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A/N1 hey all here's my answer to the Masquerade Challenge. The pairing is Emily and Reid and the costume is Star Trek Officer. Also I'm not happy with the way the show is brushing off Reid's anger with JJ and Emily over her death, but this story does follow canon timeline and is set after the events of "Proof." Please enjoy
Vulcans and Vampires
Why in the world had she agreed to get up this early in the morning on a Saturday, after a hard week back at the BAU? Emily shook her head and sipped at her coffee as she stood waiting for the main event to begin. She looked around at all the people in line ahead of them. They weren't going to have the kind of seat that Robin wanted, but at least they were there.
"Oh my God," Robin squealed.
"What's wrong?" Emily's hand automatically went to her side for her gun, which wasn't there of course.
She didn't need her piece standing there in line waiting for the Twilight Panel at Comic-Con International 2011.
"They're here!" Robin shouted. She pushed past Emily to the edge of the taped off line with dozens of other girls and some older women.
Emily looked over their heads to see a few of the cast members from the movie stopping to sign autographs and take photos as the sun finally came up. Only half an hour and they'd be allowed to enter the 6500 seat theater for the panel.
She smirked at Robin, and her teenage exuberance. If only she had that kind of passion and energy. The noise level, the screams of excitement and squealing intensified as the crowd ramped up its energy. Some of the people had been here for three days. She liked Twilight, but not enough to spend three days waiting in line, even if she hadn't had to work.
"Emily?"
She turned at the squeaky, familiar voice. "What are you doing here Reid?"
"I could ask you the same question."
She almost lost the battle with laughter at Reid and his costume. It was a dead on match to the costume worn by Spock on the original Star Trek. He even had points on his ears.
"I can't say I'm surprised that you're here." She said.
He blushed and the two guys with him laughed. "Who's the babe Spencer?" The tall, red haired one asked from Reid's left with a lecherous smile.
"Shut up." Reid snapped at his friends. "Why are you in this line?" He squeaked again.
"I'm here with my niece."
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" The second man, who was short and rather plump with thinning blond hair, taunted Reid. "She's hot!"
"Why don't you go get in line?" Reid demanded. "I'll be there in a minute."
The two guys sniggered. "We won't hold our breath."
They hurried off, laughing like loons while Reid went scarlet. "You can go with your friends." She suggested.
"No!" He squeaked. "I'm mean, they can wait. Why are you here?" He asked again.
"I'm with her." She waved at a young, dark haired girl that was involved in conversation with two other fans at the edge of the line. "She's the daughter of one of my best friends from Brown. I call her my niece and she calls my Aunt Emily. She's a great kid and she loves Twilight. Carolyn, my friend, asked me to bring her to this panel. It's a good way for us to spend some time together."
The girl waved at him and smirked. He glanced away from her and back to Emily, which was the safer way to go.
"Hey… What are you thinking?" She asked.
"I was just wondering why you don't have a costume on. It's Halloween and it's Comic-Con." He reminded her.
"I am wearing a costume. I'm a vampire."
His eyebrows went into his forehead. "You don't look like a vampire." He took in her jeans, the grey hoodie she wore over a blue and grey sweater and her sneakers.
"Don't you think it's stereotypical to assume that a vampire has to wear black and a cloak?" She challenged. "I'm a modern day vampire like the Cullens. They wear clothes just like everyone else. It's a matter of blending in." She pulled her hoodie closer around her and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Don't the Cullen vampires have golden eyes? Yours look the same as always."
"Actually, their eyes get dark when they're hungry." She found herself saying with just a hint of flirt, which surprised her. This was Reid after all. She took another sip of her coffee and flicked her eyes over his shoulder.
"Are you hungry?" He asked her.
She shivered again, but not because the early morning was cold. There was something in the way he asked that question. If she didn't know better… She picked up her coffee cup from the cup holder in the camp chairs they brought and sipped at it while trying to calm her nerves.
"What? No, I'm just cold." She lied. "Anyway, how did you know about the golden eyes? Don't tell me you've read the books.
"After our vampire case in LA, I decided to read the books. JJ was the one that recommended them to me. So I read them over one weekend."
"Of course you did."
Neither spoke again for several moments. Reid was staring at her like he'd never seen her before and it made her shiver again. She took another sip from her cooling coffee.
"So," she couldn't take it with him just looking at her. "I can't say I'm surprised at your costume. I am surprised that you didn't pick Captain Kirk."
Reid went pink again. "It's Leonard Nimoy's last appearance at Comic-Con. He's ready to leave the character behind, and he's my favorite so I decided to come out and see if I can get an autograph."
"It doesn't surprise me that your favorite character is Spock."
"You think I like the character because he's all about no emotions and logic." Reid said, a tiny smile playing over his lips.
His lips… She couldn't stop watching his mouth move as he talked. Besides his hands and the way he moved them when excited or trying to bring home a point at work, his lips fascinated her. They were too full for the face of a man, but instead of looking out of place, they enhanced the look of his angel face.
"Emily?"
She dragged her eyes up to his eyes, which were smiling at her in a way that said he knew what she was thinking.
Of course, he knows, hello, profiler!
"Sorry, what did you say?"
He sipped at the coffee she just noticed he was carrying in one hand. She should have known he'd have Starbucks on a cold morning like this.
"I said, I like the logic and the non emotion, but I also like his human side. I think it gives him a unique perspective. You gotta love the Vulcan neck pinch."
"Vampires have super speed, hearing and sight. They don't need sleep." She found herself defending a book she'd only read once.
Reid cocked his head at her. "Since when do you compete with me over fictional characters?" He asked seriously.
"I wasn't competing. I'm not sure why I just said that."
Yes, you are; it's his eyes. They make thinking straight impossible.
She looked around for Robin, who remained a few feet away with her newfound friends, so she wouldn't have to look at his profiler's eyes. She also noticed the noise level had dropped a little now that the Twilight actors were moving on down the line.
"I think you like the books far more than you let on." Reid was saying.
"So what if I do. I don't give you a hard time about Star Trek."
He watched her with eyes that saw everything. "True," he said.
She couldn't think of anything to say so she just watched his face. He stared back at her and everything around them seemed to recede into the background.
"Hey Aunt Emily."
She snapped out of her trance and looked around at Robin. "They're starting to let everyone in." She motioned Emily forward with her hand. "Come on."
"I better go find Trent and Jerry." Reid said looking as shell shocked as she felt.
"Yeah… See you later."
He gave her one of his little waves and had gone about five steps away when she suddenly called out. "Hey Reid, want to go to a movie sometime?"
He looked back utter surprise on his handsome face, and then he broke into the widest smile she'd ever seen from him. "Yeah… That would be great. Something really scary," he challenged.
"You're on!"
It was 8:30 and her eyes were trying to close despite the early hour. She'd been up since four am to take Robin to the panel and she was beat. She headed to the kitchen for a glass of water and almost jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang. She'd thought the kids were done with trick or treat, but apparently, there were stragglers. She trudged to the door ready to tell the kid to spread the word that she was out of candy when someone knocked. "Hold your horses," she called out irritably. "I'm coming!"
She yanked open the door to find Reid standing there, still dressed in his Star Trek uniform. "Reid, what are you doing here?"
"You shouldn't open your door unless you know who's behind it." He lectured.
"It's Halloween, everyone opens their doors."
He went pink. "Oh right. Um, can I come in?"
"Sure," she opened the door wider.
"I brought you something." He held out an orange and black bag in the shape of a jack-o-lantern.
"What's this?" She shut the door behind him.
"Just look inside."
She took the bag and opened it. "Hey, you've got it backwards. You don't come to the door with candy." She informed him.
"I know that, I just thought you might like some chocolate."
She reached inside to find several different kinds of chocolate candy bars with different flavored centers. She latched onto one that was dark chocolate with a raspberry center and sighed. "Thank you."
"I knew you'd like it." He said smugly.
"Alright Mr. Know It All." She smacked his shoulder. "Just what do you want?"
He began to pick at the edge of his sleeve. "I thought we could watch a movie."
"I assumed we'd actually go to a theater." Emily said leading him into her living room."
"I decided that I couldn't wait." He said.
She took his arm. "I'm glad, I was getting bored and tired. For some reason I've got my second wind now."
He laughed. "I 'm glad to hear it. I don't want my favorite holiday to end just yet."
"Look Reid, before we sit down I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I said a few weeks ago. I know I made light of your grief."
He held up a hand. "I tried to stay mad for a long time, but I found that I can't stay mad at you because you're back.
"I don't deserve for you to forgive me or trust me."
He followed her to the couch and sat down. "It's going to take some time, but I don't want to lose your friendship Emily."
"I'm glad."
He sat back and crossed one long leg over the other. "Why don't we talk about this tomorrow? I'm in the mood for a good scary movie."
"Then you've come to the right place Dr. Reid. Sit back and relax." She went to the entertainment center and opened it. "How about Psycho?"
Excitement lit up his face. "Sweet, it's one of my favorites."
She pulled the DVD box out of the center and laughed. "How did I know you were going to say that?"
THE END
A/n2 Comic-Con International was in San Diego this year, I moved it to DC for this story. Also, Leonard Nimoy made his last appereance at a Star Trek convention not Comic Con but again I changed it for the story.