Disclaimer: None of this is mine, people.
A/n this one shot takes place a few days after 14X15, "Truth or Dare. Please do not proceed if you haven't seen the finale, or know of the bombshell dropped in the last fifteen minutes. You have been warned.
A/n2 This is dedicated to tannerose5 who unknowingly stirred up the muse by mentioning Lila. And a huge shout out to me beta REIDFANATIC, whom I've bombarded with stories since Thursday. Thank you, my friend.
Friends with Benefits
"Hey, thought you'd never open your eyes."
Reid looked up to see Lila run a hand through her long, wavy blond hair as she spoke. She smirked at him and slid out of bed. He watched her grab a pink, silk robe that fell to her feet and covered her softly curved body.
"Sorry, between the jet lag and you, I'm exhausted."
"I'm," Lila repeated. "As in, the present tense of the word."
Reid shook his head and sighed as he attempted to sit up in Lila's huge but supremely comfortable bed. "As in, I could use about four more hours of sleep."
"Take it," Lila said, nonchalantly. "I'm on a break between projects for the next three months. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need."
"As you always say, but we never make it more than four days together. Why is that, Lila?"
"Because we're best friends with benefits and we agreed years ago that's all we'd ever be to each other."
Reid yawned and nodded. "Right, but –"
"Don't start, Spencer." Lila picked up a mug of coffee from a wood and silver serving tray and handed it to him. "Drink, then you're buying me breakfast."
"Charlie's again," Reid said as he allowed her to distract him with her smile.
"Yep. It's the only place I can go where I'm not mobbed by fans and paparazzi."
"You chose the life of a celebrity, Lila."
Lila narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, and you chose to chase psychos. Now, do you want to argue over the same, stale, ground, or do you want to eat and enjoy the day?"
"I want to eat and enjoy the day."
"Good, you can tell me why you showed up on my doorstep looking for a roll and a shoulder."
Reid slid out of bed, looked around and laughed when Lila smirked at him and pointed to his suitcase on a chair next to her bed. "Looking good, SSA Dr. Reid. You're hot for a man nearly forty."
"And you're beautiful as always. How do you do it?" Reid asked as he removed clean clothes from his bag.
"Clean living," Lila teased. "Take a shower and have your coffee, then we'll go to brunch."
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"So, you're telling me that Ms. Blonde Goody-Two shoes finally admitted what I've known for years and you're freaking out," Lila asked as they sat in a corner table of Charlie's, a hole in the wall diner they'd frequented together every time he came to LA.
Reid swallowed a bite of his ham and cheese omelet and coughed. "Why must you call her that?"
"Because she's Ms. Straight Arrow, and I'm stunned that she'd admit her feelings to you even under duress. She could've made up a better lie, don't you think."
"No, he would've known, Lila."
"Are you sure, or did she take advantage of the situation to finally confess?"
Reid sipped his coffee, which tasted better than any Java he could get on the east coast. Another patron entered the diner and didn't give them so much as a second look. The man, dressed in jeans, tee shirt, and a cowboy hat, sat at the counter and ordered the Lumberjack breakfast from Annie the waitress, in a booming voice after he asked when she'd finally break down and marry him.
"Spencer?"
"Hm, oh, sorry. I don't know why you think JJ wanted to confess," Reid made quote marks with his fingers. "She made it clear to me during a poker game we had before the case that she can bluff me, and no one bluffs me, Lila."
"True, I've known you for nearly fifteen years, and I've never beaten you at poker, or gin, or blackjack."
"JJ's beaten me at poker and gin," Reid pointed out.
Lila's eyebrows went up. "Seriously? You know, I'm not a profiler, but if she can distract you into losing at cards, then you better face facts."
Reid looked out the window at the traffic rushing by instead of meeting Lila's eyes. "I don't know what you mean."
"You want to play games, that's fine by me," Lila said, irritably. "You're the one that called me from the airport to say that you needed me. I accommodate you because I just broke up with another loser and I was horny. We screwed each other into oblivion, and here we are."
Reid met her angry eyes. "Why are you upset, Lila? We agreed years ago that we're not right for each other. I can't be an effective FBI agent as the lover of a famous and beautiful Hollywood actress, and you can't give up the life. We said we'd always be available to each other for whatever the other might need including sex."
The anger retreated from Lila's eyes. "That doesn't mean I don't love you, Spencer, and FYI, I mean that as a friend."
Reid nearly laughed in relief. "I know what you mean. I don't know what JJ intends. I know she said what she did to save our lives, but the fact that she tried to backpedal is what pissed me off," he hissed out angrily. "I realize that she's married, and I'd never try to get between her and Will, but I love her Lila. What am I going to do?"
Lila dropped her shoulders and swallowed the final bite of her stack of pancakes that dripped in maple syrup and butter. "I don't know, Spencer. If by some miracle, things work out for you and JJ, then I will miss our talks, and your talented tongue."
Reid choked on his toast and glared at her. "Lila!"
"Sorry, but it's true. You know it'll mean the end for us because you'd never cheat on JJ and I'm not so noble."
"Lila!"
"I often wonder where we'd be if I'd just said goodbye to Hollywood after you saved me from Maggie."
"I didn't mean –"
Lila held out a hand, and she smiled at him. "I understand. I've known since the first moment I saw Blond- I mean, JJ, that you only loved her. It's okay."
"It's not, because I'm a fool. I should've let go years ago. I thought I had with Maeve, but – god, I don't want to talk about how I could love three different women in different ways at the same time."
Lila smiled again, and her eyes, shining with tears bored into his naked soul. "You can because you're a man and that's what they do."
"Hey!"
"I'm jerking your chain, Spencer."
Reid smirked at her and ducked when she tossed her napkin at him. "I know, I was just teasing."
"Well, I think we should get back to my place so you can get some rest. We'll talk again later."
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Hours later, Reid awoke to find Lila studying a new script. He looked at her and opened his arms. She climbed into his lap, and soon they joined together in a dance as old as time. Lila pretended not to notice when he cried out JJ's name at the point of release, and she held him tight as he fell into more healing sleep in her arms. Her heart broke to think that he'd never love her the way he loved a woman who'd done nothing but shatter his dreams into a thousand pieces.
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"Thank you," Spencer said three days later when he packed the last of the clothes.
"You're welcome, dear Spencer." Lila embraced him, and they stood together for a long time. "I'm going to miss you."
"I'll be back," Spencer said.
"No, you won't," Lila argued. "I recognize break-up sex when I have it."
"Lila!"
"It's okay, Spencer. JJ is a lucky woman. I hope she knows it."
Spencer hung his head then looked into Lila's sorrowful eyes. "Nothing will change."
"You know better than that, Spencer Reid. Life is always changing. You don't know what the future holds."
"Then how can you say goodbye?"
"Because she loves you and you love her. You're soulmates."
"I don't believe it."
"I know, but you'll see what I mean."
"I don't know if I want to hope you're right or you're wrong," Spencer whispered. "I can't hurt Henry and Michael by breaking up their parents."
"It's not you fault JJ married him, Spencer. She made a choice. She could've said no at any time, including going out with him in the first place."
Reid nodded. "I still don't know what to do."
"You'll do what you have to do, just as you always have," Lila said. "Now, go home and keep me in the loop. I want to know if I should expect a wedding invitation shortly."
"Wow, slow down, Lila," Reid said, but he didn't try to say that Lila had it wrong.
"I'm sorry. Just don't miss another opportunity, Spencer. Go and be happy."
"I will," he leaned down and kissed her softly. "Thank you for the last fifteen years."
"No, thank you," Lila said and watched him leave to catch the cab waiting outside her gate.
Reid looked back at Lila's grand home in the middle of Beverly Hills and then faced forward to a future he couldn't predict.