Prompt 9:
Doesn't that sound familiar?
Doesn't that hit too close to home?
Doesn't that make you shiver?
The way things could have gone
March 2012
Garcia was the softie of the team. Of course she would be the one to nearly break down in tears over the facts of the case: a man had been going to meet his high school sweetheart after not seeing her forty years but he was killed by their latest unsub on the way.
Garcia said "Now they'll never be reunited! It's just so unfair and tragic and-"
"Garcia," Hotch warned.
"Yes, sir," she said and went back to talking about the other victims, as she kept presenting the case.
Reid's eyes moved over the faces of the victims, his mind working at warp speed to see connections in their victomology. It wasn't until the case was solved- and they were coming home again on the jet- that Reid had time to ponder the sad fate of their first victim. The man had let the woman he loved get away, or life had taken her away from him, and they didn't get the chance to make it right again, despite both wanting to.
Just a year ago, Reid had been at Emily's funeral. Now she was on the same plane as him, a few feet away, and he could reach out and touch her if he wanted to. Last year he was just trying to figure out how close they could be, how much he needed her, but now he thought he understood why she was so important to him.
It didn't mean that things would ever change between them though. She was back in his life and their friendship grew deeper, more intimate and intense each day but it was still just a friendship. A friendship he didn't think he could live without...one he definitely didn't want to try to go without.
He wasn't good at romance. It was a sad but true fact of his life. Did that mean he'd never find a way to romance Emily- if she would even be receptive to that? A genius like Reid should be able to figure out love.
All he knew was he might spend his life just as lonely as their victim...missing the woman who made all the difference.
