Wild Nights, Wild Nights || Spencer Reid x Reader

19. You and I, To-Night!

"It's not fair. I'm hurt. Truly wounded. I can't believe you guys!" Garcia cried over FaceTime on Prentiss' phone. "You guys wouldn't solve a single case without me, and what do I get? Nothing!"

"Hey, come on, now, Garcia," Prentiss said.

"No! No one thinks: hm, maybe Penelope, the light of all of our lives, would also like to attend the frickin' vineyard wedding!"

JJ sighed a laugh and dropped her head, answering, "It was a last minute invitation, Garcia. I promise no one tried to exclude you."

"Well," Garcia huffed, "you three are treating me when you get back to dinner and drinks. I'm calling it. Dinner and drinks this Friday. It'll be 'Appreciate Penelope Garcia Night'."

"It's a date," Prentiss answered. "We'll see you in a few hours."

With one last huff of indignation, Garcia ended the call. You, Prentiss, and JJ shared a laugh.

The case had been for one of JJ's close friends from college, Madeline Cramer, who'd moved to Miami after graduation. Madeline was getting married at a vineyard upstate, but in the days leading up to the wedding date, all of her bridesmaids had been receiving photographs of bound and mutilated women who resembled them enclosed in envelopes addressed to their homes. Each envelope came with the same message: "just wait."

Of course, the first course of action had been to identify the women in the photographs. After some search, you were able to find a criminal record for one of them—only for a prostitution arrest. When the team had discovered that all the women in the photographs were known prostitutes in a seedier but specific area of Miami, you were finally able to backtrack the unsub steps to the man himself: an unstable jealous coworker of Madeline's who was trying to scare her out of her wedding. He had been killing the women himself, taking them to his home on the edge of Biscayne Bay to model them post-mortem for the photos. He hadn't gone for Madeline directly because his goal was only to tangentially scare her.

When you'd finally caught the guy, he had begged you to pass along a message of love to her. JJ had said nothing more than, "Sure thing," just to satiate him.

Obviously, none of you did.

But as a gesture of gratitude, Madeline had invited the team to her wedding. The venue, catering, DJ, and decorations had all been paid in full with no chance for refund given how close it was to the wedding date, and so, she couldn't cancel it without wasting thousands of dollars. You were glad she was able to have her wedding on its planned date; the wedding was beautiful.

The wedding ceremony itself had been just outside the venue on the grass. The couple had said their vows inside a rustic gazebo as the sun set, and then they led the guests into the barn styled reception area right beside where the wedding proceedings took place. The center of the barn was left open for a dancing area and a DJ's booth while circular tables filled the rest of the area.

Ordinarily, even the idea of weddings made your skin crawl. You'd never understood the appeal of subscribing your life entirely to another person. And it didn't help that you'd had a miserable time planning your own wedding.

But perhaps there were other reasons for why that was, too.

You, JJ, and Prentiss were standing around a table, glasses of wine in hand, at the wedding reception for a woman you'd likely never speak to again. Hotch and Morgan had left just before Garcia called to refresh their glasses, and Spencer had disappeared outside to the garden for his own phone call ten minutes ago.

And you were getting antsy without Spencer. Your dynamic on this case had been different than usual. When you were paired together to build the geographical profile for the case, your ideas and planning flowed easier from one brain to the other. The way he spoke to you changed; it became more intellectually elevated, like there was a new understanding between you to which you weren't privy. You figured it was because of the moment you'd shared in your apartment and didn't think much more of it.