FREAKING OUT ² ➢ spencer reid

XXXVII

After we arrived back in Quantico we made a quick stop at the office to start our paperwork. Like usual, there was no rest of the wicked, which only became more apparent once Hotch called me into his office immediately after stepping out of the elevator. As I followed him up the ramp I rubbed my eyes tiredly, still feeling the affects of exhaustion despite sleeping for a good hour on the plane.

"Is this gonna take long?" I grumbled, dragging my feet against the threshold of the door.

Hotch let out a deep sigh, shaking his head at my lack of professionalism as he closed the door behind him. Afterwards, he circled around to the other side of his desk and sat down, motioning me to do the same.

I followed his order and tossed myself into the chair, leaning back lazily as I raised my brow in his direction. Without a word he produced a pair of files from his bag, tossing them my way before grabbing a third and opening it at his desk. "Strauss asked me to fill out an assessment based on your work in the field."

"Of course she has." I flashed him a fake smile and opened the file on top. "I'm assuming I have to do something similar?" I glanced back up, watching him nod.

"She did mention she wants your perspective on things, yes."

"Why?" I scrunched up my face in confusion.

"I'm not sure, to be honest."

"You think she's fishing?" I asked curiously. While my personal experience with the term was very minimal, I knew that other members of the team had their fair share of incidences.

Hotch shrugged his shoulders. "It's possible."

"Hm."

Instead of dwelling on what Strauss may or may not be doing, Hotch and I got to work. Quietly, we filled out reports, occasionally saying a few words to one another before returning back to our files.

"Alright, I'm done." I let out a heavy sigh, closing the last of my workload with a satisfied grin. Despite being away, I still found the paperwork to be fairly easy, especially when compared to what I had to do at Interpol.

"Perfect." I handed the files to Hotch who neatly set them on top of his. "Did you complete your consultant form?"

I looked at him confused, shaking my head. "Was that the form you were supposed to give me on the plane?"

He narrowed his eyes in my direction for a quick second before eventually closing them and letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry. Must've slipped my mind. I'll uh, get you to stop by the office tomorrow and we can fill them out together," he suggested.

I nodded my head and stood up to stretch. By now my body was starting to feel sore again from all the sitting. I stretched my arms to the roof of the room, letting out a loud yawn.

"You sure you're up for drinks?" Hotch asked.

"Oh yeah I'm fine," I replied with a yawn. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand, watching as Hotch merely chuckled and stood from his seat. After that we walked out of the office together, surprised to see the rest of the team still working. As we rounded the corner and moved into the desk filled area I noticed Morgan was missing. Curiously, I glanced down one of the hallways, raising my brow in confusion when he wasn't there. "Where's Morgan?" I asked.

Reid turned his chair around, offering me a shrug, while JJ shared a quick look with Garcia, both of them eventually shaking their heads. In response, I let out a heavy sigh and looked over at Hotch who seemed equally confused. I figured if he did leave it was probably because of me. After our little argument outside the Leeman house I spent the rest of our time in Jacksonville pretty much avoiding him, which I knew probably bothered him.