Boy Meets Girl / Criminal Minds Fanfiction.

Holiday

Sorry for the wait, it's been busy. This is a shorter chapter but I already have the next one written. I'd appreciate you guys letting me know what you think of the story so far. 

Happy reading.

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The young couple decided to wait until after Christmas to move in together, the holiday was quickly approaching and they thought it would just be easier. They had talked about it and came to the decision to move into Ryder's apartment. It was a little bigger than Spencer's and it had her studio she sometimes used for work. It just made more sense.

Spencer already had a lot of his clothes at Ryder's as he spent most nights there anyway, but over the few days leading up to Christmas, he had moved most of them, along with other daily objects, over slowly.
The couple had put up decorations about a week into December, taking advantage of the first opportunity they got for fear Spencer would be called away on cases and not get the chance until late.

Christmas shopping wasn't as fun though, Ryder as always had no idea what to get anyone but in the end, she found things she felt confident in before wrapping them a placing them under the tree.

It was a fun time of the year, Ryder had grown to love it after Eleanor adopted her, the older women having a big love for the holiday. But it was also a little crazy, with shopping, parties, and work. You'd be surprised how many people want pictures taken for the holidays. But in the end Ryder didn't mind, it was her life and she loved it.

This would be Ryder and Spencer's first Christmas together and they were excited. Spencer never had much family to spend the holiday with, his father leaving him at a young age and at eighteen his mother was sent away to the hospital and even though he knew that was best for her, he still felt guilty about it. After growing close with his team members, they became his closest family and he did things with them but now he had Ryder, she was apart of his family now.

Ryder never really celebrated the holidays much either, some homes she was put in did things but she along with the other children often got pushed to the back of everything and never got to truly enjoy it, until she was adopted. Tommy, much like his mother, loved the holiday as well.

Everyone decided to get together a few days before Christmas Eve to have dinner as some of the team members were traveling to see family. It was an amazing time, everyone sharing stories, playing games, and exchanging gifts until late into the night and everyone returned to their homes.

Spencer had found out about Ryder's love for the holiday early on and had planned a date for the two of them on Christmas Eve night. They went out after dark to see the lights, one of Ryder's favorite things, they walked through a park, holding hands and standing as close as they could to try and ward off the cold weather before going back to the apartment where he had a romantic dinner set up, candles and everything. Which wasn't there when they left leading Ryder to assume he had help from someone. It was one of the greatest Christmas Eve she could remember having.

One of Ryder's favorite traditions was baking cookies on Christmas Eve. It brought back good memories of her mother and she had yet to skip a Christmas doing it since she was sixteen. This year she and Spencer did it together, making a bigger mess than necessary and possibly eating more cookie doe than the actual cookies.

Her father had called to wish her a merry Christmas. It had made Ryder happy, the young woman surprised with herself when she only felt the tiniest bit of anger towards the man and had wished him Merry Christmas back.

Now Christmas morning. As a little kid, it was like all other mornings for the most part but over the last few years, Ryder had come to love it because the whole family, no matter how small, would gather in one room and spend time together, talking, laughing, and eating a very unhealthy breakfast. A lot of people's favorite part about Christmas morning was the presents but Ryder's was spending time with her family. When she was a teenager it was her mother and Tommy, but this year it was Spencer and Tommy. It was sad not having her mother there but she knew Eleanor would want her to be happy so she focused on the family she still had.