A/N: My dear readers, I apologize again for the delay in posting a new chapter but I have to say that RL sucks. Big time. But I'm writing again, so let's have some fun.
Chapter 2: Location Location Location
Moni carefully went through Reid's wardrobe, finding all his scholarly/just came out of college clothes carefully organized. She then checked the second bedroom which he had transformed into a small storage room.
He had promised to empty it out and prepare a nice cozy room only for her. But she was welcome to sleep in his bed for as long as she wished. She checked around the living room and finally figured out what was bothering her all along.
It wasn't the mess of books on every surface or the various science posters on the walls that were bothering her. No, that she could take. It was the lack of light. Natural light. Reid's apartment was one of those tiny apartments which the only natural light came from small square windows in the living room or in the main bedroom. And both windows were turned towards a dead end alley at the back of his apartment, facing another apartment block.
For someone who had lived most of her entire life in an airy loft with plenty of natural light coming in from her huge cathedral windows on both sides of the loft, she was feeling claustrophobic.
Time to go exploring again.
CM CM CM CM
"Where is Moni right now?" Hotch asked Reid, who was frowning at the report of the robberies which Garcia had gathered for them.
Each agent was checking a pile of five, but there were others yet in the middle of the table untouched.
"Her medicines are still making her feel dizzy and groggy, so she sleeps the whole morning, eats something and sketches something during the afternoon." He smiled briefly as he remembered the scene he found when he arrived at home the last four days. "She has being doing sketches of some paintings she wants to do in the future, but she hasn't decided yet what will be her next project. So she simply keeps drawing and last night, when I arrived at home, I found her snoring on the pillows surrounded by drawings all over the bed and floor."
"Have you talked to her?"
"About what?" Reid asked distractedly, his attention back on his report.
Prentiss rolled her eyes at him while JJ just stared at Reid, "About… stuff. About your relationship."
"Why should we talk about that? We're fine." He shrugged, not seeing the shared look between the two women.
"Have you ever been in a long serious relationship, Reid?" Morgan asked, leaning his chair back as far as it would go and supporting his elbows on the chair arms, glancing seriously at the younger man who finally lifts his eyes from the report in his hand and looks at them, seeing the disbelieving looks in their faces.
"Ah… not really. Why?"
"Women need to talk. And you to listen. If she is not talking, there's a problem brewing somewhere…" Said JJ, looking at him.
"I don't want to put any pressure on her. She's been through enough." Reid muttered, just to notice Rossi looking at him with a small smile.
"Learn it from a man who has been divorced three times. If they are not talking, they are thinking. And you will not like what they are thinking." Rossi closed his folder and left, going to Hotch's office, leaving Reid with his colleagues who were all glaring at him.
"What did I do?"
CM CM CM CM
Moni, moved by some kind of instinct, climbed all steps up until she reached the roof of the small apartment building, pausing at each floor to catch her breath. She would look around the corridor but there wasn't much to see, just boring brown doors all the way to the end. She had hope that there must be something somewhere in here that could be useful for her. So she kept going up and up.
Finally, she reached the last floor and found the door which would give her access to the roof locked. She snickered as she checked the lock, starting to work on it immediately. Soon the door clicked and she finally hit the jackpot. She stepped onto the roof and closed her eyes, spinning slowly with open arms as the pale sun shone brightly over her.
She wasn't bothered with the dirt accumulating on the edge of the roof or the broken pieces of glass scattered around. Or the smudges of pollution which created a thick cover on the flat surfaces everywhere.
She stopped spinning and looked around, glad to notice that the other buildings rooftops were level with the one she was on and the light ruled unchallenged spilling from all sides. In the far left corner of the roof, there was a small structure that must have been a long time ago a greenhouse, with most of its glass panes broken and the few that were intact were covered with years of accumulated filth. She walked slowly towards it, ignoring the pigeons dirty poop accumulated under her soft shoes and studying how the light filtered through the windows of the small greenhouse and how the sun would shine over it regardless of the season and hour of the day.
She looked around the rooftop, not seeing the wooden pieces scattered around, the dirt and the pigeons' crap covering the floor, but she saw in her mind's eye a small rolling river stones path, flanked by carefully tended garden with grass, flowers and herbs, carefully organized in sinuous patterns. She turned back to the greenhouse, imagining it fixed with clear windows, the door which was hanging out of its hinges fixed with a small white handmade sign with "Monique Reid's Workshop" hanging from the door.
She closed her eyes and when she opened them again her vision had faded, showing again the destroyed greenhouse, the dirty floors and the broken glass shards covering the floor.
She sighed and went back to Reid's apartment. She had some phone calls to make.
