A/N: Prompt from r/fanfiction's September Daily Prompts (Pocket-Sized Dramas). 01/09: Platonic, romantic, or purely professional, these two characters make an odd couple. How they each respond to an unexpected problem only highlights their differences. (400 words)

Power Outage | Rated K | 400 Words

"No, no, no!" Garcia frantically tapped at her keyboard and then the room was flooded in darkness. Every monitor had been shut off and Garcia was now holding her head in her hands. Reid, who had stayed late to ask Garcia a few questions about a case he was interested in, didn't seem the least bit phased.

"Power outage," he told her.

"Oh. Really, Reid? Don't you think I noticed that the last hours' worth of my work just shut down in front of me?" she was still trying to get her computer system up and running again.

"You didn't save it?" Reid asked.

"No, I didn't. Because I was too busy helping you with your irrelevant research to prepare for a power cut," Garcia snapped.

"Did you know that 'power cut' is the British English term for this scenario, whilst the most common term used in American English is 'power outage'?" Reid said as he walked to the window and looked out at the streets below. "Seems like it's pretty widespread – it's dark everywhere,"

"I don't care what English people call this!" Garcia said. She pressed the button on her monitor half a dozen times before giving up again. "All my work is gone!"

"Squirrels are actually one of the most common but strange ways that a power outage can happen – they climb up to electrical lines and mess with them, causing chaos and power failures across a few miles of neighbourhood every time," Reid glanced at his phone. "But they can also be caused because of a surge of power – say, at the Superbowl, and everyone's also tuning in to watch it on TV. The sheer amount of power being used all at once causes electrical substations to struggle to keep up and –"

"Reid, you know I love you and your always-relevant fun facts and I don't know how to say this without hurting your adorable little heart but please... zip it," Garcia interrupted.

Reid looked at her. "Sorry," he replied. "But one more thing," Garcia shot him a glare and he stopped talking. He sat next to her instead and pressed the button on one of the monitors. The screen flashed then slowly turned back on. "Wow," Reid smiled. "I fixed it," he looked proud of himself. Garcia turned the rest of the monitors on, nerves etched onto her expression.

"It's all gone," she muttered; deflating.