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Reluctant Romeo

"How was your weekend, pretty boy?"

Reid did not look up from the file on his desk. He grunted and flipped over a crime scene photo from a murder in Mississippi. "Why do you ask me that when you know I never have any plans?"

"I'm always hopeful you'll find the right lady."

Reid flipped over another page from his file folder. "Why don't you tell me about your weekend? You want to brag, so go for it."

Morgan leaned up against Emily's desk. "Hey, don't get snippy Reid. I'm just curious."

Reid's eyes finally left his consult. "I'm not getting snippy. I'm just telling you that you're never going to get a different answer from me. Even if I did have plans, I wouldn't talk about it. It's none of your business."

Morgan raised his eyebrows. "It's too early on a Monday morning for you to be so grouchy."

Reid drew in a breath and let it out slowly so that he didn't lose his temper. He always ran this same gauntlet every Monday morning with Morgan; it wasn't as if anything was going to change.

"I'm going to Garcia's office."

He left Morgan standing there with grin on his face, headed down the hallway to Garcia's office, and entered when she called out, "Enter if you seek knowledge."

Garcia sat in front of her beloved computers, typing away as if her whole existence depended on her babies.

"Good morning Garcia."

She turned and favored him with a sunny smile that he returned automatically. It was simply impossible to feel bad when in her presence. "Hello my junior G-man. What brings you to my bat cave?"

Her blonde hair lay in ringlet across her shoulders, while the sides were pulled back on her head with two hairpins made from white and pink sequins in the shapes of daisies. Her glasses were pink framed, and her lipstick matched the sequins. He decided he liked her hot pink dress paired with a bright yellow waist length jacket. Her hot pink pumps were decorated with white daisies with yellow centers.

"I need some help with this serial murder in Mississippi. The detective sent me up some names, but I'm trying to weed out what he's got with the profile. Can you get me everything you find on these eight men?"

"No problem sugar. I'll get right on it."

"Thanks… Um, I'll see you later."

"Hey, where are you going so fast? I thought we could have a little talk. It's been awhile since we had a good heart-to-heart."

He stopped turning for the door to frown at her. She was so perceptive it was scary and annoying at the same time. Still, he found his mouth opening to spill his guts. "Morgan's been bugging me about dating again."

Garcia nodded knowingly. "Well it is Monday morning. What did you expect?"

"I don't know… I guess I thought he'd get tired of the games."

Garcia patted the only other chair in the room as the reflections of her screens danced off her glasses. "You should know better than that."

"He has his own office. Why doesn't he go there and leave me alone?"

She kept her mouth from smirking only because she knew what a pain in the ass Morgan could be when prying into the lives of his friends. God knew how often he inquired about Kevin, wanting to know if he was treating her right.

"I'll grant you that Morgan doesn't know when to quit."

"Maybe you could talk to him." Reid suggested as he kept his eyes on her shoes.

"I have a better idea."

Reid looked up at the enthusiasm in her voice and felt his stomach knot up. "I'm afraid to ask."

Garcia reached over and patted his arm. "I was thinking that I know someone that's perfect for you."

He jumped up as if he'd sat on a porcupine. "I don't want to go on a blind date."

He could see that his so-called friend as trying not to laugh at his squeaking voice. "Do you doubt me Reid?"

Even though her dark eyes were dancing, he thought her tone suggested that she might be a little irritated with him. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and went back to his chair. "I don't want to go out with someone I've never met. What if -"

He broke off and resumed staring down at her daisies, which seemed to look up at him like an accusation.

Garcia reached out and took one of his hands. "Trust me sweet cheeks. There's no way she won't like you."

He decided not to ask how she knew exactly what he was thinking. "I just don't think this is a good idea."

"Don't worry so much," Garcia, said squeezing his shaking hand. "Megan is a sweetheart. She's part of my grief counseling group and she's very nice."

"Oh man," he yanked his hand from her grip and jumped out of his seat again. "I can't go out on a blind date with a woman from a grief counseling group. What if she compares me to her lost husband all night?"

Garcia had stood up too. She pushed a hand that smelled like lilacs against his mouth. "I never said she was there because of her husband. Megan is divorced. Her seven year old son was killed by drunk driver three years ago."

"Oh…"

"Is that all the genius can say is 'oh'" Garcia wanted to know.

"Okay, I jumped to the wrong conclusion. That's how freaked out I am by all of this."

He wanted to wring his hands, but sat on them instead. Garcia sat down too and returned to her typing so that he was looking at her profile. "She's very pretty and she has a great sense of humor."

"Oh man, you know I don't get most of your jokes." He said, still looking frantically for a way out of this disaster. 'What if I don't get her jokes? She's going to think I'm weird."

"You'll do fine."

Garcia turned around to face him again with another, warm as the sun, smile on her face.

"You're the sweetest, kindest, gentlest man I know. It's not a hardship looking at you, either."

He felt his face go red. "Don't make fun of me."

Her dark eyes flashed angrily. "I'm not making fun of you. You're extremely good looking. If you don't believe that, I can't convince you. You're just going to have to take my word for it."

"Okay, I'll do it." He gave in because it was impossible to say no to Penelope Garcia. He'd tried it once… and found out that she was the most stubborn of all the team.

"You won't regret it," she informed him happily. "I promise you'll have a good time."

"I hope you're right," he said frowning deeply.

"Just one thing," she stopped him as he was about to get up. "Megan was hurt in the accident. She walks with a cane and she's really self conscious about it."

"If that's the only flaw she has, I'll consider myself lucky."

"It's going to be fine."

He turned for the door again. He found his feet hesitating before his hand found the doorknob. "Garcia?"

"What?"

She left her chair when he didn't respond to her. He was just staring back at her as he did when he didn't understand one of her jokes.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"It's a good idea," she assured him. "Look, there's no guarantee this is true love Reid."

He felt heat creep up in his face again. "I didn't think that," he squeaked.

"Then go away," she ordered pushing him toward the door.

"Garcia I -"

"It's just a first date Reid. Don't expect so much. Just try to have fun for once."

He opened his mouth to tell that he had fun, every once in a while, usually when he beat someone at chess, but he closed it again when she pointed at the door and said. "March!"

"I'm going."

He left the office and couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face. He agreed to this crazy plan because of his friend, but maybe it would be okay.

Megan Christophe limped to her desk when her cell phone began to buzz impatiently. It should be off, but she'd long ago stopped trying to get out of the habit of leaving it on in case someone needed to get in touch with her about Tommy. He was gone, but she still left the phone on vibrate when she was working.

"Hello," she said distractedly.

"It's Penelope."

"Oh hello Pen, listen I was just on my way -"

"I talked to the guy I work with, you know, the one I told you about after our last meeting."

Megan sat down with a groan and a sigh. "I told you I'm not ready for dating yet Penelope."

"He's the perfect guy. He's sweet, and kind and smart. He's drop dead gorgeous too."

Megan brushed a strand of light brown hair out of her face. Her ponytail was coming down. It had been a long day and it was only just before lunch. "If he's so perfect, why is he single?"

"Well, he's a little shy."

Megan heaved out another annoyed sigh. "That's all I need is a shy guy. I'm not exactly an extrovert Pen. I'm not like you."

"He likes books."

"So what, lots of people like books."

"You work in a library Megan. He reads books by the hundreds. I'll bet you have lots to talk about."

Despite her misgivings, Megan began warming up to the idea. She liked a man that read books. She'd met her ex in bookstore after all.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"I knew you would. His name is Dr. Spencer Reid. He's thirty years old and he dresses a bit like a teacher's aide stuck in the seventies."

"Sounds interesting," Megan, said sarcastically.

"Don't worry. I said he was hot and I meant it. His style of dress suits him very well."

"I'll take your word for it."

"You won't be sorry Megan. I know what I'm doing."

"I said I'd do it."

"You'll love him Megan. He's a wonderful man."

"Alright, you don't have to sell me on him. When is this momentous meeting taking place?"

"I'll call you back later with the details."

Megan said goodbye and put her phone back on her desk. She looked over the stacks of books she needed to categorize, and sighed. Her leg was aching and she had at least four hours of work ahead of her. Well, she'd go get something for lunch and then she'd get back to work. Perhaps it would keep her mind off this date she'd agreed to against her better judgment.