Spencer had his meeting with Gabriela, and she was excited by the possibilities of the installation. He thanked her for her time then made his way back to his Uncle’s house still unsure if he was going to go through with the installation, he had too many other things going on in his life and his priority now was getting back to Aaron. He made his way to his room, stripped out of his clothes and took a quick shower. Donning another suit from his ‘other’ wardrobe Spencer grabbed a book off his bookcase and sat down to read to try to relax. When he felt more settled and calm, he set the year on the amulet and clasped it tightly concentrating on his Uncle’s apartment.  He felt the familiar pull and was excited to be going back. He knew he had some explaining to do with Aaron, he just hoped the man heard him out and didn’t just throw him out.

Spencer didn’t waste any time once he was back in the earlier time, he quickly left the small room and headed out of the apartment and towards Aaron’s. When he got there, he knocked and waited. He had to wait a couple of minutes before he heard the click of the lock and the opening of the door. When the blond, Steven, if Spencer recalled opened the door the other man looked at him in shock.

“Oh man I don’t think you wanna be here when Hotch gets back. He’s righteously hacked-off at you.”

“I need to explain to him what happened. I didn’t mean to be gone so many days, please if he’s not here let me come in and wait.”

“Days? Man, what are you smokin’ ‘cause I don’t want what you’re taking.” Steven laughed as he shook his head at Spencer.

“I don’t understand what you mean. I only left a couple of days ago.”

“Listen man you’ve been gone six weeks. Hotch-man was going out of his mind trying to find you. He even went to your Uncle’s place to see if you were there but even that cat didn’t know where you were, he seriously thinks you bailed.”

“Six weeks?”

“Seriously? Did you just have a bad trip or somethin’ man?”

“No, I didn’t have a bad trip. I don’t do drugs. Look, can I come in and wait for Aaron or not?”

“Hey it’s your funeral.” Steven shook his head as he let Spencer into the apartment.

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“Oh, the Hotch-man lets me crash his pad whenever I need it. He’s cool that way.” Spencer watched as Steven grabbed a jean’s jacket and slipped it on. “I gotta go, tell Hotch I’ll ring him back later. And, seriously I’d get down and beg ‘cause like I said he’s more than bent.”

“Right, I’ll keep that in mind,” Spencer said with a not so subtle sarcastic tone to his voice. “Do you know where he is anyway?”

“Oh, today is Thursday, he has double chalk talk today.” Steven waived at Spencer as he left. Blowing out a breath Spencer looked around the apartment and wondered what he could do to at least try to make this right. Going to the refrigerator he looked inside and saw that he could make a quick pasta sauce. Searching Aaron’s cupboards, he found some boxed pasta and a few other ingredients that he could make a make-shift puttanesca sauce. Taking his jacket off and rolling up his sleeves Spencer got down to making dinner for Aaron.

It was several hours later, and the sauce was simmering on very low, the apartment was cleaned up and Spencer was curled up on the couch with a pile of books around him. He had decided to give some of the spy novels a try and found that he rather enjoyed quite a few of them. He had started to drift off to sleep when he heard a key in the lock. Sitting up he waited nervously as Aaron unlocked his door.

Spencer shouldn’t have been surprised by the look of shock on Aaron’s face as he walked in the door.

“What the hell are you doing here?” The dark scowl on Aaron’s face wasn’t something Spencer ever wanted to see, and it hurt that he was inadvertently responsible for it.

“Aaron, please give me a chance to explain.”

“Explain what? Was it just an experiment to you? Did you just want to see what it was like with a man and you found it lacking somehow?”

“No, Aaron no it’s not that at all.” Spencer swiped his hand over his face as he tried to keep calm. “I just don’t know how to tell you what I should tell you.”

“Well you know what? You can just get your ass out of my apartment and never come back here again. That’s what you can do.” Aaron stalked off towards his bedroom and ignored Spencer.

Spencer stood and against his better judgement went after Aaron.

“Please Aaron give me a chance to explain.”

“You know, I was falling for you. I know being in a gay relationship is not ideal or easy but you, I think it would have been easy to love you, to weather whatever life threw at us. I made love to you because I,” Aaron stood there in the room and Spencer could see him struggling to get a handle on his emotions. “I love you and you just up and left. I get it, you’re scared but you could have just talked to me.”

“Aaron,” Spencer didn’t hide the fact that his heart was breaking. “I love you too. I didn’t get scared, its,” he closed his eyes as he pulled the amulet off his neck, “It has to do with this.”

“A necklace?” Aaron glared at him and crossed his arms across his chest.

“It’s not a normal necklace. Aaron, it lets me travel back and forth in time.”

All expression left Aaron’s face as he shook his head and huffed out a laugh.

“Um, I think you need to leave now. If you aren’t going to take me, take whatever it was that was building between us seriously then you can just leave and never come back here.”

“I can prove it.” Spencer looked at him and couldn’t help the desperation that he felt. He knew Aaron was going over everything in his head as he stood there scrutinizing him. It was quite a long time before he spoke.

“Alright, show me this proof.”

Spencer sat in the middle of the bed and clutched the amulet and was back in his room at his Uncle’s house. He desperately thought of something that he could take back with him to show Aaron that he wasn’t crazy. Then it hit him, his laptop. He wouldn’t be able to access the internet, but it was unique enough that maybe, just maybe he could get Aaron to listen to him.

Clutching the laptop to his chest and holding the amulet in his hands he was back in Aaron’s room before he knew it. When he looked up he saw that Aaron was still there and Spencer hoped it hadn’t been too long.

“How long was I gone?”

“About an hour.”

Spencer frowned as he tried to do the math, but he would need a notebook and several hours to try to work out the rate of time compared to how long he was gone.

“Look, this is a laptop, or a portable computer.”

Aaron quirked up a brow as he stared at Spencer. “That’s a computer? Now I know you’re crazy.” Spencer didn’t miss the sarcastic tone to Aaron’s voice, and he couldn’t blame the man.

“I swear, look.” Spencer opened it up and pulled up some of the images of Aaron that he had scanned into the computer to work on.

“Those are from our session. How’d you put them in there?”

“it’s complicated.” Spencer spent a few moments showing Aaron the computer and what it could do.

“You are really from the future?” Aaron frowned deep as he stared at the machine.

“2011 to be exact. I was looking through my Uncle’s things in his attic and found this amulet. When I move this little ball, I can go back to my time or move it back and come here.”

“So why were you gone so long?”

“I haven’t worked out the math yet, but I think it has to do with the space-time dimensional curve. Time isn’t stationary it’s always moving, and I have a feeling that when I travel to the future, plus staying a few days then travelling back time passes quickly. You said I was gone an hour to me it was less than ten minutes.”

Aaron moved closer to Spencer as he wiped a hand down his face trying to comprehend everything Spencer was telling him.

“I know it’s a lot to wrap your head around, but I swear Aaron that I am telling you the truth. If I knew for one moment that I would have been gone so long I wouldn’t have stayed in my time for as long as I did.”

Spencer could tell that Aaron was still working through all the information he had dumped on his lover.

“Look, I,” Spencer took a shaky breath as bit his lip, “I’ll understand if you want me to go. If you never want to see me again but Aaron, I love you. I think, I think I started to fall in love after that night at the café. But if you think this is too much I’ll go and I’ll never come back.”

Spencer sat there with tears gathering in his eyes. He didn’t want to say goodbye to this man he had fallen and fallen hard in love with. He knew it was crazy that it was only a few times that they met but Aaron had become the most important person in his life.

“Spencer.” Aaron placed two fingers under Spencer’s chin and slowly lifted his face, “I don’t want you to go.” Spencer’s breath was taken away when Aaron leaned in and kissed him. “Stay.”

Spencer’s face lit up as he threw his arms around Aaron. “Thank you. Thank you for believing me.” He knew he had to tell Aaron everything, that if they were going to have any type of future together then he needed to come clean. He didn’t want a relationship built on lies, but first he knew they should eat.

“I ah, I made dinner. That is if you haven’t eaten yet.”

“I had something small earlier so yeah I’m starving.” They headed into the kitchen and Spencer got a pot of water ready to cook the pasta. He stirred the sauce and spooned up some for Aaron to taste.

“Wow, that’s delicious. What is it?”

“It’s called puttanesca. There are many accounts on the origin of the sauce, but it was only known in Syracuse for much of its existence. Then in 1961 Rafaelle La Capri’s novel Ferito A Morte or A Mortal Wound the sauce is mentioned. The novel became so popular in Italy that the recipe for the sauce was in high demand. It’s just now making its way into the states…” Spencer trailed off at the look on Aaron’s face. “What?”

“You’re adorable when you ramble.” Aaron was leaning against the small counter opposite from Reid. The kitchen was just barely big enough for the two of them and Aaron was able to reach out and hook his fingers in Spencer’s belt loops and pull him into his arms. Spencer was a little flustered until he felt warm lips press against his. Closing his eyes, he melted in Aaron’s arms. Spencer moaned when he felt hands fist in his hair and hold him while Aaron continued to ravish his mouth.

When they heard the water start to boil over Spencer broke from the hold with a laugh. He turned the water down and added salt and a bit of oil to the water so the pasta wouldn’t stick together. Pushing Aaron out of the kitchen he finished making some salads and using the dinner rolls he found he made make-shift garlic bread. Once the pasta was done Spencer tossed it with the sauce and brought everything out to the small table in the corner of the living room.

“Spencer, you didn’t have to do this.” Aaron shook his head as he sat down speechless.

“I wanted to. I even found that bottle of red wine you had, and I opened it earlier. I used some in the sauce but if you want some with dinner, I’ll go grab it.”

“Sure, why not. I don’t have any wineglasses though.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Spencer smiled as he got up and found a couple of mismatched glasses. Grabbing them and the wine Spencer took everything back to the table and poured some of the wine in each glass. He settled back down and though the table was small, the plates, utensils and glasses were all mismatched, the meal thrown together it was still the most romantic dinner he had ever experienced. His courtship and marriage to Maeve was mostly restaurants, plays and places to be seen. At the time he hadn’t minded, he liked being out and DC was exciting. But as he matured, he liked Russian movie marathons, quiet book readings with favored authors, bookstores and libraries. Maeve didn’t quite understand but she gave him the freedom, then, to be himself. It wasn’t until James that things really started to change. He knew the cracks in their marriage started about a year after James had been diagnosed but Spencer had chosen to ignore it. They had to put-up a united front for their son.

“Hey, where’d you go?” Aaron had entwined their fingers together and Spencer relished in the small touches.

“There are some things I have to tell you before this goes any further Aaron, and I hope you understand.”

“Okay, but after dinner? I don’t want this to go to waste.” Aaron smiled that brilliant smile and it made Spencer ache in a way he never had before. He wanted to grab his camera and take a picture, but he didn’t have it with him. He vowed right there and then that he would always try to capture these moments on film.

“Okay.” They went back to eating and the noises Aaron was making made him blush.

“I don’t know where you learned to cook, but this is fantastic Spencer.” There was a bit of sauce on the side of Aaron’s mouth and Spencer reached out and swiped his thumb across to wipe it away. Before he could take his hand, away Aaron grabbed it and sucked the thumb into his mouth. He didn’t let Spencer’s hand go just yet as he slowly licked off the sauce. Spencer’s breath hitched as he pulled his thumb out and Aaron let his hand go. He swallowed hard because that small gesture had gotten him very aroused. He could feel his cheeks burning as he tucked his head down and continued eating.

“You are cute when you blush.” Aaron cupped Spencer’s cheek and he leaned into the touch. He enjoyed the fact that Aaron was so tactile with him. Maeve only really had touched him when they had sex and even then, it was reserved. People thought Spencer didn’t like to be touched because he and Maeve never showed that kind of affection in public, but it just wasn’t true. He wasn’t used to it but he craved it and Aaron was showing him what it was like to have that affection.

They finished dinner and Spencer went to clear the table, but Aaron stopped him, “It can be done later.” He was pulled into the living room where Aaron stretched out on the couch and prodded Spencer to lay down in his arms.

After settling Spencer knew he needed to tell Aaron everything.

“Please don’t be angry but I need to tell you some things about myself.” Taking a deep breath, he braced himself and continued. “I’m married Aaron, but I’m going to ask for a divorce.”

“Is it because of me?” Aaron had stiffened under Spencer.

“I’m not going to lie and say that you aren’t part of the reason but not all of it. I think we have been headed that way for a while but neither of us wanted to admit it. Our marriage hasn’t been good for a long-time. We lost our son and it’s pulled us further and further apart.”

“I’m so sorry Spencer, what happened?” Spencer sat-up and told Aaron the story of he and Maeve. How they had once been happy, and the birth of their son had made Spencer ecstatic. He talked about the disease and how it slowly progressed. He admitted to Aaron about doing drugs when the headaches had gotten out of control and how he lost himself in them when James was in the hospital for the last time. He talked about the day he had to turn off the life-support and how he dived further and further into his addiction and the long climb back out. And lastly, he talked about the erosion of his marriage.

“When I found pictures of you in my time, I don’t know it was like my whole world changed in that moment. When I found out that they were taken in 1963 I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do. My Uncle had some shots of you too and I don’t know I,” He hadn’t realized that tears had slid down his face until he felt gentle hands wiping them away, caressing his face. “I had to find out more about you. When I discovered the amulet and what it could do I had to come find you.”

“I’m glad you did.” Aaron pulled Spencer close and held him in his arms. “I’m sorry about your son Penny. I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through.”

Spencer was trying to relax back in Aaron’s arms, but he was tense.

“What’s wrong?” Aaron asked him as he carded his fingers through Spencer’s hair.

“You’re not upset I didn’t tell you about being married?”

“I can’t say I’m happy you didn’t tell me, but it sounds like you have plans and I hope,” Aaron kissed the top of his head, “I hope I’m included.”

“You are; I think I figured some things out while I was in therapy. But I need to talk to her first. I’m not staying in that situation Aaron. If I did, I’d lose more of myself than I already have. Being with you, taking a chance at life again, I want that, I want you.”

“Then you do what you need to, and I’ll be here for you.”

“I want to stay here, but there are some things I may have to do that aren’t exactly legal.” Spencer sat-up and chewed on his lower lip. “I need identification papers and I may need to fake my birth certificate.”

Aaron considered this for a moment, “I may know someone. Don’t ask. Let’s just say my father wasn’t necessarily on the up and up in DC law circles.”

Spencer lifted a brow and wondered for a moment then decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to know what Aaron was talking about.

“Okay. I have some money. I’ve been converting it little by little. I found these brokers that deal in older money. It’ll take a little bit to convert the rest but when I do, we won’t have to worry for a while.”

“Then we’ll see about getting you sorted.” Reaching forward Aaron wrapped his hand around Spencer’s neck and pulled him forward and kissed him slowly, softly and continued to deepen the kiss. Spencer fell into his arms and let himself get lost in the kisses and touches. They moved off to the bedroom where Aaron slowly undressed him, kissing and touching everywhere he could.

Laying Spencer out on the bed Aaron continued his slow and gentle caresses. Spencer didn’t think he could love Aaron any more than he already did but the care and love Aaron was taking with him just made his heart tumble even more. By the time he was coming Spencer knew he was lost, that this was everything he had been missing in his life. Before going to sleep he made sure to take off the amulet. He didn’t want to leave, he started something here and he was determined to hold onto it.