The cold wind bit at his face, making him grimace as he stepped off the plane with other passengers milling around him.
"Virginia's colder than I thought." Reid muttered to himself, as he dragged his suitcase over to the check-in counter. He had only brought a carry-on bag with him while the rest would be shipped to him as soon as he found a good apartment. Thanks to some nifty research on the internet he already had a few in mind but he wasn't about to rush into anything.
Unfortunately his flight had been filled to capacity and looking around at all the people shuffling into the check-in lines, he felt it was safe to assume his wasn't the only flight.
'Oh well.' He thought with a small shrug as he waited. 'It's not like I have anything pressing to do at the moment. Hmm, I should probably phone a taxi when I'm done here. Airports still have payphones, right?' He wondered as he mechanically handed over his ticket for the attendant to check.
"Here you go sir."
'Surely payphones haven't been rendered obsolete yet, right?'
"Sir?"
'I mean, not everybody has cell phones. It wouldn't be right to leave those of us stuck in the 90s stranded at airports.'
"Hey buddy! Move it already! You're holding up the line!" A gruff voice from behind startled him from his thoughts. Refocusing on real life, he was horrified to realize that the attendant had been holding out his ticket stub and receipt for him to take.
"Sorry!" He muttered, embarrassed as he took the papers and headed to the main lobby. As quickly as the embarrassment came, it passed as he returned to his current predicament of getting into contact with a taxi service.
The moment he made it to the main lobby, his eyes darted around in desperate search for a payphone and came across something much more . . . shiny.
The words, 'VEGAS BABY- LOOK OVER HERE SWEET MAN' made in bright silver glitter stood out from the hideous highlighter pink poster board and made his eyes hurt just looking at it. At the same time, it made him smile to see Garcia waving it around in a spastic motion, unaware of the strange looks she was receiving as she chatted with an exasperated but equally amused Morgan. He couldn't make out what she was saying, but a quick calculation of probability conducted in his head concluded it had to do with taking off articles of clothing.
"I'm telling you Chocolate Thunder, just flash your abs for, like, 5 hours and we should be good." He heard her say as he stepped closer.
"Baby Girl, what makes you think me showing the world my sculpted abs would get Reid here any faster? Is my mama trying to get in some fan service?" The dark skinned agent teased back.
"Bah! I have Photoshop for that! I just thought that if you did, Reid would be here in no time to lecture you about proper public manners."
"Actually, there's not an official rule book dictating the proper conduct of how one should act in public." Reid broke in. "Well, at least there's not a standardized one for the whole U.S due to different culture clashes and—" His lecture was cut off by a squeal and strong arms bringing him into a crushing hug.
"Oomph! Gah, it's nice to see you too, Garcia." Reid croaked out has his bones were crushed. "But could you please let go? While you're at it, you should probably throw that sign away; it's almost bad as my banners."
"Told you." Morgan muttered as Garcia released Reid from her death hug.
"Hey!" She pouted as she gave him a small slap on the shoulder. "Don't diss the Tech's Goddess's creativity! And you!" She turned back and pointed an accusing finger at Reid. "What is this?"
"What's what?" He asked, confused and turned to see if there was something behind him.
"This!" She tugged him back around and gestured to his whole body. "I thought we discussed this; you cannot keep wearing nerd clothes all the time!"
"That's not fair!" He countered back, having already prepared for this argument on the plane ride over. "I was stuck on a plane for 6 hours! You know how uncomfortable it is to wear tight jeans for a long period of time with little movement? Well I do and it's not fun! So excuse me for wanting to be as comfortable as possible as I boarded onto a plane filled with young children and people with bad hygiene." He snapped back before blinking as something occurred to him. "By the way, why are you guys here? I didn't tell you when my flight was."
"Yes, I know." Garcia scowled at him. "I had to look it up. Thanks for making me commit a highly illegal act that could have resulted in prison time." Penelope told him in a way that made it apparent she was willing to forgive his bad fashion but not his inability to tell her things like when his flight was leaving.
"Nobody made you do it." He implored.
"The moment I realized you told me you were coming but not when, I had no choice. If you didn't have such a cute face, I'd ruin your credit like nothing else." She threatened.
"Go ahead. I have a hard copy of everything and copies of those copies just in case. It's one of the main reasons I prefer paper to computers." He told her sweetly.
"Blast! Foiled again." She grumbled dramatically.
"Alright you two, break it up. Don't make me arrest you for disturbing the peace." Morgan finally broke in after sitting on the sidelines and listening to them bicker.
"Mmmm, you can arrest me any day, officer. Got handcuffs?" Garcia purred, making Reid choke on his spit at the suggestive comment.
"I'll let you go today because I'm nice." Morgan said with a cheesy wink that made Reid groan. "And what are you groaning at? C'mon, it's almost lunch time and I'm starving."
"Alright. Oh, um, can I borrow your phone to call a taxi? I don't see any payphones and I really need to- what? What is it?" Reid asked nervously when he saw Morgan and Garcia exchange exasperated looks.
"Y'know, for a genius, you're a little on the thick side when it comes to social interactions." Morgan told him bluntly with a fond smile, making the younger flush in embarrassment.
"I wasn't invited to social things until I went dumb." Reid muttered. "What am I doing wrong now?"
"Seriously?" Morgan arched and eyebrow and Garcia giggled at Reid's dumbfounded look as keys were dangled in his face. "You're coming with us, Pretty Boy." Morgan grinned.
"Oh! Um, no, you don't have to that! I wouldn't want to waste your time—"
"Ok, stop. Just shut up and listen to me, alright?" Morgan said in a firm voice. Reid opened his mouth to say something but shut it and just nodded meekly when he saw Garcia was also giving him the evil eye.
"First off, we came to pick you up. What, you think me and Garcia just go to airports and wave around banners for no reason? The only way we'd be wasting our time is if you do take a taxi, cuz that kind of defeats the point of us picking you up. With me so far? Good. Secondly, we're your friends, man. You don't have to act and be polite around us when it comes to stuff like this. Friends pick each other up all the time." It did not escape Reid's notice Morgan meant that literately and figuratively. "Hell, sometimes Garcia calls and demands I pick her up for work." Morgan ended with a good natured laugh.
"But isn't that a little . . . rude?" Reid asked timidly, somewhat afraid Garcia would take offence but still willing to take the risk.
"Oh, Sugar, that's the best part about having friends!" Garcia chuckled as she put an arm around his shoulder and all three began walking. "With friends, you can be as rude and demanding as you want! Well, maybe not all the time. Sorta hard to imagine someone like that having friends, but you never know. Point is, friends help each other out when they need it. C'mon, surely one of your teachers told you that somewhere down the line?"
"My teachers were more concerned with how well I was doing academically. Those that didn't care ignored me and others, well, they didn't like the fact I was more versed in their subject than they were." Reid admitted, unaware he was about to make several retired teachers have severe financial woes in the near future.
"Oh? What're their names?" Garcia asked a little too brightly with a tight grin. "I'd really like to hear about the people that helped shape you."
"Well, Mrs. Jennings was my biology teacher freshman year. . ." He began to ramble on about all his past teachers in chronological order, only stopping when he realized he had somehow ended up in the backseat of a SUV that was currently turning into a restaurant he didn't recognize.
"I can't believe I got talked into getting into a strange vehicle and I was the one doing the talking." He muttered, slapping his forehead.
"Yup, easiest kidnapping I've ever done." Morgan grinned as he parked the car. "Let's eat 'till we can't eat no more!" He roared in excitement and Garcia gave a wild 'whoop!' as the pair shot out of the car and were halfway to the entrance by the time Reid had untangled himself from his seat belt.
"Wait!" He called out desperately and blinked when they both stopped dead and turned to look at him. "My bank account will be frozen for a few days until they settle everything with the moving people so I'll just wait in the car, ok?"
"Reid," Morgan called out when he realized that the genius was serious. "I swear, if you get back in that car, I will handcuff you and drag you inside. I'm sure Garcia wouldn't mind spoon feeding you." He threatened, feeling slightly bad when a particularly evil gleam entered the bubbly blonde's eyes but dammit, that skinny boy was getting fed one way or another!
For all his lack of social understanding, Reid did know how to survive and right now his instincts were telling him to just go with the flow because handcuffs didn't sound like fun nor did getting spoon fed.
"But I have no money." He repeated as he reached them. "How am I supposed to pay—" He cut himself off as Garcia took a tight hold on his upper arm and proceeded to drag him inside.
"Morgan's paying, aren't you handsome?" She asked sweetly and batted her eyelashes at him as the three stood in the small waiting area for a hostess to come and seat them.
"It's a date." He said with a naughty grin.
"A threesome? Awesome." Garcia purred just as their hostess came up to them.
"Uh, this way please." The young woman mumbled as Reid blushed bright red and Garcia and Morgan had to bite their inner cheeks to stop from laughing out loud.
Because that'd be totally inappropriate.
"I'll have your waiter here as soon as possible." The hostess told them and rushed out before Reid could say anything. The moment she left, all composure was lost on the part of the two FBI employees while Reid tried to shush them.
"Guys be quiet! They already think we're in a strange polygenic relationship with some exhibitionist tendencies. Annoying the other patrons with loud noises won't help us!" He tried to scold them and failed miserably.
"Lighten up, man. Who cares what some hostess thinks of us? $50 says she'll tell the waiter to be careful!" He cracked and both him and Garcia were once again on a roll.
"I'm embarrassed to be seen in public with you two." Reid muttered as he tried in vain to hide his face behind his menu.
"Liar." Garcia told him with a smile as she wiped away a stray tear. "We're awesome. Just admit it."
"Never."
"Personally, I think we'd make an amazing threesome."
"In your dreams, Baby Girl. In your dreams."
"A-are you ready to order?" The group turned to see a young man with tense shoulders looking cautiously at them.
'She definitely told him.' The three thought together. After giving their orders, they watched as he practically ran to the kitchen.
"Too bad no one took your bet." Garcia winked at Morgan who just snorted.
"It sounds like a fool's bet but I know a few unsubs that would have taken it." The man muttered causing something to click in Reid's head.
"Hey, it's 12 o' clock." He told them and watched as both gained confused looks.
"Yeah, it's lunchtime. Something wrong?" Morgan asked.
"It's Tuesday." Reid told them, adding to the confusion.
"We're aware. We're not geniuses, but we know our days of the week just like everyone else that made it out of kindergarten." Garcia assured him.
"Then shouldn't you be at work?" Reid asked suspiciously, making the light bulb go off in their heads.
"Called in sick." Garcia told him with a fake cough added at the end.
"We don't have a case and my dog was throwing up, so I took a personal day." Morgan commented lightly.
"Really?" Reid asked suspiciously.
"Yup. True, he was throwing dirt up in the air with his paws but I gave 'em the keywords over the phone so they understood the situation." He snickered.
"That's terrible! You could get in trouble for that!" Reid hissed at them.
"Kid, relax. It's not like we do this every other day. Just this once isn't going to get us fired. By the way, where are you staying tonight?" The man asked, skillfully changing the subject to avoid a lecture on work attendance.
"I was going to get a hotel, no big deal." Reid shrugged.
"But you said your account was frozen." Morgan pointed out.
"Oh, I made sure to withdraw enough cash to tide me over until that cleared up and I found an apartment I like but I won't need one for a while since all cadets stay in the dorms. I can hold out for a week." He told them nonchalantly, thanking the waiter who had come back with their food.
Taking his fork in hand, he began to tell them about some of the places he found on the internet that looked good in between bites. It was only after a few minutes into it that he realized he wasn't receiving any responses. Cursing himself mentally for rambling, he looked up from his food to the two sitting across from him, both giving him the same look that he couldn't quite decipher.
"Sorry." He hastily apologized. "You don't have to listen to me talk your ears off about stuff like that. A simple, 'Shut up, Reid' works. I won't be offended, promise."
"Oh Sweetie, I love it when you ramble to your heart's content. It does my soul good to see someone excited over the smaller things in life." Garcia assured him. "But that's not the problem, is it Morgan?"
"Nope. This is the third strike in two hours."
"Strike?" Reid asked, brows scrunched in confusion. Were they talking about baseball and he'd missed it?
"Yep. First the taxi, then the money, and now this." Morgan scolded him slightly as he counted the offenses off on his fingers. "Three strikes, Pretty Boy." The dark man gave the other a charming grin as realization settled in.
"You mean. . ." He trailed off, unsure of how to put it.
"Why spend money on a room when you can have one for free?" Garcia winked. "I mean, you'd have a roommate, but that's part of the fun."
"I wouldn't want to intrude—" Reid started to say but quickly changed tunes when he saw the glares beginning to form. "But that's what's great about friendship, right? You can barge in uninvited. . .sometimes." He ended in a small voice, unsure if that was the right answer.
"Oh my God, Morgan! He's learning! I'm so excited!" Garcia squealed and tried to hug Reid despite the table being in her way.
"Just when I thought it was hopeless." The other chuckled.
"Oooh! Reid! You should stay with me! We can have a slumber party and eat ice cream and—" Reid cut her off.
"Did you say ice cream?" He asked, voice alert.
"Yes."
"What kind?"
"Chocolate and a few others like Rocky Road."
"Looks like you have roommate tonight." He responded, surprising them that he'd given in so easily.
"Really?" Garcia asked to confirm what she had just heard.
"You just told me there was ice cream. Once ice cream is involved, it doesn't take much to get me involved. Same with coffee and cake." Reid chuckled.
"Baby Girl, I think we just found our genius's Achilles heel." Morgan grinned. "Seriously Reid, ice cream?"
"I love ice cream." The other responded in a deadly serious voice.
"And where did this love come from? Please don't tell me strangers offered it to you as a kid."
"Of course not!" Reid snapped at Morgan's joke. "Ice cream has sentimental value to me. Before my mom was," He looked around to make sure no one was listening in. "Admitted to Bennigton, she would buy ice cream for us to share on her better days." He told them with a smile that showed his nostalgia and both Morgan and Garcia could see he was remembering happier times.
"I know he's not pretending to be dumb anymore," Garcia muttered lowly to Morgan. "But he's still the sweetest person I've ever met."
"I hear you there." He replied in an equally quiet voice. Staring at the genius across from him, he couldn't help but be thankful they had convinced him to come to Virginia. For some reason the boy's presence just felt right in his life. Now if he could just pass the Academy. . .
"Hey Reid," He called out, ignoring Garcia's glare as his voice brought Reid back to reality. "Have you thought about the Academy yet? Classes are going to be starting soon." He reminded the other as chocolate eyes focused on him.
"Ah." Reid gave them a slow, secret smile that it almost resembled a sly smirk. "Don't worry about that. If my calculations are correct, I've got all my bases covered." He told them and refused to say anything else about it, signaling for the check.
"Sure you don't want to join us, hot stuff?" Garcia flirted with the waiter, making him flush red.
"I'm sorry miss, I don't do activities like that." He told her stiffly before leaving as fast as he could.
Morgan laughed and left a big tip for the guy. Reid just shook his head but both could see he was still smiling.
"So, how'd you like your first day in Virginia?" Garcia asked, sitting on her couch with a carton of ice cream in one hand, the other clutching a spoon.
"Somewhat tortuous. You made me go shopping." Reid admitted as he dug into his chocolate ice cream. After Morgan had dropped them off, Garcia had forced Reid into her car and took him to the mall.
"Oh don't be like that!" She scoffed before taking a bite of her own cookie dough ice cream. "I told you I wasn't going to let you walk around in nerdy clothes all the time. You're still cute but I know what you look like when you really clean up and I can't let such a beautiful vision stay hidden from the world. Besides, you didn't seem too resistant at the mall."
"It wasn't the clothes. I played a dumb idiot whose redeeming feature was his fashion sense. I know what's in and what looks good on me. It was the cell phone bit that I hated." Reid grumbled bitterly as he stabbed at his ice cream.
"Don't sulk." Garcia chided him. "You know you'd need one sooner or later; I just saved you a bunch of time and money. If I hadn't been there to haggle, that savvy piece of technology would have cost you an arm and a leg."
"If you weren't there, I wouldn't have been at the mall at all." Reid fired back, squeaking in surprise as a small bit of cookie dough smacked him in the forehead. "Garcia!" He yelped, sending her a scandalized look that made her start laughing uncontrollably.
"Oh, Sweetie." She gasped, wiping away stray tears. "I can't wait to have you on our team." He muttered something she couldn't quite hear over her laughter, but she had a feeling it was something along the lines of, 'me too.'
After her laughter subsided, they let silence fill the air, content in just being in each other's company. However, Garcia wasn't a quiet person by nature. Silence made her think too much and that often led to her worrying about things to an impressive extent. Once she had called Emily at three in the morning after spending half the night worrying over how her hair had looked that day. It had taken Emily five minutes trying to console her before her grumpiness came out and snapped that the hair had looked fine and unless Garcia was truly having an emergency, then she was going back to bed.
JJ had just hung up after she asked how her hair had looked, so brownie points to Emily for hanging on for the full ride.
Unfortunately, the silence was doing what it always did if it lingered too long and Garcia was looking at Reid with anxious eyes. Was he really ready for this? Had the team pushed him into something he didn't really want? If he did pass and become an agent, would he be able to handle all the dead bodies and gore? Dear God, what if an unsub captured him on a case? Garcia gulped at the thought. What if he died in the line of duty? An image of Reid flashed through her head; a still body on the floor, pale face staring up with lifeless eyes and open lips as blood seeped out from beneath him. . .
The thought made a lump form in her throat and shiver run up her spine.
"Hmm? Is something wrong?" Reid asked, seeing the movement out of the corner of his eye. He was expecting a flirty response of some sort and was surprised when a quiet voice reached him.
"I'm worried." She confessed sadly. "I was so excited to hear that you were going to try to join us, I didn't think about the consequences."
"Such as. . .?" He trailed off and the mental dam broke in her head.
"Did you really want this? What if you get sent somewhere else? I just realized that you being an active agent means you'll be going with everyone else and facing the same dangers. They go out and every time I'm so afraid they'll come back with one less person than they left with." She took in a big breath. "It happened once a few years ago with a bomber. The FBI lost some good agents- I lost some good friends. What if that happens to you? I don't think I could live with myself if you—" She cut herself off when she felt something cold on her forehead.
While she was unloading her thoughts out loud, Reid had gotten up and sat next to her. By the time she got to the bombing part, he had had enough and scooped up some ice cream, smearing it on her forehead to get her attention.
"First off, I wouldn't be here unless I really wanted this. You guys may have helped me out but I've had this dream for a good five years before you even knew I existed. I didn't come into this blindly. I know what being an active agent means and I'm willing to take that risk if it means I can help take one more monster off the streets. Regardless, I have no intention of dying on you." He grinned, trying to cheer her up. "And if I do, then I'll come back as a ghost and haunt you until you stop being sad and realize that the ultimate decision was mine; I chose this path, not you, so don't ever blame yourself for what could happen. That's the greatest part about the future; it gives you endless paths to walk on."
"You believe in ghosts?" Garcia sniffed with a watery smile.
"Not really," He admitted, instinctively knowing that rambling on about the paranormal and their plausible existence wasn't for this moment. "But for you, Garcia, I will."
She slept easy that night.
Agent Oxley had been an instructor and head director at the Academy for a solid 15 years. He had seen every type of agent walk through these hallways: the ones that would be good, the ones that were in it for the wrong reasons, and the ones that would burn out before their time.
He did his best to help them all and had been mostly successful in that mission. Right away though, it was always easy to see who would be working for the intelligent part of the FBI and who would be participating in raids when the new semester brought in a wave of fresh cadets.
He had thought he had seen every type of cadet.
He was wrong.
After he had dismissed the orientation for the new cadets and classes had finished up for the day, he was sorting through papers on his desk when a knock came on his door.
"Enter." He called out, still looking at the papers. He did put them down and look up when he heard the door open and close again. There stood a young man, slender and tall with light brown curls surrounding his face. His shoulders were tense and he had a determined look on his face.
"Can I help you cadet . . . ?" Oxley trailed off, recognizing the new cadet but not his name.
"Reid." The other answered, moving closer to talk and something clicked in Oxley's head. This particular cadet's application to the Academy had gone through abnormally fast. Normally, applications take about a year of review before the final decision was made. His had taken a little less than 6 weeks. Actually, it had somehow gotten pushed through a week after they had received it. That had been chalked up to a technical glitch, but then it had happened two more times and Oxley wondered if some tech. analyst out there was helping him.
"What can I do for you, Cadet Reid?" He reiterated, waiting for whatever the other had to say. He expected a complaint about a roommate or the food. What he did get was surprising.
"I want to make a deal of sorts." The other told him with an awkward shuffle that gave him a feeling the young man wasn't use to making demands like that.
"I don't usually make deals." He told the other, thinking he was trying to skive off a class that he didn't want to take; that's usually what it was. "If you want to be an agent, you have to take all the classes."
"Yes, I understand that." Reid nodded anxiously. "But you don't understand the situation. I'm not trying to get out of any classes or graduate early." He told Oxley as he began to fiddle with the messenger bag slung on his shoulder.
"Then what do you want?"
"I want to be an active field agent." Reid told him and Oxley had to stop himself from pointing out to the younger that he would need to bulk up if that was the case. "Physically speaking, I'm not ready for that." Well that was surprising. It wasn't often Oxley heard young men admit their faults so easily.
"What I want is to focus more on the physical training than the classroom." The statement was a bold one and Oxley felt a headache coming on.
"Cadet Reid, I understand wanting to strengthen your weak areas but I can't just allow you to skip classes. It's not fair to the other cadets and you'd be woefully unprepared to enter the force if I let you do that."
"Ah, you don't understand!" The other exclaimed, his hands turning into a flurry of movement as he opened his bag and dumped several textbooks and notebooks onto the director's desk. Opening up one of the note books, the older man was surprised to find it filled to the brim with notes.
"I, uh, already did all the classwork." The statement had his eyes snapping back up to the sheepish looking man.
"Excuse me?"
"I already did all the bookwork that the syllabus listed. For every class. I also edited some of the textbooks for future renditions."
Agent Oxley felt a little woozy after opening a book to see it highlighted with corrections.
"I'm sorry Cadet Reid, but just because you've done all the coursework doesn't mean you can skip your classes." The other nodded as if he had been expecting this.
"Director Oxley, in any other circumstance, I would never question that decision. However, there's something that I really want and to get it I have to focus on physical training. Just practicing in my free time won't be enough. I'm sorry but I'm not leaving this office until you agree, and if I have to recite every word from every book I will. Starting with the page number and publishing house." The other threatened, deadly serious.
"I admire your guts cadet, but that bluff won't work on me." The other man said, firm in his decision. He felt his eye twitch in annoyance as the other sighed, shrugged his shoulders in a, 'you asked for it' fashion, and opened his mouth.
"Cover page, Proper Conduct of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Page xxii, copyright 2000, published by. . ."
Oxley waited, thinking the kid had memorized the first few pages and gave him five minutes.
10 minutes passed. The kid was still talking.
20 minutes in and Oxley was beginning to get the feeling that this wasn't a bluff at all, but decided to hold out a little longer just in case.
45 minutes went by and he finally called for the young man to stop.
"That's enough, Cadet Reid." The older man groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I see where you're coming from, you don't need to recite anything else; I believe you."
"So you'll let me. . .?" The other trailed off, excitement clear in his eyes and Oxley gave another sigh.
"I'll approve of it. BUT! You have to have permission from your instructors and you must take their tests as well as the final, understand?"
"Of course! Actually, I already have my instructors' approval." Reid chirped, pulling out a loose leaf of paper from one of the notebooks. "See? I had them sign of on this petition that I made before I came to see you."
Oxley wondered for a moment why none of them had bothered to warn him about this particular cadet. Then again, they were probably busy downing aspirin if he had tried to recite an entire textbook to them as well.
"Alright Cadet Reid, you have yourself a deal." The other finally gave in.
He expected a squeal of delight; maybe an overabundance of thanks. What he did not expect was a shark-like grin to run across that young face.
"You won't regret this sir."
"Really now?"
"Oh yes, the percentage of me accidentally shooting another cadet just dropped down significantly." Reid told him with an over enthused nod and Oxley wondered just what kind of devil the Academy had accepted.
Somewhere in Vegas, a young officer shudder at the memory of a happy, gun-fire Reid he had spent two weeks trying to help.
"It's getting late. May I be dismissed, sir?" Reid asked as he gathered all his books back into his bag.
"Yes. Get some sleep, you and the others have an early morning ahead of you." The young man didn't respond verbally, simply nodded and made his way out the door. Oxley pulled out a sticky note and made a memo to his secretary to pull Reid's file for him to view in the morning.
"Oh, and sir?" He saw the young man standing in the doorway, the light shading his face dramatically.
"I was serious. You won't regret this."
Then he was gone.
"Most terrifying cadet I've ever encountered!" Oxley muttered to himself as he pulled out a shot glass and some whiskey.
God help whatever department they send him to.
TBC
A/N: One of my reviewers, Crossover Addict, asked me to write an alternative scene of Reid showing up all nerd like to his co-workers. Here goes nothing!
It was like something out of The Twilight Zone.
The morning had started out like it usually did: the morning officers cheerfully greeted the night shift officers who were going home. The secretaries all giggled and gossiped by the coffee machine and Chief Marco grumpily walked to his office as he did every morning when he wasn't caffeinated enough to be around others.
Then, everything stopped.
"Hi guys." Reid greeted happily, coffee cup in hand as he went to his desk.
"Reid?" Clara asked uncertainly, taking in the man in front of her.
"Yes?" He asked innocently, completely unaware that everyone was looking at him.
"Is everything alright?" She asked.
"I can't answer that. I don't know everything. Therefore, I cannot tell you if it is alright. Also, our definitions of 'alright' may differ due to our personal experiences. Unless we're going by Webster?" He responded, completely serious in his khaki slacks and sweater vest. Absentmindedly, he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
"Of course, how silly of me." Clara forced a laugh. "Can you at least tell me about your clothes?"
"What do you want to know?" He asked in confusion. "I got them at the Salvation Army for a good price. They were made in China and are 98% cotton. The other 2% isn't specified on the tag."
"It's just not your usual style." Another secretary tried weakly.
"I have style?" He asked excitedly.
"That's it." Clara muttered, pulling out her phone. "I'm calling an ambulance. He's clearly suffered a mental break of some sort." Before she could punch in the number, a snide voice called out.
"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" Jones asked in disgust, walking up to Reid. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Working?" Reid asked with a raised eyebrow. Jones felt something snap inside and saw red.
"You little punk! I'll kill you!" He growled as two officers quickly grabbed him before he could strangle the other.
"Y-you know, there are a lot of anger management courses you could try." Reid stuttered out in fear.
"I JUST came back from one of those! No thanks to you!" Jones screamed in rage, redoubling his efforts to get his hands on that thin neck.
"Hey back off!" Clara snapped. "That was your own damn fault and you know it!"
"Shut up! Why are you always protecting him? He's mocking us!" He snarled at her. She opened her mouth to snap back a retort but the slamming of a door startled them all into silence.
"What. Is. All. This. Racket. About?" Marco grounded out between his teeth as he took in the scene before him.
Jones being restrained by two officers like some rabid dog, Clara clearly looking for baseball bat or some equally blunt object to hit him with, and a scared Reid dressed like a nerd.
Marco blinked and turned back to go to his office.
"Marco?" Watson called out in concern.
"Clearly, I'm having delusions due to lack of caffeine." The Chief muttered. "It's too damn early for this nonsense. I'll deal with this when I'm more awake."
End
A/n: Sorry about the long wait. Computer crashed. Lost everything. Then I became quite busy in real life. I hope this is worth the wait and I apologize for taking so long, I know there were a few out there that really wanted an update. Please accept the alternative scene as an apology gift.