Genius at Work, Chapter 8/15
Jun. 30th, 2010 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madlorificGenius at Work
A "Criminal Minds" fanfiction by MadLori
Chapter 8
one month later
Emily was almost too tired to walk. He had his arm around her and she was leaning heavily on him as they climbed the stairs to his second-floor apartment. He didn’t wonder why she’d wanted to come here instead of to her place, where they spent eighty percent of their time together; his place was more neutral for her. Her own home would be more hazardous with family memories.
He felt pretty drained himself. It had been an eventful eight hours. After their abrupt and involuntary outing in front of their teammates, they’d immediately driven to the Prentiss family home in Baltimore, where they’d been greeted by Whirlwind Elizabeth, who was sublimating her grief into an intense desire to organize, arrange and keep everything under control. Emily had just wanted to be left alone and not think about things quite yet. She wasn’t ready to answer questions about what kind of casket they should buy or what hymns her father would like played at the service.
At her insistence he had stayed glued to her side, even through conversations in which he felt like an intruder. He was meeting many of her family members for the first time. At least they were seeing him as a supportive and attentive boyfriend.
Emily’s father had died in his sleep. The coroner hadn’t been there yet, so he was still lying in bed where he’d been found. Emily had been shaking as she entered the room. He’d all but insisted that she go in alone, but she’d begged him to stay with her, so he had. He’d hung back while she went to the side of the bed and knelt there. In silence she had looked at her father’s body, no words, no tears, just – looked.
After a few minutes, she’d gotten up and silently walked past him and out into the hall. He’d followed her to her own room, the one she’d occupied during vacations from college. Her high school diploma was still hanging on the wall, photos of herself with college friends tucked into the mirror, but other than that it was an ordinary room. She’d sat down on the bed, folding her legs under her, and let her head fall into her hands. He’d sat down facing her, and as soon as she saw him she reached out and buried herself in his arms, not crying, just trembling. He’d held her, saying nothing because there was nothing he could say.
Elizabeth had come in a few minutes later. “Emily, I’d like to talk to you about the service,” she’d said. Reid tried to send her a clear “leave now please” signal with his eyes but it seemed like she didn’t even see him. “There are decisions to be made, I still have calls to make…I thought you’d want to call your cousins yourself.”
She’d finally forced him to speak with her persistence. “Elizabeth, please just give her some time, okay?” he said.
“These things can’t really wait, Dr. Reid. Emily?”
He’d pulled away from her and started to rise, but Emily grasped at him, trying to hold him back. “I’ll be right back,” he’d whispered, kissing her forehead. She’d nodded and curled up on her bed, not even acknowledging her mother’s presence.
He’d drawn Elizabeth into the hall, shutting the door behind him. “Elizabeth, you need to leave her alone for a little while. She’s not ready to deal with the details. Nothing is that urgent.”
“I can’t just let it go,” Elizabeth said, and he saw in her eyes the manic need to stay on top of things, because if she let the reins go slack, there might be a stampede. “Things need to be arranged.”
“There are other people to help you with that. Emily’s just lost her father. And you’ve just lost your husband. It’s okay to rely on friends and family. I will take care of Emily. She’s my only concern right now. I know that you have assistants and lawyers and trusted friends who can deal with whatever needs to be handled. You should look after yourself.”
“He’s right, Betsy,” said a distinguished-looking gray-haired man, walking up to them. “Take a breath, will you? You’re going to snap in two.”
Elizabeth looked at him with a mixture of annoyance and affection. “Don’t tell me how I am, Brian. I have everything under control.”
“But you don’t need to,” said the man, who must be Emily’s uncle Brian, Elizabeth’s brother. “For once in your life, let it go.”
Elizabeth seemed affected by this. He saw her chin tremble a little. “I suppose…I don’t know, should I…” She trailed off and seemed lost.
“Why don’t you go downstairs? Helen’s here. Let her look after you.” Reid’s brain dredged up the name Helen as belonging to Elizabeth’s best friend and college roommate.
She looked back at him. “You’ll…look after Emily?”
“Of course. I’m sure she’ll want to talk, but right now she needs some time.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll be downstairs.”
“Good girl,” Brian said. Elizabeth headed off, looking a little unsteady. Brian watched her go, then turned back to Reid. “Don’t believe we’ve met. Brian Hofstedter.”
“Spencer Reid,” he said, shaking Brian’s hand.
“Oh, you’re Emily’s young man. We’ve been hearing about you. Nice to meet you. Wish the circumstances were better. How is she?”
“She’s shut down a bit right now. She’ll come around, but the last thing she needs is…” He glanced off in the direction of Elizabeth’s departure.
Brian nodded. “That’s Betsy’s way. Stiff upper lip, take care of business. You and Emily work together?”
“Yes. We’re on the same team at the BAU.”
“Well, this is above and beyond the call of duty. You must be serious about her.”
“I am.”
Brian gave him an appraising glance, then a sharp nod. “Good man. Look after her, we’ll handle what needs to be handled. She needn’t worry about the damn hymns or the flowers or God knows what else Betsy’s obsessing over, not unless she wants to. You thinking of staying here tonight?”
“Well, I at least have to stop back to the office. Emily may want to stay, but I suspect she’ll want to go home.”
“We’ll all be here until the funeral, at least. I suspect you and Emily will be back tomorrow, then?”
“Probably.”
Brian nodded. “We’ll see you then.” He started to walk away, then turned back. “I thought you’d be younger.”
Reid frowned. “Pardon?”
“Betsy kept saying Emily was dating this younger man. To hear her talk you’d think you were barely out of your teens. You don’t seem so very young to me.”
Reid smiled. “Thanks, I think.”
He’d gone back into the bedroom. He’d spent most of the afternoon sitting on her bed, propped up against the headboard, just holding her. She had eventually gone downstairs to join her family and talk about some of the details, but when he’d left for the BAU she’d come with him.
And now here they were, at his apartment. He was waiting for the Prentiss Lockdown to lift. By his reckoning it would happen soon.
“Are you hungry?” he asked as Emily sat down on the couch.
She shook her head. “I need a drink.”
“Way ahead of you.” He was at the fridge making her a gin and tonic. “Here.”
“Bless you,” she muttered, knocking half of the drink back in two swallows. “God damn,” she said. She leaned back against the couch, her eyes closing. He sat down next to her. “I feel so – numb.”
“It’s shock.”
“I know what it is,” she said, an edge in her voice.
“All right.”
She sighed and reached one hand over to his leg. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t take it out on you.”
“Well, I’m handy.”
She turned her head and opened her eyes to look at him. “Thank you. So much.”
“For what?”
“For staying with me. For being there.”
“I’m surprised you’d expect otherwise. Isn’t that what people in relationships do for each other?”
“In theory. You’d be amazed how many people in relationships suddenly feel like those relationships aren’t so serious when some real emotional demands are made of them.”
“I guess I’m not like those people.”
She smiled a little. “No. You’re not. And just so you know, if something awful happened to you tomorrow, I’d be right there to help you through it.”
“Thanks. I never thought you wouldn’t be.”
She stretched. “I’m exhausted.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“Do I have any pajamas here?”
“I don’t think so. Just put on one of my t-shirts.” He ran his hand over her leg in a chaste caress of comfort. “Why don’t you go shower and get in bed? I’m going to call Hotch, see how the case is going.”
She looked at him ruefully. “And maybe get yelled at?”
“Might as well get it over with.”
“Okay. A shower sounds great. So does bed.” She got up and headed into his bedroom.
Reid got out his cell phone, took a deep breath, and dialed.
“Hotchner.”
“Hotch, it’s Reid.”
“How is Emily?”
“She’s dealing. Her mother was herself to the nth degree. I expect we’ll go back up to Baltimore tomorrow. I called to check on the case.”
“Did you read the casefiles?”
“Yeah. Seem like a fetishist who’s resorted to killing to obtain their integumentary items.”
“That’s what we thought. I don’t think he’ll be that hard to catch.”
“Publicize that one of the graves of his victims is being exhumed and the body moved across country. He might try to get to it before the exhumation, and you’ve got him.”
“That’s a good idea. The family might not go for it but it’s worth proposing it.”
“Hotch…about me and Emily.”
He heard Hotch sigh. “How long?”
“We’ve been seeing each other for five months.”
“Well, that doesn’t say much for the rest of our profiling skills.”
Reid smiled. “We worked hard to hide it. We were going to tell you. We decided a month ago that we’d tell you and the team, but there never seemed to be a good moment and we kept putting it off.”
“I admit, I had noticed that you both seemed – happier. I didn’t make the connection, though.”
“It’s not like it’s anything anyone would have predicted, least of all either of us.” He steeled himself. “Hotch, about the team…”
“Reid, stop right there. What you tell me in confidence is between us. Officially, you and Prentiss are friends and co-workers. No one’s sworn any affidavits or made any official declarations. Your personal lives are none of my business.”
Relief flooded him. “You didn’t seem so accommodating earlier.”
“I was surprised. And Dave might have talked me down a little,” he said. Reid could hear the wry smile on Hotch’s face.
“Remind me to buy him a bottle of his favorite Scotch.”
“But let me be clear. If it becomes a hindrance to either of you performing your jobs, I will have no choice but to make an issue out of it. Don’t make me do that.”
“We won’t. We haven’t so far, have we?”
“No. Keep it up.” He paused. “Reid, I’m – happy for you. Both of you.”
“Thanks.” He hesitated. “Well, I better go. It’s been a long day and it’ll be another one tomorrow.”
“Good luck. Take care of Emily. Everyone else will be worrying about a thousand different things. She’ll need someone who’s focused on her. I went through this when Haley’s father died. She needs you to just step up and take care of things.”
“I will. Thanks, Hotch. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Reid.”
He hung up. That had gone better than he’d dared to hope it would. The shower had shut off and he heard Emily rustling about in the bedroom. Reid got up and went into the kitchen to set up coffee in the percolator for the morning, sprinkling a little cinnamon on top of the grounds for some added flavor. That was a trick he’d picked up in college when they’d all stayed up very late studying, drinking really crappy coffee that you’d try anything to improve.
He went into the bedroom. Emily was curled on her side under the covers. He stripped to his boxers and climbed in with her. She turned over and snuggled close to him, one arm across his chest. He put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “What’d Hotch say?” she mumbled.
“Not a lot, surprisingly. Sounds like he’s favoring a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy about us dating.” She nodded, then turned her head and began to kiss his neck, her hand wandering lower over his boxers. “Emily, we don’t have to do anything. You’re exhausted.”
“I want to,” she murmured against the skin of his throat. “I need you.”
“Em…” he began, although his body was responding in spite of himself.
“Please,” she whispered, crawling up over him and straddling his hips. “Make it go away for a little while,” she said, her voice cracking.
Reid put his arms around her while she kept kissing him, but he felt strange about it. Was this what she needed right now? Shouldn’t she try to get some sleep?
No, idiot. She’s telling you what she needs and that’s sex with you, and you’re going to say no…why?
He looked up into her face. “You sure?” he whispered. She nodded. “All right,” he murmured, and pulled her back down into a deep, hard kiss. She yanked on his shoulders; he got the hint and rolled them over. She didn’t seem to want a lot of foreplay or a slow and sensual session of lovemaking. She slipped off her panties and pulled his boxers down. “Em…wait a sec…”
“Spencer,” she panted. “Stop talking and fuck me.”
He nodded. “Okay, if that’s what you want.” It clearly was, she was pulling at his hips and shimmying around underneath him. She reached between them and grabbed his erection. He thrust forward into her and settled between her legs. She hung onto his shoulders and urged him to go faster, wrapping her legs around his hips and bucking against him.
Reid knew that he had to get her off. Of all times, this time he really had to. She needed an emotional release and this could catalyze it, jolt her out of her Lockdown. It wouldn’t be easy if it was this quick. Usually they had more time. With a few memorable exceptions, fast sex for them had meant sex with an epilogue. Which didn’t seem to bother her, as long as the epilogue actually happened. But tonight, this was his job, and he’d do it. He got to his knees so he could lift her hips into his lap and change the angle of their bodies against each other. She clutched at him and rocked her pelvis hard into his. He reached down and pressed his thumb against her, rubbing in a circle, and within a few more thrusts she came with a yell. Reid was so concerned about it that he lost his erection without having come himself, but that was okay.
Her cry turned into a sob, then into deep, wracking sobs drug up from the bottom of her lungs, ragged and abused. He lay down at her side and pulled her into his arms. She grabbed at him like a life preserver, shaking, and released her grief against his chest.
For an hour, they just lay there. Reid didn’t say anything. There was nothing he could say that would mitigate this for her. He just held her tight and let her cry, her tears wetting the t-shirt he was still wearing. He handed her Kleenex after Kleenex from the box on the night table for her to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. Gradually, she calmed. He shifted onto his back and drew her head and shoulders onto his chest. He stroked her back and rubbed her neck while her chest hitched in the aftermath of her outburst.
After a long time, she lifted her head and met his eyes. “God, that sucked.”
He smoothed her tangled hair back. “You needed it.”
She fell in a heap against his chest again. “I feel like I’ve been beat up.”
“You need to get some sleep.”
“Yeah.” She shifted against him, not moving away, just getting more comfortable. “Are you okay like this? I don’t want to move from this spot.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
She nodded, already drifting away, one leg and one arm tossed over him. He drew the covers up around them.
“Spencer?” she murmured, half-asleep.
“Hmmm?”
“Thanks.”
He kissed the top of her head. “No thanks necessary.”
Emily was watching him pack up his casefiles and his laptop. “You don’t have to come, you know.”
He looked up at her. “What?”
“You could still join the team in Syracuse. I’m okay here.”
Reid gave her a look. “If you think I’m going to leave you here by yourself at a time like this, you’re crazy.”
“I won’t be alone, I’ve got my family. My mother will probably have gotten over her little fit of in-controllishness by now.”
He shifted, another thought occurring. “Emily, are you saying you don’t want me to stay with you? If that’s the case, then I’ll go.”
“No!” she said, her eyes widening. “No, that’s not it at all! I just don’t want you to feel obligated.”
He stepped closer. “Why not?”
“Well…”
“Being obligated isn’t the worst thing ever.” He put his hands on her hips. Hers went to his chest. “I love you, Emily.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered, her eyes lowered.
“Which means I’m obligated to you. But not in a bad way. I want to stay with you. It’s my job to support you through this. But more than that – I feel so lucky that I’m the one you want with you now. If we’re serious about each other, that comes with some obligation. I like being obligated to you.”
She looked up at him. “Who are you?” she murmured. “Who are you, and where’s that awkward guy who Morgan had to practically shove at women?”
“Oh…he’s still here. He’s just employing that old ‘fake it till you make it’ strategy.”
“I think you’ve made it, Dr. Reid.” She kissed him thoroughly. “We should probably stay overnight at the house tonight, since the service is in the morning. And I guess there’s a gathering at my parents’ house tonight, since there’s no viewing. We should bring nicer clothes to change into for that, plus funeral clothes, so we’ll have to stop off at my place before we head up.”
“Okay. How nice are we talking about? Do I need a suit for tonight, too?”
“Yeah, probably. That charcoal gray one?” She pulled away and went into his bedroom. He followed along and watched her going through his closet. She pulled out the suit in question. “With that dark red shirt underneath. You look so good in red, you ought to wear it more.” She found the shirt she wanted while Reid watched, bemused.
“Going to pick out my tie, too?”
“Can I?” she said, going to his tie rack. “Here, this one.” She pulled out a tie that matched the shirt almost exactly.
Reid got out a suitbag and tucked the clothes into it, going to the closet for his black suit as well. “Done playing dress-up doll with me?”
“Oh…I’m sorry,” she said, deflating. “That’s so obnoxious-girlfriend.”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind.”
“You know how rare it is for a man to have a closet full of cool, colorful clothes that he’s actually willing to wear? Most guys are terrified of color or patterns or anything remotely nonconformist. Can you blame me for wanting to dress you up?” She sat down on the still-unmade bed. “You don’t have to stick to my side all day, though. Bring your laptop and your casefiles, maybe the team could use your input. I’ll have things to do and I need to spend some time with my mother.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“I’ll set you up in the downstairs study, nobody ever goes in there. Just…check in every hour or so, okay?” She gave him a wavery smile.
He reached across the bed and squeezed her hand. “You just tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”
When they arrived at the Prentiss home, Elizabeth greeted them at the door. She looked awful. It was clear she’d been crying. Emily seemed reassured by this, and Reid knew why. It meant that her mother was dealing with her loss instead of burying herself in minutiae to escape it. She hugged Emily hard, both of them crying a little bit, and shook his hand, seeming genuinely glad to see him.
But then, there was family business, and Reid set up camp in the downstairs study Emily had mentioned. He got hooked up with Garcia back at Quantico and spent most of the morning going over the evidence of the team’s case. He spoke to Morgan and Rossi over webcam, helped them with the geographical profile, and watched a live feed of one of the UNSUB’s surviving victims giving a statement. Once an hour, he excused himself and went to find Emily. The first two times he found her with family. She met his eyes and gave him a nod and a wave. I’m okay. He went back to work. The third time, just after noon, he found her sitting at a table drinking coffee with two older women. She beckoned him over. “I don’t think you’ve met my boyfriend, Dr. Spencer Reid,” she said to her companions.
“Oh my, we’ve heard about you,” said one of them.
“Spencer, this is my great-aunt Dorothy Prentiss, and this is Jane Wooster, an old friend of the family.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking their hands.
Emily looked up at him. “We’ve just been reminiscing,” she said. She blinked at him fast, her eyes slightly widened. Get me out of here.
“I hate to steal her away, but I was going to take her out for lunch,” he said.
“Oh, no, that’s fine, dear. You go ahead,” said Jane Wooster. “You could use the fresh air, I’m sure,” she said, and Reid could have sworn he saw her wink at Emily.
He took her hand and pulled her away, waving goodbye to great-aunt Dorothy and family friend Jane. “Thank God you showed up, I was getting ready to fake a heart attack,” she muttered.
“Did you see that little wink good old Jane gave you? I think she thinks we’re sneaking off to have sex.”
“Is that option off the table?”
“Well, I was actually serious about lunch. I thought it’d do you good to get out of the house for a little while – unless you want to stay.”
“No. Getting out is good. There’s a great deli a few minutes away, let’s go there.”
“Okay.” They climbed into his car and he followed her directions to the deli, a ramshackle little neighborhood dive that seemed out of place in the posh neighborhood where Emily’s parents lived.
“I know it doesn’t look like much,” she said, noting his puzzled expression. “It’s a local institution. Trust me.”
They got sandwiches and sat in a booth by the window. “Wow,” Reid said, after his first bite. “This is really good.”
“Told you,” she said, her own mouth full of sandwich.
“So how’s it going at home?” he asked.
She swallowed. “All right.” She put down her sandwich and looked off out the window. “I keep waiting for Dad to walk in, you know? I can’t even…” Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head, blinking. “There’s just so many things I would ask him about. And all I can think about is that I wish he’d met you. I’m weirdly fixated on it. I wish I could go back in time one week and bring you up here so I could say to him, Dad, you’ve never liked a single one of my boyfriends, so here’s the one you will like. And he would have. Liked you, I mean.”
“Are you sure?” Reid said, dubious about that. By all accounts, Emily’s father had been a hearty fraternity sort with a Phi Beta Kappa key from Harvard, the sort who valued family connections and old money. “I didn’t think I was his type.”
“I know how he seemed, how I talked about him. But he admired courage and self-sufficiency. He hated posers and artifice. No, he would have liked you. I’m sure of it.” She heaved a shaky sigh. “He’d have said, finally, Emily. Finally you bring home a man who isn’t a fool.”
“He was proud of you, you know.”
She glanced at him and then away again, quickly. “How do you know?”
“How could he not be?”
Emily didn’t answer, just looked out the window. They finished their sandwiches in silence.
There was more activity at the house when they got back. More caterers and family members arriving. “I can’t deal with this,” she murmured as they approached the front door. “I just want to take a nap.”
“Then take one.”
“With you?” she asked.
“If you like.”
She nodded. “Go on up to my bedroom, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Reid had earlier brought up their bags to Emily’s old bedroom. He kicked off his shoes and looked at the photos stuck into the mirror. He’d heard Emily talk about her college friends. He wondered which one was Germany, which one was Kate, which one was Nora.
The door opened and Emily came in. “I just wanted to tell Mom I was going to grab a nap.” She came to him and took both of his hands. “So was Jane entirely wrong with her little wink?” she asked.
Reid just slid one hand behind her head and kissed her, pulling her up close. She put her arms around him and kissed back. “You need this?” he whispered.
She shook her head. “No. I want this.” She kissed him again, then pulled away and went to the bed. He watched as she tossed the throw pillows to the floor, then neatly folded down the covers. She came back to him, her face calm. “I always wanted to bring a man into this bed,” she murmured, her fingers unbuttoning his shirt.
They undressed each other with slow deliberation, exchanging soft kisses, caressing bare skin as it was revealed until they were both nude. She led him to the bed and they slid beneath the covers where they made quiet love to each other, unhurried and easy, sighing out their releases and falling asleep wrapped up together.
A "Criminal Minds" fanfiction by MadLori
Chapter 8
He bent his head close to Emily’s. “Em, do you want to go to your parents’ house now, or wait until later?”
She sniffed and lifted her head a little. “Now.”
“Okay, let’s go.” She nodded, still clinging to him. He looked around at the team. “You guys should go ahead without me, I’ll catch up.” Everyone was nodding.
Rossi spoke up. “You stay with her, Reid. You two sit this one out, we'll manage.” His eyes were sympathetic.
--How to Fight Loneliness, Chapter 8
one month later
Emily was almost too tired to walk. He had his arm around her and she was leaning heavily on him as they climbed the stairs to his second-floor apartment. He didn’t wonder why she’d wanted to come here instead of to her place, where they spent eighty percent of their time together; his place was more neutral for her. Her own home would be more hazardous with family memories.
He felt pretty drained himself. It had been an eventful eight hours. After their abrupt and involuntary outing in front of their teammates, they’d immediately driven to the Prentiss family home in Baltimore, where they’d been greeted by Whirlwind Elizabeth, who was sublimating her grief into an intense desire to organize, arrange and keep everything under control. Emily had just wanted to be left alone and not think about things quite yet. She wasn’t ready to answer questions about what kind of casket they should buy or what hymns her father would like played at the service.
At her insistence he had stayed glued to her side, even through conversations in which he felt like an intruder. He was meeting many of her family members for the first time. At least they were seeing him as a supportive and attentive boyfriend.
Emily’s father had died in his sleep. The coroner hadn’t been there yet, so he was still lying in bed where he’d been found. Emily had been shaking as she entered the room. He’d all but insisted that she go in alone, but she’d begged him to stay with her, so he had. He’d hung back while she went to the side of the bed and knelt there. In silence she had looked at her father’s body, no words, no tears, just – looked.
After a few minutes, she’d gotten up and silently walked past him and out into the hall. He’d followed her to her own room, the one she’d occupied during vacations from college. Her high school diploma was still hanging on the wall, photos of herself with college friends tucked into the mirror, but other than that it was an ordinary room. She’d sat down on the bed, folding her legs under her, and let her head fall into her hands. He’d sat down facing her, and as soon as she saw him she reached out and buried herself in his arms, not crying, just trembling. He’d held her, saying nothing because there was nothing he could say.
Elizabeth had come in a few minutes later. “Emily, I’d like to talk to you about the service,” she’d said. Reid tried to send her a clear “leave now please” signal with his eyes but it seemed like she didn’t even see him. “There are decisions to be made, I still have calls to make…I thought you’d want to call your cousins yourself.”
She’d finally forced him to speak with her persistence. “Elizabeth, please just give her some time, okay?” he said.
“These things can’t really wait, Dr. Reid. Emily?”
He’d pulled away from her and started to rise, but Emily grasped at him, trying to hold him back. “I’ll be right back,” he’d whispered, kissing her forehead. She’d nodded and curled up on her bed, not even acknowledging her mother’s presence.
He’d drawn Elizabeth into the hall, shutting the door behind him. “Elizabeth, you need to leave her alone for a little while. She’s not ready to deal with the details. Nothing is that urgent.”
“I can’t just let it go,” Elizabeth said, and he saw in her eyes the manic need to stay on top of things, because if she let the reins go slack, there might be a stampede. “Things need to be arranged.”
“There are other people to help you with that. Emily’s just lost her father. And you’ve just lost your husband. It’s okay to rely on friends and family. I will take care of Emily. She’s my only concern right now. I know that you have assistants and lawyers and trusted friends who can deal with whatever needs to be handled. You should look after yourself.”
“He’s right, Betsy,” said a distinguished-looking gray-haired man, walking up to them. “Take a breath, will you? You’re going to snap in two.”
Elizabeth looked at him with a mixture of annoyance and affection. “Don’t tell me how I am, Brian. I have everything under control.”
“But you don’t need to,” said the man, who must be Emily’s uncle Brian, Elizabeth’s brother. “For once in your life, let it go.”
Elizabeth seemed affected by this. He saw her chin tremble a little. “I suppose…I don’t know, should I…” She trailed off and seemed lost.
“Why don’t you go downstairs? Helen’s here. Let her look after you.” Reid’s brain dredged up the name Helen as belonging to Elizabeth’s best friend and college roommate.
She looked back at him. “You’ll…look after Emily?”
“Of course. I’m sure she’ll want to talk, but right now she needs some time.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll be downstairs.”
“Good girl,” Brian said. Elizabeth headed off, looking a little unsteady. Brian watched her go, then turned back to Reid. “Don’t believe we’ve met. Brian Hofstedter.”
“Spencer Reid,” he said, shaking Brian’s hand.
“Oh, you’re Emily’s young man. We’ve been hearing about you. Nice to meet you. Wish the circumstances were better. How is she?”
“She’s shut down a bit right now. She’ll come around, but the last thing she needs is…” He glanced off in the direction of Elizabeth’s departure.
Brian nodded. “That’s Betsy’s way. Stiff upper lip, take care of business. You and Emily work together?”
“Yes. We’re on the same team at the BAU.”
“Well, this is above and beyond the call of duty. You must be serious about her.”
“I am.”
Brian gave him an appraising glance, then a sharp nod. “Good man. Look after her, we’ll handle what needs to be handled. She needn’t worry about the damn hymns or the flowers or God knows what else Betsy’s obsessing over, not unless she wants to. You thinking of staying here tonight?”
“Well, I at least have to stop back to the office. Emily may want to stay, but I suspect she’ll want to go home.”
“We’ll all be here until the funeral, at least. I suspect you and Emily will be back tomorrow, then?”
“Probably.”
Brian nodded. “We’ll see you then.” He started to walk away, then turned back. “I thought you’d be younger.”
Reid frowned. “Pardon?”
“Betsy kept saying Emily was dating this younger man. To hear her talk you’d think you were barely out of your teens. You don’t seem so very young to me.”
Reid smiled. “Thanks, I think.”
He’d gone back into the bedroom. He’d spent most of the afternoon sitting on her bed, propped up against the headboard, just holding her. She had eventually gone downstairs to join her family and talk about some of the details, but when he’d left for the BAU she’d come with him.
And now here they were, at his apartment. He was waiting for the Prentiss Lockdown to lift. By his reckoning it would happen soon.
“Are you hungry?” he asked as Emily sat down on the couch.
She shook her head. “I need a drink.”
“Way ahead of you.” He was at the fridge making her a gin and tonic. “Here.”
“Bless you,” she muttered, knocking half of the drink back in two swallows. “God damn,” she said. She leaned back against the couch, her eyes closing. He sat down next to her. “I feel so – numb.”
“It’s shock.”
“I know what it is,” she said, an edge in her voice.
“All right.”
She sighed and reached one hand over to his leg. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t take it out on you.”
“Well, I’m handy.”
She turned her head and opened her eyes to look at him. “Thank you. So much.”
“For what?”
“For staying with me. For being there.”
“I’m surprised you’d expect otherwise. Isn’t that what people in relationships do for each other?”
“In theory. You’d be amazed how many people in relationships suddenly feel like those relationships aren’t so serious when some real emotional demands are made of them.”
“I guess I’m not like those people.”
She smiled a little. “No. You’re not. And just so you know, if something awful happened to you tomorrow, I’d be right there to help you through it.”
“Thanks. I never thought you wouldn’t be.”
She stretched. “I’m exhausted.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“Do I have any pajamas here?”
“I don’t think so. Just put on one of my t-shirts.” He ran his hand over her leg in a chaste caress of comfort. “Why don’t you go shower and get in bed? I’m going to call Hotch, see how the case is going.”
She looked at him ruefully. “And maybe get yelled at?”
“Might as well get it over with.”
“Okay. A shower sounds great. So does bed.” She got up and headed into his bedroom.
Reid got out his cell phone, took a deep breath, and dialed.
“Hotchner.”
“Hotch, it’s Reid.”
“How is Emily?”
“She’s dealing. Her mother was herself to the nth degree. I expect we’ll go back up to Baltimore tomorrow. I called to check on the case.”
“Did you read the casefiles?”
“Yeah. Seem like a fetishist who’s resorted to killing to obtain their integumentary items.”
“That’s what we thought. I don’t think he’ll be that hard to catch.”
“Publicize that one of the graves of his victims is being exhumed and the body moved across country. He might try to get to it before the exhumation, and you’ve got him.”
“That’s a good idea. The family might not go for it but it’s worth proposing it.”
“Hotch…about me and Emily.”
He heard Hotch sigh. “How long?”
“We’ve been seeing each other for five months.”
“Well, that doesn’t say much for the rest of our profiling skills.”
Reid smiled. “We worked hard to hide it. We were going to tell you. We decided a month ago that we’d tell you and the team, but there never seemed to be a good moment and we kept putting it off.”
“I admit, I had noticed that you both seemed – happier. I didn’t make the connection, though.”
“It’s not like it’s anything anyone would have predicted, least of all either of us.” He steeled himself. “Hotch, about the team…”
“Reid, stop right there. What you tell me in confidence is between us. Officially, you and Prentiss are friends and co-workers. No one’s sworn any affidavits or made any official declarations. Your personal lives are none of my business.”
Relief flooded him. “You didn’t seem so accommodating earlier.”
“I was surprised. And Dave might have talked me down a little,” he said. Reid could hear the wry smile on Hotch’s face.
“Remind me to buy him a bottle of his favorite Scotch.”
“But let me be clear. If it becomes a hindrance to either of you performing your jobs, I will have no choice but to make an issue out of it. Don’t make me do that.”
“We won’t. We haven’t so far, have we?”
“No. Keep it up.” He paused. “Reid, I’m – happy for you. Both of you.”
“Thanks.” He hesitated. “Well, I better go. It’s been a long day and it’ll be another one tomorrow.”
“Good luck. Take care of Emily. Everyone else will be worrying about a thousand different things. She’ll need someone who’s focused on her. I went through this when Haley’s father died. She needs you to just step up and take care of things.”
“I will. Thanks, Hotch. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Reid.”
He hung up. That had gone better than he’d dared to hope it would. The shower had shut off and he heard Emily rustling about in the bedroom. Reid got up and went into the kitchen to set up coffee in the percolator for the morning, sprinkling a little cinnamon on top of the grounds for some added flavor. That was a trick he’d picked up in college when they’d all stayed up very late studying, drinking really crappy coffee that you’d try anything to improve.
He went into the bedroom. Emily was curled on her side under the covers. He stripped to his boxers and climbed in with her. She turned over and snuggled close to him, one arm across his chest. He put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “What’d Hotch say?” she mumbled.
“Not a lot, surprisingly. Sounds like he’s favoring a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy about us dating.” She nodded, then turned her head and began to kiss his neck, her hand wandering lower over his boxers. “Emily, we don’t have to do anything. You’re exhausted.”
“I want to,” she murmured against the skin of his throat. “I need you.”
“Em…” he began, although his body was responding in spite of himself.
“Please,” she whispered, crawling up over him and straddling his hips. “Make it go away for a little while,” she said, her voice cracking.
Reid put his arms around her while she kept kissing him, but he felt strange about it. Was this what she needed right now? Shouldn’t she try to get some sleep?
No, idiot. She’s telling you what she needs and that’s sex with you, and you’re going to say no…why?
He looked up into her face. “You sure?” he whispered. She nodded. “All right,” he murmured, and pulled her back down into a deep, hard kiss. She yanked on his shoulders; he got the hint and rolled them over. She didn’t seem to want a lot of foreplay or a slow and sensual session of lovemaking. She slipped off her panties and pulled his boxers down. “Em…wait a sec…”
“Spencer,” she panted. “Stop talking and fuck me.”
He nodded. “Okay, if that’s what you want.” It clearly was, she was pulling at his hips and shimmying around underneath him. She reached between them and grabbed his erection. He thrust forward into her and settled between her legs. She hung onto his shoulders and urged him to go faster, wrapping her legs around his hips and bucking against him.
Reid knew that he had to get her off. Of all times, this time he really had to. She needed an emotional release and this could catalyze it, jolt her out of her Lockdown. It wouldn’t be easy if it was this quick. Usually they had more time. With a few memorable exceptions, fast sex for them had meant sex with an epilogue. Which didn’t seem to bother her, as long as the epilogue actually happened. But tonight, this was his job, and he’d do it. He got to his knees so he could lift her hips into his lap and change the angle of their bodies against each other. She clutched at him and rocked her pelvis hard into his. He reached down and pressed his thumb against her, rubbing in a circle, and within a few more thrusts she came with a yell. Reid was so concerned about it that he lost his erection without having come himself, but that was okay.
Her cry turned into a sob, then into deep, wracking sobs drug up from the bottom of her lungs, ragged and abused. He lay down at her side and pulled her into his arms. She grabbed at him like a life preserver, shaking, and released her grief against his chest.
For an hour, they just lay there. Reid didn’t say anything. There was nothing he could say that would mitigate this for her. He just held her tight and let her cry, her tears wetting the t-shirt he was still wearing. He handed her Kleenex after Kleenex from the box on the night table for her to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. Gradually, she calmed. He shifted onto his back and drew her head and shoulders onto his chest. He stroked her back and rubbed her neck while her chest hitched in the aftermath of her outburst.
After a long time, she lifted her head and met his eyes. “God, that sucked.”
He smoothed her tangled hair back. “You needed it.”
She fell in a heap against his chest again. “I feel like I’ve been beat up.”
“You need to get some sleep.”
“Yeah.” She shifted against him, not moving away, just getting more comfortable. “Are you okay like this? I don’t want to move from this spot.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
She nodded, already drifting away, one leg and one arm tossed over him. He drew the covers up around them.
“Spencer?” she murmured, half-asleep.
“Hmmm?”
“Thanks.”
He kissed the top of her head. “No thanks necessary.”
Emily was watching him pack up his casefiles and his laptop. “You don’t have to come, you know.”
He looked up at her. “What?”
“You could still join the team in Syracuse. I’m okay here.”
Reid gave her a look. “If you think I’m going to leave you here by yourself at a time like this, you’re crazy.”
“I won’t be alone, I’ve got my family. My mother will probably have gotten over her little fit of in-controllishness by now.”
He shifted, another thought occurring. “Emily, are you saying you don’t want me to stay with you? If that’s the case, then I’ll go.”
“No!” she said, her eyes widening. “No, that’s not it at all! I just don’t want you to feel obligated.”
He stepped closer. “Why not?”
“Well…”
“Being obligated isn’t the worst thing ever.” He put his hands on her hips. Hers went to his chest. “I love you, Emily.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered, her eyes lowered.
“Which means I’m obligated to you. But not in a bad way. I want to stay with you. It’s my job to support you through this. But more than that – I feel so lucky that I’m the one you want with you now. If we’re serious about each other, that comes with some obligation. I like being obligated to you.”
She looked up at him. “Who are you?” she murmured. “Who are you, and where’s that awkward guy who Morgan had to practically shove at women?”
“Oh…he’s still here. He’s just employing that old ‘fake it till you make it’ strategy.”
“I think you’ve made it, Dr. Reid.” She kissed him thoroughly. “We should probably stay overnight at the house tonight, since the service is in the morning. And I guess there’s a gathering at my parents’ house tonight, since there’s no viewing. We should bring nicer clothes to change into for that, plus funeral clothes, so we’ll have to stop off at my place before we head up.”
“Okay. How nice are we talking about? Do I need a suit for tonight, too?”
“Yeah, probably. That charcoal gray one?” She pulled away and went into his bedroom. He followed along and watched her going through his closet. She pulled out the suit in question. “With that dark red shirt underneath. You look so good in red, you ought to wear it more.” She found the shirt she wanted while Reid watched, bemused.
“Going to pick out my tie, too?”
“Can I?” she said, going to his tie rack. “Here, this one.” She pulled out a tie that matched the shirt almost exactly.
Reid got out a suitbag and tucked the clothes into it, going to the closet for his black suit as well. “Done playing dress-up doll with me?”
“Oh…I’m sorry,” she said, deflating. “That’s so obnoxious-girlfriend.”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind.”
“You know how rare it is for a man to have a closet full of cool, colorful clothes that he’s actually willing to wear? Most guys are terrified of color or patterns or anything remotely nonconformist. Can you blame me for wanting to dress you up?” She sat down on the still-unmade bed. “You don’t have to stick to my side all day, though. Bring your laptop and your casefiles, maybe the team could use your input. I’ll have things to do and I need to spend some time with my mother.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“I’ll set you up in the downstairs study, nobody ever goes in there. Just…check in every hour or so, okay?” She gave him a wavery smile.
He reached across the bed and squeezed her hand. “You just tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”
When they arrived at the Prentiss home, Elizabeth greeted them at the door. She looked awful. It was clear she’d been crying. Emily seemed reassured by this, and Reid knew why. It meant that her mother was dealing with her loss instead of burying herself in minutiae to escape it. She hugged Emily hard, both of them crying a little bit, and shook his hand, seeming genuinely glad to see him.
But then, there was family business, and Reid set up camp in the downstairs study Emily had mentioned. He got hooked up with Garcia back at Quantico and spent most of the morning going over the evidence of the team’s case. He spoke to Morgan and Rossi over webcam, helped them with the geographical profile, and watched a live feed of one of the UNSUB’s surviving victims giving a statement. Once an hour, he excused himself and went to find Emily. The first two times he found her with family. She met his eyes and gave him a nod and a wave. I’m okay. He went back to work. The third time, just after noon, he found her sitting at a table drinking coffee with two older women. She beckoned him over. “I don’t think you’ve met my boyfriend, Dr. Spencer Reid,” she said to her companions.
“Oh my, we’ve heard about you,” said one of them.
“Spencer, this is my great-aunt Dorothy Prentiss, and this is Jane Wooster, an old friend of the family.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking their hands.
Emily looked up at him. “We’ve just been reminiscing,” she said. She blinked at him fast, her eyes slightly widened. Get me out of here.
“I hate to steal her away, but I was going to take her out for lunch,” he said.
“Oh, no, that’s fine, dear. You go ahead,” said Jane Wooster. “You could use the fresh air, I’m sure,” she said, and Reid could have sworn he saw her wink at Emily.
He took her hand and pulled her away, waving goodbye to great-aunt Dorothy and family friend Jane. “Thank God you showed up, I was getting ready to fake a heart attack,” she muttered.
“Did you see that little wink good old Jane gave you? I think she thinks we’re sneaking off to have sex.”
“Is that option off the table?”
“Well, I was actually serious about lunch. I thought it’d do you good to get out of the house for a little while – unless you want to stay.”
“No. Getting out is good. There’s a great deli a few minutes away, let’s go there.”
“Okay.” They climbed into his car and he followed her directions to the deli, a ramshackle little neighborhood dive that seemed out of place in the posh neighborhood where Emily’s parents lived.
“I know it doesn’t look like much,” she said, noting his puzzled expression. “It’s a local institution. Trust me.”
They got sandwiches and sat in a booth by the window. “Wow,” Reid said, after his first bite. “This is really good.”
“Told you,” she said, her own mouth full of sandwich.
“So how’s it going at home?” he asked.
She swallowed. “All right.” She put down her sandwich and looked off out the window. “I keep waiting for Dad to walk in, you know? I can’t even…” Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head, blinking. “There’s just so many things I would ask him about. And all I can think about is that I wish he’d met you. I’m weirdly fixated on it. I wish I could go back in time one week and bring you up here so I could say to him, Dad, you’ve never liked a single one of my boyfriends, so here’s the one you will like. And he would have. Liked you, I mean.”
“Are you sure?” Reid said, dubious about that. By all accounts, Emily’s father had been a hearty fraternity sort with a Phi Beta Kappa key from Harvard, the sort who valued family connections and old money. “I didn’t think I was his type.”
“I know how he seemed, how I talked about him. But he admired courage and self-sufficiency. He hated posers and artifice. No, he would have liked you. I’m sure of it.” She heaved a shaky sigh. “He’d have said, finally, Emily. Finally you bring home a man who isn’t a fool.”
“He was proud of you, you know.”
She glanced at him and then away again, quickly. “How do you know?”
“How could he not be?”
Emily didn’t answer, just looked out the window. They finished their sandwiches in silence.
There was more activity at the house when they got back. More caterers and family members arriving. “I can’t deal with this,” she murmured as they approached the front door. “I just want to take a nap.”
“Then take one.”
“With you?” she asked.
“If you like.”
She nodded. “Go on up to my bedroom, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Reid had earlier brought up their bags to Emily’s old bedroom. He kicked off his shoes and looked at the photos stuck into the mirror. He’d heard Emily talk about her college friends. He wondered which one was Germany, which one was Kate, which one was Nora.
The door opened and Emily came in. “I just wanted to tell Mom I was going to grab a nap.” She came to him and took both of his hands. “So was Jane entirely wrong with her little wink?” she asked.
Reid just slid one hand behind her head and kissed her, pulling her up close. She put her arms around him and kissed back. “You need this?” he whispered.
She shook her head. “No. I want this.” She kissed him again, then pulled away and went to the bed. He watched as she tossed the throw pillows to the floor, then neatly folded down the covers. She came back to him, her face calm. “I always wanted to bring a man into this bed,” she murmured, her fingers unbuttoning his shirt.
They undressed each other with slow deliberation, exchanging soft kisses, caressing bare skin as it was revealed until they were both nude. She led him to the bed and they slid beneath the covers where they made quiet love to each other, unhurried and easy, sighing out their releases and falling asleep wrapped up together.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 02:27 am (UTC)Oh, and I loved Hotch (although I just love Hotch in general).
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Date: 2010-07-01 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 03:26 am (UTC)And yay for Reid stepping up to the plate and really being there for Emily when she needed him most. This is a really sweet chapter and I'd love to give Emily a hug myself after all that.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 02:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 03:57 am (UTC)Reid is adorable here, especially when running interference with the ambassador. I want a Reid of my very own to run interference with my mother when she's in one of her moods :) And poor Emily, wishing she had brought Reid around in time for him to meet her father. That's got to weigh on her.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 06:21 am (UTC)Also, this line:“How could he not be?”
? Made me tear up. Really perfect moment.
Thanks as always.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 06:57 pm (UTC)Great job.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-13 07:11 pm (UTC)