✓ | 𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗘 · ͟͟͞͞➳ spencer reid

CHAPTER 33 ━━━

# ! | CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
- they needn't dream of a
white christmas

━━━ IN THE MORNING,
Spencer wakes up to an empty bed and, for a few minutes, revels in the recollection of a morning incredibly well spent. He can hear Meryl quietly humming an Elvis song to herself in the walk in closet, but he can't place it. He shifts the blankets off himself and  presses on his hip, feeling a dull pain where Meryl had left bruises. Rather than wince, however, he feels heat pooling in his stomach. Masochism had never been something on his radar, but perhaps his list of turn-ons would need revisiting.

Meryl appears in front of him in a black suede pencil skirt and a maroon top, hair and makeup done and jewelry in place. Stockings and shoes, too. She bids him good morning but offers him her cheek when he leans in for a kiss.

"Lipstick," she explains to his adorable pouty face.

Spencer sighs. "Lipstick shlipstick," he murmurs to himself as he gets dressed, a green sweater over top of grey pants and his black high tops. After assuring neither of them are suffering from the tell tale signs of sex hair, they walk on down to the lodge at around nine a.m.

"How are you feeling?" Meryl asks, rubbing Spencer's back. She adored giving aftercare and hadn't really gotten the chance because of it being so late when they finished up. Reid's neck warms at her touch and he looks over at her with a smile. "Pretty damn good. You?"

Murph bobs her head. "Same here. My knees wobbled a bit when I stood up this morning, I'm impressed."

She holds the door for Spencer and they both walk in to the open lodge area where Jack and Henry sit on the floor, surrounded by wrapping paper and toys but choosing instead to play with-

"Oh my God." Meryl's eyes widen and she clamps her hand over her mouth as JJ's new vibrator is currently role-playing as some sort of bullet train. Spencer looks on in absolute horror as Meryl takes out her phone and captures the moment in technological eternity. It would appear, rather than wake up their parents, the boys had just decided to open up their presents by themselves.

BAU BUDDIES
babygirl [admin] , boots ,
mother hen , hotchrocket,
chocolate thunder , spencer ,
italian stallion , murph

murph
WAKE UP PLEASE OH MY GOD JJ WHY DID YOU LEAVE IT OUT
HELLO??????
JENNIFER. YOUR CHILD IS PLAYING WITH YOUR VIBRATOR LIKE IT'S A TRAIN
Read 9:17 a.m

italian stallion
LOL
Read 9:17 a.m

hotchrocket
Oh dear. I'm on my way.
Read 9:18 a.m

ೃ⁀➷

When the children are no longer playing with sex toys and instead strike up a fascination with the gifts that were actually for them, everyone sits down to open their presents. Meryl sits with her digital, Polaroid, and her EOS R5 that costed about five grand. She'd been carting it around with her the entire trip, determined to capture every moment.

She snaps pictures of Aaron's expressions as one of his presents sends glitter exploding in his face, and those of Penelope as she watches with glee. JJ and Emily with hot cocoa mustaches, Rossi laughing his ass off at underwear that says "Italian sausage". Derek gives the camera a dirty look when he pulls out a pair of chaps, but then smiles at Garcia when he sees her look of pure joy.

Clau and Marilyn emerge dressed like elves and Henry chases them around with a stuffed moose while growling. Hotch smashes whipped cream into Beth's face, Fran and Ren dance together. Meryl makes the whole Morgan family, including Garcia, pose for a number of pictures both inside and by the rose bushes outside.

Finally, she takes a few candid shots of Spencer before Garcia steals the polaroid camera and insists that she take a few. Her favorite shot is when Meryl pretends to sweetly hug Spencer's waist from behind but then picks him up. The look on his face is priceless.

Once the tripod is set up, the whole congregation of people flash their brightest smiles and the camera clicks, capturing them in perpetual happiness.

It's funny how one picture can change over the course of a year or so. You look back on it and see things you never had before, like the way someone looks at another. They say a picture is worth a thousand words but sometimes, the message changes.

The airports have opened back up now and most everyone has a New Year's plan to get in motion. Flights head out one by one, most everyone flying commercial except for Spencer, Meryl, and Elia, who use the jet.

Leaving her family had been less emotional than expected, considering she was almost positive she'd be seeing Ren more often now that he'd met Fran.

Spencer grabs a box out of his messenger bag once they reach altitude. It's wrapped neatly in blue paper with cartoony aliens on it. Her name is signed on it in his somewhat sporadic handwriting.

"Aw, Spencer," Meryl coos as she takes the gift. "Whatever this is, you shouldn't have."

She opens the box to see a decently well preserved novel, "De la terre à la lune" by Jules Verne, sitting inside. She knows this book inside and out, so she can tell it's a first edition. When she opens the book, Meryl sees his signature inked into the cover page, the last letter of his surname dipping down like it had a tail.

Spencer grins. "Before you attack me for spending too much, I will have you know that I stumbled across it in the new deliveries of my favorite library and bought it for for fifty bucks off the teenager girl who was working that morning."

Meryl can't help herself, a few tears fall over her lash line and she looks over at him. "This is one of my favorites. How did you know?"

Spencer shrugs. "Lucky guess."

"Thank you, Spencer. This is incredible," she replies, grabbing a piece of stationary and a pen.

On it, she writes:

I hope you know that if there weren't security cameras in here, I'd kiss the hell out of you right now. Would have texted this, but I can't help but think that Garcia is always watching.

Spencer smiles and then takes the pen from her.

Understandable. And we can always return to the old fashioned way of letter writing. That could be sexy. As long as I don't accidentally end up sending one to my mom.

Meryl snorts a laugh.

I think I'd throw myself in front of a bullet right then and there. Although she did make an eggplant cookie...

With a growl of discomfort, Spencer snatches the paper and stuffs it in his bag. "Gross." Meryl chuckles at his appalled expression and then settles deeper into her seat. She asks Spencer about his favorite statistic in the world and then looks up at him with such reverence as he speaks. He catches the look in her eye, the emotion burnt in to every micro expression. Love, he gives himself hope to believe it's just that. And in his brief pause to smile down at her, Meryl feels it's returned.