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---- Sorry! Sorry! Hope this meager update accounts for all the time that's passed. Enjoy. ----

"Where are you going?" Nicolet asked, watching Deb strut out of her room in stiletto heels, black leggings, a short blue skirt and a brown tank-top. Deb held a petite clutch purse in one hand and a yet-to-be-worn faux-leather jacket in the other.

"Out." Deb declared, reaching for her keys and pushing her arms through her jacket. Nicolet raised an eyebrow and then she smirked.

"You're going to be freezing." Nicolet spoke. Deb rolled her eyes and carefully applied bright red lipstick, checking herself in the mirror hanging by the door and then smacking her lips together.

"You know, a normal person would ask who I'm going out with." Deb lectured.

"Oh, so you've got a date?" Nicolet asked. She had assumed Deb was about to go clubbing, meeting up with some girls from work and wisely leaving Nicolet at home – she hated clubs and Deb knew better than to bother inviting her to come.

"Yes Cola I've got a date!" Deb shrieked ecstatically, incredibly pleased to be able to share the news with somebody, despite how long it had taken Nicolet to figure it out.

"What happened to Harry?" Nicolet inquired, and Deb waved away the thought with her hand.

"Harry Schmarry. We're over." Deb announced. Nicolet's eyes widened – Deb and Harry had been together for about a year, and usually Deb came home crying after breakups – but she chose not to say anything.

Deb pulled open the front door and gave Nicolet a small wave. "You have the house to yourself, Cola," she said. And then with a wink added, "Don't be naughty."

"Oh get out of here!" Nicolet yelled, throwing a pillow that she grabbed off the couch just as Deb left. The pillow hit the door with a soft smack and fell to the floor.

Nicolet sighed and headed over to pick it up. Her night would be spent reading, writing, or maybe watching a few movies. Nothing too exciting.

She smiled as it began to rain a little outside. Lightening flashed. She had the house to herself and absolutely no plans at all.

Exactly how she liked it.

***

"Three girls dead." Morgan sighed, looking down at the six pictures in front of him. Three were pictures of the girls, and three were pictures of their bodies. "How's that map coming, Reid?"

"I finished it a while ago, I think he must live in this neighbourhood, he'd never have the opportunities to follow and kill his victims if he didn't." Reid replied. But he knew Morgan had only been asking because he was frustrated. There had been no leads since Hannah. Not that any of the team particularly wanted to discover another dead preteen. They just wanted to catch the monster who was killing them.

Hotch cleared his throat, "Ok. I'm excusing you all for the night."

The team shuffled around uncomfortably. When working on a case "home" was usually a hotel room and they never were excused until one of them fell asleep on their feet. It wasn't so much that the murders themselves were unusual, but the fact that they were in Quantico…

I thought flew threw Reid's brain. Were these attacks personal?

But then he excused that idea. None of the BAU had been connected to the murdered girls in the least. Instead he stood up, packed his things. He bid goodbye to the others.

Once outside the building, he opened his phone. It was still rather early. Maybe he and Cole could meet somewhere. If so, it would be the highlight of his day by far.

***

"Hello?" Nicolet spoke into the phone which was secured awkwardly by her head and her shoulder as she struggled to put the television on mute and place her bowl of cereal (her dinner, as she hadn't felt much like cooking) on the table at the same time.

"Hey, Cole, it's Reid…" her heart skipped a beat and she clasped the phone with one hand, abandoning her hopes of putting the TV on mute. She stood up, and began to walk towards the kitchen in order to get rid of her now-finished dinner.

"Hi!" she cringed as her voice came out much, much too high. But, she reflected, luckily he didn't seem notice.

"I was wondering if you wanted to meet some where? Um…right now?" Reid asked. Nicolet smiled. Suddenly and crash of thunder sounded.

"The weather's just awful," she pointed out.

"Oh. Well, that's ok, maybe some other time…"

"No!" Nicolet shouted, hating to think she had given him the wrong idea. Then she blushed and stammered, "I…I just meant…I'd love to see you but…the weather…" she gave a nervous chuckle.

"Well, I'll pick you up at your house, if that's ok?" Reid suggested, and she could all but hear the smile in his voice. Deb's comment filled Nicolet's mind. Of course, she hadn't taken Deb seriously. But her friend had a point.

"Actually, Deb's out. You can come over and we can just stay inside, if that's ok with you." She offered. Only when Reid agreed and said he'd be there in about fifteen minutes or so did Nicolet start to panic. The house was pretty messy and she wasn't wearing anything nice, either, just loose pants and a baggy sweater, with her hair hanging down sloppily and her makeup slightly smeared.

She ran into her room, quickly changing into jeans and pealing off her sweater. There was no time for a shower but she squirted herself with perfume and washed her face before reapplying her makeup. She brushed out her hair and considered doing something with it when the doorbell rang.

Nicolet ran out of her room, pulled open the door, and – and broke out in laughter.

Reid stood on the doorstep soaking wet. His hair stuck to his face and his clothes hung limply. "Nice to see you too, Cole," he remarked, but he was grinning.

"Come inside!" Nicolet beckoned, "I'll get you a towel."

"Thanks," Reid came in and closed the door behind him – locking it, too, just to be safe. His job often exampled the consequences of not being cautious. He watched Cole begin to walk off and suddenly he reached out and grabbed her wrist. She looked back, a bit surprised, and he kissed her on the cheek. It wasn't awkward at all. She blushed and continued on her way.

Reid wandered through the small townhouse, finding the TV on and an empty bowl sitting in the sink, a little bit of milk resting at the bottom. He drummed his fingers against the counter, a bit embarrassed, wondering what was planned for tonight.

"Here, Spence, I got you a towel…" Nicolet came into the kitchen and smiled, handing him the white and fluffy towel, fresh from the wash.

Reid took it and held it in his hands for a second before rubbing his face and arms to get them dry. Nicolet set the kettle and when it popped she made them both cups of coffee.

"Umm…" for a second they both just stared at each other. Then Nicolet broke the silence, "I just love storms like these, don't you?"

"Yeah," Reid commented, "You know the rainiest place –" but Cole held up her hand.

"Please, Spence. A twelve year-old girl could tell you the rainiest place in America. Ever since that vampire book came out." She grinned.

"I was going to name the rainiest place on Earth, actually –" Reid began but then noticing Cole's grin grow even wider, "But I guess you already know that too."

"I do," she agreed. And then before either of them really knew what happened they were at each other, kissing passionately, their lips meeting and both of them blushing. When they parted, they stared at each other for a moment.

"Want to, uh, go watch…" Nicolet began. Reid nodded, although the television didn't interest him that much, and he doubted it interested her, either.

They had only been watching some thing on Discovery for ten minutes or so when the power went out.

"Reid?" Cole whispered. Lightening flashed and Reid saw her silhouette.

"Right here." He said, holding out his hand, which she took. Reid smiled, liking the feeling of her fingers laced through his.

"Power outage. Typical. In Quantico alone there are –" Cole began. Reid knew all the reasons for power outages, and their statistics, too. He silenced her with a kiss, even stronger than the last one. As lightening flashed and thunder rolled they sat curled up on the couch together, kissing and smiling and breaking apart every so often.

The lights flicked back on just as Deb crashed through the door.

She spotted Nicolet and Reid on the couch and caught them kissing. Deb laughed.

"Wow, Cola! You do know I was only joking, right?"

But both Reid and Nicolet pretended not to hear her.