"Hey, McDowell," Reid said to get her attention as he came up behind her, but she jumped in her seat and her fist flew out and popped him right in the eye.
"Ow!" Reid exclaimed in surprise and pain, holding his hands over his eye.
She whipped around and her jaw dropped. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Reid," she immediately apologized. "I didn't mean to hit you, you scared me and I just--sorry," she said, looking ashamed.
Morgan and Prentiss stopped next to them, noticing Reid holding his eye.
"What's the matter, somebody give you a black eye?" Morgan teased, but Prentiss look the less sarcastic approach and asked, "What happened?"
"McDowell punched me," Reid replied, rubbing his eye and blinking to try and clear his vision.
"You're kidding," Prentiss said, dead serious.
"Uh, no," McDowell replied with a nervous laugh before apologizing again, "I'm sorry. Do you want me to get you some ice or something?"
"Let me see, kid," Morgan said, and Reid moved his hand so Morgan could look at it.
"Ooh," Prentiss exclaimed in sympathy upon seeing it, because his eye was already read and puffy.
"It's gonna be black and blue, but ice might keep the swelling down," Morgan observed and McDowell went to get some.
"What's the ice for?" Rossi asked when she grabbed some from the break room.
"I punched Reid," McDowell remarked casually, being sarcastic but promptly leaving without any more explanation, Rossi staring after her.
"Here," she said as she handed it to Reid when she returned to the bullpen, and he offered a, "Thanks," but winced as he put it on his eye.
Hotch walked by and announced, "We've got a case," but then stopped short when he noticed Reid.
Before he could ask, Prentiss explained, "McDowell hit him. It was an accident."
JJ stopped, too, though, asking worriedly, "Spence, what happened?"
"I scared Charlie and she jumped and hit me. I'll be fine," he answered casually, and by the time they had all gathered in the conference room someone had relayed the story to Garcia.
As they were all collecting their stuff to head to the plane, Reid, with the ice still over his eye, came up to McDowell. In front of her this time, so she saw him, before asking her, "Are you okay?"
"Considering the team thinks I'm out to make you my personal punching bag, pretty good," she said sarcastically, offering a wry smile.
"I didn't mean to scare you, it was my fault, but you have been kind of jumpy recently. Are you sure you're okay?" he repeated, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, fine. Our last case might have gotten to me a little bit, maybe, but it's not a big deal," she dismissed nonchalantly, scooping up her go bag and heading outside to the waiting plane.
Reid couldn't help but think she was hiding something, though. Ever since she'd started working at the BAU, she wasn't the kind to startle easy.
YOU ARE READING
Criminal Minds One Shots
FanfictionA collection of story blurbs containing cut material and alternate scenes from my book Unknown- A Criminal Minds Fanfic but also some random Criminal Minds stories featuring the members of the BAU and the character Charlie McDowell. Not all stories...
