Serendipity

one: mediocre (average quality; not very good)

Lorelai didn't mind the mediocre days at the office. The simplicity and trouble-free hours were often a god send.

Today wasn't one of those days.

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"Reid will you watch where you are going, that was my foot!" Lorelai hissed

"I'm sorry Masons but evidently this corridor wasn't built for 2 people!"

Spencer Reid and Lorelai Masons were like cat and mouse. Constantly at each other's throats, making everything a competition, one always had to be ahead of the other.

Today was no different.

The FBI had been called out on a case. Kidnapping and murder. Just a normal day at the office. Tame compared to some of the other cases they had had to engage in. So, when Lorelai and Spencer had been partnered up to hunt down the unsub, they were both less than pleased as they found themselves racing eachother through a derelict produce warehouse, a few miles out of town. 

Lorelai held the gun in her hand steadily aiming toward the end of the deep, dark corridor

"Okay on my count we move 1.....2..." but Reid was already half way down the corridor

"Son of a bitch"

Gun still  clasped firmly in her hand, she begrudgingly followed Spencer down the corridor. If she squinted hard enough she could just about make out the halo of unbrushed curls that was Spencers hair

"Reid," she hissed "you don't have to like me but when I give an order I expect you to-" a cold but clammy hand covered her mouth, as Spencer told her to keep quiet. The Unsub was behind a closed door which they were now in front of.

Spencer removed his hand from Lorelais mouth, she opened it in protest but if Spencers logic was correct (and much to her disappointment, it was rarely wrong) another word from her and they'd be dead where they stood.  Lorelai raised her gun and aimed at the door, she nodded at Spencer as he twisted the door handle.

"FBI, don't move!" The Unsub, who had been identified as Martin Jacobs, 52 from New Jersey, stood with a knife at his victims throat. A short and stout man, he stood no more than 5 foot 2 in height with greasy shoulder length hair that had now matted thanks to neglect. He sneered at Lorelai and came charging towards her, letting out a cry as he raised his knife with the intention to kill. She fired her gun, shooting him square in the shoulder, he flew back and landed with a thud on the concrete below. Lorelai grabbed her cuffs and looked at Spencer

"Well don't just stand there genius, get her!" Spencer scoffed and ran towards the young girl, helping her to her feet. Lorelai cuffed Jacobs hands behind his back. She looked over to Spencer who was helping a young blonde female, off the ground. He offered her his hand which she gratefully accepted. Lorelai hoisted Jacob's off of the ground, handcuffs digging into his wrists. He let out a sneer and sucked his teeth in pain. Lorelai looked over to the girl and Reid, who looked like she had forgotten she was just moments away from death minutes ago. 

"Are we ready to go, Romeo?" Lorelai called over, Spencer turned a dark shade of scarlet and led the girl out of the room, he drilled daggers into Lorelais eyes on his way out.

Once they were out of the building, Spencer and Lorelai were met with the rest of thier team

"Great work you two, Masons get Jacobs into custody and Reid take Heidi to an ambulance" barked Aaron Hotchner, director of the Behavioural Analysis Unit at Quantico.

A stoic and strong man, Lorelai recalled her first day at the BAU. She vividly remembered Hotch looming over her as she introduced herself as the newest profiler to join the team and how his dry sense of humour went over her head almost immediately. Nearly 6 years on, while he still continued to tower over her, they both now engaged in friendly banter which suited the two of them; dry and often cynical.

Lorelai lead Jacobs to the police van waiting for him.

"I did it for Jenna you hear me! Those girls were bullying her! I just wanted to keep my girl safe!" Lorelai's heart broke a little. That was the one thing she hated about the job; she was supposed to remain unbiased, get in and get out as quickly and as safely as possible. But sometimes, certain cases would get to her. He was just a father trying to protect his little girl.

She sighed "I know, Mr Jacobs...I know" and with that she handed him over to the police and swifly turned on her heel and walked as quickly as she could back to the team.

                                                                                                   *

'...to deal with stress and anxiety, you must engage with your mind, block out any distractions and concentrate on you. We're going to breathe in for 5. Ready and -' Lorelai turned off the podcast. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the BAU jet at all the sleeping passengers, well all but one. Two, if you wanted to count Lorelai.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and opened her phone looking for some kind of distraction from the brown eyes that seemed to be burning into her skin.

They made eye contact. In all of its awkward glory.

Lorelai can't remember when this unmentioned feud with Spencer Reid started. It seemed to be one of those things that just happened one day and everyone accepted that it was, what it was. In fact when she thought about it hard enough, she had a lot of respect for Doctor Reid when she first came to the BAU. Three PHDs by the time he was 21, a job as a profiler in the FBI at 22, it was everything Lorelai wished she had and more when she was that age.

His eyes were pretty. She'd happily admit that. There were definitely worse eyes to look into, but on the other hand, there were also better ones. He was holding a thick, leatherbound book; this wasn;t uncommon for Spencer Reid, his books were his emotional support blanket. She could just about make out the title. War and Peace. Tolestoy. Typical. She had read it a while back, she wasn't the biggest fan of russian literature. She'd take a contemporary romance over the Russian revolution any day of the week. There was, however, a quote she liked 'we are asleep, until we fall in love',  in her cringe worthy teenage years, she'd rite it everywhere. In every notebook, every instagram bio, every photo caption, it would appear. Like some tattoo, worthy of its own tumblr post. She chuckled to herself, reminiscing on her youth. Spencer cocked an eyebrow.

  Her phone buzzed. Signal. Ending the awkward staring contest they had both found themselves she looked at it.

'R U home?' She locked her phone and made a mental note to answer it when the plane had landed. Her colleuge and close friend, Emily Prentiss, yawned and batted her eyes open and looked around the jet

"We landed yet?" she said rubbing her eyes, smuding the mascara she had on

"Not yet, I'd say about-"

"15 minutes" a voice said. Reid.

"Give or take, see these lights we're passing now, given the time we've been travelling I would safely assume those are the lights at the marina docks, so we should be landing shortly" he closed whatever book he hadon him and dismissed himself, walking to the end of the jet. Emily gave a light chuckle

"And thank you Doctor Reid for that observation" she closed her eyes once more. Lorelai didn't. Instead she rested her head on her palm and gazed out of the window and down at the lights at the dock.

Her phone buzzed again.

'Call me when you land, need to run something by you'

Lorelai sighed and closed her phone once more. She had hoped for an early night.

Once again, Tonight wasn't one of those nights.