-The Two Gentlemen of Quantico-

The members of the BAU all had their ways of coping with the horrors they encounters while on the job. Some compartmentalize, convince themselves that the mangled, tortured bodies they see are as though they are on a screen - not real, and therefore not as horrible as they must seem. Some surround themselves with a wall, make the area in which they work a warmer place, to remind themselves that not all the world is as rotten as it sometimes seems on half a dozen flashing moniters displaying pictures that they wish didn't exist. Some simply temper their hearts; make them strong, so that they can focus on catching the monsters that do these things to innocent victims.

However, regardless of how they can protect themselves from what they see, their defences, their carefully built walls, their strength all crumbles down when they see one awful horrible sight.

J.J. walked into the bullpen, a horrified expression on her face. "Guys," she said, brows furrowing, "We've got a situation."

"You don't mean-" started Garcia, a stricken expression flitting across her face.

"Yes." Finished Hotch grimly, a serious look on his face. "We've got paperwork to complete."

There was a moment of appalled silence before Reid popped up over top of the edge of his cubicle. Surveying the aghast expressions of his teammates' faces, his face dropped. "This is a really bad one, isn't it. Where are we off to?"

Rossi snorted. "We're not going anywhere, Reid. It's paperwork time."

Garcia and Morgan flinched at the word.

Baffled, Reid quickly reassured the team. "Oh, come on guys. It won't be that bad. After all, we all do our paperwork after a case is complete, so we only have the annual forms… to…" he trailed off sheepishly at the looks of disbelief on his co-workers faces. He coughed delicately. "You guys… don't do your paperwork after every case, do you."

Morgan groaned. "Oh man, this is going to suck."

"One more… signature… and…" Reid signed his name with a slight flourish, then picked up the last sheet of his paperwork and grinned at it. "I'm done." He silently opened the drawer of his desk amid grumbles of "Hey Prentiss, do you remember anything about the Viper?" and "Okay, how many times have team members gotten injured this year?" before reverently picking up Faust and beginning to read.

He was not long into his book when he heard footsteps behind him. There was a cough, and then: "Hey, kid, done your paperwork already?" Reid sighed before marking his page in his book and turning around to face Morgan.

"Yes, Morgan. I'm done all of my paper work." At this, Morgan grinned. "Good job, kid. So, how about giving me a hand on mine?" Reid shook his head slowly.

"You know I'm not allowed to, right?"

"Aw, come on, man! It can be just between us two."

"No, Morgan. You'll have to do it yourself."

"Man, you suck." whined Morgan, before skulking off back to his desk with an expression akin to that of a recently kicked puppy.

Reid sighed and picked up his book yet again, a small grin creeping its way onto his face.

Reid, long since bored with even his favourite book, had been amusing himself in other ways. At first, he had tried translating the Pledge of Allegiance into Arabic, Latin and Mandarin Chinese, but that took him little over 10 minutes. He had tried reading his book backwards. He had even looked at some of the websites written down for him to check out on cheery pink paper by Garcia, but they all seemed pointless and inane to him. At the moment he was staring at the clock on his desk, watching the blinking numbers shift from 3:59 to 4:00, signalling his imminent departure. He gathered the things he was going to take with him (he had debated taking the book, but eventually decided that he'd just read something else at home), grabbed his stapled and crease free paperwork and headed to Hotch's office to pass off the fruits of his day's labour to his austere boss. When the young doctor reached the door of his boss' office, it was to see the older man hurriedly gathering some papers together while listening to someone on the phone who, judging by the expression on his face, was very angry with the Unit Chief. All of this Reid saw when Hotch looked up at the younger agent's apprehensive knock. Hotch held up one finger and returned his attention to whomever he was talking to on the phone.

"Yes…of course…I'll be right there…of course. Yes ma'am. Five minutes. Understood." Hotch hung up the phone, looking agitated to the degree that only one person could claim responsibility for.

"Strauss?" asked Reid. He received only a grim nod in response. The younger agent winced.

"Rough way to end the day. Sorry." Reid offered his paperwork to Hotch. "Well, here's my paperwork, I'm heading out." Reid suddenly realized that Hotch was looking at him with an intensity that, while normal for the Unit Chief, was unusual in its look of alarm.

"End the day? Heading out?" asked Hotch, sounding as panicked as he looked. "What time is it, Reid!" The gangly agent took a small step backwards. This side of Hotch was shockingly scary.

"Uh…f-4:07," he stammered in response. Hotch's look of alarm grew at the younger agent's declaration. His eyes were darting around the room, which told Reid he was thinking, and very hard. All of a sudden, the older agent straightened up.

"Reid!" he exclaimed, and the doctor noted that some of the panic in his voice had receded. "I need to you to something for me. Can you please pick up Jack from his day camp for me? I have -" Hotch checked his watch, "- two minutes to get to Strauss' office, and his camp ended half an hour ago. Please Reid."

Normally, Reid would never have even considered picking up a young child from a day camp, even if it was Jack, who knew him and was therefore immune to the Reid effect. However, given the desperation in his boss' voice and the thought of the consequences if he ignored Strauss' summons swayed him. The little voice inside him said that he would regret this later, but he ignored it. Really, what was so hard about picking up a kid from a day camp?

"Okay," he said, "I'll do it. Where's the camp?" Hotch breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Millard Fillmore Elementary in D.C. Reid, thank you. So much. I'll get him from your place later." And on that note, Hotch finished gathering his papers and hurried out of his office, almost running into Rossi on his way out, who opened his mouth to speak before Hotch interrupted him.

"Your vacation starts tomorrow. I know Rossi." The Unit Chief was almost out the doors of the bullpen when Rossi turned to Reid.

"Strauss." Reid answered Rossi's unspoken question, and the older profiler nodded in understanding.

"Brave, brave man."

Twenty five minutes and several faulty MapQuest directions later, Reid pulled into the parking lot of the school where Jack's camp was being held. He glanced at the clock. 4:32. Whoever was watching Jack would not be pleased with his lateness. Preparing himself, Reid took a deep breath then left the relative safety of his car to enter the school. Going in through the front door, he immediately saw the signs pointing him to the gym where the camp spent most of the time. The profiler entered through the gym's double doors to see Jack playing on some mats, and an angry-looking redheaded woman whose attention had turned from Jack to Reid when the agent walked in the room. Jack looked up.

"Uncle Spencer? Where's daddy?"

Reid mentally winced. He hadn't thought of how he was going to tell Jack that his father was going to be late. Seeing Reid's look, Jack sighed.

"Let me guess. He got stuck at work, but he's really sorry and he loves me lots and he'll pick me up later?" Reid gave the boy a sad smile.

"You got it."

Jack got up and went to grab his bag when there came an emphatic clearing of the throat from near the basketball hoop. Reid turned to see the redheaded woman walking in his direction. He sent up a small prayer that she wasn't still mad.

"Well, hello there. And who are you?" she purred.

Startled, Reid was forced to remind himself that he was a federal agent who chased down vicious serial killers every other week. He shouldn't be scared by a woman who seemed to be interested in him…but the fact remained that he was. It was with great restraint that he didn't take a step back and instead forced out a reply.

"S-Spencer Reid. I work with Jack's father."

"Mhm." The angry face was back. "So I gathered. But, just where is Jack's father?" Reid gulped. This was worse than that time he and Hotch had been trapped in with that crazy serial killer they were trying to interview.

"Um, he's, er, he was called in for a meeting. Last minute."

"Well, you seem…capable…of taking care of Jack until his father can pick him up." The seductive voice was back. Reid was starting to wonder if mood swings like that were common for this woman, and if they were, whether it was safe for her to be working with children every day of the week.

"Um, thank you?"

"Well, if you'll just sign this sheet over here, please. We need you to sign that you've picked Jack up."

"Oh, er…sure."

Reid followed the woman over to a table by the doors. While they walked there he noticed her eyes drifting up and down his body. His faint sense of apprehension was only growing stronger. When they arrived at the table, the woman grabbed Reid's upper arm and pulled herself close to him.

"Mm. I thought you were just a scrawny kid, but -" she ran a hand up and down his chest "- you've got some good muscle under those clothes, Mr. Reid." Reid felt his brain slowly shutting down and started panicking.

"D-Dr. Reid. My name's, uh, Dr. Reid, actually. Or Agent Reid. Which-Whichever you prefer." Reid thought he saw something predatory in the woman's smile and gulped again.

"Well, my name -" she petted his chest again "- is Natalie, Dr. Reid." Without taking her eyes (and their undisguised lust) from his face, she reached back and grabbed some paper from the table.

"Now, if you'll just sign here, you can take Jack. Alright?"

Once again, Reid was slightly flabbergasted at the instant mood change, but given his (still declining) level of rational thought, he paid little attention and just signed the paper in front of him. When he looked up at the woman - Natalie, he self-corrected - the predatory smile was back.

"Well, we'll be seeing you tomorrow at 8:00, Dr. Reid."

"Uh, oh, no, I'm not dropping Jack off in the morning…"

"No, but you are helping at the camp. Thank you so much for volunteering your time and signing this binding legal contract to help supervise and run activities for the rest of the week."

And that was when Reid's brain imploded.

A/N: Review if you want, don't if you don't. No flames please.