chapter thirty five

                                    

                                          
Spencer's POV:


I walk into the round table room and pause, only seeing Emily. 
"Hey Spence."
"Where is everyone?" She threw her hand around making a "pft" sound as I took my seat.
"Ahh, I assume they're on the way." She nodded casually. I pushed my lips sideways, taking out a John Steinbeck book and cracking it open. Emily went back to the iPad, and for a moment there was silence. She quickly set it down, clearing her throat. I looked up, her hands clasped together on the table with this strange look. I furrowed my brow, confused, waiting for her. "You gonna tell me how it was?" I emphasized the confusion in my face. 
"What do you mean?" I blinked, trying to look oblivious.
"Spence." She hushed  all-knowing. I look back over my shoulder, licking my lips and sat up. 
"I never knew it could be like that."
"Like what?" She asked gently. I felt a small smile form across my face, looking at the table.
"Like, magic." I huffed a little, smiling more looking back to Emily who had a childlike expression. "I always knew how love was suppose to make you feel, but I don't think I've ever really felt that way, until I met her." Emily's smile was melting into a loose grin. "Now I just," I huffed a short breath. "I know for sure I wanna spend the rest of my life with her." 
"Intimacy is a beautiful thing." Emily said sliding back in her chair.
"It was more than that. It was like, she touched a part of me that's never been touched before. She left this, handprint, inside me."  
"Like an imprint." We shared a look, a moment of personal understanding. "She means the world to you, doesn't she?"
"More than she knows." I said in a dream like state, lost in the memory of her smile under the warm morning sunlight. Swept away in the typhoon of emotion she brings me. I caught Emily's eye. "I wanna ask her to marry me." She dropped her jaw, opening her mouth to speak but the rest of the team walked in, silencing her. We kept our eyes locked, desperate to keep the conversation alive but quickly averting our attention the flooding room. 
"Okay everyone, let's get started." Hotch called to order, settling the team in their seats. "Our unsub crossed state lines which means we're headed to Savannah." 
"Was there anything new at the scene?" Emily inquired.
"Same thing as last time, same forensic counter measures, MO, dump site," Derek spoke scrolling through the iPad. 
"The victim is Stacy Teller, 22 year old female victim from Savannah Georgia. Her girlfriend, Marie Robertson is the one who reported Stacy missing a week ago." Garcia informed us.
"Who found her?"
"A jogger." 
"What's that in her hand?" I asked leaning forward in the chair. 
"That, my love," Garcia zoomed in on the photo. "Is part of a newspaper." 
"Newspaper?" I question. 
"Yes indeed, this, is a clipping from a local newspaper from 1982. The Savannah City Tribune." 
"What does the article say?" JJ asked moving some hair from her shoulders. 
"The headline reads, "Three year old girl returned home unharmed, after a week missing'."
"What's this have to do with our victim?" Rossi questioned looking to us. 
"That, my fine Italian stallion, is the million dollar question." 
"Garcia, did CSI find anything on the clipping?"
"Local PD sent it over to their forensics lab to run fingerprints, so far they've come up dry."
"Reid, bring Quinn in on this, maybe she can uncover  something they can't." Hotch informed me, I nodded feeling Emily's eyes. "Wheels up in 30." The team dispersed, Emily and I still exchanging looks as we walked out, making my way to the third floor. 
I pushed through the double doors, walking through the brightly lit hallway to find Nessa. I pass the toxicology lab and stop, seeing her there. She was in her lab coat, wearing her purple exam gloves, her duel tinted hair tied back in a ponytail, her clear yellow clipboard close to her chest as she talked with a lab tech. I knock on the glass, waving steadily. She smiled, finishing her discussion and rushed to me. 
"Hi!" She cheered, kissing my cheek. 
"Hey, we need you upstairs." Her smile disappeared.
"Is it bad?"
"That's what we need to find out." I held open the door, and she walked out.