TITLE: Foxtrot Whiskey Bravo
AUTHOR: Kuria Dalmatia
PAIRING: Reid/Elle
RATING: FRM/R
See Chapter 1 disclaimers, author's notes, etc.
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After the case with Lila, it takes six tries to write a letter to his mother. Spencer tells her almost everything, safe in the knowledge that she's unlikely to share it with anyone. Bennington is the best facility he can afford; while Spencer has never been to New York City, he periodically goes to Atlantic City to play blackjack and poker. He's never sure when he's going to be killed in the line of duty and he wants to make sure that if he predeceases her, she'll be taken care of.
He reads over his letter again, wondering if his mother will understand how Elle saved his ass by exposing the undeveloped roll of film and thereby destroying physical evidence of his misconduct in the pool. He hasn't written much about Elle, just that she's the only one who he could really talk to about his nightmares and how Elle listens.
He remembers when he tried to tell Gideon about those terrifying dreams, his mentor interrupted him with his own story. Elle doesn't when he talks about himself and keenly listens to him when he describes how his nightmares have evolved from the baby in the circle to having to go down in the basement to find it. She's gracious in a way Gideon never is. It's odd. His mentor is supposed to listen, not cut him off.
Spencer shakes his head. He looks at his words, Seminar…Los Angeles…Hollywood…studio lot…anemones… He still can't believe he made out with Lila in her pool while on duty. He knows that he would have probably gone all the way if the circumstances were different. He wonders if Elle would be jealous but then shakes his head.
They're friends. They have sex. It's not often and there's no real rhyme or reason to it. It just happens. Sometimes it's after a terrifying case in the field. Sometimes it's after they spent three days straight combing through cold case files, looking at photos of dead bodies and having no luck at finding something that will break the case open.
Garcia calls it "FWB". The first time Reid heard the term, he thought of the NATO code and asked, "Why Foxtrot Whiskey Bravo?" Garcia almost fell out of her chair laughing. She then patiently explained what it meant. However, from then on, whenever Garcia wants to know about his sex life, she's asks if he's done the "foxtrot" with anyone lately. He always says no.
Elle thinks the whole thing is hilarious. She never teases him in public. Never asks him he if wants a shot of whiskey or if he wants to foxtrot with her. For that, Spencer is eternally grateful.
Again, it's not something he puts into his letters to his mother. He doesn't include much about Morgan either, except that Morgan is their in-resident door-kicker, which is Elle's description. She's the one who refers to Gideon as 'Dad' and Hotch as 'Mom'. She's the one who says that of all the teams she's been on during her career, this is the first one that has ever felt like a family.
Late one night, she confesses that although it is a family, she feels like the outcast, the step-sibling who doesn't quite fit in. He remembers reassuring her, "You so totally fit in."
"You're just trying to get into my pants."
"Actually, I've already been in your..."
She slaps her hand across his mouth. "Doctor Reid, do Mom and Dad know you talk like that?"
Spencer doesn't include that exchange. He doesn't include that with Elle, he feels normal, not some freak with a genius IQ. Elle treats him like a person, not like a walking encyclopedia. He covets that feeling. He wonders what he offers her. The only conclusion he can come to is that he tries really hard not to judge her, that he allows her to be tough yet feminine, brash like a man but utterly a woman.
He signs the letter as he always does: Love, Spencer
He wonders if Elle is up for a foxtrot tonight.
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