Spencer walked into work 30 minutes early. He arrived early most days and he really didn't believe that anyone would see any difference in him, but he decided not to take any chances. No one even knew he was dating anyone, why would they think anything more?

Last night Chelsea had asked him to wake her up when his alarm went off, she wanted to make sure to say good-bye. She told him that she never knew when he left her place if she would see him soon or he would be off on a case for a week. She looked so peaceful sleeping when he awoke, but he did what she asked. He smiled thinking about it. When she woke up she had smiled at him and stretched fully waking and with a hug pulled him close and kissed him. He had always had sensitive skin and pulled away from people touching him. But with Chelsea it was different. He loved the feel of her skin and how she made him feel when touching him. Even just holding her hand was special. He didn't know of a time he felt more alive or happy in his life. As usual her last words as he left were "Be safe" her voice echoed in his mind as he bent down over some files.

Everyone started to arrive 20 minutes later chatting about his or her weekends. Spencer decided to stick with as much truth as he could. He asked everyone what they had done for Valentine's Day. Morgan seemed surprised that he knew that it was Valentine's Day. He pretended to be horrified, "what, I don't live under a rock." Morgan looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "OK, I spent the day at the Smithsonian on Saturday and realized it was Valentine's Day when I went to grab some takeout. The restaurant was a mess and I realized the significance of February 14th while I waited for my food."

They were not called on a case that day and spent part of the day finishing paperwork from the last week's case in Olympic, Washington. It made him think of Chelsea telling him to focus on the good he did helping all of the victims' families and he smiled.

The rest of the day was spent working on profiles of current cases of local police departments across the country. Hundreds of cases were sent to the BAU monthly asking for help and although they are not available to help on every case, they do assist on many cases by putting together a profile.

Once in the late morning while Spencer was getting coffee, Prentiss came into the break room at the same time and asked what he was smiling about. He wasn't even aware he was smiling. Spencer fumbled with his words for a minute and said he was thinking about a book he read. She stared at him for a few seconds, but didn't push the subject. As she turned to get her coffee, he hurried back to his desk.

Rossi was on his yearly vacation. This year he was doing public appearances on the re-release of his first book. The 10th anniversary addition of Deviance: The Secret Desires of Sadistic Serial Killers, leaving Morgan, JJ, Prentiss, and Garcia to join him for lunch. Hotch rarely joined them and today he again ate at his desk.

They all wanted to know what was different with Spencer. They said he had been acting different recently and especially in the last few weeks. He kept insisting that nothing was going on, but he finally realized they were afraid that he might be using again. He eased all of their fears by telling them he was still clean and that he had a great weekend at the Smithsonian.

Finally when they refused to change the subject, he decided to tell them about Bob. He asked if they remembered the "movie" he had gone to almost a year ago before the Owen Savage case. He told them almost the whole story how he had met Bob and that he went to a few gatherings and played poker with Bob and some of his friends. He told them he had just wanted to keep a bit of his life to himself and have some friends outside of work. He didn't bring up Chelsea at all. They were all glad he had told them, and said they were sorry they had pushed him, but they did worry about him and wanted to make sure he was OK. He really did feel better after he told them and was able to enjoy lunch with his friends.

All day he was thinking about going back to Chelsea's place. In the late afternoon, when he was getting another cup of coffee, Emily approached him. She kept smiling at him and he finally broke down and asked, "What are you smiling about?"

She just said, "You may have the rest of them fooled, but I know you're not telling us something." She paused, "I'm very glad you have found some friends outside of work and I'm not going to push you to tell me more. But you know I'll figure it out." She kept smiling and left the break room with her cup of coffee with Reid just staring at her.

By 4:45 when they had not been called on a case, he texted Chelsea to see if she wanted to go out. She texted back that she would like him to come over after work. He called her on the subway ride home and she mentioned that one of her favorite meals was the leftovers from the roast. She had gone to the bakery that day and purchased some crusty French bread and was planning to make warm open face sandwiches with the leftover meat and gravy. She hoped he would join her.

Spencer knew he would have to tell the team about her sometime, especially if they were planning to spend a lot of time together. He thought again about what Emily had said and wondered what she thought she knew, but he wasn't going to worry about that now. He was happy with keeping Chelsea to himself. He went to his apartment to update his go bag and went straight over to Chelsea's. She was right about how good the sandwiches were. She had roasted some seasoned potatoes and asparagus to complete the meal. Spencer felt very comfortable at her place; it was like he really had a home for the first time since before his dad left.

#

A/N I want to thank everyone that read Damaged: Time to Heal. If you liked this story, the next instalment is called: The Healing Continues. It is a continuation of this story, picking up right where this ends. You will find more in the series on my profile page.