Symbiotic
Reid and Prentiss
Chapter Seven
"You left this at my place last night," Reid said to Prentiss, the morning after their pretend night in Hawaii.
He set her ipod on her desk.
"Oh, thanks," she murmured, looking deep into his eyes instead of at the music player. The moment sizzled with an intimacy and deeper understanding than they had shared in months.
"Emily, thank you again for Hawaii."
"Thank you for indulging my lameness."
"Anytime."
"Oh yeah?" she teased. "You sure about that?"
A smile crept onto his lips. A moment later Morgan showed up "So who got lucky last night?"
Reid ignored him, settling down at his desk, while Prentiss shot Morgan a dirty look.
Morgan said "You two so need to lighten up or else this is gonna be another long week." He walked off to find coffee and then Garcia, two things that always brightened his morning.
Prentiss snuck a look at Reid, smiling when she caught him looking at her out of the side of his eyes. She didn't know what to make of him sometimes but at that moment it felt like things we're as over as she had spent all last night fearing.
God knows she had never understood love or had any luck with it. Every man she met was just another she could do better without- except this man. Finally there was a man in her life, in her heart, she would do anything to make it work with...if only she could figure out a way to make him want to risk his heart on her again.
(Well I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
but you don't really care for music, do you?
x-x-x-
It goes like this:
the fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall and the major lift.
The baffled king composing hallelujah.) (Leonard Cohen)
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Really?" Hotch asked, looking at the baseball cap on Spencer's head turned backwards.
"Garcia did that and threatened I'd be sorry if I turn it around," Reid explained.
The team had come to see Jack Hotchner play baseball. He was on a T-ball team, which meant they used a stand to hold the hall, rather than a pitcher, and they didn't keep score.
Reid said "I thought I'd show the kids the proper way to hold a bat. They're doing it all wrong."
The game was in its second inning and the first had been rather painful to watch.
Hotch asked "What do you know about baseball?"
"It's the one sport I played as a kid. Besides batting is really just physics."
"Have at it. It can't hurt."
After Reid had given a lesson in batting he and Hotch walked to the concession stand for bottles of water.
"How are the headaches coming? You seem like you're feeling better lately?"
"Yeah, somewhat. Its mainly Emily."
Hotch raised an eyebrow.
Reid went on "The headaches come from stress and a major cause of my stress, among other things, was worrying about things between me and her. This last week...I think things are getting better. We talked about everything last Sunday."
"And it helped clear the air?"
"It did."
"Good."
"I'm just...I don't know, Hotch. I guess I'm just not sure I want to start something again with her if she doesn't really trust me."
"Trust is fragile but you can't expect to earn hers if you won't offer her yours."
"I did. I am."
Hotch raised an eyebrow, leaving Spencer to think about if he really was offering her that trust again or if he was holding it back to protect himself. She had laid it on the line for him. After six months of not dating, and only one week of dating back during winter, she still wanted to be with him. She had made it clear that her feelings hadn't faded away and that it hurt to be apart from him. She had broke down and laid her heart on the line.
If he was any sort of man, a man who wanted her back, he had to do the same for her.
The time for holding back had to be over if he wanted to build something with Emily. And there was no doubt in his heart or mind that is what he wanted. He had wanted that desperately since the first time they kissed- after that movie date that he hadn't even meant to be a date.
It was the best accidental date of his life.
(Your faith was strong but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the roof.
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you.
-x-x-x
She tied you to a kitchen chair.
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the hallelujah.)
XXXXXXXXXXX
Emily was in the middle of talking to JJ about Henry's preschool teacher when Reid walked up behind her, at the baseball game.
"Excuse me, JJ," Reid apologized, drawing Emily's attention away.
She looked at him expectantly, wondering what he wanted to tell her. All week long they had been getting along better than ever, with many moments filled with thick, needy sexual tension that it was getting harder and harder to walk away from.
Still she was shocked when he threaded his fingers through her hair, titled her head up and then leaned down to lay a kiss on her right there in the middle of Jack's baseball game. Smiling against Reid's lips she returned his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.
(Maybe there is a God above
but all I ever learned from love
was how to shoot somebody who out drew you.
-x-x-
Well its not a cry that I hear at night.
No, its not someone who has seen the light.
-x-x
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.)
As his lips eased away from hers, she brought her hands up to caress his face, ignoring the cheers of their friends around them.
Rubbing her thumb over his lips she said "You have a little lipstick on you. There. Got it."
His cheeks reddened a little. "Em-"
"We can talk later, okay?"
Reid nodded. He sat down next to her. They held hands.
As Emily turned to JJ to continue their conversation, Morgan came up behind Reid and gripped his shoulders. "Look at you, kid! Getting your groove on in the middle of the day, not caring who sees you. I taught you well."
"Leave him be," Penelope ordered.
"Or what?" Morgan teased. "Will you spank me?"
Emily couldn't stop smiling as she squeezed Reid's hand, anxious for the game to end so they could get away from the crowd and really talk. She had practically stopped hoping they would ever kiss again, and then this week she started to hope a little but never expected Reid to kiss her like he just had, out of the blue.
She warmed at the memory of his lips against hers, knowing that he wanted her enough to forgive all her past mistakes and let the whole world see he wasn't giving up on her.
That was surely as close to love as any man had ever shown her. Others had said they loved her but she couldn't feel it. In Reid's kiss today she felt love...it was real and hers, finally.