The chief of police and his officers in LA was much kinder to the team than those in the small town on their last case.

"Good to have you back Agents." He said shaking the hands of the agents he knew from when the team was previously in LA.

"Good to see you too." Hotch said, "you don't know Agents Prentiss and Rossi they're new. So is Miss Charleston."

Nina shook the mans hand.

Derek cleared his throat.

"All right, Nina I'm gonna need you to set up our room as well as the evidence board. Reid and Rossi I'm gonna need you two to go to the morgue—" Derek continued rattling off instructions to everyone and Nina was already halfway to the room.

...

With a sigh Nina steps back to admire her work. All victims labeled next to their crime scene photos, every case file the team needed placed on the table as well as markers and sticky notes for them to add to the board. The kettle already boiling for her to make some shitty coffee for herself and the team when they got back from their respective missions.

"Wow Bella Donna, you work fast." Rossi says while walking into the room. Reid walking in a bit behind him, slower due to his crutches.

Nina smiles at them, "not as fast as you two, you just left and now you're back already. Find anything useful?"

Spencer sat down, "well, the puncture wounds on the victims neck aren't teeth marks but were rather done using a sharp tool, but the person definitely drank the blood due to the spit found around the wound." He explained.

Nina's nose scrunched up at the news. "Ew"

"Ew indeed." Rossi agrees. "I'm going to check on Morgan, I'll see you two kids later, behave." He winks at them.

The young duo felt their cheeks rouge at that comment.

Spencer chuckled nervously while rubbing his neck and Nina was desperately trying to look at anything but him.

Thankfully, the kettle saved the two from any more uncomfortable silence.

"Coffee?" Nina asks

"Yes please,I'm gonna need it if I'm going to get started on this profile." Spencer turns to the board with a look of concentration.

This was going to be a long day.

...

Balancing a towers of takeout boxes had become Nina's special skill.

"Hey everyone, I've brought dinner." She calls out walking into their assigned room at the precinct.

"Ugh, you are a godsend." Emily states, quickly helping to relieve Nina's aching arms.

"Just doing my job." She says with a bright smile. Earning a chorus of thank yous as everyone starts to dig in.

Nina notices that one of the members is missing with a frown.

"Hey where's Morgan?" She asks

"He's in his temporary office." JJ replies not looking up from her chicken and broccoli.

Nina puts down her untouched food and grabs the only unopened box. "I'll be right back."

Knocking on Morgan's door she hears a muffled "come in."

Slowly pushing it open she pokes her head in. 
"Hey, I brought dinner but you weren't with the rest of the team so I thought I'd bring it to you." Nina walks in holding the food, the smell enveloping the office.

"Thank you ,pretty girl. You can put it on the table." Derek says not looking up from the case file in his hands.

Nina notices the blanket and pillow on the couch and furrows her eyebrows. "You planning on sleeping here?" She asks.

"If I have too." He replies.

Nina sighs, she can see that having to be temporary unit chief was weighing down on Derek Morgan.

She clears her throat. "Hey, I know I haven't been here very long but I just wanted to let you know that you've done a great job so far. And from what I've seen Hotch loves this team and he wouldn't have stepped down if he didn't know it was gonna be in capable hands. You've got all of us here if you need any help ,you know?"  She looks at him with a sad smile on her face, she can't imagine this is easy.

"Thanks," Derek smiles a sad smile back, " oh and Nina?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell the team that they should call it a night, look at the case with fresh eyes tomorrow." He says.

"You got it, temporary boss-man!" Nina giggles.

This earned a chuckle from Morgan.

Walking back Nina couldn't help but think about how close this team was and it made her happy. She hoped that one day she might also feel like she's a part of this little family that she's grown to appreciate over the 2 weeks she's been on the job.

"Hey guys, Derek says that once we've eaten we can head back to the hotel." Nina announces to the team, who were all munching away happily.

Hotch nods approvingly, "Good, we'll be able to look at the case with fresh eyes tomorrow."

With dinner finished up the team slowly started trickling out and Nina started to clean up.

"Here, let me help you." Spencer says while handing her the few empty containers.

"Oh thanks but you don't have too, I'm sure you're tired."

"It's no problem, really, besides you've done most of the work anyway." Spencer chuckles.

"I suppose you're right." Nina says throwing away the last of the leftovers.

"I'm always right." Spencer said jokingly.

Nina fake gasps at him. "Dr. Spencer Reid, was that a joke?"

"Hey! I can be very funny." He resorted.

They both laughed.

"Let's head back, it's been a long day." Spencer says, waiting for her by the door.

"Yeah, let's hit the hay ,Doctor!" Nina was very excited to go to bed and very grateful that the hotel she had picked was only a ten minute walk from the station.

Spencer clears his throat. "So, how are you liking working with the team so far." He asks her. He wanted to know if she would stick around, this job wasn't for everyone even if Nina wasn't in the field she still had to deal with crime scene photos and serial killer talk.

Nina smiles and Spencer loses his train of thought, she has a beautiful smile he thought.

" honestly? I think it's interesting and everyone on the team is very accommodating and friendly." Nina replies

"Even Hotch?" Spencer teases.

Laughing Nina nods, "yeah, even Hotch."
She continues, "I would like to know more though, I mean if I'm going to be around all of this I feel like I should try and keep up. Maybe you could teach me some stuff sometime?" She looks up at Spencer, the streetlight casting a glow on her face.

Spencer didn't know if it was the fact that he was exhausted or the way she looked at him but with a sudden burst of confidence he asks her.
"I'm sitting in on a lecture this weekend if you want to join me." As soon as he said those words he felt stupid. Of course a pretty girl like Nina had better things to do on the weekend than listen to a lecture about how  serial killers brains worked.

Much to his surprise ,however , Nina's face split into an even bigger smile. "Really?! Are you sure I won't be bothering you by tagging along?" Her hand grabbed his out of excitement and Spencer was pretty sure he felt his heart jump to his throat, and it wasn't because of his germ thing.

He smiled at her excitement, she looked like a little kid at a candy store.
"Yeah, of course, I'll text you the details."
They had reached the hotel by then and both Spencer and Nina felt rather sad that their conversation had been cut short.

"Goodnight Nina." Spencer goes to turn but is stopped by a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, Spen you don't have my number" Nina says while rummaging through her purse.
Spencer feels a blush rush to his cheeks with embarrassment. For a genius he could be pretty stupid sometimes, he thought to himself.

she pulls out a notepad and a pen and quickly scribbles it down and hands it to him.
"Thanks" he says.

Nina hesitates for a moment, before pulling him into a hug. Spencers breathe caught in his throat, her arms wrapped around his waist and her head rests on his shoulder. Her body feels warm and her hair smells like coconut scented shampoo.It was a bit awkward for Spencer to hug her back because of his crutches but he managed none the less after recovering from his initial shock.
Nina couldn't help but think that this might be the best hug she's ever received. Spencer's long arms warmed around her shoulder giving her a soft squeeze and the soft material of his sweater vest against her cheek felt like a cloud. He smells like laundry detergent and a musky, fresh cologne.

Pulling back all too quickly for either of their liking, Nina gives a shy smile, "goodnight Spen, I hope you sleep well."

As Nina walked away all Spencer could do was nod. It wasn't until she had entered her room that he shook himself out of his daydream and realized something. She had called him 'Spen', twice, and honestly? He kind of liked the way it sounded when she said his name like that.

Walking into his cheap hotel room Spencer collapsed onto his bed, falling fast asleep but not before one last thought crossed his tired mind; a honeyed brown, he thought, that was the colour of Nina's eyes.

A/n eyyyy a little bit more Nina/ Spencer in this chapter. hope you enjoyed. 💕💓 much love.