A Date with Dave

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. Dag nabbit!

"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary. Louisa May Alcott.

David Rossi stuffed his cell into his pocket and got back in his car .He had believed tonight was going to be the perfect night. For the first time in a long time, he was actually excited about taking a woman on a date. It was almost if the stars were in perfect alignment. The woman in question had accepted his offer of dinner, they were not called out on a case and the most prestigious expensive romantic restaurant in town had given him a reservation. Of course he had to name drop a little and cajole and seduce a bit, but he felt this woman was worth it. He had made sure that this was going to be a special evening, that was until his date cancelled at the last minute. She was a OB-GYN and one of her patients had the nerve to go into labour. He pretended to be ok with it; in reality he was beyond disappointed. He had pre-ordered dinner and wine, and went to great pains to ensure everything was perfect. There was also the fact that this evening was going to cost him a bundle whether he showed up or not. The restaurant had his credit card info and they were not afraid to use it.

His cell phone began to vibrate; It was Hotch.

"Dave, it's me"

"Yeah I know, what's up?"

Hotch noticed Rossi's tone "I'm not interupting something am I?"

Rossi sighed, "Unfortunately no, what can I do for you Hotch?"

"I know you took the Sanderson file with you, and I was wondering if you would mind dropping if off at Reids. I want him to have a good look at it before he goes into court tomorrow."

Now if Rossi had been on his date he would have told Hotch to jump into the Potomic, as it was he now had nothing better to do.

"Yeah sure, Reid isn't that far away"

"Great, thanks, and Dave?"

"Yes Aaron."

"Try and cheer up a little."

Rossi grumbled something into the phone and hung up.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Fifteen minutes later Rossi stood at the door to Reid's apartment. He rapped on the door. It startled him a bit when Reid answered immediately.

"Whoa! Were you standing right at the door" Rossi asked as he walked into Reid's small apartment.

Reid smiled, "Kind of, Hotch told me you were coming"

David looked around Reid's apartment. It was small and a lot more cosy than he expected. There were shelves lined with books but not as many as he thought there would be, everthing was in soft warm earth tones and the furniture looked comfortable and understated. It looked like the home of a lonely professor. In a lot of ways the apartment kind of looked like... Reid.

Reid stood there waiting for Dave to say something.

Rossi became aware of his own silence "Yeah! Here's the file, I'll get going and let you finish whatever it was you were doing".

"I was just about to have dinner actually."

Rossi looked at the dining room table, On it stood a box of honey nut cheerios and a carton of milk and a was a box of powdered doughnuts as well. 'That must be dessert' Dave thought.

"Reid, is that your dinner?"

"Um yes, I don't stock up my fridge too much, we're always on the road plus I like cereal."

'No wonder you look like a pipe cleaner with eyes,' Dave couldnt help thinking.

Reid stood there staring at him. Spencer was still dressed in his work clothes. He noted Rossi was a lot more dressed up than usual.

"Are you going somewhere special David?"

Rossi smirked. "I was, my date had to cancel."

"Oh, sorry," Reid felt a little uncomfortable. Talking about dates wasn't his area of expertise.

Rossi took a look at the gangly young man and his horrid bowl of cereal and thought 'What the hell.'

"Reid, I still have the reservations and I'm hungry as hell. Would you like to come to dinner with me?"

"Uh what... yes... what? I mean yes." He stammered.

"Well c'mon then, put away your gourmet treat there, get your ass in gear and let's get going."

Such a warm invitation was almost impossible to resist.

TBC : Next chapter, dinner.

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