Emily was driving down the road silently cursing herself. She had forgotten to set her alarm the night before and now she was going to be late. She drove down the quiet familiar road when she saw a car on the side of the road with the front end in a tree. She recognized the rusted red color, and sure enough, when she slowed down she saw Reid dialing on his cell phone.
She laughed at the situation before pulling onto the side of the road behind his car. Reid was looking back wondering who was stopping to help him. He groaned when he saw who it was. If she told Morgan he was never going to live this down.
"Having car troubles Spencer?" asked Emily with a huge smile.
"No I just decided to park here and walk to work." he replied sarcastically trying to disguise his embarrassment.
"When's the tow truck coming?" she asked casually trying to stifle her laughter.
"Never. I don't get any reception here." he replied grumpily. Emily checked her phone quickly with the same result.
"Well, I can give you a ride to work if you want." Spencer took the offer and silently sat in her car trying to think of a way to convince her not to tell Morgan, even if he knew it was hopeless. Emily took out her cell phone and pressed speed-dial then speakerphone. Reid smacked his hand into his face when he saw who she was calling.
"Morgan."
"Hey, Derek, Spencer and I are going to be a little late.." started Emily the corners of her mouth pulled u mischievously.
"Why is that Princess?"
"Reid was driving along the road and a tree jumped out of nowhere and hit him, don't worry he's fine though!"
"And you didn't take a picture and leave him there?" he joked.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny Morgan." Said Reid rolling his eyes.
"No I didn't leave him there Derek, SOME of us aren't that cold hearted." She joked back ignoring Reid.
"Ouch!"
"So we are going to be late for work, can you tell Hotch? Say an hour because after calling a tow truck were going to go get some coffee." Reid raised his eyebrow questioningly but Emily ignored that too.
"Bring me back one!"
"You wish!"
"Bye Prentiss, bye Pretty Boy!" he said mockingly and Reid groaned knowing he was never going to live this down.
Half an hour later Prentiss and Reid had called a tow truck and were sitting in a tiny coffee shop just outside of town. They both had coffee and were each sitting on one side of the booth.
After a couple minutes Reid suddenly felt nervous, he had talked to Emily alone before but it was usually about the case or episodes of shows. He didn't know what to talk about. He had never been good at small talk so he sat there awkwardly drinking his coffee not meeting her eyes.
"So, how late were you running this morning?" she asked smiling at him. Reid crossed his leg nervously before responding.
"I slept through my alarm clock and then I had no time to get ready.. Very late but I'm not even sure how long! I'm even wearing matching socks!" he whined. Emily gasped in fake horror.
"Not matching socks! The horror!" she said dramatically before smiling. Reid found her smile contagious and smiled back feeling a little more at ease.
Reid was about to respond but he noticed someone enter then coffee shop holding a gun. He barely had time to call Emily's name before the man shot the ceiling and started shouting.
"Everyone stay where you are. Don't move, don't talk. I hear anything I shoot you. Got it?" A couple of heads shook and he went over to the cashier and told her to open it.
Emily saw the 16 year old girls tremble she was so terrified but she comply and open the register.
Emily looked at Reid and mouthed 'Do you have your gun?' he shook his head and she silently cursed herself for not bringing hers in. With her eyes staying on the unsub she opened her cell phone and pressed the speed dial to Hotch's phone. She stuffed it under her jacket to muffle the rings and Hotch's greeting.
She looked over Reid who was shaking his head to tell her not to do it. She covered the hearing end of her phone and spoke to the unsub loudly enough for Hotch to hear over the line.
"Sir?" she decided playing polite would help.
"What?" he snarled turning around to face her.
"I was wondering if my friend could use the bathroom" she said pointing to Reid since she knew he had his cell on an inside pocket.
"This is a robbery not a hotel. Now shut up!" he snarled turning back to the register. She knew that was enough, Hotch was going to come and get them out of here.
Reid sat across from Emily worrying. He ran over statistics about armed robberies but found none of the results reassuring. He sat back and observed the people in the coffee shop. To the left was a man in a business suit who didn't seem nervous, but if you looked into his eyes you could see the plain fear. To the right was a woman, obviously pregnant, with a 5 to 6 year old girl pressed to her side. At the cash register was a teenage girl who was scared out of her wits. Including himself and Prentiss and excluding the unborn baby there were 6 hostages.
He heard the sirens in the distance and he presumed the unsub could too since he froze. He watched the unsub deliberate on what to do but then saw him settle on anger. He pointed his gun at the cashier and she looked like she was going to cry.
"Everyone, in the corner!" he said gesturing to the far corner. "You!" he pushed the girl with the head of his gun, "Close the blinds."
The group went to sit in the corner while the teen closed the blinds. After she finished and joined the group he pointed his gun at all of them.
"Who phoned the police." He said angrily. Nobody moved. Everyone was holding their breath. Reid watched Emily take a deep breath to say in was her. 'No!' he thought suddenly; she wasn't going to do this again! He could still remember when Cyrus had held them captive. Her words still made him cringe 'It's me' she had said. He wasn't going to let that happen again. Before she spoke her cut her off.
"I phoned the police." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Emily's eye widen.