❝Everything has changed and yet, I'm more me than I've ever been.❞

IAIN THOMAS

✩

3.9 : one second

OR

season 7, episode 24 : run

FIN IS THE FIRST OUT THE DOOR OF THE TRAILER, HER HEART POUNDING IN HER CHEST. Everything is deathly silent, except for the distant sirens and noise of traffic outside the perimeter. She knows she is not supposed to get close, but smoke is rising from the bank and it is unclear whether Morgan, JJ, Emily, and Will are alive or dead, so Fin is damned if she's going to stay in that trailer and watch.

 She is not supposed to run for several more months, and for the first time in a while, the muscles in her abdomen clench painfully, but Fin does not care. She has to make sure her family is alive.

So when she swings around a canopy and sees Morgan pulling JJ to her feet, she gasps a sigh of relief. "Oh, my– Thank God–"

JJ's still brushing ash out of her hair as Fin yanks her into a tight hug, and she hisses a little in pain. "I'm so sorry–" Fin pulls away, looking her up and down. "Are you okay, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." JJ stares up at the bank. "Where's Will? Did he get out of there? Did you see–?"

"Where's Emily?" Morgan interrupts hastily, his eyes darting all around them. Fin lets go of JJ's arm to hug him, but that was a mistake, because JJ immediately sprints toward the building. Morgan glares at Fin. "Why'd you let go of her? JJ!"

Swearing loudly, Fin follows him and several SWAT agents into the building, pulling her gun from its holster, Will's and Emily's names echoing through her head like a strange fever dream.

"Hotch said you're not supposed to be–" Morgan begins, before pushing the door open, but Fin shakes her head.

"Don't even start with me, Derek. Not right now."

And very wisely, Morgan keeps his mouth shut.

It is dark inside the bank. Everything smells strongly of gas and smoke. Metal beams and pieces of sheetrock litter the floor. Fin coughs, resisting the urge to cover her mouth with her hand. Instead, she pulls out her flashlight, holding it and her gun up to scan the room.

JJ is just inside the door, peering around anxiously, calling Will's name. Fin and Morgan join her, calling Emily's name, too. All of them are praying silently that their friends are alive. Please, God, not now.

There are bodies on the floor, hidden beneath the rubble and wreckage, and it is a morbid marker of time to kneel down every five minutes and check the pulse of a corpse. But this is the task set before Fin, Morgan, and JJ as they make their way toward the back of the bank.

And then finally, as Fin is choking out Emily's name through a cloud of smoke, a voice calls out from behind a shattered window: "Over here!"

JJ and Fin bolt to the back of the room, leaping over beams and piles of drywall, and there is Emily, kneeling on the floor next to an older couple, both stirring feebly. Fin covers her mouth with one hand, gasping for breath, thanking God that Emily is alive.

"Are you all right?" asks JJ, as she and Fin reach down to pull Emily to her feet.

"Yeah." Emily grimaces, bracing herself against the wall to stand. "They were hiding back here."

"Can we move them?" Morgan asks, behind Fin.

"Yeah, with help." Emily nods, brushing ash from her hair. "He's unconscious."

"Just...let me stay with him," breathes the older woman. "Please."

Fin has a brief and odd vision of herself, gray-haired and lined, asking to stay beside an injured Spencer, and she knows without a doubt that she would. She would never leave him vulnerable that way.

"I can't find Will," JJ says, her voice surprisingly calm now, drawing Fin back into the real world. "Have you seen him?"

"Uh, he might be down below." Emily shrugs.

JJ nods and hurries past them, and Morgan follows her. Fin squeezes Emily's hand. "I'm so glad you're alive."

"Me too." Emily musters a small smile. "I'm okay here. Go with them."

So Fin hurries down the stairs, her abdomen twinging still, following Morgan and JJ into a corridor beneath the street. Spencer said something about electrical lines they were following, and gas mains. She can't remember now, but that must be what this is. They must have taken Will with them when they ran.

It is dark and eerily quiet, and the only sounds are their footsteps and heavy breathing as they move deeper underground. Every step, Fin prays that they won't come across Will's body. And so far, her prayers are answered.

"If this one's parallel to some Metro tunnel, there's a good chance it branches off," JJ says finally, her voice trembling slightly.

"All right, well, then we'll split up," Morgan replies.

"Unless it's a trick."

"Well, then we're screwed." Morgan sounds nonchalant about this prospect, which Fin finds oddly comforting.

But the tunnel does not branch off. It continues further and further, until they reach a set of stairs that leads up to a door. A strip of light peeks out from beneath: They're at ground level again.

Morgan kicks through the door first, and they burst out into a deserted alley, several blocks from the bank. Fin lowers her gun, seeing nothing, but JJ immediately kneels down, grabbing something off the ground.

"What you got?" Morgan asks, walking over to them.

"Will always says if you can, you leave a bread crumb." JJ holds up the object in her hand, which Fin can now see is a black leather wallet. Will's wallet.

"Okay, so he was here, and clear-headed enough to leave us a clue," Morgan says.

"Yeah, but they shot him, Morgan!" JJ blurts, shaking her head. "Why would they take him?"

"JJ, I don't know, but we didn't see any blood down there and he's not here. Both are good signs."

"They need leverage," Fin mutters. Things are beginning to click into place in her mind.

Morgan frowns at her. "What?"

"They wanted a plane to get to Chad," Fin says, looking up at him. "As far as we know, they still want out of the U.S. In order for us to give them what they want now, they have to have leverage. Will is their leverage."

"All right, let's get back," Morgan says, as JJ covers her mouth with her hand, leaning against the wall. "Tell the others."

When they return, Fin is surprised to see Spencer and Kevin in the trailer with the others, both wearing vests. Spencer glances up from the screen and his eyes widen when he sees her. If it weren't for the crowd of people between them, he'd sprint to her, but he can't, and it's paining him to stay still.

Fin mouths, "I'm okay," at him, and his eyes soften a little.

"Will's with them," JJ says numbly. "I found his wallet." She tosses the wallet onto the counter next to her with a heavy sigh.

"It benefits them to keep Will alive," Hotch says, but his words of encouragement fall on deaf ears. JJ is in her own head, and she won't get out of it until she sees Will alive. Fin's not sure what might happen if she doesn't.

"They must have a safe house set up." Morgan brushes his hands off on his pants, his eyes serious.

"Whoever their outside man is, that's where they're heading now," Emily adds, nodding.

"But where?" JJ asks. "What's their endgame?"

"There's no logical reason," Rossi replies. "They want to create panic."

"She's struck all over the world, which says she might not be American," Spencer adds, his eyes never leaving Fin. "But her ideology certainly speaks to Washington. Whatever point she and her partner are making, it's important that D.C.'s the setting."

"The brothers were from Philadelphia," Emily says. "The other partner might be homegrown as well."

"Homeland's sending over a list of possibilities." Strauss nods.

But Hotch is shaking his head. "They're not on anyone's list."

Strauss frowns, turning to him. "Then how do we find them?"

"We find the common denominators between all fourteen robberies and we go from there."

"So she's our only answer," Strauss breathes, stepping back a little.

Hotch nods. "For now."

"I'll call Easter at Interpol again," Emily says. "Now that there's been an explosion, he might have some ideas."

She pushes past Fin, JJ, and Morgan, her phone to her ear, and heads outside. JJ takes her place on the table next to Penelope, who reaches over and takes her hand, squeezing encouragingly.

Morgan's phone rings, too, and he picks up, muttering something about the lab.

Fin makes eye contact with Spencer, who mouths, "JJ okay?"
"No." Fin wishes that wasn't true, but as long as those psychopaths have Will, JJ is absolutely not okay.

They have to find him before Chris and the woman decide to implement their endgame.

Morgan has details from the lab about the bomb, which is an extremely specific M.O. Hotch tells Penelope to look at assassination attempts in Chad, and Fin excuses herself, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the small trailer, crammed in next to JJ and Morgan.

The early November air feels like a cold slap in the face when she steps outside, but it's a welcome feeling. It seems like every few weeks, someone that Fin loves is in danger, and it's exhausting.

She leans against the trailer, focusing on her breath, tapping her fingers against her leg with each breath. In for four... Out for four...

The trailer door opens again, and a familiar pair of old Converse emerge, hurrying down the stairs. "Hey," Spencer says, standing in front of her, eyebrows raised. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Fin moves to slide her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. Their bulletproof vests are bulky, but his hands are warm against her back. "I'm just tired of having to save the people I love from murderous psychopaths."

Spencer sighs into her hair. "I know. I wish I could say it gets better, but I've done this for eight years, and it never does."

"I wish there was something I could do for JJ," Fin says quietly, tilting her chin up to look at him. "I know how helpless she feels."

"You do?"

Fin glares at him. "When we were at the Liberty Ranch and I thought you didn't make it out of the explosion. That time in Atlantic City when you went in with no gun to talk down the woman paralyzing her victims. The time in Miami when you ran off with no backup and some dumbass headache ruse to talk down a psychopath. Oh, and the time when you got anthrax and almost died."

Spencer rolls his eyes, grinning reluctantly. "Point taken." But his smile fades almost as quickly as it appeared, and his hand moves from her hip to the twinging side of her abdomen. "I know how she feels, too."

The trailer door bursts open again, startling both Fin and Spencer, and Emily stares at them, eyes wide. "Guys, get in here. We found Will."

✩

Unfortunately, finding Will is not a good thing. They think he's stable, since the unsubs found a medic to patch him up. But the fourth unsub was inside the bank the entire time. Matthew Downs, ex-Marine, playing hero after Will got shot. And now he, the female unsub, and Will are headed straight to Will and JJ's house–where Henry is staying with his babysitter.

Fin tried to convince JJ to stay, saying that she would go with Rossi, but JJ would not budge. "He's my son," she said over and over, and finally, Fin let her win. Because, if Fin is truly honest with herself, if her son was in danger, that woman would be in a thousand pieces already, shoved in a dumpster somewhere.

And they're not gone half an hour before another bomb is dropped: Matthew Downs and the female unsub met in Chad in 2008. They're both ex-military. And this is the four-year anniversary of a train explosion.

Trains are still arriving at Union Station, but only the authorities are allowed inside.

Which is why Downs needed Will.

And why now that they're inside, Will is expendable.

So Fin, Hotch, Morgan, and Emily cram into an SUV and speed toward Union Station. Fin grips the door handle, her heart pounding in her throat. Hotch's knuckles are white on the steering wheel, his foot concrete against the gas pedal as he wheels around turns and runs stop lights like a pro.

Morgan is mouthing something quietly under his breath, and when Fin pauses to listen, she realizes it sounds an awful lot like a prayer. She's praying, too. Please let Will be alive.

Hotch slams on the brakes, stopping right in front of Union Station, and Fin is the first out of the SUV, her hand resting on her gun, her ears ringing violently.

"He's gonna want to stay close to watch," Hotch says, gesturing for the others to follow him toward the building.

The inside of the station is just as chaotic as the outside. The loudspeakers blare with evacuation orders. Distressed mothers comfort their crying children. Businessmen are on their phones, angry that they've missed meetings and deadlines.

Hotch and Morgan head right, and Emily and Fin go left. Emily pauses at a staircase, roped off with a sign that reads Mezzanine Closed for Renovation.

"Privacy," Fin says breathlessly. "All the time in the world."

Emily nods. "Let's go."

They leap over the velvet ropes and hurry up the stairs, hands hovering above their holsters, ready for anything.

And then Morgan's voice, urgent and piercing, comes over their earpieces: "Hotch, I got the suspect going out the east wing!"

"Copy," Hotch replies.

Fin and Emily reach the top of the stairs, and Emily nods to Fin. "Gun out."

Together, they move silently around the mezzanine. Even if Downs is headed outside, there could be others. Morgan might have seen someone else. He could still be here. These could all be true at once.

And then Emily gasps, rounding a corner. "I found Will!"

Fin sprints toward her, spotting Will, chained to a post in a far corner. He's alive and moving–but there's something wrapped around his torso–

"Is he mobile?" Hotch asks.

"Negative," Emily replies. "He's got six transmitters on him and this whole place is gonna blow."

Fin stares down at Will in shock. His mouth is taped, and Emily is right: There are half a dozen transmitters strapped to his chest, counting down ominously to the exact moment they will all die, if no one can disarm this bomb.

"All right, where are you?" Hotch asks. "I'm on my way."

"Absolutely not," Fin says, dropping to her knees on the dusty marble floor as Emily rips the tape off of Will's mouth. "Get everyone out of here first." Her brain is in panic mode, running the possibility of all of them making it out of this building alive, but that doesn't stop her being logical.

"Is the bomb squad here yet?" Emily asks breathlessly, examining the transmitters more closely.

"They're three minutes away."

The timer reads 2:45.

Fin's death could be determined by fifteen seconds.

What a horrible thought.

"Henry," Will grunts, panting. The pain meds the medic gave him have probably worn off by now. "You gotta get Henry. They're at the house."

"JJ and Rossi are there right now," Fin says, fighting to keep her voice even. "Henry's gonna be fine and so are you." She hopes this is true.

Will shakes his head, closing his eyes. "Just get everybody outta here."

"I'm not gonna leave you," Emily bites, her voice trembling. "Just...give me a minute."

Fin nods her head in agreement. Everything in her screams run. But she refuses. She is not an animal. She will not let the weak die on her watch.

And she damn sure won't let the father of her godson die today.

Will sighs, glancing down at the timer on his chest, which reads 1:40. "That's about all you've got." He chuckles weakly.

Fin's head is spinning. Think. What could be the code, the wire to break? One chance, before they all explode.

"Okay, everything they did and said was about them." Emily's brainstorming, panicking, pushing Fin and Will to help her.

"Narcissists," Will grunts.

"Romantics," Emily adds.

"Entirely self-absorbed." Fin nods. "It's something important to them."

"They met in 2-0-0-8." Emily punches in the code. It flashes red. No good. 2 tries left. The screen is mocking them.

1:30.

"Oh, what are you doing?" Will groans, tilting his head back, his forehead glistening with sweat. "Seriously, please go. Go."

"No." Fin shakes her head furiously. "Um...they met in Chad. Try Chad."

"2-4-2-3." Emily nods, pressing the buttons. "Oh, damn it!" 1 try left.

1:00.

"Okay, these are, um, valentines for her." Emily really is panicking now. So is Fin, at least on the inside. They have one minute to live. She wishes she could tell Spencer how much she loves him.

"It has to be a four letter word," Fin adds, nodding fervently. "Love?"

"No. Life?"

"Izzy," Will chokes out. "Her name is Izzy."

The woman's name. The one thing that determines if they live or die.

Fin hopes to God Izzy's last act is to save their lives.

0:50.

"I...z...z...y," Emily breathes, punching the buttons slowly.

Fin holds her breath.

0:45.

The timer flashes green.

Oh, my god.

Fin closes her eyes, rocking back on her heels, silently thanking God–

And then another panel pops open. Another timer. 0:30.

"Oh, God!" Emily gasps.

Hotch's voice bursts through the fog in Fin's mind, clear and sharp. "Prentiss, Finley, what's your status? Do you copy?"

Emily rips her earpiece out, gritting her teeth. Fin presses her microphone, doing her best to keep her voice even. "Little busy, Hotch. Can't talk right now."

0:15.

"The storytelling's in the details," Emily mutters, leaning closer to the panel. "Those wires mean something."

"Emily, we have fifteen seconds," Fin whispers. Spencer said something the other day about mortality and terror; she can't remember now, but she knows damn well she feels mortal and absolutely terrified. She's not ready to die. She's been through too much to die now.

"Colors of the flag of Chad." Emily ignores her. "Red, yellow, and blue."

0:10.

"Ten seconds." Fin feels like she might be sick. "Emily–"

"Only one is different from the U.S. flag: yellow."

0:05.

"What do you think?" Will gasps, looking down at the timer.

0:04.

Spencer, I love you, Fin thinks, hoping that Spencer might be able to hear her. I love you more than anything.

0:03.

Emily sucks in a breath.

0:02.

And then she rips the yellow wire out.

0:01.

The timer stops.

Will closes his eyes, sighing with relief. Fin might actually be sick. Emily pushes herself back, away from both of them, her face pale. All of them are gasping for air like they've just run a marathon.

Thank you, God.

"How did you do that?" Will asks, sounding like he might be close to tears.

"I didn't overthink it," Emily replies after a moment.

They sit there for a moment, in the blessed silence, all of them feeling very mortal, and then Fin presses her microphone. "Hotch, we're okay."

"Copy." Hotch's voice is full of relief. "The bomb squad is headed in. And so are we."

Fin stands up just in time to stumble into Morgan's arms and stay there for a while.

The bomb squad unchains Will, and together, they walk out of the building. Fin leans heavily on Morgan, not trusting her own legs to carry her after coming within millimeters of dying.

She still cannot believe her life was decided by one second.

One second more, and she could have died.

One second more, and everything she chose to live for two months ago would be nullified.

But God gave her that second.

Fin thinks she should do something with it.

An ambulance takes Will to the hospital, where JJ, Rossi, and Henry are already waiting, and Fin rides back to Quantico with Morgan, Emily, and Hotch. The minute the elevator doors open onto the BAU floor, Spencer is there, and Fin is in his arms. They stay like that for a long time, and no one says a word.

An hour later, Fin has changed clothes and fixed her hair, and everyone is sitting in the bullpen, finishing their last reports for the day.

"Emily, should I write about how we almost exploded?" Fin asks, grinning across her desk at Emily, who shrugs.

"I think I'd leave that out."

"The convention's still happening tomorrow, if you wanna go," says Spencer, looking up at Penelope, who has just joined them from the conference room.

"Um, that whole city-on-the-brink-of-destruction thing kind of took the wind out of my sails, you know?" Penelope puts her hand on Spencer's shoulder, smiling softly.

"That'll do it every time." Emily nods, grinning.

"We didn't finish the inspection," Morgan says, and Fin vaguely remembers Emily was looking at houses this morning. It seems so far away, like years have gone by since she was wearing a David Tennant-esque outfit and gossiping about Rossi and Strauss.

Emily inhales sharply. "No need."

"What happened?" Spencer frowns.

"Um...there is a horizontal crack in the foundation. It just weakens the entire base that the house is sitting on."

Penelope nods in agreement. "Yeah, that does not sound good."

Footsteps echo down the hall, and every head turns to face Chief Strauss, who is walking toward them with a file in hand. "So our unsub is Izzy Rogers," she says, turning the file so that they can all see Izzy's mugshots. "She'll be charged with multiple counts domestically, and our international counterparts will have their turn with her. She will never see the light of day. I just thought you'd like to know that."

Fin nods. "Thank you, ma'am." Strauss does seem different since she returned from her personal leave. Maybe she resolved the issues in her private life. Maybe sex with Rossi is relieving some of her tension. Whatever it is, Fin should stop thinking about it, because now it's grossing her out.

"Agent Morgan, a word?" Strauss asks now, and Fin grimaces. Uh, oh. Morgan's in trouble.

But their conversation is short, and by the end, both Strauss and Morgan are smiling. Fin wonders if maybe she, Emily, and Will did die, and this is some sort of sick alternate dimension they've entered into. Or maybe she's in a coma and everything is backward.

"Hang on, let me check. Oh, wait, she's here." The sound of Hotch's voice has everyone turned toward the balcony, where Hotch is standing, phone held to his ear, looking uncharacteristically happy. "Erin, don't go anywhere. Dave wants to know if everyone is free tomorrow night."

"Depends on if he's buying." Morgan shrugs. "Then I'm definitely in."

"Yeah, me too." Emily nods.

Penelope raises her hand, and Fin glances at Spencer, shrugging. "We don't have plans, either."

"You hear that? We're in." Hotch actually smiles at his phone. Whatever he and Rossi are planning, it's got to be really good.

✩

Fin's not sure what she expected Hotch and Rossi's secret plan to be, but somehow, a surprise wedding for JJ and Will wasn't even in the top three. But she jumped in with the others to help arrange it, and now she's standing in Rossi's kitchen, doing her best not to get champagne all over herself before the wedding even starts.

"You know, I hired a wait staff for a reason," says Rossi, leaning against the doorjamb with a smirk on his face. "To keep beautiful girls like you out of this kitchen and on the dance floor."

Fin rolls her eyes, replacing the cork in the empty champagne bottle and adjusting the glasses on the tray in front of her. "Yeah, well, it's much faster if I pour and they serve."

"I don't care about fast," Rossi replies, standing upright and walking toward her. "I care about you having fun. And not ruining your dress."

"This wedding is not about me," Fin says, reaching for the next champagne bottle, but Rossi shakes his head, pulling it out of her reach.

"But it could be." He gestures knowingly to the ring on her left hand. "You know, I never waited more than a month after the ring before I tied the knot."

"And look how that turned out," Fin teases. "You're the perfect role model for marriage, Dave."

Rossi scowls playfully. "Maybe you should stay here. I've changed my mind."

Fin laughs, shaking her head. "Asshole." But she means that in a loving way.

"You do look beautiful," Rossi says, more seriously this time. "Reid is a lucky man."

"I'm the lucky one," Fin replies, following Rossi out the door and into the garden, where Spencer is standing by the fountain. And she means it.

Slowly, more guests begin to trickle in: Morgan and Penelope, Emily, Hotch and Jack, other agents from the BAU, and finally, Will, JJ, and Henry.

Rossi nudges Fin in the arm, grinning excitedly. "It's go time, kiddo."

As he walks over to greet JJ and Will, Fin sneaks back into the house through the garage and knocks on Rossi's guest bedroom door. "Sandy, she's here."

Within minutes, Fin and JJ's mother join Rossi on the back porch. Rossi feigns surprise, a smile creeping across his face. "Hey, look who's here!"

JJ's expression is one of utter shock. "Mom?"

Sandy just smiles knowingly. Fin can't keep a smile off of her own face, and neither can Rossi or Will.

JJ frowns, glancing around at all of them. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Well, we couldn't get married without your mama," Will says softly.

"I might've overheard a little proposal yesterday," Rossi confesses, as JJ looks back at him, eyes narrowed.

"And I couldn't wait until Monday," Will finishes, taking JJ's hand and squeezing it.

"Neither could we," Fin says, gesturing to the garment bag in Sandy's hand. "But you're not dressed for a wedding."

"I think we can fix that." Rossi's eyes twinkle mischievously. "Sandy?"

Sandy leads a stunned JJ upstairs, and Fin takes Henry's hand. "Henry, are you ready to be the best ringbearer in the world?"

Henry nods, jumping up and down on the spot. "Yes, yes, yes!"

So, half an hour later, Fin watches Spencer doing magic tricks with the rings, while Henry, newly clad in a tiny tuxedo, looks on with awe. She can't help but picture him with their own children. How he'd be such an incredible dad.

No one sits for this wedding. Instead, they line the aisle, watching as JJ and Sandy walk down the aisle together. Although her mother's dress is dated, JJ looks stunning, like she's glowing. But she'd look this beautiful, even if she were wearing a paper bag, because she's shining with love and joy, her eyes only on Will.

Henry does his job with a newfound purpose, holding the rings very carefully, until the minister tells him it's time. He hands his parents their rings with a solemn expression on his face, watching as they say their vows.

Fin leans against Spencer's side, not even attempting to fight back the tears of joy that pool in her eyes. He takes her hand, squeezing gently, and she's not surprised at all to see that he's crying a little, too.

When the ceremony is over, dinner is served, and Fin is sure she will always remember this as one of the best nights of her life. Laughing, talking, listening to those she loves, with Spencer by her side, celebrating JJ and Will... It's something she will never forget.

And then, when "When I Fall in Love" begins to play, Rossi asks Fin to dance. So she does, in the center of the dance floor, talking softly with Rossi as they sway back and forth to the music.

Morgan is her next partner, and he is surprisingly a great dancer, coaching Fin as he spins them in a traditional waltz. Fin is shocked that she never steps on his feet.

Then it's Hotch's turn. A slower song begins to play, and Fin looks up at him. His eyes are staring past her, where she knows Emily is dancing with Rossi. "Hotch," Fin says softly. "You need to tell her."

"What?" Hotch can't save face quickly enough to pretend he wasn't staring.

"I overheard her talking to Derek earlier. She's thinking about moving back to London, working with Interpol again."

Hotch's face drains of color. Even he cannot hide this with a poker face.

"She feels lost," Fin continues, keeping her voice low, so only he can hear. "Like she's a stranger in her own life after what happened with Doyle. There's nothing concrete keeping her here."

Hotch opens his mouth to say something, but the words are not there. Fin squeezes his hand tightly. "So give her something concrete."

"What?" Hotch looks down at her, frowning.

"Give her a reason to stay, Aaron."

"I can't make her–"

"Tell her you love her," Fin says firmly. "Tell her you want her to stay. You do, don't you?"

Hotch nods, his eyes drifting back to Emily.

"She deserves to know that," Fin finishes simply.

When this song is over, finally, it is Spencer's turn. He holds her so gently, pulling her in close to his chest, swaying slowly and back and forth. "Hi," he murmurs.

"Hi," Fin replies, closing her eyes. The feel of him, his cologne, his heartbeat against her hand... He is her safe place.

"You look beautiful tonight," Spencer says, looking down at her, his dark eyes sparkling in the warm glow of the string lights.

Fin smiles up at him. "You're not too bad yourself, Dr. Reid."

They sway in silence for a moment, listening to the gentle droning of the music in the background, and then Fin says, "Spencer, I need to tell you something."

"Hm?"

"That bomb came very close to going off yesterday. And I mean it was one second from going off."

Spencer is quiet, biting his lip, the way he does when he's anxious. But he waits patiently for her to continue.

"And all I could think about was you," Fin says softly. "How much I loved you. How much I hated that you'd be alone again, and it'd be my fault."

"It wouldn't be–"

Fin interrupts him, shaking her head. "I was one second from dying, Spence, and I didn't. I got that second back. But we could all be one second from dying every day. My point is that I realized I've been wasting time, and I don't want to anymore."

"Okay..." Spencer looks a little confused.

"I want to get married on Monday."

"What?"

"JJ gave me the idea," Fin says, grinning. "We'll go to the courthouse and get married. We can have the reception later, when everything on the house is finished, but I want to marry you. I don't care if it's in a courthouse, a garden, or a Wal-Mart. I just want you. For the rest of my life and all the time after that."

Spencer just stares at her, his eyes watery, and then a goofy smile spreads across his face. "I like the sound of that." He leans down and kisses her, tasting of champagne and chocolate. "Now, will you be Mrs. Reid, or are we hyphenating?"

"Shut up." Fin pulls him back in, pressing her lips to his and smiling into the kiss. All that matters is right now. This second. And the next. And every second after that.

And when they finally say their goodbyes, thanking Rossi for hosting, congratulating Will and JJ, pretending that they don't see Hotch and Emily pressed up against a car in the shadowy driveway, and drive home, Fin looks over at Spencer and smiles. This is the beginning of the rest of her life.

And she's not planning to let go of it any time soon.

~

i'm not crying, you are. no, but seriously--after this, there's only one more chapter before the epilogue, and then spencer and fin's story is complete. i don't know how to function.

this was a long chapter to make up for my disappearing for a month. i had major writer's block and it was so hard to make it through this episode--it's literally 2 am and i spent three hours banging my head against the keyboard--so i hope this chapter didn't totally suck! 

i'm going to get back to regular updates as soon as i can, but i leave for ireland (!) next week on a much needed vacation, and when i get home, i'm moving to a different state (again), hopefully permanently this time. thank y'all so much for your patience and love <3