My letters to you - Spencer Reid x OC

29

To Liz,

   I really enjoyed your lecture notes, you seem like you'd be a great teacher should you choose to go that direction. I for one would definitely audit your classes. I do have one question about how Hebrew verb conjugation works, though I assume it would be better if you could talk to me over the phone about it. 

   If you do decide to make the move over to work in Georgetown, I'd recommend looking for accommodation outside the city, in Virginia, as the prices for housing and rent go down when you leave the city. It's about a 20 minute drive from Alexandria, if you have a car, which is kind of needed if you are going to move here. 

   I think I would also choose to speak the language of the country I was in, though it would be far more effective if it was the first language of the person you were speaking to at that moment. It would certainly come in handy to talk in the first language, and understand the colloquialisms of that language, when talking to a person, and it would make them feel much more at home. 

   To be honest with you, I don't know if I'm going to be in the FBI for the rest of my life. Sometimes the job is difficult, and the cases are so bad that at the end of the worst ones I just think about handing in my notice. I like my job, don't get me wrong. Knowing that I'm making sure bad people don't hurt more people is great, but I always feel like if we could make sure that these horrible things didn't happen in the first place, it would be a better use of everyone's time. I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't an agent though. It's one of those impossible decisions where you know there's a choice, but one of them is unfathomable and incomprehensible to you, and so you stay in something that you know may not be the best for you because you know it might do some good, despite not knowing all the possibilities of the second option. I've been in the FBI since I turned 21, and I've never really known a life outside of it. I have a lot of time left in my life, and I know that eventually I'd like to look at other options outside, though I don't think that will be for a while. 

   Sorry for writing so much about that. The last case didn't go so well, and I've been thinking about what went wrong a lot.  What about you? I know that you're facing a big change at the moment, but do you think you're going to do chess forever? 

   I actually have a few questions for you. Firstly, how was your week? Secondly, what's your favourite smell? And finally, have you read anything interesting this week? I've been looking for new books to read, but I haven't had any luck.

I hope to hear from you soon,

                Spence xx

Dear Spence, 

    I'm glad you liked the lecture notes, and I hope the small impromptu lesson we had over the phone wasn't too awkward.  I was using the landline, and I still have one of the wire phones, and I was cleaning up while talking. Also thank you for going through some of the possible places I could rent out. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be taking the job at the university, it seems like it's an opportunity I can't miss out on.

   I'm sorry that your last case didn't go well, though I know you're good at what you do. If you need to talk to anyone about it, I'm here for you. I might not be able to get it like those you work with, but if you just need someone to listen I'm willing to be that person for you. 

   As for chess, it's defiantly something I want to play for the rest of my life, but competing for the rest of it sounds exhausting. I might tutor some kids, maybe help with the university's team, but I'll probably retire at some point. Pretty sure my Wikipedia page has me described as, and I quote, 'one of the most controversial American chess players of the century', and quite honestly I want to keep that title while I'm ahead. 

   My week has actually been good. The guy that was bothering me actually apologised to me for what he did, which was nice. He did ask me on a date after though, which was annoying, but he seemed to take the rejection well. I went to my neighbours house for dinner, and he told me a bit about his partner. I never got to meet them, though from what I was told, they seemed nice. I actually spent some time in my garden actually, I haven't tended to my flowers in a while, so there were quite a few weeds in the flower beds. 

   As for my favourite smell, I'm pretty sure it's the new book smell, where its just been printed and you can smell the ink still, or the old book smell, where you can just tell that it's been loved. Either way, they're kind smells. What's your favourite?

   I've actually also had difficulty finding books to read as well, maybe there's a shortage of people of writing them at the moment? I've actually been re-reading a collection of Shakespeare's poems my mom gifted me before I moved to Oregon. I've actually gained a lot more insight into what some of his poems might mean recently, which is nice. 

I hope to hear from you soon,

                    Liz xxx

P.S. Thanks for the kisses :)