Criminal Minds Imagines 2

twenty four: job searching

it was another typical day at the bau and you were searching through every sheet of paper you had on your desk that had other job opportunities scattered in ads all over them.

you circled things that looked good to you, highlighted their numbers, and most importantly- you tried to keep it all together.

"hey, ______," j.j. said as you shoved the papers into a nearby file folder as you looked up at her as she approached you. "can you give this to garcia?" she asked as you nodded, taking it in your hands as you walked towards her office.

when you got there, you knocked on the door as garcia opened it.

"hey, you!" she said with a wide smile, causing you to smile slightly back. nobody knew you were looking for a new job.

"hey, j.j. said to give these to you," you told her as she took the folder, opening it and nodding before setting it down on her desk.

"everything okay?" she asked as you nodded, giving her a little smile.

"yeah, everything's fine," you replied back to her.

"_____, if this is about-" she began but you shook your head, turning around to see prentiss calling you both to meet at the bau room to discuss a new case.

you nodded, eager to escape the conversation as you both walked over to the room. when you got inside, j.j. was passing out file folders as you took a seat and opened yours to observe the case.

everyone else was already in the room as reid opened his folder to see the many job opportunities you had been searching through.

you looked down at the case before looking up to see reid staring at you in somewhat of a sad look. you gave him a confused look before he cleared his throat.

"is anyone looking for a new job?" he asked as the room got silent and everyone looked around at everyone. you shrunk down in your chair slightly as you bit your lip in sad anticipation of what was about to happen. "because this isn't one of the case files and-"

"it's me," you said, spilling it. "i'm looking for a new job. nothing is official yet and i'm not even confirmed that i'm leaving at all but it's me," you said, letting out a sigh as you looked away from everyone.

"_____, why didn't you tell us earlier?" rossi asked as you kept looking down towards your hands.

"i don't know why you want to leave? i mean, you always said we were like the family you never had," garcia spoke up.

"is this because of something we did?" j.j. asked as you finally stood up and let out a sigh, feeling the tears rolling down your cheeks. you didn't bother to wipe them away as you looked over at reid.

"it's because of reid," you said, observing his eyes as you tried not to burst into tears right then and there in the bau room.

"what happened?" prentiss asked. "did you two-?"

"he broke my heart," you replied. "because we broke up. and it's too hard being here and not having what we used to and it's too awkward to go back to how things were so i started looking at job opportunities so that i can figure out if i have something else i can go do."

j.j. looked over at you with the softest look in her eye as she spoke up over the deafening silence.

"_____, you will always have a family here. you don't have to quit to get us to help you out and support you," she said as you nodded. sitting back down as you wiped the tears off of your face.

"can we just talk about the case, please?" you asked softly as you focused your attention back on the file. everyone looked between each other as reid kept his gaze on you.

-
"hey."

you looked up from the window as you saw reid sit down across from you. you let out a sigh.

"i'm sorry for outing you so publicly like that," you told him as he smiled.

"it's fine," he replied.

it grew silent once more before you finally spoke up again.

"i loved you, you know," you admitted as he nodded.

"and i loved you," he responded.

"then why did we break up?"

it grew silent between the two of you before reid finally responded.

"because we were both scared of that heavy commitment."

you nodded, looking back out of the window as you let out a sigh.

"i'm not even sure that i'm going to leave," you told him as he cocked his head. "i cant. i cant leave behind the family i have and i can't bear to lose you either."

he smiled a little to himself.

"_____?"

you looked over at him.

"it's alright."