A/n there's no time line for this. It is partially inspired by Sex, Birth and Death. Since Reid and Garcia's night out on the town was interrupted, I came up with the mini road trip idea instead.
Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by me. No profit is made from this posting.
Reid stumbled to the door to see who was knocking at such an ungodly hour of the morning on a Saturday. It was ten am. The knocking continued like a machine. He squinted against the sunlight streaming in through the window at one end of the room. He was going to kill whoever was on the other end of all that knocking.
"I'm coming… who the hell is it."
"Dr Reid such language. Aren't you supposed to be the mild mannered profiler?"
What the hell was Garcia doing on his doorstep?
"Garcia… what are you doing here?" He said loudly and irritably through the door.
"Open up sweet thing," she said, ignoring his questions and his tone.
"No… I 'm going back to bed." He told her, turning to go back to his room.
"I have Starbucks!" She said in a sing song voice.
Damn her!
He opened the door and stood back for her to enter. He went to the couch and sat down to stare owlishly at the cups of wonderful smelling coffee she held in a paper tray in one hand. This was blackmail, but what the hell, he'd let her say her piece and when the coffee was gone, he'd kick her out of his apartment and go back to bed.
She plopped down next to him and held the coffee under his nose. He sniffed at it and reached out to take it off her hands. She pulled the tray out of his reach.
"Nope… you don't get any of this till you go put some clothes on and promise to surrender yourself to me for the day." She said quite seriously while he gaped at her in disbelief.
"I'm not going anywhere with you Garcia. It's my day off and I intend to spend it sleeping." He informed her getting up to go back to his bedroom. She could show herself out the door.
"No problem honey pie, just know I'll be waiting here for you when you get up." She moved to the entertainment center and began to look through the limited selection of movies he had in his DVD collection.
He stood staring at her as she acted like he wasn't there. What was her problem? "Alright… give me a minute will you." He stomped away to his bedroom and she grinned at his back and congratulated herself on successfully bribing him.
Ten minutes later he was back dressed in his every day wear of cords, dress shirt, tie and sweater vest. She looked at him in dismay. This was going to be harder then she thought.
"I told you we're going out for the day. You can't wear that!"
"Why not? You're the one that barges in here uninvited. I'll wear what I want." He sat down on the couch again and folded his arms and crossed his legs.
"Listen sweet cheeks, I brought you Starbucks which is rapidly cooling, if you want it, then you better go put on some road trip clothes."
"Garcia what are you babbling about?"
"Don't argue Dr. Reid," she waved the container of coffee in his face. "Go get changed into something that doesn't make you look like a college professor. The coffee is getting cold."
"Fine, I'll be right back." He stomped out of the room and was back five minutes latter wearing an orange tee shirt, a pair of faded jeans, and his only pair of sneakers.
"Well... the color doesn't suit you, but I guess it will have to do." She said shaking her head and clucking in disapproval.
"I'm so glad you approve," he said sarcastically. He took the coffee she gave him and began to drink it.
"Hey… what's your hurry? Starbucks isn't going out of business you know."
"It's getting cold, I'm not wasting a good cup of coffee." Reid shot back. He finished off the cup then put it down on the end table.
"Now can I go back to bed in peace."
She grinned at him and he went cold all over. "No sweetie, you're coming with me. I thought I made it clear we're going on a road trip."
"I thought I made it clear that I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm going back to bed." He started towards his bedroom.
"Spencer… come on. That last case in Phoenix was brutal for all of us. I know I'll never get those pictures out of my head. We can use some fun."
He regarded her curiously. "Since when do you call me by my first name?"
"I thought it would give my case a serious note."
"Naw… all it did was creep me out. Don't do it again!" He ordered.
She laughed, marked off a salute to him and grabbed his arm. "Hey… let go of me." He tried to pull away but she hung on like a bulldog with it's bone.
"All I want to do is take a day trip down to Baltimore. It'll be fun… I promise," She said in a completely serious tone that he would have believed had it been anyone other then her. "Reid… you know I can hurt you if you don't march."
"Fine… I'm only going because I like Esther." He said picking up his keys and phone. His hand reached for his badge and gun and she bumped it away.
"We're not going on a raid, you gorgeous thing, leave the badge here." She drilled a finger into his chest.
"The badge goes." He insisted.
"Okay… okay… I give up."
She pushed him out the door and waited for him to lock the door. The sun was completely up when they started out, and Garcia left the top down. The September day was cool enough to be comfortable and the sky was a light blue with stray clouds here there.
Garcia was a model driver until they reached the interstate and then she floored it. The wind in his hair had a surprisingly calming effect on him, even if he was terrified at the speed.
She had a bright red scarf tied over her head and sunglasses with huge frames covering half her face. She reminded him of an old black and white movie actress. Somehow it made this trip seem like a very good idea.
She turned on the radio and told him to find some road trip music. He argued that he had no idea what road trip music was. She tuned into a classic rock station while Reid tried to remind her to keep her eyes on the road. She changed the station again and found Bob Segar singing "Roll me away." She cranked up the volume and began to sing along with the words. He was amazed to hear that she had a very decent voice. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea.
About halfway to Baltimore she insisted on stopping at a convenience store for snacks. "Come on Garcia, Baltimore isn't that far, it's not like we're going to starve."
"Honey pie you have to get into the spirit of the road trip. Let the experience wash over you, become one with the road." She said waving her hands around.
"I didn't understand one word you just said." He protested as she got out of the car.
"You don't have to understand it, just go with it."
He could only gape at her in disbelief. She ignored his look and headed for the door of the Gas-n-Go. He sat there for a minute and then he heaved a sigh and got out of the car.
When he entered the store, Garcia was at the back taking drinks from the cold case. He was relieved to see that only soft drinks were available for purchase, instead of beer. That was all he needed a drunken Garcia behind the wheel.
"Come on... pick out some nutritionally worthless snacks!" She prodded his arm, pushing him in the direction of the candy bars.
Now candy was something he could get behind. He loaded up with peanut butter Twix, a large bag of Reese's Pieces, a package of red licorice whips, two Snickers bars and three Whatchamacallit bars.
He joined Garcia at the checkout and piled his candy next to the soda and her large bags of popcorn and potato chips. The small Latino man behind the counter raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.
"Have a nice day." He said as they gathered up the junk food and left the store.
Garcia grabbed the bag of Reese's Pieces with a cry of delight. "Hey… that's mine!" Reid groused trying to take it back. She held it out of his reach. "Didn't you mother teach you to share."
"Well yeah, but you said to pick out what I wanted." He reminded her putting emphasis on "I" as he spoke.
"Oh… don't be a baby. You can have some of my chips." She wagged the bag under his nose.
"I want sugar," he whined petulantly.
"Fine, take the Reese's Pieces" She tossed the unopened bag in his direction and put on her seatbelt. They were back on the road when Reid opened the bag and handed her some of his sweet treats.
She grinned at him and all was forgiven. "Hey… did you know that Reese's Pieces were ET's favorite candy." Reid asked her shoving a handful of the candies in his mouth.
"Duh… everyone knows that… I can't believe you didn't come up with a more obscure movie reference."
"It's my day off … sue me." He answered around a full mouth.
The way that Garcia drove got them to Baltimore in very good time, but Reid was afraid most of the way that they'd get pulled over.
"If we get pulled over, just flash your badge. You might as well put it to good use since you insisted on bringing it with you."
He had responded with horror. He wasn't going to get her out of a ticket by using his FBI credentials. She only laughed and reached over to pinch his cheek.
It was noon when they reached Baltimore and Garcia started looking for a place to eat. "How can you be hungry after all the junk food we've eaten." He asked in disbelief.
"I'm hungry for real food now. There's always room for real food."
Reid decided that is was more trouble then it was worth to argue, so when they reached the Inner Harbor and parked, he started to keep an eye out for a place to eat. There was a large shopping mall just off the Harbor and they ventured inside and found the food court. They had some big malls in DC, but this food court was something else, there was something for everyone there.
The food court was crowded with teenagers in packs. There were harried mothers with packages and children in tow, and there were people in business suits on there lunch breaks. Reid and Garcia were making the circuit of the food court when Garcia let out a squeal.
A/n the Inner Harbor is a real place, but since I haven't been there in years, some of what I decribe may have changed. I did do reasearch for a change so it should be pretty accuarte. If not please forgive my mistakes.
