: Inevitable Destinations :
From the moment the two geniuses met, this really was inevitable. This was where they were heading all along. Five times someone noticed that Zack had fallen for Reid, and the one time someone thinks that just maybe, Reid's fallen back.
A/N: I can't tell you guys how long I've wanted to write a 5+1 fic, but I've just never found something I liked enough or fitted. So here it is. All of you who were waiting for Reid and Zack's relationship to turn into something more... well here is where it really begins to. I didn't really start It's a Long Way to Freedom with the idea of ending up here, but it just seemed so natural I couldn't help it.
-x-
Emily noticed just after she came back.
Oh she had known that things would be different. Really, she had. She just, hadn't expected them to be this different.
Especially Reid. Reid was a changed man.
He was angry at her, angry at Hotch and even angrier at JJ but it seemed a little bit like he was angry at himself. Emily couldn't tell. He'd locked himself off.
And then there was the matter of Zack Addy.
After that night, where everything had suddenly come together at once and Doyle was dead and she was back with the BAU, she knew he'd come to the office to see Reid, brought them food, taken him home; she'd seen him briefly, hugging Reid.
She hadn't thought much of it at the time. But it started to become apparent.
The way Reid gets a phone call, every single day; when they are in the office, it falls in their lunch break; when they are on a case, it is either early in the morning or late at night, but it is always there.
The way he starts bringing actual food into the office, instead of just sugar or stealing everyone else's.
It becomes even more so when Zack actually comes to the office one day.
He comes up the elevator with Morgan, wearing his visitors pass proudly. Reid is excited to see him, but clearly not expecting him. It's a short, flying visit; Zack had been asked to give a talk to a group of students about something related to forensic anthropology – Emily was good but she just hadn't been paying that much attention – and had wanted Reid's advice on a couple of last minute things.
The way Zack stared at Reid while he quickly explained a couple of things, the way his face lit up with a smile when Reid gave words of encouragement, promised him it would be fine. He escorted Zack out the building, saw him on his way to the lecture, and Zack gave him this absolute look of adoration as he followed.
Emily recognised that look well. She'd seen it on a lot of people. Maybe even worn it once or twice herself, in her younger days, before she'd become broken and scarred.
Zack was falling for Reid.
It had come up at some point that Zack had been sleeping on Reid's couch ever since he got out of the Institution. Emily couldn't remember why. She didn't know much else about what had gone on, other than Zack seemed perfectly nice (she remembered the details of the Gormogon case that Reid had showed her, but remembers also all the things she has seen people do for the most stupid reasons and really by those standards Zack has done nothing.)
Judging by the way Reid came back, and settled straight back into his work though, he had absolutely no idea.
Not that that surprised Em. Some things were unlikely to change any time soon.
-x-
Hotch noticed after a particularly tough DC case.
Well that wasn't quite true. He'd suspected something had been going on for a while. Ever since he'd sent Reid off to that horrible place, ever since the Gormogon case had consumed Reid's life.
In some ways he doesn't know why he's so surprised.
In others he wonders how on earth it is that Zack has fallen for Reid, and not the other way round.
It really was a case of the inevitable.
It is cold, chilly, a biting night and the end of a bitter day. For some reason cases in their back yard always feel a little tougher; there is no jet, no sense of distance. Everyone is bustling about, police officers swarming about the place. Reid and JJ are standing next to the ambulance, Morgan directing officers, Rossi speaking briefly to the press.
Lines have been set up to keep the public back. But Hotch still heard the scuffle, the let me through let me through I'm with the BAU, turning round and seeing Zack Addy fumble to retrieve his pass from inside his coat, struggling with his gloved hands. Hotch signalled the officers to let him through.
By that point Reid has noticed his presence though. Zack makes a beeline straight for him, swiftly looking him over to ascertain no damage has been done. As soon as he has done that, Zack hugs Reid, tight, practically clinging to the poor man.
Reid takes it well, Hotch thinks, knowing how Reid used to be with physical contact (at the beginning constantly having to distract locals so that Reid didn't seem too odd, trying to make him fit in). It's the surprise that gets Reid, as after a few moments he settles into the hug, wrapping his arms around Zack, each of them drawing comfort from each other.
It's not the first time this has happened, Hotch knows that. He'd seen the pair after Emily came back. Was starting to feel like this was a ritual which happened at the end of every case.
Only this time it was happening in front of everyone. They were all privy to it, and it felt like they were invading something very private.
It's not a long hug, exactly, but they cling a little more than what is commonly acceptable between friends, and certainly for Reid.
Morgan pulls Reid away, needs him to do something. Hotch is busy too, but he still notices the way Zack's gaze follows Reid around, admiring, enraptured by the young genius.
Reid came back to Zack eventually. As he always did. Zack whispered something in the other man's ear, Spencer returning the rather intimate gesture. And then off again.
Hotch saw Zack wandering towards him. Probably wanting to know if and when they could go.
(Maybe he should mention how close they've gotten? Maybe see if either of them is actually aware?)
But then Zack looks back at Reid and Hotch sees his face and knows that look so well (10th Grade. Drama. Haley) and he knows. Oh he knows. Zack has fallen hard, and the little smile he gives when Reid acknowledges him with a small nod, oh it shows.
He knows.
-x-
Cam would have liked to say she twigged the first time she really saw Reid and Zack together, but the truth was she was far too concerned with everything else at that time to slow down and notice.
He made good on his word to come back though. The Jeffersonian were slowly realising that he could be a potential asset, and his prior knowledge of the Jeffersonian and specifically the medico-legal lab was invaluable.
Cam was the main point of contact for this. She was the boss, after all, and despite the fact that several years had passed and Zack was very much not Brennan's student any more, he still couldn't move away from that relationship with her.
He's in her office, just finished giving a tour of the lab facilities to some prospective students. It's a quiet day, not much going on in the lab, no cases to solve. Clark Edison's got a couple of junior research students down in Limbo, and Wendell's sorting through a couple of old lab samples and evidence, but that's about it. And Reid and his team are half way across the country on a case, so Zack doesn't really have anywhere to be going.
He's quiet at first, he always had been, even more so when he got back from Iraq, no matter how much Cam had tried to help. But Cam makes him a drink (tea, now, which is odd because Cam swears every scientist and law enforcement officer she's ever met has had an unhealthy addiction to coffee, and it's an uncaffeinated tea as well, something she would never have before thought that Zack would drink) and he opens up a bit.
He drinks tea these days because it's calming, it's better for you; because that's what they have in the apartment, it's what Reid drinks.
He's got a series of guest lecture spots at Georgetown (courtesy of Reid), CalTech's engineering department have come courting (again they'd been after Reid, but after learning that there was also Zack, who actually had the spare time, they decide that their time would be much better spent trying to attract the other genius) though Zack was thinking he'd probably turn them down, it would involve too much time actually being out in California and he didn't really fancy being so far away from home.
Zack mutters on about a couple more things; soccer team strategies, a paper he and Reid are considering writing. Cam doesn't think she's ever seen him this content, this truly happy. It all seems to be because of Reid. He's the missing link, what they needed all those years ago to bring Zack back from the edge.
Oh if only they'd asked the BAU to consult on Gormogon when the case first came up. It might never have come to this.
Zack's phone goes off then, and Cam gives him leave to answer it; Zack's face lights up when he sees the ID and when he picks up the phone. It quickly becomes clear that it is Reid on the other end of the phone, and Zack is quickly grabbing a marker and beginning to scrawl on a whiteboard Cam has in her office. Her printer springs to life, and Zack nods in response to something on the phone and grabs the printouts (presumably just faxed over by Reid) and scrawls something else on the board.
Presumably this is a case. And presumably it is something desperate, last minute, this is key if they're going to stop something horrible (Zack was still too much of a liability otherwise, even though they were slowly working to dispel that) so Cam stays quiet, doesn't interrupt. It's a lot of Math, formulas, things Cam understands but not this quickly, not this intuitively, not the way Zack runs across the figures.
There is an excited word from Zack, and Cam thinks she can almost hear Reid's yell of Hotch through the phone and Zack's hung up on. But it doesn't matter.
Zack is glowing. Helping Reid has made him so happy.
Cam knows then. She's seen Zack glow from saving people. The way he looked when he found Hodgins and Brennan buried in the earth. The way he looks when he solved a case or won King of the Lab. This is more. So much more.
Zack's a goner.
She'd said once, that she knew the moment that she met Zack that he'd cause her pain. And she'd been right. But in that moment, she can only be happy, because Zack's finally met someone who understands him just the way he needs.
And of course he'd fall in love with them. He'd be an idiot not to.
-x-
Angela had thought she saw a spark from the very first moment she saw the two together, and was pretty much ready to chuck money in a betting pool after Broadsky, but she really is convinced when she sees the pair of them outside work.
Zack had never come back for any of his things. Reid had come over at one point, armed with a list of essentials Zack wanted, and that had been it. When Hodgins and Angela finally moved out of the mansion, Zack's stuff had been put into storage (they'd asked if he wanted anything more brought over, but the answer had been no).
But Zack had asked for a couple of things, now, and Hodgins and Angela had seen it as a chance to come over and actually scout where their beloved friend was living, seeing as all they could get out of Zack was that he was sleeping on Zack's couch. Cam had offered to babysit, and they took her up on it, choosing to leave introducing the baby for another time.
Reid gets the door and ushers them in. It's not anywhere near as bad as Angela feared, given that it was two eclectic disorganised geniuses living in an apartment made for one. Zack's in the kitchen, Reid explained, and instructs them to simply put the boxes they've brought up on the floor.
Angela is struck by the open space which forms most of the apartment. There's a big window, looking out over the DC skyline, making the place light and airy; one wall is entirely made up of bookshelves, heavy, double stacked. There's a corner set aside with a desk, shelves, a little bit more like a lab space, a little bit more like Zack. A table which is clearly Reid's sits in front of the window, covered in a mound of paper which seems to have been hastily pushed into some semblance of a pile. There's a small couch too, a small television which is really quite dusty.
Zack pops out the kitchen, which appears tiny. There's another couple of doors; bedroom, bathroom, Angela assumes, but she doesn't ask. Zack catches sight of the mound of paper still on the table and raises an eyebrow at Reid, who shoots a slight pleading look back before going to fix it.
The situation is so charmingly domestic and so unlike either of them really (not that Angela knows Reid well, but from what she's seen this isn't him). But there's more to it. Angela doesn't fail to notice how Zack's eyes linger on Reid's slender frame before turning back into the kitchen.
It doesn't stop. They all sit to have dinner. Zack's eyes always lock with Reid's. His gaze always lingers. Laughs and smiles at every little thing. All those tell tale signs which Angela had honestly started to believe she'd never see truly, honestly on Zack (but then Brennan had finally opened herself up, anything could happen.)
After dinner Zack enlists Hodgins to help sort and organise (it turns out that Zack is now living in the closet, which Angela can't work out if that's worse than the couch, as Reid had cleared it out and discovered that there was just enough space to stick a bed in there, and had done so). Reid sits down to well, read, at a rate which Angela thinks is startling but really she should have learnt by now to stop being surprised she sees so many ridiculous and amazing things in her line of work.
It leaves her to observe. And she just grows ever more confident that her suspicion of Zack's affection for Reid is right. It's in the way he smiles, the way he moves, the way he focuses with single minded determination on the other man if spoken to even for a moment, the way he can't keep his eyes of him. Angela sees it all over his face.
It was so obvious. It was right there.
She wondered if Reid knew. He was supposed to be a profiler, it was his job to pick up on things like this. He didn't act like he knew though, didn't give any reaction.
Maybe she'd have to get her matchmaking skill out after all.
-x-
Garcia was usually so on top of knowing what goes on with her family. It seemed this time she'd been so caught up in her own relationship that she failed to notice another one developing.
It's film night, a bit of a tradition amongst her, Morgan and Reid. Emily came, most of the time as well, and Seaver had been invited once or twice while she was still with them. Back in the day even JJ came, but they all understand now that what spare time she had she wanted to spend with Will and Henry.
So, four members of the BAU. Add in Kevin and you got five. And one Garcia had learnt that Zack was also a geek, sharing a mutual love of fantasy and sci-fi, she'd pretty much forced him to come.
That one was a surprise, that Garcia and Zack got on so well; but they fitted, and it was good.
Which was part of the reason she was so distressed that she'd managed to miss it.
She can't remember what they were actually watching (why she let Morgan or Reid actually choose any of the films, she didn't know, neither of them picked something satisfactory without a bit of pointing in the correct direction) but she can remember not being very interested in it. That was the reason she'd started to look round.
They were at Morgan's, standard for these types of thing, as his was the only place that could really accommodate all of them. She, Morgan and Kevin were all on the main couch, Emily curled into her own armchair across from them.
Reid and Zack have gone for the floor, this time. Reid's leaning back against the chair and Zack is very almost leaning on Reid, but not quite.
Garcia becomes aware then that she's not the only one not watching the movie. Zack isn't either.
He's watching Reid instead.
Absolutely completely enraptured, his eyes are completely focused on the youngest member of the BAU. He's transfixed, smiling, complete joy at watching Reid enjoy whatever it is they are watching.
It's sweet, in a way, really. For in that moment Reid is everything to Zack, absolutely everything. He's completely absorbed.
Garcia wonders how she's never noticed it sooner. If there were any signs.
Oh but of course there were. The way Zack comforts Reid after a tough case. The way Zack talks about Reid when their in her office, waiting for him to come back. The way Zack looks at Reid like he's his entire world.
He is, really.
Zack's head drops onto Reid's shoulder then. Reid doesn't even react, not a drop of surprise, and lets Zack nuzzle in a little closer. It's comfort, love, acceptance, all at once.
It's everything Garcia has ever wanted for Reid.
-x-
Now JJ, she's known for ages how Zack feels about Reid. It was staring everyone in the face, and frankly she was fed up how few people seemed to have noticed. They were profilers, for goodness sake.
She is more interested in how Reid feels about Zack. She knows he makes him happy, knows that when he was on the brink over Emily's death and their betrayal that Zack was the only one who kept him going over the edge and without him they'd all have been way more screwed. She knows he provides a comforting, warm, stable presence in Reid's life that he sorely needed.
But she doesn't know much more. Reid's always played his cards close to his chest with his feelings for others, he's scared of getting hurt. Scared to let others know how he feels before he knows himself.
When Reid asks if he can start bringing Zack over when he comes to see Henry, JJ doesn't really know what to think. Part of her is worried, remembering Zack's past, knowing that he wasn't actually cleared of all charges, but on the other hand she knows him. Knows that Reid trusts him, know that the team trusts him, knows that he can do a good job.
It's always different when it comes to her son though. Reid wins her over by pointing out that he'll be there and either her or Will will be there and really there isn't anything to worry about Zack would just like to meet his friend's godson and Reid feels guilty about leaving Zack alone for such long periods of time as it is. (JJ knows what Garcia means when she says Reid and Zack are domestic. It's startling sometimes, and neither is aware of it).
When Reid offers to babysit so she can go along with girl's night out, she doesn't think much of it, but when she thinks back later of course he would bring Zack. They are rarely without one another these days.
She comes back in the late (early?) hours of the morning, she can't really remember when. She's tipsy yes, had been utterly smashed at some point during the night but it's wearing off now, though she can already feel signs of the killer headache she'll have the next morning. She lets herself in, quietly, not wanting to wake Henry (providing that Spence has actually got him off to sleep), and wants to sneak quietly up to bed and sleep forever when she catches sight of them.
Zack's asleep, on her sofa, but that's not the bit that concerns her; the fact that he's tossing and turning in Reid's lap was. That Spence is running his fingers through Zack's hair, whispering softly to him, comforting him. She's stumbled across something deeply personal.
A cry, not loud enough to wake anyone, but enough so that Spence's comfortings begin renewed; attempting to pull Zack closer, wrap him up, protect him.
Zack doesn't take long to settle, sleeping soundly in Reid's arms. Reid looks down at him, adoringly, softly, and drops a kiss onto the top of his head.
There's a look in Reid's eyes which is unmistakable, even with JJ's slightly drunk, slightly hungover haze. It's pure love and affection, a beautiful warmth. She knows Reid, knows the intensity with which he can love if he so chooses, and knows that Zack is the one all that affection is aimed towards.
Now if only they'd just actually tell each other how they felt and stop skirting the issue.
-x-
A/N: These all loosely fit into the beginning of series seven of both shows, for anyone wondering. Cam and Angela's take place after my fic Homecoming, and JJ's is loosely a tag to the episode Family Affair. For Garcia's I'd always planned to write an entire film night fic, but all attempts at it went badly so the scraps of the idea were salvaged and incorporated into this. We're building to something big here, so it might be a while before the next part of this comes out, I want to get a decent chunk written (still not sure how long it'll be. I've hit 8.5k and only just got started, eep.)