Futile the Winds || s.reid

4. The Wind Begun to Rock the Grass

Spencer drummed his fingers against his desk, watching the hands of his watch tick down the time. He usually relished in his work, but today...

"Hey, Pikachu, did you sign off on the Cincinnati case?"

Spencer swiveled around in his chair to hand a folder of forms to Luke. "Pikachu is your weakest comparison yet," he said.

So far, he'd gotten Mr. Krabs, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Darth Maul.

Luke snorted as he took the folder. "Alright, Rudolph."

"And weaker still."

Across from him, JJ snickered and tried to conceal it with a cough.

"Alvez, c'mon. You've been at it all day. Leave the kid alone," Tara called from her desk.

"What am I supposed to do?" Luke countered with a grin. "Not tell him he looks like a cooked shrimp?"

Matt strode past to his desk with a stack of papers fresh from the printer. "It's not even that bad of a sunburn."

"The dude looks like he's got third-degree burns!" Luke retorted.

Spencer answered, "Actually, third-degree burns would entail blistering and damage to tissue underneath the skin and would require me to seek medical treatment immediately after receiving the wound. I'd need skin grafts to recover. Most sunburns are classified as first-degree burns."

"It was an exaggeration, Reid."

Spencer pressed his lips together and nodded.

Truthfully, he didn't think his sunburn was all that bad. It stung to touch, and his face felt perpetually hot, but after a few days after Preston's barbecue, it really only looked like a deep blush. His cheeks, nose, and the top of his forehead were tinted a rich pink, which was a fair improvement compared to the angry red it was on Sunday. But because he didn't come into the BAU every single day anymore, this was the first time the rest of the team had seen him.

Luke's jokes didn't actually bother him. He'd gotten enough heckling from his students about it the previous day as it was.

It was just the fact that it was Wednesday, which meant that after he finished at the BAU, he'd be heading to your apartment. Even though there was still so much the two of you had to work out, he liked not going back to his empty apartment. He just had an hour and a half before he could leave, and then he could—

The door to Emily's office swung open, and she sped out. "We've got company," she announced as she passed by.

The five of them froze in their spots and watched as Emily approached the glass doors and disappeared into the hall. She was gone for a few moments, and then...

She returned with Attorney General Antonio Cortez.

"Uh oh," JJ murmured under her breath.

Emily didn't look at anyone as she stiffly led the Attorney General through the bullpen and to her office, where the two disappeared behind her closed door and curtains.

All of the agents sat in silence for a few beats.

"What's that about?" Luke muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.

Spencer had a feeling that he knew.

His worries were confirmed when Emily's office door opened again, and she stuck her head out. "Reid," she said tightly, nodding her head back into her office.

Spencer blew out a breath and stood from his chair. He could feel the eyes of his teammates tracking him as he walked up the steps and into her office, and he closed the door behind him.