A/N: Hey all! Here's the next chapter for you. I'm going to try to fit in a few more updates before the new school year begins in the first week of September. I foresee being a substitute teacher this year, so I'll have more time on my hands then the last school year, but you never know. So, count on a few more updates between now and the end of the month. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and that you'll take a moment to let me know what you think. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.
Chapter 9:
Maizy had tried her hardest to keep her eyes in their sockets as she and Bree had driven through the front gate and down the long driveway, up to David Rossi's huge house. But it was hard. Bree had never said anything about the man living in a mansion. And now, as they were being led around the house, by a butler no less, Maizy was pretty sure she resembled a Furby toy.
Having come from a small, modest town, she had never known anyone who lived as lavishly as David Rossi looked to live. She'd been able to calm herself down on the ride over, to the point where she believed she could handle this social outing. But, now that she saw what she would be dealing with the butterflies in her stomach were once again restless. She could not do this.
A hand came out of nowhere and clamped down on her arm, causing her to jump in step.
"Hey," Bree said soothingly. Maizy threw her a panicked look and the shorter than her ed. assistant squeezed her arm comfortingly. "I'm here, remember?"
She breathed out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She managed to throw her friend a grateful small smile. Bree was right; with her by her side she could do this. By the end of the day Maizy certainly wouldn't be known as the wit of the party, but, at least she wouldn't be known as a freak either.
They reached the backyard—park would have been a more accurate term for the giant expanse of space—a minute later. There was a good twenty people already gathered and spread across the grounds, from the patio by the back of the house, all the way back to where Maizy could see an actual garden growing. And her spirits fell when she noticed that not one of them was Aaron or Spencer.
Ok, she thought to herself. How quick can I make my escape? There was no way she was staying with so many strangers. It was one thing to come knowing some people; it was a completely different thing just knowing Bree. Nope, she was out.
"Oh, look!" her friend exclaimed. "There's Dave!"
And then the next thing Maizy knew, her so-called best friend was seemingly abandoning her already, rushing off towards the man she vaguely recognized from the night Aaron had rescued her.
David Rossi had been talking with a pretty woman with long blonde hair, who was holding the hand of a little boy with the same gorgeous hair. He seemed to excuse himself as soon as he caught sight of Bree coming his way. Not to be forgotten so easily, Maizy rushed ahead, too, determined to catch up.
She arrived just in time to witness Mr. Rossi's affectionate kiss to her friend's cheek. He pulled back and Maizy could see that the man regarded her impulsive, sometimes rambunctious colleague with the same warmth that Bree was showing him. She liked him instantly for that.
A second later Mr. Rossi's gaze found her and he took her in curiously. Maizy fidgeted slightly at having been caught watching the personal exchange. "And you must be Maizy," he greeted her kindly, outstretching his hand. "I'm so glad you could make it."
She shook his hand, smiling politely. Wondering, as she did so, why she got such a positive feeling from the man. It couldn't just be because he noticeably liked Bree.
Before answering, she studied his face momentarily. And she realized that he reminded her of her father, warm, friendly and caring, with a hint of a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Thank you for inviting me."
Mr. Rossi gave her a bright, genuine smile, setting her even more at ease. He threw an arm around Bree's shoulders—the woman seemed super pleased at the gesture, needless to say.
"I've heard so much about you from Bree." Maizy gave him a doubtful eye. Just how much info could he have gleaned from the small blonde after a couple of meetings? Surely they weren't spending all their time together talking about her. As if he sensed her doubt, he added, "And, well, from Aaron, of course."
"Oh?" she breathed out in surprise. She tried to contain her blush at this news, but failed.
"Oh yes. I've wanted to meet the girl who's had my cool and collected best friend more flustered than I've ever seen him. And I've seen him both on his wedding day and the day he signed the divorce papers so that's saying a lot."
Maizy had no idea how she should respond to that comment. She made Aaron flustered? Somehow, that was hard to believe. But she didn't think the man was lying to her either. Teasing, maybe. But Rossi had an honest face, even if she thought he might be exaggerating a bit. Until now she'd wholly believed her affection for Aaron had been one sided.
That's not true, her brain yelled at her. He did say yes when you first asked him out.
She gave a mental nod to the voice. That was true. Still…
Mr. Rossi was eyeing her with a scrutinizing stare and she shifted on her feet uneasily realizing he was waiting for some kind of an answer. Thankfully, she was saved when she heard a warning voice say, "Dave…" coming from directly behind her.
She whirled around to come face to face with Aaron. He'd finally arrived! And it felt like a weight had suddenly lifted from her chest. But his eyes were on Mr. Rossi; he was giving him a look of censure. And she wondered what that was all about.
"Relax, Aaron," the older of the two chided.
She watched him give his friend a stern squint before his gaze fell to her. The transformation on his face was startlingly quick. It softened as he smiled at her, taking in her presence. He looked at her with affection and something akin to… adoration. That startled her.
No, she told herself, that wasn't what the look was. She wasn't experienced enough to know what it was, exactly. Still, she beamed back at him, just pleased to see him at all. "Hi," she said slowly.
"Hi," he replied, giving her a questioning stare. "I didn't know you were going to be here."
She glanced back at their host—startled temporarily to see him and Bree watching them like hawks—and said, "Mr. Rossi invited me."
He stepped forward. "Dave, honey," he told her. "Bree told me such nice things about you, how could I not?"
Aaron nodded his head, eyes still glued to her. On any other person she would have been uncomfortable by all the attention, but from him… she could feel her heart quicken and a sense of elation came on.
Focus, Maizy, she ordered herself. You're just his son's teacher. That's all.
"Have you met Bree, yet?" Dave interrupted her thoughts.
Aaron hesitated in taking his gaze off of her and she, too, turned her focus back onto the other two people present. Dave gave her a knowing grin that had her blushing all over again.
"Not officially," Aaron answered.
"Bree Williams," she introduced herself. "I'm Maizy's best friend. I'm also an education assistant at your son's school and Jack's a great kid."
"Thank you," he replied politely, beaming at the praise.
Maizy could tell Jack was his world. All the more reason for them to keep things professional, she mused.
"There's something I wanted to show you, Bree," Dave swiftly changed the subject, giving her friend a meaningful look. He then turned to Maizy and said, "Feel free to explore the grounds, inside, outside, nothings off limits."
"Oh… thank you," she stuttered out, not sure how comfortable she'd be perusing the home of a practical stranger. But it was a nice gesture.
"There's a library inside," he added temptingly. "Bree told me you like to read…"
She glanced at her friend, wondering once again at how much time, really, could they have spent talking about her. Bree stared back at her somewhat sheepishly. Nonetheless, the idea of seeing a personal library was intriguing to her. She would have loved to have one of her own, if her house were big enough to hold one. Right now, many of her books found home's on any flat surface she could find.
"That would be nice to see, thank you," she answered demurely.
"Good, now if you'll excuse us," he said, starting to guide Bree away. He gave Aaron a pat on the shoulder, parting with a "Have a good time, you two; don't do anything I wouldn't do…"
"That's not much," Aaron added amusedly.
The older man grinned at them. "Exactly."
Maizy was doomed to have a red face all day, she surmised.
Hotch glanced back at Maizy. Her presence here had genuinely surprised him. If he'd had a clue that Dave had invited her he would have had more time to prepare himself. To get over the nervousness and pleasure at seeing her and be able to school his features appropriately. As it were, he couldn't stop beaming at her. He was giving himself away, he knew. But, because she looked at him the same way, he couldn't bring himself to care right then.
"So…" she began, breaking the silence nervously. "How long have you and Dave been friends?"
He let out a sigh. "A long time… too long, I sometimes think," he said good-naturedly.
She chuckled at that. "He seems very nice," she said kindly, as she stared off at his retreating form. She had a wistful expression in her eye and a second later he realized why. "He kind of reminds me of my dad…"
"What happened?" he asked without thinking. When she turned on him with wide, surprised eyes he attempted to back track. "I mean, you don't have to… it's uh… none of my business… I mean, never mind…"
He shut his mouth quickly to quell the babbling that was gushing out of his mouth.
"It's ok," she assured. "He uh died in Iraq three years ago. I still miss him… Dave looks a little like him and he's nice, too…"
He suspected that it went a little beyond just looks, but she didn't seem like she was going to elaborate on any of it further. And Hotch didn't feel like pushing, so he let it go. "Well, Dave can be nice," he agreed. "He can also be sneaky too… don't be surprised if you're suddenly agreeing to dog-sitting or something…"
Hotch smiled letting her know that he was just joking and she returned it. "So, where's your aunt?" he asked conversationally.
Her cheeks tinged pink and he could tell she was remembering the night he'd dropped her off at home. It was a scene that he, himself, kept replaying in his head over and over again. It was also a moment of closeness between them. And since he'd decided that he couldn't pursue her, despite his fast becoming obvious feelings, he would hold on to that night for memory's sake.
"Oh," she said abruptly. "She's at home. She wanted to come, but I thought it best for her to stay at home…"
… for understandable reasons, he finished for her in his head. From his brief meeting of Amanda Jenkins, he could tell she was a handful of a woman. He could relate to having someone like that in his life, after all, he had Rossi, a handful of a guy.
Nevertheless, Hotch let her know truthfully, "It was nice meeting her."
"I bet," she said, amused, a twinkle in her eye. "She'll be going back home, next week, for Thanksgiving. I'll be going, too, to visit."
"Where is home?" he asked the question he'd wanted to ask the night he'd met her aunt.
"Home, for me, is here," she let him know. An odd flash passed across her dark eyes. "Berryville is just where I grew up."
Though her tone was pleasant enough, that look told him that she was not a big fan of the small town.
"Is it—"
"Where's Jack?" she cut him off.
He frowned, wondering at the abrupt and deliberate change of topic, but answered, "Just over there," he pointed to the gazebo, "he's playing with my colleague's son."
They took a moment to glance over to where Jack and Henry were playing, running around the now empty structure. He turned away from the sight once he knew his son was all right and glanced back at Maizy. She was smiling at the sight of the boys. But if he looked harder he could see the sudden strain around her expressive eyes.
As if sensing him watching her, she turned to meet his eye, frowning as well. He knew now that whatever caused her reaction at the bar and her initial hesitation towards Reid that first day she'd met him was due to some incident, or incidents, that had occurred in Berryville. He wished she'd tell him what it was so that he could make it all better. He hated seeing her so clearly sad and scared, he realized.
"Maizy—" he began at the same time she said, "Aaron—"
They both stopped abruptly waiting for the other to speak up. But just as he was gesturing for her to go first they were suddenly interrupted.
"Maizy," he heard her name being called.
She seemed confused for a second and then broke their eye-contact to search for whoever was calling for her. Hotch saw him first and pointed her in the direction of an approaching Reid. A wave of jealously unexpectedly threatened to bowl him over as he watched the younger man come closer with obvious intent.
Hotch watched him come up the path; he wasn't alone, Morgan was trailing the genius of their group. They must have come over together. Upon closer inspection, Reid just looked too happy for Hotch's comfort at the sight of the school teacher.
Maizy shot Hotch an apologetic glance and then turned back to Reid, giving him a full blown smile that once again had him envious.
"Spencer," she greeted warmly, giving him a wave, waiting for him to close the distance.
Finally, he and Morgan stood in front of them. Morgan gave him a nod in greeting, but the youngest agent seemed to only have eyes for Maizy.
"You came," Reid said in surprise.
"I said I would," she answered humorously.
Reid looked at her sheepishly, running his fingers through his hair—Was that gel? And, wait a minute, Reid knew she was coming?
"I know, it's just you're braver than I am, coming to a place full of a bunch of strangers…"
"Not all strangers; I know you," she countered warmly. "And Aaron…"
"I think that's my cue," Morgan piped up, getting the brunette's attention. "I'm Derek Morgan, friend and co-worker to these two."
Hotch watched them shake hands. Maizy eyed him curiously and politely replied, "Maizy Tibbs, I'm also Jack's fourth grade teacher."
"You're," Morgan began, glancing at him questioningly, "Maizy?"
Hotch could read the agent's inquiry. He knew he was putting things together, remembering her name from when Dave told the story of how he'd helped her. He gave Derek a slight shake of his head, willing him not to mention it. Morgan gave him a quizzical look in return before glancing at Reid in concern. Hotch didn't know what that was about.
"Um… yeah?" she answered with a questioning inflection.
"I… uh… I've heard so much about you," Morgan finished, clearly uncomfortable.
"You have?" Reid questioned; making it obvious that he hadn't said much, if anything about her.
"Umm yeah, from Hotch," he answered. Hotch didn't enjoy the pointed, somewhat accusing stare on the profiler's face, directed right at him.
"From Hotch?" Reid questioned, now looking at him suspiciously, too.
What had he done? Hotch had no idea.
Hotch chanced a glimpse at Maizy. It was clear to him that she had no clue what was going on either.
"And from Jack, too, you know," Morgan added quickly. "He thinks you're a great teacher."
Maizy smiled faintly at that, still confused. Hotch wasn't sure if Jack had ever really mentioned her to him or not, but he definitely wanted to know what was up with Morgan.
"You guys are all very close, aren't you?" she wondered out loud before he could question his one-time replacement.
"Just like a family," Morgan answered, giving Hotch an intent eye.
What the hell? that's what he wanted to know.
"I see…" she said awkwardly.
"Maizy," Reid spoke quickly, covering the palpable tension. "Would you like to walk over to Rossi's gardens? He's got some rare Cosmos atrosanguineus.' They're more commonly known as the Chocolate cosmos. They're quite pretty."
"Sure, Spencer, I'd like that," she said. She looked from Hotch to Morgan, giving them both strange looks. So they weren't exactly being inconspicuous. "It was uh… nice meeting you, Derek."
"Likewise."
Hotch waited until they were well out of earshot before he turned to Derek and said, "What the hell was that?"
"That's Maizy?" Morgan emphasized, pointing at her retreating back.
Hotch frowned, slightly confused. "Yeah. I think I'd know my own son's teacher."
"No, I mean, that's the woman you saved that night Dave was talking about," he clarified.
"It is," he replied tentatively. "So?"
"That's also the girl Reid has a thing for."
"What?" he exclaimed incredulously. Of course he'd seen signs that the Doctor might find Maizy attractive—she was pretty, so it wasn't hard to believe—but a thing? Come on. "He met her once."
"Well, that one time led to coffee," Morgan informed him.
Shocked, Hotch replied, "I didn't know that."
Reid was having coffee with Maizy? Evidently it wasn't to discuss Jack's needs or else he'd know about it. This made him feel… well, he couldn't put his finger on the exact feeling, but it didn't make him feel good that was for sure.
He heard Morgan let out a sigh. Hotch looked up to see the younger man studying him. And it seemed he'd come to some kind of conclusion.
"Look, I can see you like her," Morgan began, holding up his hand when Hotch made to interrupt. "But, I can tell you Reid likes her, too."
"He said that?"
"Not exactly. You know how he is when it comes to girls," the genius's best friend explained. "But I knew there was a girl… and after meeting Maizy, it's obvious she's the one."
"So, what are you trying to tell me, Morgan?" Hotch wanted to hear it in plain English.
"He likes her. I think she likes him. We know this doesn't come easy to the kid, so…"
Hotch gave him a grimace as he finished for him, "… back off?"
Morgan held up his hands in a 'you said it' gesture. Hotch wasn't sure what right he had to be telling him this. There was no universal rule saying he couldn't go after Maizy just because Reid liked her as well. The non-annoyed part of his brain understood Morgan's concerns, though. However, he didn't really like being told what to do. If he liked Maizy—and he did—he could pursue her if he wanted. Except…
"Maizy's sweet," Hotch let him know. "She's kind and pretty and Jack adores her. But she's his teacher, so we've chosen to remain professional. End of story."
He hoped the look he gave him would convey just how done with this topic he really was. His personal life was not up for candid discussion, despite Dave's attempts to the contrary.
"Ok," Morgan agreed readily.
Hotch turned away, ready to find someone else to speak with. Aside from his short conversation with Maizy, he was not enjoying the barbeque so far.
"Just," Morgan felt the need to add, "be careful."
He looked away, catching sight of the woman in question and Reid walking through the flower beds. He knew Maizy had been hurt somewhere along the way and that she hadn't recovered. And Hotch also knew that despite his vast knowledge and accomplishments, Reid was on the lonely side. Maybe it would be ok if Reid dated her.
Though, the thought and sentiment were sympathetic and logical, something inside him still screamed to not let her go.
He'd have to ignore it.
Well, that's it for this chapter. I'm sure some of you are anxious to know more about what happened to Maizy; I'm hoping to give more clues in a couple of chapters from now, when Maizy visits her hometown.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Just wanted to say thanks to the people who are reading and have alerted this story, also wanted to say thanks to those people who took the time to review: nebula2 (thx! I knew you'd like that scene between Morgan and Reid, more of that to come); AndDownTheRabbitHoleWeGo; FairyT (thx! Team Reid vs. Team Hotch, I like that. Who knows who's going to win. ;) ); marcallie (there's definitely going to be some conflict, for sure. Stay tuned till the end…); hot4booth (yeah, I think the Morgan/Reid interaction was a highlight of that chapter. I'm glad you liked it.); and Vaughn Tyler.
See ya all soon!
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