Addicted to You

39

a/n: uhhhhhh...i was gonna say something but just fucking read it ig lol.

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"Woah, what the hell happened to you, pretty boy?"

Reid had walked into the bullpen disheveled as all hell, and 10 minutes late. He was still tying his tie, his curls were strewn about, and one of his Converse wasn't laced. He rubbed his eyes, "Nothing...it's--it's nothing!", he sat down at his desk, dropped his head in his hands, and huffed. Not paying any mind to the way all his coworkers stood baffled.

Later that day, JJ was able to catch him by the coffee machine as he mixed his--practically pure sugar cup of coffee, "Hey, Spence...", she was careful about her approach, "Are you--uh...ya know, ok?"

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine.", he paused for a second and then looked directly up at her, "Wait--can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, of course."

"No, no...like--privately?"

"Oh--yeah, ok."

Spencer practically dragged her by the arm to her old office, silence filled the air as he hesitated to bring up the topic.

"Are you sure you're ok? The only other time you've been late or acted like this is--"

"Jesus, Jennifer! No! I'm not doing drugs."

"Good. But, then....what is it?"

He exhaled heavily, "Ok. Att and I have been--trying for like six months and it's--clearly not going too well. And she's 33, which means she's only about half as fertile as she would've been in her 20's. But that's not it. No, it's a two-way street. A recent study showed that 8% of men younger than 25 fail to impregnate their partner after a year of trying and around age 35 that percentage increases to 15%. And then there's the stress factor. A woman's day-to-day stress levels can lower her ability to conceive. Several studies have found that women whose saliva had high levels of alpha-amylase, an enzyme that marks stress, took 29% longer to get pregnant. We've been to fertility doctors and they say that nothing's wrong but--"

"Ok, ok. Spence, slow down. First, it's one thing to know statistics about pregnancy, infertility, miscarriages, and difficulty conceiving. It's a whole other thing to experience it first hand. If you've been to multiple specialists who all say that there's not an issue, trust them. I know it seems like the clock is ticking, but realistically, you guys still have time--and lots of it too. And, of course, Atti's gonna be stressed. She already works two jobs. And now the added pressure to get pregnant, and then it not happening is a lot."

"This sounds stupid, but--what do I do?"

"I don't know. I mean, no offense, Spence, but I'm sure you rambling off statistics about her age and fertility isn't easing any of her anxieties--so, maybe just take her out somewhere. Ya know, let her know that she's appreciated for just being her, that there's not so much pressure to get pregnant right this instant."

"Yeah...ok. I can do that. Thanks, JJ."

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When Spencer got home, he called out for Atticus but got no response. Both her car and her bike were there, so that just means, wherever she is, she can't hear him. He poked his head into their office, where she was sitting in front of her computer, headphones on and microphone out. That all made sense, the confusing part was all the ink bottles and the fact that she wasn't wearing pants. Eventually, Spencer managed to shake that thought and tuned into the lyrics that were falling from her lips, loving how she moved her hands along with the beat.