COLORS OF HOME

"Are you sure about these colors, Emily?"

"Yes." Emily smiled at the concern in Reid's voice. "I guarantee that when everything's finished, you're going to love it."

"They're not girly?"

"They're not girly. They're very neutral."

"You're sure I don't want darker colors?"

"Dark walls are depressing, you want light colors on the walls, but we got you dark trim for contrast."

"And it matches the furniture?"

"Yes, it matches the furniture, we brought the swatches with us."

"Reid." His head snapped around in response to Morgan's you're-being-a-pain-in-the-ass-again voice.

"Yeah, Morgan?"

"If you hate it, we'll repaint. Now, get your ass out of the way and let us get started."

Reid relaxed a little as he retreated to his drop cloth-covered couch, if Morgan was volunteering to repaint, then the colors must be okay. He looked to where Hotch and Gideon were setting up supplies in the kitchen; JJ and Garcia had grabbed a can of paint, some rollers and headed for his bedroom. He smiled as the thought flitted through his mind that JJ was finally in his apartment, actually in his bedroom, and he was stuck on the couch with a broken leg and ribs, and his bed was in pieces on the living room floor.

He watched as Emily and Morgan worked in the living room. He was amazed at how quickly the appearance of the room changed as the colors were applied. The guys had done the ceilings the day before when they had primed and Morgan and Emily wasted no time, moving quickly and efficiently so that the walls were finished much quicker than he would have thought possible.

As they moved onto the trim, he had to admit the colors were … nice, they seemed like what he might see in some of the nicer homes he had been in. He really wished that he had some sense, any sense, of artistic value. Oh, show him a painting and he could tell you the style, period, artist and financial value, but whether he liked it? That was another story. Lila had told him art should make him feel, but an elective art appreciation class in college, followed by an on-line course after meeting her, and nothing. He looked at art and he felt nothing.

Now, a good book, on the other hand, a well-thought-out plot, an exciting mystery, a historically accurate work of fiction, or especially a glimpse into the future could fully absorb him, draw him in. Morgan had laughed at him when he'd brought Harry Potter on the plane, but the final book, Harry's long walk had brought him to tears, it was something he could identify with; and Morgan had ribbed him for a week the time he'd run out of reading material on the plane home one night and had stolen a trashy romance from JJ after she'd fallen asleep, but oh, the dreams that had caused. He squirmed a little on the couch at those memories. Yep, paint left him cold, but a good book could definitely make him feel something.

He settled back into the couch and concentrated on the banter surrounding him. He was startled from his thoughts by the door buzzer. He started to get up to answer it, but Emily called out, "I got it."

He heard Haley's voice come from the speaker, "Pizza's here."

Emily buzzed her in the building and opened the apartment door so Haley wouldn't have to knock when she got upstairs. Reid listened for the elevator to stop as the others resumed their chatter, and started putting plastic bags over paint rollers? "Hey, Emily, why are you doing that?"

"What?"

"Putting grocery bags on the rollers and brushes."

"Keeps them moist while we take a break. This way we don't have to clean them until we're finished. It saves a lot of time and energy. We'll put the second coat on after we eat." Reid nodded absorbing the information. Chances were he'd never repaint, but in his mind there as no such thing as bad information.

He turned his head as he heard the ding of elevator doors opening and recognized Jack's voice as he chattered happily to his mother. "We go Unca 'Pencer's house? Do Unca 'Pencer have toys? Why Unca 'Pencer have 'vater in him house?" He wasn't quite sure how he had gotten elevated to "uncle" status, but something about it gave him a nice warm feeling inside.

He wished he could hear Haley's responses but she was speaking too quietly. He really liked that Haley took the time to respond to Jack's questions, the soft way she spoke to him reminded him a bit of his mom when he was little. Of course at that age he'd been asking how the 'vater worked and what kind of books were available for him to read, but it was the tone of voice and the patience so much more than the words themselves.

The two came through the door and the entire group broke into laughter when Jack announced, "Unca 'Pencer, you room is a meth. You better clean it or Mommy get mad."

Reid had the mad urge to respond that it was 'Daddy' who had made the mess, but since Hotch was standing in the doorway to the kitchen wiping his hands on a paint rag, he thought it might be a bad idea. Instead he patted the couch next to him and called Jack over. He smiled at his new friend as he pointed to the buckets of paint and explained that the "mess" was to keep his things clean while they painted his walls. Jack nodded thoughtfully as he and Reid accepted slices of pizza from Haley.

Reid checked to make sure Haley wasn't looking before he picked the peppers and onions from his pizza and held back a chuckle when Jack reached over and took them from his plate, adding them to his own pizza.

Garcia carried her plate out of the kitchen to claim the couch on Jack's other side. Reid watched as she carefully removed the sausage from her pizza and set it on his plate, a long-time vegetarian for health reasons, her sausage, pepperoni, et cetera, usually went to Reid in trade for his peppers and onions. He suspected it would go to Morgan, but he watched his food just as carefully as she did when they weren't on the road. He was constantly telling Reid if he wanted to build up some muscle, he was going to have to give up Twinkies for lean meat and vegetables. To which Reid usually responded that if God wanted man to eat vegetables, he wouldn't have invented Twinkies in the first place.

And it wasn't that he didn't try to eat some healthy foods, but the unhealthy stuff just tastes so much better. Besides it really didn't seem to matter what he ate, he couldn't gain weight, muscle or not. Even during training at Quantico, he'd managed to pass the physical components more through sheer stubbornness than actual muscle. He wasn't unhealthy, he was just genetically predisposed to be on the low end of the weight scale and since he took a daily vitamin, he didn't really see where a couple carrot sticks were going to make a difference in his life.

He looked up as he heard a thud coming from the kitchen. Haley, Hotch and Gideon had settled in there, while the rest settled on the floor on the other side of the coffee table where is foot rested. He heard another thud. He wished he could see into the kitchen but it was impossible from this angle. He looked to Morgan, who had been the last to leave the kitchen, for explanation. Another thud. Morgan just grinned back at him. "Come on, Man, what's going on in there?"

"Haley opened the fridge to get a soda."

Reid just looked at him, confused.

"She didn't like what she saw. She said things are supposed to grow on farms, not in the fridge."

"I haven't been here in two weeks."

JJ piped up, "Yeah, Spence, I just don't think that's going to get you a by on this one."

"Come on, like you guys have never come home from a job to find something gone bad in the fridge."

Emily laughed, "Reid, I looked in there, some of those take-out containers could grow legs and take themselves back out at any time."

Morgan continued, "When's the last time you washed it out?"

"Washed it? You don't wash refrigerators." He looked at JJ, "Do you wash your refrigerator?" He was a little concerned by the fact that she was obviously trying not to burst out laughing, he just wasn't sure whether it was because he didn't wash his refrigerator, or because Morgan was pulling his leg.

After a few moments she gave up the fight and burst out laughing, nodding frantically. Emily wasn't quite as amused, but there was definite laughter in her voice when she clarified, "You know, every few months when you take everything out and wipe down the inside?"

She noted his look of confusion, decided on logic and science, "Okay, when you put leftovers in, if there was bacteria or mold, it'll grow, some faster than others. Then it gets into the air in the fridge and onto the walls and the other food. So, if you don't wipe down all the surfaces with a cleanser to get rid of the mold and bacteria then eventually all your food gets contaminated as soon as you put it in."

Reid looked down at the pizza on his plate, he just threw out the old food and wiped up any spills, he'd never given any thought to actually washing the inside out. No wonder it always seemed like his food spoiled fast. He'd finally given up, started buying all his condiments in glass jars and mostly used the fridge to store leftovers until he had a chance to take out the garbage.

"So, if I wash the fridge, the food will last longer?"

He heard glass striking glass and winced. Apparently even condiments weren't safe.

"Unca 'Pencer, you fridge a meth, too?"

"Yeah, Bud, apparently my fridge is a mess, too."

"Mommy, don't like metheth."

More breaking glass from the kitchen, "Yeah, I think you're right."

"You gonna get time-out." Jack said firmly as he happily went back to his pizza while the rest just laughed at Reid's predicament. Exactly what kind of time-out did an adult get for having a dirty fridge?

Reid winced as he heard cupboard doors slamming, were his cupboards in bad shape as well?

A moment later Haley stuck her head out of the kitchen, "Spencer, where do you keep your cleaning supplies?"

"Under the cupboard next to the fridge."

"There's nothing there."

Reid quickly reviewed the extent of his cleaning supplies and decided that Haley probably wouldn't consider a bottle of Windex and a can of Comet to be cleaning supplies, and he really was out of floor cleaner, "Um, actually I think I'm out. I haven't made it to the store for a while." Apparently that was the right answer because she nodded and ducked back into the kitchen.

He looked at Morgan and looked away quickly, he had a feeling Morgan would know he was lying through his teeth. His whispered, "Forgot, huh?" was proof enough.

The furious, "Shut it," he muttered back earned him a group laugh from everyone but Jack, who was contentedly chewing the last of his pizza crust. He was sure Morgan and the others were well aware that he could list the entire inventory of his cupboards at any time, but Haley didn't, and at the moment there was no reason to tell her.

She came through a few minutes later carrying her purse, "I'm just going to restock, I'll be back in an hour." She squatted down in front of Jack, "Mommy's going back to the store for a minute, you be a good boy for Daddy and Uncle Spencer, okay?"

The little boy nodded vigorously, "'Kay, Mommy. Me be good."

She kissed him on he top of the head, stood up and did the same to Reid and walked out the door. Reid felt the blush rise on his cheeks as Morgan struggled not to laugh until Haley was out the door. He wasn't sure why Haley had started doing that a couple days ago, but some inner part of him liked it so he wasn't complaining. It reminded him of when he was little and his mom used to kiss him good-bye before going to work. He heard the door click shut and wasn't surprised when the group around him burst into laughter.

He felt the blush increase when Hotch and Gideon came out of the kitchen to see what was so funny. "Hotch, Man, you better watch out, I think Reid's trying to steal your woman."

"Huh?"

Morgan stopped laughing long enough to explain what had happened, but found himself rolling on the floor when Jack piped up, "What funny? Mommy like Unca 'Pencer. Hers 'dopting him."

It was a long time before the group settled Jack down for his nap on the couch with Reid and returned to their painting.

AN: Wrapping your paint rollers and brushes really does keep them moist so you can pick right up where you left off the next day.

I've got dirty fridges on the brain, because that's what I'm heading off to do now.