"Alright everyone, good work. Dismissed. Enjoy your weekend."
Morgan, Emily and JJ bickered back and forth as they made their way to the conference room door. Their squabbling was so loud that Reid, with his head bowed and his pace faster than could be considered normal, might have potentially been able to feign deafness at Hotch's quiet tone.
"Stay behind, Reid. You and I need to have a little talk… as you well know."
The young genius watched in open irritation as Hotch moved wordlessly to close the Conference Room door, lock it from the inside and draw the blinds. His eyes found his shoes with a sigh and he examined them carefully as Hotch moved into the all too familiar position of leaning against the edge of the Conference Room table, arms folded across his chest and his head tilted in unspoken question. Knowing it could only add fuel to the fire to delay, Reid shuffled slowly to the spot directly in the elder man's line of slight. The "Hotch Spot" as it was dubbed the team.
No one ever wanted to wind up on the Hotch Spot.
"Eyes up."
Sighing, Reid dragged his gaze up from the carpet and forced himself to look into the Team Lead's stern face. Silence swirled between the two Profilers, each one knowing full well what the other one was thinking. Reid chewed his lip nervously, weighing up the merits of mounting a vigorous defence and pleading his case as against throwing himself on the mercy of the clearly irate man before him. Ever the pragmatist, he decided to split the difference, though he didn't mean a single word of what he was about to say.
"I'm sorry, Hotch. Ok? It won't happen again… not that I am admitting to anything…"
Hotch let out an odd mixture of a sigh and a growl.
"One, I think you know that you don't address me as Hotch right now. Two, that was a qualification and not an apology and three, you left out the explanation as to why I have been getting nothing but lip and attitude from you for the entire time we've been working on this case. If I were you, I'd have a long look at the big picture here and try that again."
It was very rare for Reid to display any sign of average or below average intelligence but when he did… he tended to go out. Rubbing a hand through his hair in frustration, he rolled his eyes in open derision. It was a cardinal rule that the affectionate nickname of Hotch went out the window when the Boss was pissed and he didn't seem to care that he flouted it.
"One, I'm sorry Sir. Two, apologies are very rarely without any form of qualification and three, articulating legitimate disagreement and points of view does not constitute lip and attitude. If it did, well over half of the American work force would be written up every hour of every day."
Hotch's brows shot up like rockets.
"I don't know what on earth has gotten into you," he started angrily, "but you better-"
"Nothing has gotten into me," Reid interrupted, rudely, "I just don't understand why you're getting ready to read me the riot act for something you wouldn't even glare at Morgon, Prentiss or JJ for. I disagreed with you on numerous elements of the profile on numerous different occasions and I communicated that to you. The last time I checked, that was sort of my job."
Pinching the bridge of his nose in a dogged attempt to keep cool, Hotch took a deep breath.
"The last time I checked, your job was to obey the orders of your superiors. Which, in case you have forgotten, is me. Also, the last time I checked; it was definitely not your job to run your mouth at me in front of a packed briefing room when we are guests in another Agency's house on multiple different occasions."
Reid scrubbed a hand across his eyes in agitation.
"Fine," he mumbled sourly. "I'm wrong and you're right, ok? I will never again voice an opinion that does not conform to your opinion whilst in company again. I will play the dutiful, eccentric Doctor and back up your ideas by saying something clever when you give the signal. Ok? Can I go now? I want to catch the late night showing of a film that's been rebooted – it's a special edition black and white showing."
Hotch felt his mouth fall open in an uncharacteristic display of shock. Reid had been combative, lippy and in possession of a bad attitude for days but this was a different level. This was intentional disrespect of the highest order. Forcing himself with a superhuman effort not to raise his voice, Hotch stared at his protégé with unconcealed anger.
"How dare you speak to me like that?" he demanded in his most deadly tone. "Have you forgotten to whom you are speaking, Supervisory Special Agent Reid?"
Rolling his eyes at the FBI equivalent of being called by one's full name, Reid shook his head. A headache was beginning to nibble at his temples and the last thing in the world he felt capable of was being on the receiving end of one of Hotch's infamous dressing downs. Sighing, he forced himself to adopt a more conciliatory tone.
"No, Sir. I… uhh, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."
"No, you're not," Hotch said quietly. "It would, at the very least, be something if you were… but you are not one bit sorry. This is the attitude I'm talking about. Ever since we left for Atlanta you have been snarky, smart mouthed and at times, downright insubordinate. I had no choice but to let it slide because three girls' lives were depending on us, but that's over now. I am through letting things slide. So, no, Reid… you can't go and catch the late night showing of some film reboot. You can go ahead and consider your Friday night plans to be suitably cancelled"
His eyes narrowed dangerously when Reid's jaw jutted out defiantly and a mutinous scowl crossed over his face. A terse stand off between the two men ensued with neither giving an inch. It was no secret in the BAU that Reid was Hotch's favourite, his golden child, but that status wasn't enough to save the kid from the Team Lead's molten glare to which he eventually succumbed.
"Fine," Reid muttered waspishly, "I didn't really want to see it anyway. I guess I'm free to listen to the rest of the lecture now then."
Shaking his head in disbelief, Hotch injected another surge of mammoth effort into not flying off the handle with the highly uncharacteristically surly, snappy kid. Realising with a none too small bolt of misery that they were both in for a long evening, he made up his mind.
"Alright, Reid. That's enough – ok? That's enough. Clearly, you need some concentrated alone time to think about your behaviour, not only over the last few days but in the last few minutes as well. Because from where I'm standing, one of my finest Agents has been replaced with a belligerent, disrespectful brat and if you think that's going to fly, you are sadly mistaken. It seems that you desperately in need of a reminder as to who the Boss is around here."
He pointed with a glare into the far-right corner of the room.
"You know the drill, hands by your side and nose to the wall. March."
If the Hotch Spot was an area to be avoided at all costs, the far-right corner was the Bermuda Triangle. No one left the same way they went in. For the first time, a discernible chink appeared in Reid's suit of sassy armour and a much more familiar feature was presented to an unmoved Hotch.
The puppy dog eyes.
"If I have to put you in the corner myself, it will be that much worse for you," Hotch warned. I trust you remember the outcome of the last time I had to give you… a hand in finding your way?"
Reid's eyes widened as the memory flooded his brain.
He swallowed.
"Hotch, please, I-"
"Hotch?"
Reid sighed and tried again.
"Sir, I-"
"-Have a long overdue appointment for a lengthy spell in the corner. Yes, I know. I have set it up for you – please make your way over to said corner before I decide your sense of direction is as lost as your manners appear to be and… assist you."
Reid paled as his bravado plummeted.
"C'mon," he wheedled, "I didn't mean to-"
"Corner!" Hotch barked. "Right now, Special Agent Reid. Last warning. You brought this on yourself, I gave you a fair opportunity to-"
"No."
Hotch's jaw slackened as he stared at the kid who had reclaimed his bravado as quickly as it had left him. He watched as Reid stubbornly folded his arms across his chest and glared at him with a defiant glimmer in both eyes.
"No?" repeated Hotch slowly in his most dangerous of silky-smooth tones. "Want to try that again?"
Reid swallowed but held firm with a sharp shaking of his head.
"No."
…
I am rewatching Criminal Minds from the start for about the fifteenth time and I forgot how much I loved the Hotch/Reid dynamic and so here we are. Probably only another two or three chapters in this one unless people would like more?
Inks x
…