𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒚 ↝ 𝒔. 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒅

𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝒐𝒏𝒆

Avery sat in her own office, sifting through file after file, looking for cases that are in immediate need of attention from the BAU. There were stacks and stacks of files, it was hard making a decision.

There was a knock on the door, pulling her attention from the files spread across her desk. She looked up, Reid stood there, two coffee cups in hand.

"Hey, come in," she said as he set the cup on her desk and shutting the door, taking a seat in front of her. "What are you still doing here?"

"Finishing up old case files," he replied. "You?"

She gestured to the files and sighed. "Everyone wants our help."

Reid nodded and they just stared at each other awkwardly. "Anyways, how ha-"

"Why didn't you call me?" Reid cut her off.

Avery furrowed her eyebrows, meeting his eyes. "Reid, things got complicated really quickly-"

"You needed space, I gave you space, but you never called me."

"You never tried to call me either, for the record." She rebutted.

"Listen, I know we weren't close, we were barely even friends, but I thought you would have let me help with-"

"With what, Spencer?" she chuckled. "My healing process?"

Reid nodded, watching her roll her eyes. She reached behind her head and let her hair down, running her fingers through it to try and calm herself now. "I needed to do that on my own."

"It's not healthy to hold everything in, trust me, I know."

"I don't care," she said to him. "I couldn't heal if you were there."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What does that mean?"

He watched her look away and not try and make eye contact again. He nodded, understanding. "You look at me and you were only reminded of what happened, right?"

"At first, yeah," she nodded, still not looking at him. "If I hadn't been screwing around with you, I would have never been taken. Tortured by that asshole. By the time I had realized that it wasn't your fault, two months had already passed. I didn't want to call you again."

"You know you could have, Avery," he said gently. "You know I'm always here for you."

"Thanks," she said, smiling at him. "So, you seeing anybody?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"Me either."

He chuckled. "We made up ten seconds ago and you're already trying to get in my pants."

Her mouth fell agape, chuckling. "No, I am not."

"You know there are rules about interdepartmental relationships."

She chuckled. "I've read the handbook, no, there's not. That's all talk."

"Okay," he chuckled, standing up. "How about we go grab something to eat?"

She raised her eyebrows and he nudged her with his elbow. "Not code-wording for sex, just food."

She let out a laugh, packing up her bags and following the doctor out of the office and to his car. He drove to a Thai restaurant, the pair going inside and picking a table.

Over the next two hours, they caught up on everything that happened between the time Avery was getting better.

"Who'd you talk to during that healing time?" Reid asked her.

"My dad," she answered, taking a bite of her food. "Got me the job in the BAU because he thought being around people I knew would help."

"What about your mom?" Reid asked.

He noticed her smile drop, eyebrows furrowing as her eyes focused on the food on her plate. "Oh, uh, you don't have to tell me-"

"She left when I was little," she replied, cutting him off. "Found someone more interesting than my dad and ran away with him."

"Avery, I'm sorry."

She couldn't help but chuckle. "This is where you're supposed to share something equally as terrible."

Reid pondered it for second before replying. "My mom's a paranoid schizophrenic?"

"I said equally, Spencer," she chuckled before turning serious. "I'm sorry, that must be hard."

"It's manageable," he replied. "It's been hard since my dad left when I was little."

"You're gonna keep laying it on, huh?" she replied. "Um, let's see...I have commitment issues because my last boyfriend was abusive."

Reid noticed the game they started playing. "My first and only girlfriend was killed right in front of me before I even got to touch her."

"Okay, fine, you win!" Avery chuckled, raising her hands in surrender.

They finished eating before heading back out to the car. He dropped her off at her apartment, parking in front of the building.

Just as they were about to go their separate ways, Avery reached out and squeezed
his hand tightly. "I'm sorry about all those things, Spencer, but you can always talk to me."

"I know," he replied. "Me too."

With that, Avery stepped out the car and into her apartment building, Reid waiting until the light turns on in her apartment before he pulls off the curb.