So yhea this is my first CM fic so gimme some room, haha.
The amazing Doctor Reid and the rest of the Criminal Minds crew do not belong to me.(Lorraine dose though!) if they did i would be wearing Spencers scaref right now.
also don't bother suing me because I'm just a poor college student *sigh*
also this story goes with this picture, remove the spaces (polyvore .com /dr_lorraine _jenkins/set?id=13040551)
On to the story!
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Dr. Lorraine Jenkins stretched as she exited the birthing stall of her veterinary practice out side Quantico Virginia. it had been a long day, walking into the hospital and beginning the day with a Labrador with a broken leg then getting to do a few dozen check ups and after that getting to help a first time mother horse give birth to a colt. The young woman smiled slightly heading back up to the main building, the sounds of the world saying good night as the sun said good bye and moon said hello.
When she had opened up her practice 3 years ago at the age of twenty three, she had started off with a cramped three room building in the middle of Quantico. It had been a rough time but Lorraine and her staff had worked hard, making sure to keep in mind that customers are family. Whether they be the two legged, four legged, winged or scaled. just last year an old woman who had came to the clinic from its starting day had decided that with the passing of Hemingway the poodle, who Lorraine had tried her hardest to keep alive after fourteen long happy years of life, it was time that the veterinary hospital get a thank you, in the form of several hundred thousand dollars. Lorraine used this money to expand her practice out side of the city to a thousand acre ranch with nice high tech equipment and a larger staff. she went from dealing with small every day cases that had to do with dogs, cats and the occasional bird or reptile to horses, cows, ferrets, pigs, wild animals and every thing else one can think of out in the country.
the twenty seven year old walked up to the main building in which she had designed a special 'staff only' area in the back with a rather plush break room, locker room and showers. She waved to a few of her 'manly men' who were lying around exhausted from moving several hundred pounds of feed from the trucks to the storage areas.
"Good job boys" she said with a chipper smile getting a mixed reply of groans and "thanks boss" as they watch some random foot ball game on the TV. Lorraine shook her head muttering about 'boys will be boys' as she slipped into the locker room shucking out of mud, muck and birth covered overalls and tossing them in the laundry bins then grabbed her 'wash kit' and fresh clothing out of her locker. the only things on the girls mind was a shower, clean clothing and a cup of coffee perhaps with a good book.
about an hour later Lorraine emerged form the shower smelling of lavender and jasmine, dark red hair tugged back in a messy bun, clad in a pair of gray sweats and a old t-shirt from the fencing team she had been part of when she was in college. Grabbing her black backpack, she went to the front desk. A young blond in her early twenty's, Heather if the doctors' mind remembered correctly, smiled as Lorraine approached.
"I see your fashion sense is as unfashionable as ever Dr. J" Heather said teasingly, the blond was clad in a sage green button up, a tan skirt and matching sage green heels with some strategic accessories. Lorraine shrugged not seeming that concerned. The older girl had always chose comfort over looks. Even when she knew she would be working indoors Lorraine wore scrubs and sneakers, hair in its trade mark pony tail.
"honey, the day I help a horse give birth while wearing heels is the day some one really needs to talk some sense to me" she laughed Heather blush but nodded also with a shy smile.
"I guess your right, but still boss! It's no wonder you don't have a guy!" Lorraine just shook her head walking out the door with a quick "night everyone!" and tossed her bag in the back of her truck climbed into the drivers seat and started up the old pick up with a deafening roar of the engine. The red head smiled petting the steering wheel fondly rewarding it with a softly murmured "good boy" as she pulled out of her parking space, flipping on the radio to a random jazz station as she headed towards town.
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an hour later the 5'5 red headed doctor entered 'book lovers cafe' a small hole in the wall book store known for its wide variety of books, good music, and fantastic coffee. The smell of coffee and book coupled with the soft oldies rock seemed to be so comforting, and to the young woman it was like coming home. Lorraine sighed dark green eyes scanning the cafe and seeing that 'her' coffee place was, for some reason, jam packed with people. she tugged a book out of her bag and proceeded to read while standing in line for close to a half hour just to get up to the counter so she could order her coffee.
"My usual Jeremy" she said to the young man currently attending the counter. She felt kind bad for the 19 year old; he looked like he was running pretty rough this evening. Really she didn't blame him; she could never deal with customer after customer with 3 mile long orders for one cup of coffee that was likely to throw it in your face if you didn't put enough whipped cream on top. Jeremy nodded grinning slightly seeming glad to see a familiar face. Bright blue eyes dancing behind 'emo' black hair as he replied
"Tall, raspberry mocha, with whipped cream will do." he recited from memory then added "sorry to say your table got taken Dr.J" Jeremy and Lorraine had fallen into a system of sorts, Loraine only put money in the tip jar if Jeremy was at the counter or making her drink. Jeremy, in return, always tried to save the back corner window seat for Lorraine. the redhead smiled glancing around spotting that Jeremy was indeed correct, 'her' table was over ran by what looked to be a bunch of college kids.
Lorraine sighed softly then tried to brighten up tossing some cash in the tip jar she replied "its fine Jer, I'll find some place to sit. God knows I need to start talking to real humans more anyway." he chuckled as she walked off to claim a seat while Jeremy made her coffee. she passed by couples sitting close, sipping coffee and talking softly about dreams and wishes and hopes for the future, college boys, loud and rowdy, leaving Lorraine to guess there had been a football game nearby hence their presence here. Then last but not least the usuals like her self that sat in quiet corners some trying to read their books, some in discussions. A group of them in their early twenty's, discussing Roger Zelaznys 'Chronicles of Amber', quickly waved her over causing her to laugh. She had been the one to turn them on to the books so it seemed fitting that she should talk to them about what they had read so far. she took a step towards them, but paused out of the corner of her eye spotting a young man, he couldn't be older then 21 or so, brown hair framing a pale face deep brown eyes watching the group of students she was heading towards with a sort of longing to join in as he sat listening.
Lorraine grinned tossing her bag in a seat as she walked past them. "Keep talking y'all, ill just be a moment" there was a murmur of 'oks' as they went back to their discussion as if it was an every day thing. Mean while she walk right up to the young man, a determined look to her eyes. The boy seemed surprised as she held out her hand flashing a friendly smile. "Hi, I'm Lorraine and I was wondering if you'd like to join our little discussion since you seem interested."
brown eyes looked up at the red head with confusion then embarrassment, slowly reaching out to shake Lorraine's extended hand he replied "um, I'm Spencer and yes I would love to, I just didn't know if I would be intruding" the man blushed at Lorraine's soft laugh when he stood up.
"I'm sorry; I'm not laughing at you. It's just when I joined this little group I kind of did the opposite, I heard these guys talking about what's the best Sci-Fi book ever written and I just jumped in arguing for my fave. next thing I knew I was one of them and holding book discussions every night that I wasn't working" she grinned adding on almost proudly "I guess you could say I'm a very extroverted individual"
Spencer smiled slightly seeming amused but still awkward, as if he wasn't used to interacting with people "I noticed that, what do you do by the way?" he asked as the two wandered over to the group of now rather loud college kids Lorraine laughed at something one of the boys yelled then turned her attention back to his question. dark green eyes sparkled and danced in the light as she tossed her bag to the floor and plopping down in the chair she had earlier claimed
"I'm a Veterinarian, I don't really specialize in one type of animal but I get mostly the usual dogs, cats, birds, and reptiles along with farm animals like horses and cows" turning back to the group she waved her arms in the air to get their attention. 10 pairs of eyes were suddenly focused on the red head "guys! Listen up! This is Spencer and he shall be joining us this evening. Do not scare him off or I shall yell at you" the whole group laughed and shouted greetings making the newest member of their group blush. one young woman hoped up from her seat, dirty blond pigtails bounced as she looked at the blushing man the way a coyote looked at its prey
"hi I'm Jessica and your cute!" the young woman seemed to suddenly not understand the words 'personal space' as she got up and hugged him. Spencer blinked at the blond who was now trying to plaster herself to him. Loraine rolled her eyes, she knew how Jessica was, the girl wasn't at all self confident causing her to have a serious issue with 'must screw every man that is half way good looking' Loraine grinned slightly looking Spencer over. He definitely was more then halfway good looking. Much, much more.
"Umm h-hi" Spencer mumbled, cheeks now resembling the color of the inside of a strawberry. The redhead finally decided to rescue the young man as she reached up tugging on Jessica's pigtail with a soft laugh.
"Yo, leave the newbie alone. I thought I just said no one's supposed to scare him off" the young blond blushed and pouted before skipping back to her seat. One of the guys got up grabbing Spencer a seat and dragging it over, the circle rearranging to make room for him. The boy who had retrieved the chair for him grinned running a hand through short spiky, neon blue hair green eyes dancing with amusement as he stage whispered to Spencer after they both got resettled.
"I'm Sam by the way and I'm sorry my sisters such a...." the young man bite his lip doing a little dance in his chair as he tried to search for the right word.
"Friendly person?" another girl tossed out to which he nodded "yeah...friendly person...." Lorraine laughed again adding in sarcastically
"is THAT what the kids call it these days?!" she glance to Jessica as everyone laughed, scared she had crossed the line, but was reassured by the fact that the blond was also laughing. another quick glance around the group revealed that Spencer, while he wasn't laughing as much as the rest of the people present he was smiling and seemed to be a bit more relaxed. Within minutes later the twelve individuals were engaged in a heated discussion about what the best part of the Amber books were and what were the worst steadily progressing to different books and authors. Lorraine was surprised to find that she and Spencer had common taste in books. She opened her mouth to comment but was cut off by a yell that she heard clearly from across the room, and immediately recognized the voice to be Jeremy's
"Yo! Doctor J! Your coffee's ready, and so is the rest of your crews!" the whole group sat on the edge of their chairs watching the redhead expectantly. Lorraine sighed getting up slowly "I'm guessing I'm supposed to go retrieve the coffee" the group nodded and laughed "can I at least get some help?" they all looked at one another waiting for some one to speak up, until a meek voice to the vets left spoke up
"I'll help" Spencer stood hesitantly rubbing the palms of his hands on his pants in a gesture of nervousness that Lorraine found oddly cute.
She smiled with an approving nod before they made their way up to the counter, she turned to her new helper commenting softly "sorry there so...loud and obnoxious. We haven't had a new person join us in awhile." Spencer nodded slowly seeming slightly embarrassed but then smiled shyly
"I can understand that. Its fine I'm just not used to interacting with people that much. I guess you could say I'm an introvert sort of" he smiled slightly as he referenced her earlier comment. She laughed; this guy was starting to grow on her. they walked up to the counter then balanced the three trays of coffee as well as a plate of muffins back to the circle where some one (Lorraine's best guess was Sam) had moved a coffee table into the middle to give easy access to coffee and food. Everyone was quick to grab their coffee and muffin, still arguing and laughing. The night wore on; people slowly left pointing out that they should be studying for midterms and such, until Jeremy walked over to the circle, which now consisted of solely Spencer and Lorraine.
"Yo, lovebirds! I need to close this place up, so unless you're planning on sleeping here tonight, I suggest you get a move on" Spencer blinked his cheeks turning a light red as he quickly replied "no..no we're not-" Lorraine's laughter cut him off as did Jeremy's grin
"Man I know that! If Doc. got a man the floor would be covered in ice by now!" she tossed an empty plastic coffee cup at Jeremy and he grinned dodging it
"You know I'm just joking Doc!" she shrugged shaking her head as she stood, heading for the door
"What ever you say Jer" she called over her shoulder giving him a smile to show she wasn't mad. Jeremy chuckled "see ya tomorrow night Doc." he called back as he disappeared into the back store room. She paused turning to Spencer with a small grin "so Mr. Spencer, would you mind walking me to my car? If you're not a crazy serial rapist that is" He blushed nodding slightly
"I'd love to...and it's Doctor." he mumbled softly shoving his hands in his pockets as they walked to the door. 'He looks so cute when he get's all embarrassed like that' Lorraine notice
"Ah so I'm not the only Doc here now!" She joked, then blinking a few times as (Dr.) Spencer stepped in front of her to hold the door open "oh thanks"
"No problem" he replied with a small smile as they exited out to the parking lot. They walked in a comfortable silence over to her dark green pickup both casting hesitant glances at each other. Lorraine smiled at him as she tossed her bag in the bed of the truck
"So Dr. Spencer, any chance I'll see you again soon?" she asked leaning against the side of the old truck moonlight casting a glow on her tan skin. He blinked, clearly surprised, as he shoved his hands in his pockets again looking down at the ground, his hair falling in his face. Lorraine had caught a blush as he did so
"I'd like to. see you again that is" he hesitated then looked up at her deep brown eyes seemed to draw her in as he continued hesitantly "would...I mean...could I get your number?" she barely caught his words the way he mumbled them, the look in his eyes obviously tell her that he expected to be rejected. Lorraine smiled warmly tugging her cell out of her pocket and handing it to him motioning him to give her his.
"I'd love to, as long as you promise to actually use it. it frustrates the heck outta me when I give a guy my number and he never calls" she laughed softly as they traded phones, her fingers quickly typing in her cell phone number then after a second before typing in another phone number along with it "if I don't answer my cell try the second number, its my office number. I usually end up practically living there so I'm more likely to pick up there then at home." he blinked then smiled slightly as they gave each other their phones back.
"cool, my works sort of hectic so if I don't call right away that's why but...I think I'll be coming back here when ever I can so...maybe we'll run into each other?" He gave her a slightly hopeful glance to which she nodded with a grin
"I would say so considering this is like my second home; if I'm not at work I'm here. It seems like I only go home to sleep and shower any more." she laughed softly then yawned glancing down at her watch "it's getting late though, and I have to go to work tomorrow" he nodded in understanding also looking pretty exhausted
"I really hadn't planed on staying out this late, I thought I would just grab a coffee and then head home" Spencer blushed slightly adding on quickly "not that I'm upset that you invited me over, I'm actually really happy I got to talk to you, it's just I hadn't been expecting it and-" her laughter cut off his babbling which only made him blush more
"I'm sorry, it's just really cute when you start babbling like that" she rubbed her eyes and grinned when she noticed he was blushing again he rubbed the back of his head smiling shyly
"Umm thanks?" he said softly a light blush of her own spread across Lorraine's cheeks as she noticed what she had said.
"Sorry I have a habit of saying the first thing that comes to mind" Spencer shrugged slightly seeming flustered as he mumbled
"n-no no! It's fine...I'm just not really used to girls calling me cute" she blinked surprised by his words. In Lorraine's personal opinion, Spencer was the very picture of cute. Any girl to not see this was an idiot.
"Well Spencer, all the girls you talk to must be blind then" again she was saying what was on her mind, her "step" mom's phrase when she said such things was always 'I tell it like it is'. She nearly giggled when he blushed and smiled again.
"So...I'll call you?" he said, she nodded walking over to the drivers door pausing for a moment to kiss him on the cheek
"Yeah call me, we should go get coffee together or something" Lorraine smiled warmly at Spencer as he blinked stuttering, surprised by her affectionate gesture
"ye-yeah I'll do that" he smiled back after a moment, waving before walking back to his own car as she climbed into the truck.
Lorraine spent the drive home singing to some Janis Joplin tape that had been in the car. She didn't really care what song it was she was singing so long as she was singing. She was so happy and had not a damn clue why. For all she knew this Spencer guy would never call her, and they would never see each other again. But he was sweet, and she hoped to God he did call, even if they did end up as 'just friends', she had enjoyed spending time with him. She sighed pulling into the drive way of her small two bed one and a half bath home, turning the key so the engine was off but Janis kept singing. She just sat there thinking for a bit, her last relationship had gone down in flames. Was it really worth it to try again? "What do you think Janis?" she asked the radio. She smiled slightly at its response, listening to the music for a little while longer before turning off the truck completely, hopping out grabbing her bag form the back and heading into her house.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don't mean nothing honey if it ain't free, now now.
And feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.