A/N: My last Spencer Reid fic was a little after he first met Bianca. This is set after they’ve been together for a while.
A/N 2: I meant to post the Dia de los Muertos Hobbit fic, but my Halloween weekend was surprisingly busy, so that didn’t happen. Take this one as consolation!
Word count: 2725 (wow, that’s a lot)
“What do we got?”
“The sheriff in San Francisco contacted me about a possible serial killer. Here are the files.”
“Thanks, JJ.”
Agent Aaron Hotchner’s team were gathered in the conference room. JJ, Agent Jareau, had called them in early to brief them on a possible case. They all agreed that it was something they should look into. Then Agent Jareau noticed something.
“Guys, do any of you know where Reid is?” she asked, not having heard his input in the past five minutes.
They all shook their heads.
“Maybe he didn’t get your text,” Morgan offered.
“Call him, but tell him we’re leaving in 30,” Hotch said.
With that, the rest of them dispersed. Morgan held back JJ and Agent Prentiss.
“Listen, why don’t we just go and pick up Reid? JJ, you said he gave you keys, right?”
“Oh, he did?” Agent Prentiss asked.
“Yeah, after we named him godfather,” JJ responded with a smile.
“That’s sweet.”
“Yeah.” JJ considered Morgan’s proposal. “Alright, let’s go.”
They beat traffic and got to Agent Reid’s apartment fairly quickly. He wasn’t answering calls. JJ knocked, but when there was no answer, they all silently agreed to go in. JJ unlocked the door while the others kept a hand on their weapons out of habit. They entered cautiously.
“Reid?” JJ called out.
“He must have left by now,” Prentiss said in a reasonable tone.
“The shower’s on,” Morgan pointed out.
“And is that… a woman singing?” JJ said.
They all moved slowly toward the back of the apartment. They heard the water shutoff, and then a woman walked out, still humming. She had a towel wrapped around herself, tucked under her arms, and her hair was wet. She made her way to the fridge and dug around for a moment. She turned, leaned on the island, and started peeling an orange.
“Did you forget something?” she asked.
All three agents froze in surprise. She wasn’t looking at them, her gaze was on her hands, but there was no one else in the room.
“Um, who are you?” Morgan asked.
“And what are you doing in Reid’s apartment?” Prentiss added.
The woman stopped her movements and lifted her head.
“Well, shit. None of you are Spencer,” she said.
This confused the agents even more.
“Do I look like Dr. Spencer Reid?” Morgan asked sarcastically.
“Well I wouldn’t know, but none of you sound like him.”
There was a pause as they all realized something; she was blind.
“That was a joke, guys,” the woman said. She put a piece of orange in her mouth. “Lighten up.”
“You still haven’t told us who you are,” Prentiss said.
“Spencer hasn’t told you about me?”
“No,” all the agents said at once.
“Of course he hasn’t,” she sighed. “I’m Bianca Bennett.”
She extended her hand, which all of them automatically stepped forward to shake.
“Spencer calling,” an automated voice said.
The woman, Bianca, reached across the counter to grab the phone and accepted the call on speaker.
“Hey, Spencer,” Bianca answered. “What did you forget?”
“Hey, Bee,” Spencer said.
His coworkers lifted their eyebrows.
“I forgot my jacket, do you think you’ll have time to drop it off?” Spencer continued.
“You’re lucky I have the morning off,” Bianca said with a smile.
“I don’t know about lucky, but it was definitely—“
“And—,” Bianca interrupted loudly— “you’re lucky some of your coworkers are here. I’ll give it to them and they’ll meet you, yeah?”
“What? Who’s there? It’s JJ, isn’t it?”
“Her and Prentiss and Morgan. I think. And I think they were about ready to shoot me.”
Spencer sighed. “I’m really sorry about that, all of you. I’m guessing I’m on speaker, right?”
“You have inferred correctly, sir,” Bianca said.
“Okay, I promise I’ll explain later, guys. For now, can you just grab my jacket and I’ll meet you at the office, please?”
“Actually, we were just swinging by to pick you up. We got called in early on a case,” Prentiss explained.
“Alright, then I’ll meet you on the plane and get briefed there. I’ve got to go, guys, I’m on the subway, I’m—“
The connection was lost. Bianca turned off the phone and turned back to the agents.
“Reception is spotty on the subway. Let me get his jacket,” Bianca said.
She walked out of the room, and the agents immediately started murmuring to each other.
“Since when does Reid have a girlfriend?”
“And she is blind, right?”
“She’s pretty.”
“I wonder if she’s a genius like him.”
Bianca walked into the living room and held out Reid’s jacket.
“We’ve been dating for about a year now,” she said, answering the questions they asked each other. “Yes, I really am blind. Thank you, and no, I am definitely not a genius.”
All the agents averted their eyes and flushed in embarrassment. Prentiss took the jacket with an apologetic smile.
“Thin walls,” Bianca said. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Anyways, you should go. Don’t want to miss your plane. You’ve got to catch some killers, right?”
“Right,” Prentiss said. “Well, um…“
“It was nice meeting you,” JJ said.
“Yeah, you too.” Bianca shook their hands again.
They left and attacked Reid with incessant questions once they were all on the plane. Reid glanced at Hotch and Rossi fearfully. He shushed them and mouthed, ‘Later'. Hotch and Rossi noticed. They only exchanged exasperated glances and ignored the other agents.
The case went by fairly quickly and easily; the team considered themselves lucky. The night before they returned to Quantico, they cornered Reid in his hotel room.
“Okay, spill,” JJ demanded. “How did you even meet her? She doesn’t work with us.”
“That’s because she’s not an FBI agent at all,” Reid said. “She’s a high school teacher.”
“You’re dating a schoolteacher?” Morgan said incredulously.
“Yes. I have enjoyed our privacy so far, so if you guys could—“
“It’s okay, Reid, it’s not like I can judge,” JJ said. “I kept my relationship with Will a secret for about a year, right?”
The other three exchanged telling looks.
“JJ, we all knew,” Reid said.
“What?”
“No, hold on, I’m not gonna let him turn this around,” Morgan said, cutting JJ off from saying anything further.
“And I’m not going to let you all interrogate me or her about our private, personal life,” Reid countered.
“We just want to know who she is,” Prentiss said.
“And why you’ve been hiding her from us,” Morgan said.
“Well, I told you. Her name is Bianca Bennett and she’s a school teacher. And I haven’t been hiding her from you, you all just assumed I wasn't dating anyone.”
No one said anything for a moment after that. They couldn’t deny it. The possibility never entered their minds that Spencer Reid may be seeing someone.
“Where did you guys meet?” JJ asked, breaking the silence.
Reid gave her a warning look, perhaps trying to determine her intentions.
“She came up to me in the park to ask for advice about one of her students. She had heard me give a lecture before and knew my background,” Reid explained.
“What do you mean, she wanted help with one of her students? Isn’t it her job to teach kids?”
“Yeah, but this student was different.”
“Was that the day you left early?” Prentiss asked.
Reid nodded. “Yup. It still took about seven meetings before she asked me out, though.”
“She asked you out? Oh come on, Reid,” Morgan said.
“It took you guys that long?”
“Well, she was waiting for me to ask her out, but I was completely oblivious. Even her student, the one I was mentoring, and his aunt picked up on it. I liked her, obviously, but I guess I just never thought she would agree to a date. She’s just amazing.”
“Aw. I’m happy for you, Spence,” JJ said, patting the younger man on the back.
“Yeah, it’s about time, man.”
“She’s okay with you being gone for long periods of time like this?” Prentiss asked.
Reid glanced at each of them before answering.
“She would prefer I wasn’t, obviously, but she knows this job is important to me. Besides, it’s not like we have a kid or anything.”
They were all quiet as they thought about their coworker, Hotch. Finally, Prentiss, Morgan, and JJ stood.
“We should get going. We have to be up early for our flight tomorrow,” Prentiss said.
“Yeah, we’ll let you get some sleep,” Morgan said.
“Ask Bianca if it would be okay to ask her to lunch,” JJ said. “I want to get to know her since she’s your girlfriend and all.”
“Okay, I’ll text her in a bit. Goodnight, guys.”
The next morning, they left early for their six-hour flight and got back to Quantico around noon. They went straight to the office to start on reports. Reid was telling his team members about the history of San Francisco as they rode the elevator.
“You know, what’s interesting is that San Francisco was called the “city of sin” long before Las Vegas. The city was rife with prostitution and opium dens as an outlet for the gold rushers who flocked to the city at the time. At first, there wasn’t much law and order to the city and it was run by vigilante groups who would hang anyone who committed a crime.”
Prentiss and Morgan exchanged a glance, but they didn’t try to cut him off yet.
“Then, when they started an actual police force, even those policemen were corrupt and accepted bribes from the madams and drug dealers to turn the other cheek. That all changed after the 1906 earthquake and fire, though. After that, the city’s inhabitants become of a reform-minded mood and when they were rebuilding, they--”
The elevator arrived at their floor, and they stepped out quickly.
“--decided that they would build more respectable businesses, especially on Morton Street, where most of the--”
“Reid, so, how long have you and Bianca been living together?” Prentiss asked.
“Not long. We actually go between her place and mine. We’re usually at her apartment on the weekends.”
Reid’s phone rang.
“Hello?” Reid answered. “What? Are you okay?”
The note of fear in his voice caught the others’ attention.
“Okay. I’m on my way, and I’m going to send some police officers as well, okay? I’ll see you soon.” He hung up and started gathering his things while he dialed another number.
“What’s going on?” Prentiss asked.
“Someone broke into Bianca’s apartment and attacked her,” Reid explained.
“Hey Garcia,” Reid said into the phone. “I need you to dispatch the closest patrol car to Bianca’s apartment. … Everything’s fine for now, but I need you to hurry, okay?… There was a break-in, I’ve got to go.”
He hung up. Morgan followed him with the keys to one of the SUVs. They ran the siren. Morgan followed Reid’s directions and got to Bianca’s apartment in record time. When they got out they saw that there was a police car on the sidewalk. Reid took the stairs two at a time, and Morgan followed close behind. As they neared Reid’s door, they heard Bianca’s voice.
“I’m okay, please stop touching me,” she said.
Reid and Morgan burst into the room to find it a mess. Items were strewn along the floor, the refrigerator was open, a dish was shattered, the coffee table was on its side, and the TV was on the floor near the door. There was one police officer kneeling on a man and putting handcuffs on him. The officer’s partner was attempting to comfort Bianca. He had his hands on her shoulders, ignoring her attempts to shake him off and her stiff posture. Reid barreled through the room toward them, while Morgan kept close to the arresting officer in case he needed help.
“Bianca, are you alright?” Reid asked. “Hands off my girlfriend, she doesn’t like strangers touching her,” he snapped at the police officer.
The man put his hands up in surrender, eyes wide. Reid took Bianca’s hand and led her to the couch, making her sit.
“I’m fine, Spencer. He just surprised me is all,” Bianca said.
The officers stood up with the offender.
“Did she tell you what happened?” Morgan asked them.
“Just that he was here when she came in, and almost knocked her out,” one of them said. “Your boy’s got a good girl there. When we came in she was standing over this loser with her stick pointed at his throat.”
“It’s a cane,” Reid corrected at the same time the would-be thief started shouting.
“She threatened me!” the offender whined. “She said if I moved—“
“Shut the hell up, man,” Morgan said. “It was self-defense. I’d have kicked your ass.”
The officers took him away. Morgan went over to where Reid and Bianca were sitting on the couch. He noticed how Bianca seemed to be melting into Reid.
“Bianca, I think you should go to the hospital,” Morgan said gently.
“What? Why?” Reid asked.
He took Bianca’s face in his hands and examined her. She winced. Her bottom lip trembled and she kept looking up; it looked like she was trying not to cry.
“You said he tried to knock you out?” Morgan prompted.
“Yeah, he tried to hit me with the vase.”
Reid pushed her hair back to reveal a cut on her ear and neck.
“Bianca!” Reid exclaimed.
Bianca touched one hand to her ear. When she pulled it away, her fingertips were sticky with blood.
“I thought it was the water,” Bianca murmured. "From the vase."
Morgan leaned down to examine her. “It doesn’t look that deep,” he said. “But we should still get you checked out. Want me to drive?”
“O-okay,” Bianca said.
“Thank you,” Reid said.
Reid helped Bianca up and to the door, where Morgan offered to carry her down the stairs.
“Thanks, but I can walk,” Bianca replied stubbornly.
She managed it by leaning heavily on the railing and keeping one hand intertwined with Spencer’s. The ride to the hospital was silent, broken only by Morgan and Reid’s cell phones vibrating. Morgan glanced down and saw that it was a group text from Penelope, telling them all that Hotch wants them to meet in the BAU conference room. Morgan looked in the rearview mirror and saw Reid frowning down at his phone, presumably at the same text.
“Spencer, what’s wrong?” Bianca asked.
“What? Nothing,” Reid said.
Bianca’s lips curved up into a smirk. “Now I really know there’s something up.”
Morgan’s eyebrows rose at her keen perception. Bianca, who had been leaning on Reid’s shoulder, suddenly sat up straighter.
“If you need to go back to work, it’s okay,” Bianca said softly.
Reid met Morgan’s eyes in the mirror, the problem clear in his eyes. Reid shook his head.
“No,” he said. “I can’t leave you.”
“But… I have friends I can call. If it’s important--”
Reid’s phone buzzed again. It lit up to reveal a text from Hotch: he was aware of the situation and Reid did not have to come in until it was resolved. Reid sighed in relief and put his arm around Bianca, nudging her so that her head was on his shoulder again.
“Nothing’s more important than you,” he said in her ear.
It was too quiet for Morgan to hear, but the small, shy smile that graced Bianca’s features was enough to let him know of his friend’s plans.
“We just came back from a case, so we probably don’t have to leave again,” Morgan said. “Hotch probably just wants us to go over reports. I can cover for you, man.”
Reid smiled slightly and gave a tight nod. “Thanks.”
“Aaron Hotchner?” Bianca said. She smiled up at Reid. “I want to meet the rest of your team now.”
“Well, maybe we can arrange that for another day,” Reid said.
“Oh, really? I was thinking we could invite them all to the emergency room,” Bianca deadpanned.
It took both men a moment to realize that she was being sarcastic. Reid laughed and buried his face in her hair, and began whispering something else to her. Morgan chuckled and shook his head. He was beginning to like Reid’s girlfriend.
Bianca and Spencer run into each other at Bianca’s favorite coffee shop.
A/N: Introducing my OC, Bianca Bennett! She’s a teacher, blind, and the star of Storms and Teacher’s Pet. I changed her view in those two to a Reader perspective though.
Word Count: 1043
On the last day of each school year, Bianca Bennett brought her senior students to her favorite cafe. This year her class only consisted of twenty-four students. It was only a couple blocks away from the school, so they walked. They were quite a sight: a blind woman, with her cane, leading a gaggle of twenty-four giggling teenagers down the street. She yelled out the occasional “Stay together! Sound off, for me, guys.” In a few minutes, they had reached their destination.
“Line up at the back of the shop when you get your orders, please, and thank you,” Bianca instructed.
Spencer Reid looked up as they walked in. His eyes found Bianca immediately, and he gulped.
“Sir, can I have a name for the order?” the barista asked.
“Oh, it’s Spencer,” he said.
He paid, thanked the barista, and moved on. He watched Bianca as she lined up with her students.
Normally, he would get his coffee fix at the office when he arrived for work. It was free, after all. But he had met Bianca recently after one of his lectures, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. They had met a couple times because he was tutoring one of her students. They had fallen into casual conversation about their work and their hobbies. It seemed as though they had a lot in common. Besides their shared love of coffee, they both had a love of literature and Doctor Who, among other things. She had mentioned that she like this coffee shop. He was sure he hadn’t mentioned that he usually got his coffee at work, but he was hoping she wouldn’t have assumed that and start to question him about why he was at this shop when—
“Hey, Ms. B, guess who’s here,” one of the students said.
It was the boy he had been tutoring the past few months, Pedro. He smiled and waved cheekily at him. Spencer returned the wave sheepishly. Pedro had picked up on Spencer’s not so subtle affection towards his teacher, and he was always not-so-subtly scheming for them to get together.
“A barista?” Bianca gasped dramatically.
Pedro laughed. This easy familiarity was part of why she got along so well with her students. He placed a hand on her elbow, guiding her to turn around towards Spencer.
“No, silly. It’s Dr. Reid,” Pedro said.
“Oh, hello, Dr. Reid!” Bianca exclaimed.
She flushed, and flicked her hair over her shoulder. Spencer knew it was a nervous tic of hers. He walked closer, to a comfortable speaking distance.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Well, the way you were raving about the coffee you get here, I figured I had to try it for myself,” he said.
That was smooth, he congratulated himself.
“What about yourself?”
“Well, we made it through another year, so I’m taking the kids out for coffee as a small reward,” she explained. “What did you end up getting, Dr. Reid?”
“The hazelnut one,” he said.
“That one is very sweet,” she commented. “Is that how you like your coffee?”
Spencer chuckled. “Yeah, my teammates always give me a hard time for it.”
“That sounds good, though,” Pedro said. “Ms. B, can I get that one?”
“Of course! I’m buying, so don’t worry,” she said.
Pedro and Bianca were the last to order. The barista took one look at Bianca and smiled brightly.
“Ms. B!” he exclaimed. “What’ll it be today? The usual?”
“I’m going to need your boldest and bitterest today, Donald,” Bianca responded.
“How about the Tasty Turkish?” Donald suggested. “Has some cardamom flavor, too.”
“Works for me,” Bianca said.
“Alright. Now I know you know the deal, next counter to pay.”
Bianca gave him a two fingered salute and moved on. During the exchange, Spencer had been sidling towards the pay counter. When the cashier put in Bianca’s order, he hurried to pass the girl a few bills. Bianca almost crashed into him.
“Oh, Spencer, what are you doing?”
“Uh, nothing,” Spencer said, pocketing his change.
“He paid the bill,” Pedro said smugly.
“Oh my--Spencer, you didn’t have to do that! That was probably about $100!”
“Well, it’s done, so you can just take your coffee now,” Spencer said.
“Let me pay you back! Here.” She started digging into her purse.
“No, no, no,” Spencer said. “This was my treat.”
“No, I’m serious, these are my kids, I should pay for them,” Bianca said.
“Aww, Ms. B,” Pedro teased.
“No, really,” Spencer insisted. “I wanted to treat you all. It’s a reward, you said, right?”
Bianca stood quiet for a moment, thinking.
“Alright, fine.” She took her cup from Pedro and added to her students. “You all better say thank you to Dr. Reid, he just bought you all your coffee!”
There were various exclamations of “Thank you, Dr. Reid!”. He waved them off with a shy smile.
“You know, Ms. B,” Pedro said, sipping at his coffee. “If you wanted to pay him back, you could just take him to dinner.”
He couldn’t have let it go, Bianca groaned internally. She rolled her eyes and rubbed at them, hiding her face.
“You don’t have to, Miss Bennett,” Spencer said quickly. “I’m not expecting any--”
“Spencer, would you like to have dinner with me Friday night?” Bianca said. “If you’re not busy with work, that is.”
There was a moment of silence. Bianca flicked her hair over her shoulder. Pedro glanced back and forth between the both of them.
“I--,” Spencer squeaked. He cleared his throat. “I would love to go to dinner with you Friday night, Bianca.”
Bianca’s shoulders slowly detached from her ears, just as a smile slowly grew over her face.
“Okay,” she said. “I have your number. I’ll text you the details?”
“Sure. Just let me know.” Spencer ran a hand through his hair, smiling.
Pedro couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled out of his throat. He covered it with a cough.
“Uh, Ms. B, we should probably head back to campus,” he said.
“Right,” she said. “Alright, my young academics, let’s head back to school.”
They all headed towards the door. Spencer watched them go with a smile. Then he ran out of the door; he was going to be late to work.
Bianca Bennett is an OC of mine. She’s older than 25, but other than that I’ve purposely left her age and physical description vague. Nowadays she teaches high school, although she used to work with her family at their technology company. During an accident, she suffered a head injury and was blinded. She now has to get used to navigating life and teaching without sight.
She has one brother whose name is Sora. He stayed with the family company and is now a very successful businessman. He has not gone without his own struggles, but he is very protective of his sister and stuck with her through thick and thin. After her accident and her vision loss, they grew apart somewhat. They’re working on healing that rift.
Bianca is smart, witty, and determined. She also will kill for coffee. She loves and protects her students like her own children. She’s used to keeping her personal business pretty close to her chest. She doesn’t like to pry into other people’s personal business either. Other than that, she’s pretty open about everything, and prefers the straightforward approach in a discussion or confrontation.
