Disclaimer: see my profile

A/n this takes place between "Wheels Up," and the upcoming episode. I did invent a bit of a backstory for Luke. Please enjoy.

Reid closed his eyes and sighed when someone knocked on his apartment door.

Please go away.

He blew out a breath and decided to ignore the door. The person behind the door didn't go away. Instead, they applied their fist to it with renewed energy.

"Go away," Spencer yelled, aloud, this time.

"Nope," came the response through the wooden barrier. "Open the door, Spencer."

Spencer went to the door because he recognized the voice and knew he wouldn't go away.

"Hello, Luke," Spencer began to say, but then something furry, excited, and large jumped at him.

The dog licked at his face and hands at the same time. Her tail wagged back and forth so fast and hard; it generated a slight wind. Her black eyes studied him with great interest, and she whined and sniffed as he tried to push her away.

"Roxie," Spencer squeaked. "Get down, girl."

Roxie dropped to all four paws and seemed to grin at him despite his irritation. "What the hell?" Reid directed to Luke.

"I had no choice," Alvez responded, with a grin. "You refused to talk to anyone, so here I am."

"I'm talking to everyone, on a regular basis," Reid objected, but looked at Roxie, instead of Luke.

Roxie busily sniffed around Reid's couch and ignored Alvez, when he called to her. Luke shrugged and said. "She likes your place."

"That's because she's never been here before and it's a new olfactory delight for her." Reid pointed out, petulantly.

"Look, Spencer. This wasn't my idea. Garcia asked me to come over. She says you're ignoring her calls, emails, texts and her visits."

"I thought we were supposed to take time for ourselves, per the Director's orders."

"Can I come in?" Luke asked. "I don't want to have this conversation in the hall."

"You might as well, Roxie's making herself right at home."

"Thanks," Luke shut the door and once more called to Roxie with a whistle. The dog came to him at once and sat.

"I suppose the polite thing to do is invite you all to sit," Spencer remarked as he continued to watch Roxie.

Luke and Roxie followed Spencer to his sofa. Roxie took a seat next to Spencer's legs and continued to watch him with her black, shining eyes. She whined once, then fell silent.

"Even Roxie knows that something isn't right."

Spencer narrowed his eyes at Luke, who continued to smirk as though something was immensely amusing. "If," Spencer began in his lecture tone, "She does sense something, it's purely a scent. Animals don't like me, so…"

"How can you say that when she obviously does," Luke gestured to the dog, who'd lowered her head and laid it on Spencer's feet.

Spencer, against his better judgment, reached down and patted Roxie on the head. The dog whined once, sat up and put a paw on Spencer's leg. "See, she does like you. In fact, I may have trouble getting her to leave."

Spencer rolled his eyes. "I doubt that," he argued, but patted Roxie again. "Why are you here?"

"I told you. Garcia is worried about you. We're all worried about you."

"Wait, how did you know I was home?"

Luke raised his eyebrows and stared at Spencer. "Oh," Spencer said, "Garcia. I'll have to talk to her about tracing my phone."

"She loves you, man. She knows putting your mom back into full-time care was difficult, especially after prison, and Stephen, and Scratch. We've all have enough pain to last for ten lifetimes."

Spencer didn't realize that he continuously petted Roxie while she watched him closely, like a mother bear with its wayward cub. "I didn't have a choice. I spent a month with her full time and realized that she needs more than I can give her."

"And you need time to yourself to get your head together without worrying about her."

"That's not what I was going to say, Luke. Don't put words in my mouth."

Reid stood, startling Roxie, who whined, then fell silent as Reid went to his kitchen and poured out a cup of coffee. "You want one," he asked Luke.

"No."

Spencer rejoined his unwanted guests and sipped his coffee. Roxie resumed her position at his feet which made him smile despite himself.

"I didn't mean to put words in your mouth, Spencer."

"I know, and I snapped at you because you're right. Once again, when times get too tough, and I can't cope with it all, I put her away."

"Spencer…"

"No," Reid held up a hand. "I'll be okay. It's going to take some time, that's all."

"Well, I have the perfect solution for you. Roxie."

"What?"

Luke smiled again at Spencer's confusion. "Not permanently, because she's my girl. I thought I'd let her hang with you for a couple of hours today while I run some errands."

"Luke, I can't take care of a dog."

Luke almost laughed at the horror on Spencer's face. "You don't have to do anything, except take her for a walk, if you like. I have already walked her this morning, or I should say, we had a great run, but she's always up for exercise. You could stand to leave the house, Spencer."

Spencer glared at him, and Luke did laugh. Roxie whined and barked as if in agreement with her human. Reid shrugged and sighed. "All right, go do what you have to do."

"Thanks."

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Reid locked the apartment door behind them and led Roxie, secure on her leash, down the stairs and out of his building to the street. The summer morning shone like the polished face of a bright, new, penny in the sun. It was only nine am, but already the temperature had climbed into the high eighties.

"Well, here we are, out in the bright sunshine and the much-lauded fresh air. I hope you're happy, Roxie" Spencer complained despite feeling a bit more human in the light of day.

The dog huffed and whined when she heard her name. She looked back at Reid as if to say. "Get your butt in gear."

They walked five blocks to the city park where Reid like to go with his mother when he could talk her into getting exercise. It was a beautiful place, full of trees, green grass, and children on the playground. Some adults were there as well, watching over the kids, running for exercise, or on bikes. They maneuvered around him like the wake of a ship. Roxie stayed at his side despite other canines with their humans walking past them as if they had a purpose.

Reid took Roxie to a bench, painted green to match the grass, and they sat under the shade of a tall, oak tree which spread its branches over the sidewalk. The cool air felt good on his face, and Roxie seemed to approve because she huffed, then panted in a way that seemed to indicate happiness.

"I'm not sure why I agreed to this," Reid said to her.

She whined at him and resumed her favorite position of her head on his feet as if she thought he might try to walk away and leave her in this place.

"Okay, I do know why I agreed, because it's easier to socialize with a canine than the team right now. They all think I'm about to lose it. Ha, that's a laugh. I've already lost it."

Roxie lifted her head and whined at him. Her dark eyes bored into him and made him feel as though he'd hurt a small child. "Sorry," he apologized, then chuckled. "Why am I apologizing to a dog."

Roxie put her head back on his feet without comment, and Spencer sighed. "Sorry again, Roxie. You know, I wish I could go back and redo this past year. I lost three months with my mom because I thought I knew best. Instead, I walked right into Cat Adams trap, like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter. I'm supposed to be a genius."

Roxie lifted to her haunches and whined with what sounded like real pain. He considered her eyes again, and there was something….

"Why do I keep assigning human feelings to you? You're simply reacting to the scents produced by my emotional state."

Man, and dog stared at each other for long minutes as people passed by them. They ignored the happy laughter of children and the faint noise of traffic on the street and the smell of flowers in the late summer air.

"I keep forgetting that you're a military dog. You were in Iraq with Luke." Reid finally said.

Roxie whined again and pushed her head against his leg. Spencer resumed petting her head. Her eyes closed, but he knew she listened to him.

"What does war smell like, all that hate and anger and death? I'll bet it's a lot like a prison and I'll bet it hurt you."

Roxie didn't respond except to bump his leg again with her pretty dark head. Spencer scratched behind her ears and said. "You had Luke, and he loves you, but I'll bet that sometimes you just wanted to get away from all the negativity."

Roxie whined softly and leaned hard against his leg. Reid shook his head. "I wish I could believe that you understand me. Luke says I need to stop blaming myself for everything that has happened, but I don't know if I can. What if I'd been with the team those three months instead of in prison? Maybe I could've found something, anything, to help catch Scratch before he killed Stephen."

Roxie pulled away from him, and he found that he stared into her eyes, again. This time she had this look that seemed to say, "Stop blaming yourself."

Spencer laughed bitterly. "Here I go again, anthropomorphizing you, Roxie. I must face the fact that I am trying to get absolution from a dog."

Roxie chuffed at him and stood. She tugged on the leash he held. "All right, we'll walk."

When they returned to his apartment, he got her some water in an old plastic dish. He decided to have water instead of coffee. Roxie followed him to the sofa and jumped up next to him. "I'll bet Luke has rules against dogs on the couch," Spencer said with a tiny bit of chastisement in his tone.

Roxie stared at him, and he sighed. She put her head in his lap, and he resumed petting her neck. "All right, I guess it's like visiting relatives without your parents. You can do what you want, to a certain extent."

Reid sighed in frustration and shook his head. "I wish I could just make it all go away, Roxie. Like a magic trick, just make all the pain, and anger, and guilt just vanish away like one of my coins."

Reid reached into his pocket and removed his five-year medallion. "Do you know what this is, Roxie?"

Roxie eyed the coin with interest, sniffed at it, and then whined. "It's my five-years sober medallion. I earned it five years ago. I was this close to getting my ten-year when Cat took my sobriety away from me. Damn her," he shouted, and Roxie flinched.

"Sorry, girl." Spencer petted her head, and she lowered it to his lap. "I guess Luke is right; I still have issues. I better get it together, though, because I have to go back to work in a couple of weeks."

Spencer regarded the dog and realized that he needed something more than his medallion in his pocket. He needed a meeting and more than that, he needed companionship. "Well, Luke should be back in few minutes. How much do you charge for your counseling session?"

Roxie raised her head and barked as if to say she didn't find the sarcasm funny. "Sorry," Reid said and then finally smiled. "Good dog."

Roxie put her head back on his lap and whined softly in her throat as though she forgave him. Spencer patted her head and sighed. "Yeah, let's just sit here and enjoy the quiet.

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Spencer closed his apartment door and looked down at his new pet, tied securely to her leash. The dog strained away from him, whining to be free of her restraint. "All right, girl. We're home, and I know you want to sniff around and explore your new domicile."

After putting his messenger bag on his entryway table along with some other bags of supplies, he bought for his new pet, Spencer bent and removed the dog's leash. Immediately, the dog began to move around the apartment, sniffing the floor, his books, and his couch. Spencer almost laughed as he watched her tail wag so fast it was a blur.

"I'm glad you like it."

Spencer was unpacking his new supplies when someone knocked on his door. Luke stood there with Roxie, who immediately came inside. Luke let her off her leash, and she went to greet Spencer's pet. Surprisingly, they didn't growl at each other. Instead, they sniffed and licked each other as if they were best friends.

"I see you decided to get a dog," Luke said with approval shining in his dark eyes.

"Yeah, I wanted to get a golden retriever, but I realized that would be too much dog for this little place. Instead, I decided to get a smaller breed."

"Where did you find her?"

"At the shelter. I saw her and knew she'd be just right for a pet.

"She's beautiful," Luke said, admiring the red-haired cocker spaniel.

"Yeah, she is," Spencer agreed. "Now, I have to decide on a name for her. How did you decide on Roxie's name?"

Something flared in Luke's eyes that made Spencer regret the question then his friend sighed and said. "I named her after my younger sister, Roxanne. She was eight when she died."

"Oh, Luke, I'm sorry if I brought back – "

"It's okay," Luke said, and he smiled. "She had Leukemia, but she never let it get her down, even at the end. I can't believe it's been almost twenty-five years. When I paired up with Roxie just before Iraq, I noticed that she reminded me of my sister. They have the same attitude about life."

Reid grinned at his friend. "Well, she certainly helped pull me out of my depression. Thanks again."

"You're welcome."

Reid studied his new pet as she played with Roxie and thought about how she made him feel. "I think I have the perfect name for her."

"What?"

"Hope. She makes me feel hope when I interact with her."

"I think it's perfect," Luke agreed.

Reid went to the dogs and crouched in front of his cocker spaniel. "Hey there, girl. Do you like Hope for a name."

Hope licked his faced and whined as her tail wagged enthusiastically. "I guess that's a yes."

Luke laughed. "I think we need to take them both for a walk before they destroy your apartment with their enthusiasm.

"She does appear to get along with Roxie."

They watched the dogs together, and both men smiled. "Are you ready to go back tomorrow," Spencer asked Luke as they gathered leashes.

"Yeah, I think I am. It's been great having two months off, but I'm ready to go back."

"Me too," Reid said. He thought for a long time and then continued. "I never thanked you for bringing Roxie to see me that day."

"You're welcome. She saved me more than once from giving into the despair of everything I saw and did in Iraq, and now everything I see and do in this job. I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Let's hope that they both stick around for years to come," Spencer observed.

"You're right. Roxie," Luke called to the dog. "Come on, girl. We're going for a walk with your new friend.

Hope followed her friend and barked when Spencer reattached her leash. "You want to go outside for a while? Hope licked his face, and Luke laughed again.

"Who says they don't understand English."

Reid rolled his eyes. "I think we better go before I start debating Einstein's theory of relativity with Hope and Roxie.

"Now that's funny," Luke observed as Spencer opened the door.

"Come on," Spencer encouraged, and they went out to enjoy their last day of freedom before it was "wheels up," again.