Criminal Intelligence

One Better

Now, it was no secret to the team that Spencer and I had a relationship. Frankly, three children and a marriage was kind of hard to hide from an extensive group of some of the best profilers known in the trade. Spence and I did tend to avoid public affectionate displays for the sake of our team, though because... well, we could get pretty sappy if we wanted to. Spencer had a crippling germ fear for all excluding myself.

This all being said, sending the love of my life willingly into an enclosed train car with an armed psychotic looking to hunt down FBI agents seemed to break down the walls of any cares I normally gave. Not to mention that our ruse to get this guy to a lucid enough state for reason was pretty flimsy. No matter how much I debated with Spencer that I had learned his tricks from the best, himself, he downright refused to risk sending me in. This left us with one single other choice... him.

My nerves only increased in response to the repetitively failed attempts at the magic trick we had decided on. When he dropped the tiny microchip again, the team clearly lost the reins on their doubts, too.

"You gotta relax, man," Derek commented, scratching his neck anxiously as the chip hit the floor for the nth time.

"The chip's a lot smaller than I- I'm used to doing it with, alright?" Spencer countered.

The chip sprung away from Spencer's latex-gloved hands once again and everyone had a reaction. Half of the onlookers winced or averted their eyes which left me to stare in horror at the botched display, hands placed in front of my mouth.

Gideon who glanced at my nervous tick and sensed my oncoming heart attack, visibly gave in.

"I'm pulling the plug on this," he deadpanned.

"No, no, hold on... one more," Spence begged quietly, focused more on his last desperate attempt to save the day than his rushed response. He grabbed the small device off the dusty ground, blew the dirt collected on the chip off for his final effort, and stood back up.

Lacking a certain grace, a final try was executed and produced a success. With a diving-grabbing motion of sorts, Spencer pulled off the act of deception, landed the chip in the palm of his hand. I audibly sighed.

Gideon's eyes did not wander from Spencer's as he dictated instructions.

"Take his chip out, then get off the train. Do you understand? Tell him you need to get back to the Higher Authorities. Say you have guidelines to follow, whatever... Do not stay in there with him, that's an order."

Spencer nodded his understanding, "Yes, sir."

Spence turned to go and my heart dropped. As he felt my discomfort that accentuated his own, he faced back towards the team for a request.

"Could you guys do me a favor?" he inquired.

"Anything," Morgan immediately responded.

"Could at least one of you look like you're gonna see me again?" I could tell he tried to hide it but the waver of terror trembling his voice was hard to miss.

"Yeah, I'll do you one better," I spoke for the first time in minutes as I took a broad step towards my husband.

I reached far up and grabbed his face in my hands, pulling his lips forcibly down upon mine. He froze but after a couple moments, melted into my touch. Unaware of the impressed look upon Morgan's face especially, Spencer and I got lost in the seconds, or what felt to us like all-too short hours, that we had.

As I pulled reluctantly away, I looked Spence dead in the eye so he knew my next statement was for him. I whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear, "I cannot wait to do that again when you get back."

He chuckled airily at the implication and smiled only slightly. Spencer then nodded and left. Morgan pulled me into a tight hug against his chest and whispered comforting words to me after I whimpered pathetically, watching Spencer's fateful trek to what felt like a death trap I had just given him up to.

"I'm really scared about sending him in there," I confessed, my words muffled in the fabric of Morgan's top.

"I know, kid," he admitted to me, "I am, too."