Title: Sometimes The Best Laid Plans Part 1: Coming Clean
Author: Trista GroulxRating: T
Disclaimer: The usual don't own, don't sue just letting them play.
Summary: After Reid and Prentiss' Las Vegas wedding they tell Ambassador Prentiss, who plans their wedding reception. But something goes wrong.
Notes: This is another part in my Prentiss/Reid series (Wedding Date Blues, Learning Something New, Who Celebrates Six Months?, Drama Love and Parents, Planning the Big Day) this one has a little more drama then the last few. I hope you are still enjoying I think there's probably two more mini-series in the series and then I'm gonna examine something else staring them, as well as other pairings.
Reid held Prentiss' hand as one of the maids brought them through the house to where Elizabeth Prentiss was waiting for them. They both knew that they had to tell her the truth sooner rather than later, but neither wanted to burst the bubble they had been in since they had been married a week ago in Las Vegas. Garcia had even taken to calling them Doctor and Missus Floaty Head whenever she spoke to them. They both sat down in the drawing room, again taking each other's hands. The maid scurried off to bring them their tea and coffee.
"You said on the phone you needed to talk to me," Elizabeth reminded them. "You said it was urgent."
"Nothing like jumping right into the fire," Prentiss sighed.
"I assume that whatever you want to talk about has something to do with the new rings you both are wearing. I don't see the point in making nice when you don't even trust me enough to tell me the truth Emily."
Elizabeth looked genuinely hurt as she spoke to them. Prentiss wasn't sure what to say at first. She had never seen her mother look like that before.
"Mom, it's not like that I don't trust you. That's why we came here. To tell you that we decided to elope on our anniversary. We were visiting Reid's mother, and we were in Las Vegas," Prentiss stammered.
"It was me," Reid said suddenly, and surely.
Prentiss gave him a look of warning, but Reid ignored it. Prentiss and her mother had just started to get along again. He couldn't let her lose the relationship they were just starting to re-establish. Reid gently squeezed Prentiss' hand to reassure her that this is what he wanted to do. She squeezed it back, but wasn't happy about this turn of events.
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth asked surprised.
"It was all me. It was my idea. I saw that big wedding your niece had last year, and I got nervous. I have trouble kissing my – well now wife – in front of our friends. I couldn't imagine doing that in front of a room full of strangers. So I kind of plotted for us to be married in Las Vegas when were there for our anniversary."
"I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Spencer is really shy," Prentiss told her mother.
"Emily I might not be a big shot FBI profiler like you, but I'm not stupid, I know when someone, especially my own daughter is lying to me."
"Well, it wasn't just that," Reid admitted. "It was also because of my mother."
"Your mother?" asked Elizabeth. "She was there?"
"Yes, she was, but it's not what you think. She has severe schizophrenia, she can't be in large groups, and she doesn't like to travel. I know it was entirely selfish on my part. But I wanted my mother there."
"What about Emily?"
"We are planning to have a party with our friends, and family. My whole family is my mother. I have no aunts or uncles, cousins, siblings or anyone else. It was always just the two of us when I was growing up. I wanted to share it with her. I know it wasn't fair to Emily, but she can celebrate with her family any way she wants to. I know this is not how you planned for your daughter to be married, but I'm asking you not to be angry with her, please. This was all my fault. I'm sorry."
"I suppose your heart was in the right place Spencer," sighed Elizabeth. "We will have to find a way to fix this however."
"Mother you make it sound like it was a mistake," Prentiss grumbled.
"That's not what I meant Emily. I just need to figure out a way to explain this to everyone."
"We could always just say we wanted a private ceremony at a church with our immediate family, which would include our BAU family, since they would be our wedding party and then invite everyone else to the reception. So long as everyone is telling the same stories no one will be the wiser," Reid suggested.
"That just might work," Elizabeth nodded as she spoke.
"There are advantages to marrying a genius," Prentiss laughed.
She was glad that Reid had suggested they lie about their vows, since she really didn't want to have go through that again. It was hard enough to make it through the first time, when she didn't know that anyone else was there. She knew that she would break down in front of everyone if they were all standing with them. The maid had come back in with their drinks, and Prentiss reached for her cup and took a gulp of her coffee.
"Are you sure you don't want to say your vows in front of everyone, Emily?" Elizabeth asked.
She shrugged. "It wouldn't seem as special a second time around. I wanted you to see it Mom, really I did. Just everything happened so quickly when we were in Las Vegas."
Elizabeth nodded. "I understand Emily. Now we need to start a guest list. I know that you will want your friends from work there. Who else do you want to invite Spencer?"
"No one," Reid replied with a shrug. "My mother was there in Las Vegas, and she doesn't really travel very well. I would rather not put her through that stress. I don't really have any friends outside of work."
"There's no one who you grew up with, went to school with?"
"No, there's no one."
"How about your father?" asked Elizabeth.
"He's not involved in my life."
"You're making this a little difficult Spencer. It's rude to not invite the parents of the groom."
"Mother, please do no track down Spencer's father and invite him," Prentiss almost begged. "It would be entirely believable that he was dropped here by aliens."
"I do believe you thought I was some sort of sort of computer, robot or cyborg for a while Emily."
"All you need to do is open your mouth and start stating statistics in order for people to believe it. I think I want everyone to think you are cyborg since then you would be partly human."
"Emily that's not funny!" snapped Elizabeth as if they were wayward kids in the principal's office. "People are going to ask about his parents."
"My mother is very sick, and my father is a deadbeat, I honestly don't see how this is anyone else's business but my own," reasoned Reid.
"There must be someone I can invite on your behalf."
"This is why I didn't want a church wedding. One side would be packed with people, while the other would have my mother and the members of the BAU sprawled out in the pews."
Prentiss gently squeezed Reid's hand. She sometimes forgot that all he had in his life was his mother and his job. Then she realised that he also had her, and that made her smile. Reid then reached for his own coffee mug, glad to feel the warm and sweet liquid go down his throat. This was going to be hard, but he had agreed to do this when he agreed to marry Prentiss and he would do anything for you.
"How many people do you think are going to attend?" Reid asked.
"Emily knows a lot of people Spencer. As a conservative guess I would say the reception hall will need to accommodate two to three hundred."
"Two to three hundred?" asked Prentiss. "Isn't that a little much? I was thinking something a little bit more manageable, under one hundred."
"That's far too conservative a number Emily. We can't forget anyone important."
"The way I see it anyone who is not my aunt, uncle, first cousin or I haven't directly worked with in the past five years are the only people who are important. There are a few friends from college and the academy I'd like there as well, but that still doesn't add up to hundreds."
"Give me your list Emily, and I'll make sure no one was forgotten."
"Mother I'm not sure we want some huge big thing. Please try to keep this small."
"I am Emily. If I wanted something big I would have five to six hundred people in attendance. Spencer are you absolutely certain there isn't anyone you can think of that you might want to invite?"
"Positive," he assured her. "Until I began to date your daughter I lead a fairly solitary life which revolved mostly around my work."
"If you think of anyone at all that you would like to have there tell me."
"I will Ma'am, but I doubt that I will."
Prentiss and her mother began to write down names. Prentiss was trying to argue names off but she realised that the more she spoke the more people her mother thought to invite, so she sat back and let her mother add names to the list of people they would invite. As it got longer and longer she became more and more glad that they had been married in Vegas without her mother's knowledge.
"It's late Emily, why don't you two stay here of the night?" Elizabeth suggested, looking outside and realising that a sleet rain had started.
"That might be a good idea. The roads are likely slick, and we forgot to confirm our reservations," Prentiss replied.
"I'll get our bags from the car," Reid offered, kissing his wife on the cheek before standing up and going toward the door.
"You found a good man, Emily," Elizabeth told her daughter.
"I know," Prentiss replied, grinning, glad that her mother finally seemed to approve of him. "I'm lucky to have him."
Reid came back in a few minute later. His hair was a little wet from the rain outside. He had their bags over each of his shoulders. Prentiss smiled at him, there was a time where she'd think he looked like a drown rat, but now he looked endearing and handsome. She loved that he would always try to be a gentleman and carry her things.
"I'll get Marguerite to show you to your room" said Elizabeth.
"I've stayed in the guest room before, no need to bother her," Prentiss assured her mother. "Come on Spencer."
Prentiss grabbed Reid's free hand and practically dragged him up the stairs. They went past a few closed doors before she opened one. Reid put everything down on the floor, and looked around the room. It was almost like a hotel room, there were no pictures on the walls, nothing personal about it. The only thing that made it look like it was home was the large chest at the foot of the bed.
Prentiss smiled at him, glad to be alone with him at long last. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply. He smiled relaxing into the embrace for a long moment. Both of them were just glad to be away from the growing guest list, and in each other's arms.
"This is the guestroom?" he asked.
"Kind of, if any room was mine, it would be this one," he explained. "That's my old bed and furniture. That chest there is mine. We should bring it home eventually. There's some things in there I'd like to have now that we have more room."
"All right," he said pulling off his shirt, and changing into his pyjamas.
"You seem distant tonight, is there someone on your mind?"
He shrugged. "I was just thinking about all of the people your mother invited to our reception. I just can't believe you know that many people and I couldn't even think of one other person who I wanted to invite."
"Most of those people are my mother's politician friends who watched me grow up, not my friends. This is why I didn't want a big wedding you would have been a ball of nerves over it. I wanted us both to enjoy our wedding day, and be able to kiss you any time I wanted to. Are you going to be all right with all those people?"
"I suppose I'll have to be."
"I still have that plan for getting out early."
"I'd feel guilty about since your mother will have put a lot of work into it."
"So long as we stay long enough for us to go through the usual reception stuff we should be fine." She kissed him softly. "I'm sorry for this."
"Don't be sorry, Emily. This wasn't you. How about we get some sleep?"
"I'm not tired yet, although I have a few ideas that might help me sleep."
He blushed. "I don't think I'm ready to have sex in your mother's house."
"You're no fun Spencer Reid."
"I'm sorry Dolcezza."
After their honeymoon of sorts he had taken to calling her that when they were together. It had taken him a while to find the perfect nickname for her, but he was glad she liked it. She kissed him softly to reassure him she wasn't upset about it. She then changed into the night shirt she had packed, while he stripped down to his boxers and got into the bed. She joined him in the bed, and curled into him comfortably. Both fell asleep within minutes.
End Part 1
Notes: thank you to JirrG for the help with Italian term of endearment, it's just basically a way of saying sweetheart. Please tell me if you're still digging this series I love to hear form readers new and old