annabel lee [spencer reid]

chapter xi

September 28, 2015
"But I would rather you let me give my heart ."

"Does anyone know the difference between a stressor and a trigger?" Spencer looks around his room only to see his students staring back at him with blank faces. "Anyone?"

Then the small arm of an all-too-familiar face raises.

"Yes, Miss. Clark?"

"I believe a stressor is any type of an event that causes stress to a person, while a trigger is something that gets sets off by a stressor when a person is reminded of a traumatic event?"

"Yeah, that's precisely it." He casually grins at her and then continues to add on to what Kat said.

After Kat 'spent the night' at Spencer's apartment, they were both surprised by how normal it felt back in class. Kat didn't feel uncomfortable. Spencer wasn't distracted.

The next day back at Stumptown's, Spencer once again invited Kat over for another one of their rendezvous.

"Please have your write ups done by Saturday. I'll see you all next week." All of the students begin to pile out, except Kat.

"I'm going to stay a little longer. I have to ask some questions." She waves off AJ.

"Questions." AJ repeats with air quotes.

"Oh, shut up. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kat never told AJ what her alcohol issue lead her to reveal, and she was too drunk to remember anything from that night. And even though it completely pissed her off, Kat decided to put it behind her.

"Dr. Reid, I had a question on the assignment." Kat asks, putting her hands against his desk top.

"Go on ahead." He gently places his glasses over his stack of books and looks deep into her chocolate eyes.

Kat quickly takes a look at their surroundings. When she confirms they're alone, she walks around his desk and throws herself on top of him, nearly toppling him.

"Woah!" Spencer shouts, balancing himself back on his chair.

"Hi." She beams, wrapping her arms around his neck while still sitting on his lap.

"Hi." He smiles back. "How are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"I'm good, too." They stare at each other in silence. A comfortable silence. "Oh, I wanted to ask you something."

"What's up?"

"Would you, uh, would you want to go out to dinner Friday night? If you can't that day, we can do Saturday. Or if you don't want to at all, you don't have to, but-" She cuts off his rambling by crashing her lips onto his.

"I'd love to."

October 2, 2015

"JOSSLIN!" Kat practically screams, running to the front door, clad only in an oversized t-shirt and holding up two dresses.

"What?" Josslin huffs.

"Which one?" On Kat's right is a rich burgundy velvet sleeved bodycon dress and on her left, a white off-the-shoulder fit and flare dress.

"Um, I don't know. The velvet one I guess."

"Thank you!" She sings, scurrying back to her room.

"Someone's in a good mood. Is something special happening tonight?"
Josslin places herself on top of Celia's bed as Kat slips on the dress.

"Well, Spencer asked me out to dinner."

"Oh, that's good!"

"I mean, we've never been on an actual date before, so I'm kind-of, sort-of freaking out."

"Kat, you're going to be fine. It's no different than any other time you've spent with him."

Josslin continues to feed advice as Kat applies a layer of makeup and slicking her hair into a half-up-half-down hairstyles.

"How do I look?" She takes a 180 turn and Josslin inspects her appearance.

"I think you look great."

Kat's lips slowly curl up. "Thank you, Joss."

She leaves her apartment feeling full of confidence, but the closer she gets to Spencer's, the more she regrets her outfit choice.

Standing outside of his door, she feels that same pit in her stomach as she did when she first met him. She takes one last deep breath and knocks on the door.

The sight of Kat almost has Spencer's jaw on the floor. The dress fits perfectly on her. It hugs all the right places on her body, accentuating her curves and hips. His eyes then trail up from her body to her face. He notices her makeup is done up more than usual, including eyeliner on her tight line highlighting her already glowing eyes. 

"Wow, you, uh, you look amazing. Wow." He compliments her, still in awe of her.

Her self-doubt slowly starts to diminish. "Thanks." She blushes. "You don't look too bad yourself, Dr. Reid."

Under his dark gray suit, he has on a lighter violet dress shirt with a deep purple tie. His normally scruffy curls are brushed out and tamed with gel. Kat remembers him telling her he's always been self-conscious, and honestly she couldn't believe it. He's such an amazing man, inside and out, and she wants to remind him of that.

"Thank you. Let me just grab my phone and keys and then we can go." She nods and follows him inside.

Sitting on a stool by the kitchen island, she swings her black-heeled strapped feet in the air.

"You ready?" Spencer walks beside Kat.

"Yep." He holds his hand out, and she gently interlocks her nimble fingers into his.