"Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings." - Ralph H. Blum

When the shot rang out, Spencer thought his heart might have stopped beating for a seemingly endless moment.

He flinched and clutched at his bleeding arm, which had been grazed by a bullet just a few seconds ago. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion as the force of the deadly shot knocked both Maeve and Diane down to the ground. Blood splattered around them and Spencer's stomach churned, even while he desperately tried to will himself to understand what just happened.

The silence that reigned, after the echo from the shot had faded, was deafening. Breathing seemed like an impossible thing to do. Moving would probably force him to the ground next to them.

Ever since that fateful phone call that morning, his mind had started to twist and turn on him in ways he had never experienced before, but now it was just blank. For possibly the first time in his life there were no statistics, no numbers, no equations running through his mind as he took in a crime scene. He couldn't think. He couldn't think it even to himself that she was ...

A low moan.

Followed by a sharp intake of breath and a panicked twitching of limbs.

Then everything happened all at once.

Spencer moved forward, even though he wasn't sure how he actually managed to cross the distance between them without stumbling due to his wobbly legs, and he dropped to his knees next to her. He registered, somewhere along his peripheral vision, that Hotch and Morgan had also stepped forward and while Morgan checked Diane for any signs of life, Hotch picked up the gun from her loosened grip. But Spencer's attention was solely on Maeve now. Who was sitting up and sliding backwards hurriedly, away from the blood and the body of her stalker.

"Maeve."

His voice hitched slightly, as he called her name, but she still seemed to calm a bit when she heard him and she stopped moving backwards. Her eyes focused on him and Spencer felt like everything else happening around them just disappeared in that single moment.

She was alive.

Miraculously, she was still alive.

Her ocean-blue eyes were filled with tears and her face was twisted in fading horror and shock, but to him, right at this moment, she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Just like he knew she would be.

"Maeve," he said her name again, as the realisation that they had made it out alive finally manifested itself inside his mind. He felt a burst of relief and happiness flooding him, warming him despite the chills still running up his spine and the shaking of his hands, due to his own diminishing fear and grief.

She let out a shaky breath and reached out with her right hand, which was also trembling still. Spencer slowly lifted his own arm and was meeting her halfway, but just as their fingers were about to touch, he realised that his hand was bloodied from his own wound and he twitched back. Maeve's eyes were drawn to it then for a moment, but she quickly looked back up at his face and her features eased into a calmer expression, that also held an unmistakable amount of longing.

Spencer tried to communicate to her without words, that he had never wanted them to meet this way. That if he could, he would have taken away all the pain and all the fear she had gone through this night, and the many months before that. That he had almost failed her, almost lost her, and that the thought alone was worse than anything he had ever experienced before. Worse than Hankel, worse than struggling with his drug-addiction, worse than the migraines and the constant fear of developing schizophrenia like his mother had.

Maeve's gaze never wavered, even while she closed the distance between them and touched her fingertips against his own bloodied ones. The touch was fragile, barely there, and Spencer couldn't fight the overwhelming urge to hold on tighter, less she disappeared right in front of him. It was irrational in a way that made him feel like a fool despite his IQ of 187, but it didn't matter.

All that mattered was that she was here and that suddenly the future was full of possibilities. Of dreams turned into reality.

Carefully, he slid his fingers against hers, memorising every inch of skin he traced, and linked their hands together in a gentle, but steady hold.

When Spencer first saw a hint of a smile appear on Maeve's lips, he knew that everything had been worth it, for they had reached this moment.

This was their beginning.

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another." - Thomas Merton

A/N: I just saw episode 8x12 for the first time and I just had to change what happened somehow. I absolutely hate the writers of CM after watching episode 8x12! Their relationship would have been so special and cute, and Spencer really deserved to find someone as great as Maeve was! Also not considering that I just wanted our pretty boy to be happy, I truly feel like there's so much potential wasted! Completely WASTED! They set this all up like she's the perfect match for him and it's hard to imagine him finding this kind of connection with someone else again... I'm so disappointed and angry!

Also, I normally don't like overly cheesy happy endings, but this is just cruel. They killed her off and in the process they didn't destroy a happy ending, but rather a HAPPY BEGINNING! And that just makes me feel very hollow and unsatisfied as a viewer of this show, who saw every episode from the beginning. I still can't believe that they did this...

So I decided to give them their much deserved beginning. I hope you liked it!

There will be more snapshots of their relationship, if I have the time ;)