Untouchable

Keeping a Secret

"You nervous?" Lydia whispered as she walked past her fidgeting date for the evening. "The-always-punctual-Dr-Reid?"

He jumped, looking at her with rounded eyes. "Uh... hey!"

A smile tugged at her lips. God, he looked so small sitting there. He was actually terrified.

"Hey."

"How's, uh... How's your schoolwork going?" He was blinking at a rapid rate as if he couldn't believe she was there. As if any minute now, she'd disappear and he'd once more be alone at a table for two.

"It's been good. I've been putting off on stuff for the past few days after... everything. So, I'll need to catch up. Hopefully, by then, I'll have your help again."

"You don't need my help," he argued.

She could tell he was new at this. So was she, of course, but she'd known Spencer for some time now. It'd been almost a full year since she met him and they'd been working together for over seven months. She figured this would be like any other time they'd met. She just had to show him that them going out together didn't change anything.

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe not. But I enjoy being with you."

Finally, he let go of some of his jitteriness. "I was so happy you wanted my help," he admitted. "I couldn't wait to hang out with you."

"Me too." She stuck out her tongue, teasingly. "I'm glad we can hang out now without the pretense of me needing help."

"Lydia is this all... I'm just not sure I really believe that you wanted to go out with me." He fumbled over his words, a pink flush gracing his cheeks.

"Spencer, I'm pretty sure my exact words were 'I'm not going out with you unless-'"

"'I'm not going to get food with you unless it's a date'," he corrected. "I know, but maybe you knew I wanted to ask you out and only said that to make me feel better."

Before she could think better of it, she reached across the table to grab his hand and said, "You gave me a book of Sherlock Holmes stories and told me I reminded you of the main character. Believe me, you've had my whole heart since that moment."

His words caught in his throat and his eyes travelled down to their piled hands. Just as he had when she'd done that the last time, he slowly flipped his hand over, so that her fingers rested in his palm and his thumb could slide over her knuckles. For a moment, he hovered over the ring that she wore when she was off work. The one she'd told him belonged to her father.

"Have you read any of them?" he asked, softly.

"Of course. I was going to call you to discuss them, but you were on vacation so I didn't want to bother you."

"You couldn't have bothered me," he insisted. "I was happy to get your call... until I found out what it was about."

"Yeah... that last case was tough. But at least some good came out of it!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Like...?"

"Hotch offered me a job."

His jaw dropped. "He did? You're going to be working with us full-time now?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly. But I won't be an intern anymore and I'll have more freedoms. I still have to convince Strauss I'm fit for the team, but after that, I'll be contracted out for cases. I'm like your guys's hireable forensic expert!"

He squeezed Lydia's hand gently. "That's amazing!"

They settled into comfortable conversation for the rest of the night. The food was great, as she figured it would be since Spencer liked the restaurant so much, and when they were finished, he offered to walk her home.