Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, I'm just borrowing the characters for a while.
Reid's revenge (sequel to Spencer Reid and the Tower of Doom(ed))
Emily Prentiss leaned back in her chair. She'd been working all day on her computer. Sometimes she felt like she spent more time typing about the cases they worked than they spent working them. No, she was sure of it. She rolled her eyes as she thought 'yes, I work for the government, of course I spend all my time writing reports that nobody will read.' She closed her eyes and wasn't surprised that she could still see the computer screen in her mind. 'I've worked hard enough, time to relax a little bit,' she thought. She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a sheet of bright yellow paper. She considered it for a minute, and then started folding it.
The first time she had grabbed a piece of paper and made an origami crane at work, Morgan and Reid had stared at her in surprise.
"You do origami as a hobby?" asked Morgan incredulously.
"Yes, why are you so shocked?", Emily replied, without looking up from the paper in her hands.
"I don't know," he shrugged, "the ancient Japanese art of paper folding isn't something I'd expect someone who lived in the Middle East to pick up, I guess."
"Actually, origami didn't originate in Japan, since paper was invented before the first century and paper wasn't in evidence in Japan until the sixth century," started Reid, "Japan is credited with making origami the art form it is today. It originally wasn't a hobby, it was called 'Origami Tsuki', which was a folded piece of paper that went with an expensive gift as a certificate of authenticity."
Before Reid could take a breath and continue on, Morgan hastily interjected, "that sounds fascinating, kid, but could you spare us the lecture? I'm more interested in hearing how Prentiss started doing it."
"There's no big story to it," she admitted, "Mom was always taking me with her to talk to people. She would tell me it would only be for a couple of minutes, but it would end up taking hours. One day we were at one of her friend's house and I was bored senseless and being 'overly disruptive', as Mom called it, so they sent me to the kitchen to have a snack. She had a Japanese lady named Amaya who cooked for her, and when I complained I was bored and never had anything to do when Mom dragged me around, Amaya taught me about origami." Emily smiled, though she still didn't look up from her hands, "After that, I always liked when Mom would take me to Nadira's house. Amaya always had time to teach me more origami."
She examined the shape in her hands, and then sat it on Morgan's desk. Both Morgan and Reid leaned over to look closer at it. It was a red crane.
"It's said that if you makes one thousand cranes, you get a wish," said Emily, with a smile.
"What would you wish for?" asked Morgan, with a suggestive raise of his eyebrows.
Emily shrugged and replied, "I don't know, I haven't made a thousand cranes yet."
Emily smiled at the memory. It had happened just a couple months after she had joined the BAU, and after that day, Morgan, and occasionally Reid, would tease her about her origami. It was the beginning of her feeling like a part of the BAU. She looked at the piece of paper. Maybe she would make something a little more complicated today. She had tried several times to fold a dragon, but could never quite get it right. No one else was around right now to disturb her, so she gave her full concentration to her hands and the paper.
Spencer Reid had returned earlier than he had expected to the BAU. He headed to the coffee pot for a fresh cup, and walked slowly back out of the break room, and leaned against the doorframe. He looked around to see who was and wasn't there. There was Aaron Hotchner in his office, but it looked like David Rossi was not in his. Jennifer Jareau was walking past, looking at a file in her hand.
"Hey, Reid," she said, without looking up.
"Hi, JJ," he replied, then took a drink of coffee.
Then he saw Emily sitting at her desk. She appeared to be looking at something in her hands, but her back was to Reid, so he couldn't see what it was. He was about to turn around to go talk to Hotch, when Emily moved enough so he could see what was in her hands. She was folding one of her origami figures. It looked more complicated than the ones she usually folded. 'It would be ironic if someone were to startle her right now so that she ruins her origami like she made me ruin my card tower,' thought Reid. As if this thought triggered it, he had an almost overwhelming urge to sneak up behind Prentiss and say something loudly enough to scare her. She would be almost guaranteed to jump, which would likely cause her to either rip or crush her origami. 'No, Spencer, that wouldn't be right', he thought to himself. 'But it was her fault my card tower fell over, it would serve her right.' 'But I'm positive she didn't intend to startle me, it was an accident.'
"Why am I arguing with myself? I need more sleep, or caffeine," Spencer muttered to himself under his breath.
With a shake of his head, he stood up straight and took a step forward, towards the desks.
At just that moment, Derek Morgan walked right past him. "Hey kid," he greeted Reid. Spencer jumped slightly, nearly spilling his cup of coffee. He watched as Morgan neared the desks, coming up behind the unsuspecting Emily. "Hey, Prentiss, how's it going," he said, right as he reached her chair.
"Aaahhh, what?," she yelped, as her hands clenched together and then separated. "Damn, Morgan, I almost had it right that time."
He looked over from his chair where he had sat down, oblivious to the dragon carnage he'd left in his wake. "What?," he asked looking puzzled, which changed to a look of sheepish regret when he saw Emily with the ripped origami dragon in her hands, and a steely glare on her face. "Emily, I am so sorry, I didn't think I would scare you. Hey! Watch it!" Morgan ducked as Emily had balled up the remains of her dragon, and thrown them at him.
Spencer took another drink from his coffee, and laughed as Emily then balled up another piece of paper and threw it with deadly accuracy at Morgan's head. He smiled as he thought 'Emily got back what she did to me, and I didn't even have to be the one to cause it. Revenge is sweet!'