Redemption of Faith

Chapter 7: Dating and other activities

After their rebellious night, Alison and Reid kept meeting up any chance they got. They often met at the coffee shop, where Reid would catch up on his readings and Alison would come up to him time to time, bringing a cup of sugary coffee to him, when the place was a little died down. They also went back to Apollo's book shop a few times and recommended books for each other, or Alison tried to come up with anything that Reid hasn't already read, failing for most part. They stayed in a few times, ordering Chinese food, so Alison had the chance to tease Reid about his chopstick skills.

After a while they both grew comfortable with each other enough to come over to the other's apartment. The first time Alison came over was however, not so relaxed for Reid.

"Hey, do you have time this week to do something?" asked Alison during one of their usual phone calls. Reid was picking out a book from his shelves and settling down his couch.

"Yeah, I should think so. It was a crazy few days with work" answered Reid, thinking about their latest case. God, what people were capable of.

"You are okay though?" asked Alison, concern in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's just weird, you know? After all these years you would think I would have gotten used to all the horrible things people do" said Reid with a tired sigh.

"I think I'm glad you are not use to it, Spencer. That would be the first sign of madness. And let me tell you, I am not about to have a boyfriend, whom I could only visit in a mental hospital. Do you know how hard it would be to schedule with my hectic life. Visitation rights are way too specific" she rambled, probably trying to lighten the mood for Reid. He just smiled, appreciating her jokes, as always.

"Yeah, because right now we are oh so flexible" commented Reid, with a teasing smile. Alison laughed.

"Well, I am not the one, who spent the last few days in Chicago, Doctor."

"But you are the one, who usually has excuses. My professor gave us an unsolvable assignment, I have exams I have to study for, My hair is turning grey from all the stress, so I have to dye it" Reid said, recalling everything she said when she didn't have time for their activities. "Besides, I am pretty sure the last one was just out of laziness"

"You don't know that. But it does make a lot of effort to look this good and after the week I had at that time definitely took any last energy fractures away from my body, which I could have used up on getting ready. So yeah, that was a small white lie. But the others were true. And I did make you an amazing coffee to make up for it." She said, trying to explain herself. "Also, you have cancelled too multiple times, I just can't quote you word-to-word on those, because I don't have an eidetic memory"

"Alright fine. I will let you have this one." Reid mumbled, putting his feet up on the couch, so he could lie down.

"Let me?" she exclaimed on the other end, laughing nonetheless. "I handed you your butt there. Don't make me come over and smack you"

Reid laughed too. "We wouldn't want that"

Alison grew a little quiet for a moment. "Hey, why don't I come over? I mean if you want me to, of course. We could do something now, before anything came up. This way, none of us could cancel" she said and waited for his response.

Reid thought for a second. He sat up and looked around his usually neat and organized apartment. It was a bit of a mess. His newly bought books were piling up by the door, his clothes were hanging from his chairs and also from the couch. His go bag was on the kitchen table, smelling horrible and there were quite a few unwashed dishes in the sink. Right. This would paint a great picture.