I know I'm not the only one who realized that in the episode Maeve was killed basically the entire team had a clear shot and could have saved her. But I saw the rumor going around that season 11 with focus a little bit on Reid's love-life and so maybe there will be an episode in that season when he's having one those grumpy or sassy moments and points out to the team that they could've saved Maeve, making the whole team feel guilty for not doing it? Maybe something along the lines of…
Morgan: *finds out Reid has a girlfriend* Why didn't you tell us? *says it in the happy/big-brother-teasing kind of way that he talks to Reid in sometimes*
Reid: *is tired and grumpy because of the case/lack of sleep/drama involving his mother* Because last time I told anyone that I have a girlfriend, they let her get killed.
…anyway….
This is not my main Criminal Minds story right now. The main one is "The Gender Game", which is also mainly about Reid. This is more of a side project.
((P.S. –you should totally read The Gender Game, it's pretty intense *winky face* )
Crack! At first, Reid wasn't sure where exactly the gunshot had come from or who was hit. He was much more out of it than he had been in a very long time (last time being a nasty head cold in college that he swore was more like a head flu than a cold), and he should've been more helpful. He heard the crack of the gunshot one second, and the next something was almost falling on him and he was looking into the eyes of a woman he felt he knew so well, though he had only seen her for the first time today. Maeve was there. She was the one sort of falling on him. When his mind caught up, he realized Dianne was on the floor, dead, and Maeve must've stumbled forward when Dianne fell, and he was what had caught her from falling. The relief that swallowed him left him unable to speak, and he couldn't do much more than wrap his arms around her in a tight hug (probably too tight, for a woman who was just almost shot, and for a man with a bullet hole in his arm), and burry his head in her shoulder. She was alive. Maeve was alive. They had found her, and they had saved her, and now he was holding her. He was shaking and didn't hear the footsteps behind him. Apparently, he had been standing there hugging her for longer than he thought. The paramedics were already there, removing the bodies of the two dead, and trying to get Reid and Maeve outside and into the ambulance to get the medical attention they needed.
Even at the hospital, everything seemed to be a blur. Adrenaline and relief and excitement were racing through him faster than he had felt before. Yes, all cases had given him that rush of adrenaline, and the end of the cases always brought on that feeling of relief. But this was so much more intense, more so than the Fisher King case, when he thought for a while that his mom was in danger, and more so than when Tobias and his many personalities had him hostage for two days. None of that could compare to this rush. If he said anything, he didn't remember it. He didn't remember anything that was said, actually. All he knew was Maeve was alive, her stalker was gone, and maybe they had a chance at a life together now. They were cleared from the hospital around 6, and made their way back to the Quantico offices to finish off the reports for the day. About 6:30, they got to the building.
It was around 7:00 PM when the adrenaline finally wore off. After being in a near panic all day, and then that rushing feeling of relief that she was alive, it was no surprise that exhaustion also came at him full force. His eyes were blurring and they hurt the way eyes hurt when you're tired. Frustrated with the blurriness, Spencer rubbed his eyes and dug through his desk for his glasses, before remember he had left in such a hurry that he had forgotten them at his apartment.
In the other room….
Maeve was talking to JJ, who had taken the shot that had killed Dianne. She had wanted to thank her for saving her, but JJ had insisted it was her job to save people. So the topic had turned to Spencer as they watched him from a distance fill out paperwork that they were sure he didn't really want to do.
"So you've been talking to him over the phone for how long?" JJ asked, still unable to comprehend how Spencer had managed to basically have a girlfriend that no one in the entire team knew about it.
"A few months. At first it was just formal medical stuff, but there was something about him that kept me calling him." Maeve shook her head. "I wish I could've seen him under better circumstances for the first meeting though."
JJ nodded in agreement. "It's not a very nice first meeting, but I met my husband during a case, and I can't imagine any other way I could've possibly met him. Some things just happen for a reason I guess."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching Reid's frustrated rubbing of his eyes and digging through his desks. Most of the team were also down there with him, filling out reports of their own or teasing each other from across the room. Hotch came down from his office and made his way over to Reid, saying something to him as he flipped through the papers Reid had already finished. The two girls headed down just as Hotch told Reid to go home and get some rest, to finish the paper work tomorrow. He even offered to drive him home.
"I can drive him to his apartment." Maeve offered.
And so she did. She drove his car to his apartment, since her's was still at the warehouse she had a room in. She wasn't sure she really wanted to go back there tonight, not after what had just happened. She could return to her mother's house, but that was a bit of a drive and she wasn't too trusting of taxi drivers right now either.
As if he read her mind, Spencer asked, "Do you need a place to stay tonight?"
"I don't want to be a bother-"
"You're not. I can't see anyone wanting to go back to the place they were ambushed from. You're welcome to stay at my place for as long as you need. I can sleep on the couch, and you'll have the bed to yourself." He interrupted.
"Okay." she agreed. It was hard to argue to with a profiler. "But actually, I think I'd rather share the bed with you, if you're okay with it."
You didn't have to be a profiler to notice the change in body language. "I'm okay with it."
She wasn't sure what it was. Normally, she wouldn't get in bed with a guy she didn't really know. But there just something about him, something safe and comforting and welcoming. She felt she knew him from just their short Sunday conversations, and she felt she could trust him to not rush her. Though in all honestly, she wasn't sure he'd have the energy to even get up the stairs. She pulled into the parking lot he directed her too and followed him up the stairs and into his apartment. It was small and cozy feeling, books lining the many shelves, the TV the perfect not-too-big-not-too-small size, and even the colors of the furniture and rugs gave the whole apartment a relaxing feeling. She had a feeling he had done that on purpose. He locked the door behind her and showed her to his room, pulling out a T-shirt and a pair of comfortable pajama pants for her to wear. She got changed in the bathroom, while he pulled on pajamas in the bedroom.
Once they had both crawled into the bed, Spencer was the first one asleep, out cold within seconds. Maeve fell asleep to the gentle hum of his snoring, which wasn't much of a snore and more like a quiet raspy sound. Despite the chaos of their hellish day, this was the perfect ending to any day.
Well, that was horrible. But I was kind of trying to make it a little blocky-ish, because that's how I would imagine Reid feel during the day; everything being a massive, crazy blur that he could barely make sense of, and then slowly becoming more understandable and finally the crash of exhaustion.
This probably wont be a story with a steady plot. Probably more like a bunch of one-shots centered around Reid and Maeve because who doesn't ship it? (Although to be honest, I kind of ship Reid with the bartender in that one episode who sent him the card with the lipstick on it, just because the idea of the nerd and the bartender is fun to bounce around.)
Other chapters/stories will hopefully be better. I figure the happier feelings in this story will kind of balance out the less happy feelings in The Gender Game, which you should still go read because who doesn't want to read more about Reid?
