Another after-case bar night, courtesy of Rossi and Morgan. Rossi for paying, Morgan for dragging his friend along. The whole team joined while Reid was perfectly content sitting at home and reading. Sadly, Morgan had other plans.

"Come on 187, no need to be such a party pooper!" Garcia yelled cheerfully, clearly drunk. She was a happy drunk, which seems impossible, but with Penelope Garcia, nothing is impossible.

"Sorry Penelope, I'm just a little tired is all." Spencer replied calmly, holding his head, trying to will the pounding music down to a more suitable volume, but sadly enough, it did not work.

"We're all tired Baby G," the woman wrapped in colorful clothing and make up says, wrapping her arms around his shoulder and pulling him onto the dance floor. "And that is why we have dragged you here, you need to unwind."

Penelope grasped his left hand with her right and navigated his right hand to her shoulder while she did the same with her other hand. Garcia led them into a fast paced tango that was more of organized jumping, but soon enough Spencer was laughing and smiling along with the drunk woman he saw as a sister. Many things could be said about the colorful woman, but she always knew how to get the young agent to have somewhat of a good time, even if his mind was still racing from the revelation Alex had shared with him two weeks prior, that she was leaving the team.

So far, nobody had heard from her since. Except for Spencer, that is. She had called him twice, both times they avoided the topic of her leaving, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a hypothetical cloud over the conversations. But otherwise, things were going great. Emily had come back from England, baring gifts for all. A signed TARDIS for Penelope and Spencer, autographed by Matt Smith himself. Some calming tea for JJ, Henry was getting to be a handful so the tea was very appreciated. Ties for Rossi and Hotch with the English flag printed on them. And as a gag gift for Morgan, she brought him a pamphlet on How to Come to Terms with Your Sexuality.

He came out as bisexual about a week ago in order to give Spencer the push he needed to admit it himself. He wasn't lying about his sexuality, he just came out so that Spencer would do the same and hopefully settle down with a nice guy or girl.

Spencer was brought back to earth when Garcia started leaning on him more and more. Clearly the alcohol was taking its toll on her, Spencer huffed a laugh before dragging her over to a booth and sitting her down, waving Hotch over when he saw the man at the bar, sitting and nursing a water, he and JJ were the designated drivers for tonight. At first it was Hotch and Rossi, but, let's just say that the Italian has a weakness for red wine, despite its simplicity, Rossi loved it and cherished it to the last drop.

Hotch made his way over to the duo, sliding in the booth opposite of them. "Hotch, I think she's had enough." Spencer said as Penelope leaned her head on his shoulder and started playing with his hair, giggling all the while.

Hotch gave him a look that clearly was his version of, you think? But to most the look would've been just another glare. It would take an expert - a profiler even - to notice how his features softened the slightest bit and his lips twitched into the tiniest of smirks.

"Well, that's not a surprise." Aaron said lightly, referencing that every time the female agents had a girl's night out, they appeared at work the next morning with hangovers that could knock an elephant on it's feet.

"What should I do? No one else seems like they're ready to leave yet," Spencer noted, nodding to Emily and Morgan who were dancing in a small crowd of males and females, males crowding the former and females the latter, and sparing a glance at JJ who was playing darts in the corner, cleaning the floor with the men she was playing against.

Aaron looked critically at all of them before handing Spencer his keys and saying, "take my truck, but if you get in a wreck, make it count."

"Hotch, are you sure?" Spencer asked, slowly standing up and hoisting Garcia up as well.

"The worst that could happen is that you scratch it, in that case you pay for it by doing extra paperwork, I'm fine either way." Aaron says, standing and helping the young agent escort Penelope to the truck Aaron owned, Spencer didn't know what model it was, but it was an old Chevy that was as reliable as the man that drove it.

On that note, the men helped a giggly Garcia into the truck and they bid a fond farewell until tomorrow, when Spencer would leave the truck at the Hotchner residence tomorrow morning before taking the train back to his apartment for a relaxing day of reading and coffee. The perfect day of rest and relaxation after a tiring night full of dancing and giggly Garcias.

The ride to Garcia's apartment was quiet, except for Garcia's drunken giggling and genius observations. Mostly, 'hey 187, you need to get laid.' And, so far his least favorite, 'alright Baby G, here's what Imma do, I'm gonna send you to a club every night until you get a date.'

She wouldn't actually do it, but the thought alone gave him a small headache.

Spencer dropped her off in her apartment, where she promptly passed out on her bed. The young man removed her glasses and shoes before making his way out of the apartment and locking it with his spare key that Garcia gave him just in case something happened to his apartment and he was unable to stay there.

Spencer drove home, listening to his own thoughts. He found himself pondering the idea of actually dating someone.

The thought was appealing, having someone there for him, a constant in his life that could make him temporarily forget the horrors that he faced while on a case.

The thought was dismissed as fast as it came, there was too much danger. The only relationships he ever had had ended in disaster. Lila stopped talking to him after he left, and Maeve had died because of his job. He couldn't put anyone through that ever again.

He arrived at his small apartment complex twenty minutes later, ready to collapse into bed, but naturally something had to go wrong. Well, not wrong exactly, but it did delay his mission to collapse into bed for the next day with his books and coffee.

The young agent opened his door and looked around. The books were where they usually were, scattered around his apartment. On shelves, his coffee table, desk, and kitchen counter, even some on his floor from when he fell asleep on the couch while reading and didn't bother picking them up again. The only thing that changed since this morning was the pile of envelopes next to his door.

He picked them up and began skimming through them. Dropping Hotch's keys on an end table before heading to the kitchen to make his good night coffee. Most of the envelopes were junk mail, only one important enough to open. Something from his old friend Ethan, he hadn't spoken to Ethan in years, so why would he all of a sudden write a letter to Spencer?

He scrunched up his face in confusion before opening the letter. Inside was a laminated paper with handwritten scrawl in Ethan's familiar chicken scratch writing.

Hey Spencer, I know it has been a while, and you may not know this, but I am engaged. Yes you read that right, and I would like to invite you to my wedding. My fiancé and I want everyone to be there by next Friday, 27 of October, because we're getting married the first of November and we want everyone there for the rehearsals and such.

Katherine and I, my fiancé, would be honored if you would come down. Besides, you were my best friend for years, and it wouldn't be the same if you weren't there.

Below that was,

Join us for the union of Katherine Davis and Ethan Campbell, November first, 2014.

That was new. Ethan was getting married? Why didn't he tell him before, just springing this on him out of nowhere isn't exactly ideal. How was he even supposed to make the wedding? He would need to use at least a week of his vacation days, which in itself wouldn't be a problem, but what if there was an emergency with his mom and he needed those vacation days?

No, he couldn't go, end of discussion.

But that didn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't keep pondering the pros and cons while sipping his coffee and rereading the invitation, even though he never forgot what he read, he still needed to process this strange request.

On the other hand, Hotch had been on his case recently about hoarding his vacation days. One week couldn't actually hurt him, after all, he did have more than anyone else.

So that's it then, he's going, no changing his mind now. He picked up the phone and called the RSVP number.

New story, new fandom... I know there is a lot of Spencer/OC stories, but I hope this one will be different. Sander is male, so if anyone has a problem with that please leave now. I hope that everyone who reads this will review, follow, and favorite.

I will answer reviews right here, updates will be somewhat sporadic, but hopefully they will be relatively close together, and I will only update after three reviews, whether they are guest or you use your profile.

This chapter focused on Spencer while the next one will introduce Sander.