Silent Evidence ~ Spencer Reid

Evelyn laid in bed, the weight of exhaustion pressing against her, but sleep had never come. Instead, she had spent the night immersed in the pages of War and Peace, her fingers tracing the ink of written words.

She paused at a passage, an underlined portion drawing her attention.

"Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women."

Her gaze flickered to the margin, where Spencer's handwriting filled in the space beside it.

"You see what no one else does, and you've changed the way I see the world. If intelligence is measured by the company we keep, then I am the luckiest man alive."

A small smile tugged at her lips. Her fingers lingered over the ink, her thumb brushing lightly against the delicate imprint of his words.

She flipped through the pages, another passage caught her attention, underlined with the same precision.

"You know that for me there is nothing in life without you, and to suffer with you is the best happiness for me.".

Beside it, Spencer had written in the margin:

"If suffering with you is happiness, then joy with you must be something beyond words. Either way, I'm here, always."

He had meant this. Every letter, every thought, he had written it for her. She could see it in the way the annotations stretched across the margins, in the weight of his underlines, in the way he had poured himself into this book. It was not just as a gift, but as a conversation between them in ink and paper.

A deep, aching warmth spread through her chest, something foreign and familiar all at once. She hadn't felt this important to someone in years... maybe ever. Like she was worth the effort, worth the thought, worth the quiet kind of devotion Spencer had carefully tucked between the pages.

For the first time in what felt like forever, she allowed herself to smile, not out of politeness, not out of habit, but because something inside her wanted to.

The shrill chime of her alarm broke through the moment, its piercing tone signaling the start of another day. Evelyn exhaled, blinking as the morning light seeped through the blinds. She hadn't slept, not really. She had spent the night lost in his words.

With a reluctant sigh, she closed the book, pressing it to her chest for a second before setting it aside. She pushed herself out of bed, as she got dressed, pulling herself together piece by piece.

Today was simple. Drop off the reports at the BAU and head to the lab. Keep moving. Stay busy.

And yet, no matter how much she tried to focus, Spencer's words lingered in the back of her mind, his handwriting permanently etched into her thoughts.

She soon arrived at the BAU, the bullpen was alive with its usual rhythm. It had only been a few days since the wedding party where she last saw the team. She spent those days catching up on work she had to catch up on, and picking up Jonah's workload so he could enjoy a week off to celebrate a new chapter in his life. .

It had only been a few days since their last case, but stepping back into the BAU still felt like something solid beneath her feet. She hadn't been gone long, but she'd spent the time catching up on work, distracting herself with anything that kept her mind occupied.

She barely made it halfway across the room before Garcia spotted her. "Evelyn! My beautifully mysterious scientist friend!" Her voice rang out as she hurried over, arms spread wide.

Evelyn barely had time to brace herself before Garcia pulled her into a quick, enthusiastic hug.

"Hey, Garcia—" Evelyn started, laughing lightly as she pulled back.