Her father once told her that if she kept trying to feed stray cats that she would soon have a whole herd following her around.

Joke's on him,Alma thought, they had moved to Quantico nearly a month ago and she had not gotten a single cat to follow her home. And it wasn't for lack of opportunity. Her studio space was just a few blocks from her favorite café and there was a tiny grey street kitten that she had been trying to lure out since she began her daily commute.

Exiting Pina's Café, Alma cursed her lack of gracefulness. Trying to carry her latte, a bundle of rolled up canvas, and her phone with her heavy supply tote putting all the weight on her shoulder was making for a very slow meandering out the front doors and onto the busy sidewalk.

By her own estimate, Alma made it a successful ten feet out the double-doors of Pina's before she got distracted by a little grey-tailed creature running past her. Heading back in the direction of the café, Alma was determined to pick up her pace to see if she could catch up with the kitten when she felt her canvas starting to slip under her arms and the paper lid began popping off her coffee cup. By the time she had bent over a little to adjust her grip she felt something hard connect with her nose and she lost what little balance she had and fell onto her back.

Admittedly, it was not the first time she had ended up on the ground on this street. Her father teased her, not only about being a potential cat lady, but also about being a klutz for as long as she could remember. It did not help that because she was so short, she insisted on wearing shoes that gave her some height. Two weeks ago the rain had been responsible for taking her down and she had slipped in a pair of wedged black leather boots. But this felt to her like running into a brick wall, if the brick wall smelled like pine and musk.

"Oh my g-god, I'm so sorry. Uhm…are you alright?"

Alma blinked a few times, adjusting to her new viewpoint from the ground. She paused to take in her situation. Her canvas had unrolled and made a nice landing mat for the rest of her coffee. There were several brushes beginning to spill out of her bag and now onto the sidewalk right in front of the cafe. The man who bumped into her was now on his knees in front of her, head down, trying to scramble to pick up her coffee and spilled supplies.

"It's okay, I got it" Alma said, shaking her head a little and beginning to sit up.

"Did you know the technical term for nose-bleed is Epistaxis? Nosebleeds are rarely fatal, accounting for only four of the 2.4 million deaths in the United States. Roughly 60% of people have experienced a nosebleed during their life."

Alma had forced herself to sit upright during his impromptu medical lecture. Jesus, what have I gotten myself into? She saw him get up in front of her, holding her bag under one arm and reaching his other hand out to help her.

"Why did you- "And then in front of her, on what used to be a pure white section of canvas, she noticed three small red drops.

Alma looked up at him, their eyes meeting for the first time.

"Were you trying to warn me that I was bleeding before I sat up and got blood on everything?"

He looked nervous, anxious even, Alma observed. He brought his hand up to rub behind his neck in awkward fashion.

"Uhm-yes. I mean no. I well…was trying to tell you not to be afraid that you had a nosebleed. Because they're very common. Sixty percent…"

Subconsciously, Alma had brought her hand up to her nose to check the damage, and immediately regretted it. The dark red smeared on the back of her hand told her it was a bad one.

"Sorry I didn't see you and-"

"It's not your fault, really," Alma cut him off, "I'm an easy bleeder." She had meant it as a joke, but he didn't seem to catch on. The silence was becoming more awkward and she looked at his outstretched hand and debated whether to take it. And the longer the silence went on, the more she realized how cute the man she had bumped into was. Like a hot professor, Alma thought as she tried to pretend like her hands had not just began to sweat.

Trying to smile, Alma took his outstretched hand in her clean one and allowed him to pull her up.

"I'm sorry, about bumping in you I mean. It was my fault. And I'm also sorry for you to have to see a bleeding woman on the sidewalk this early in the morning, probably not how you thought you would start your day."

"I've seen worse" he shrugged. And Alma noticed for the first time that his lips were turned up a little, almost a smile but not quite there.

And she didn't know why, but she liked it.

Alma reached her hands out and started accepting her things back, noticing for the first time just how much taller he was than her, even in her boots.

"You should really sit down until the bleeding stops."

"What are you, a doctor?"

"Yes, well uhm just not the way you think, not a medical doctor."

Alma rolled her eyes a little bit and started to smile, "It's okay doc, my studio is a few blocks from here I think I will make it until then."

"Your coffee I-uhm am really sorry that it ruined your painting" Spencer was mentally chiding for being so nervous. He couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to get out of the conversation or continue it. It felt like his body was betraying him, he went to walk away but his mouth just kept blurting things out.

Alma giggled "Don't worry about it, I'm more upset about the coffee than the painting. It wasn't going that well anyways."

"Would you like another?"

"Another painting? Absolutely, and I'm not above forgery."

"No- I uhm, meant coffee"

Alma studied him, letting him sit in the brief silence for just a moment before she responded.

"Do you always ask out girls for coffee after they've bled on the sidewalk, or am I just special?"

Spencer could count on one hand the amount of times his face had been that red. It wasn't that he even meant to ask her out for coffee, he had simply implied that he would replace the one their collision ruined.

"I..uhm" he stuttered, lacing his fingers together in front of him trying to find some distraction in it. "I just meant that you might need more caffeine. Did you know that caffeine withdraw can begin to show symptoms only 12 hours after the last consumption? For some people it's even sooner than that. In fact-"

Alma reached out to cover the top of him interlaced fingers with her clean hand, but then quickly pulled away. Alma was a touchy person, she had to remind herself often that not everybody else is.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that," she admitted with a little bit of guilt because deep down, she thought the blushing was adorable, "and yes, I could really use a new coffee."

On instinct, Spencer stuck his hand out for her to take the second time that day and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"This is uhm…maybe we could start over? I'm Doctor Spencer Reid. But please just call me Spencer."

"Alma"

He would never admit it, but it had lasted much longer than a normal handshake. They should have started moving towards the entrance of the café but he felt dumbstruck and just stared down at her while she lightly squeezed his hand.

Unfortunately, it was a move he would not get to make. As soon as Alma released his hand, he heard his ringtone go off from him messenger bag.

"I have to take this, sorry just one second" he mumbled while swiping open his phone. Alma nodded her head, beginning to dig through her bag for a spare napkin to make sure she wasn't about to have coffee with this man while still bleeding from her nose. She wanted at least some of her dignity back.

Spencer tried not to notice her while he talked to a very annoyed Derek Morgan asking him how late he was planning on being to the office today. He didn't notice her pressing a napkin under her nose, and he definitely didn't notice how she tucked a piece of her long dark hair behind her ear while she did it.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes. Sorry I just, uhm, got caught up." Alma was pretending not to ease drop but found herself smiling a little at Spencer trying to explain himself without really saying anything. She could tell that whoever was on the line was not about to get a full reason out of him.

He hung up the phone and shifted himself back to face her, his forehead beginning to wrinkle up and his lips turned in a slight frown.

"I'm sorry that was work I should really get going."

The two began taking steps out into the sidewalk, preparing to go their separate directions. Alma shook her head, "It's okay, I should really take this as a sign from the universe to limit my caffeine intake huh?"

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far."

Alma smiled brightly up at him, "So, raincheck then? Maybe another time?"

Spencer hadn't known how to respond so he just nodded, and she saved him from himself by smiling and turning to walk the other direction.

Before she turned the corner and disappeared from his frame of view, Alma turned around and waved her free hand yelling in his direction, "See you around, doctor!"

Both Spencer and Alma had been so caught up in their moment that they hadn't noticed the clouds coming in to blanket the skies of Quantico. Alma always swore she felt the rain before it started and was surprised that she didn't notice until she felt tiny drops on her head.

She was halfway to her studio before she realized that maybe she should have pushed the handsome doctor in right direction. She could have at least given him her number to insure he was serious about replacing her coffee. But she felt, deep down, like she would see him again. And she wanted to. Quantico was small, after all. And there were only so many places she could imagine young, handsome doctors spent their mornings.

The rain began to come down harder, and Alma tried shielding her dirty canvas from the weather, thinking that she had never been so unfortunate as to wear white on a day like this.

At the BAU, Agent Derek Morgan was sitting on the corner of Agent Rossi's desk. The two men may have gotten off to rough start, but the last few cases had brought everyone closer to the new agent. Maybe not close yet, Derek thought, but he could tell that working with Rossi would get more comfortable in time. It was always hard to accept someone new into the group. But despite their initial differences, Derek found himself enjoying talking to the older agent.

"I'm telling you man, something is up. I don't think Reid has ever been late a day in his life"

"Cut the kid some slack, I'm sure he overslept."

"Does boy genius even sleep?"

Rossi chuckled, adjusting his stack of paperwork. There was no point in debriefing until Spencer arrived, sleep deprived or not.

"He is human, isn't he?"

"I don't know man, sometimes I wonder."

Rossi gave a small snort, thinking that out of every agent on the team he had spent the least amount of time with Spencer. It wasn't that he didn't like the kid, he was obviously the brightest one on the team and Rossi had seen firsthand how valuable that brain of his could be. The issue was more that Spencer was shy and Rossi didn't want to push too much social interaction on him, fearing he would just put him off more.

Absentmindedly looking around, Derek spotted a gold framed photo that had not been on Rossi's desk previously. He had only been working at the BAU for a few weeks, but most of the month had been spent out on cases. It looked like Rossi was finally beginning to bring in some personal effects into his workspace. Morgan didn't know much about his life outside of the BAU, and he would defend his next actions by deciding it was in the nature of his work to be nosey.

"Hey man." Derek smiled wide as he leaned over the desk to pick up the frame. It was Rossi posing with a young woman. Derek couldn't see her face. Her head was turned to the side with her hair shielding most of the side of her face and she was kissing Rossi's cheek. The girl in the photo was obviously a great deal younger than him, but Derek was quite aware Rossi's reputation with women.

"Where were you hiding this one, huh man?"

Rossi immediately grabbed the frame out of Morgan's hands and with care, repositioned it on the opposite corner of his desk.

"That's my daughter, you moron."

Derek felt the blood quickly drain out of his face, "Oh man Rossi. It was just a joke, I didn't know you had kids you never mentioned it."

"Not kids. Just her."

"So uh…are we going to meet her? Is she going to swing by the office some time, check in on her old man?" Derek smiled up at him, trying to make sure the other agent knew he did not mean to offend him.

Rossi got up from his desk, putting on his suit jacket and grabbed the files from his desk. Before walking away he turned around to face Morgan, still sitting with a child-like grin on his face.

"Not after that."