Spencer Reid considered the project before him. His eyes narrowed slightly,
and his hand pushed back a lock of hair that hung before his eyes. Complete
concentration was required, and as his focus sharpened, the tip of his tongue
stuck out from the corner of his mouth.
'Ha', he thought, 'This has got to be the tallest I've ever gotten one of these....
at work'. The last two words would have been tinged with some bitterness if they
would have been spoken aloud. Spencer enjoyed hobbies that helped his concentration.
He felt they challenged his mind in a different way than reading or his work. Building
a tower of cards was one such challenge he enjoyed, and he had built some truly
spectacular towers at home. But, something in him wanted to show off his creations
to his friends at work, so, here he was at his desk, designing his latest masterpiece.
However, every time he tried to build one at work, something would always happen to
destroy his tower before it was finished.
This time, he thought he was safe. Hotch was in a meeting with Rossi looking over some
files that just needed a profile created and sent to the police department in charge of
the investigation. Not every case they worked required them to go to the location the
crime, or crimes, were committed. JJ was in her office looking through her case files
to see if any required their personal attendance, or a phone consult and profile. Morgan
and Prentiss were out of the office giving a profiling seminar to some local police
officers. Spencer had completed some paperwork from the last case they had
worked, and felt he deserved a little time to relax.
Tilting his head slightly to one side, he picked up a card (the ace of clubs, he noted)
and considered where it would work best. Slowly, he reached out his hand and very
delicately set it atop two other cards. He then smoothly moved his hand back, trying to
create as little air motion as possible. A quick smile spread across his face as he stepped
back and gazed upon his tower. It looked impressive, with a good, wide base, and rising
above his desk like a castle...well, a card castle. Maybe a few finishing touches? Then
again, it might not be worth it to risk it.
He thought back to the other times he had tried to build a card tower here. The first time,
Morgan had thought it wouldn't be hard to place a card on the tower, and had collapsed the
whole thing. Typical of Morgan to tackle something head-on. Spencer shook his head
slightly. Morgan never could back away from a challenge, and seeing the card tower had probably
been irresistible to him. Then there had been the time Garcia was walking by reading a
report she was taking to Hotch, and Spencer had made the mistake of saying, "Garcia,
watch out", and she had stepped sideways...right into his desk. If he had kept his mouth
shut she would have just walked on by. But she had been moving towards his desk anyways,
she probably would have bumped into it whether he had said something or not. This time was
going to be different.
The left side looked a little asymmetrical compared to the right side. Spencer picked up a
card. "Do I put it here, or would there work better?", he asked himself. Unconsciously,
he opened his mouth slightly as he reached out to place the final card on the best spot.
"Hey, Reid, whatcha doing?"
Spencer flinched slightly as he let go of the card, and watched helplessly as the entire
tower wobbled, and then folded in on itself.
He heaved a sigh, and let his forehead drop into his hand. He had been so close. He looked
behind him and said, sounding irritated "Hi, Emily. When did you and Morgan get back?"
'Just in time to ruin my tower a third time', he added in his head.
"We just got back. Hey, was that a card tower? It looked really good, until it fell
down," she said as she walked away.
Spencer sighed once more. As he picked up the cards off his desk, he resolved never again
to try to build a card tower at his desk again.