Front Lines| Spencer Reid + Anne Grey

thirteen

Grey sat at the desk in her bedroom, attempting to tie a thin ribbon around an envelope. "This is going to be so fucking well presented," she mumbles to herself as she completes the knot.

It had been a few days since the team got back from Providence, and Anne was finally about to fulfill a promise she had made to Reid last week. He won a bet, and she owed him a gift.

Pushing the chair away from her desk, Grey stands up, tapping the decorated envelope on the table and walking out of the bedroom. She was searching for Spencer, though he was quickly found in the living room, reading a book on the couch.

"Whatcha readin', pretty boy?" she asks, holding the envelope behind her back.

"Animal Farm, George Orwell. I'm just about done," he replies, rapidly flipping through pages.

Grey nods, quietly watching him read for about thirty more seconds before he was finished. "It's a good one, right?"

"Extremely," he assures, not saying much more since she seemed as though she was eager to say something.

Anne was definitely excited to give him the gift, so she speedily took the opportunity to speak. "So, you know how I promised you an undisclosed surprise if you won that bet we made in Providence?"

"And how I won the aforementioned bet?" he asks, setting his book on the coffee table. "Yes, I'm familiar."

Grey laughs, responding, "Great. So, I finally got it together." She grabs Reid's hand, tugging slightly to make him understand that she wanted for him to stand up.

When he does, she immediately plants the envelope in his hand, watching his response closely.

"An envelope? Wow, I've always wanted an envelope," he sarcastically says, smiling and starting to untie the ribbon.

Anne continues to grin. "Shut up and open it, jerk."

He eventually opens the envelope, pulling out a folded piece of paper with increasing confusion. Beginning to unfold it, he realized there was print across the entire page.

Once the paper is fully flattened, Reid scans the page, mumbling as he read. "Email confirmation... flight booked..." As he finishes reading the text, his head shoots up, staring at Grey. "You're kidding."

"Not in the slightest."

The page was a screenshot of a flight confirmation email, from Washington DC to Las Vegas, Nevada. Clearly, the point Anne was getting across was that she and Reid would be going to Vegas to see his mother.

Laughing in disbelief, he questions, "How did you, I mean, with the team-"

"Already covered. I told Hotch that when he got back, I would be taking a weekend vacation to Vegas, so that some sort of unit chief would be available if we happened to get a case," she explains, "Then he brought up the fact that you're from Nevada, as I expected he would, and I said that I was going to ask you to tag along. He said that would be fine."

He shakes his head, continuing to chuckle slightly. "I swear to god you're a con artist." Spencer was unbelievably excited, though at a loss for words.

"Hey, maybe that can play in our favor, cleaning house in blackjack, yeah? I haven't went gambling in forever." Grey seems quite thrilled as well, smiling as she pushes up her glasses on her face.

Reid grabs her right hand, cajoling, "You're meeting my mom."

The excitement would have seemed a little over the top to someone who didn't know Spencer all that well, but Anne understood perfectly. He absolutely adored his mother, and he hadn't seen her in months, coming up on a year. It was only natural to be enthused.