Yes it had been an exciting week. Nearly dying at the hands of a religious OCD fanatic tends to make you feel a little...bouncy.

I'd gone home as soon as I could. JJ had said there wasn't a new case yet, so we had time to relax before the next case.

Settling down on my couch, I got ready for a night of Planning. Tonight would be another re-watch of 'Won't Get Fooled Again', possibly watching it four times before going to bed. My coffee table was already set-up with my Criminal Minds labelled notebook, some blueberries in a bowl, and every colorful pen I owned (yes I color coded my notes, shut up). There was a blanket to pull up over my legs (I kept my apartment cold, sue me). Everything was perfect.

Before the phone rang.

Now, I was half expecting it. With all my earlier talk of 'before the next case', I thought I'd jinxed it. That not saying it outloud would keep away the jinx. Plus there were a lot of cases over the years that weren't on the show. I'd lost the naivete to believe that just because the show started that the random cases would stop with it.

So I picked up the phone, checking the ID. Mostly out of habit.

'The Brain (Not Pinky, We Checked)'

A tired groan came out of my mouth. This was followed by my head falling back on the couch.

Have I mentioned Megan Quinn had a past before I showed up? She's a foster kid, turns out. She grew up bouncing from house to house. Looking back, it wasn't that different from my own life. The longest house Megan had lived in (3 years, for high school) was the Curry house, with their son David Curry, and his best friend who practically lived at the house anyway, Robbie Garcia (not related to Garcia, I checked).

Apparently the three of us became inseparable friends. I don't know how, it's mind boggling. They stayed close up until Megan moved away their senior year. They had a few scattered letters, and emails. It got easier once Megan created a Facebook page. What David and Robbie didn't know was that by that time, it wasn't Megan Quinn anymore it was Morgan Spencer.

They were better off not knowing.

I could barely explain it to myself. How could I explain it to others?

They were cool, too. Funny.

The phone was still ringing. I answered it.

"Hey..." I greeted, tiredly. "What's up?"

"What's up? WHAT'S UP?!" David shouted. I flinched, barely holding back a groan. Good thing I'd already put him on speaker or else he'd have blown off my ear. I put the phone down on the coffee table as he continued to shout. "That's all you have to say?! What's up?!"

'Well I have the entire English language to butcher if you'd prefer.'

That would've made the shouting worse, so I just said 'yes'.

"WHAT THE HELL MEGAN?"

'Okay. I should've just gone with what I wanted. Wouldn't have made a difference.'

"They told me you could've died!"

"Huh? When?"

"Yesterday!"

"I didn't nearly die yes-" It all came to me in a lightbulb moment. "Oh my god."

"Yeah 'oh my god'!" David snapped. "What were you thinking?!"

"How did- why did- how did you know about that?" I asked, incredulous.

"I'm your emergency contact!" David reminded me. "They told me you'd been involved in something that you almost got hurt in, and when I asked the lady she said you nearly died!"

"Which lady?"

"Not the issue, Meg!"

"Holy cow, David! I'm fine. Really fine. I don't even know why you were called, that's how all right I am." I explained to him. Sitting up on the couch, I ran a hand through my hair. "'Could have' died. Could, being the keyword in that-"

"Quit being smart! That's Robbie's job!"

I grunted in annoyance. "You called for nothing, David, I'm fine!"

Fed up with this whole circular conversation, I hung up on him.

==BAP==

One hour later, I was elbow deep in 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. My notebook had pages of notes.

Everything was okay.

So of course, that's when I had drama in my life again.

My phone buzzed.

'Pinky Hopefully without The Brain'

Bracing myself, I answered. "Hey Robbie."

"Hey Meg. How's things?"

"Good, good. Watching TV before work calls for another case. Chilling at home." I answered.

"Great. Great. Hey do you happen to know why's David planning a trip to DC?"

I huffed out a groaned. "Because I'm going to be murdered by him."

"What did you do?" Robbie laughed. "Make fun of Mrs C's cooking?"

"Nearly exploded."

"...the hell, Meg?"

"Not you too." I slapped my head. "I was fine! Nothing happened! I nearly exploded, I didn't actually explode! If you two keep making such a big deal about this I'm going to explode!"

"Uh...you just did?"

"Don't start!" I snapped. "Just- just don't."

"Alright. Alright!" Robbie repeated once I let out a strong growl. "How'd it happen?"

I bit my lip. While this wasn't an open case, I'm not sure how much I was allowed to share with them. There was only so many details I was willing to share before I felt too close to telling them the truth of how I really felt at that moment.

"There was an UNSUB. During the investigation, some...clues came together for me to realize the...people that would be targeted next." I explained, carefully. Robbie made the appropriate hums when I paused to think about the wording. "Unfortunately, at that point my team was scattered around the campus searching."

"Hold on- you went after them alone?"

"I'm about to hang up on you." I warned him.

"No, Megan that's serious!" Robbie replied, nearly scolding. "If there's a crazy person blowing people up then you don't go after them alone!"

"You think I didn't know that?" I snapped. "I called my team, they were too far away. My CO realized it as soon as I did, turns out I was just...closer." Silence on the line. "I wasn't alone, Rob, the others were just...late."

Then, of all things, Robbie snorted. "Oh yeah. You hate late people."

"Don't say it like it's unreasonable! If it's in your power, show up on time!" I defended, feeling both relief and nervous. Relief that Robbie didn't sound as concerned anymore, annoyed at the new topic. "If it's not, then freakin' tell me it's not!"

"Still haven't let the birthday party thing go, then?"

I actually don't know about the birthday party thing, as I'm not Megan.

"Not in this lifetime."

Robbie laughed, then sobered. "Look...ugh I hate doing this. It's usually me and Dave that fight, with you being a mediator. Not you and him." He sighed. "How'd you always get us to stop fighting?"

I paused, wondering how Megan would have done it.

'Well...let's just think about my brothers back Home. How would I get them to stop fighting- those rare times they did? I'd make them shut up, tell me what happened, then work out a solution from there. Except...would that work with these two?'

"I'd get the both of you to be honest with me. Then once I had the facts I'd tell it to you straight how to fix it." I answered, hesitant.

"Yeah. So...just...do that...I guess."

Dammit...Robbie had a point. "Wow. Thanks for the inspiring speech, Braveheart."

"Just talk to David before he buys that ticket." Robbie laughed before hanging up.

I groaned. Great- now I had a time limit.

Picking the phone back up, I typed in David's number. My thumb hovered over the call button.

It would be better to call him now...before I started re-watching the episode...I'd forget to call him by then, I'm sure.

'Maybe...just five minutes?'

My thumb already hit the button.

I yelled, jumping back against the couch cushion.

'Oh! I can hang up. It would be okay! He hasn't answered yet.'

*click*

Dammit.

I hit speakerphone. "David."

"Megan."

I bit my lip. "I was a bitch."

He sighed. "Megan-"

"No I was. No doubt about it." I interrupted him. "I was in danger, but it's a dangerous job, David. Every week something else is going to happen to me. There's some things I can't control, and we have to live with that."

"I know that. It's just...you should've called."

"What?"

"You should've called. I don't care- ugh. It wasn't you getting hurt that made it awful, it was not hearing about it from you! I thought you'd- that you'd been hurt! Really hurt!" David huffed. "It was...the worst."

"David..."

"No, Meg. It's not- it's not you. You're right I should- should get used to your job."

"You were just worried. I can't get mad at that."

"But you-"

"I would've called, David, if I knew how much it meant for you." I explained. "I was just thinking about me."

David was silent.

"You and Robbie still coming up to DC?" I asked, after a pause.

"...don't know."

"Think you should." I suggested. "Just...so we could hang-out."

"Yeah. That sounds good." David agreed. "You could finally show us the town."

I laughed, feeling light hearted again. "Good. Can you tell Robbie that we're not fighting anymore? I've got...stuff to do here."

"Sure thing...sure thing." David assured. "This weekend good?"

?!

How am I getting this place cleaned in four days?!

"Yeah. Sure thing."

'I hate you, me.'

"Great! I'll tell Rob. He'll be excited to see you. Later Meg."

"Later David." I hung up on him. Five minutes later I got a text from Robbie saying 'thanks'.

'They're really gonna hate the train episode.' I thought to myself. 'And the getting stabbed episode. If that even happens.'

==BAP==

AN: Somehow this is my fourth most followed story. Huh. Amazing!

Also, not dead. Just in college and wishing it ;)

Thanks to DarkFireNyx, Kylie Winchester, Jay007, Lady Deebo, Hurricane.'97, zerefdragneelx791, fireman12468, and G. , for favoriting

Thanks to giderasia, DarkFireNyx, Kylie Winchester, howlingblackwolf, Jay007, JularaVon, Lady Deebo, Hurricane.'97, G. , and Rainbowmonkeyss, for following