Summary: There's a new girl in the office but who is she? Reid tries to figure that out and learns in the process that she's not what he expected. This is my first story, a one-shot about first impressions. Please read and review!
Not What He Had Expected
"Whoa! Hey Reid, who's the new girl?" Morgan asked, grinning.
Spencer Reid looked up from his book and saw the girl Morgan was talking about. She was extremely pretty with long, straight dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes hidden behind red-framed glasses. She was sitting at a computer typing out a file.
"She's the new receptionist," explained Reid, "I don't know a lot about her, just that Gideon hired her a couple weeks ago to help put our case files on the computer."
"Be right back," said Morgan with a gleam in his eyes.
Reid sighed. He could predict exactly what was going to happen. Morgan would walk up there and say a pick-up line, the girl would laugh, and they would start talking. In less than fifteen minutes, Morgan would have her number and a date planned out. They would probably go see a sappy romantic comedy or perhaps a horror flick so Morgan could "protect her" from the crazed serial killer. The young doctor looked at the girl again. She was definitely Morgan's type: tall and gorgeous. He wished he was the one going to talk to her, but he knew he didn't have a chance with her. She was to pretty to like a guy like him. He sighed again and went back to his book, flipping through the pages with his usual amazing speed while listening to the conversation between his friend and the girl.
"Excuse me, do you have a map?" Morgan asked.
"I'm…I'm sorry?" the girl asked quietly. She was obviously confused.
"Do you have a map? Because I keep getting lost in your eyes."
Reid looked up to see the girl's reaction and was surprised to see her face was bright red and she looked like she wanted to run. Morgan seemed to notice this too because he smiled kindly.
"Yeah, that was really corny. I'm sorry. My name's Derek Morgan. What's your name?"
"Grace Harrison."
"It's nice to meet you, Grace. You must be new, I've never seen you around here before."
She nodded. Reid could tell Morgan was unsure of what to do. Usually the girls he approached wanted to talk to him or flirted back. This girl was not what he was expecting. Spencer returned to his book and tuned out everything around him. It wasn't until Morgan waved his hand in front of Reid's face that he looked up.
"Well, how did it go?" Reid asked.
"She barely talked!" said Morgan in a whisper so no one could hear them, "All I learned was she's working to get her degree in behavioral sciences and wanted to work here so she could witness first-hand what we do. I tried everything, I complimented her and did all the usual tricks, but she would just stare at me blankly or blush! It was like she never received a compliment before!"
"She's just shy," said Reid.
Morgan grumbled something unintelligible and Reid just shrugged. He looked at his watch and realized his meeting with Gideon was in five minutes. Saying good-bye to a grumpy Morgan, Reid closed his book, shouldered his messenger bag, and went to the elevators. He pressed the floor number and watched the doors starting to close.
"Hold the elevator please!"
Reid put his hand on the door and the doors opened wider to reveal Grace Harrison with a pile of papers in hand. She thanked him quietly and entered.
"What floor are you?" Reid asked.
"Oh, um…I don't know," said Grace, turning red, "What floor is Agent Jason Gideon's office?"
"The fifth, I'm headed there too."
Grace nodded as the doors closed and they moved upwards. Reid opened his book and had just started reading when he heard a gasp of recognition and looked at Grace. She was smiling widely.
"Isn't that the best science fiction novel ever?" she asked eagerly, "I've read it at least ten times!"
"It's my favorite," said Reid, taken aback. This girl liked science fiction novels? That was unexpected.
They talked about the book until the doors opened on the fifth floor and they reached Gideon's office. Reid held the door open for Grace and followed her in. Gideon was sitting at his desk and smiled slightly when he saw the two.
"Miss Harrison, thank you so much. This is my coworker and friend Dr. Spencer Reid. Spencer, this is Grace Harrison. She's our new receptionist," said Gideon. The two stood in awkward silence so Gideon continued, "That'll be all Miss Harrison."
Grace nodded and left, but not before throwing Reid a sweet smile. Reid felt as though his stomach had flipped and grinned as the door closed. The meeting with Gideon didn't last long and soon the doctor was sitting at his desk with a file in his hands. The team would be flying out to Los Angeles the next day so Reid needed to understand as much of the case as he could by then. Luckily, the file didn't have much information in it and he was done by the time the office was closing up for the night.
As it happened, Reid and Grace left at the same time and their cars were parked right next to each others. They talked the entire way and Reid was surprised how easy it was to talk with Grace. He was expecting her to be interested in reality television shows and supermarket novels. However, Grace loved Star Wars and Star Trek as well as all Reid's favorite books. It was too good to be true! They reached their cars and stopped. Suddenly, Reid had a sudden thought.
"Hey Grace, would you…what I mean is…do want to go grab dinner with me?" he stuttered.
"Yeah, I'd really like that," said Grace with a smile. Even then, Reid was amazed that she had accepted. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he still thought she wouldn't like a guy like him.
They decided to leave Grace's car in the parking lot and Reid would drive her back when they were done. Dinner was fantastic, and not just the food. They went to an Italian restaurant near the office and talked until the waiter informed them they were going to close soon. Both were shocked to realize it was almost midnight and apologized as they left. While Reid drove back, Grace was looking through his CD's.
"I can't believe you love classical stuff too!" she said with a laugh, "My friends always make fun of me and say it's for old people."
"No way, I love it!" he said as they stopped in the parking lot. He looked at Grace and shook his head while saying, "You know, you're not what I expected."
"What were you expecting?" asked Grace, puzzled.
"When Morgan pointed you out, I thought you were like all the other girls Morgan was attracted too: gorgeous, mindless, giggling twits. But then I got to talking with you and you're nothing like that. Well, you're gorgeous obviously," said Reid, blushing, "But not the mindless, giggling twit part."
"So basically you thought I was a dumb blonde who enjoys watching stupid television shows and obsessed with guys?" Grace asked, looking at her hands, "Is that why you asked me to dinner then?"
"No, not at all!" said Reid quickly, "Okay, when I first saw you I thought you were out of my league, too beautiful to notice anyone like me. I thought I didn't stand a chance. But then we talked and I realized we had a lot in common. I hoped that maybe…I could give it a shot and ask you out. I still think that you're out of my league though and I'm really glad you said yes."
"Out of your league?" said Grace, shaking her head and laughing, "Spencer, you don't realize how great you are. Looks shouldn't matter when deciding what "league" people are in, it should be based on character. And you, Doctor, have the most wonderful character of any person I know." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for an amazing time. Good luck on your case, I hope you catch him."
She got out of the car and into her own, pulling away. Reid sat there in shock and it was only ten minutes later he forgot to ask for her number. He was going to be on the other side of the country and he had forgotten! Sighing heavily, he started his car and happened to look down as he put on some Mozart. There, in the cup holder, was a slip of paper. He picked it up and read the neat handwriting.
Grace Harrison's cell #: 703-504-0678
Hope to hear from you soon!
Reid grinned like a school boy and let out a whoop as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.
"Spencer! It's your turn!" said J.J loudly, causing the doctor to jump in alarm.
"Sorry," he mumbled and picked up a card.
"You all right Spence?" Prentiss asked, "You've been in a trance all day."
"I know that look," said Morgan mischievously, "Okay kid, who's the girl?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Reid as he turned bright red.
"That's okay, if you won't tell us we'll just have to look and see," Morgan said and pulled out Spencer's phone. Reid's hand instantly went for his pants' pocket and he realized his phone wasn't in there.
"Give that back!" Reid cried.
"I saw you texting someone earlier, so let's see who the lucky lady is," said Morgan, looking through his friend's phone. He got to the text messages and his eyes went wide. Reid felt his face growing warm before the agent even spoke. "Grace Harrison?"
"Isn't she the new receptionist?" J.J asked and Reid just nodded, "She's pretty."
"Did you two go out yet?" Prentiss asked. Again Reid nodded and the girls giggled. Morgan slapped Reid on the shoulder and jovially said, "Nice going Spence!" They began asking him for every detail of the date, making Reid blush even more. Thankfully, Gideon looked up from his notebook and told the girls to leave the poor man alone.
"Although I have to say," said Gideon with a ghost of a smile, "She's extremely attractive."
"She's so much more than that," Reid said with a giddy grin across his face. Gideon chuckled and returned to his work. The young doctor looked out the window of the jet and leaned his head against the glass. For once, he had been proven wrong and didn't seem to mind. In fact, he was glad he had been wrong. She was different and proud of it. Grace Harrison was not what he had expected.
Author's Note: I really hope you all liked it! I would like to thank my younger sister for introducing me to the wonders of Criminal Minds and Spencer Reid. This story is dedicated to her. Thanks for reading and reviews would be greatly appreciated! :) :) :) :)