Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace.
Also, if you haven't read Threshold, you might want to do that before continuing.
One forgives to the degree that one loves. - Francois de la Rochefoucauld
"Mmmm... I missed you so much, Grace." Reid moaned as Grace traced circles on his bare chest.
Grace smiled and looked up at him. "Did you miss me or the sex?" she teased.
He looked hurt and Grace immediately felt guilty. She had hurt him enough already since she had ran away.
"I was joking, Spencer." she said. "I missed you too."
Reid smiled and kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you too, Spencer."
"Do you... Do you want to have a baby, Grace?" Reid asked.
"What?" Grace exclaimed, she was beyond shocked by his question.
Reid had not expected Grace to react like this. "You wanted to before you... before you left. Why not now?"
"Oh, Spencer, I wasn't in my right mind then, you know that." Grace said, remembering her depression and drastic mood changes. "I... I don't want kids. Not right now anyway. Besides, I know you don't either, you just think a baby will make me stay." She kissed him. "I'm not going anywhere, Spencer. I love you. That's not why I left anyway, darling."
"Then why did you leave me, Grace?" Reid whimpered.
Grace sighed. "Baby, I explained it all in the note. I had to look for something."
"Did you find it?"
"Yep." Grace smiled and kissed Reid's cheek.
"What was it?" Reid knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Grace say it anyway. It had been so long since he had heard her praise or compliment him. Not that he ever let it go to his head, it was just nice to be called something other than genius once in awhile.
"You." Grace said. "I was looking for something that was missing inside of me. I didn't know that it was right here the whole time."
Reid pulled her closer and kissed her tenderly. Without pulling away from his lips, Grace climbed on top of him, straddling his waist.
"There's something else that's missing inside me right now." Grace said seductively.
"Hey, kid," Morgan greeted Reid the next morning. "Have yourself a good birthday?"
Reid blushed and Grace swatted the side of Morgan's head.
"Karma is a real bitch, Morgan." Grace said and handed Reid a cup of heavily sugared coffee.
"So you've changed your name to Karma now, Blondie?" he laughed.
"I thought you said never mess with a woman who carries a gun, Morgan?" Reid asked.
Morgan laughed, relieved that the young genius was finally returning to his normal self.
"Reid," Hotch called, sticking his head out of his office. "Strauss wants to see you."
"Oh fuck..." Grace cursed. This could not be good. Strauss had walked in on their reunion the day before and was forced to hold her tongue by Rossi, but there was no avoiding it now.
"Good luck, kid." Morgan said.
Grace was pacing up and down the row of desks, ready to pull her hair out waiting. Reid had been with Strauss for almost half an hour now. This was not good. They were getting fired for fraternization.
Grace weighed her options. Where could she work other than the BAU? She had originally wanted to be a lawyer, but she would have to go back to school to do that. She could sell some of her paintings and live off whatever inheritance she had left. She could take Sam up on his offer, but that would mean moving to LA and leaving Spencer.
Spencer would keep his job obviously. He was extremely valuable to the FBI, there was no way they would give him up and let some other agency like the CIA or NASA snatch him, even if Strauss insisted he leave.
"You're gonna wear a hole in the floor if you keep pacing like that, Blondie." Morgan teased.
"I don't care." Grace said. "Maybe if I do it'll be something for you guys to remember me by."
"What are you talking about, Grace?"
"Strauss is gonna fire me and I'll never see any of you again." Grace exploded.
"Calm down, Blondie." Morgan said. "You're not gonna get fired. Do you know how many relationships are going on around here?"
Grace shook her head.
"Enough to make you think we were all back in high school." Morgan laughed. "Seriously, look at Garcia and Kevin, they've been together for years now and they haven't lost their jobs over it."
"They're not agents though, they're technical analysts! They don't have to worry about making impressions and representing the bureau like we do." Grace protested.
"No, but they still follow the same set of ethics that we're supposed to."
Grace sighed and saw Reid re-enter the bullpen.
"How'd it go?" she asked him.
Reid shook his head. He squeezed her hand encouragingly and told her to go see Strauss.
"Ah, Agent Ashton." Strauss greeted Grace. "Have a seat."
Grace sat down across from the intimidating woman.
"Nice to see you back at the bureau, how was your little vacation?" Strauss sneered.
"Uh... good." Grace said nervously.
"Well, enough small talk, Agent Ashton, we have things to discuss."
Grace nodded.
"You are aware that this job requires a certain amount of appropriate work ethic, Agent Ashton?" Strauss asked.
Grace nodded.
"And you are aware that to maintain that ethic, there are certain rules that must be enforced, yes?"
Grace nodded again.
"Your relationship with Dr. Reid has broken many workplace rules."
Grace nodded even though it was not a question.
Here it comes, she thought, Goodbye BAU, goodbye friends, goodbye paycheck, goodbye jet.
"Although it is against the rules here at the BAU, I am going to permit you and Dr. Reid to continue your relationship-"
"Oh, thank you Chief Strauss, thank you s-"
"I will permit you and Dr. Reid to continue you relationship as long as you act appropriately here at Quantico and while on cases. I also do not want this to affect the team if it is to end badly."
"It won't, Chief Strauss, I promise you." Grace said.
"Well, I intend to hold you to that promise." Strauss said. "Now please vacate my office."
Grace danced out of Strauss' office and into the BAU bullpen. Her smile spread from ear to ear. She ran to Spencer and wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm staying!" she said delightedly.
Spencer smiled and sighed in relief. He figured it was best not to tell Grace that he had threatened Strauss that he would quit if Grace was fired. She was about to fire her for incompetence, not fraternizing with another agent.
"Well hello there, Gorgeous Grace." Garcia greeted her friend who had just entered her office.
"Hey, listen, Pen," Grace said, approaching her nervously.
Garcia spun around in her chair to face Grace, making it even harder to choke out the words she wanted to say.
"I'm... I'm sorry I left." Grace said. "I realize now that I hurt more people than just Spencer, but will you forgive me, Pen?"
"Grace, you hurt all of us." Garcia said, uncharacteristically serious. "You left Reid the same way his father left him. Why should anyone forgive you?"
Grace was hurt. She had really expected her best friend to accept her apology.
"I came back, didn't I? I realized what I was leaving behind here. You, Spencer, and the rest of the BAU are the most important things in the world to me. How can I get you to forgive me?" Grace begged.
"Girls night." Garcia replied.
Grace laughed. "Alright, but don't you ever scare me like that again!"
"So, what does it say?" Garcia asked, staring at the fresh tattoo on Grace's left hip.
It was small, simple black script, but it was written in a language Garcia could not recognize.
"It means 'fate' in Sanskrit." Grace replied.
"Why fate?"
Grace shrugged. "I think I'm starting to realize that everything happens for a reason."
Garcia smiled. "Let's go get some drinks."
"Sound like a plan." Grace laughed.
Grace's phone began to ring inside her purse. She checked the caller ID, it was JJ.
"Looks like the drinks will have to wait, Pen." Grace sighed. "We have a case."
A/N: Short one, very actionless, my apologies. Thanks to all who have chosen to stick with the Threshold series, it means a lot to me.
Just to warn you, the case in the next chapter is going to be kind of gruesome, so brace yourselves.
Now, I'm going to explain the title to you all. The Truly Natural Things is a reference to the Bob Dylan quote Reid says in Season 4, "I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay." I chose this as the title because even though it may not seem like it yet, in this story, Grace, Reid and several other characters are going to be experiencing some things that they never even dared to dream before and realizing things. Like when Grace was dress shopping with Macy and then daydreaming at the wedding and she mentions both times that she did not deserve the things she wanted to dream of. I'll leave it at that though because if I go further, I'll end up ruining it.
Anyway, thank you all so much for sticking with this story! Please don't forget to review!
Oh yeah! I've got two new ideas for different stories that I'm still mulling over, but I'm pretty excited over. They're both Reid/OC fics and one's based on a really messed up dream I had last night, the other's actually a Reid/OC/Morgan fic, but I haven't thought that one as far through as the other. Let me know what you think and I might find some time to start writing them!