Peace Of Mind (Spencer Reid)

Chapter Eight - Talk

      "What you did in there was completely stupid!" Morgan yells.

 "You took off your vest, put down your gun, and handed yourself over to the Unsub." My knee is jiggling under the table, and I sigh and look up at him.

     "I was doing what you brought me into do. Plus, I knew exactly what move to pull that he couldn't counter. I got him down pretty quickly and saved Zach, which is what matters here." I say. "Why am I being interrogated here?"

     "We aren't interrogating you." Morgan says. "What we're worried about is the fact that you just held a gun to a mans head, one you said yourself you were friends with, and are acting completely calm."

     "She isn't calm." Reid says from the other side of the room. I purse my lips and turn to glare at him. "You're jiggling your knee. You aren't calm, you're upset." I roll my eyes.

     "You're profiling me. Or you just remember that." I say. "What am I saying? Of course you remember it you blundering idiot." Reid looks me straight in the face when I call him that, and he does something his team doesn't expect him to do. He cracks a smile and laughs. And as much as I try to help it, I can't. My face breaks out in a smile and I start to giggle too. I see the rest of his team looking at us with confusion.

     "Never thought I'd hear you say that again." He says.

     "Never thought you'd be stupid enough to come close enough for me to call you that again." I counter. The smile immediately falls from his face, and I look down at the table. 

     "What happened between you two?" Rossi asks, looking between us. I look up at where he and Hotch are standing, and I shrug.

     "You're his team, he can tell you." I say. "Though, when he decides to, give me a call. I want to hear it. I want to hear his side of the story in all honesty." I stand up and dust my jeans off. "Now, I'll be heading back to my house to clean up. Wearing an old bulletproof vest and holding a gun to a friends head doesn't exactly make me feel squeaky clean." I grab my bag from the table behind Prentiss. 

     "I'll drive you back." I turn, surprised to see Hotch following me. "I need to talk to you about something." I shrug.

     "Better than walking I guess." I say. I look back at the room of agents. "Nice meeting you all. Except you." I say, pointing at Reid with my middle finger. "Kinda wish you hadn't shown up again. Bye." And I walked out of the room, leaving Spencer Reid behind again.

     Hotch and I walk through the hallways of the police station, navigating our way to the front door. "Was that really necessary?" Hotch asks as we step outside into the morning air. We had been up all night working over the case, making sure we had everything wrapped up.

     "Absolutely, boss man." I say, getting into the passenger side door.

      "You don't understand it yet, but if her ever tells you, you'll know." I look out the window as the small town changes into a quiet neighbourhood. "You said you wanted to talk?" I ask after a few moments of silence.

      "Yes." Hotch says but doesn't say much else. We keep driving, and we are almost to my house.

     "Well?" 

     "I'd prefer somewhere more private." He explains. I nod, not quite understanding why but deciding to go along with it. Nothing else to do today. We walk up the pathway to my house and I quickly unlock it, going inside and dropping my bag on the table. 

     "Living room?" I ask, and he nods. "Want anything to drink while I'm up?"

     "No, thank you." He says. I shrug and we both sit down. "You have four PHD's, have an IQ of 183, and you make quite a bit of money. Why do you live here of all places?" I raise my eyebrows at his question.

     "It's small, quiet. Not much happens here. Normally." I say. "It's nice."

     "But you don't like it here. Yet you stay. Why?"

     "It's just..." I look at my bookshelves. "I like big cities. This was a drastic change, but I needed it. Take my mind off of what was going on at the time, and I never bothered to move away after. It keeps my mind away from the past." I look back at Hotch. 

     "Your parent's death? You and Reid's... incident?"

     "Both." I say calmly.

      "What happened between you and Reid?" He asks.

     "I already told you that he would have to be the one to tell you-"

     "I need something." He says. I bite my lip and look away, making it pretty clear I'm not going to talk about it. Hotch sighs. "Okay then. New question." He says. "You have all the qualifications to be a BAU member."

     "I... yeah. I do. Reid and I were going for the same thing in college. It's kind of how we became friends."

     "You didn't ever pursue it."

     "Nope." I say plainly. "I knew he wouldn't stop going for his dream job, and that I could stop going for mine. If I still continued, it was more likely than not that we would run into each other again. 87% chance, actually." I say. "With the amount of agents, and the different sections of the FBI... It all added up. It was too much." He nods.

      "Probably better. You have a tendency to be blunt and not follow orders." I frown at him. 

     "Actually, if you look at my past, I can take orders very well when someone is in charge of me." I say quickly. "And as for the blunt part... well... Can't really help that." Hotch nods and stands up.

     "We're leaving on the plane this afternoon." He says.

     "Okay....?" I say. "Why do I need to know that?"

     "Because I want you to know that you'll be getting a call from me in the next few days." I stand up as he holds his hand out to me, and I shake it. "Thank you for your help on the case." I walk him to the door, and he opens it, looking back at me before leaving. 

     "By the way, agent Hotchner," I say. "if Reid does explain, I won't be surprised if you don't call me." I shut the door quietly on him and lock it. I don't need these memories coming back to me now. I had avoided them for a long time, and I didn't need them back.

Reid's POV

     "That was Hotch. Plane leaves this afternoon." Morgan says as he walks back into the conference room. I quickly put my things in my messenger bag, slipping them over my shoulder.

     "You're really not going to tell us about her, are you?" Prentiss asks. I look up at them.

     "The case is over, there isn't any reason to tell you now." I say quickly. "The likelihood of seeing her again after this is minuscule. She hates me, and there is a .4% chance of us being called down here, and a 3.7% chance of a case within a fifty mile radius. We live in Quantico. She lives here." 

     "Just because you probably won't see her again doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about whatever happened between you two. It's pretty clear it shook you up." Rossi says.

     "She flipped you off as she said that she wished she hadn't seen you again." JJ says. "I'm pretty sure that this is something worth talking over." I shift uncomfortably and look at my team.

     "She called me blundering idiot, and we both laughed. You haven't asked about that yet because I reacted positively, but you're all still curious. It's not something I particularly want to talk about." I say.

      "Hotch said we're leaving this afternoon, so I'm going to head to the hotel and pack up now. Make sure I have everything in order. I'll see you guys on the plane."