Ding dong. Reid opened his eyes. What that the doorbell? He rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. 10:42. It was kind of late for visitor. Maybe he was hallucinating. He flopped back down onto his bed.
Ding dong ding dong. Reid opened his eyes again. That was definitely the doorbell. "Coming," he moaned. He blindly searched for his glasses and put them on. He slipped on his slippers and shuffled to the door.
"Elle. Hi… what-"
"Hey, Reid. Can I come in?"
"Sure, I guess." He shut the door behind her. He knew something was wrong. She had seemed sad, frustrated when he tried to talk to her before. Then she shot Lee, claiming self-defense. Reid knew that was a lie, as did the rest of the BAU. Lee wasn't confrontational like that. He wouldn't have done anything to Elle like that. But Reid knew that she was frazzled. She hadn't been the same since she got shot. Understandably…
She sat down on his couch and frowned. She had just come from the BAU, to hand in her gun and badge. She was quitting. She couldn't look at her team again, fully well knowing that they were judging her for shooting Lee. But she had to go see Reid. She had to say goodbye. She would miss him. She would miss his cute smile, his dorkiness, his recitation of statistics, the "Reid effect."
"Reid, I- I'm leaving."
"Leaving?"
"Leaving. I'm leaving the BAU. I just handed in my gun and badge."
Reid looked stunned. He never pictured Elle as a quitter. He understood her decision, but still. He couldn't believe she was leaving. "Elle-"
"I know. I'm not a quitter. I just couldn't do this job anymore."
Reid looked at her understandingly. He knew that getting shot had been hard on her. He just wished he could have done something…
"And, I just wanted to say goodbye. You know, because, now that I'm leaving, I… I just wanted to say goodbye."
"Yeah. Bye. I'll- We'll miss you, Elle."
"I'll miss the team, too," she grinned. And it was true. She would miss everyone. She would miss Reid the most, though.
She stood up to leave. She adjusted her sweater and walked toward the door. Reid followed her to open the door. "Well, bye." Reid was never any good at goodbyes. He never knew what to say, or what to do, or how to act.
"Bye, Reid." Elle leaned in for a hug. She embraced him and thought of all the time they spent together. Reid was startled. Elle didn't seem like the hugging type.
"Well, bye, Reid."
"Bye, Elle."
He started to shut the door. "Wait, Reid?"
"Yeah?"
Elle leaned back inside the apartment. "Thanks for everything you've done." She kissed him on the cheek. Reid, again, was startled. "I love you, Reid." Elle gave a small smile, and walked out of his apartment and down the hallway.
Reid stood frozen for a minute, and watched Elle walk away. He touched his cheek, and smiled. "I love you, too, Elle," he whispered. And shut the door.
