The Price of Happiness || Sp...

By glassesreid

7.6K 124 123

Money can't buy happiness. As a man of logic and science, Spencer Reid knows that. But when he strikes a deal... More

Introduction
One
Three
Four
Five

Two

1.1K 19 17
By glassesreid

A week had passed since Spencer had called you into his office, and you were yet to give him an answer. The two of you hadn't talked since that day, and it was safe to say the slight tension was getting unbearable, and you swore you had whiplash from the number of times you'd turned away from his glances. Finally, you decided enough was enough and vowed to see him after class to discuss the events of last week.

"I'll catch up with you later, I have something I need to do." You said, ignoring the look of concern your friend shot at you. They could tell something was off; you'd been quieter recently. A constant replay of your last interaction with Spencer played in your mind, and you found yourself lost in thought more often than not.

You made your way down the familiar hallway and stopped outside his door as you once again debated this whole idea. You couldn't stop the endless stream of possibilities from rushing through your head; what if he'd changed his mind? What if he'd decided to choose someone else? What if it'd all been some elaborate joke?

You quickly shook your head, trying to get rid of the doubts niggling away at your mind and knocked on his office door, waiting for permission to enter. You heard him let out a muffled "Come in" and slowly opened the door.

"Hey." You said nervously, chewing on your lip as you slowly rocked back and forth on your feet.

He froze for a moment before placing his pen down and shifted his body to face yours, "Miss Y/L/N, what can I do for you?" He said, and you suddenly felt intimidated by his attention on you.

"Do you have a minute?" You asked, walking over to sit on the chair across from him, memories of what took place in this very spot rushing through your mind as you took your seat.

"Of course," He said, a smile forming on his face," I've been meaning to talk to you. I would like to apol-" He started, but you cut him off before he could finish.

"Dr Reid, it's fine. It was fine last week and it's fine now." You reassured him, he opened his mouth to challenge you, but you spoke before he had the chance. "Would you like to get coffee...with me?" The words came out far quicker than you'd intended, wanting to get your question out of the way before you lost your nerve.

"Like..right now?" He asked with furrowed brows, and you wanted to laugh at how confused he looked.

"Only if you are free, I wouldn't want to take you away from your work." You said quickly, not wanting to seem too enthusiastic. However, you were sure your body language was giving you away already.

He hesitated for a moment; truthfully, he had a mountain of work that needed to be marked. Honestly, deep down, he knew it was a bad idea to be alone outside of school grounds with a student, but something about you made him prone to bad decisions. He looked at you for a few seconds, and he knew he'd kick himself if he passed up an opportunity to spend time with you. "Coffee sounds great." He answered with a smile.

The two of you stared at each other for a few moments before you finally decided to speak up. "So...should we go?" You asked, unsure of what he wanted to do.

"Oh right, yes let me just lock up." He said, getting up from his chair and gathering his belongings as he ushered you outside before locking his door behind him.

***************

If 3 months ago someone had told you that you would be walking to get coffee with your professor, you would've laughed. When you had signed up for his class, you could never have imagined you would be in this position. You had simply made your decision based on the young, attractive professor who would lead it and were more than intrigued. Now you didn't think anything would happen, not even when your friends spent one very drunk night trying to convince you that Professor Reid had a thing for you; they said it was something about the way he looked at you. You thought it was absurd, you didn't even think he liked you. You were always late to his class and started debates about topics that required no contradictions, which you only did because you'd grown to love the look of annoyance that crossed his face when he heard your voice, not to mention it was nice to have his attention on you.

The walk to the coffee shop was brisk; the place itself was sort of far-out, but Spencer had said it was his all-time favourite place, so you decided to check it out. You both kept the conversation to a minimum. You wouldn't say it was awkward. Still, the way your hand kept accidentally brushing against his and the occasional brush of shoulders made it hard to concentrate on anything that he said.

You felt his hand grasp your arm, halting your movements, and you turned to look at him, watching as he nodded to the building in front of you, "We're here." He said, opening the door and allowing you to walk inside first. The strong smell of coffee hit your nose the moment you entered, the familiar scent filling you with comfort. The cafe itself was small but in a quaint way; the floor to ceiling windows allowed sunlight to fill the store, and the faint sound of melodic jazz hummed through the air adding to the calm atmosphere. You could see why he liked it so much.

"Window ok?" He asked, gesturing towards the small table that was pushed up against the glass. You nodded slowly, the awkwardness of the situation becoming more apparent as you walked over and took a seat.

"Do you want coffee?" He posed another question, he was also becoming all too aware of how uncomfortable you felt, and he wasn't sure how to react.

"Oh, yeah sure thanks." You answered, fiddling with the menu that sat at the table. You heard Spencer let out a small sigh, and you quickly looked up at him. "What's wrong?" You asked.

"I should be asking you that, you asked me to coffee and now that we're here you're being weird."

"I am not being weird." You said defensively, he was right, and you knew it. Still, something in you wanted to defy his every word and every thought, regardless of whether he was correct or not.

"Yes you are, you're so...quiet, you're never quiet." He joked as he thought back to all the times he'd had to ask you to quieten down during his class or when you would argue his point just for the sake of a debate; you always had something to say, so seeing you so silent was unusual.

You let out a real laugh, not one done out of obligation, and Spencer felt himself relax as he heard that sound he was beginning to adore, "You're right, I'm sorry... it's just strange I guess," Spencer raised his eyebrow as a way to tell you to go on, "Getting coffee with my professor y'know." You finished.

"Y/N we don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with, if you need to take more time to think then you can do that." His hand subconsciously made its way to yours, and you almost took it before you remembered your surroundings; you swiftly moved your hands away, placing them on your lap as your fingers began fiddling with the edge of your skirt.

"Dr Reid, I- I just...." You began, trying to decide what to ask him about first, you'd had all week to prepare and had thought about this moment endlessly, but now that you were here, sitting opposite him, your mind was going blank.

"You have questions?" He said in an attempt to finish your sentence, and you instantly nodded in agreement, thankful that he had understood you, "Ask away."

"Why me." You asked, and you watched as his face twitched slightly, as though he was trying to conceal his genuine reaction to your question. Then, finally, he leant back in his chair and took a deep breath before answering.

"Y/N I-I told you this last week, I-" He started answering, but he didn't get to finish his sentence before you interrupted him. Although truth be told, you couldn't handle the 'I believe in you' spiel all over again, you wanted real answers, and you were going to get them.

"- See a lot of potential in me, yes I know but there's so many people in that class that are smarter than me and you could've helped any one of them. Why did you choose me?" You leant forward, closing the space he had created when he had moved away from you. Your elbows were placed against the table, your chin resting against the palm of your hand as a curious look took over your face.

"Y/N..." Spencer paused for a moment pondering the answer to your question. He knew you were clever enough to see through the answer he had prepared and that you'd be more stubborn in your questioning, and yet the speed of your rebuttal still took him by surprise.

"Dr Reid..." You teased, laughing to yourself as his eyebrows shot up in amusement.

"You don't like making things easy do you?" He said, flashing you a smile as he watched you shake your head. He was trying to hide the fact that his mind was running a million miles a minute to come up with an answer that would satisfy your curious mind. He knew he couldn't tell you the real reason he was so invested in you. But the last thing he wanted was to start this... relationship with a lie.

"I see myself in you," He confessed, and at the sight of your confusion, he continues, "W-What I mean is that...I understand how hard it is to have to balance school alongside the obstacles of life, and I want to help you out any way I can."

"Right..." Your eyes narrowed slightly as you tried to understand what he was saying, "and your way of helping me is by paying me?"

"W-Well not you specifically but I would like to pay for expenses related to your education and strictly your education." He replied quickly, "like tuition or your books."

"Oh wow, that's..wow. Could I have a moment to think?" You asked, and he nodded as he quickly got up and walked over to the counter to finally order your drinks. He watched as you leant back in your chair and averted your gaze to the view outside the window, truthfully he did his best to refrain from profiling you, but he couldn't help it. The furrow of your brows and the way your arms moved across your chest sent him small signals indicating your thought process, and he began to prepare himself for the rejection you were about to throw at him. Finally, he picked up the drinks from the counter and made his way back to the table, setting your cup in front of you.

You silently thanked him for the drink and looked up at him, following his movements as he sat back in his chair and adjusted himself. "Okay...I accept your offer." You said, the words coming out hesitantly, you weren't naive, you knew his offer had to have some sort of underlying motive, but something about the sincerity in his eyes, and the genuine kindness in his voice told you to trust him, "But we have to work out some more terms and I have some more questions."

"Of course, you can ask anything you like." He said with an understanding smile, the type of smile that instantly put your mind at ease.

"How can you afford this? I mean I know you have a cool job and I'm sure teaching a bunch of college kids in your spare time is rewarded fairly but you know as well as I do that tuition is way more than any government salary and I don't want to lecture you on your finances but," You paused for a moment, your face burning hot as you realised you had been rambling and embarrassment took over. "Sorry." You grinned sheepishly.

"It's fine...I-uh, I just came into some money, more than I need and I want to use it to help someone, and that someone just so happens to be you." He says with a shrug, and you don't doubt that there's more to the story. Still, you decide to let it slide, opting to make a mental note to ask him about this mysterious sum of money another day.

"Well, that's very noble of you Dr Reid." So you said, and although it came off as a joke, you truly were appreciative. You knew that the gravity of his offer hadn't quite hit you yet. The positive impact it would have on your life wasn't lost on you, but you couldn't deny the whole situation felt surreal.

It was silent for a while, but comfortable silence. Your eyes glanced over at Spencer occasionally, wondering what was going through his mind in the brief moments the conversation stalled, and you cursed yourself for not paying attention in his class. If you had, you'd probably be able to read his emotions, to get a feel of what he was thinking. You had spent the last few days debating whether or not to research him, not in a weird way, but you wanted to know more about him before you considered his offer. You knew the obvious from when he'd introduced himself on the first day of class; he worked for the FBI. He had an array of educational accolades, but he didn't divulge into his personal life. You thought back to the woman and kids in the pictures in his office; you still didn't know who they were, and you decided now was the time to find out.

"Dr Reid?" You asked quietly, you didn't want to overstep, but you felt like you had a moral duty to yourself to make sure what you had agreed to wouldn't be harming anyone.

"Y/N?" He replied before lifting his cup to his lips; the steam from the hot drink fogged up his glasses and you felt your heart momentarily stutter at how adorable he looked, but you quickly shook out of it.

"Are you married?" The words came out quickly, but Spencer was choking on his drink and devolving into a coughing fit before you could even finish. You jumped up into action, handing him multiple napkins to clean himself up as apologies tumbled out of your mouth.

You made your way back to your seat and watched as he wiped up the spilt coffee before cleaning his face and turning to you with a serious expression, "Of course not Y/N, why would you think that?"

"I just...I saw the pictures in your office and I..." You said, stuttering over your words.

"The boys are my godchildren and the woman, Penelope, is my friend and colleague." He said, and you felt your shoulders visibly relax as an embarrassed smile crept onto your face.

"Oh..right sorry I- I just wanted to make sure...." You started, but he held his hand out to ask you to stop and interjected before you could finish.

"I understand Y/N, it- it just took me by surprise." He smiled at you, and you were about to say something in return when his phone rang. He quickly fumbled through his pockets to collect his rather old looking cellphone before looking at you apologetically and answering the call. All you heard was a hushed "Emily?" before he got up and walked outside to continue the conversation.

You used this time to check your phone and realised a couple of hours had passed since you'd looked at it, you had several missed calls from your friend, and you quickly called her back, the phone barely ringing twice before she picked up.

"Hey, where are you?" She asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Uh, I'm just at some coffee shop downtown why?" You slumped in the chair and looked out the window, getting distracted by Spencer pacing outside, and as if he could sense your gaze on him, he looked back at you and smiled. You sent him an awkward wave, and he quickly turned his back to you, focusing on his conversation. You'd almost forgotten you were on the phone when your friend's voice crackling through the phone brought you back to reality.

"Y/N? I asked if you were alone?" Her tone was quickly turning suspicious, and you couldn't blame her. You were acting weird or at least different than usual.

"Uhhh...yeah I'm alone" You began biting at your lip as you nervously began fiddling with the chain around your neck, you'd never been good at lying, especially not to your friends, and the guilt was quickly setting in.

"Right...because I just saw you about 30 minutes ago engaged in a very interesting looking conversation with Professor Reid."

To say you were speechless was an understatement; you knew there was a possibility of someone seeing you, especially with where you were sitting, but you didn't expect it to actually happen. You were about to answer when the bell attached to the door rang, and you saw Spencer walk back in. You sighed quickly before saying, "Look... I'll explain everything when I get home just don't tell anyone okay?" and you put the phone down before hearing her reply.

Spencer walked back over to the table and picked up the jacket he had draped over his chair, and put it back on before collecting the rest of his things, his actions were rushed, and you had a feeling this coffee 'date' would be ending pretty soon. "Is everything ok?" You asked him.

"I have to go." He said, collecting your cups and throwing them in the trash. He saw the frown across your face and stopped for a moment; his hand gently came up to touch your arm. "Y/N I know we still have a lot to discuss." He paused for a moment and got out a notepad and pen from his messenger bag before scribbling something onto the paper, ripping it off and handing it to you.

You looked up at him with a confused expression; your fingers gripped the small slip of paper tightly, "What is this?"

"Text me or call me, whatever you prefer." He saw the hesitation on your face and continued. "You don't have to, I just thought it would be a good idea in case you had any more questions before we see each other next."

You nodded wordlessly and placed the slip of paper in your pocket, making sure it was safely secured before looking back at him. He began walking outside the shop, and you instinctively followed, the fresh air refreshing against your flushed skin. "Well...thank you for the coffee."

He smiled at you before answering, "No problem Y/N. I have to go but I'll see you soon okay?" His fingers twitched as he resisted the urge to reach out and hug you; he buried his hands in his pockets and watched as you subconsciously copied his actions.

"See you soon Dr Reid." You watched him walk away and quickly hail a cab before getting in. Your eyes followed the car until it was out of your sight, and you released a breath you didn't know you were holding.

What did you just get yourself into

...

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