too?

"you, uh-can just go home. i might take a while finishing this paperwork." she replied, shutting down spencer's flirtatious act.

"i can wait." spencer said, plopping himself on top of an empty space on her desk. "i just, you know. w-we should do something after."

heat rose to gracen's cheek hearing spencer's awkwardness come back. she eyed him, not even lifting her head, fearing he would see her blushing.

spencer realized how wrong the words that came out of his mouth sounded, and re-worded it quickly, his ears turning red. "w-what i meant was, we should spend some quality time together because quality time is good and all due to the dispersion of positive—"

gracen burst out laughing, and spencer stopped rambling about the benefits of spending quality time with other human beings, looking at her in confusion.

"what?" he asked.

"nothing." she said, smiling down at her hand that was twirling a pen around. gracen tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "you're just...cute."

spencer's heart fluttered and he grinned. "i think you're much cuter than me, gracen."

"lies." she murmured, clicking her tongue.

"nope. cute is technically a submissive type of physicality trait, and women—"

"—wait a minute, are you being sexist?" gracen squinted at boy genius jokingly.

"no, i'm just saying that women, scientifically, carry more submissive traits than men which is why in bed—"

gracen gasped mockingly and covered her ears with her hands. "nope. lalalala—"

"jesus christ gracen, you're so immature—" spencer grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from her ears.

she giggled like a teenage girl as they play fought, spencer trying to stop her from whacking him in the face as he held her wrists.

"i wonder how many naughty statistics you have up in that brain of yours, hm spencer?" gracen asked, still bubbling with laughter.

"oh," spencer put his face close to hers, only jokingly acting flirtatious. "i have so many."

gracen's eyes widened and she used her feet to push her chair away from the man, heat rising to her cheeks. "gross."

"wait til you hear about the one with std's—and there's also one of america's top ten ways to, you know, which you'll find all of them surprisingly disturbing—oh! and there's one about the amount of bad germs inside of people's—you know—and how consumption can lead to—"

"nope! NOPE! i can't hear you!! lalalalala!!!!" gracen shrieked, covering her ears once again.

spencer let out a laugh, clutching his stomach. the girl glared daggers at him, a smile still plastered on her face. "not funny at all, spencer." she said. "how do you even know those things?"

"you were laughing!" spencer deadpanned. "human growth and development classes, gracen. how'd you think i learned them?"

"i dunno, maybe you read about sex statistics in your free time for funsies." she shrugged. "you would."

"i think not." he smirked.

"sooo, i'm assuming that you've never had sex then?" gracen suddenly asked, and the doctor froze at the all too personal question.

"uh," spencer cleared his throat. "what?"

"have you ever done it?" she asked.

"not answering that question." spencer let out a grunt as he hopped off gracen's desk, changing the subject. "you're not doing any work whatsoever. let's go home."

she paused, the three words registering in her ptsd ridden mind, leaving an imprint.

let's go home. why did those words hit gracen so hard?

maybe it's because she hadn't had a home in ten years. she had forgotten the significance of those words. to go home.

but gracen had to remind herself that she did now.

gracen jones' home was here. in quantico, in virginia, away from the cellar, the killer, and everything else. her home was just a happy place, with the friends she's made. her home was safe.

and her home included spencer reid in it, she realized.

—