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A/N: I had requests to do a story on Garcia and Reid's shopping trip. Here it is, I hope you enjoy it
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Reid paced the room. He looked at his watch for the third time in the last ten minutes. It was almost nine and Garcia had said she'd be here at nine. Maybe he'd be spared and Hotch would call with a case. How could he wish such a thing, that they would once again share someone's terror and sorrow, once again look into the abyss so that he didn't have to go shopping with Garcia? He looked around his apartment, as if saying goodbye to it for the last time. Calm down; he told himself. You're going to get some pillows and a throw blanket for the couch. If you don't like them, you can toss them in the closet when Garcia goes home. It wasn't like she visited him all the time and would know. He had hoped the tech would have forgotten her pledge to take him shopping in the New Year, but oh no, yesterday before going home she had reminded him that they had a "date." He loved Garcia, he really did, but, let's face it, he reminded himself, you've been in her place. You don't have her kind of style. Who does, he asked himself? But, he reasoned with himself again, you know your life wouldn't be nearly as much fun or as full if not for this brash, colorful, lively woman who looked for the good in everyone, who gave you a smile or a hug when you needed it most, and woke up each morning with an attitude that said, "Look out world, here I come."
He loved Garcia, he told himself again, and he loved few people; his mother… his father was a matter for a more lengthy introspective, JJ, he'd always love JJ, even though her feelings for him in that way were never reciprocated, Henry, he was his godson and part of JJ so how could he not love him, and Garcia. He was pleased to be affectionately known by JJ as Spence, and although he'd never admit it, he was inwardly delighted to be Garcia's sweetcheeks. So, the truth being what it was, he would look at this as an adventure, he finally convinced himself as the buzzer sounded announcing the arrival of the goddess herself.
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"Are you ready for this?" Garcia asked when he met her in the lobby of his apartment building.
"Sure Garcia," he replied, attempting to sound more confident than he was.
"Good, let's go to Décor and More first," she said.
"First?" Reid said, his confidence that this was going to be a quick trip began to wane just a bit.
"Sure, sweetcheeks, you can't just go to one place," she replied as they got into Esther.
"Why not," he wondered, considering it was his usual modus operandi when shopping. His confidence sagged just a bit further.
"Because," Garcia said as she reached into her bag that was bigger than his messenger bag and eventually pulled out a piece of paper, like a long cash register receipt when you did the Christmas grocery shopping, "I've got a list."
As she waved the paper in front of him and he saw that it was covered completely with Garcia's scrawl, all vestiges of the confidence he'd had, vanished, like barbeque chicken wings at a Super Bowl party.
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Reid didn't think he'd ever been in such a large furniture store. There were room settings everywhere, living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens and even outdoor patio rooms.
"Okay, your living room furniture is grey so, well, almost anything goes with grey," Garcia said as she looked around the massive store.
"It's a warm grey," Reid stated, "which has more green in it, as opposed to a cool grey which contains more blue. So you're likely better to get colors that are complementary to green than blue. Did you know that there were two theories of color? Sir Isaac Newton published his in 1704, followed later by an almost opposite theory in 1810 by Goethe."
"Fascinating," Garcia said absentmindedly as she spotted a selection of pillows and took off in that direction, like a bloodhound that had just picked up a scent, leaving Reid no choice but to follow. "Okay, Dr. expert on color, what's the complementary color for warm grey?"
Reid's eyes looked straight ahead as if observing a color wheel, "Well there's no actual complementary color for grey, but since warm grey contains more green, I guess it would be red," he said at last.
Garcia's eyes perked up. "Wonderful, I love red," she said, as Reid looked intently at his friend wondering if there was a color she didn't love.
"Did you know that when harmonizing colors are combined, they always make grey?" Reid asked.
Garcia gazed back at her friend with a look that, in part, asked, how she had gotten this far in life without that particular knowledge and partly with pity that her young friend knew so much about color but had experienced so little of its joy. Her look then turned to one of determination. That was about to change. She plucked a red pillow off of a pile, "How about this."
Reid turned holding a pillow of his own, and his eyes widened, "That's really bright Garcia," he said as he looked down at the pillow in his hands.
Garcia looked at the pillow Reid held. It was grey with black fern fronds that stood out on the fabric. "Reid, what color is that pillow?"
"Grey and black," he stated the obvious.
"And what color is your room?"
"Grey and black."
"Exactly," she took the pillow from him and tossed it on the pile. "Look at this red, faux suede, it'll make your room pop."
Reid's eyes narrowed. He always thought of his apartment as a place he slept, ate, watched television and read. He'd never thought of it popping.
"Okay if you say…" Reid stopped when something caught Garcia's eye once again and she was gone.
"OMG sweetcheeks," she said as she handed two of the red cushions to a passing salesman. "We'll take those." She carried on without looking back or waiting for a reply.
"Your wife seems eager," the salesman said to Reid, thinking this would be an easy day.
"Wife," Reid squeaked, "she's not my wife. She's my co-worker."
"Oh," the man glanced sideways at Reid and nodded knowingly, "I see."
Reid was silent for a moment until the inference hit him. "No," he said, "we're not…you know. She's my co-worker and my friend." The man nodded, but the slight smirk on his face told Reid that he didn't believe him. Finally Reid squeaked, "She's Garcia," as if that should be self explanatory and followed his wayward friend before she bought everything in the store.
"Look at these chairs Reid," Garcia said when he finally found her. Garcia was looking at two red chairs with low round backs that had vertical line quilting, the edges around the arms and back, as well as the legs were black ebony. "These would be perfect around your chess table, and then if you have people over, you can pull them around for extra seating."
"Garcia," Reid repeated, "I thought we came for pillows and a throw." Reid glanced at the price tag and squeaked. "Have you looked at how much this costs?"
"No, it's on my list, and anyway, we won't pay that." She put her hands on his cheeks under the watchful eye of the salesman who once again smirked. "Trust me, Penelope Garcia can negotiate." She pushed him back into the chair. "So, how does it feel? Close your eyes, think of playing chess in this lovely chair."
Reid did as he was told. It was comfortable and he did need chairs. He supposed they would look nice by the window. "Okay," he relented, "but what else is on that list?" He grabbed the list from her hand and scanned it for a nanosecond. "Area rug, wine glasses, dining table, Garcia there's no room for a dining table, and what exactly do you mean by accessories?"
"Oh you know… just a few things to brighten up the place and give it a little personality. Right now it looks like a depressed monk lives there."
"That's pretty much how it feels," Reid replied.
"Okay, I'll make you a deal," Garcia sat in the chair beside Reid, "you play along with me and I won't tell Morgan that Hotch caught you checking out women at the train station."
"How did you…Emily… okay, okay," he raised his hands in surrender. He paused for a moment. "But that's not a deal Garcia, it's blackmail."
"Semantics, sweetcheeks, it's all semantics," she stood and turned, "shall we?"