Playing Games by JuliaBC
A/N: I feel the need to note that this takes place before Breath Play. I noticed that Canon contradicted me in that it doesn't seem like Reid knew but...
Who knows? Maybe he was faking it. And maybe Kate lied to Garcia. Hmm. That theory just got a bit troublesome.
"Kate?"
Deep in her thoughts, Kate didn't even register the voice.
"Kate!" Now it was accompanied by a hand placed very lightly on her shoulder.
She blinked and jerked to attention, swiveling her chair to see who was talking.
"Reid."
"You were on a completely different time plane just now, weren't you?" Reid said, pulling out the chair next to hers to sit down.
"Yeah, I think I was," Kate said, looking around the almost emptied bullpen. "Where is everyone?"
"Aha. You've been out of it even longer than I originally thought. It's lunch break, Kate."
Eyebrows shooting up, Kate grabbed his arm to see his watch. "Oh no! I had a report to do."
Reid shook his head. "Correct. You had a report. Past tense."
"Huh?" She asked, shuffling the items on her desk around as she looked for the needed file.
"I did it for you," Reid clarified. "What with you being expecting, and all. You've just been out of it and don't think we all didn't notice."
"You shouldn't have done that," Kate chastened. "I need to pull my own weight around here, pregnant or not."
"This is the first file you haven't done in time," Reid said. "The first I, or anyone else, took."
"You still shouldn't have," she said, standing. "But don't let my protests fool you. I am very grateful, and thank you. I wasn't looking forward to telling Hotch."
"You were out of it all morning, and we all have bad days," Reid said. "It's okay. Can I guess that it has to do with Meg? Has she told you her side of the fight yet?"
"She completely refused to communicate, about it or...anything," Kate said. "She won't...listen. I get this feeling that something else is not right. Something that, maybe, started all the way back when she tried to go on that date."
"What kind of feeling?" Reid asked, his brow crinkling.
"I...an instinct, honestly," Kate said. "It sounds so fake, but there you go. I have this gut feeling that nothing good would have come of it, and an even bigger sense of relief that nothing came of it."
"You should listen to that," Reid said. He pressed the button for the elevator, but his finger stayed poised above it for a moment longer. "Feelings like that aren't always false."
"Make that a large coffee," Reid said, amending his lunch order.
Kate had already secured them a table, and he walked to join her.
"It's finally warming up," Kate said, looking out at the cloudy day. "The snow is finally melting. It's 55°F!"
"It's all right," Reid said.
"When I woke up this morning, there were birds chirping outside my window," Kate said. "Meg's cat was walking around my room, and trying to get to them."
"Meg has a cat?" Reid said.
"Yeah, we got her one on her tenth birthday," Kate said. "A young male she named O'Malley, for he was big and orange and just a little fat."
"O'Malley?" Reid asked.
"From the Aristocats. Haven't you seen it? Disney, talking cats playing jazz?" Kate said. "You haven't, have you?"
"I'm not much for Disney, what can I say?" Reid apologized.
"Don't worry about it," Kate said, and took her phone from her purse. "This is what the original O'Malley looked like. Meg's O'Malley is striped. Do you like pets?"
"Pets don't like me," Reid said. "But I don't know. I haven't been around animals in a long time."
"Dogs or cats?" She asked.
"Maybe dogs," Reid said. "But Emily Prentiss, who held this position before you, had a black cat named Sergio. I got along well with him. I think I like dogs more, though. Cats are...too hard, you know? But the mental image of a dog is always faithful, always loves you, spends time with you no matter what." He looked out the window. "Dogs don't like me, though. It used to be so bad Hotch once called it the 'Reid' effect. That was one of our first cases together, actually."
"So a long time ago?" Kate asked. "If you haven't really been around a dog since then, who knows what might have changed? I sure don't believe in the Reid effect. Let's round up Penelope and go to an animal shelter this weekend. We can look at the dogs there and make a donation."
"Are you serious?" Reid asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Her eyes pierced him.
"Grandiose plans like this rarely make it past the drawing board," Reid said.
"Do you get cancelled on a lot?" She asked.
"Most of my colleagues are married or have kids," Reid said. "I've come to expect it, that's all."
"All the more reason to—colleagues?" She broke off in the middle of her sentence.
"What?"
"You don't have any friends outside of the FBI?"
"It takes up a lot of my life," Reid said. "Doesn't it yours? Name three friends you've managed to keep over your career in the FBI."
"Therese," she said. "Kelly."
"And?" Reid asked.
She bit her lip. "I've kept friends, we're just not as close anymore," she finally answered.
"Knew it," Reid said smugly. "It's hard. The people you become closest to are those you work with, and take way too long plane rides with."
"This has nothing to do with what I was saying." Kate said, scrambling back onto topic. "Do you want to go and look at dogs with me and Penelope? Because I might go anyway without you if you continue acting stubborn."
"Why don't you? You should take Meg, and be spending your free time with your family and friends, and not just your colleagues?" He retorted, almost spitting the words.
"Spencer. That's not what I meant," she protested, finally realizing what she'd said. "No, that's not what I meant at all."
"Aren't your friends more deserving of your time?" He asked, eyes flashing, but before she could say anything, their food came.
"Itadakimasu," Reid said.
"You know Japanese?" Kate finally asked, a few minutes later.
"I know most languages," Reid said.
"You don't use most languages," she said.
He responded by ducking underneath the table and rummaging in his messenger bag.
"Do this puzzle," he said, handing her a Sudoku book.
"What, number 12?" She asked, confused.
"Yes, number 12," he repeated. "It's the easiest in the book. I checked."
"I should tell you that I got mostly Cs in high school math," she said.
"It's not math, it's just elimination," Reid said. "Like your games. Like Clue."
"Do you have a pen?" Kate said, after another pause in the conversation.
"Yes, I do," he asked. "Would you like one?"
"God, Spencer! Do you have PMS or something?" The words burst out before she could stop them. "You hand me this book and then expect me to do it. With what? The freaking ketchup?"
He had a look in his eyes she hadn't seen before as he handed her a pen and didn't say anything.
She did the puzzle in five minutes, knowing all the while that Reid was timing her. She had a feeling that this was somehow a test.
She had a feeling that it was very important to Reid that she passed it.
She had a feeling she didn't.
As she looked at the clock and counted down the minutes to five, Kate's eyes were stinging. She really wanted to cry, damn these hormones, but she couldn't let herself.
Cursing the clock, she gave up on it and stood up. She had something to do, and went straight to Hotch's office without looking at Reid's desk.
"Can I come in?" Kate said, poking her head through the barely open door.
"Just a second," Hotch said, and she noticed he was on the phone. "I'm on hold," he said, moving his mouth away from it to talk to her. "Go ahead and sit down."
The sun filtering through the window shone in Kate's eyes as she took the seat as bidden. She shifted so that it wouldn't, but it remained glaring.
Hotch hung up the phone, turning his full attention to her. "You've got a powerful sun in here," she said, indicating her eyes to pretend that that was why she was crying.
"I do," he said. "I didn't realize it was that powerful."
"It isn't," she sighed. "These are hormones."
"You had it confirmed," Hotch said.
"I did," she said, smiling through the tears that were now freely coursing down her face. "Last week, after Texas. I'm pregnant!"
"Congratulations," he said softly, pushing the kleenex box over to her. "It must be an amazing feeling."
"It is," she said. "Don't let these tears fool you. I'm overjoyed."
"The team should know," he said. "It's your own decision, but I'm sure they'd love some good news around here and soon. This winter is just dragging on them."
"I noticed," Kate said fervently, and regretted the words the instant she said them.
Hotch's eyes shot from the paperwork to her, then out his office window to the bullpen. "Did something happen?"
"Everyone has been off," she said, standing up in a hurry. "I've been off. This was just an off day for everyone, I think."
"Maybe, but who's everyone?" Hotch asked. It almost seemed like he'd stand up and prevent her from going. She almost wished he would, simply because she was so stressed over what had happened.
Was still happening.
"No one," Kate said, and he let her go, her lie hanging in the air long after she left.
A/N: Honestly, Breath Play stumped me. I had no idea how I was going to do it, so I decided to have something that would build into next week's chapter that will feature some sort of Breath Play Post-Ep or Tie-In.
And what's a friendship without a few nasty fights? All I know is, if my friendships didn't allow for them, none would have lasted. (No, I'm being serious.)
And what about you? Would your friendships weather that?