𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐂𝐄▬▬𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒅 .1

𝟏𝟏. ❙𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲

"Oh, that's great. Yeah, that's- that's good. It'll be cool to work together." Valentina stuttered through, and Spencer, who was at his desk right across from hers, had looked up at the girl. He was slightly intrigued by how adamant Valentina seemed to have Lance working there.

"Yeah, I think so too. But, uh, I have to go talk to Agent Hotchner, but I'll see you later." Lance bid farewell and went to put his hand on her chin to kiss her, but Valentina grabbed his hand and shook it before he could do anything. Lance was slightly confused, but he just shook her hand before heading off to Hotch's office. As soon as he was gone, Valentina let out a breath and ran a stressed hand through her hair.

"Val, I can't help but notice you don't want to work with your boyfriend." Spencer pointed out as the girl across from him sat down at her desk. She corrected, "Lance isn't my boyfriend."

"I thought you guys were dating?" Spencer asked, confused by the nature of her relationship, but Valentina shook her head. "We slept together and we've gone on a couple dates, but he's not my boyfriend."

"Sleeping together and going on dates sounds like he's your boyfriend." Spencer pointed out. "Well, whatever he is, I don't really wanna work with him. I mean, Lance has only seen fun-Valentina, not work-Valentina. And he's already tried to kiss me here, I don't wanna do that PDA stuff at work."

"Well, it might be fun to work with him. You never know." Spencer spoke optimistically, hoping that Valentina would be more open to the idea of the guy she's seeing working with them, but she had another idea in mind. "Spence, could you do me a favour?"

"Depends on what the favour is." Spencer is always sceptical of Valentina, who is a bit of a wild card, especially when she's asking for things. "Could you act as a buffer between me and Lance?"

"I don't know, Val." Spencer scrunched his nose, not too fond of being in the middle of Valentina's relationship, but she desperately didn't want to be this close with Lance yet. "Please, Spence. It's already hard enough to get taken seriously here as a woman and the youngest agent in the BAU, I don't need Lance kissing me and holding my hand or whatever. I'll do whatever you want, just please act as a buffer."

"You'll do whatever I want?" Spencer clarified, but Valentina was slightly regretting promising that. "I think so."

"Then I'll help you. But I'm cashing in that promise at a random time."

"Thank you so much, Spence. I owe you." Valentina thanked as they both got to their feet. They had to go into the briefing room because they knew that there was a new case, so as the two made their way over there, Spencer responded, "Yes, you do."

Valentina nudged his arm a little before they walked into the briefing room. They sat down at the round table with everyone else, Lance as well, as Hotch greeted them. "I hope everyone had a restful weekend. Everyone, this is Special Agent Lance Callahan from the Major Crimes unit, he's going to be consulting on this case. I think he's met some of you, but we're glad to have him on the team."

"It's good to be here. And it's nice to meet you all." He greeted everyone, but did smile at Valentina, who was trying not to make eye contact. She was a little on edge about working with a guy she's in a fresh relationship with. But Spencer said he would help, which was lucky for her.

JJ had gotten them started and introduced them to the new case they had. "Harringtonville, Tennessee. Population five thousand. Sixty-four years since they had a homicide. They've had two in the past forty-eight hours."

"The first victim, fifty-seven year old widower and grandfather, Paul Thompson. Ambushed in his yard, eighteen stab wounds to his chest and his neck. No forced entry into his house and the only item taken was a shotgun." Hotch continued on, him having already familiarized himself with the case and helping JJ out with introducing it to the BAU team and Lance as the woman herself, JJ, added on, "Last night, Annie Stuart, thirty-nine, was also ambushed and, it appears, bludgeoned to death in her home with Thompson's stolen shotgun. In this case, the unsub apparently stole CDs, DVDs, and a little jewellery."