Spencer was finishing up on his pile of paperwork at his desk. Well, his along with a few files magically slipped in by his fellow teammates. He didn't mind the extra work, though, and always pretended that he didn't notice. Paperwork usually kept his mind from wandering to other things. Plus, he believed the members of his team had more important things to get home to than he did. Sometimes he felt like he did back in school, asking the teachers for extra work. Anything to keep his mind occupied, a distraction from his less than perfect world at home.
He was concentrating hard enough on his work that he was startled when JJ and Morgan suddenly sidled up next to his desk. A second ago they were by the coffee pot glancing his way, which despite their attempts at hiding it, did not go unnoticed by Spencer.
"What's up?" Spencer asked nervously.
"What do you have going on tonight?" JJ asked.
"Uh, well..." Spencer's stuttered, looking down at his feet as if he would get the answer there.
"Great!" said JJ. "It's been too long since we hung out together. Morgan and I were thinking we would bring over some pizza to your house tonight!"
"Thanks, JJ, but..." Spencer started.
"Perfect. We'll be over at 7," she said as she walked away. Spencer shot Morgan a desperate look.
"Sorry, kid," Morgan said as he ruffled Spencer's hair. "I realized a long time ago never to mess with a woman's plans for a night out." Morgan went to gather his things, giving Spencer a smile and a wave as he left. "See you tonight!"
'Great,' Spencer thought, looking down at his watch. He had less than an hour and a half to prepare his own little fortress of solitude for guests. He moved his paperwork into a pile on his desk, grabbed his bag and headed out the door.
By the time he got home, he had about an hour left. Normally, Spencer was fairly neat, but he admitted at the moment the small apartment mirrored his current state of mind - scattered and dark. Random books were left on out on the tables, fast food containers lined the counters and clothes were on the floor or thrown on the furniture. Looking around, Spencer started to feel overwhelmed with everything again. All he wanted to do was go to bed. 'No,' he thought, shaking his head. 'I have to keep it together tonight and straighten this place up as best I can. Worst thing about profilers - one glance at this disaster and they'll have me carted off to the shrink.'
The hour quickly went by, but Spencer managed to make the place look presentable. He shut the door to his bedroom where he had hidden away most of his mess, praying they wouldn't peek in there. Just as he was finishing tossing his garbage off the counters, there was a knock on the door. 'You can do this,' he said to himself. 'Just try and act content for the next hour or two, smile, then maybe they'll feel like they helped and leave it alone for a while.' He crossed his fingers and opened the door.
...
Morgan pulled up in front of JJ's and texted her that he was outside. I bet the kid is cursing us right now, he thought with a small smile while he waited. JJ ran up to the car with a bag in her arms and got in. As he was pulling away from the curb, JJ asked, "So where did you order the pizza from?"
"Me?" Morgan asked. "I thought you were ordering it?"
"Before we left, I asked if you would get it and I'd bring the drinks. And you said yes!" 'Never ask a man to do anything,' she thought with a sigh.
"Right, you did. Sorry, I got home and Savannah had me a little distracted," he said with a sly smile. JJ rolled her eyes.
"Lord knows it doesn't take much to get you distracted," JJ replied with a small laugh. "You know what, let's just stop at the grocery store and pick up a couple frozen pizzas. It will only take a minute."
"Works for me."
After stopping in at the store, they headed over to Spencer's. By this time, JJ was starting to second guess her decision to force dinner on Spencer. "Was I being too imposing? Do you think he'll be mad at me for doing this to him?" she asked Morgan as they headed up the stairs.
"Nah," Morgan said then paused. "Ok, well, maybe a little. But he'll get over it. He knows your heart is in the right place. And he needs this. He may not think so, but he does."
JJ hesitated a second then knocked on the door, putting on her happy face. Spencer opened the door with a less than enthusiastic smile and greeting, letting them in.
JJ and Morgan made a beeline to the kitchen with their dinner in hand as Spencer dragged himself behind them. JJ started pulling items out of the bags and lining them up on the counter.
"Well, Morgan was SUPPOSED to order some pizza, but apparently that was a little too much to handle," JJ joked, winking at Morgan. "So, we got frozen pizza instead. And of course, I brought some drinks!" she said as she displayed the beer and wine that she had brought. "Who's ready?"
"I'll definitely take one," Morgan said.
Spencer grabbed a beer, too. "Thanks for bringing all of this over," Spencer said and started looking for instructions on the pizza boxes with a slight frown. Morgan grabbed the box and said, "Here, we just need to preheat the oven to 350."
"It doesn't have microwave instructions?" Spencer asked, sounding nervous.
"What? You can't microwave pizza!" Morgan started turning the knobs on the oven, but no lights were coming on. "Does this thing work?" Morgan opened the oven door to see if it had started heating up.
"Uh...no, not really," Spencer said apprehensively.
"What's wrong with it?" Morgan said, checking out the stove. "Maybe it's something I can fix."
"Ah, actually...I think it's the gas...it might be turned off," Spencer stammered, reaching around Morgan and shutting the oven door. Morgan turned and gave him a curious look.
"You know what?" Spencer said, brightening. "I think someone gave me a pizza cooker once." He started rummaging through the cabinets.
"Oh yeah, that someone was me ... like four years ago," JJ said, giving him a look. Spencer ran out of the room to check the closet. Soon he came back with the cooker still in the box. "Well, I'm glad you've been using it," said JJ with a smile.
Spencer gave her a sheepish look as he opened the box and started taking everything out.
"Haven't you ever used the oven or the stove here?" JJ asked.
Spencer looked down nervously and he moved things around on the counters. "No, I just use the microwave. Or have sandwiches, cereal. You don't have to cook those. I'm fine without it. And usually we're so busy I just pick up something on the way home."
"That's why you're so skinny," Morgan said. "So, in the ten years you've lived here, you never used the oven? Was it turned off when you moved in?" he asked incredulously.
He started unraveling the cord to the cooker and went to plug it in. Morgan looked at Spencer as he noticed the safety covers pushed into both outlets. "Really?" he said, shaking his head and pulling the cover out of one of the outlets. He plugged in the cooker.
Spencer just looked uncomfortable as he finished setting it up. This night was starting out worse than he thought it would.
"Alright, alright," JJ said holding her hands up. She could tell Spencer was starting to get agitated. "We have the cooker, that will work just fine. Who wants to play some cards while the pizzas bake?" she asked with a smile pulling a deck of cards from her purse.
After they got the first pizza going, the three sat down at his kitchen table to have their drinks and play cards. JJ knew card games would loosen him up a bit. And he'd have fun beating them, like he always did. Morgan and JJ both tried to keep the conversation light.
As for Spencer, he played along, and tried to relax. He just had to keep the discussion away from any sensitive topics, especially about his mom. Unfortunately, with the way the evening would go, that wasn't going to last long.
