Chapter Text
Spencer was happy for the break he was getting. After Vegas, and getting through the ordeal that occurred in his childhood, he was glad for the reprieve. Though the others saw presenting at criminology and forensic conferences as work, he saw it as a chance to rely on his degrees and instruct. Instead of constantly chasing down killers.
Granted, Star City was an odd place to hold such a conference, considering the vigilante population.
And, besides, his best friend was out of the office at the moment on maternity leave for his godson. He was still in a bit of shock that JJ and Will had both agreed that he and Penelope were Henry’s godparents.
He was on a panel with a few other experts, but the audience in attendance only seemed to have questions for him. There was supposed to be a meet and greet afterwards, which Spencer was always wary to participate in, but something, a gut feeling, told him he needed to attend this one. Most of those who were meeting the panelists were older. Well, older than him. There was only one other younger man there who was excitedly waiting his turn to speak with him.
“Dr. Reid, it is so great to finally meet you. I’m Barry Allen, I work with the Central City Police. It’s obviously not around here, but I was visiting a friend in the area and I knew I had to attend this conference when I heard you were speaking.”
“Thank you, it's nice to meet you Mr. Allen.”
“Just Barry is fine. I was wondering if you had some time to go over your latest paper that you published on the various chemical applications used in identifying irregular DNA segments?”
“You’ve read it?” Spencer asked, surprised, but pleasantly. “I’d be happy to go over it with you. This is closing down soon, though, and I doubt they’ll keep the doors open for that long of a discussion.”
“Oh! I know of a diner a little down the road that stays open 24-hours and has really great fries and decent coffee?”Spencer was fascinated by the wonder in Barry’s eyes and found himself wanting to be around him more.
“Sounds good. I’m starving anyway. I can meet you outside in 10 minutes?”
“Great!” Barry beamed at him and nearly tripped over one of the tables on his way out the door, smiling the whole time.
He finished answering a few polite questions and was relieved when the last person filtered out. He grabbed his bag and thanked the host for inviting him, before making his way out front of the conference center. Barry was talking with another man when he approached.
“Dr. Reid!” Barry called out waving. “I’ll catch you later Oliver.” Barry turned and moved to lead Reid down the sidewalk, when the man, Oliver, grabbed his arm.
“Barry-”
“I’ll come by again before I leave town, Ollie. I promise.” Oliver and Barry held eye contact for another moment, before Oliver nodded, and let go, heading the opposite direction. “Sorry about that. Usually when I’m in town I spend more time with Oliver and some other friends.”
“Well, considering Mr. Queen spent so long alone on a deserted island, I get why he’s reluctant to let those he considers friends out of sight.” Barry tripped over the sidewalk, Spencer barely catching him in time to keep from face planting.
“You know who Oliver is?” Spencer grinned at Barry’s confused and wary expression.
“You do know what I do for a living right? I’m a profiler with the FBI. Plus it helps that he has been on the news quite a bit since he returned. Was I not supposed to know who he was?”
“It’s just that my family doesn’t particularly like him or that I spend time with him.”
“I don’t judge people on who they’re friends with. It would be a little hypocritical of me since the main friends I have anymore are my colleagues.”
“Well, if my being friends with Oliver Queen doesn’t scare you off, you can count me as a friend. I mean, if you want?” Spencer bit his cheek to keep from responding too quickly.
“Let’s talk work first, then branch into the friendship arena. So. Is the coffee really terrible at this diner? Like better or worse than typical police station coffee?”
“A little better. Though I usually go to the coffee shop near the station over drinking coffee there.”
They walked the rest of the way in companionable silence and when they sat down they talked over Spencer’s latest published paper as they waited for their food. Barry pulled a copy out of his bag and they talked over the questions that he had written in the margins. After nearly three hours, and a few coffee refills, Spencer got a call about meeting the team for a case.
“I’m sorry I’ve got to cut this short. I had a great time discussing your questions. If you need anything, or have any further questions, don’t hesitate to call or email me. If I’m on a case, it might take some time to respond, but I will respond. I’d be interested in coming by your lab sometime to see what kind of setup you have.” Spencer was trying not to sound overly interested, but he had really enjoyed spending time with Barry. It was easy.
“Well, I’d be happy to host you. Thanks for doing this, Dr. Reid.”
“Call me Spencer. Goodnight, Barry.” He left before he could take it back. He needed to leave or he would sit there for another few hours talking with Barry Allen. He was very intelligent and it was nice to discuss forensics with someone who was so familiar with the chemistry and science involved. He felt calm enough to return to work and move forward.
===
As soon as Dr. Reid, Spencer, left, Barry raced to meet Oliver. He couldn’t stop smiling and Oliver eyed him critically, while Felicity watched him with narrowed eyes.
“Ok, why are you so happy?” Felicity finally broke and asked, finger pointed at Barry dangerously.
“He had dinner with a doctor.” Oliver said through his scowl.
“What? What doctor?”
“Dr. Spencer Reid.” Barry stated, feeling his face heat up as Felicity’s jaw dropped.
“No way. No way did you get to meet the youngest PhD graduate of CalTech before me. No way did you get to meet the man who had three PhDs before he turned 21 and who works with the one and only, goddess of hacking, Penelope Garcia.”
“You know who he is?” Oliver asked in an accusatory tone.
“Of course I know who he is! He’s a genius. Like, a certifiable genius. What was he like?”
“He was amazing. We discussed his most recent published paper and some practices that I can incorporate at CCPD.” Barry said excitedly.
“So is that why he gave you his number?” Oliver asked, annoyed he was being left out of the conversation.
“Oh. My. Gosh. Was this a date, Barry Allen?”
“No. it was a post-conference coffee meet-up where we discussed scientific advancements.” He admitted, though his ears tinged pink.
“It was soo a date. You are now required to tell me the next time you talk. I absolutely need to know the next time you meet because I will die if I cannot meet the Penelope Garcia. You are my six degrees of Kevin Bacon to get to the Black Queen.”
“That’s … fair. Alright, when I see him next, or talk to him, I’ll let him know that I know someone who wants to meet someone he knows. Deal?”
“Deal.” Felicity bounced on her feet and hugged Barry, happiness radiating off of her. Not even Oliver could stay scowling at how happy she was.
Barry helped with one mission and then returned to Central City, where Joe made sure to hassle him until he submitted his travel receipts since it was a police funded work trip.
Joe could tell that he was happier than he had been in a long time. Since Patty left. But with Wally around, and Joe trying to find the best way to get involved in his life, and then the trip to Earth-2, Barry didn’t have much time to reach out to Dr. Reid. It had been nearly a month since the conference.
As soon as he was back on his own Earth, he sent a quick email to Spencer, just to check-in and see how he was doing, how his cases were going.
Spencer,
I thought about addressing this to Dr. Reid, but took a chance since you said to call you Spencer. Things have been wild here lately. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but Central City seems to have stepped up its crazy game.
How have your cases been? Hopefully nothing too drastic. Though working primarily with serial killers, I don’t know that your drastic and my drastic are the same.
I may have mentioned to a friend that I met you and that we talked over your paper for a few hours. She was insanely jealous, it was fun to see. She instructed me to tell you that she would die if she could ‘meet’ your tech analyst, Penelope Garcia. She also called her the Black Queen, but I don’t know what that means. Knowing Felicity, it’s probably some hacker thing. So if you want, could you pass a message to her that Felicity Smoak says hello? I’d appreciate it. Or rather she would. She was also gushing about your genius, and when Felicity is happy, everyone is happy.
When do you think you might be in the Central City area? We’ve had some interesting cases that I wouldn’t mind hearing your opinion on. Your tips have been extremely helpful, by the way. I owe you a coffee for that. A decent coffee.
Barry Allen
As soon as he hit send, he spied Joe watching over his shoulder.
“So. You’re talking to Dr. Reid?”
“Yeah. Sort of. How do you know who he is?”
“He consulted on your father’s case a few years back. He was probably the youngest person affiliated with the FBI I’ve ever encountered.”
“Well, he was the youngest ever to be accepted by the academy, so that’s probably not far from the truth. I didn’t know he consulted on my father’s case?”
“It was a long shot. The DA sent your father’s file to the BAU a few years back in hopes they could get more concrete proof of his innocence or guilt, hoping to get an appeal I think. The profiler, Dr. Reid, backed by the Unit Chief, Agent Hotchner, more or less stated that there was no possibility that your father was involved.”
“And no one thought that the word of an FBI profiler was relevant?” Barry asked, getting angry.
“It was relevant, but there was no physical evidence that it could have been anyone else. There weren’t metahumans around then like there are now.”
“Still. Why didn’t I know about this?”
“Captain Singh asked that you not be informed when Dr. Reid submitted his assessment. Dr. Reid even came out and interviewed your father and spoke with me when you were in your coma. After we moved you to STAR Labs.”
“I wish you would have told me, Joe.”
“I didn’t want you to focus on the profile and push it. We both know you would have. Besides, we got the answers in the end and your dad was released. I didn’t see the need to bring it up.”
“Can I see it? The profile?”
“Why?”
“I’m interested to see what Spencer said.”
“Spencer, huh? Alright. But I don’t need you focusing on it and ignoring your other work. I’ll bring a copy home tonight.”
“Thanks, Joe.”
“Uh huh. Get back to work. Captain is looking for a report from you so get it done and on his desk ASAP.” Barry mock saluted and Joe chuckled before heading out. As he was putting his report together, his email dinged, and he saw Spencer had responded already.
Barry,
I asked you to call me Spencer, so your address is fine.
As far as work, well, it’s been a weird week. I’ve had people who’ve recognized me for various reasons, but having a psychopath who is a fan is always strange. I apparently attract some extreme ones. I thought having David Rossi on the team meant he would have them, but apparently I do as well.
You should tell Ms. Smoak hello for me, too, and that I’ll let Penelope know she says hi. Or rather, she knows now, because she was spying over my shoulder, and is bouncing on her feet as she runs down the hall to reach out herself. She seemed quite shocked that I knew someone who knew her. Looks like our tech friends are going to be talking soon enough. I’m planning on coming out there in a few weeks. DA Horton has asked me to consult on some files, and since I’ve done so before, she specifically requested me.
Maybe you can show me this coffee shop of yours when I come out? Since you offered, and all.
I’d be happy to take a look at your findings when I’m there. It’s nice to talk with someone who appreciates science as much as I do.
I’ll see you in two weeks, barring anything outrageous. My Unit Chief has already approved my consulting time.
Spencer
Barry smiled to himself and closed his report and headed for Captain Singh’s office to hand it in. Two weeks wasn’t so long. He really hoped the time didn’t drag on.