CHAPTER 125
NEVER HAVE, NEVER WILL GIVE UP ON PROFILING
The big day had come – Angela was finally going to let her inner nerd shine, as she would get to spend the entire day attending a long ass seminar, with the next best nerd of the bunch.
"Thank you so much. You have no idea how cool this is for me!" Angie spoke as soon as she got into his car.
"I should be the one thanking you." Reid replied shyly.
"How so?" Angie had already put her bag on the back seat and had secured the belt on herself. Patience was not her virtue. She could not wait to get her attendee badge and to walk through the doors of whatever hall this seminar would be held at.
"Well, nobody really ever wants to come to those nerdy things with me." Reid shrugged.
"Wow, you are really impatient to leave this place, aren't you?" He added after analyzing her behavior.
For the few seconds she's been in the car, she was fidgety and looked impatient.
"You have no idea!" She replied to his question.
This seminar could not have come at a better time. Lately she had been all about leaving the Academy and acting out, so maybe a day outside would be good for her.
"Plus, I love nerdy things. I find them super informative, no matter the topic. We could never know too much in life!"
"I like your thinking." He said with a very bright smile on his face.
That smile reminded her of something she had to do, right off the bat.
"Ok, don't get me wrong, but I need to do this." She cleared her throat and continued a bit shyly.
"For future reference, and also to avoid possible awkward situations, I shall say this right away – I'm not interested and not ever going to say or do something with sexual intent." She shrugged. "And I'm saying this because I have a weird way of talking to people and I smile and laugh and I tease everyone, so it often gets confused for flirting. So, just for the record, this…" She pointed at him and then at herself.
"This, I hope blooms into a beautiful friendship, because I think you are simply amazing. But I have no intentions to ever cross the line, no matter what I say and how flirty I may seem. I'm just made that way. I have a filthy mouth, I cannot help it."
When her little speech ended, Reid put his hand out, to shake hers.
"I respect you so much more for just having done that." He said contently.
He had been given the hot-and-cold vibes by girls before. And the fact that he did not have too much experience dating was surely going to confuse him around Angela, who was so openly social and vibrant. What if he read her jokes wrong? What if he thought she was into him? That speech made their friendship so much easier.
"Friends…" He smiled. "But not before I figure out just how smart you are!" He smirked, turning this into a wager.
"Oh my God! You know me too well already! The best way to make me do anything is to bribe me or to make it a wager. Oh, I'm fired up now. You have no idea!" If she was fidgety before, she was downright jumping on her seat at that very moment.
She loved their little dorky settlement of this wager – them shaking hands, like true gentlemen. It was the single most weird thing they could do and yet – it was so cute.
Now that she had made it clear where her intentions stood, she could sit back and enjoy getting to know this man that she respected so much.
He finally drove off. It was pure joy for her. They had spent five minutes in the main parking lot where their morning meeting was, and she was ecstatic, impatient to get the Hell out of there.
"Holding a grudge?" He could not help but notice that sigh of relief as soon as they drove off the Government property.
"No. I mean, yeah, I guess. I've had a bit of a meltdown here lately." She sighed again.
"I'm sorry. If it helps, Prentiss was relentless. She'd skip meals and she'd run on coffee for days, making plans on how to make you one of us." Reid had no idea about Angie's intentions to quit the Academy, so he supposed that her mood had been due to the fact that Prentiss' scheme had backfired.
"Oh?" Angie perked up.
There was no way she'd tell him she meant something else, not now when it would be so easy to extract information from him. He was basically serving it all to her, on a silver platter.
"Yeah. We've never seen her so passionate about anything. She's gone after things she wanted, but never up to such extent. She was fierce, like a lioness, going after her prey. Not that you're prey. Ok, that came out wrong. Uh…" Reid rolled his eyes.
"I mean, ok yes like a lioness, but one who would do anything, to protect her cub. Makes more sense now?" He asked awkwardly.
"Makes tons of sense." Angie looked out the window with a certain pain in her eyes.
So, this Emily Prentiss woman had made good on the promise to fight for her?
"For what it's worth – I'm really upset that you can't be one of us." Reid said after a long moment of silence.
"It's worth a lot, actually." She allowed herself to smile, through the pain she was feeling.
"So, what's the seminar about?" She finally asked.
When Reid had asked her to accompany him, she had said 'Yes' without a hint of doubt, but she was now curious to know more.
"You'll see." He said mysteriously.
The one thing Angie did not like in life was surprises. And yet, this one didn't seem like it would be a bad one, so she decided to be patient and wait.
"What do you think about quantum chromodynamics?" He asked his usual conversation starter, even though for years it had been nothing but a vibe killer with normal people.
"The theory of the strong interaction between quarks and gluons, the fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion? Yeah, it's cool." She said casually and it surprised him that she knew the exact scientific definition of that thing. Normal people had no idea what he was talking about, most of the time.
There was nothing normal about Angie though.
"I really like chemistry. I like the idea of things, forming from other things. I guess I got curious to know more, when I was in middle school, so I nerded out on a few books and I most definitely stalked a few teachers. Sometimes, they'd let me go to the laboratory help with some experiment. It was really cool." She spoke while her eyes scanned their surroundings.
They were now on the highway and she realized she had no idea which city they were even going to. Like it even mattered.
"I have a really good book on molecular biology in my cabinet at home. I can lend it to you. You don't look like a folder." He said cautiously.
"A what?" Angie raised an eyebrow.
"A folder, you know, those annoying people who have absolutely no respect for the conglomeration of science and literature, so they fold the papers of a book and scrunch everything together and make that awful line on the pages, so that the book looks worn out." Reid elaborated.
"Oh, God, I hate folders! I am surely not one. My books look like they are brand new and some of them, namely the ones written by Sir. Rossi, I've read at least fifty times!"
"Sir. Rossi?" Reid laughed out loud. "Nobody calls him that. He's like, everyone's dad."
"Well, yeah. I don't really know him, apart from the fact that I've had an unhealthy obsession with him for years, so I'm just trying to give him the respect he deserves. I love his work. One day, I want to be a mixture of him and Emily Prentiss. But, maybe with better clothing style than Prentiss." Angie rolled her eyes. She would not let this go - she hated some of Emily's clothes and thought they made her look older and much less fun than what she really was.
"You already are a mini version of Prentiss. I swear, I've never seen someone so equal to her, it's daunting. And I thought she was one of a kind, ha!" Reid ended off with a tiny scoff.
Angie was blushing a little bit, taking that as a compliment. She had grown to really like this 'Emily Prentiss woman'.
"Do you want to make a stop for coffee first?" He asked, his love for caffeine suddenly kicking in.
They had met at the parking lot at six in the morning, so an hour later he already was in need of his second fix for the day.
Angie shrugged a bit uncomfortably. She had two dollars and forty-six cents in her wallet and a few food coupons. There was not much she could buy with those, at a highway pit stop.
"I'm fine. We can stop if you need anything. Wouldn't mind using the rest room, actually." She knew she had drunk more water than she should, that morning. She was doomed to need to pee constantly and it was only the crack of dawn now.
"I'm not letting you get some nasty infection from using a public restroom!" He said protectively, almost like a big brother.
That's when Angie figured out what their relationship dynamics would be, in a perfect world. He'd be like a cool, nerdy big brother figure to her.
"It's either that, or you stop along the highway and turn around while I pee on the side of the road, with cars driving by and honking their horns at me. Choose?" She smirked.
"You really are the Devil they say you are, huh?" He could not believe that a girl - a baby practically, was bribing him. In his own car, nonetheless.
"Wait, who says that?" She faked offense, just so she wouldn't tell him how flattering that really was.
"Uh, literally everyone!" He laughed once again and changed lanes, slowing down a little as he saw an exit for a nearby gas station.
"But I don't think you're bad." Reid added after a moment.
"How so? You don't even know me." Angie fidgeted again.
"True, but I am very good at reading people. I think that a lot of bad things have happened to you in life and that's what made you so tough. You prefer people to see you as a strong girl, rather than what you really are."
His words confused her. A few people have already called her out on the 'tough girl' act, but Reid had just gone deeper. He had mentioned her past.
"Which is…?" She questioned, curious to know how he really saw her.
"I think you're vulnerable. I think there are things that make you weak and that's only human. I mean, you are amazing at covering up your true emotions, but deep down inside I think you carry the burden of a huge pain. And I don't think you want people to ever find out what it is. I get it, I don't really speak openly about my emotions, so no judgment here. It's just nice to know someone else who is more like…me and less like…them, you know - everyone else."
This time, his words warmed her heart. He was spot on and she appreciated the fact that he merely stated an observation, rather than try to dig for more info on her and her past.
"You have to be tough, in order to survive." She said calmly.
"I learned that lesson in jail."
"Wait, you were in jail!?" Angie laughed. He did not seem the type.
"Mexico. Drugs. Bad idea. Long story. How about we change topic?" Reid winced, just thinking about it made him sick.
Luckily for him he was now parking his car and the topic had to be changed anyway.
They walked out and Angie went to search for the rest room while Reid got himself a coffee.
Five minutes later they were back in the car.
"Can I drive?" She asked sweetly.
"I don't really feel comfortable with other people driving my car…" Reid shrugged.
"Please? You're a good driver, but you're so incredibly slow and I really need to get to the city sooner rather than later."
She seemed even more fidgety now.
"Oh, you didn't end up using that restroom, did you?" He smirked at her. He knew he'd be able to convince her not to go.
"I am utterly disgusted by what I found in there. It was terrible, it smelled and ugh, no, just…I don't want to talk about it." She cringed so badly.
"Fine, you drive." He tossed her the keys and they swapped places.
"Uh, do you even know how to drive?" He asked, as soon as she pulled out of the parking and took the highway.
Apparently, speed was not an issue for her. Neither were sudden changes of lane.
"I have a license…" She smiled.
"I asked if you know how to drive…" He corrected her, because the answer he received was not good enough.
"Ok, fine. I have to admit that I'm failing miserably at tactical driving class at the Academy. Yeah, I know how to drive, but not according to my instructor…or many other people who have been in a car with me."
"Damn it, I should have updated my will when Prentiss told me to!" He muttered to himself, grabbing onto the door handle and closing his eyes.
This girl was more than a Devil. She was a Daredevil and he wasn't sure if he liked that, or if he hated it. But it intrigued him and Spencer Reid was not easily intrigued by other human beings.
Less than an hour later, they were in the parking lot of a University.
"Should we go find a restroom first?" He suggested.
"Oh, no. I'm fine. I kind of forgot about it. I had to convince myself I'm good." She said, making sure she had locked the car properly before she tossed the keys back at him.
"The power of suggestion." Reid stated, knowing how a person's brain worked.
However, after all the talk about restrooms, he now needed to use one too, so they ended up going there first.
It took Reid two minutes to walk in, be done and walk out.
He then found himself waiting for Angie to walk out, for the next twelve minutes.
"You wouldn't believe it! This girl, her name is Lia. So, she was just fixing her make-up in the bathroom and I asked her what shade that lipstick was and we started talking and she said she's studying biology. She gave me her phone number and said I could come back someday and I could go to the laboratory with her. Unbelievable! Small world, I guess!"
Reid sighed. How was it that this girl made friends and connections, everywhere she went? She was so bubbly and cheerful, it was easy to be drawn to her. He was the exact opposite – he'd never walk up to a stranger and initiate small talk, not even when he literally had to, because of work. It just was not something he felt comfortable doing.
They walked to the third floor and found the Auditorium where the seminar would be held.
"No freaking way!" Angie's jaw dropped when she finally saw the poster, outside the room.
"Happy you agreed to come with me?" Reid smirked.
He knew she'd love it and he had intentionally not told her the topic.
"Happy!? Understatement of the year!" She almost passed out from all the excitement.
They walked in quickly, happy to find out that most people have taken the back seats. Losers! Who would go there and sit all the way in the back?
Angie pointed at the first row, since there were plenty of free seats there.
Reid followed her willingly. He wouldn't have sat anywhere but the first row anyway.
"Hello and welcome to this year's edition of the Criminal Profiling seminar. A huge thank you to the University of-…" A man started to speak on the microphone as it was time to start.
"This is the best thing that has ever happened to me, stat! Like, nothing could ever top that! Thank you so much!" Angie squealed, only looking at Reid for a split second before her eyes got glued to the man on the stage in front of them.
The outline of the seminar was briefly introduced and one thing caught Angie's attention.
"Exam? What exam?" She raised an eyebrow, feeling her heartbeat fasten suddenly.
"Oh, it's a credit thing, you know, for people in the field. At the end of the seminar we have a test and based on our results, we get certificates for our attendance. Don't worry about it, you're not even licensed yet, so it wouldn't matter whether you pass or fail. Just take that as a way to test yourself and your knowledge."
"Doctor Spencer Reid, do not offend me!" She folded her arms, clearly in a joking manner.
"I love tests and I love certificates!" Those words of hers made him smile.
Why hadn't he profiled that already? Of course she'd be more than motivated and of course the test results would matter to her.
"Then let's do our best to crush this test, shall we?" He suggested.
"Yes, we shall, Doctor Reid!"
"You can call me Spencer. I mean, I think you can. We're not at work and we don't even work together, so…" He shrugged, wondering if that was not pushing the boundaries a bit.
"You're too intelligent for me to call you by your first name." She said calmly before the first lecture started.
A retired FBI Agent was talking about the principles of Profiling and the importance of knowing how the mind of a criminal works.
At first Angie thought this would be super basic, but ten minutes into the lecture, she was hearing things she had never heard, nor read about, before.
Swiftly she grabbed her bag and pulled out a notebook and a pen.
"Old school?" Reid pointed out.
"I like sketching things and making little diagrams as I learn. Can't do that on a tablet." She replied while writing down what the man had just said.
Reid took a long moment to get a really good look at her. She reminded him of a young Spencer Reid – so curious, so passionate about Profiling, so willing to do all the extra work, even if she had just been given the news that she would not be joining the BAU.
"An example of a model of treatment of psychopaths that has shown some positive results would be the Decompression Model. Is anyone familiar with it?" The first speaker asked.
Angie, being naïve as she was, raised her hand.
"This was not an actual question!" Reid whispered, having to physically take her hand down, before she'd make a fool out of herself.
"Yes, Miss…?" The speaker actually decided to give the girl a chance. She seemed eager and also – way too young to even be there.
"The Decompression Model, developed by staff at the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center, is all about positive reinforcement. It is a fact that psychopaths do not respond to punishment the same way non-psychopaths do, and that is due to brain differences. So, since punishment does not discourage bad behavior, this model suggests that whenever good behavior is shown, a person would be rewarded. This reinforces a psychopathic criminal's desire to learn a new behavior, instead." Angie said briefly.
"Oh, sorry. It's Angela Hunter, I'm a….uhm, a Trainee at the FBI Academy, Sir." She then realized she had been so eager to reply the question, that she had left her good manners aside and she had literally forgotten to introduce herself. She also mumbled the 'trainee' and 'Academy' words, hoping people would have only heard her name and 'FBI' after it.
"Well, thank you Miss Hunter. It is nice to be joined by an aspiring young profiler. Is that your chosen career path?" The speaker asked, finding it endearing how eager this girl looked.
"Yes, Sir. I've spent my entire life preparing myself to be a profiler. Sadly, however, I would not be working in that field, due to budget cuts and all sorts of political reasons. So I guess I'd end up with a boring desk job in the cybercrime division or whatever."
Her words made a lot of people laugh. Some of them came from that very same division and they knew exactly how boring that job was, which was why they were trying to get the credits needed in order to switch to profiling.
"That's too bad. I hope in the future you'd get a chance at the job you really want. Either way – don't ever stop learning about something you are clearly so passionate about." The speaker said, ready to move on to the next slide of his presentation.
"Never have, never will give up on Profiling, Sir!" Angie smirked, with her head held high.
Everything about her was making Reid upset. She was clearly working extremely hard and it was just not fair that she kept on being refused the one thing she had ever wanted in life.
That first lecture wrapped up in an hour and the second man got up on the improvised stage.
Angie looked around curiously. Both the first and the second guest lecturers had seats at the side of the stage, where about seven other men were sitting.
"Is that for the speakers?" She leaned towards Reid and whispered.
"Yes."
"Why are you not there?"
"Because you couldn't sit there and that meant I had to leave you here on your own and that would not have been too nice of me." Reid whispered back.
"Oh, you're so kind. I really like you, Doctor Reid." Apparently, this girl had no problem showing appreciation to people, even if she knew little about them.
"Why are they all men?" Angie cringed, looking over to the side one more time.
"It's always like that at such events. They rarely ever ask women to speak." Reid cringed, he was disgusted by this fact and it nauseated him to even have to pronounce those words.
"Oh, I can't wait until the day Prentiss is asked to speak. She'd teach those boys a lesson!" Angie smirked.
Truth was - she had found Emily's Welcome Speech at the Academy quite inspiring. She had acted as if it hadn't affected her, only to bother Bryan, but she had drawn a lot of useful conclusions from this woman's words and she had been inspired greatly.
"Prentiss actually used to travel and do speeches. She loves talking to people and she's really good at it. I kind of envy her - the way she feels comfortable to go out there and wing it if she forgets her actual speech. She's amazing. Maybe one day you'll get to listen to her, too. It's just the people who organize this specific annual event, who tend to prefer men for their seminars and guest lectures. I find that appalling. In fact, it is high time a smart, educated woman hits that stage…" He said with a tiny smirk.
"There's never been a woman speaker!?" Angie gasped.
"There has. But it's one, maximum two women per year. The rest is just guys. And I don't see any woman lined up for the lectures before lunch. Let's see if the afternoon part of the seminar is more diverse, although…I doubt it." After those words, Reid shushed her as the second lecturer started speaking.
Reid never took any notes. He had the capacity of memorizing things right after hearing them.
Angie, however, was doing her absolute best at writing down everything new that she heard. And there were so many new things. She had read an impressive amount of books on profiling and yet, there was so much more to learn.
At some point she noticed how Reid was staring at her as she wrote frantically, all over the page of her notebook. She made her little diagrams that looked like a pile of poo, but she understood them. And then there were all the little arrows – left and right, up and down; linking things and explaining concepts.
"What? I have photographic memory. I connect things to places, like, locations. I'd remember that this definition…" She pointed at something she had written earlier. "Is on the top right corner of the page. It's just how I am. I learn quickly, when it's something I'm good at. And this…oh my God, this is amazing!" She added, meaning the whole seminar.
"Cool. I have eidetic memory." Reid shrugged, as if that was no big deal.
"Dude, you are so awesome!" Angie smiled wide.
She was quite happy to be spending an entire day with someone as smart as Reid. She looked up to him, like a little sister would. It amused her how much information he must have on things, people, places. It was fascinating.
The second lecturer also asked a question, but this time she was careful not to jump and raise her hand. Reid had already warned her that those were rhetorical questions and she did not want to make a fool out of herself, which was something she did on a regular basis anyway. But, in a room full of profilers, she wouldn't want to risk it. Who knows? Maybe one day she'd actually become a profiler and she'd be up on that stage, giving a speech. She had a reputation to uphold, or rather – to establish first and uphold later.
Soon enough, that lecture ended and the third one started. Each person was speaking about a different aspect of profiling and everything was super interesting to Angie.
"When's your turn?" She whispered to Reid.
"I'm the last one before lunch break." He whispered back.
Only two more lectures to go, before his would start.
A lot of people were starting to lose their attention, but Angie was going strong. She was very thankful for that coffee Reid had offered her earlier, as she now felt refreshed and very much awake.
"And now, I'd like to welcome to the stage Doctor Spencer Reid, a profiler and Supervisory Special Agent with the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico." The seminar moderator introduced Reid and he took his sweet time to go join this man.
"Hey, Angela…uh, do you remember that class I did on geoprofiling at the Academy?" He asked her casually, while grabbing his things and slicking his hair back, as if that would do it any good, with how long and curly it was.
"Remember!? It's like I've memorized your every single word. It was amazing!" She smiled at him, opening a new page in her notebook, ready to take notes.
"Good. That's good." Reid replied awkwardly before he walked to the stage.
He fiddled with a USB drive in his hands while someone secured the small microphone on the collar of his shirt.
"Hi, uh, hello. I'm Doctor Spencer Reid. I'm uh, I'm not too good with technology stuff, so uh…"
He started off insecure and Angie frowned. He was such an intelligent man, it pained her to see that he was stuttering, in a room full of people much less smart than him.
"You've got this!" She mouthed to him, like she had done during his guest lecture at the Academy. It had worked back then, hopefully it would work now as well.
"My uh, my topic today is geoprofiling. I'm…" He tried to collect himself while placing the USB drive in the computer.
Something was wrong. He took it out before attempting to place it one more time and it was rejecting the drive again.
"You know what? I'd like to introduce to you my assistant for today. Hopefully they're better at technology." He laughed.
"Angela Hunter, would you please join me?" He finally said it.
He had been toying with the idea of asking her to assist during his lecture, but he didn't want to freak her out. Also, he wanted the topic of the whole seminar to be a surprise, so he had to keep it on the down low, thus she wasn't going to be able to prepare if he had given her the heads up. However, she seemed sure of herself and she had just confirmed that she had memorized his lecture from the Academy, so he felt a little more inclined on just dropping that bomb on her.
Angie's heart skipped a beat. She then realized why all the talk about women on that stage had happened, earlier, and also why Reid just asked her if she remembered the class.
Angie had always been a super confident girl. Even if she felt self-conscious, which happened on the regular, she knew how to mask that up.
However, at that moment, she stood up slowly and walked to the stage, almost hunched up. Her usual confident strut was nowhere to be seen.
"You've got this!" Reid whispered to her when she joined him and sat down behind a computer.
It had now become their thing – giving each other the support they need.
Once Angie made the USB drive work, he let her run a test of the presentation before they put it up on the screen, for everyone to see.
Reid started his lecture and it sounded a lot like the one he had given at the Academy, but Angie could tell he had held back a lot at the Academy. And now, with all those professionals, working in the field for years, Reid was much more confident as he spoke and he gave many more specific details.
"Now, on to the Routine Activity Theory…" He said at some point, but then he started coughing.
Angie gave him a look and she pushed a bottle of water towards him. Thankfully, the organizers of the seminar were 'only' against female speakers, but not against giving water to their speakers, so Angie found a few bottles on the side of the speakers' desk.
"I uh…" Reid continued, but the cough just would not leave him alone.
He took another sip and gave himself another couple of seconds, but his face was turning red.
"My assistant would explain it to you. Angela?" He tossed the ball to her court and that's when she saw it – he was coughing, but to mask up a carefully thought-out plan of action.
Smart. Very smart. She liked this guy.
She also felt so incredibly self-conscious, now being given the word. How was she supposed to be confident when she had to literally explain some basic stuff to a whole bunch of professionals who had been working as profilers for years? They'd so laugh at her…or so she thought.
"Come on, it's easy. Play a role!" Reid whispered, nudging her when it started to be a bit weird. He had introduced her a minute ago and she hadn't yet opened her mouth.
Play a role? Those were the most perfect words of encouragement one could speak in her presence. Angie's entire life was a series of roles to be played.
She stood up, prepping herself mentally. During her long moment of silence she recalled Reid's words during the class at the Academy, making sure she was able to stand tall as she spoke.
"The Routine Activity Theory was originally developed by Cohen and Felson in 1979. Its primary principle is that the offender and victim must intersect in time and space for a crime to occur. This approach focuses on the concept that crime occurs when an opportunity is taken within both parties' non-criminal spatial activity. An activity space may consist of the regular areas an offender travels to - such as work, school, home or recreational areas." Angie explained briefly.
Reid was surprised. When he had introduced her she had become pale and she did not look confident at all. But as soon as she had stood up and spoken up, she was a completely different person. She spoke slowly and eloquently, she was convinced of the validity of her words and she looked around the room, as if she owned it.
"AT Hunter, could you give us an example?" Reid asked, using a ranking for her.
AT was not much, but it showed she was part of the FBI nonetheless. Agent Trainee – it didn't sound intimidating, but it was a small stepping stone for achieving all she wanted to achieve later on, in her career.
If she was able to remember the exact words he had said at the Academy, she surely would remember the example he had given. And she did. She found out that it was the very next slide on his presentation, so she used the photo of an old BAU case, in order to illustrate her example.
"Thank you, AT Hunter." Reid said politely.
Somewhere along the way, he had dropped his coughing act and he was so busted for it. However, she didn't want to call him out on it.
"Now, onto the Crime Pattern Theory…" He continued his speech, but with the peripheral view he spotted Angie, now sitting back in her IT assistant seat behind the computer, with a huge smile on her face as she switched between the slides of the presentation while Reid spoke.
He couldn't help but draw parallels between her and Prentiss. Both got nervous right before hitting the stage, but once they were up on their feet, they both stood tall, spoke eloquently and there was something about the tone of their voices, it almost overlapped, while giving a speech. Like, they were two different people, but really, they were the same.
"And now my assistant is going to illustrate that with a few photographs and maps from an old case my Unit has worked on…" Reid said at some point and then let Angie speak again.
He had just given some information on a crime mapping model and he let her analyze the photos on her own. That was not an example he had given at the Academy, so he was curious to see what she would be able to make of this case, only by looking at the map of events, without having much more to analyze.
This time, she stood up quicker. She was much more confident now and she almost looked eager, all this time, eager to be up on her feet again…almost as if she had been waiting for him to allow her to speak again.
With the first new slide that she put up on the big screen, she realized she was not familiar with this case. It was different than the one Reid had analyzed back at the Academy.
She glanced over to him briefly before she started drawing conclusions from what she saw. At times, he'd jump in and say a few words, when she was starting to get lost, but for the most part – he let her enjoy her moment in the spotlight.
"Any questions?" Reid asked, looking at the public.
This was something new. He hated questions. His classes were never interactive and never technological. But if Angie was overcoming her insecurities and was doing her best to stand tall, in a room full of sharks, he figured he'd try to do the same. Maybe making it a bit more interactive would be fun.
A man stood up and introduced himself - twenty-five years in law enforcement, starting as a Policeman and later on becoming Detective in Chicago for the first seven years before ultimately transferring to the Bureau. He had just retired and he was curious about an aspect of the last crime they were analyzing and mostly in how geoprofiling had led to catching the killer.
Reid then took over, as he clearly knew more about the case.
And when he was done talking, he felt good. It really was not that bad to be more interactive.
Another person asked a question as well and once again, only Reid could reply to that.
He felt a bit guilty for taking the sweet spotlight off of Angie, but circumstances called for it.
By the end of his lecture, he had given her more opportunities to say a few words and she had loved every moment of it.
He had even caught her, writing notes in her little notebook, sitting by his side. She wouldn't miss out on a chance to write down valuable new information, even when she was supposed to be 'working' and helping him out. Most of the time all she really needed to do was to change the slides and maybe play a video or zoom in on a photo, so it wasn't hard for her to multitask and take some notes, as well.
The moderator for the seminar informed them that they only had ten minutes left before lunch break, so Reid had to wrap it up quickly.
When it was over, he noticed Angie frowned.
"Everything okay?" He asked while one of the stage technicians was detaching his microphone.
"Yeah, it was awesome! Thank you so much! You have no idea how cool this was for me! I would have never thought I'd be…wow…oh my God…this was really awesome!" She said, looking around and appreciating being on that stage for just a few more seconds.
"You are welcome. You deserved it. I figured it's the least the BAU can do for you, after the Bureau has failed you." He said honestly and there was no doubt in Angie's mind that she would love to be his friend - now, later and forever.
She had known from the start that she was not interested in Reid, in any kind of romantic way. That was way out of the question. Yes, she found him cute, but in a sibling kind of way. Like, she'd say: He's my brother, he's cute and very intelligent. But she wouldn't ever date him or find herself wanting to date him. He was not her type and that was what made him amazing friend-material, just like Bryan. And oh, Bryan was one of the most gorgeous guys she had ever seen. She was so thankful that both of these men were informed from the get go, that this would only be a friendship and nothing more. And both of them were absolutely fine with it.
On their way to find a cafeteria on the University campus, Angie kept quiet. She was mentally re-living the high of being there, not only with those people, but right in front of them. It felt so good.
And also, she kept replaying Reid's words about the Bureau failing her and the BAU having her back, in a way.
"What did you mean?" She asked, all of a sudden, without a context.
Reid looked at her, a bit perplexed. He had math calculations on his mind at that very same moment, so their thoughts most definitely did not match and he had no idea what he was supposed to say next.
"The BAU…" Angie gave him a clue. "Why do you guys care about me? I'm just a nobody to all of you."
"Oh, that?" Reid cleared his throat, ready for a speech.
"You're not a 'nobody', Angela. All of us can see the hard work you're putting into this. Plus, you are important to Prentiss, so you are automatically important to us, too." He kept it short, but it wasn't enough for her.
"Why, though? None of you even know a thing about Angela Hunter. You guys are like one big happy family and I don't even fit in." A moment later, she kept on digging.
"That's not true. I mean, the part about us being one big happy family is true. But it's not true that you don't fit in. We welcome people to our family with open arms. And, like I said, you are important to Prentiss, so now all of us want you in our family, BAU Agent or not, it doesn't have to change anything. I mean, look at us now - miles away from Quantico, but we're having a great time and we're getting to know each other. We don't care about your name and your past. We know you're a good person and if Prentiss believes so much in you, so do we."
His words made Angie smile. Maybe it was true, maybe it didn't really matter who she worked for, maybe they could still be friends.
"I'd really love to get to know more of you, better. I am obsessed with Garcia. And Rossi, obviously. Tara seems kick ass cool and Matt and Luke have their own little brotherhood going on and it's so cute, like, in a fraternity boys' kind of way, they always have each other's back." Angie smiled, intentionally omitting JJ.
"JJ is great, too. You just have to get to know her. She was in a dark place, right when you came along, so she wasn't too nice to you. But she is an amazing person, with a huge heart. She cares about people so much. Whenever Prentiss is down, JJ would do anything in her power, and more, just to get her to smile and to feel better again. They have this weird connection where they feel like sisters, but act and speak like secret lovers. It's so inappropriate at times, especially when alcohol is involved." Reid chuckled, remembering the last time he had walked in on one of the girls' heated conversations, right when they were hugging and consoling each other about whatever. He had found that suspicious, but also, he knew how their friendship worked and he knew this was 'normal' for them.
"I have no doubt JJ is an amazing woman." Angie finally admitted.
He could read it on her face – Angie might have been a bit more interested in JJ, than what she had made believe. In a strictly platonic way, of course. He almost saw her eyes sparkle when she said JJ's name, as if she was talking about a big sister, or a cousin she was extremely proud of. And yet, he could not stop wondering why Angie had avoided JJ at all costs, each time they had been around each other.
"Excuse me." A man walked over to them as they were now crossing the yard.
"Agent Trainee Hunter, right?" He asked, looking at Angie.
"Yes, Sir." She nodded politely.
"Hello, I'm Supervisory Special Agent Weller, I'm Unit Chief in the New York division. We specialize in behavioral analysis, too. I couldn't help but notice how passionate you are about that field, plus, I could tell that you have some solid knowledge, to back that passion up. I liked your thinking when you analyzed those photos earlier." He said formally.
"Okay…" Angie shrugged.
Yes, this confirmed her suspicions – the Academy had stripped her down of the ability to feel, even when she was being given a compliment.
"Well, I know you're based in Quantico right now, but I just wanted to say that…" The man then looked at Reid.
"And I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here. I respect the BAU and Unit Chief Prentiss so much and I know you're here with Doctor Reid…" The man was stalling. Angie was getting bored. She was a straight shooter and she liked it when people were that way with her, as well.
"Look, here's my card, okay? My Unit could use a brilliant young one like yourself. Internships are coming up in a matter of weeks and I would love to see you apply for my Unit. You'd fit in perfectly. And you don't have to worry about the relocation, as it all gets funded by the Bureau. We will pay for your transfer, apartment and all expenses. And you'll also receive some money, monthly, for leisure activities." The man finally smiled. He had seemed a bit nervous to make that proposal, right under Reid's nose, as if Reid, or rather – the BAU, owned Angie.
Angie just looked at his extended hand, card between his fingers, and she seemed hesitant to take it.
"It's a great opportunity." Reid whispered to her, after a small nudge, but she did not move an inch.
He'd hate to see her move so far away, but he knew that she had to follow her passion. And if the BAU was unable to offer her something as amazing as that, then she'd surely have to go elsewhere. It was inevitable.
"Uhm, thanks. But I have no plans on leaving Quantico." Angie shrugged and felt a bit ill-at-ease. She kept her hands to her sides, letting this guy's hand and business card just sway awkwardly in the air between them.
Reid colored her crazy. She had to be absolutely out of her right mind, to pass on an opportunity like that.
"Ah, Trainees." Reid laughed, taking the business card from this man's hand, instead.
"Thank you, Agent Weller. She would definitely be considering your proposal, once the initial shock of how good it is, waves off." Reid added, since the man in front of them felt awkward.
"Just consider it, okay? New York is a great city. We have a steady case load. You would be compensated more than generously and you'd do the thing you love." The man pitched it one more time, hoping that Angie's neutral facial expression would change.
It did not.
Reid nudged her again and they walked away after greeting the man.
"What was that?" He asked, as soon as they were alone.
"This is not something that happens to a lot of Trainees! This is an amazing opportunity! Trust me, I know. I've seen people beg for something half as good as what they are offering you." He scolded her, he couldn't help it.
"It's not the BAU…" She kicked a small pebble on their way, lost in her own thoughts.
"It's basically the BAU, just based in New York. You heard the man - you'll be paid and taken care of. That Unit must be loaded, when it comes to work budget. This is great! Why aren't you even the tiniest bit interested in this opportunity?"
"It's not the BAU!" She repeated, this time making it a stronger statement, her intonation going up, emphasizing on the BAU.
Reid groaned in annoyance. He just could not figure something out – was she really that obsessed with the BAU or was she just having a hissy fit?
Reid himself had been handing her the card for a few seconds now, but her hands were still pressed securely by her side and it was obvious she wouldn't be reaching to grab it, so he put it in his pocket and they kept walking.
"That place looks cool. Wait, I wanna check what's on today's menu first." She put her hand up, wanting him to wait outside the small lunch bar on Campus that she spotted.
She walked in and went straight to the cashier's counter, asking if they accepted the food coupons she had in her purse. Unfortunately, they did not.
When she joined Reid, she was frowning and let him know there were no tables available at this hour, so they walked to another small food place. Same thing there, but this time she said the menu was weird.
The third place they went to, Reid walked in with her. He was done waiting and he was starving.
Angie pretended to go to the restroom, but on her way she asked about the coupons again, receiving the same negative answer.
"Stupid pretentious private University" She thought to herself.
When she sat at the table, Reid was already choosing stuff from the menu. She put her hand on her forehead and sighed.
"What do you feel like having? They have some really good options here." He asked, placing the second menu in front of her.
"I'm not feeling too well." She said, having strategically just placed her hand on her forehead.
"Oh, it must be the nerves. Here, choose something and you'll feel much better after lunch." He smiled politely.
"No, I may have lost my appetite. My stomach hurts. I guess it must have been the coffee this morning. The milk in it tasted kind of sour, maybe it had gone bad. I should better not eat anything, or I might feel sick during the second part of the Seminar. It's fine, really. I'm not even hungry anyway. Plus, I have a few protein bars in my bag, in case I need something to keep me alive." She felt so ridiculous, plus, she felt guilty to be lying to someone she respected so much. But she'd feel even worse, telling him she was broke and she couldn't even afford a toast and a fizzy drink.
Reid's phone buzzed and he picked up immediately, excusing himself.
"Hey? Hi. What's up?" He greeted the person who had called him.
"Are you with her? Walk away for a minute…" They said.
Reid smiled at Angela and said it was an urgent work call, so he walked outside for a moment.
Angie glared over the menu and it was true – so many great options. Plus, this entire place smelled like home cooked food and she was more than starving. But, like many times before, she'd put a brave face on and she'd suck it up. It wasn't the first time she was hungry and by the looks of it, it wouldn't be the last time, either.
"We just sat down in a restaurant, for lunch." Reid spoke on the phone.
"Did she already give you the 'I'm not feeling well, I've lost my appetite, I have a protein bar in my bag, in case' speech?" The person on the other side of the line asked.
"Yes. With those same exact words. Wow, you scare me…" His jaw dropped. How did they know?
"Listen, I don't want to throw her under the bus, but she's not too well off at the moment. She's too proud to admit it. Could you, please, pay for lunch and make her eat something more than a complimentary bread stick? She could never say No to a good lasagna. Oh and also – make it look like the Bureau is covering the expenses. She would never accept it, if someone else was paying for her. Please? I'll reimburse you everything tomorrow. Just make sure she's fed. Oh and she loves dessert, preferably cake. Try to get that, as well."
"Uh, yeah. I can…yeah, I can do that." He stuttered as he replied.
Why hadn't he been able to call Angie out on her bluff? He was naive enough to believe her. Oh, this girl was good at deceit.
"And you don't have to pay me back, Prentiss. I've got this. It's fine. Thanks for the heads up." He smiled and put an end to that conversation quickly, returning to the table.
"Sorry, work." He excused his absence once again and then grabbed the menu one more time.
"It's too bad, you know?" He added, without context.
If Angie thought she could play him, it was his turn to do the same to her now.
"Huh?" Angie raised an eyebrow. What was he even on about?
"I mean, the one time the Bureau sponsors an outing like this one and you're not feeling well enough to get some food." He said coyly.
"Ha! The Bureau gave you money for a day out?" Angie was a bit suspicious.
"Yeah. We're under budget cuts, but this has nothing to do with the BAU, specifically. I've been invited as a guest lecturer, of course they'd pay everything for me and one companion: gas, food, even hotel if I needed to stay overnight. It's kind of cool, actually, especially right now when the BAU has no money at all. I feel pampered." Reid spoke without even looking at her.
He sounded so casual that it came off believable.
"Oh, lasagna! Yes!" His eyes laid on a beautiful photo on the right page of the menu.
Angie watched him lick his lips hungrily and she felt her stomach churning. The temptation for food was too much for her to handle.
"Or maybe rice with-…" He started off, but it took her a second to interrupt him.
"Lasagna!" She said, making his choice for him.
"You like lasagna? Me too. I guess that's what I'll have then." He was extremely careful not to ask her about food again. Instead, he only toyed with her, telling her what he was going to have. She had, after all, told him that morning that the best way to make her do something was to challenge her.
"I feel like I should take advantage of the Bureau right now. I might get the rice, too. Probably won't finish them both, though. Ugh, I don't want to waste food, but I do want to waste some Bureau money, since it failed my team so badly recently." And those words made it sound like a challenge, to Angie.
She shrugged and gave the menu another look.
"Well, if you insist…I mean, I wouldn't mind wasting some Bureau money either. I could get something, too…" She spoke silently, as if she was shy to offer this as a solution to his dilemma.
"That would be great! The more, the better. Plus, I'm a Doctor and I wasn't joking that you'd feel better after you eat. Just try a few bites and if you still feel ill, leave it. No pressure. It's just Bureau money we're toying with." He grinned wide.
"Alright. I'll have the lasagna as well. And pineapple juice."
"Weird combination…" He pointed out.
Normal people would not be having that food, with that sweet sugary drink.
"I'm a weird person." She smiled at him and put the menu aside.
After ordering their food, they started discussing the lectures they had heard that morning and Angie had so many questions.
To his surprise, she didn't know everything about profiling. She always seemed so sure of herself, so prepared, but she had so many questions and that showed Reid how devoted she was to this profession. She wanted to know more, to be better, to improve what she already knew.
While eating their lasagnas and also, splitting a plate of rice between them, he tested her a little bit, asking confusing questions. Sometimes he'd ask her about something that did not exist, or something that did not make sense. Most of those times, she had quickly called him out on the lack of validity in his statements, but the times when she had gotten confused, she had later asked him to explain why.
He liked her. A lot. He was a genius, but she was a hard worker. They were different, yet similar. It was harder for her to learn things, memorize whole passages of theory, than it was for him. And yet, she was busting her ass to improve. He had a lot of respect for that.
"Feeling any better?" He asked once he saw her empty plate.
"Yeah. I'm glad I listened to you about the food. Who am I to go against doctor's orders?" Her cheeks blushed. Maybe she had been a bit too eager to finish all the food on the table.
"Now, my favorite part - coffee and cake time!" Reid announced, sounding like a happy child.
Angie perked up, just at the sound of the word 'cake'.
This time he didn't even need to bribe her – she chose one of the three cakes on the menu and she ordered herself a large size coffee, to go. She'd sip on it slowly and she'd bring it to the seminar hall, to keep her awake until the evening.
"I'm sorry the coffee this morning made you feel sick. It's kind of my fault. I shouldn't have stopped at a random gas station…" He kept up his game, making it sound like he had actually believed her. Which, he had, until Prentiss had told him the truth on the phone.
"It's okay. I'm fine now." She smiled at him and held no grudge, possibly because it had all been a bluff.
It didn't take them more than five minutes to finish their huge slices of cake before they left the restaurant. Reid paid cash, playing his cards right by asking the girl at the counter for the receipt, so he'd have the Bureau cash it out for him. He gave Angie all the proof that this was being covered by the Bureau and she was absolutely fine with it.
They chatted some more, on the way to the Auditorium. It was really nice getting to see what the BAU people were like, outside of work. Angie had already hung out with Prentiss quite a few times, and once with Luke in New York, but she was curious about everyone else, too.
When the first lecture for the afternoon started, Angie was quiet and ready to take notes. And then something hit her.
"Wow, look!" She pointed at the side of the stage, where the guest lecturers for the afternoon session were sitting.
"I cannot believe this! It was about time. The perfect equilibrium!" Reid's jaw dropped as he spoke.
"Three female lecturers and three male. This is awesome! The world is moving in the right direction." Angie was excited to hear all that those female lecturers had to share. It would be easier for her to relate to a woman. Plus, it was inspiring. She could, one day, be out there, giving a speech herself!
Like she had suspected, as the day went on, she felt much more drawn to the female lecturers. She loved the way they spoke and the real life examples they gave.
By the time the last lecture started, Angie's notebook was full of notes and diagrams. She was hardly even breathing anymore, so focused on everything she was hearing. And, even hours after it had all started, she was still as attentive to detail and as interested in anything and everything.
Reid kept on looking behind his back until he spotted Agent Weller, sitting on the fifth row, with his eyes glued on Angela. He was clearly very interested in recruiting this girl.
"Alright, this was all for this year. Now, it's time for the best part…" The moderator of this seminar spoke again and he reminded Angie of Dan. He would speak in between lectures and he'd introduce the people and then stand on the side and just listen.
Angie liked the afternoon session better. It was very interactive and she had gotten to ask a couple of questions, to the female lecturers. She was upset it was over, but like the man said - the best part was yet to come.
"Yes! Exam!" She said enthusiastically, earning herself a few glares.
"He was…he didn't…" Reid tried, but failed at letting her know that the man had been absolutely sarcastic.
Everyone hated the exam. Nobody felt like taking it, after so many hours of listening to people, theories and whatnot.
Angie, however, was absolutely ecstatic about it. She loved testing her knowledge and this time it was the real deal, with real Agents and law enforcement officers, with real theories and real cases being discussed. It felt a lot more official than her Academy classes, even though they were based on real theory and cases, as well. But there was something in the air now, with all those amazing real life heroes that were surrounding her. She was most definitely out of place there. Once again, she was the youngest, by many years, the most inexperienced, overall – the odd one out. It was challenging. But she loved having been given the chance to be there and she wanted nothing more than to prove her worth, to Reid, to the BAU and to herself.
Everyone was handed a paper folder and they had one hour to finish the test.
Reid didn't need more than ten minutes, but he extended that to twenty-four, just so he wouldn't look like a nerd in everyone's eyes. He still did, though.
"I'll wait for you outside." He whispered to Angela after he handed his folder in.
Angie stayed the whole hour. She was done answering questions nine minutes before the time ended, but she took her time to go over her answers and to make sure she had everything right. Some of the questions were really confusing and she felt like she needed at least one more decade of experience on the field, in order to be able to answer them correctly. Yet, she tried her best, using her experience with books, instead.
When the auditorium doors opened, Reid was on the lookout. A huge mass of people walked out before Angie finally did.
"How did it go?" He asked curiously.
"I don't know. I'm usually pretty confident during exams, but this one was hard. I mean, I gave it my best, but sometimes I had to only rely on logic and deductions, rather than theory and book knowledge, and that's tripping me out." She replied honestly.
"Welcome to the world of a Profiler. This is exactly what it feels like, on a daily basis. There is no written answer to what you need sometimes. You have to come up with it and you have to stand by your decision, even if everyone believes it to be the wrong one." He informed her, checking what time it was.
Only seven o'clock in the afternoon. It felt like it was later than that.
"I'm sure you did great." He said soothingly when he saw her bite her bottom lip, acting all insecure.
"You know, you look exactly like Prentiss when you do that." He added, watching her quickly lick her lip after maybe biting it a little too hard.
"I wish I was anything like her. She's so confident!" Angie sighed.
"No, she's not. I mean, yes, at work she's great and we can always trust her decisions. But in her personal life, she's a mess, just like the rest of us. We've recently seen those red, puffy eyes of hers, more often than we'd like to."
"She's been crying?" Angie gasped.
"I guess so. She's been going through something lately and it's making her upset. Like, she'd be happy one day and then she'd be upset. She just blew up on Rossi the other day, for no reason."
"Oh…" Angie bit her lip one more time. "Do you know what this thing is?"
"No. She refuses to talk to any of us. At best, maybe JJ has an idea, since Prentiss tells her everything. But I doubt even JJ knows, this time."
"Poor Prentiss…" Angie whispered.
She felt bad. She had grown to really like Emily Prentiss and the thought of her, being upset, was unbearable.
Angie grabbed her water bottle from the bag and she put it against her lips, feeling parched all of a sudden.
"I think it's because of you." Reid came out, like the naïve guy that he was, and he just shared his suspicions with her.
Angie choked instantly.
"Wha-…What do you mean? Why?" Her eyes got glued to his, trying to figure out if he'd tell her the truth or a sugarcoated version of it.
"I don't know exactly. But it must be connected. Her mood swings started when you came around. She also sent out the team on a case, while she stayed behind. She's never done that before."
"She stayed behind?"
"Yeah, she's been begging for a meeting with the Director. She had this huge plan on how she could convince him to allow you to work with us."
"Work?" Angie was confused. Didn't he mean the internship?
"I don't know much. I know this meeting was about more than just an internship." Reid started to feel a bit uncomfortable.
Angie was too good at making him speak, but what if he had said too much already? This was Prentiss' business and, while it was now out there for everyone to know, he should have maybe toned down the info he was giving.
"They said they'll mail the results to us in about a week. If we have enough points, they'd mail out the certificates. I stayed behind after the exam because I've been trying to figure out what address to give them, so I ended up asking them to mail mine to the BAU office. I hope that's fine. I mean, I probably won't be getting a certificate anyway." Angie changed the topic swiftly, seeing as Reid did not feel comfortable to keep on ratting Emily out.
"Why would you say that?" Reid frowned at her last words.
"Well, this is a professional environment. I'm just a random Trainee. Nobody is going to take me seriously. And I don't even need the credits, I don't work in the field, so it's useless."
"But you still want it, don't you?"
"Yeah, so much!" She replied dreamily.
"Then chin up and believe in yourself a little more, yeah?" Reid offered with a smile.
"Come on, we should get going." He added, toying with the car keys in his hand.
"Actually. It's been a long day. Do you want to go do something fun? It's a big city. Plus, I'm not in a hurry to be back in the Academy." She suggested, wanting to just go out, laugh, do something that relaxed her.
"Yes, let's go check out the library!" He suggested.
"I meant something more like bowling, skating, boxing…" She laughed, hating to crush his enthusiasm. "I need to blow off some steam."
"Oh, I love breaking down the opponent's strategy! Let's go golfing! I'm really good at angles and calculating speed!"
"Do you always have to do things you're super good at?" Angie frowned, realizing Reid was the complete opposite of hers.
If given the chance, she'd do anything, even the most random activity, just to try it out.
"Yes." He replied shortly and she scoffed in disapproval.
"Here's a random question: If you multiply all the numbers on your phone, what number would you get?" Reid asked, in no context at all.
"Zero. Duh!" She answered right away and it made him smile.
"I just wanted proof that you're actually as smart as I thought you were."
"Well, multiplying any number by zero - which is part of the numbers on your phone, automatically makes it a zero, too. I don't think any sane person in the world would ever get this wrong. Hell, I know the answer and I suck at math."
"I know you're terrible at math. I was testing your logic, not your calculating skills." Reid stated calmly. "And you'd be amazed at how many people actually start multiplying numbers, as soon as I ask the question. They always start with one and I wait patiently for them to figure out just how dumb they really are. in seventy-three percent of the cases, they never actually do."
"So, back on topic – let's go lumberjacking?" Angie rushed to say before they'd go deeper into any conversation, involving math.
"You know, a female who does lumberjacking is commonly referred to as lumber Jill." Reid was quick to point out.
"Okay, you're stalling, so you must hate this idea. Next on my list – bungee jumping?" She suggested, keeping in mind that she really needed to blow off some steam, hence they would have to do something fast-paced, dangerous and weird.
"Or we can go to the library?"
"Fine, nothing athletic, I get it." Angie sighed, finding it had to pick an activity that both would enjoy. "How about the planetarium?"
"My eyes get weird when they adjust to the darkness when it's still daytime outside. I'd find it hard to drive back home afterwards."
"Laser tag? Or paintball?"
"Lasers do tend to bug in mid game and you rarely ever get the actual points you deserve. And paintball hurts."
"A VR experience? Or a 4D movie?" Angie could not believe she was suggesting a movie, since she hated going to the cinema, but what else could she come up with?
"Eee…" Reid squealed, not too into either of those options.
"Ice skating? Rollerblading?"
"Last time I did rollerblading was a day I'd very much like to forget."
"Frisbee at the beach?"
"Sure, if you like things flying towards your face at an abnormally high speed."
"Bowling?"
"I just put some cream on my hands. The ball would slip. And I'm not washing that off. My hands are too dry."
"We can hire a guitar for an hour and try to learn a song?"
"What are we going to do with those fifty-nine remaining minutes?" Of course it would take a genius like Reid a minute to learn a new skill.
"I hate to say this, but…go karting?"
"With your driving rep – not a chance. Which reminds me – I'm driving back to Quantico."
"Shit, in that case Imma be late for my morning class tomorrow." She teased him for his slow driving.
"Oh, I know! This is an awesome thing to do – we can go to an escape room!" She added as the idea suddenly popped in her head.
Reid cringed. The concept of being locked in a room and having a certain amount of time to escape did not seem to trigger his interest, as it was something he'd often found himself do in real life. Not to mention when he'd tried to escape from a life in a real prison.
"I'm warning you that if you decline this next one I will be very pissed off!" Angie pretended to be threatening. "Let's go to a board game café?"
"How pissed would you be, exactly?" Reid shrugged, knowing that he would read the rules of a game in less than a minute and he'd be really good at it, which would make Angela feel like a complete loser, no matter how many board games they'd try playing.
"Or maybe we should just head back to Quantico…" That was it, she gave up on trying.
With Luke it was so easy to find things to do, but as much as she liked Reid, she couldn't find a single interest they had in common.
"Do you play chess?" He asked, in turn.
How could she have not thought of that first? She hated chess, but it was the one thing Reid really enjoyed doing and she knew it.
And then she grinned wide, suddenly remembering the second thing Reid liked a lot.
"How about a Casino night? And early Casino night!" She corrected herself, with a finger in the air, reminding him she'd like to be home at a decent hour, so she could sleep and re-charge for the next day of training.
"I'm banned from most Casinos."
"Well, lucky for us, we're not in Vegas." Angie smiled while non-verbally asking him permission to use his phone to search for a good Casino nearby.
"True…" Reid thought for a brief second. "Wait, how did you know I'm banned in Vegas?"
"Garcia must have mentioned it." Angie played it off cool.
Anything that anyone knew and they shouldn't have known, could easily be blamed on Garcia's big mouth, whether it was how they came to know about it or not. And nobody would even question it.
Angie then showed him the results she found and she chose a Casino inside of a five star hotel in the vicinity. Strangely, Reid was not banned from this specific one, probably because he had never even stepped foot in it before. He was surely going to be banned from entering it again, after that evening.
Looking at each other they were both glad they had dressed smart, since they had been at an important seminar all day, so they'd now be able to get in the Casino without looking like homeless people.
"One hour. That's all. After an hour, we leave." She set the rules, as soon as they were inside.
"Okay, that's fifty minutes and fifty-seven more seconds for me to win us some money!"
Seeing that spark in Reid's eyes made Angie wonder if maybe she did the wrong thing to drag him into a Casino. What if he had a gambling problem and she was enabling him?
"Roulette!" Angie pointed at the table and Reid sighed.
"That is for amateurs. After the slots, roulette is the next big thing to rely purely on luck. Who would want that!?"
"Uhm, any person who'd go to a Casino, maybe?" Angie replied smartly. She sure wanted to try out her luck at the roulette.
"Texas Holdem!" Reid rubbed his hands together, as soon as he spotted where the big guys played.
He kind of just abandoned Angela in the middle of the Casino, as he made his way to the poker tables.
"Oh, this is not going to be any fun and I know it!" Angie murmured to herself while following him to the tables.
Reid awaited his turn to be introduced in the game and Angie found herself being stared down by multiple sets of hungry male eyes.
"Hey, gorgeous?" Some guy dared to call her. "Wanna give 'em a nice blow?" He added, clearly meaning the dice that were in his hand, as he was playing a different game, near them. However, the double meaning of his suggestion was not lost on anyone.
Angela took a moment to keep her cool. They had only been inside the Casino for less than five minutes and she already felt the urge to smash this guy's face against something. Anything.
Reid instinctively turned around, making sure the man knew that Angela was not to be messed with, as he extended his hand and gently pulled her towards him.
"You okay?" He asked, all concerned.
"Oh, yeah. I get cat-called all the time. I'm fine."
Reid gave her a concerned look. The fact that she was young and gorgeous must sometimes be a disadvantage for her. It wasn't normal to be so used to being treated like a piece of meat and he knew it, but he also knew it wasn't his place to comment on it.
He just placed his initial bet and started playing. Angie lingered by his side and took advantage of a couple of complimentary cocktails that a waiter offered her, as she watched Reid dominate in the game.
At some point she wandered off for a while and she handed him a drink when she came back.
Being all proper and fancy, at least for that one hour of her day, she also put a small napkin under the cocktail glass, so it wouldn't make Reid's hands all wet when he'd hold it.
Or was that the reason why she had opted for a napkin?
When he took his first sip, or rather – pretended to be sipping, he noticed a tiny written thing in the middle of the napkin.
"Tы считаешь карты!"
Reid's eyes grew wide. Did Angela write this? If so, how did she know Russian? Maybe it was someone else…maybe he was busted and this was someone's clever way to let him know.
"Kонечно!" He whispered to Angela, testing if this had been her doing, after all.
"Плохой мальчик!" Angie whispered to him.
Yes, this was proof enough that she had written that message and that she was way cooler than he thought – she knew Russian!
He chose not to think much of how she had just called him a 'bad boy' in Russian. Surely there was no double meaning to her words. They would have been connected to her written message from the napkin.
When the game ended, Reid naturally won everything.
"Two thousand and seventy dollars?" Reid asked, sounding upset.
"Woah, dude, that's so much money!" Angela, unlike him, was quite ecstatic.
"I miss Vegas!" Reid murmured, walking towards the cash out counter grumpily. "This could have easily been twenty grant in Vegas. I just wasted valuable time."
"But…aren't you doing this to have fun?"
"I have fun when I win. And this here is barely a winner's reward."
Angie frowned. Their concepts for 'fun' were completely different.
"Wanna try your luck?" He asked her, sensing she wasn't having too much fun, just waiting for him.
He also remembered what Prentiss had told him on the phone during the lunch break – that Angela was short on cash; so he handed her some Casino chips to use.
"I really want to try the roulette…" She half-whined, expecting him to pour out some statistics on the losses from Roulette in the past decade or so, but to her surprise Reid started walking in that direction right away.
"Noir!" Angie placed her first bet on the black.
It turned out to be red.
"Odd number." She placed her second bet and the number turned out to be ten in red, once again.
"Double up on the odd number." She placed her third bet.
"What are you doing!?" Reid tried to knock some sense into her when he saw her make a colossal betting mistake. She was, after all, just a rookie in his eyes.
"Testing out if the Martingale system is really as shitty as everyone makes it out to be."
Reid's jaw nearly dropped. How did Angela know both Russian and Roulette slang?
She lost again and it made her groan, cursing that Martingale system that she mentioned earlier.
"Okay, off we go with the negative progression – I double it, again."
Angela knew her Roulette slang and as impressive as that was to Reid, he could not help but shake his head, as she only chose to play the least recommended methods of all times.
"Twenty-three, black." The Croupier announced.
"That's a hundred and fifty-four euro for me!" Angie looked back, smirking at Reid.
"Dollars." He corrected her.
It had been a while now that he'd been noticing her European manners. First off – she measured in meters; then she also counted money in euro and the best of it all – she had a faint British accent, each time she was arguing with someone.
"What's your next bet?" He asked.
"I bet you I'm done betting." She chuckled, giving him the twenty dollars' worth of Casino chips back, while clutching onto the remaining chips, to cash out later.
"Keep them. Use them on some other game." Reid suggested, but Angela insisted he'd take them back.
He then remembered how Prentiss had told him Angela would never take money from a person, but she would gladly spend some Government cash, which had been the case with their lunch…or so she was made to believe.
"I never continue playing after I win. It's my thing." She announced, looking around for a waiter, so she'd get another free cocktail instead.
"That would be the smart thing to do." Reid commented, already walking over to the poker tables once again.
Soon they lost each other in the crowd and both did their own thing for about half an hour or so. At some point Reid wandered around, trying to find her, and he finally did – by the slot machines.
"Ah, I should have known you'd cave in." When his statement met her quizzical gaze, he elaborated. "Prentiss loves the slots."
"She does…" Angie smiled to herself.
"So, how's it going here?" Reid asked, seeing a whole bunch of game chips near Angie.
"So, I started with ten dollars and then I lost five, but I won seven and I kept going and now I'm left with a total of…" She trailed off, making some super hard mental calculations.
"Two dollars of profit. The rest I gambled away. I had won about thirty, at some point. I made the grown-up decision to waste it all." She laughed, still happy that she had at least those two dollars from her latest winnings.
"I'm hungry and we only have nine more minutes left to be here before our one-hour deal expires. I can't pay Poker for just nine minutes and I'm afraid how much more money you'd lose if you stay here any longer…" His hand showcased all the colorful slot machines.
"Ah, but they're so cool and colorful and they all have different music…" Angie whined, pushing a bunch of buttons and almost giving Reid a headache with all the sounds and beeps and music that came out of the slots.
"Okay, Prentiss…I'm cutting you off!" Reid insisted, laughing at the similarity between Angela and Emily – both mesmerized by something as dumb as a bunch of slot machines. It came natural for him to joke by calling her 'Prentiss' and Angela did not seem to be offended at all.
"How about we go get some dinner quickly and then we hit the road? We'd be back at Quantico at around midnight." Reid suggested.
They got in the car and decided to stop at some Diner on their way back home. It proved to be a nice idea, as they both enjoyed the place they had randomly selected and Angela was in awe with how it was decorated, as she had never really had such restaurants back home in Europe.
Having in mind that the Bureau was funding their little road trip, Angie did not hold back when ordering the biggest burger and the largest side of fries and salad. She also destroyed half a bottle of hot sauce, despite Reid's best efforts to educated her on how bad anything chilly was for the stomach.
Being tired on their way back home, they didn't really discuss anything super important, such as world politics or astronautics. They kept it to some small talk and Angie was making sure Reid would be very awake while driving. To her surprise, he turned out to actually know what the speed pedal was used for, so the trip back home was shorter than she expected.
"So, you speak Russian, too?" He asked at some point, unable to contain his curiosity anymore.
"No."
"But you wrote that note that called me out on counting the cards. How would you know how to write it, if we didn't have any cell phones inside the Casino? You couldn't have used Google and you would surely have not asked someone to translate it for you, as that would have gotten me into trouble. Therefore, you do speak Russian yourself!"
Damn him, he was too smart.
"I may have memorized a sentence or two…" She said devilishly.
Oh Reid had absolutely no idea just how smart she really was.
Once again, she changed the topic back to something small and they found themselves chatting away about the flora and fauna of Orlando, Florida. Not that it was a random, small talk kind of a topic, but she figured he'd have a lot to say about it and she was willing to hear some new information. She'd rather discuss anything else, but her own self. She was a mystery and she liked it that way. Whatever language she might be able to speak, was for her to know and for her to use, when necessary. She didn't like it when people knew too much about her character or her knowledge in certain areas.
"Thank you so much for today, Dr. Reid." Angie said politely when it was time for her to get out of the car, once they were back home.
"Thank you for being such good company." He smiled and saw her enter the dorms building, but not before she turned around and gave him a small wave with her hand.
REVIEW REPLIES:
"rmpcmfan" Yup, you finally have an explanation about Angie's 'dislike' for JJ, which turns out to have nothing to do with 'dislike' after all. It's only based on past trauma and a certain type of transference towards JJ. The thing about the kids was a story she told Clara when she sort of flipped out of reality, at Clara's place a few weeks back. It was not a dream. I'm correcting you, as it may be relevant later on and I don't want you to get confused :P As for your new questions after the explanation...I won't spoil anything (shocker hehe), but you know how people say that, most times, the answer is within the question itself. So, yeah :P! I can confirm that Angie does have a superhero figure in her life...in fact, it might be two people...three, even. She just believes in 'saviors' (not in any specific ritualistic, cult-related or religious sense). Angie's life has been divided into 'periods' and she's had different 'superheroes' through all of them. And dare I say, you may or may not be surprised to learn who some of them are, hehehe :)!
"Ducksdragonfly" Hey! Always nice to hear from you! Oh yeah, Angie is fully aware of everything - she isn't just choosing to ignore her trauma and to act stupid. She just has no other choice. And she wasn't going to say anything about it, had Emily not scolded her like this...at which point Angie knew she HAD to speak to JJ, even though she HAD to remain super vague. Luckily for her, JJ was understanding. Hmm, I won't confirm-or-deny whether JJ is somehow connected to the mystery or she may just be 'collateral damage'. I can, however, say that whatever JJ's role in this might turn out to be (if any!), the outcome will effect her, personally. And yeah, it might bring her some pain, too, but maybe not specifically in a bad way...hehe. Enough teasing! Thanks for always being so supportive. Hope to hear from you more often and hope you are well :)!
"sweetkid45" You will find out later on who-or-what JJ reminds Angie of :)! The BAU does get along super well, so it is fun to introduce this little Angie/JJ angle, where Angie seemed to despise JJ, but now came clean about SOME of the reason why she doesn't want a relationship with JJ. I like that tension, gives some drama to work with :P! Hey, didn't you hear that Criminal Minds is coming back for a 16th season on Paramount Plus? We still don't know which actors will be back, but I sure neeeeeeeeeeeeeed Emily to be back, so we can see awesome moments of her and Andrew Mendoza again, ayyyyy :)!