Author's Note: This is just a short little drabble between Emily and Reid one day at work. This is NOT a ship fic; merely something I came up with while I was watching Criminal Minds.
***SPOILER ALERT*** There's bits and pieces from Season 7, Episode 11. Just references. That's all.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
"Emily, could you look over these case files for me?" Reid asked briskly, dropping papers onto her desk and hurrying away. She cocked an eyebrow up.
"Reid? Reid! Get back here!" she called, standing up at her desk. She knew Reid could hear her. Why wasn't he responding? Had she done something wrong?
JJ came up behind the worried Emily.
"Em? What's going on?" JJ asked. Emily shrugged, a look of confusion plastered onto her face.
"I really don't know", Emily said quietly, sitting back down. JJ touched Emily's elbow gently and walked back to her desk.
-Seven o'clock, P.M.; Leaving the BAU
It was seven o'clock p.m., time to leave. Morgan and Garcia headed out together, bickering about God-knows-what. JJ left on the phone with Will, Rossi went back to Wife Number 3- No, 4, sorry, and Hotch was… Well… Staying later than everyone else. Again.
As Reid made his way to the elevator, Emily hurried and gathered her things in order to catch him in the elevator. The BAU was on the eleventh floor, and it was rush-hour to get out of Quantico.
"Spencer", she accidentally barked. He turned around, a shocked look on his face.
"Yes, Emily?" he asked quietly, looking down and fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.
"Reid, what's going on?" she asked the unusually fidgety and uncomfortable profiler as they stepped into the elevator.
"Nothing, Emily", he said harshly.
"Reid, that's a lie and I damn well know it, too. What's going on?" she demanded, intent on finding out what was happening to the younger man.
"Emily. I said I'm fine. What the hell can I tell you to get you off my case?" he asked trenchantly.
"You can tell me what the hell is going on, Spencer Reid", she said frustrated, using his full name.
He looked up and threw his hands in the air.
"Fine. You wanna know what's going on? How about you ask my needles what's going on, Emily. How 'bout you ask the empty containers of Dilaudid laying around in my closet?" he exploded, a look of fury cementing itself onto his face.
"Reid", Emily's voice trailed off.
Tears formed in the sensitive young man's eyes. Emily touched his arm, and he didn't pull away.
"You know how I feel, Emily? Sometimes, I feel like I don't want to be me. I didn't live up to expectations, like I said. I know I can't cure Schizophrenia, but I feel like if I was dumber, I wouldn't be mad at myself", he ranted, breathing heavily. Emily tried to uplift his spirits.
"So I should take that as an insult?" she asked, a sly grin playing on her lips. She prayed to God it would work.
Her prayers were answered.
A smile was making itself known on Reid's face.
"No, you shouldn't", he mumbled, half-smiling, half-blushing.
"Good. Reid, listen to me. Don't ever change who you are just because you didn't live up to expectations. I mean, come on. You and Garcia saw me in high school. And I turned out perfectly fine, eh?" she joked.
He grinned.
"I wouldn't say perfectly fine", he started. She slapped him gently as they stepped out of the elevator and into the basement parking.
"Oh don't even start with me, pretty boy", she chuckled before walking past him and back to her car.
The End.