Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, just Grace.
Grace danced her way into the bullpen of the BAU, orange smoothie in one hand, tray full of coffee in the other. It had been two weeks since she started work and things were looking up. The only cases since Elliott Stone had been fairly close to Quantico and none had been as personal and emotionally exhausting. She was getting along really well with the rest of the team, even Hotch.
She made her rounds of the bullpen, leaving a coffee on everyone's desk. The smell of the stuff made her stomach churn and it made her miss the real coffee back home.
"Happy birthday Gracie!" Garcia exclaimed as Grace entered her office.
Grace's smile disappeared from her face. "Pen! You didn't?"
"Oh come on, you only turn 24 once!"
"You didn't tell the rest of them, did you?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Garcia asked.
Grace sighed. "Something bad always happens on my birthday, so I just ignore the date."
"Well, this year is going to be different!" Garcia exclaimed.
A worried look came across Grace's face. "What have you done, Pen?"
The tech-goddess grinned deviously. "We're going out tonight."
"OK, girls' night, that's not so bad, I guess." Grace said, relieved.
The devious grin only grew wider on Garcia's face. "Not exactly, my furry friend."
"Oh no."
"We have some boy toys accompanying us."
"Wh-who?"
"Boy-Wonder and the Chocolate Dream."
"Reid goes to clubs?" Grace asked, bewildered by the idea.
"He'll go where I tell him to go."
Grace laughed, trying to picture Reid at a club.
"So, are you in?" Garcia asked.
"You know I'd do anything for you, Pen."
Around six o'clock the members of the BAU began to head home. However, Grace, Morgan, Garcia and Reid lingered behind.
"You guys ready to get this party started?" Garcia asked.
"Not particularly, no." Grace said.
"Zip it, birthday girl!" Garcia pointed at Grace, then she turned on Reid. "You too, Boy-Wonder! I can hear your brilliant mind protesting."
The girls left Quantico in Grace's Altima, the stereo's bass shaking the car. Reid and Morgan followed them in Morgan's SUV. The two cars pulled into the driveway of a sub-urban home about half an hour later.
"You live alone in this big house?" Morgan asked Grace as he got out of his vehicle.
Grace laughed and shook her head. "No, I live in that." She pointed to the apartment above the detached, 2-car garage. "I have a balcony and pool privileges though."
The four of them entered the garage and ascended the staircase to Grace's apartment.
"Uh.. make yourselves at home." Grace said. "I'm just gonna get changed."
As she hung her jacket in the closet, Grace observed her new friends. Morgan and Garcia were rifling through her boxes of DVDs she hadn't got around to unpacking yet and Reid was standing by the door, fidgeting nervously, his eyes scanning the aparment.
"Reid, I said 'Make yourself at home.' not 'Stand by the door and look for possible escape routes.'" Grace laughed, walking into her room and shutting the door behind her.
She scanned her closet – which was uncharacteristically large for a single-bedroom apartment above a garage – and settled on a form-fitting, red, off-the-shoulder mini-dress. She kicked off her Converse sneakers and slipped into a pair of black leather, 6-inch heels. She threw on some cheap jewelery and checked herself out in her full-length mirror.
Perfect. She thought, grabbing a black leather clutch and throwing her credit card, cell phone and a tube of lipgloss in.
She exited her bedroom and saw her friends still snooping through her belongings. Morgan had moved on to the CDs and Garcia was now examining the art that covered almost every inch of her boring, white walls. Reid had left his post by the door and was looking at her gigantic bookcase.
Grace rolled her eyes. Profilers.
"You guys ready to roll?" Grace asked.
They all looked at her.
"Yeah, just let me pick my jaw up off the floor." Derek said.
Grace laughed. "Well, you better hurry up, Derek cuz I'm ready to get my drink on!"
Once Grace had changed outfits, it was like she had changed personalities. She didn't protest anything the rest of the night. In fact, she was more enthusiastic than Garcia by the time she was through her fist drink. The two of them were having a blast on the dance floor while Morgan and Reid sat at a table in the back of the club. Morgan did not look like he wanted to be the table as he eyed every girl who passed by and looked enviously at Grace and Garcia on the floor.
"You need to get some action, kid." he said to Reid.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Reid said, spinning his water bottle.
"Then why did you come if you were just going to sit here?" Morgan asked.
"I don't think I need to explain to you the consequences of saying no to Garcia."
Morgan laughed, but he knew Garcia wouldn't actually make Reid do something he didn't want to.
"Seriously though, kid. Why?"
Reid didn't answer, but Morgan followed his gaze toward the dance floor. Grace.
"Make a move, kid!" Morgan urged.
Reid shook his head. "We're co-workers, it wouldn't be right. Besides, what would a girl like her want with a guy like me?"
"Fine then," Morgan said. "But don't get angry when someone else jumps on that."
Just as Morgan said that, a buff guy with spiky blonde hair in an Ed Hardy t-shirt approached Grace and began dancing with her.
"Hey, I'm Brady." the guy thrusting into Grace's backside said.
"Grace."
"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked.
"Yeah, and while you're at it, buy yourself a drink. I recommend a bottle of bleach. Now please get your pelvis away from me."
Garcia laughed and Grace joined her as Brady stormed off.
"Girl, that was awesome!" Garcia said, holding up her hand for a high-five.
Grace grinned and slapped her hand against Garcia's.
"So how do you plan on getting Boy-Wonder out here?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh come on, Grace. I'm not blind. You like our little genius friend over there."
Grace laughed. "Stick to the tech stuff, Pen, you're a terrible profiler."
Grace made her way to the bar and downed three more shots in a matter of seconds. As the night progressed, she got moodier and was drinking like a fish. Morgan eventually came to the dance floor and stole Garcia away from her. So Grace stumbled back to the table where Reid sat, observing everyone in the club.
"You! Dance with me, now!" she demanded.
Reid's eyes widened and looked like they might pop out of his head. "Uh.. No thanks." was all her could manage to choke out.
"Please, Reid?"
"I uh... I can't dance."
"You don't have to know how to dance. You just feel the music and you let it move you." Grace tried reasoning with him.
Reid shook his head.
Grace pouted. "Pleeeeeeease Spencer? It's my birthday!"
Reid tried not to break under the power of Grace's adorable pout.
"Fine." he surrendered.
"Yay! You're the best." Grace squeeled, grabbing Reid by the hand and dragging him to the dance floor.
"Hey man, it's about time you got your ass out here!" Morgan greeted him.
Grace began grinding on Reid while he just stood there, looking painfully awkward. Morgan and Garcia headed to the bar to get more drinks.
"Oh dear," Garcia said, looking back at her friends. "That does not look good."
"They'll be fine, Baby Girl." Morgan assured her.
"Are you sure?"
The pair watched as Grace continued to press herself against Reid's statue-like body. They couldn't tell if she was being that aggressive with her advances or if she actually needed to hold onto her poor victim to keep from collapsing.
"OK, Baby Girl, you're right. I think it's time we intervened."
Morgan and Garcia returned to the dance floor.
"Reid, take Ash home." Morgan said.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, get her out of here, she can't drive herself."
Reid nodded. "See you guys tomorrow. C'mon Grace, time to go."
Grace looked up from Reid's shoulder where she had been resting her head.
"What? I don't wanna go." she protested.
Reid shyly put his arm around her waist and started walking her out of the club.
"Cloooossiiiiiiiing tiiiiime," Grace sang loudly and obnoxiously once they were out on the street. "One last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer. Cloooossiiiiiiiing tiiiime, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay heeeeere!"
Reid put Grace in the passenger side of her Altima and buckled her seat belt for her. She drifted in and out of consciousness the whole ride home. When they arrived back at her apartment, Reid had to carry her up the stairs.
"Which is your house key?" he asked, flipping through all the keys on Grace's keyring.
Why did she even have so many keys? She only needed one for her car and one for her door.
"Er... iunno..." she slurred and she sat down on the top step and leaned on the wall.
Reid finally found the right key. He opened the door, picked Grace up and dragged her inside. He helped her walk to her bedroom where she collapsed on her bed.
"Thank you..." she mumbled.
"Uh.. Do you need anything before I go?"
Grace groaned something Reid couldn't understand.
"What?"
"Stay."
"I can't Grace."
Grace pouted. "Please, if you don't stay, I could choke on my own vomit and die."
"Grace, I-"
"I saved you from being choked to death by your tie."
"I've got to go. I'll see you at work tomorrow."
Reid left the apartment, but by the time he got to the bottom of the staircase, the guilt was too much. What if Grace really did choke on her own vomit and die? What if she had alcohol poisoning? He turned around and ran back up the stairs.
"Hey, you're back." Grace said when Reid came back into her bedroom.
"Yeah, I'm back."
"Un-zip me?"
"Grace, I- I can't do that."
"But I can't sleep in my dress, it'll get ruined!" she whined.
"Fine." Reid sighed.
Grace stood up and turned her back to him. He grabbed the zipper, closed his eyes and pulled it down. He heard the closet door open, then close. He opened his eyes. About 30 seconds later, Grace came out, wearing an over-sized hockey jersey.
"Well, goodnight." Reid said, heading to the living room.
"No, you're not sleeping on the couch." Grace said.
"Grace, this isn't right. You're drunk and-"
"No, I didn't mean like that. I meant, my couch isn't exactly a couch. You're too tall, your back's gonna feel like hell tomorrow if you sleep there."
Reid shook his head. "Grace, I can't."
Grace rolled her eyes. "This is a king-sized bed. You'll be like a mile away from me."
He shook his head again.
"Fine, do what you want. I'm going to sleep."
"Goodnight, Grace."
She ignored him.
"Happy birthday, Grace."
Reid tossed and turned on the couch for about an hour before he realized he wasn't going to get a substantial amount of sleep. He got off the couch and turned on the lamp. He went to the bookcase and scanned the shelves, looking for something he hadn't read before. Except for a few biographies of dead rockstars, there was nothing he hadn't already read. Then he noticed about seven unlabeled books on the top shelf. Upon closer inspection, Reid realized that they were notebooks. He opened one to the first page.
"These thoughts are too sick and twisted for you. Keep the fuck out if you know what's good for you." it read.
Reid jumped when he heard his cell phone vibrate on Grace's coffee table. He picked it up and saw that Morgan had sent him a text.
"Hey kid, how'd it go?"
Reid ignored the text and went back to the couch. He finally started to fall asleep when he heard a scream in Grace's room.
"Grace?" he said, running into her room.
Grace continued screaming. "Help! Help! No! Stop him! Help!"
"Grace, what's wrong?" Reid asked, shaking her awake.
When Grace awoke, she was crying and hyperventilating.
"It's alright, Grace, it was just a dream." he said, but she only cried harder.
Reid wanted to comfort her, but he had no idea how. He sat down on the bed and put a hand on her shoulder. He hoped it was enough.
Grace threw her arms around him and cried on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." she sobbed. "I'm so sorry."
"It's alright."
Reid rubbed her back and let her cry. Part of him wished he had left the apartment when he dropped her off.
"I'm sorry." Grace sniffed. "I'm so embarrassed."
"Don't worry about it." Reid said. "Are you going back to sleep?"
Grace nodded and released him. "Please stay this time."
"OK." Reid said and got in bed next to her, but kept as far away as he could.
Grace rolled her eyes. "Do you have a deathwish or something?" she asked, getting closer to him and untying his tie.
Reid laughed. "Goodnight, Grace."
"Goodnight. Thanks for tonight."
Grace was asleep within seconds. Reid stayed awake for the rest of the night. He stared at Grace and wondered what could be wrong with her. He wondered why he couldn't seem to keep his eyes off her and why he always felt like he was choking whenever she was near him.
A/N: Hooray for quick updating! I stayed up all night last night writing this and ended up falling asleep in both English and Canadian History today. So, I hope you all enjoyed it cuz I sure did. Don't forget to R&R! :)
Stay tuned for the next chapter. It should be up tomorrow sometime.