counting stars | criminal minds [discontinued]

1 7 | A N T H R A X

not a very interesting chapter but i couldn't not cover the anthrax ep

[4.24]

"you're usually the best on the team at staying positive"

"Why are you scratching so much?" Morgan asked Florence. She was perched on top of his desk and had been scratching her legs through her sweatpants for several minutes.

"There were like a million mosquitos in the park the other day," she replied, frowning. "We all went yesterday so that I could try and teach Alex how to skateboard to impress this guy."

"Why didn't one of you go buy some bug spray once you noticed all of them?" Prentiss asked. "And stop scratching. It'll make them worse."

"I forgot bug spray was a thing," Florence whispered to herself. "Oh well, at least we'll know next time."

Morgan chuckled and then grabbed her wrist to keep her from scratching. Instead of stopping, she just started rubbing her leg against his desk. "Sunshine, don't come crying to me when they start bleeding."

Florence sighed and stopped her scratching. "I wish mosquitoes would just ask for a sip of my blood politely instead of stealing it and injecting me with their itchy juice."

"I don't think that's how mosquitoes work," Prentiss said, grinning and shaking her head.

"Actually," Reid piped up. "She's not far off. A mosquito uses the sharp tip of its straw-like mouth — which is called the proboscis — to pierce a person's skin. It locates the blood vessel and draws blood up through its mouth. As it does this, it injects saliva that contains an anticoagulant. This stops the person's blood from clotting. When a mosquito bite breaks the skin, a person's body recognizes the mosquito's saliva as a foreign substance. This causes an immune system response. The swelling around the bite is caused by histamine, which is produced by the immune system. Histamine increases blood flow and white blood cell count around the affected area, which causes inflammation or swelling. Mosquito bites itch because histamine also sends a signal to the nerves around the bite."

"See," Florence said, grinning at Prentiss. "That's basically exactly what I said."

"Yeah, but I missed the part where he used the scientific term "itchy juice" in his explanation," Morgan said, smirking.

"You're mean," Florence simply said, crossing her arms. Then she uncrossed the, to scratch her leg.

"Actually, scratching the mosquito bites can make the itching sensation worse," Reid told her. "I'd recommend applying cortisone cream to the area to reduce the inflammation and help with the itching. JJ has a first aid kit in her office and it may have some in it."

Florence happily hopped off Morgan's desk and kissed the top of Reid's head, whose cheeks went red. "Thank you, Doctor Boy Genius."

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