— Why does everyone laugh when I say that? —He said it with incredibility and not humorously.

Spencer was now leaning back a bit on the furniture, so he could be as placid as possible about his injury.

The young doctor read to Maeve that book that they both knew, but it was not quoted verbatim but rather narrated with Spencer's own words, being interrupted by his own comments, observations, or any curious data that he has collected with the pass of the time.

At some point they both got hungry so deciding to share a pizza, Maeve found herself on the carpeted floor, crossing both legs laughing, listening to Spencer speak.

— How not to laugh at something like that, Reid?

The chestnut told how he celebrated his birthday in his college days. He didn't have as many friends as he does now, but he remembered going out with a couple of friends. Spencer's birthday was the perfect excuse for dressing up.

— I don't see how Albert Einstein is funny.

— You did it for three years straight! — Maeve burst out laughing.

— You have never dressed up as someone? — Spencer tried to defend himself.

Maeve was always dressed up.

— Once. — She admitted and she can almost hear spencer saying i know it.— I dressed up as Mulan.

Spencer wasn't going to laugh at it, but he was clenching his mouth like it was going to betray him.

— I was three years old when I did that, huh! Laugh all you like Reid.

— I'm not laughing, Mulan is a very strong woman.

— She saved china.— They both chuckled at the remark.

— She saved china.—Spencer agreed.

— And I shot you. We are not the same. — The boy pursed his lips, as if trying to explain that it's not her fault.

— It was an accident.

— Do you think so?

— Why would you shoot me on purpose?

— Have you ever heard of people doing things they can't remember?

—  Dissociative amnesia?

— No, I'm talking more about releasing your guilty conscience and pretending that someone else has done it... when you try to be the one who solves the problem looking for the culprit and it turns out to be the villain of the story of which you thought you were the hero.

— Fight Club?— Spencer asks, linking the syndrome to that title because of its description. To which Maeve nods.— Maeve, this is not a David Fincher film.

— I know that, or Brad Pitt would already be walking through that door.

Three knocks on the door of Spencer's apartment.

— Coming.

Maeve starts to speak when she sees Spencer standing up.

Morgan's smile faded when he saw the chocolate-colored hair answering the door.

— You're not Reid.

— And you're not Brad Pitt.

— I'm better than him, sweetheart.

Morgan pushes the door to enter the apartment.

— What's Teenage Dirtbag doing here?— The older one glances at Maeve and Maeve just smirked at the nickname given this time. It seems he's heard the girl's music, as it didn't take long for him to recognize the lyrics.— Garcia sent me here and I didn't want to believe it when he told me.

— Snitch...

— Hey, don't talk about my girl like that.— Maeve held up her hands in defense, excusing herself.

— Maeve came to visit. — Said Spencer.

Morgan saw the half-eaten pizza box on the table and Maeve's boots by the sofa. This made him raise an eyebrow.

— Visit?

— Yes and I was leaving. — She was about to pick up her shoes.

— No, you're not leaving. —Said Morgan this time.

— Why are you leaving?— Question Reid, this is a more emotional tone.

— I have plans. —She put both boots on in a hurry.— Reid. —The aforementioned smiled at the call.— Thanks for the pizza.

Derek watched her out of the corner of his eye and watched her every move.

She picks up her backpack and tries to leave without being stopped.

— Bye bye chocolate man. Goodbye, Pretty boy.

— Is stealing your nicknames. —  Says spencer amused.

The girl opened the door and they lost sight of her.

— Reid. I'll come see you later I promise.

It was the last thing Morgan said before going out into the corridor, which was already empty, going down the stairs as fast as he could and following Maeve down the street as soon as he saw her.

— So you were going to run away without saying goodbye? — He said when he was already by her side, he put his hands into his jacket as he walked. Maeve couldn't hide the surprise on her face but she tried to appear calm with the information from her.

— Gideon figured you'd be in New York by now. We thought you would leave the same night as the shooting.

— Shooting a profiler, Getaway plans, Sounds like enough legal material to arrest me, why didn't they?

— Reid was an accident. And you and Gideon have an agreement. You are free to go whenever you please. If I'm honest, I didn't think you'd be here that long. Then suddenly Garcia calls saying you want Spencer's address.

— Garcia tells you everything?

— That's my girl.— He shrugged.

— I wanted to apologize to the boy before I left. I'm a piece of shit but I never hurt anyone.

— Where are you going now?— They both stop walking.

— I don't know. far from here i guess.

— Is that what you always do? Run away?

— Sometimes.

Silence was present for a few seconds where only the strong wind was heard.

— I was beginning to grow fond of you.

— Hey,Don't say it like I'm going to die. — Laughs maeve.— I have friends everywhere, Now you're one of them.

Always collect friends. One or the other in worse or slightly better condition than her, who help her when she needs it as long as she does the same.

— García will miss you.

— You will be the only ones.

And it was true in part, the others could be nice to her but she didn't have time to form a bond, in fact it was the first time she dared to say that she had spent time with Reid at least alone.

But that's fine, the less nice things you have, the less likely you are to lose them.

— Do you want a ride? — Maeve wrinkled her nose, thinking about it for a while.

— No. I think I'll be fine.

Morgan patted her shoulder and smiled at her.

— Take care, Kid.

— I will. Oh, and if they ask, you haven't seen me.

— You don't me either, huh.

Maeve started to walk away, making sure he didn't follow her. She opens the backpack in search of her coat to go unnoticed if she needed it. Seeing as Harper Lee's '' To Kill A Mockingbird.'' She resides at the bottom of her backpack.

Spencer sure put it there while she wasn't looking.

I wanted you to see what real courage is, 

instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun

 in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, 

but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. 

People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.

Harper Lee.

It's the marked sentence as soon as Maeve opens the book.

— Fuck Spencer...

The girl puts the book back inside and pulls out her phone as she makes her way through the streets once more. She dials some numbers on the screen and waits for a response through the line.

— Hey. — She answers first.— You know to keep a secret?

Spencer's days of recovery were late, knowing that it was a superficial wound or at least that's how everyone felt with the absence of it. Believing that perhaps the event was traumatic for the boy since all he did since his reinstatement was go home early.

It's been distant in retrospect.

— Pretty boy. —Spencer, who already had his coat in hand ready to leave, turns when he hears his partner.— We'll go drink something, are you coming with us?

It wasn't even night yet, it was one of those light days, but despite this, the young doctor is forced to say no.

Morgan looks at him somewhat strangely and just nods letting him go.

It was Friday. Every Friday he used to order a family pizza and take it home, like any person with reason, Morgan's car arrived before Spencer on the subway to his house.

The man was leaning against the wall waiting for his arrival, this being something that the genius did not expect.

—M-Morgan.— He spoke his name with a shaky voice.

— I hope you don't mind if I stop by for dinner. That's a lot of pizza for one person. — He replied in a calm tone and a smile.

— It's okay. . . — He tightens his grip on the pizza, causing his hands to shake awkwardly.

— Let me help you out with this. — Morgan helpfully offers to hold the pizza for him, taking it out of his hands so he could open the door.

Spencer fumbling for his keys in his pants pocket. When he finds them he pauses to look at Morgan and they both smile.

He opens the door with some fear and they both enter the apartment.

— But for now this is my song, and it's goodbye--

— goodbye to love. — Morgan finishes the verse of the song for Maeve who had her back to them, and this made her freak out. — Hello, Carpenter. — He greeted with irony, and once again parodying the songs Maeve was listening to.

—You scared me!— She turns to Morgan and then to Spencer.— Reid! What is he doing here?!

— I didn't bring it!

— I came alone, young lady! Is this why you've been acting weird, were you hiding it!?

—Hey, don't yell at Spencer, it's not his fault!

—Don't yell at Morgan, Maeve...

— Don't yell at me Reid, I'm defending you!

—I'm not yelling at you!

—Hunter don't yell at Reid!

And now they were yelling at each other.

Spencer decides to close the door so as not to attract the attention of the neighbors.

Maeve, who was behind the couch yelling. She snaps out of it to continue screaming angrily but at least with a piece of pizza in her mouth.

That's when Morgan stops screaming and realizes the girl is wearing Reid's sweater. Neither of them understands so far the reason for the sudden silence, but Spencer is the first of the two to notice what is going through his friend's mind.

—It is not what you are thinking!— Spencer yells trying to excuse himself.

— Aren't you a virgin anymore?—It wasn't one of his teasing questions, it was a genuine one, one that he yearned for an answer to.

Maeve chokes on the piece of pizza she was eating and Spencer tried to hold his position to avoid blushing.

— We're not dating. — It is Maeve who decides to clarify the situation.

— So, Just sex? — An incredulous smile can be seen on his face as she looks at Spencer.

—No!— Maeve and Spencer yell in unison.

—Interrogation. Now.

Morgan divided the two as if he were interrogating a pair of assassins.

Maeve was sitting in the dining room while he ordered Spencer to go into the bedroom to avoid his interrupting.

—Why do I have to be the first?

— You're able to run out the window or something, I know Spencer must be like a puppy with her head down waiting for me to open the door.

— I'm offended that you think that about me. — Maeve crosses her arms and turns her face away in mock anger.

— Kid. —Morgan calls for her to look at him, but she doesn't.— Hunter.

She lets out a heavy sigh and decides to look at him.

— Two weeks ago I saw you walk off this street, and you told me you'd be in another state, anything to say?

— Don't you get déjà vu doing this? You ask questions, I don't answer them. —Maeve says making him remember the first time they met, it wasn't that long ago, he remembered that day in detail.

— The difference is...— The girl stands up, walking to the hallway and opening the door to Reid's room.— That I'm not handcuffed now.

Maeve furrows her eyebrows when she sees that Spencer was just as Morgan had described him a few minutes ago: sitting upside down on the bed waiting for someone to open the door.

— That was fast. What did you two talk about?

— It was... — Morgan looked at the watch on his wrist. — Four minutes, Reid. What could we do in that time?

— I know people who do a lot of things in half that time.

Morgan wanted to laugh but he didn't show it, he must be the authority in front of those two.

— Hunter. If you don't tell me why you're still here, I'll have to take you to Hotch and you'll be prosecuted.

— I've been a good girl officer. — She spread her hands mockingly.

—I'm serious. — Morgan kept his straight face.

— Well, I'll tell you.

— Hey. —She answers first behind the phone.

— Maeve. — Spencer answers. He gets up in her seat after hearing her voice, seeing her leave like that when they were having a good time was something he considered strange.

— You know to keep a secret?

Maeve found herself glancing back, making sure Morgan wasn't around, and walked around the block only to find herself back where she had originally been: Spencer Reid's apartment.

— Gideon says I'm not good with secrets, why do you ask?

— I want to tell you something.

Maeve was already walking up the stairs when she finished the call.

Spencer quickly opens the door at the sound of the doorbell.

— I used the door this time. — She mentions the obvious, while smiling looking at the boy.

She entered the place making sure she had closed the door behind her.

— You wanted to tell me a secret, was that what you said?

— I'm leaving town.

Spencer's eyebrows go up in confusion.

— Are you going back to new york?

— It's a posibility.

— Rid, listen. There's something only Gideon, Hotch, Morgan and Garcia know.

The young genius listened attentively to the conversation and how she explained what happened that morning. Maeve was not a profiler, let alone one of their agents, her appearance at the BAU was just a passing event. Spencer processed the information that he was receiving in his brain and various images came to his head making sense of those times that Hotch seemed upset by the girl's presence.

— Are you even reak?

— What? i am-

— But you lie.

— Spencer, I never lied to you.

— You interfered in cases. you were part of them. — his voice was calm but he didn't seem comfortable with the situation.— In theory you are a potential criminal.

Out of the blue, that was Reid.

The guy was beginning to reconsider that word: Potential criminal.

She was armed, he knew it.

— If what you're trying to say is that I'm the same as the people the BAU catches, I'm not. — Not that she was trying to defend herself, but she was beginning to feel attacked.

— I never say that.

And Spencer also knew that this girl was Maeve. She was the girl who brought Garcia coffee every morning, he saw how Morgan provided her with affection in the same way that he did. She is the girl with whom he had just read.

Also she doesn't even have aim.

Oh, and her guilty face every time she looked at him

Maeve is not a criminal. Told himself.

Maeve's face relaxed as Spencer didn't try to verbally attack her. They both felt against a rock and a hard place as if one of them was going to attack the other, but both knew the behavior of the other, and there was no malice in either of them.

When the atmosphere calmed down, Maeve explained that deal she made with Gideon.

She was telling all this to the boy well, he was nice to her today, not many people had been nice to Maeve in her life. She thought the boy deserved the truth.

— So, sorry for shooting you and lying to you. I have no idea how many times I've apologized to you, but take advantage of it because I won't say it again.

— So you'll just run away?

— That's what I've done my whole life.

He scratched his neck thinking about the whole situation, because not even in his wildest dreams did he see himself sharing a room with someone, considering how he liked to maintain a specific order at home. Not remembering the last time he had lived with someone.

— Spencer? — She called him when she felt that he was staring into space for a long time.

— You could stay here.

— No.

— Temporarily. Until I recover, and things calm down. I-I'm sure Virginia or anywhere else can offer you a better life than you've ever had. Your criminal record doesn't help much, but you have a Ph.D....bad combination by the way.— Spencer earns an incredulous look from Maeve.— But you are one of the youngest doctors, —Spencer frowns, remembering a fact.— You're younger than me, actually.

Maeve didn't seem convinced by any of the brunette's words. Hope wasn't something he or anyone else could give her.

Spencer sighs.

— Gideon can help give you a better life if we ask him to.

— He said something similar when I talked to him, Spencer. He was blackmailing me with that so-called better life. You're not fucking superheroes.

— We help people, Maeve. You can be the next unsub someone contacts us about. . .or victim — The boy clears his throat nervously at his words.—You have a high chance and I wouldn't want to see someone I know get shot.

Spencer Reid doesn't have the persuasion power, but somehow Maeve fell for his words.

The first night was strange for both of them.

— Aren't you going to tell me to sleep in your bed and you stay on the couch?

— I don't get it, why would I do that?

— Chivalrous.  

Spencer remains silent with no answer.

— it's... i mean, it's my bed. —He purses his lips into one of his awkward smiles.— It is not appropriate to share beds with other people, it is a matter of mites. the human body-

—I got it, I got it. I'll sleep here.

— You never left!?— Shouts Morgan while listening to the events of the events.

— Shh. Silence you interrupt my story.

Maeve settles on the sofa while she sees Spencer disappear from her field of vision. When she lays her head on the pillow, she sees how the young man comes wrapped in a blanket and sits in the next chair.

— What are you doing ?

— Chivalrous. . . I'll stay here until you fall asleep.

The brunette lets out a sigh, looking at the ceiling.

What am I doing here? She thought.

— Have you already fallen asleep?— Maeve glances over her shoulder seeing how Spencer appears to be sleeping.—Of course you did, I've seen you sleep on the jet in less than two minutes.

— I'm still up — He was talking but with his eyes closed.

Maeve doesn't respond again except after several seconds.

—Why did you put the book in my bag?

— You seemed to like it and I wouldn't read it anymore.

— The marked phrase, Why?

—Do you always have sleeplessness?— Spencer sits up, noticing how her questions didn't seem to stop when he tried to sleep.

— No. Sometimes just nightmares. —She mocked.

He thought she would sit down and maybe want to talk, but it was the last thing he heard from her, falling asleep without even noticing.

At some point in the early morning Spencer wakes up, he notices that he did not go to bed and sleep overcame him, for which he stands up, when he does, he notices that Maeve was not lying on the sofa.

The first thought in the young man's head was that he fled, probably through the window. He directed his gaze towards the window, expecting to find it open, or with some indication that his partner had left.

He supposes that there will be no way to contact her anymore, but he will resolve the matter when he has at least seven hours of sleep in his body. He made his way to the room. Thanks to the light coming from the street he could see a lump on the bed which he quickly identified as Maeve.

Maeve thought that since he was sleeping comfortably on that sofa, someone should occupy the bed, since it would be stupid if no one did.

— Maeve , noooo . — Reid complained, but she was sleeping and not listening to him.

He might get annoyed with her in the morning so he resigned himself to the couch for the rest of the night.

Most of their days used to be the same. The bed was whoever got there first, to Maeve's bad luck, Spencer used to win because he's the one who goes to bed earlier. She helped him to cure the bullet wound with gauze, it seemed to be recovering soon.

Maeve wanted to be useful, so from time to time she would make Spencer believe that she was taking money from her bank account and buying some food for both of them. But the truth is, Maeve knows how things work on the streets. She would never point a gun at someone and tell them to give her money, or go into a house and take things out of it, but she knew that people were clueless, especially in the mornings so sitting on the subway, accidentally crashing With them and getting off at stations a couple of times she would collect a couple of dollars, sometimes it was enough to stay seated and the other person forgot their belongings, by the time that person returned there was nothing, not even Maeve.

It was already monotony but no one seemed to get bored of it.

Maeve had no choice but to start wearing old sweaters that no longer belonged in Spencer's wardrobe, mostly Star-wars, or with patterns of geometric figures.

The afternoons were the most difficult as they both tried to keep their sanity and not get bored. They tried to play chess but Maeve didn't know the rules of the game. Spencer tried to explain the rules to her, she fell asleep.

Spencer's books weren't really the literature Maeve was used to, which is when the guy finds out that she's totally a geek in disguise with all those black clothes that make her look cool. Spencer's words.

Well, the girl was fascinated with a certain fantasy saga, and numerous children's stories.

Also giving space to Maeve's musical tastes. Not because she is she wanted to introduce her tastes to doctor reid, but because she hummed when she was bored. Most of the songs Spencer didn't know, he didn't even recognize the artists on most of it.

But it was easy for him to identify which were the main ones in his head when she repeated the same melodies all the time: Carly Simons, Green day, Carpenters, AC/DC, and a few more that he would discover over time.

Days later Spencer's recovery was already present, the work called.

Having the apartment to herself for the first time gave her time to poke around in the boy's things.

—Wait, did you go through my stuff? — It is now Spencer who interrupts the story.

— Mhum. 

— And what did you find? — Morgan getting a little distracted.

Maeve points to the shelf of books and points to the tallest column.

— He has photographs kissing a blonde.

— What?—Morgan seems shocked by the information given.

— She is talking about  Lila Archer. — Spencer stands up to justify his innocence and goes in search of those photographs.

— There's no way you kissed Lila Archer. — Maeve says, since this seems like something impossible to her.

— Yes he did. —Her friend confirmed the facts, so Maeve snatches the photograph from Spencer's hands to see them in more detail now.

Maeve can feel the air slip past her mouth. She was in shock. Indeed, he had kissed that actress.

— I didn't know Reid was the type to hold your face while kissing.— She said.

Spencer seemed to hesitate as if she was going to say something but kept quiet.

Maeve continued with the narrative.

Spencer went to work on his first day, they both agreed that it would be Maeve who would talk to Gideon, so Spencer never said anything, the team noticed that there was something different in his behavior. He seemed somehow detached from the reality of him, and he was like that for days. Morgan being the one to stop him this time, arriving at the apartment and finding Maeve at home both being caught.