Fic: Visitor, Chapter 5 (Criminal Minds, Reid Morgan, Hotch / Chad, Elle)
Title: Visitor, Chapter 5
Pair: Spencer Reid / Derek Morgan,
Aaron Hotchner / Chad Christensen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc
Criminal Minds Main List
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
“That was a whole new experience for me…” Elle looked down at the plate in her hand. She was still balancing her coffee cup in her other hand.
“Whhhhaaaaa?” Garcia mumbled through a mouthful of cake.
“How is it possible to offer sponge cake and make it sound like a death threat?”
“Maybe you lost something in translation. How was the body language?”
“You were right here.”
“Yeah, but there was cake available. My attention was divided.” Garcia used one hand to shove another piece of the cake into her mouth and continued fiddling with her cellphone with the other hand. “Besides, why would he offer coffee and cake if he wanted to harm you?”
“I mean the tone. I’ve heard that same tone few times in my life and it was usually our childhood neighbour. Every time some boy came to pick up his daughter, he went to get his shot gun and gave the poor kid a little lecture about what will happen if the girl’s not back home on time.”
“Now that I think about it…”
“What?”
“If memory serves me correctly…”
“Penny.”
“Chad used to do some handgun training in Quantico.”
“You’re supposed to make me feel better.”
“I just did.”
“It didn’t help.”
“It should have. Chad probably doesn’t have shotgun at the house.”
“But he probably has handguns. You’re a real comfort.”
“But a resourceful comfort.” Garcia pocketed her phone. “Cavalry is on its way.”
“Who?”
“My one and true sex object, and I told him to bring Spencie too.”
“You did what?”
“You know…” Garcia observed the look on Elle’s face. “… when you get that homicidal maniac look on your face, your left eye starts twitching.”
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“Please. Just come out here and we’ll talk about this.”
“I can’t, I think I got a food poisoning.”
“I ate everything you did and I’m fine.” Morgan stated. “Open the door.”
“I think it’s Campylobacter jejuni… if left untreated it can cause secondary Guillain-Barré syndrome and periodontitis-”
“You’re not sick.”
“Did you know it was first discovered in 1963? The organism has a characteristic spiral appearance and it’s oxidase-positive.”
“If you don’t open this door right now, I’ll go upstairs, use the other bathroom and then kick this door down.”
“You spent half a day lacquering it, you wouldn’t harm it.”
“I might!”
“You won`t.”
“Maybe I’ll do what I’ve wanted to do for a long time…”
“Stay away from my nightlight!”
“I mean your messenger bag. I’ve always wanted to take a good look at what you got there-”
“Do not touch it or else!”
“Come out and I won’t.”
“Fine!” Reid snapped the lock open and stepped out of the bathroom. “But I can’t come with you, I have a serious rash.”
“Where?”
“I think I’ve become allergic to your car seat covers. We really need to get you some new ones, maybe we can go shopping next week or maybe next month-”
“Nice try.” Morgan grabbed him and threw him on his shoulder into a firemen’s hold. “I’ve seen every inch of you there is to see, there`s no rash.”
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“Elle?” Hotch walked into the living room. His hair was still damp from a quick shower and small trickles of water were running down to wet the back of his T-shirt.
“It really is you.”
“Yeah.” Elle stood up, but didn’t approach him. “It’s been a while.”
“You want me to give you some privacy?” Garcia swallowed the last piece of her cake. “I could use some sun. How bout I wait in the back yard?”
“Jack and Chad are playing ball, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind an audience.” Hotch agreed. “Just watch out when Jack’s throwing the ball, that thing can really hurt.”
“I’ll be careful.” Garcia grabbed a new slice of cake from the table and walked to the backdoor.
Both Elle and Hotch were quiet for a while.
“Sorry you had to wait.” Hotch finally said. “Cleaning the grill was a lot dirtier than I thought.”
“No problem, I got to spend some quality time with your…” She considered her words for a second. “… better half. Interesting guy.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“And scary.”
“You were scared?” A small smirk curled up his lips. “You? I can’t believe you would have changed that much.”
“Maybe not scared, more like reaching for my gun just in case. If I still carried a gun.”
“Yeah…” Hotch sat down at the other end of the couch. “So what do you do now?”
“I do freelance gigs for newspapers, crime stories. I’m not much of a writer, but it’s like writing a report. State the facts and draw conclusions, doesn’t take that much skills.” She paused. “Penny said you got a real reporter around now, I think I’ve read some of his stories.”
“Cain? Yeah, he’s good at his job.”
“You and… Chad. You two are pretty settled, aren’t you?”
“I guess we are. You think it’s odd?”
“Not really, but it… makes it feel like I’ve been gone for ages. Lost contact with everyone.”
“You didn’t loose contact, you cut contacts.”
“I know. It was easier to get myself back on tracks by myself.”
“Where did you go after you left?”
“I… I don’t want to talk about it. I got a two week gig here covering the McArthur trial, so I thought I could kill two flies with one stone.” She swallowed heavily. “I owe you an apology. I wasn’t exactly myself back then, but that`s not an excuse.”
“True.” Hotch agreed. “And maybe I could have handled it differently, but I did as I saw fit.”
“Yeah, I… I`m okay now. Honestly.”
“Are you?”
“Yeah, mostly. Not exactly the same I was before everything, but I’m getting there.” She took a calming breath. “Not that anyone’s the same they were. Like you.”
“I haven’t changed that much.”
“I didn’t see you that much outside work, but I think you have. You seem more relaxed. Not so uptight.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Hotch admitted. “Right now everything’s well. Work is what it is, but it’s not as overbearing as it was.”
“It isn’t?”
“I’m trying to leave work issues behind me when I come home. It helps a lot.”
“And some new company.” She nodded. “That’s a good look on you.”
“What is?”
“Happy and relaxed. Hold on to that.”
“What about you? Are you happy?”
“I’m happier. Some days are better than others.” Elle swiped few locks of hair away from her face with a nervous gesture. “Let’s talk about what’s been going on here. Garcia gave same inside scoops.”
“I’m sure her interpretation was a lot more colourful than it really was.”
“Yeah, but interesting too. Everyone’s paired up: Reid and Morgan, Garcia and Kevin.”
“Natural progression.”
“Yeah. I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. I knew Reid and Morgan were close, but I had no idea they were that close.”
“I don’t think they started anything until after you left.”
“Still. Group of profilers and no one saw it coming till it happened. Good to hear I wasn’t the only one who got sloppy in that area.”
“The profiling of team members is still prohibited. At least when the object is within the hearing distance.” Hotch grinned. “Rossi actually caught Morgan, Prentiss and Reid inspecting his office when he came back.”
“How did he adapt to the team?”
“Surprisingly well. I think Prentiss had more difficulties.”
“I heard about her.” Elle nodded. “She came after I left.”
“That`s right.”
“Is she any good?”
“She is. She and Reid had some issues in the beginning, but there was some other things going on back then.”
“You mean that case in Georgia? I read about it in the papers.” Her tone turned fainter. “I was going to call, but I wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear from me.”
“I think he would have liked to hear from you. He worried about you.”
“I know.” A sound of car doors slamming shut interrupted her. “That’s probably him and Morgan, Garcia send them a message.”
“Well, there`s an answers for you. If he didn’t want to meet you, he wouldn’t have come here.”
“Unless Morgan threw him on his shoulder and dragged him here.” Elle chuckled nervously. “I can definitely see Morgan doing that.”
Chapter 6/6