Hello there! My name is Water Wolf 100, but everyone calls me Wolfie. I'm new to Criminal Minds, but by no means new to Fanfiction. I got into watching CM about a month ago and I've been hoping to write a fic for it ever since. The other day I was reading reviews to a fic on here and it mentioned Murphy's Law. I didn't really know what it was so I looked it up and realized that it would make such a great fic. Since Spencer Reid is my all time favorite character on this show, this fic is centered around him. So sit back, enjoy, and remember that I do not own Criminal Minds or any related characters. Nor do I own the quotes. Peace out,
~Wolfie
Paul Harvey said, "If there is a 50-50 chance that things will go wrong, then nine out of ten times they will."
Another end to a long day found the BAU team packing up to go home for the night. Most of the team was packing up their bags in the bullpen. Hotch remained huddled up in his office working on the mountain of paperwork that never seemed to get any smaller. A few doors down, Rossi was finishing up his last file for the night.
Happy to be almost done, he compiled all of the files into an email to send to the Chief. Scrolling over to the send button, he let out a sigh of relief. When he clicked however, he didn't get the reaction he was expecting. A low beep rang out from the computer, and the screen went blank.
After several clicks of the mouse and violent stabs to the keyboard, Rossi realized that the computer wasn't going to turn back on. "Damn!" the agent yelled out. A knock on his door brought the agent out of his temporary rage. "What is it?" he growled.
Prentiss cracked the door open and stuck her head inside. "Everything all right, Rossi?" she asked. At Rossi's beckon, Prentiss fully entered the office. She took one look at the blank computer screen and sighed. "One of those days?"
"I seem to have way too many of those days," Rossi grumbled. "I'm going home. I can retype the report from there I suppose. It's better than being stuck here." Slowly, the senior agent gathered his things and placed them carefully in his briefcase. He followed Prentiss out of the room and shut the door behind him.
As they descended the stairs Rossi grumbled to himself about how unreliable computers were and how he didn't understand why people based their lives around them. "What's up with you, Rossi?" Morgan asked as they passed his desk. One look from him was enough to keep Morgan from asking any more questions. He and Prentiss watched as Rossi left the room and entered the elevator.
"Computer troubles. I guess he has to retype his entire report," Prentiss explained once Rossi was safely inside the elevator.
"Murphy's law at its finest."
"What about Murphy's law?" JJ asked, coming up to the two agents.
"Apparently Rossi just finished typing his report when his computer crashed on him," Morgan explained.
"He does know that Garcia can fix that in a few minutes right?" JJ asked.
"What's everybody talking about?" Reid asked, noticing everyone standing around Morgan's desk. He set his messenger bag down on his chair and went to stand beside his teammates.
"Murphy's law," Prentiss said, "Rossi just had a run in with it." No sooner than the words left her mouth, Reid started chuckling. "What's so funny?"
"Murphy's law can hardly be called a law. To try and make a statistic about people's bad luck is a waste of everyone's time. There is no way it could ever be true. Statistically…"
"Kid, no more statistics today. My brain can't take it," Morgan muttered, cutting Reid off. With that, he picked up his jacket, nodded at his teammates and walked out of the BAU.
"I have to get going too. See you both tomorrow," Prentiss said as she went to gather her things from her desk. When she was gone JJ and Reid finished packing their things and started to make their way towards the elevator.
"So you really don't believe in Murphy's Law, Spence?" JJ asked while they waited for the elevator to come. It dinged and both agents stepped inside.
"I really don't. There's no solid data besides what people claim to be true. It's all psychosomatic." There was a second ding as the elevator reached the ground flood.
"Whatever you say, Spence. I'll see you tomorrow." JJ gave a small wave and headed out towards the parking lot.
When Spencer got home, he spent his night like he did any other night. He made some dinner, wrote a letter to send to his mom, and then spent some time reading. After three books he decided that it was time to go to bed. There was a pile of files on his desk that he had to get through tomorrow, and he was almost positive that most of them were supposed to be done by Morgan, so he needed as much sleep as he could get. Right before he shut off the light, he double checked that his alarm was set. Finally, with a firm click, Spencer shut off his bedside lamp and settled into sleep.
The next morning Spencer woke to an annoying light. "Must have left a light on," he grumbled as he felt around for the lamp switch. When the room became brighter, Spencer realized that something wasn't right. "Sunlight," he mused. With a growing knot in his stomach he picked up his alarm clock and stared at it. The flashing red light displayed 5:19. At some point in the night his power had shut off, taking his alarm out with it.
In a rush Spencer stumbled out of bed, looking frantically for his phone. When he finally found it on his dresser, the knot in his stomach got even tighter when it wouldn't turn on. The battery was dead. With a growing annoyance he went back to his end table to check his watch. "You have to be kidding me," Spencer groaned. He had overslept. By four hours. He had been planning to wake up at six thirty, but now it was ten thirty. "Hotch is going to kill me."
Spencer Reid wasn't normally late for things. The thought of being this late for work sent him into a panic. In a rush to get ready he turned around a little too quickly. When he got out of bed his sheets had ended up half on the floor; so when he turned around quickly they became twisted around his ankles and he fell to the floor.
As he tried to kick his feet free from the cotton death snare, Spencer listened closely to any noise below him. His downstairs neighbor did not like loud noise. Normally this was not a problem, but the bang from his fall was most likely heard by the strict Mrs. Pennington.
Once he was free Spencer quickly, and carefully, went back to his dresser. Barely paying attention to what he was doing, he threw an assortment of clothes on his bed and ran into the bathroom. It normally didn't take him long to shower, which was good, since he was late as it was. He stripped down and went to turn on the hot water. The familiar gurgle of the water coming through the pipes filled his ears, but rather than the practically scalding water he was expecting it was ice cold.
With chattering teeth, he shut off the water and got out of the shower. This wasn't the first time the hot water had gone out in his apartment, but it was probably the last thing he needed to deal with today. Without bothering to deal with his hair, Reid finished getting ready, grabbed his stuff and ran out the door.
"Morning, Spencer. Running a bit late?" Tiffany, the girl who lived next to him, asked.
"Just a bit. Gotta run," he called as he ran towards the elevator. He skidded to a stop once he saw the sign taped to the elevator. 'Out of order'. "This has to be a prank." Spencer was getting more and more irritated with each passing second. Knowing that standing and thinking about how late he was only going to make him later. The door to the stairwell was right next to the elevator, so Spencer began his decent down the ten flights of stairs. "Days like this I hate living on the fifth floor," Spencer grumbled as he continued running down the steps.
By the time he finally reached the lobby, he was out of breath. With a quick nod to some of the passing people, he ran out the door and right into the pouring rain. With a stream of curses just waiting to come out, he felt around in his bag for an umbrella. To his distress, but not his surprise, it wasn't there.
The short walk from his apartment building to the metro station had to be the best thing to happen to him all morning. Spencer decided that since he was already soaking wet using his jacket to cover his head was a waste of time.
As the door to the metro train slid open several people gave Spencer curious looks. It wasn't that surprising; he looked like a drowned rat. A very angry drowned rat. There weren't any free seats in the car so Spencer had to stand in the middle of the aisle next to a guy that smelled of rotting fish. In the seat to his right sat two teenage girls. They looked up at him, back at each other and started giggling. Any other day Spencer would have ignored them. But today wasn't any other day. With a smirk he shifted so his jacket pulled back just a little bit to reveal his gun. Both girls stared at him for just a moment longer, shock spreading on their faces. The next stop they got off.
It was still raining when Spencer got off at his stop. He only had a few blocks to go before he was at the BAU. But, as late as he was, Spencer had to stop and get his morning coffee. It might be the only thing to save his day. Grinder's was one of the best coffee shops in DC, and Spencer wasn't going to pass on his morning ritual. Hotch and his schedule be damned.
The bell jingled as Spencer swung open the old wooden door. "Morning Doctor Reid!" called the manager, Jake. Only a year or two younger than Spencer and a student at Georgetown, the pair often would get into conversations about science and literature. "I would ask if you wanted the usual, but judging by the look on your face you might want something a bit stronger." With a thud Reid slammed his messenger bag on the counter.
"Whatever is hot and extra caffeinated," he replied with a scowl. While Jake poured the coffee, Spencer dug through his bag for his wallet. "Of course it wouldn't. Why would it possibly be in my bag after the morning I've had?" he muttered sarcastically. Jake came back with his coffee and saw the contents to Spencer's bag all over the counter.
"I'll put it on your tab," Jake offered. He held out the cup to Spencer who took it gratefully.
"Thanks Jake. I owe you one for this. I'll go home during my lunch break and get my wallet." With one sweep, Spencer pushed everything back into his bag. Coffee in hand he waved to Jake and trudged back out into the rain.
When Spencer walked through the main doors of Quantico, it was exactly eleven fifteen. Anyone who knew Spencer was surprised to see him as he passed. Nobody was used to seeing him wet, scowling and late. The elevator, which was thankfully working, dinged and Spencer took a step forward. Only to collide with someone. The coffee mug slipped from his hand, splashed hot coffee all over him, and landed on the floor. It took a lot to make Spencer Reid snap, but that was the last straw. "Agent Reid, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you," the young man cried out. In a split moment of fury and loss of control Spencer glared at the man, a technical analyst who worked on a different floor. He seemed taken aback, which gave Spencer a window of time to walk past him and enter the elevator.
"If you break down on me," Spencer said to the elevator, "I swear I will take a sledgehammer to your circuit board." Typically, he didn't talk to inanimate objects, but today was just one of those days. The elevator surprisingly, didn't break down on him and Spencer got off at his floor.
Silence filled the BAU as he entered through the glass doors. Everyone was quick, and smart, to get out of his way as he walked to his desk. As if some sort of force was working against him, the first thing Spencer noticed was that his pile of files had grown since his departure from the BAU the night before.
From his desk, Morgan watched the boy genius sit down and dump everything from his bag onto his desk. Usually Reid was very meticulous about putting his things away, but judging from the look on his face, Morgan knew that this wasn't a usual morning. "So kid…" he began.
"Make one smart-ass comment and I swear I will not hesitate to take a butter knife and cut off your tongue," Spencer seethed. That quickly shut Morgan up.
"Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" JJ asked as she came up to the desks. "And then fall into a swimming pool?" She looked at the youngest member of the team with puzzled amusement. This side of Reid was something that very few got to see.
"There you are Reid. We've been trying to call you all morning. Hotch is looking everywhere for you," Prentiss added as she joined the group in the bullpen. The three older agents watched as their friend and teammate sat at his desk, deep in thought. Water dripped down from his hair and clothes, and his hands were red like he had been burning by something. He didn't say anything; rather, he calmly stood up and walked out of the bullpen. Morgan nodded and the three of them began to follow. He made his way up the stairs, and walked along until he reached Rossi's door. Tapping three times, he waited to hear a response from Rossi.
Everyone watched as he went to a bookshelf tucked into the corner of the office. On the shelf was an encyclopedia. Spencer took a book from the shelf and began skimming through it. "Uh, Reid, what are you doing?" Rossi asked.
"Making sure I'm not dreaming. The chances of so many bad things happening to me in one day makes me think that I'm still at home, dreaming about all of this," he replied.
"And how is reading an encyclopedia supposed to prove if you're dreaming?" Prentiss asked. "Which you aren't."
"Because in dreams basic laws of physics don't make sense. I'm seeing if there is anything that doesn't seem right." With a sigh, JJ entered the office and pulled the book from Spencer's hands.
"Spence, you aren't dreaming. See?" JJ reached out and pinched him in the arm.
"Ow! What did you do that for?"
"To prove to you that you weren't dreaming."
"JJ, it's been scientifically proven that pinching doesn't prove anything when it comes to dreams!" With a roll of her eyes, JJ pinched him again. "Will you cut that out?"
"So Reid," Prentiss began, "do you believe in Murphy's Law now?" Behind her, Morgan began to laugh. Looking at a dripping wet, flustered, pissed off Reid was probably the most ironic thing that could have happened to him after their conversation the night before.
Spencer looked at Prentiss with a mixture of annoyance, frustration, and exhaustion on his face. "I need some coffee," he muttered. Walking quickly, Spencer pushed past his laughing teammates and headed towards the break room.
"I don't even want to know," Rossi said with a shake of his head. "Hey Emily, maybe they should call it Reid's Law now," JJ said with a laugh. The two women began laughing to themselves, while Morgan watched Reid finish walking across the room.
"So who wants to tell him that the coffee machine is broken?" he asked.
Murphy's Law states, "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong"