Disclaimer: See my profile.
A/N: Contains mild profanity. Just a bit of silliness that struck me yesterday…
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'You Had a Bad Day'
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Spencer Reid was having a bad day. It started as soon as he woke up, or rather didn't wake up, at least not on time. The fact he had either forgotten to set his alarm or had slept through it for an extra half an hour meant that he was running late. He still had time to make it to the BAU without being tardy; however he would have to hurry and then forego his normal morning cup of coffee until he actually reached the office. He would not have time to stop anywhere this morning. He pulled off his pajama bottoms, tee shirt and boxers as he headed for the bathroom and deposited them in the hamper before rushing into the bathroom and turning the shower on.
It only took Reid a few minutes to realize no matter how much he tried to adjust the faucet he wasn't getting any hot water. Groaning in frustration he stepped into the shower and stood beneath the cold flow of water, shivering as he soaped and shampooed up and then rinsed off. Teeth chattering Reid stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel, but quickly realized the towel rack was empty. Cursing under his breath he walked out of the bathroom naked and grabbed a towel out of the linen closet in the hallway. In the process of pulling the towel out he also pulled a spare bottle of shampoo out which promptly landed on his right foot. He cursed again, briefly hopping on his uninjured foot as he did so. 'Just what I needed,' he thought to himself as he wrapped the towel around his waist before walking into his bedroom.
He opened a drawer and grabbed a pair of purple boxer shorts and then a white tee shirt which he pulled on immediately. Next he opened his sock drawer and pulled out a pair of mismatched socks and then quickly pulled them on to his feet before heading for the closet to grab a shirt and pants. He pulled on a pair of dark blue pants and a matching shirt, quickly buttoning the shirt and tucking it into the waistband of his pants. He quickly knotted his tie as he looked into the mirror over his dresser and then reached for his hairbrush to try and tame his tangled, wet hair. He grabbed the pair of white athletic shoes that had quickly become his favorites due mainly to their comfort, and sat down on the bed to put them on. As he was tying the laces on his left shoe, the lace in his right hand broke and he almost growled in frustration. Reid kicked the offending shoe off his foot and stood up to grab another pair of shoes; and in the process tripped over the shoe he had just discarded. "What else can happen?" he complained out loud as he grabbed a pair of brown leather oxfords and pulled them on to his feet, quickly tying them.
Finally fully dressed, Reid pulled his messenger bag off of the hook it was hanging from, and then unplugged his cell phone charger and tucked the phone into his pocket before grabbing a light jacket from the closet. He rushed out his front door and turned to lock the deadbolt behind him but quickly realized he had forgotten his keys. Sighing in exasperation he opened the door and rushed back into his apartment and grabbed his key ring off the kitchen counter where he had set it down the previous evening. After locking the front door and running downstairs he unlocked his car, tossed his bag on the passenger side and sat behind the wheel. He turned his key in the ignition and nothing happened. He tried a second time and again, nothing happened. "Come on, damn it!" he complained as he tried starting the car a third time. This time the car started. "What a freakin' morning this has been!" he complained aloud as he released the brake and pulled his car away from the curb.
A little while later Reid stepped off the elevator and rushed into the Bullpen area of the BAU. He was fifteen minutes late, which, considering how his morning had gone so far wasn't too bad. Morgan and Prentiss were not at their desks, which could be either a good or a bad sign. It was possible they were each late, or that Hotch had already called the team in for a meeting and his being late had also caused him to be late to the meeting. He deposited his messenger bag on his desk chair, turned on his computer and then walked around to a point where he could see into the conference room. It was empty, therefore if he was missing a meeting it wasn't being held in the conference room.
"Hey, my gorgeous Junior G-Man," Reid yelped and jumped at the sound of Garcia's voice behind him. "Excuse me," she huffed. "I don't normally scare people just by talking to them."
"Sorry Garcia," he squeaked. "I was just wondering where everyone was and I didn't hear you come up behind me."
"Rossi and Hotch are both in their offices, JJ is talking to someone over in Counter Terrorism, Morgan had a dentist appointment this morning and Prentiss is just late." She started to walk away, but turned around and said, "So basically no one but me noticed that you also came in late this morning."
"Thanks Garcia," Reid grinned, feeling okay for the first time this morning. He walked back over to his desk and sat down before reaching for one of the numerous files piled in his Inbox. Before opening it, however, he decided he needed a cup of coffee, so he stood up and walked over to the coffee maker to pour himself a cup. He grabbed the sugar dispenser to add some to his cup, but as soon as he turned it upside down the screw on cap fell off and the entire contents of the dispenser landed in his coffee cup causing some of the liquid to splash over the sides. Sighing he dumped the liquid in the sink and rinsed out the cup before pouring himself some more coffee. He pulled a box of sugar out of a cabinet and used it to refill the sugar dispenser and then carefully screwed the lid on tightly before tilting it to pour some sugar into his cup.
Back at his desk Reid sat down in his chair just as Prentiss came rushing into the Bullpen and dropped her purse at her desk. She craned her neck in the direction of Hotch's office in an attempt to determine if he might have seen her. "Is he in there?" she asked Reid.
"Garcia said he is," Reid turned toward her as he spoke, and his elbow hit the coffee cup he had just set down and knocked it to the floor. He sighed and jumped up to grab some paper towels to clean up the mess, and then tossed the errant coffee cup into the small trash can near his desk and the wet paper towels on top of it.
Prentiss suppressed a laugh and said, "I'm headed that way. I'll grab you another cup."
"No thanks," Reid grumbled before heading down the hall to the nearest vending machine. He inserted a couple one dollar bills into the machine and pressed the button for a twenty ounce bottle of Coca-Cola. He heard his change drop into the slot, but his soft drink did not come out. "Oh, come on!" He grabbed his change, tucking it into his pocket before pressing the selection button again. "Damn it!" he growled in frustration, before pounding the selection button. He finally heard the bottle drop and reached into the machine to grab it. Grumbling he headed back toward his desk, twisting the bottle cap as he walked to release some of the air inside. Once he reached his desk he sat down and twisted the cap the rest of the way off and quickly scooted his chair back from the desk, grabbing the file as the soda inside foamed over the top of the bottle and dribbled on to his desk blotter.
Reid heard a familiar voice snickering behind him as a handful of paper towels was handed to him from behind. "Thank you, Morgan," he said with a sigh. He wiped up the spilled soda and tossed the paper towels into the trash can on top of the ones he had used to clean up the coffee mess just a few minutes ago.
"Rough morning?"
"Morgan, you have no idea," Reid commented. "How'd the dental appointment go?"
"It was just a cleaning. No big deal."
Reid went back to working on files, hoping his day would get better. He leaned back to stretch once the first file was done and apparently it was a little too much of a lean because the chair promptly toppled backward taking him along with it. "Jesus, kid! What the hell?" Morgan said, helping Reid pick himself and his chair up off the floor.
"What the hell was that?" Hotch asked, as he happened to walk by.
"Me falling," Reid commented as he set his desk chair back up. Hotch shook his head as he headed toward the elevators. "How damn embarrassing was that?" Reid grumbled after Hotch had walked away.
"You're even clumsier than usual today," Morgan laughed.
"Thanks a lot, Morgan!" Reid carefully sat back down in his chair and pushed himself back up to his desk. He grabbed another file and flipped it open to begin working on more paperwork. Once he was finished he reached for a pen to add his signature to the report and promptly snapped off the tip of the pen causing ink to spill out onto his desk blotter. He threw the pen down on his desk in frustration and picked up the entire blotter, walked over to the larger trash can near the coffee maker and dropped the blotter into it. He then walked over to Rossi's office and knocked on the door.
Morgan was working on his computer a few minutes later when Reid came back to his desk and picked up his messenger bag and his jacket. "See you tomorrow, guys."
"Where are you going?" Morgan asked.
"Home. Rossi gave me the rest of the day off."
"Great, maybe the building will survive the day with you gone," Prentiss joked.
"Ha, ha!" Reid retorted as he headed toward the elevators hoping his day would get better. He managed to get his car to start on the first try this time, and he headed straight for his apartment with the intention of locking himself in and barricading the door in the hope nothing else would happen to him today.
Once inside his apartment, however, Reid decided he needed some air so he left again to go out and take a walk. As he stood on a street corner waiting for the light to change a car made a quick turn to beat the light and splashed him with water from a puddle that had collected near the curb. "I really should never have gotten up this morning," he grumbled as he crossed the street and headed for a nearby park. It was still early, so he didn't expect any of his friends to be at the park, so he just decided to walk around for the exercise. After circling the park he sat on a bench and watched some children playing in the sandbox and swinging on the swings. He observed as two young boys made a pile of leaves and then jumped in the pile, laughing and throwing the leaves about. A few minutes later a young woman called to them and they reluctantly followed her and left the park. He looked to his left and saw another young child splashing in the fountain before being called out by a young man who looked to be his father.
Suddenly Reid stood up and walked over to the spot where the boys had been playing in the leaves. He gathered up a few armfuls of leaves and dropped them into a pile and then jumped into the pile. He laughed grabbed handfuls of leaves and then threw them up into the air. With a few leaves sticking in his hair he headed for the fountain, stepped over the rim and right into the water. He jumped around in the fountain splashing the water around and laughing out loud. A few people standing nearby observed him with a mixture of smiles, strange looks and odd expressions.
Reid climbed out of the fountain wet from the knees down and started walking home. As he passed an apartment building he noticed a hop scotch drawn on to the sidewalk with chalk. He looked at it remembering seeing children playing the game in the past. He hopped three times on one foot, then once on two feet, again on one foot, then two, then one again. 'Silly game,' he thought to himself, laughing anyway as he continued walking. As he reached the corner where he had gotten splashed earlier on his way to the park he did something he could never remember having done before; he started skipping, thinking as he did if Morgan could see him he'd never hear the end of it.
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Bad Day'
Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost They tell me your blue skies fade to grey They tell me your passion's gone away And I don't need no carryin' on
You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces every time
And I don't need no carryin' on
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on
You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
(Oh… Holiday…)
Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong
So where is the passion when you need when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around You say you don't know You tell me don't lie You had a bad day You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
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A/N: Not too long after I first heard 'Bad Day' by Daniel Powter I started imagining a fun video to it that is nothing like the actual video (which is pretty good, btw). I imagined Brad Pitt as a celebrity who was having a really bad day, and had paparazzi constantly chasing him trying to make the big shot that would sell their pictures. He suddenly just decided to act like a kid; jumping into a pile of leaves, dancing around in a fountain, jumping rope with some kids and then skipping home along the sidewalk. There was one photographer laughing and catching it all as it happened, and at the end you see the cover of a magazine with happy pictures of said celeb instead of trashy gossip. Anyway, that's where the original inspiration for this little story came from.
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