Disclaimer: I do not own CM, just my OC and such.
Spencer hung up the phone and exhaled nervously. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
"The next crime scene photos you guys see will be of my dead body." he said to Prentiss and Morgan who both looked at him in confusion.
"What?" they asked in unison.
"Jemma's going to kill me." Spencer clarified.
"What did you do this time?" Prentiss asked.
"We went house hunting this weekend and we found one that was perfect. It was kind of expensive, but Jemma really wanted it so I said we'd take it." Spencer explained. "The bank just called. I can't afford it." His voice began to quiver. "How am I going to tell her? Everything I do upsets her and she's not supposed to be under any stress and-"
"Whoa, hold up, man." Morgan stopped him. "Why do you need a house in the first place?"
"There isn't enough room for the baby in our- my... our apartment." Spencer replied. "Jemma and I spent the entire weekend trying to find a bigger and more suitable apartment and decided to look at houses when none of the apartments met our standards. I guess we got ahead of ourselves. She's so excited for this house, it'll break her heart."
Morgan and Prentiss exchanged a look. Both knew how difficult it could be to stop Reid from getting to carried away when he was convinced of something. They were accustomed to his genius, but it could be hard to see him during the times where he became a slave to his own mind, ceaselessly worrying over worst-case scenarios.
"Jemma will understand, Reid." Prentiss assured him. Jemma was familiar with a frugal lifestyle and had always settled for less without complaint, why would this time be any different?
Spencer shook his head. "No, no she won't." he protested. "You didn't see the way her face lit up when we were there. I haven't seen her so happy in a long time. She hasn't stopped talking about this house."
Prentiss rolled her eyes. There was definitely no way in talking Reid out of this.
"You need to tell her then." she sighed. "If she's really as attached to the place as you say she is, it's best to tell her now before it gets worse."
Spencer nodded. He left his desk, taking his cell phone with him.
"Hello?" Jemma answered the phone.
"Hey, Jem." Spencer greeted her nervously.
Jemma sighed. "You really don't need to call and check on me four times a day, Spencer, I'm fine, everything's fine."
"I'm sorry, Jem." Spencer said. "What are you doing right now?" he asked, still too nervous to tell Jemma about the house.
"Well, I was packing some of my stuff back into my boxes, but I took a break to look online for some stuff for the house." Jemma replied.
"Yeah, about that..."
Jemma's heart stopped for a second. She was used to disappointment in her life by now, but she hoped desperately that she had imagined the tone in Spencer's voice. "What about it?" she asked, fighting as hard as she could to keep her voice from quivering.
"I can't afford it, Jem. I'm sorry."
Jemma fell silent. She bit her lip and choked back a sob, telling herself there was no point in crying over this.
"Jemma, are you OK? Are you still there?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, I'm OK." she lied.
"Are you sure?" Spencer pressed. "I know how much you loved that house."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Jemma insisted. "I mean, I've got a little bit of money saved up and I haven't touched any of the money Joey and my dad left me. When the baby comes and I can work again, I'll just get my own place and you won't have to be bothered by us anymore." With her now trembling hand Jemma ended the call and threw the phone at the bedroom wall, leaving a sizable hole in it.
Morgan and Prentiss watched Spencer from their desks. It was clear that Jemma had not been happy to hear his news. They continued to watch as Spencer paced in circles and shook his head.
"Think we should help him out?" Morgan asked.
Prentiss thought for a moment before responding. She had been rather hard on Spencer since that day Jemma had shown up on her doorstep, drenched from the rain and her own tears. Spencer was her friend after all, maybe there was a chance they could help both Jemma and Spencer by fixing whatever relationship they had.
"How?" Prentiss asked.
Morgan shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure if this is a 'Reid has problems with women' thing or a 'Reid has problems with Jemma' thing."
"I think it started in the first and turned into the other." Prentiss suggested. "I mean, he actually proposed to-"
"Reid? Proposed to Jemma?" Morgan repeated in disbelief.
"She said no." Prentiss finished.
"He's coming back," Morgan noted, "Be cool."
Prentiss picked up a pen and pretended to be completing some kind of form and Morgan rifled through his desk for some imaginary object.
"Hey, how'd she take it?" Morgan asked when Spencer sat at his desk.
Spencer shook his head. "Not so good." he replied. "She said she'd take the baby and move out as soon as she could, then she hung up on me."
"You know, if you weren't so damn proud, I'd offer you a solution." Morgan said.
"A solution?" Spencer repeated.
Prentiss looked at him with just as much confusion as Spencer did now.
"I guess I'm too nice to make you beg for it." he said. "Are you forgetting all the property I own?"
"Morgan, no. I can't-"
"Let me finish, Reid. You can pay me rent – next to nothing, until you can buy the house or a bigger one or whatever."
"Jemma would never-"
Morgan shook his head. "Jemma doesn't have to know. Besides, if she's still paying for school, it's best her name is nowhere near a mortgage or the deed to a house."
"I still can't let you do this, Morgan." Spencer protested.
"You can and you will." Morgan insisted. "I owe you."
"But we've never counted debts here." Spencer said. It was true. The BAU would be a mess if each agent felt the need to repay a teammate every time they'd saved their life or helped them out in anyway. Part of what made them such a great team was that no one owed each other anything, but they still helped each other out of loyalty.
"This is what friends do, kid."
Spencer could have hugged him, but thought it best if he refrained. The look he gave him said it all.
"Thank you."
Morgan nodded. "You're welcome."
"You know, if Jemma finds out, we're all dead." Spencer said, knowing how reluctant Jemma was to accept any form of charity.
"It'll be our little secret." Morgan said, looking to Prentiss to confirm her part in the deal. She nodded. "And of course, Garcia will know. I can't keep anything from her."
Jemma stared out the window of Spencer's car as they drove through some small suburb where the houses all looked relatively similar. When he had returned from work and asked her to go house hunting again she had refused. Why should she get her hopes up again? But Spencer had insisted that she see this one house he'd found. She refused again, but Spencer asked her to at least try to forgive him for the first house and started to ramble about the psychological damage domestic disputes can have on a child. Jemma finally caved when Spencer got a sad, pitiful look in his eyes and began talking about seeing his own parents fight.
Spencer made a right turn and Jemma noticed that they were now in a cul-du-sac at the very edge of the suburb. There were only four houses and they pulled into the driveway of the small white one at the very end.
"This is it?" Jemma asked.
Spencer nodded and got out of the car, going around to open Jemma's door for her. Jemma got out and observed the house. It was a one-story bungalow, not much bigger than her house in Morrow Springs. She smiled when she saw that the backyard ended at a densely wooded area instead of a neighbour's fence. The house on the right was also white, but looked to be uninhabited. There was a smaller yellow house to the left whose yard was littered with tricycles and baseball equipment. At least she wouldn't be the the only mother out here.
"Where's the realtor?" Jemma asked nervously. The quiet, empty street was making her feel a bit uncomfortable now.
"It's uh... it's for sale by owner." Spencer replied.
"Then where's the owner?"
"Oh," Spencer blushed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "He uh... he left it unlocked for us."
Jemma shot him a suspicious look, but knew Spencer would never even think of doing something like breaking into a house so she followed him inside.
The foyer opened immediately to an open-concept living room/dining area. It was bare except for the kitchen appliances Spencer told her would come with the house. It was nothing remarkable or extraordinary, nothing she did not already expect of this house.
To the right was a hallway that lead to three bedrooms. The master bedroom had its own en-suite bathroom, one of the few things Jemma had not expected from a house so small. The smallest of the bedrooms, the one she figured could be the nursery had the same white walls and basic pine trim as the rest of the house, but large bay window with its built-in seat gave it a cosiness the others did not have. Jemma found herself imagining all sorts of different decorating themes and realized she was in love with it already. Although it was probably just a coincidence, she felt the baby move inside her and knew that she would be even more heartbroken if this deal didn't work out.
"So, what do you think?" Spencer broke the silence.
Jemma spun around to look at him. She needed him to see in her eyes how much she really loved this house. "It's perfect, Spencer." she said, resting her hand on her belly.
Spencer grinned. "Perfect because it's ours." He took the key and held it out to Jemma, letting her know that it was for real this time.
Jemma covering her gaping mouth with both hands and winced to keep herself from crying. "Really?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.
"Really." Spencer confirmed.
Jemma laughed and threw her arms around his neck. Spencer held her as tightly as he could until she decided to break free from their embrace.
"When can we move in?" she asked, her face lighted with excitement.
"As soon as you want." Spencer smiled in reply.
A/N: Yay! The finally have somewhere to live!
Sorry it's been so long. There's really no excuse for it, but between moving home, going back to work, and writer's block, it's been difficult. The other night I decided to go and re-read the whole story so far and that really helped get things rolling.
Anyway, reviews pretty please? And nothing mean please. I mean, if you've got a legitimate complaint or something about the story, I'm all ears, but I do not feel like being attacked again. It's kind of sad that I have to ask not to be attacked on here really.