This trip was not a good idea, Spencer thought for what had to be at least the tenth time. But then again, for as much as he had been paying attention, it could've been the hundredth time.

Suddenly feeling panicky, Spencer scrambled to his feet, shoved on his shoes and dashed out, running the quarter-mile into the city before he flagged down a taxi. He had needed space from Lila's place and the memories that were assaulting him there.

"Where to?" the cabby asked him.

"Uh..." Suddenly Spencer was fighting an attack of dilaudid withdrawal, and realizing that in his haste, he hadn't brought any dilaudid with him and had even left his go bag back at Lila's house only added to the cloudiness in his brain. It took him a moment to decide that if he couldn't have dilaudid, he would settle for his secondary drug of choice – caffeine, which for him meant coffee. "The nearest coffee shop, please."

The cabby nodded and took him into downtown Los Angeles before dropping him off at a quaint family-owned coffee shop on South Grand Avenue. Under normal circumstances it would've been just his atmosphere, but since he was shaking so much he just got his coffee and got out before someone there recognized that he was having actual trouble. The last thing that he wanted was to draw attention to himself right now, but that left him once again standing on the street corner with no idea where to go.

He took a gulp from the cardboard cup in his hand, letting the familiar sweetness soothe away his nerves. He was grateful to discover that, as it had before, the coffee seemed to take the edge of his dilaudid craving. He didn't crave drugs as often anymore, but when he did it was always coupled with nerves or anxiety over other things that were already going on in his life, and that seemed to make the cravings worse than ever.

Spencer checked his watch and sighed. It was barely lunch time, which meant that he logically had at the very least three or four hours before Lila would be back at her house, and that was if she wasn't working a twelve-hour day shooting her scenes as was often the case. He looked around, then just stood there and dug out his smart phone, making a note to than k Garcia for making him buy it as he looked up a nearby burger joint on Google Maps.

After buying his burger, Spencer decided that this time he would stay in the building and eat. This place was full of people who were too busy going about their own business to notice or care about his jitters, and it made him feel safer than the coffee shop. All the same, he sat down at a small table right next to a window and just stared out at the scenery and pedestrians passing by as he ate. Truth was, though, that becoming a profiler had taken most of the fun out of people watching, made it seem more like working than anything. It was because of that that Spencer turned his attention to the storefronts across the street instead.

And there, smack dab across from the burger place where he was currently eating, was a jewelry store of all things. A wad of hamburger got stuck in his throat as he stared at that store. He didn't believe in signs or fate; he was a man of science, after all, but seeing that place simply drove home to him what he needed to do, no matter what the risks were. After all, if things turned out alright in the end, it would be very well worth it.

Spencer stuffed the last couple of bites of his burger into his mouth, balled up his wrapper and threw it away before hurrying out of the restaurant and across the street.

Maybe it was a little out of the middle of nowhere, but the worst that she could do was say 'no'.

Spencer spent hours in that store. He had no idea what Lila was going to say when he asked her the question, so he wanted to eliminate one variable and find a ring that he was certain that she would like – or at least something that matched up with the Lila that he saw on-screen, since he hadn't seen her in real life since her case.

This thought unnerved him once again and made him question whether or not he was doing the right thing. He took a deep breath, knowing the ridiculous truth. He had come too far in his thought process to back out – or even back up – now. Regardless of how Lila felt about him right now, he loved her. If she didn't feel the same way about him – at least not yet – then he would wait for her if he had to. In the end it would be worth it. It had to be.

As a result of the extensive amount of time he had taken to pick out a ring, Spencer got back to Lila's house late in the evening. When he climbed out of the cab, the first thing that he noticed was that his go-bag sat on the front steps, not back by the pool where he had left them. Due to his already frayed nerves, the genius' hand lingered on his holstered gun as he stepped up to his suitcase, noting that something had been left on top of it. A pair of swim shorts and a note.

I'm in the pool; join me if you dare… Lila

Spencer's throat went absolutely bone-dry. How had she known it was him? He had a nametag on his suitcase, he remembered, before getting a handle on the bigger picture here.

Lila was in the pool… and she wanted him to join her. If he dared…

Spencer quickly checked the lock on the door into the house, and, finding it unlocked, quickly slipped in and changed into the shorts. Taking a deep breath, he took the small ring box that he had acquired not an hour before and slipped it into the pocket of his shorts before stepping into Lila's sitting room. He stood there for a second, watching her through the sliding glass doors while she still hadn't noticed him.

He had always known that she was beautiful – more so on the inside then the outside, he had realized the better he had gotten to know her – but the vision that met his eyes was almost surreal. Over the past year, he had gotten so used to seeing her onscreen that he had almost forgotten what she looked like off of it. Right now, she wasn't an airbrushed actress, she was just Lila, and she was more beautiful than ever to him.

Suddenly, she turned around and spotted him. A grin split her face and she waved him over.

"Come on, Spencer; the water's great!"

Spencer bit his lip and stepped out to the pool's edge, not knowing what to say to her. "Hey," he settled on their customary greeting.

Her smile was soft and welcoming, but if he didn't miss his mark, she was inwardly bubbling over with a lot of different, much more complicated emotions. "Hey." A pause and then, "Are you going to get in?"

Something sparked in the back of her blue eyes, but in the past year she had acquired a wonderful poker face, and even the Vegas native wasn't sure what she was thinking as he shrugged.

Lila sighed at him and flopped her hand up towards him. "Fine. Then be a gentleman."

Spencer internally flinched, hoping that he hadn't just upset her already. He reached out and grasped her slender hand. For a split second, she beamed at him and her eyes flashed with mischief, and in the next second he was in the pool and coming up for air while Lila's giddy laughter floated across the water.

"I thought that you remembered everything, Spencer! How could you not have known that I was going to do that?"

Swiping his wet hair back out of his eyes, Spencer said, "I figured I could take my chances; after all, we've both changed a lot in the past year." And then he gasped, realizing what else had gotten doused when Lila had pulled him into the pool. "Oh no!"

He swam over to the edge of the pool and dug the ring box out of his pocket.

"What's wrong;" Lila asked, swimming up beside him. "Did I get your gun wet again?"

"No, it's just this."

He was torn between trying to keep her from realizing what it was and offering it to her then and there when she gasped, and he realized that he had just lost his first option. Well, he might as well go with the second option then.

She asked shakily, "Spencer, what is that?"

He really should have thought this through; he had no idea how to go about doing this. He looked at the box in his hand and opened it, not daring to look at her. "An engagement ring."

"For who?" she whispered carefully, sounding as if she was afraid of… something that he couldn't identify.

Here he forced himself to look back into her face as he said, "You, if you want it."

Lila smiled. And laughed. And then she took his face in her hand s and kissed him. "Yes," she whispered against his lips. "Oh, yes!"

Spencer pulled her close and deepened their kisses. This wasn't the way that he had been looking to sooth away Lila's bad days, but, hey, it sure worked for him… and apparently her too.

Well, that's the longest chapter and the end of this story; I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading! Reviews make my day! Up next is a multi-chapter How To Train Your Dragon/Brave crossover challenge from Challenge King, "What I Never Saw Coming.":)