Coffee, Tea // Spencer Reid

Chapter 28 - Watch your profanity

Lilith took another spoon of the ice cream she'd been sharing with Spencer. They were sat down on the couch, catching up on the latest episodes of Doctor Who. They were a couple of episodes behind, as they always waited for the other to actually watch the episode. It had become sort of a Friday night ritual. The television in Lilith's parents' house was quite old, and the sound wasn't extraordinary, but the two didn't particularly care.

"You know Lilith, Doctor Who is great and all, but you know what's greater? Old Doctor Who. The series from the sixties remain the best ones."

"If you say so." She smiled, a spoonful of pistachio ice cream in her mouth. "You'll have to show them to me at your place so I can see for myself."

"Of course. Hey! Don't take all the ice cream!" Spencer yelled as Lilith dug her spoon yet again in the pot. The two giggled, nearly forgetting about the episode running in the background.

Aunt Marthe entered the room, and interrupted the two's conversation. She seemed a little agitated, a smile on her face.

"Sorry to disturb you guys, but Lilith, you should come say hi to Mark!"

Lilith turned pale. She gave a quick glance to Spencer, one that Marthe seemingly failed to notice. The doctor grabbed her hand and said,

"I'd like to meet him too, my love."

He squeezed her hand, as if to tell her 'I'm here.' Lilith gave him a small smile. The two got up from the couch, and followed Marthe into the dining room.

Mark was a tall man, seeming to be in his late thirties, or perhaps early fourties. His shoulders were much broader than Spencer's, and his hair much darker. As soon as he saw Lilith, Mark sprung to his feet to greet her.

"Lilith! It's been such a long time!" He gave her a quick, friendly embrace. His attitude unnerved Spencer - his nonchalantness, as if nothing had happened.

"Hi Mark..." Lilith replied, faking a smile. "Hum... this is my boyfriend, Spencer. Spencer, this is Mark, a family friend."

"Oh hi, Mark."

Lilith was surprised, as Spencer took out his hand to shake Mark's. By the expression on his face however, it seemed as though the BAU agent had squeezed a little too tight.

The tension between the two was immediately felt, leaving Lilith somewhat uncomfortable.

"Hum- okay, maybe we should go back into the living room? Spencer and I were watching Doctor Who, actually."

Mark agreed unenthusiastically.

The following hour or so had been extremely awkward, as the three of them sat on the couch. Mark clearly had no interest in science fiction as he just sighed at all improbable events, and Spencer was disgruntled by the fact his special Doctor Who time with Lilith was shared with this random guy. It's not jealousy, Spencer thought. No, I'm just annoyed, that's it.

So, when Isabelle came back from shopping, it was kind of like a gift from the gods. She called everyone for lunch, and interrupted the awkward party the three were having. Unfortunately, the two friends had to sit right in front of him, as Isabelle had already sat down everyone else.

"Mark, it's so good to see you!" Said Isabelle, as she smiled to the man. "How have you and Elena been?"

"Pretty good. Right now she's working at a daycare center. She is just so good with kids, I'm lucky to have her as my wife."

This led to Spencer discreetly raising an eyebrow, slightly disgusted.

The rest of the meal was spent in this manner, with Isabelle making conversation with Mark as the two friends remained entirely silent. As the meal ended, Isabelle raised her voice:

"Are there any volunteers to clean up the table?"

"I can do it." Spencer quickly replied.
"No problem." Said Mark.

The two had spoken simultaneously.

Isabelle laughed.

"Well, since you guys seem so keen on helping out, you can do the dishes together!"

"...yeah." Spencer muttered.

The two washed the dishes (or rather, Spencer was washing the plates while Mark dried them), until Mark broke the silence.

"I saw how you were giving me bad looks, earlier."

"Hmm..?" He replied nonchalantly.

"Lilith probably told you for me and her, right?"

"Her and I."

"What?"

"You said me and her. Its 'her and I', actually."

"Whatever. She probably lied anyways."

"Why do you say that?" Spencer asked.

"Well, because you know. She was a naive girl. She probably didn't know better."

"Develop."

"I mean, she's kind of in the wrong, right? She wanted to be with me. She couldn't actually think that I'd leave my wife for her?" He scoffed.

"So you don't think you're in the wrong?"

"I mean, I don't see the wrong in accepting advances, especially from a pretty girl like her. I mean, christ. She's hot as hell. So much better than the older ones. I'm sure you'd agree." He snickered and nudged Spencer, who remained cold.

"I'd rather you don't talk about my girlfriend like that. She's beautiful, indeed, but she's also the smartest and kindest woman I've met."

"Oh come on!" Mark laughed. "Don't play the romantic guy with me. I mean, have you seen her? I'd do silly things to have her again. Damn, I don't get why you aren't constantly onto her. She's a good ti-"

A loud crack was heard, as Mark fell on the floor. The man rubbed his jaw in disbelief.

"Did you just...punch me?"