Leap Of Faith

Eleven

A hour later and Spencer and Seph were sitting outside on the balcony, heating lamps turned on to ward off the autumn chill, a bottle of wine and a chess board between them on the table.

Spencer set the board up, Seph watching him intently with her legs crossed underneath her on the chair and a blanket she’d found in one of the closets wrapped around her shoulders.
They had a quick dinner of pasta and chicken, Seph melting cream cheese and using it to flavour the pasta.

Spencer could tell that Persephone had wanted more details about Maeve and why it had caused him to storm off when Hotch had bought her up. Shutting himself off from her as they got back to their home away from home, he’d thought back to his boss’s words, realising that to some extent he was right. He hadn’t been able to save Maeve, he’d done his best to negotiate with her killer but she’d seen through his ruse and pulled the trigger anyway. This was a different situation, he was trying to save someone from themselves rather than another person even though he knew that really, the only person who could truly save Persephone was herself. But essentially it was the same thing. Spencer Reid trying to come to the rescue. He wondered how badly this would break him if he failed. And that was why Hotch was worried about him.

He’d been surprised when she’d joined him on his bed, her touch startling him initially but then calming and soothing him. He would normally have shrugged anyone else touching him off and asked them to leave him alone. But she’d left him alone for long enough and well, he needed to stop brooding. The incident had happened months ago now, but it still cut like a knife to the bone whenever someone mentioned her.

Surveying the chess board in front of him, he took a sip of his wine before glancing at his opponent.

“How much do you know about chess?” he asked Seph, wanting to gage her knowledge first.

“That I have to check mate someone? And to protect my King at all costs right?”

“Kind of.” Spencer went on to explain the basics and how the game worked, surprised to see that her eyes didn’t glaze over as people’s normally did when he talked about a topic for any length of time. She actually looked interested, leaning forward in her seat and interrupting him to ask questions if she didn’t understand something.

“The important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t be trying to check mate your opponent in the opening. You should be focusing on getting your pieces to their optimal places on the board. You ready to try?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be Spencer Reid. Just… Go easy on me.” She wriggled on her seat, uncrossing and recrossing her legs.

“I thought you didn’t want that Persephone.” The emphasis on her full name again. He could see this was now going to be their thing. Wow… Knowing someone for 24 hours and already having a thing. Hopefully a thing that wouldn’t be over in 23 days.

“I see you’ve chosen to take my flirting in the good way,” she grinned at him and took a gulp of wine.

He nodded at her, a slight smile on his lips. He had chosen to take her flirting in a positive way. Initially he’d felt awkward and wasn’t sure how to take her remarks, but seeing the smile on her face when he bantered back was worth any awkwardness he felt. It was a smile that reached her eyes too, not one that looked false and plastered on.

“Okay so white goes first so I’ll move okay. Just ask if you’re not sure and I’ll try to hint at what you should do without out rightly telling you.”