FuzzyBareIntimate
A Criminal Minds Fanfic
Reid/Garcia
T+
©mccabebabe (Reidfan)
Garcia finds a way to cope when her man is away, and Reid discovers how much fun a relationship can be.
Thank you to Aut: for putting up with Canadian spelling, the early morning and late night 'what do I do now?' and for letting me pair Reid with Garcia.
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMMCMCMCMMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
"Love is not something you go out and look for. Love finds you, and when it does, ready or not, it'll be the best thing to ever happen to you."-Ash Sweeney
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
"We have a case, Garcia. Get everyone together in the conference room please!" BAU Unit Chief Emily Prentiss called out to the ebullient tech analyst. Penelope Garcia was sitting on the desk of one of the BAU's agents, SSA Jennifer Jareau, and the two women were discussing their plans for the upcoming weekend.
JJ was in the midst of outlining her family's plans for a weekend of togetherness. Her husband, Will LaMontagne, had the entire weekend off—a rarity in their household—and they, along with their two sons, were excited at the prospect of visiting a petting zoo together.
Five minutes later, seven of the team's eight members were seated around the table in the conference room, files in hand as Garcia presented the case. Agent Matt Simmons was away on a secondary assignment. The other team members spent several minutes tossing around ideas and theories and then Prentiss rose.
"All right then, we're going to Los Angeles. Wheels up in thirty," and with that, their leader strode out of the room and headed to her office to finalise arrangements for the team's travel.
The members dispersed to collect go bags and notify family members about their impending departure. Alvez called his dog sitter, JJ called her husband.
"I hope we have it solved by Friday, Will. I don't wanna miss the baby goats either!"
Rossi disappeared into his office to make a couple of calls and Lewis headed down to the ladies' locker room to retrieve her go bag.
Penelope made her way back to her office, chest heaving and close to tears. "Breathe, breathe," she told herself repeatedly, chanting it like a mantra quietly to herself. She reached the door, wrenched it open and quickly made her way to her desk. Plopping down on the chair, she promptly burst into tears and reached for her little stuffed bear.
"FuzzyBareIntimate," she whispered, cuddling the little toy against her. The small bear had been her constant companion since her rescue from the hands of the Believers several weeks earlier. A gift from co-kidnap victim Spencer Reid, the bear was a source of comfort for Garcia. He traveled back and forth to work with her every day. FBI, as she called him, had taken on a whole new significance in recent days, as Penelope had finally come to realise—and admit to him—the depth of her feelings for Spencer Reid. Whenever Reid and the team were away overnight on a case, FuzzyBareIntimate spent the night in Garcia's bed, comforting her and reassuring her that Reid was safe.
She heard footsteps and the click of her office door locking shut. Swiping quickly at her eyes, she set FBI down on the desk and rose.
"PG, you all right?" Reid asked in a low voice as he took the four steps necessary to cross the office and sweep her into his arms. She slid her hands up his back until they reached his head and then she twined her fingers through his hair and kissed him hungrily. He returned her fervour, drawing her tightly against his chest and then lifting her up. His hands cupped her bottom as he moved them both to her desk. He deposited her onto the desktop and stepped as close to her as he could, their bodies melding together. Penelope groaned her pleasure as their passion grew, fueled by the heat of their closeness. Reluctantly, a minute or so later, Reid backed away. Raining kisses on her hair, he told her,
"Gotta go, wheels up in," he paused to look at his watch, "Dammit! Fifteen minutes." He tipped her face up to kiss her lips and reassured her, "I'll be safe, I promise you, I'll be careful. And we'll be back soon enough."
She traced his lips with her fingers and then reached up and kissed him once more. "I love you," she whispered, and before he could reciprocate, she continued, "Oh! That reminds me!" She leaned over and grabbed her purse from beside her computer and dug through it, extracting an iPhone. Clicking it on, she quickly centered Reid's face in the viewer and then leaned into him to kiss him and clicked the button on the phone to take a photo.
"Here," she said, handing it to him, a photo of the two of them kissing was now the lock screen picture.
"I have a phone, Pen," he reminded her, puzzled.
"Yes, but everybody has that phone number. This one," she tapped the phone she'd just given him, "Is our secret one. When I wanna talk to just you, my secret love, I'll call you on this."
His eyebrows rose in surprise and delight.
"It's already programmed with my number, My Sweet, and I put a number of other, um, surprises, on there for your, um, perusal."
He bit his lower lip, quickly stowed the phone in a pocket and then gathered her in his arms again. "I really have to get going, Pen. And I love you, too."
She squeezed his hand as he turned to leave, and he leaned back to kiss her once again before letting go of her hand and opening the office door.
"Stay safe, my love," she whispered as he raced to his desk, grabbed his go bag and headed for the elevator.
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
"And Dave, you and Spence talk to the M-E. I'll set up at the police station," Prentiss finished giving them their assignments. Their flight was a long one; it would be almost six hours by the time they arrived in Los Angeles, well after two p.m. back in DC. Prentiss texted Garcia and requested some searches. After some discussion about Victimology and possible motives, the team settled in for naps to pass the rest of the flight time.
Garcia spent the afternoon diving deep into the lives of the three victims: an aspiring actress, a talent agent and a golf club employee. By the time the team landed, she had already determined there was no obvious connection between the three.
"So, I guess we'll look for the not so obvious," she told FBI who sat next to her keyboard beside the now almost empty octopus mug. She gave the bear an affectionate pat on the head and turned her attention back to her keyboard. Inputting more parameters, she sat back and waited for the computer to do its work. After sipping the last of her tea, she put the mug back on the desktop and moved to pick up FuzzyBareIntimate. The toy slipped from her hand and she quickly grabbed at him with her other hand and felt something hard in its belly. Poking at the spot, Penelope was startled to hear,
"I love you." It was Spencer's voice.
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
The team reassembled at the downtown Los Angeles precinct and shared their findings. Garcia had provided them with extensive research into their initial three victims as well as another who had surfaced while the team was en route to California.
Her phone pinged to inform her a text message had arrived and Garcia stopped inputting at the computer keyboard long enough to take the phone from its cradle to read the message from Prentiss.
Much progress made, thanx! We're calling it a night soon. You should too. Be back in office at 11 am your time.
Garcia smiled. Emily was always so conscientious about time zone differences, she thought. Penelope giggled, Probably from when she lived in England and I was texting her at all those ungodly hours!
She sent the latest research she'd uncovered to the team's tablets then replied to Emily's text.
Heading home now, thanx! Ring if u need anything.
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
"We'll go back at it fresh it the morning, guys," Prentiss closed the folder in her hands and tossed it onto the tabletop. "Let's go for dinner," she suggested to the group assembled around the table.
Rossi, Lewis and Alvez who all started Googling area restaurants met her announcement enthusiastically. JJ noticed the faraway look in Reid's eyes and leaned in to speak in a low voice.
"You okay, Spence?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks," he said distractedly. Rising from his chair, he tapped Emily on the arm and asked, "Would you mind if I passed on dinner? I'd uh, rather just go to my room if that's okay. I'm, uh, tired."
Her brow furrowed. "Sure it's okay, Spencer. Are you okay?"
He nodded and confided, "I just, I need to call—"
"Oh," Emily nodded. "Gotcha," she whispered back to him, "Go on, I'll cover for you with them."
He smiled gratefully, grabbed his suit jacket and left the room. JJ stared after him and gestured, addressing Prentiss, "What's with him?"
Prentiss shrugged, "Guess he's just not used to being back on the long days again yet. Just got back from his thirty, JJ." She tried to sound dismissive and segued to the entire group, "So, where we going for dinner?"
Rossi told her, "The Republic, I think."
"Great, listen, Dave, send my phone the directions, okay? I'll meet you there," Prentiss grabbed her jacket and waved past them, hurrying to catch up to Reid.
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
She shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself in a fluffy towel. "That didn't help at all," Penelope lamented aloud as she wandered back into the bedroom. "I just miss you more," she complained.
Sitting on the bed, she finished drying off and slipped into her pajamas. She picked FBI up off the bed and squeezed his belly.
"I love you," floated through the air and she gave the bear an affectionate pat then laid him reverently down on the pillow next to her own. Since discovering the little sound module in FBI's tummy earlier, Penelope had pressed and listened to it countless times. She smiled as she thought about the ramifications. Spencer was not nearly as phobic or as unknowledgeable about this kind of technology as he let on. It reminded her of the time, years ago, he'd programmed Derek Morgan's phone to emit screaming instead of music. Penelope laughed at that memory and pushed FBI's belly again.
"I love you," drifted through the air once again and Penelope whispered, "I love you too" in reply. Sighing, she rose and returned to the bathroom to brush her teeth and dry her hair. After hanging up the towel, she walked back into the bedroom and climbed onto her side of the bed. Laying flat on her back, she spent several long moments just staring at the ceiling, FBI clutched tightly in her arms.
It wasn't good enough, she decided. Turning to face the empty half of the bed, she pulled Spencer's pillow in against herself, set FuzzyBareIntimate on it and then hugged both tightly and eventually fell asleep.
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
"Hey Reid! Spence! Wait up!" Prentiss called as she hurried to catch up to him.
He stopped immediately and waited for her. The two of them left the police building together, walking out in the hot California sun to the precinct parking lot to their fleet SUV.
"I was just gonna give you a lift to the hotel, Brainiac, before I meet the others for dinner."
"Thanks, Emily, I appreciate that," he smiled in return. They made their way to the car and as they climbed into it, Spencer cleared his throat and addressed Emily again. "I, uh, appreciate that you haven't told the team about Penelope and me."
"It's not my news to tell, Spencer," she told him. "Although to be honest, it's absolutely killing me," she laughed as she quickly maneuvered their vehicle out onto the Los Angeles street.
"I'm kinda surprised none of them have figured it out yet."
"Well, you've been away on the thirty, Spence. It was easy then. Penelope was all business—well as all business as Penelope ever is I mean—at work around just the others. And now that you're back, it's bound to come out. You know Garcia will be all mopey and worried again. They might not see it right away but there'll be a pattern," she paused as another thought occurred to her, "OH, I almost forgot. And dammit, I did wanna bring it up with you in front of the others! Congratulations, Spence! I got the memo from Agent Lawrence."
A wide smile spread across Reid's face, "Thanks!"
"Not sure Garcia will be quite as excited about it as you are. As we all will be. But I was so happy to see they've decided the thirty rotation isn't necessary anymore. That's just awesome news."
"You haven't told the team yet?"
"No. Again. It's not my news to tell."
"It's okay, Emily. Go ahead and tell them at dinner tonight."
"About you and Penelope?" she teased.
"No!" he replied quickly, before realising she was kidding.
"No, no. That news can wait until you're there." She pulled up in front of their hotel and waved Reid out. "See you at breakfast in the morning!"
He waved back at her, "Thanks for the ride," and turning, stepped into the cool air conditioning of the hotel lobby.
Stopping at the hotel restaurant, Reid bought a salad and a roast beef sandwich for dinner, which he took upstairs. Once in his room, Spencer divested himself of his suit jacket and tie.
He pulled both his phones from his pockets, checked the 'work' one for messages. Quickly, he read through them, ascertaining they were mostly discussion about dinner and speculation about his absence and he laughed and set the phone down on the night table.
"I'll deal with you jokers later," he promised. He ate his dinner and turned his attention to his new phone. Clicking it on, he smiled at the photo of himself and Penelope kissing, and then swiped through to the messages app.
Got your go bag? Check inside.
His eyebrows rose and he hurriedly finished the sandwich. He reached across the bed to where he'd tossed the go bag. Unclasping it, he opened it and rummaged through it, finding everything he'd expected to find—his usual two changes of clothes, underwear, socks, pajamas and an empty bag in which he'd be putting dirty laundry. He found his toiletries bag, opened it to reveal his toothbrush, contact lens container and solutions, hairbrush and oft-ignored razor. Setting that aside, he lifted his clothes out of the bag and found a small paper bag between the shirts and sweater vest.
"What's this?" he wondered aloud. He opened the bag and gasped in surprise and delight. Neatly folded inside was one of Penelope's brassieres, a pretty red and black number he'd previously admired on her.
"Oh my, you crazy woman," he exclaimed, holding the garment up in front of his eyes. He visualized Penelope wearing it and his mouth went dry. He touched the bra reverently, a wistful sigh escaping his lips. Was this the sweetest gesture ever? Or perhaps the most evil? He couldn't decide.
You're just full of surprises aren't you? He messaged back to her.
He waited for several minutes but there was no reply. Of course not, he reasoned. It's almost midnight in DC. He checked the timestamp on her message and noted it had been sent that morning, probably before she'd even given him the phone.
It was as good a time as any, he decided, to see what else this phone encompassed. "Pen did say there were some other surprises in store," he remembered her earlier promise—or warning—he laughed. He investigated and found the photos folder; opened it and "awwww" escaped his lips. She'd included a collection of photos for him to meander through: Penelope with Lou, the puppy Alvez had given to a friend; Spencer's favourite photo of Penelope with Sergio; a few images of the entire team together and another folder inside the folder labeled Alone Time, Top Secret. Steeling himself, he opened that folder and broke into a wide smile.