Okay, so it's been a long time between updates, I know. Here's the thing: I wrote another story in present tense, and a lot of the books I've been reading lately have been in present tense, and now I'm having serious issues with writing in the past tense. So if the wording or anything feels wonky, I apologize. I don't know if I'll need to go through and re-write the whole story in present tense later. Just depends on how this chapter goes, I guess.
Reid took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a minute, Rachel pulled the door open with a nervous smile. "Are you sure you want me to go to this?"
"Of course I want you to go. It's about time you met the rest of the team." Rachel moved aside, and Reid stepped past her into the messy apartment. "You look nice, by the way."
Rachel grinned and twirled around to show off her lacy teal dress. "Thank you. I'd better look nice. I must have tried on a dozen different outfits before you got here. I'm so nervous. God, I'm as nervous about meeting your team as I would be if I was in high school meeting your parents for the first time."
Reid chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't be nervous. They'll love you. And don't worry about meeting the team. Meeting them will be cake compared to meeting my mother."
Rachel raised her eyebrows. "And will I be meeting your mother?"
"Well, someday… unless you… don't… want to…" Reid frowned.
Rachel laughed. "Of course I want to. I'm glad you want me to." She held up a finger. "Let me get my shoes." She skipped into her room and returned a moment later with a pair of strappy tan heels. She sank down onto the couch to put them on, then stood. "Let's do this."
Reid smiled and offered her an arm, which she took, and they headed out the door, stopping only briefly so that Rachel could lock the door behind them.
Reid offered Rachel an encouraging smile before knocking twice on the door. "It's open!" a voice called from inside the house, and Reid pushed the door open and allowed Rachel to step in before him.
"Spencer! Good to see ya!" A man with short brown hair and soft blue eyes sauntered into the room, a beer in his hand.
"Will! Hey," Reid shook his hand, "I see you lost the beard."
"Is that all anybody notices anymore?" Will drawled, amused. He extended a hand to Rachel. "Hi. I'm Will LaMontagne."
Reid started. "Oh, um, Will, this is Rachel Perry. Rachel, this is Will. He's JJ's husband."
Rachel smiled and shook Will's hand. "Nice to meet you. It's so nice of you and JJ to let me tag along with Spencer."
"Are you kiddin'? Jen's dyin' to meet you," Will grinned. "I understand Emily and Penelope are, too. Apparently, you're quite the mystery. Jen comes home every night gripin' about how no one tells her anything these days."
"Well, it's true!" A blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman was leaning against the doorframe. "Spence wouldn't tell us anything about you. Hi. I'm Jennifer. Or JJ. Whichever. You must be Rachel." At Rachel's nod, JJ continued, "I'm so glad he finally decided to bring you along. We've all been nagging him to let us meet you for… God, since Morgan showed up to work and told us all how Spence had scored some girl's number at a bar."
"They didn't believe me," Morgan strode in and offered his hand to Rachel. "Good to see you again, Rachel."
"You too, Derek," Rachel shook his hand with a small laugh.
"Well, I'd better go check on the burgers," Will headed for the back door. "You like cheese on your burgers, Rachel?"
Rachel grinned. "Only way I eat 'em."
"Interesting. I think you're the only one here besides me who likes cheese," Will raised his beer before slipping out the door.
"Ah, a kindred spirit already," Rachel giggled.
"Is she here? Move. Get out of my way. Move!" Another blonde woman pushed through JJ and Morgan. "Wow. She's pretty, Reid! And here you had me thinking she was some deformed troll!"
Rachel cocked an eyebrow and turned to look at Reid, who was frowning at the woman. "Oh? Did he tell you that?"
"No!" Reid spoke quickly.
"No, it's just that he wouldn't tell us anything about you, and I just assumed that he was ashamed of you or something, but now that I've seen you I know that can't be it. You're so pretty! I love this dress. And your hair! I love the red in it. Where did you get it done?"
"Garcia!" Reid protested.
"It's fine, Spence," Rachel laughed. "I got it done at the NYC Salon on Maple."
"Oh, I'm gonna need to go there! I usually do mine myself, but I don't like cutting my own hair—rather have someone else do that, and I still haven't found a place I really like. I'm Penelope Garcia, by the way. I'm the team's Technical Analyst. I do all the computer stuff. Do you shop? Because JJ and Emily and I are having a ladies' night next weekend—Emily's moving in a couple of weeks, so we'll be shopping, drinking, dancing, all that—and you should come!"
Rachel smiled graciously. "I do shop. But I don't want to impose on your ladies' night. I mean, we just met. How do you know I'm not a total party pooper?"
Garcia pushed her glasses, which had begun to slip down, back up. "Because. I can just tell. The choppy layers. The red highlights. The tattoo," she motioned to Rachel's wrist, "Which, can I just say, is fantastic."
Rachel turned her wrist slightly to obscure the shooting star tattoo on it. "Thanks. You know, they always say 'You'll regret this when you're older,' and I'm only 24, but I'm there already."
"Oh my God why?" Garcia gaped.
Rachel sighed. "Well, I think my motivation for getting it has something to do with it. I was a little bit of a Whovian in college—well, let's be honest. A big time Whovian. And my roommate and I decided to get the tattoos for her 21st birthday. And I wanted something that was more Doctor Who-ish, but she talked me into getting something a little less geeky, but that still hinted at the sci-fi thing. And I'm glad, because can you imagine how lame I'd look with a big blue police box tattooed on my wrist?"
Garcia laughed. Reid looked quizzically at Rachel. "You're not a Whovian anymore?"
Rachel shook her head. "Not since David Tennant left."
"That's it. It's official. You're the coolest person at this party. Come on. You're sitting by me," Garcia snatched Rachel's arm and pulled her into the backyard. "Although you should know that I am a hard-core Matt Smith fan. Just so we can get that out of the way."
JJ grinned. "She's nice. But she likes David Tennant, and he's the most attractive Doctor Who that show's ever had, and that means you have big shoes to fill..."
Reid shook his head. "I can't believe she liked David Tennant the best. Tom Baker was definitely the best Doctor, and honestly, I really prefer the past series to the current one. And also, he's just The Doctor. Not Doctor Who. It's not his name."
Morgan chuckled and clapped Reid on the shoulder. "Reid? Save it for your girlfriend. You have a British guy to beat."
"Actually, he's Scottish," Reid corrected.
Morgan made a face. "Again. Save it for your girlfriend." They headed out to the backyard, where Garcia was introducing Rachel to Hotch and Beth. Hotch shook Rachel's hand with a smile, and Beth took up a post on Rachel's other side.
Reid made his way over to Will at the grill, grabbing a lock of Rachel's hair and tugging lightly on it as he passed. She turned to smile at him, then quickly returned to her conversation with Garcia, Beth, and now JJ and Prentiss, as well.
Will grinned at Reid as he flipped the burgers over. "They seem to like her. Good job, Spencer."
Reid chuckled. "Thanks."
"Reid, I swear to God, if you let this girl go, I will personally kill you. No, wait. I'll duel you to The Pain. And I know you've seen the Princess Bride, so I know you know how much that will suck," Garcia whispered as Rachel exchanged numbers with the other women as the two prepared to leave.
Reid nodded. "I don't intend to, Garcia."
Rachel moved over to Reid and slipped her arm through his. "You ready?"
He grinned at her and replied, "Yep. Let's head out. Thanks for having us, JJ. Will, great burgers."
"Thanks, man. See you around," Will waved.
Garcia hugged Rachel. "Great to meet you. We'll see you next weekend for ladies' night. Be there. Be ready to party."
"You got it," Rachel smiled and waved at everyone. "Great to meet you all. Thanks so much for inviting me, JJ. Thanks for the burgers, Will. They were great. Emily, JJ, Penelope, I'll see you next Saturday."
As they got into the car, Rachel commented, "That wasn't so bad. They're great."
"I'm glad you liked them," Reid smiled, and as they pulled away from the curb, he felt her hand cover his, and he twined his fingers with hers.