Title: Of Course
Author: elly_rad23
Length: 784
Genre: Romance, comfort, shameless fluff
Pairing: Reid/Prentiss (established)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Tag to 4.03 "Minimal Loss"
Summary: Spencer still feels guilty, and Emily wants to go on their date.
Emily knocked three times on Spencer's door. She could hear him shuffling around in his apartment, and put her hands in her jacket pockets as she waited for him to answer. When the door swung open, he looked surprised.
"Hey," he said, opening the door wider to allow her in. "You came."
"Yeah, I did. We had a date, right?" She responded, smiling up at him.
"Yeah, we did. I just…I wasn't sure if you would still come after…" he started, but faltered as his eyes landed on the bruises on her face. They were lighter than they were two days before- but they were still there. "God, Em, I am so sorry," he said, reaching out to cup her cheek in his hand, his thumb stroking just under the biggest bruise.
She reached her hand up to wrap around his wrist, bringing his hand from her face and interlacing their fingers.
"Hey," she said, stepping closer to him. "We talked about this on the jet, remember?"
"No, I know that, but Emily, how am I supposed to just not feel guilty for what Cyrus did to you?"
"I know that I can't make you not feel guilty, but Spencer, if I hadn't told him I was the FBI agent, he would have killed you."
"He could have killed you! Did you think about that before you handed yourself over to him?"
Emily reached up with her free hand to brush the hair out of Spencer's eyes.
"He didn't kill me. Based on what we had gathered from the file and what we learned when we got to the compound, I could tell that he was more likely to punish a man with death than he was a woman." She smiled at the look on Spencer's face. She could practically see the gears turning, as fast as they did. "That was a safe assumption, don't you agree?"
"Of course I agree with you Emily, but that still doesn't make me feel any better about the fact that he beat the hell out of you."
Emily knew that nothing she said would make his guilt lessen, so instead she reached up and pulled him down into a hug, not unlike the one they shared after the explosion at the compound. He tightened his arms around her waist and she tried not to hiss in pain as his arm came in contact with one of her larger bruises, but she failed miserably.
"Oh, Emily, God, I am so sorry," he said, pulling back quickly. "I should have realized-"
"No, no, look, I'm fine, see? Just fine. Just- maybe we should hug like this instead?" she asked, pulling him back to her. This time though, she wrapped her arms around his waist, burrowing her face into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, one hand coming to rest in her hair. "Much better."
Spencer kissed the top of Emily's hair and left his lips on the top of her head, causing her to smile; they had been dating-secretly, of course- for a few weeks now, and Emily had noticed that he wasn't the most sure of himself when it came to initiating contact. A hug? Sure, he hugged her. A lot. But other contact, like kissing or holding hands? Other than a couple of kisses on their last date that he initiated, she was usually the one to take his hand while they were watching a movie and sling his arm over her shoulders, or to press a kiss to his lips when he came to pick her up.
Emily leaned back to look up at Spencer, who in turn gave her one of those looks- like he was trying to tell if she really meant it when she said yes, I'm fine and of course I would do it again if it means you don't die. Sighing, he pulled her back to him and kissed her on the forehead. "You scared me, you know."
"Honey, I scared me, too." She smiled when she felt him smile- she had noticed that pet names were generally well received by him, probably from years of being called "Pretty Boy" by Morgan, among countless others from none other than Garcia. "Now- can we go on our date? I was pretty excited about the new exhibit opening today at the Smithsonian's Holocaust museum and if we don't leave soon then we'll have to take a tour with a huge crowd."
Spencer laughed at her, leaning down to press a soft kiss to her lips. "Of course we can," he said, pulling away to grab his keys before taking her hand and pulling her out the door. "Let's go."