Stellar {s.r.}

Chapter Three: Open Season

"Calling the backseat a friend,

It is really all in your mind.

It is all in your mind."

~

Most of the weekend passed by in a blur of commonality. A lunch with Emily and Garcia, a quick call to her credit card company, and catching up on the latest trashy romance novel was all that Y/N did during her Saturday and Sunday. Although it seemed relaxing on the outside, it was an anxiety-filled weekend. In truth, she was always itching for the next case. Her old MIT friends and what was left of her family never truly understood her drive to constantly be working. In a recent text, her mother so lovingly referred to Y/N as "my daughter: the workaholic." Even though she was judged for enjoying her choice of career, everyone around her knew how much being a profiler meant to her. It was her everything.

That being said, when Monday came around Y/N was leaving her apartment for FBI headquarters at seven in the morning. Sure, it was an hour earlier than necessary, but she loved the feeling of the empty office. She could walk the space and drink her second coffee of the day, slowly watching her best friends trickle in with sleepy eyes and somewhat-awake minds. Everyone has their happy place, and Y/N's was in the bullpen.

The steel blue walls always felt comforting as soon as she walked in, and having her desk in the center of the room allowed for the perfect view of all occurring operations. Hotch and Rossi's offices were up on a platform to the left, and on the far wall she could see through a window into the meeting room which housed the beloved round table. Down a gray hallway was the office of Derek Morgan and the technology center of one Penelope Garcia. JJ and Emily shared a workspace, and the impeccably clean desk pressed against Y/N's was undoubtedly Spencer Reid's.

Speaking of, Reid chose to walk in at the exact moment that Y/N was unabashedly staring at his desk. There was next to nothing on it, apart from a lamp and a picture of his mother Diana. Compared to Y/N's space, which had mountains of papers and pens haphazardly strewn across it, it looked practically empty.

"What did my desk ever do to you?" Reid chuffed, setting his brown leather shoulder bag across the back of his spinny chair. "You look like you're interrogating it, Agent Y/L/N."

Y/N snapped out of her trance and looked up at him. He had a smirk plastered across his face like he just successfully pulled off the con of the century. Since when did they joke around together?

"Well, it looked at me funny first, Doctor Reid," she countered, putting her elbows on the desk to lean forward in her seat.

His eyes wavered and then settled back on her face, just as shocked as she was that she poked back at him. Something in his eyes made her shift around, suddenly quite uncomfortable.

"It's Spencer."

There it was. The level of familiarity that he kept demanding of her. She wasn't ready for it, especially since their confusing conversation two days ago at Kevlar's. It unnerved her to her core, and although she refused to admit it, he was the main reason behind her anxious weekend.

"Right," she replied, refusing to look at him again and instead electing to pull out her laptop to begin working. Her technology could act as a potential barrier against him, right? He wouldn't continue to make her feel weird if he saw that she was occupied.

A soft thump confirmed her suspicions as Reid sat down across from her, pulling out a notebook and pen to mirror her computer. He also reached for a book from his bag as well, and Y/N snuck a quick glance before logging into her worksite.