Author: Ren Kayashima

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

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Chapter One: Are you a barnacle?

Reid sat in a classic diner. He had just finished a case with the team in Boston, and as much as he wanted to crawl into bed after a long nights work, he needed food. He found the nearest place to his apartment and walked in to obtain the proper nourishment his body desired.

The New Haven Diner had the classic nineteen fifties atmosphere with its bright red pleather seats, matching booths, shiny white Formica tabletops, and sparkling metal to line the edges. It was filled to medium occupancy with the elderly enjoying the benefits of the early bird special, and the young teenagers who needed a place to hang out after a day cramped in a desk.

He sat in one of the booth dipping a fry into his ranch dressing over and over as he thought about this last case. He stopped dipping the fry and let it fall limp against the dish when a bit of fiery red caught his eye. He turned to find a small girl standing in front of the table, smiling at him.

The little girl looked to be about ten and had red hair and bright green eyes. She was maybe three foot four, and her face was sprinkled with tons of freckles. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the cold weather outside, telling Reid that she had only entered the diner a moment ago. She wore a pair of simple jeans and a kid sized grey duffel coat to keep her warm. She had on bright pink gloves to math her pink rain boots.

"Hello?" he asked moving farther into the booth to distance himself from the child.

The little girl pointed to the gun on his hip. "Are you a cop?" she asked.

Reid nodded as he eyed the girl warily. He looked around trying, hoping really, to find the girl's parents. He spotted a small pink polka-dotted backpack sitting on one of the benches in the booth across the walkway from him.

"Are you lost?" he asked sitting up a bit.

The little girl shook her head vigorously, her smiled growing. She started giggling when she stopped. She sat on the bench where her backpack sat and started to swing her legs.

Reid started to eat his food again, hoping the girl would find some way to entertain herself. He occasionally slid his gaze over to her and she would look up and smile. He turned in his seat to face the girl once more.

"Where are your parents?" he asked. Surely someone was responsible for the child.

"They're in the desert," the girl answered. "Can I see your badge?" she asked hopefully.

"Which desert?" Reid asked thinking of hundreds of deserts, but none nearby.

"Iraq," the girl answered obviously not understanding what was going on overseas. "Now can I see your badge?"

Reid frowned. Both her parents were in the military. He smiled slightly after a minute and pulled out his credentials and opened them. The little girl hopped off her bench and walked over and began reading the top part. Her mouth moving as she formed the words in her head.

"Superversory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid," she read aloud. "You're a doctor? That's so cool."

"Supervisory," Reid corrected. "What's your name?"

"Katie McDonough, I'm eight," she stated proudly holding her hand out for him to shake.

Reid looked at her hand and then back at her smiling face. He took her much smaller hand in his and she shook it quickly.

"Can I call you Spencer?" Katie asked.

Reid swallowed before nodding. Katie slid into the bench in front of him. She removed her coat to reveal a long sleeve shirt with a glittery whit snowflake.

"Are you a barnacle Spencer?" she asked.

Reid's eyes widened and he looked around for help once more. It didn't come. "What?"

"I heard my sister when she was talking with Uncle Mark, and he said that people are barnacles because they don't do anything fun. They always do the same thing over and over," she explained.

"And that makes them Barnacles?" he asked confused. What do barnacles have to do with human behavior?

"I don't get it," Katie shrugged. She rested he chin on her hand. "Did you like school when you were eight?"

Reid nodded feeling the slightest bit more relaxed around her. "Yeah, I did."

"I like school, but my teacher isn't very nice," Katie said as she ran a finger over the polished white table, creating only something she could see. "What was your favorite subject?"

"I like math," Reid answered. "If your parents are in the desert, who do you live with?"

Kate looked towards the back of the diner at the cash register and pointed to the man currently counting money behind it. The man was in his late twenties and had short dirty blond hair and blue eyes. "He's my Uncle Sean," she explained. "Me and my sister live with him."

A teenager came rushing in rubbing her bare hands together. She turned down the walkway and walked towards Reid. She looked to be about five foot four. She had the same red hair, green eyes, and scattered freckles as Katie, so Reid could only assume that this was the sister the eight year old had just mentioned.

The teen was in a pair of black jean and a double breasted black wool jacket. On her back was an overstuffed black backpack. She bobbed her head to music that only she could hear and pulled a small playbook from her pocket.

The teenager stopped at the booth where Katie's backpack had been place and she began looking around as she slid the backpack of her shoulders. She turned and looked at Katie before turning her gaze to Reid.

"Katie, what has mom told you about talking to strangers," the teen scolded. She looked at Reid. "I'm so sorry, was she bothering you?"

"Spencer is a cop," Katie smiled. "So he's a good guy."

The teen looked at Reid and raised a well groomed eyebrow. How could he be a cop? "You don't look like a cop. You don't mind if I ask to see your badge."

Reid shook his head as he pulled his credentials out once more. She was playing the role of protective big sister. She took the small black folder and opened it and gave it a thorough reading before handing it back to him. "He's not just a cop Katie, he works for the FBI."

"What's that?" Katie asked innocently.

"Their special cops," the girl answered. She turned back to Reid and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Faye McDonough. Katie's my little sister, so you can understand me making sure you are who you say you are."

Reid found his opportunity to end his confusion about the barnacles. "She asked me if I was a barnacle," he said after he shook her hand. He took another fry from his plate, abandoning the ranch-logged one in the dipping dish.

Faye paused before smiling. "It's just an analogy," she said. "People are like barnacles in that they drift through life until they find something, like a ship, to attach to. In this case the ship is their comfort zone. Once the barnacle attaches to the ship it proceeds to digest its own brain, because it's no longer needed. In the case of people, it means those who don't take healthy risk and confine themselves only to what feels comfortable," she explained.

Reid nodded in understanding. Faye bit her lip slight and turned back to the booth across the walkway. She set her backpack down and started unloading its contents. She pulled out a neon green graphing calculator and set it down next to a green binder.

"Did you come up with that analogy?" Reid asked after a minute of silence.

Faye kept her back to the agent but shook her head as she pulled a green notebook computer and set it down.

"No, it was something my Uncle Mark read," Faye answered. She looked over her shoulder at Katie, "Time for homework, I'm going to get us some pie." She opened the computer and turned it on before walking back towards the kitchen.

Katie let out a small childish groan and slid out of Reid's booth and back into her designated spot. "But I don't want to do times tables," she complained as she opened her backpack.

Reid smiled a little bit. He sat up and continued to eat his meal as Faye came back with two slices of pie. Katie looked over at Reid.

"Spencer, are you a Barnacle?" she asked again as she picked up a fork and stabbed her chocolate crème pie bringing a large piece over to her small mouth.

Faye grabbed the eight-year-olds coat from Reid's booth before sitting down on the bench opposite Katie.

"I don't think so," Reid answered.

"Okay," Katie nodded as she stuck a finger full of whip cream into her mouth.

"Wipe your face off Katie, and use your hand sanitizer when you're done with the pie," Faye stated as she stripped herself of her wool coat to reveal a purple thermal long sleeve shirt under a white hooded zip up vest. "Pull your homework out. If you need help in math again just ask."

Katie's face lit up as she was struck with an idea. She jumped out of the booth and hopped over to Reid. "Spencer, you like math will you help me with my times tables?" she asked.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Children don't like Reid. He was a socially awkward genius who made children run away and hide behind their parents in terror. Some parents thought he was a pedophile.

"Faye reached outside of the booth and pulled Katie back. "Katie, let Dr. Reid eat in peace."

Finally the sister's uncle came over and looked at Reid. "I'm sorry, is Katie bothering you?" he asked.

Reid shook his head when he realized that he didn't mind Katie talking to him. He just wondered why Katie was different from other children.

The sister's uncle held out his hand. "Sean McDonough, I own this diner."

Faye looked up from a newspaper article on her computer and looked at Reid. "The diner has been in the family for sixty years. Ownership is decided by who is most capable. My dad actually owns the Italian restaurant our family started thirty years ago," she explained.

"Spencer will you help me with math?" Katie asked again raising her voice up a bit more.

Faye dropped her head and let out a long sigh. "I'm sure he has better things to do."

Reid looked at his cold fries and then at Sean. Sean shrugged.

"If it's okay with you, I'm fine with it. Katie seems to like you, and Faye hasn't called the cops, so that's a good sign," Sean said. "Plus, if you walk out of this diner with Katie, I'll grab the shot gun I keep behind the cash register and shoot you."

Reid gulped. Katie started bouncing uncontrollably and Faye let her go.

Reid sighed. "Yes, I'll help you," he said moving himself and his plate over to the little girls table.

Faye pulled a jar of blank white dice out of Katie's backpack and held them out to the doctor. He took them and looked at her for an explanation. "Group them into sets based on the problems, it will help Katie understand."

"What are you working on?" Reid asked.

"Psych research paper on people's fears and comforts." She answered not looking up.

"What grade are you in?" he asked as he poured some dice into his hand.

"I'm a senior," Faye answered nonchalantly. She pulled a notebook out of her back and started writing quickly.

Reid felt Katie tug on his sleeve. When he looked at her, he found her hold a pencil out for him. Her worksheets neatly set out on the table.

"This isn't your comfort zone is it?" Faye asked looking up slightly her bangs creating a screen.

"No," Reid answered taking the pencil. "Most kids don't like me."

Faye smirked ad started typing on the keyboard. "Katie isn't most kids."

Reid looked at the first problem set up and started sorting the dice on the table into individualized groups. "So when you see a problem like Three times four, you can think about it like this," he said pointing to the four different groups of three dice each.

Katie pointed to each dice with pencil and counted. "Twelve?" she asked.

Reid nodded and watched her slowly write the answer in a box. He looked at the page and let out a mental sigh. So much for sleep, he thought.

An hour later and Reid was paying for his meal. Sean looked at him as he handed over the spare change. "The next lunch, breakfast, or dinner is on me. I'm sorry Katie can be a little stubborn."

Reid smiled. "Actually I kind of enjoyed it. It was nice, not thinking about all the stuff I see at work."

Sean smiled. "Well then, I'm glad that Katie was able to help distract you. Come again soon."

Reid nodded before making his way out of the diner. He looked into the window at the two sisters as they laughed at something. He crossed the street and headed towards his apartment a small smile on his face.

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Author's Note: Okay, so this was just an idea that popped into my head last night when I was thinking about what to do for a research paper. So I started writing. I thought it was cute and it was fun.

This can be just a one shot, or I can write an entire story about Reid's interactions with the McDonough's. Anyway, let me know what you want to see by dropping me a review. Also, what did you think? Is there anything that I can improve one? Just let me know in a review.

Ren