Rate T for romance and references to violence.

I do not own Criminal Minds.

Fifty stories where Reid falls in love.

Whenever I write a story it has to be a new challenge. No pairings with current characters such as Prentis or J.J. Enjoy. How about an easy one first?

Fifty Love Interests for Spencer Reid

#1

What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.

~Hellen Keller

The date was set. The dress was designed and fitted. The cake was decided on. The venue was picked and guest list was checked twice. Now all it needed was a bride and a groom. But first Darren Woods had to finish post-production on an action thriller in Vancouver and Lila Archer was in a play in D.C. They had electronic Face-time every day no matter what the time difference. Both were extremely excited about the wedding even as the paparazzi hounded them for every detail. Some claimed it was going to be the wedding of the decade. But neither cared because they were deeply in love.

Lila Archer snuck into the Frazier Black Box Experimental Theater early in the morning. She looked around smiled. She wished she had more time to do theater like this.

There was small but audible gasp in the theater. Lila jumped

"Anyone there?" she called out.

A woman with blond hair wearing a floral dress appeared.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare, you" she said quickly looking awestruck. "You're, you're—"

"Just call me Lila," she said approaching the woman and offered her hand.

"I'm Penelope," she said shaking her hand. "But lots of people call me by my last name which Garcia. You're welcome to use both."

"Penelope Garcia, you're the other lead in the play," Lila said enthusiastically. "We get to avenge our husbands," she said with a laugh.

"When Denny said an old friend was coming to star in show, I was not expecting someone like you," Garcia said still in shock, "as in ten times more talented than me."

"No way," she said "if Denny believes in you so do I."

"I think that is the greatest compliment I have ever received."

Lila laughed. She liked Garcia.

Denny himself appeared. "Hey ladies! I'm so glad you both came in early. What do you say we run lines before the rest of the cast comes in?"

"Sounds great," Lila said taking her script.

"Certainly," Garcia said still sounding star-struck as she took hers.

"Act One. Piano Bar. Lidia is drinking a martini when Claudia approaches…"

…

Garcia turned out to be a great performer. She may have been star stuck but she stayed in character. The same couldn't be said about the rest of the performers though. Many were tripping over lines every time they looked at her. Denny reminded them that they only had three day to rehearse for the two week run. Lila noted that Garcia's understudy was invited to read multiple times during the session and she couldn't help but wonder why.

At the end almost everyone wanted her autograph for a friend, relative, or themselves. She noticed Garcia was waiting patiently in corner of the theater. Once everyone cleared out she approached here.

"Hi again, there is something you know about me," she said anxiously.

"Okay, what?" she asked curiously.

"I work with Spencer Reid," she blurted out. "I am the tech analyst. I feed information into their ears from the BAU when they need me which can be often and at odd hours which is why my understudy got so much stage time."

Lila smiled. "How is he these days?" she asked politely.

"Great. Great at being smart and saving lives. You know the usual," she said with a laugh.

"Will he be here for opening night?" she said hopefully.

"Yes, I invited the whole team. I hope they can come."

"Me too. I looking forward to seeing him again."

"Well, I better get home. I work in the morning tomorrow."

"I'll see you at rehearsal then."

"Bye," she waved as she left.

Lila realized she was holding her breath. She wondered how much she was acting just then.

…

She was swimming in her pool, now fully fenced in from prying paparazzi. She suddenly bumps into Spencer Reid and he reaches in to kiss her. She kissed back and realizes he is shirtless. She decides to wrap her legs around him to hold to him as they kiss more deeply. She hears the sound of a flash bulb and suddenly jolts awake.

She covered her face with her hands and settles back into her pillows.

"I am not having sexy dreams about a guy I haven't seen in eight years," she moaned out loud.

Lila looked at the clock. She'd be seeing Garcia in another eight hours. She was going to act her brains out.

Her phone rang. It was Darren of course. Reid was just a fond memory nothing more. She was just getting nervous about the play and nerves mixed with old sensual memories lead to odd dreams.

At least that was what she told herself as she talked to Darren about the play without mentioning Reid.

…

The three days went by quickly. Garcia understudy had to fill in the next night as she was on call for a case. Despite feeling on eggshells whenever she was around she missed Garcia's professionalism. She hoped she would be there opening night.

In the meantime her wedding planner was driving her crazy. Ava claimed the colors didn't match as well at night. She was worried about the flowers wilting. She kept asking about considering a request for a no fly zone be set up for the wedding location. Lila was afraid her nerves were showing when she told her planner she didn't care for the eighth time. The event was still a month away she just wanted to act.

Zoe her assistant was beginning to sense something was off.

"You see a little tense. Is the yoga not helping?" Zoe asked as they were driven to lunch with her manager.

"I guess not." She hadn't practiced yoga all week. "I am finally getting some pre-wedding jitters."

"Isn't that why you wanted to do this," she said. "To get your mind off the wedding?"

"It isn't working as well as I hoped," she said. It was only making things worse.

"Well then just think in month this will all be over and you'll have Darren all to yourself in Hawaii for three weeks."

"I'll keep that thought in mind," she said suddenly trying not to imagine Reid running with her on the beach. What was wrong with her? Reid probably hated beaches. And why did she care all the sudden.

…

It was the night of the premier and Lila felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She kept trying to breathe deeply. Garcia didn't seem to be bothered and looked more excited than anything. But then again she probably didn't keep having steamy dreams of her coworker. Though she might if she was working with him late at night when the tie finally came loose… She was becoming convince she was going crazy.

"Ready to kill it partner?" she said cheerfully.

"You bet. Is the team, your colleagues here?"

She nodded. "They just got in from the case two hours ago. They'll be sitting stage left front-row seats.

"Great," she said.

The lights went down. She and Garcia took their place. Lila jumped into the performance and acted like her life depended on it. Her sanity did at least.

She was on the floor when she caught Reid's attention. Garcia's character had just shot her to cover up the crime. As she lay on the floor as applause poured down she exchanged look of intense emotion with him. The problem was as Garcia offered her a hand to pull her up, that she had no idea what he was thinking.

It wasn't until much later that Garcia was able to introduce her to the team again. Lila often got tired of being mobbed by fawning admirers so it was refreshing to meet "real" people sometimes.

"That was quite a play," a man Garcia introduced as David Rossi said. "You two are a class act."

"Thank you," she said turning red. "Penelope is incredibly talented."

A man named Morgan she vaguely remembered from years ago hugged Garcia. "We know she is incredible."

"The story was also insightful," Aaron Hotchner said. "It spoke to the mind of killers."

"Can we not talk shop here, Hotch?" J.J. said.

"It did a fair portrayal of the killers and the victims," he said defensively.

Reid was the only one who didn't speak. He looked like he was trying hard to pay attention anyone and everything but her. The team seemed to sense this.

"Thank you for coming everyone," she said finally. "One down, seven more to go! Right Penelope?"

"Absolutely!" she said cheerfully.

Then they shook hands. Reid merely nodded as he left.

…

Lila was feeling extremely reckless and slightly drunk when she pulled up Reid's number and used the hotel phone to call him.

He answered after the second ring.

"Dr. Reid," he said automatically.

"You're still answering the phone that way?" she said cheerfully. "You really do look like a G-man now."

"I don't change that much," he said and then sighed. "Look Lila I'm sorry I acted weird when I saw. Garcia had told me but I still didn't know what to say or how to react after all these years."

"No it's okay Spencer. I could tell you enjoyed the play."

"You really were great. You performed with such intensity it was as though you refused to think or show anything but what you wanted the audience to see."

He could still get in her head after all these years. "Thanks. I really appreciated that coming from you."

"You're welcome."

They didn't say anything for a moment. Then she dived in.

"Look you were the one who cut things off."

"I thought we should just be friends."

"How do you be friends with a guy you kissed in the pool with?"

"I don't know," he said angrily. "I just wanted to stay connected with you."

"Well we fell out of touch. I can't keep up a secret friendship with you when I'm surrounded people."

"With my job I can't either."

Of course his job was ten times more important than hers. "Look we could have made this work but you were scared I think."

"The relationship or the friendship?"

"Both."

"Lila I just thought you were better off without me. When we lost touch after the last time I saw you in Vegas I thought that that was just meant to happen. I found someone and you found your future husband."

"Maybe things would have been different if we stayed in touch," she said.

"Lila I don't think I could have stood the media attention anyway. You know about my mom. I don't want the whole world knowing about her."

"I would have protected you," she said.

"You would have tried," he said sadly.

Lila moaned. "I miss you Spencer. You're so intelligent. So different from the people who surround me."

"Lila what are you doing?" he asked sternly.

"I'm getting back in touch with an old friend," she said irritably.

"You're getting married in a month."

"I know that!"

"Lila, I'll always have a place for you in my heart but I think we should stop talking before you say something you regret."

"But I don't regret anything about what is between us Spencer."

"Goodnight Lila," he said and the line went dead.

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was love. It was possible that all three things made her curl up and cry herself to sleep at the end of the night.

…

She missed Darren's phone for the first time in months. She texted an apology and claimed she overslept. It was easier to act using texts instead of speaking to him.

The next night she found a bouquet of white roses her favorite, waiting for her in dressing room. The the card was the word "sorry," a time, and a phone number. It was Reid's number. Garcia wasn't there so she performed with the understudy who was good but clearly still star-struck. The received another standing ovation but in Lila's opinion it wasn't as strong. She had to admit her performance was off too. She might try to strangle Reid through the phone when she called at one-thirty a.m.

She decided to stay sober when she dialed using the hotel phone.

"Look I'm sorry," he said after the first ring and talked quickly. "I was just shocked to hear your voice. I didn't know what to say or what to do. What do you want me to do Lila?"

"I don't know, I just can't stop thinking about you," she said honestly. "You were special to me and I think I'm getting cold feet."

"I just want you to be happy," he said.

"I think I want you," she said finally feeling some sort of weight lift off.

"You wanted me when you were be stalked too. But we could never make it work."

"Why don't you call me when you get back to L.A. and see if you still feel the same way?"

"You think this all in my head don't you?"

"I don't know. I could have never talked to you again and let you go on with your wedding but I didn't. I was rude but I didn't have to ask you to call me again. I think I still feel something for you Lila but I'm not sure what to do."

"Neither do I," Lila said But I'll call you when I get back to L.A. okay."

"Okay."

They good-bye and Lila collapsed on her bed. She had less than two weeks to decide what to do with her life.

…

The photographers were chosen. The DJ and a band were scheduled. The bridesmaids were all fitted into their dresses. The seating charts were checked twice. All that what needed was a bride and groom.

On the special date the groom was drinking away his sorrows in the apartment he planned on carrying his bride into. The bride was currently in a Hawaii hotel with a man who wasn't the groom but hopefully would be one day.