I wrote this all in one go during what's supposed to be sleeping hours, starting it about two minutes after I got the idea, and I'm anxious about it. This is also my first time writing for Criminal Minds, so I'm really nervous. But excited too!
(I don't own Criminal Minds)
Garcia glided up to Morgan, hooking her arm under his. "So when do you think our little baby fawn's gonna grow out of his wibbly-wobbly legs?"
Morgan glanced over his shoulder and laughed, finding that Reid had somehow skated himself into the very center of the rink. His knees were bent inwards so they were almost touching, and his feet were spread wide apart, the blades of the skates resting unsteadily on the ice. He was hunched over with his whole upper body almost completely horizontal, and the extent of his arms stretched on either side of him in a completely hopeless attempt for some resemblance of balance.
"Come on, let's go help him." Garcia said, swerving in front of Morgan and redirecting him to their fumbling co-worker.
"Nah, let him figure this one out on his own." Morgan turn his heels outward slowly, causing a gradual stop and ice shavings to scatter around. "Besides, he's probably too stubborn to let us help him."
"Good, 'cause I wanted to videotape him more than help him."
They both looked back to Reid and couldn't help their laughter when they saw he had progressed to taking very tiny, frantic steps towards the nearest railing.
"Aw, don't you just wanna scoop him up like a scrumptious, fluffy, little puppy and take him home?" Garcia gushed.
Morgan chuckled. "Not really, no."
Garcia gasped and held her hand up to her mouth. "I have the most brilliant beyond genius idea."
"What, take him to the pound?" That comment earned him a smack to the arm.
"No, we could adopt him! Buy a house, paint the nursery, start a family, the whole kaboodle." She nestled up beside him and rested her head on his shoulder as he put his arm around her.
"You know, part of me thinks that his mother might not be too happy about that."
"What she doesn't know can't hurt her." She looked up pleadingly at Morgan.
"And what about Kevin?" He looked down and met her gaze.
"Kevin Schmevin."
They laughed again before J.J. zoomed past them, snatching Garcia along the way. "Sorry, Morgan!" She called. "Hotch and I need someone to do crossovers with us."
"What? You got Hotch do to crossovers?"
"We're buying coffee and helping with paperwork for the whole month!"
Morgan laughed at Garcia's squawk of opposition at this new information and absentmindedly turned around in small circles, looking down at his feet. Who knew Hotch would submit to bribery?
"How do you do that?"
Morgan lifted his head to find Reid breathlessly clinging on to the railing, watching Morgan effortlessly drift along the ice.
"Practice, kid." Morgan smiled and glided forward before ruffling Reid's hair, which was surprisingly hard to resist with it cut like that. Maybe Penelope's puppy idea wasn't so far off.
"Dave told me it was like rollerblading, so I thought I was going to be fine, since rollerblading and bike riding were my main methods of transportation in the first 2 years of college when I wasn't old enough to drive yet."
"Well, it's certainly different from rollerblading, but it should give you a starting advantage."
"Yeah, maybe, except for the fact that I haven't been in skates in almost 10 years."
"You'll be fine, Reid. Just get out there. You'll get used to it."
"I already tried that!"
Morgan sighed before reaching his hands out to Reid. "Alright, come on."
"What?"
"Come on, I'll help you."
"No, no. Thanks, but uh... no, I think I'm okay here."
"You spent 10 bucks to get in here, and now you're just going to stand there?"
"More like expertly hold my balance next to this railing so when I feel like I'm going to fall I'll have something to grab onto so I don't die here."
"Reid, people ice skate every day."
"Did you know that in 2009 a minimum of 20,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 14 were sent to the ER due to an ice skating accident?" The words were coming out a mile a minute.
"Did you know that all the other hundreds of thousands of the kids were fine?"
"Did you know that according to the NCES an alarming percentage of-"
Here was when Morgan realised he was completely wrong about Reid being too stubborn to let him help. Reid was just too plain chicken. Simple as that. So he rolled his eyes and retracted his hands, giving Reid a false sense of triumph over Morgan's persuasive (or lack thereof) skills. That is before darting forward grabbing Reid's wrists, skating backwards further into the rink, and literally dragging his protesting captive along with him.
"No, Morgan! Stop! Stop it right now! Morgan!"
He felt a little bad for it, but he couldn't help laughing. "Relax, Spencer!"
"Derek, let me go right now or I swear to god-"
"What's with all the commotion?" Prentiss skated up behind Reid, almost causing him to lose his balance and fall over from surprise.
"Emily! Oh, thank god. Emily, make him let me go."
"Oof, I dunno, doctor. I think this could be a great learning experience for you."
"To learn what!?" Reid was frantic, but Morgan kept pulling him further into the rink.
By this time the whole team had gathered around this interesting spectacle, most not able to fully contain their laughter.
"That I'm not entirely sure of yet." Morgan answered, slowly coming to a stop. The look of pure relief on Reid's face and his whole body practically limp with it as well was almost enough to stop Morgan. Almost. Slowly, he started turning in a circle before continuing speaking. "Maybe dedication to something you're not naturally good at."
"You know what they say, Reid." Prentiss continued. "Payback's a bitch."
"Payback for what!? I didn't do anything!" Reid whipped his head around to look at Prentiss from over his shoulder, trying to establish eye contact with her despite still being spun around by Morgan.
"Except for generally being a smart ass." Rossi answered. He looked like he was enjoying this way too much.
"Hotch!" Reid looked pleadingly to his supervisor. Surely Hotch would help.
"Face it, Reid. You're in Morgan's control now."
"Morgan, stop! I can't breathe!"
"Cool it, pretty boy."
Reid ducked his head down to his chest, whether as a sign of defeat or to help with the dizziness probably overtaking him, no one but Reid knew.
"Sorry, Spence." J.J. consoled him for reassurance, but this was too good for her to intervene.
"So this is what you meant when you said to, what was it again? 'Let him figure it out on his own'?" Garcia inquired of Morgan.
"So, I got a little carried away."
Reid snorted at the understatement of "a little carried away".
Morgan looked back at Reid. "Now don't you get all sassy on me, kid. For the next three hours you're my student." Morgan turned his heels outward abruptly, stopping himself, but not Reid. The doctor, not knowing how to brake and still moving from the momentum of the spinning, swung around Morgan, their arms clashing awkwardly together as Morgan hadn't let go of his wrists yet.
"You tried to knock me over." Reid looked up at Morgan in shock, as if he couldn't even fathom the idea of something so despicable, but Morgan's only response was to let go if his wrists.
"Wait, Morgan! Don't let go!"
"What, now you want me to hold on?"
"Yeah, now we're in the middle of the rink again!"
"Look, the first thing you gotta do is bend your knees, alright?"
"I am bending my knees."
"Yeah, but you're bending the inwards. Try having them face straightforward."
"Like this?"
"Yeah, that's better. Now lean up a bit."
"I can't, I'd fall over."
"Just do it, Reid."
"I can't!"
"Reid, just-" Morgan cut himself off as he skated to Reid. He put his right hand on his lower back, and his left just below his neck. Pushing slightly with his left hand, he forced Reid to stand up straight, while keeping him steady with his right.
"Are you trying to kill me? I'm going to fall!"
"You're not gonna fall."
"You know, I don't think you're qualified to be the judge of whether or not I'm going to fall."
"Well, considering I'm 'qualified' enough to push you and make you fall and catch you to keep you from falling, I'd say I am."
There was a pause, kind of like Reid was trying to figure out if Morgan's statement was a threat or not. He decided it wasn't worth the chance.
"Okay, fine."
"Good. Now, bending over just a bit will help with your balance. No, no, no. That's too far. Back up a little bit. Good, good."
"Hey, Morgan. Come here for second." Garcia called.
"Okay. Stay there, Reid."
"No, wait! You can't leave me here!"
"Just a second. Don't move." Morgan skated a couple of meters 'til he reached Garcia. "What's up, baby girl?"
"When he breaks a leg and has to use crutches again because you've got him out in the middle of the rink... let's just say that little puppies, however cute they may seem, can be vicious."
"Thanks for the heads up, Penelope."
"Anything for you, precious."
"But I think I got this under control."
"Oh, really? 'Cause this is first time he's ever ice skated in his life. And to be honest, he's scared out of his cutely mismatching socks."
"Trust me. By the end of three hours, I will have him doing crossovers and turns with the two of us."
Garcia smiled and started to turn away. "I'll hold you to that, sweet thing."
"Morgan!"
Morgan and Garcia turned just in time to see Reid's legs fall out from underneath him before he fell onto his arm.
LATER AT THE ER
"I hate you, Morgan."
"I would too, kid. I would too."
Are they OOC? I welcome constructive criticism with open arms. If you have any tips or suggestions, please let me know. I post these things to improve my writing, and letting me know what you thought really helps that. Thanks so much for reading.