A/N

I usually like to be alone. But lately I've been feeling very lonely. And… I just scribbled this oneshot down, mostly to occupy myself, but I was pretty content with the way it came out so I decided to share, if anyone else likes to read.

Reviews are much welcome. :)

To an outsider, it might have looked like she was trying to get into an odd yoga-position. The truth was that this was Alex Blake's usual "I'm so bored I can't be bothered"-position. She was on her back on the couch, both legs straight up against the wall, both arms stretched out full length, and if she tilted her head backwards she could watch the underside of the couch table. She did, and immediately frowned. Yuck. Who put a gum there? She was definitely innocent, and James had been gone for months. How long had it been stuck there? Ew.

Slowly she let her legs slide down the wall to one side and kicked herself back up in a sitting position. As she reached under the table to remove the piece of dried gum, she suddenly felt tears begin to burn in her eyes.

Stupid, she scolded herself. The divorce has been final for six weeks and he hasn't been home for another eight. You haven't shed a drop of tear over him in that time and why start now? You don't even miss him. It was over long before he moved to Boston and you both knew it.

The truth was that she wasn't shedding any tears over him. It was herself she wanted to cry over. She had never felt more lonely in her entire life. She wasn't the most social person in the world, that much was true, and she often choose solitude over companionship, but there was a vast difference between being alone and being lonely. The former was voluntary. The latter was not.

Okay, so she wasn't coping as well as she thought she would have. Big deal. New life arrangements take some time getting used to. Though if she admitted it to herself, she was something of a cliché. The overworked, divorced career woman who had neglected friends and family and finally found herself alone.

No. Lonely.

Alex yawned. She supposed she could go to bed early just to keep herself from thinking - and to avoid watching those boring sitcoms and unrealistic crime/forensic shows for once - but it was only 7.30 pm and it was a Saturday night.

Damn Strauss. Why had she suddenly decided to be nice and let the team have a long weekend? Three days free. Three days! What the hell was Alex supposed to do with that time? Yesterday she had cleaned the whole house, read one novel from start to finish, cooked enough linguine with shellfish to last her a lifetime, and attempted to get drunk but had gotten bored after two glasses and gone to bed instead.

Maybe I should get a cat.

Maybe I should get three of them at once and go straight from middle-aged career woman to crazy cat lady?

It was a stupid idea to start with; she wasn't a pet person. It would probably only take a couple of days before the poor cat found out it was allergic to Alex and wanted a divorce.

So what, then? I'm just gonna sit here and watch reruns of CSI Antarctica-through-Serengeti and eat Doritos?

She missed her team. They probably enjoyed their time off and didn't want to be reminded of work, otherwise she might have called them. Either of them. But Reid was finally going out with Maeve and she certainly wasn't going to risk disturbing him. Hotch was taking Jack on a trip to… wherever it was. New York? Probably. JJ had been thrilled about the chance to bring Henry and go to see Will's parents and not have to leave early the next day to get back to work. Morgan apparently had a new date…

At this, she shook her head a little. She wasn't the most talented and sensitive person when it came to reading social signals - but she could tell without a shadow of a doubt that the reason Derek Morgan's relationships never worked out in the long run, was because the only woman he really wanted was Penelope Garcia. Who, by the way, apparently was going to a comic-con all weekend. That only left…

Her cell phone rang. It was David Rossi.

"Hey Alex, it's Dave."

"Hi. What's up? A case?"

He chuckled.

"You sound eager. Not enjoying your free time?"

"Nope. I mean, well…" she let out a frustrated sigh. "It's been too long since I had any free time; usually I just have enough of it to eat a homemade meal and catch up on some sleep."

"You're bored." It wasn't a question.

"Damn profilers, they know everything."

"Actually, this time I made an educated guess based upon how I'm feeling myself. How about it, Alex? Do you want to come over and keep a lonely man company over a brandy and some cards?"

She smiled.

"You just saved my day. I'll be right over."

They hung up and Alex's smile widened. It was easy to forget that loneliness had a rather simple cure.

Company.