Release (a Criminal Minds story)

Chapter 3

Just as the person entered the room, JJ's impulse was to immediately get off the table and duck. She did so, but ended up pulling Reid down with her. When they both reached the ground, they immediately scrambled for their clothing and covered their "significant" body parts, and stood up.

"Oh my-what the kerfuffle?!" Garcia asked in pure shock, flabbergasted by JJ and Reid's actions.

"Kerfuffle?" JJ asked in sarcasm, attempting to change the subject.

"Honey, don't try and change the subject...you and Reid were doing the uhh nasty on the conference room table!?" It was like she was about to barf right on the spot.

"It was um...a misunderstanding." Reid was blushing like crazy; his cheeks were as pink as most of Garcia's outfits.

Garcia slightly choked on her own spit. "Both you horndogs know that there's cameras in here right? You two will be in a boatload of trouble if anybody gets their hands on the footage. Like I mean they publicly humiliated Derek and I because of our phone convos; what do you think the officials would do to the both of you if they got a hold of this?"

Shit. JJ was so caught up in her head, that she didn't think about everything else around her, or the hell she would have to pay if anybody knew what they had just done. For God's sake, she was married, an FBI agent, a mother-this, her having sex with Spence would ruin her life, everything she worked for. It would ruin Reid's life too She needed to stop this from getting out. She did the obvious, and asked Garcia:

"Pen, can you please erase the footage? I'm begging you here-I don't want to lose anything, or anyone..."

Reid finally spoke, "I second that request too."

"Sweet cakes, I was going to do that anyways. I mean, what type of friend I would be if I didn't." Garcia plastered a big friendly smile on her face.

JJ and Reid both lit up like Christmas lights and sighed heavily in relief. They both said at the same time, "Thank you so much Penelope!"

"Seriously you're a lifesaver," JJ added.

"Now I'll just leave the both of you to um dress up."

Reid then spoke, "Wait, Garcia!"

"Yes."

"Okay all of us here have to promise, what just went down doesn't leave this room-nobody can ever know."

JJ and Garcia both said at the same time, "Of course."

Garcia added another comment, "I'll never be able to look at this room the same again."

Finally, Garcia left them to dress up.

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The next day was pretty heated up and intense for Reid and JJ. They avoided each other, like they were wildfire. They didn't want anybody else to suspect them of what they did the day before in the conference room. They were hoping that nobody else would notice their strange behaviour, but everybody else did. You didn't even need a profiler to notice the tension between them; you could've cut it with a knife. The team didn't receive a case that day, so all they had to do was paperwork, and whenever they passed a file to each other they would immediately tense up and stare at each other for a brief moment, weirdly into each other's eyes. Since everybody noticed (basically the entire BAU), it was the talk of everyone else that day. Hotch just dismissed it, Garcia discreetly avoided the gossip, but Morgan, Rossi and Blake couldn't help but discuss it with each other. The three of them never seen JJ and Reid act like that around each other, so awkward and tense. They've seen them seen act tense around each other before for logical reasons, but never so awkward before.

"Seriously what's up with those two, I didn't even hear JJ call him 'Spence' yet," Morgan exclaimed.

"Maybe those two had sexual intercourse," Blake pointed out sarcastically.

The three of them bursted out laughing.

Rossi added, "That actually could be true, but if it were them I wouldn't believe it for a second. Maybe if it were Morgan though," he chuckled.

"Ha ha, very funny, but I already got Savannah." Morgan said proudly.

"Who would've thought the Derek Morgan would actually settle down," Rossi said.

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It finally neared the end of the day, so both JJ and Reid asked Hotch (at different times, without knowing) if they could leave early for different reasons, since there was no case and wanted to stop avoiding each other. JJ was waiting for the elevator. It finally opened, revealing somebody. It was, of course Reid. As much as she wanted to make a run for it, she didn't want to seem vulnerable, so she plastered a tight smile on her face and went inside.

"Hey Spence..."

"Hey JJ." Reid had a tight smile on face too. "Going down?"

"Yup," JJ replied. None of them pressed the button because they were both going to the same floor.

Reid tried to start a conversation, "So..."

"So..."

"How're you doing JJ?"

"Good, you?"

"Um never been better."

What they both actually wanted to really ask each other was if they regretted yesterday after today. Judging by their behaviour, it's like they regretted it, but in reality they really didn't. They both secretly wanted to do it again, but didn't want to repeat another day of thick tension.

All of a sudden, the elevator stopped moving.