A/N: the statistic Reid uses is fake, i googled it but it did not provide an answer so i just made something up, just fyi for all you fact lovers out there. However if you wanna read that story i was writing about it is called Freedom by danish author Søren Kirkegård. I own only original story and OC, nothing else. Also i dont know how it goes when CI's are released so i again just made something up.
Reid's P.O.V.
I liked having Lola sleep on my shoulder and I smiled down at her when she put her head there. I brushed away her hair when it fell out all over her face. This had been a bad case for her and I knew that. She needed the rest. I was glad that Morgan had helped her, he knew what she was feeling. I would have had no idea how to handle that situation. Hotch sat down in front of me and i smiled at him. He looked from me to Ali and sighed.
"I could imagine her being worn out. She is gonna need the strength for when we land." He said and I looked at him confused.
"Why if I may ask?" I asked and he smiled and nodded at me.
"Tomorrow is her birthday, so I have arranged a little surprise for her." He said and I smiled looking down at Lola.
A birthday how neat, I would imagine that being incarcerated for so long she did not expect much, I hoped that whatever nice thing Hotch had planned would cheer her up.
We landed and got into some cars to be driven back to the office. Lola usually would not join being picked up by the prison but today she was allowed to join, maybe there had been a riot or something. When the car stopped I got out and noticed at that we were not at our office but in front of a bar. I looked back confused but Morgan was busy telling Lola to stay in the car and close her eyes till she could get her surprise. She asked me if I knew what was going on, but answered honestly that I did not. She got out and Morgan helped her walk through the door to the small bar. It was almost empty beside a bartender and our team waiting for us inside. I joined them and smiled while Morgan placed her, joined the group then told her to open her eyes. She looked at us smiling and in a pretty bad coordinated choir we yelled happy birthday to her. She thanked us and blushed as we sat down around a table while Morgan and Emily got us drinks, I sat down beside her and smiled.
"I'm sorry I did not get you any thing." I whispered to her and she just smiled and shook her head.
"It's okay, you got chinese food remember?" She said and I smiled thankful she was not mad at me for not getting her a present.
They got back with some drinks and we all cheered. Then Hotch stood up and cleared his throat telling Lola that he and JJ had gotten her a surprise gift, and that he hoped she would use it wisely. He then handed her a very little box and JJ got out a bigger package looking like clothing from the general shape of it. She opened the little box inside was a key and she looked up at him confused.
"That, is the key to your departmentally issued apartment. It is small but not too far from the office, and from there you have a mile radius where you can walk." He said she got up and hugged him tightly.
"I am free?" She said in disbelief.
"On parole, but yeah, free." He said and she smiled.
The girls of the team promised that their birthday present would be to take her shopping. And the boys just nodded and shrugged probably giving her something else for that apartment. I just smiled, maybe I would give her something for that as well, a book, or a lamp. Something useful. She opened JJ's present and it turned out to be a set of clothes she smiled and thanked JJ by hugging her JJ just shrugged.
"Now that you are on parole you have to have regular clothes you know?" She said smiling.
We spent the rest of the night celebrating and one by one the rest of the team went home. I usually never stayed this long but I was having a good time, so I figured it could not hurt, plus then I might miss my loud neighbor having sex. Hotch was the last to leave besides me and Lola, he put the leg bracelet on her and gave her the papers for her apartment also telling her that he did not know whether it was furnished or not. She seemed thankful nonetheless. We drank out our drinks and silently agreed that it was time to go. I grabbed the paper and looked at the address, not too far from where I lived. I asked if I could walk her home and she looked at me confused by agreed. We walked 7 minutes before arriving at her apartment, she got out the chip and unlocked the front door checking if it worked. Her face lit up as she smiled excited at me.
"Thank you for walking me home doc." She said smiling at me, I returned the favour, she sounded a little tipsy but she could walk normally so I did not figure it would be a problem.
"What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't walk you home?" I said a little tipsy myself and she smiled at me.
She walked over to me giving me a hug goodbye, but grabbing my face and kissing my cheek before letting go of me smiling and waving goodbye when she walked inside. Or rather ran, but that had nothing to do with me, probably more to do with her being excited. I waved slightly even though she could not see it and touched my face where she had kissed it, it felt a little hot. I shrugged and started walking the opposite direction to where my apartment building was.
I went to the office next morning tired and went straight for the breakroom for a cup of coffee. I poured sugar into it and went back into the office. I sat down and filed my paperwork load for the day, I was finished pretty quickly so I soon took out a book and started reading. I was usually always early so I was waiting for everyone else to get in. Morgan walked in and asked how the rest of my night was.
"Fine, we stayed at the bar, which I would normally never do, but it was actually quite fun last night. Then I walked Lola home and then walked home myself." I said smiling up at him he furrowed his eyebrows but was somehow still smirking. Prentiss walked in and asked Morgan what he was so chipper about.
"Well pretty boy here, walked our little criminal home last night." He said and Emily gave me a thumbs up which confused me.
"Is there a euphemism that I am not getting here? I walked her home because it was a cold night and DC is not the safest place at night. It is no big deal?" I said a little frustrated. I was always frustrated when they mocked me and I did not understand why.
"Did you kiss her on the front porch? Ask her to prom?" Emily said smirking at me. I got it then, apparently it was a sign that I liked her. Damn it I knew they were going to have a lot of fun with that thing.
"What? No of course not, she lives in an apartment building they don't have porches. And what prom? Did I miss an invite?" I said, the last thing trying to make a joke, also trying to deflect the question of me kissing.
I knew myself enough to not answer that without blushing, plus I had been mocked enough by peers in college to answer anything sexual related.
"On the street then?" Morgan said still smirking at me I rolled my eyes and sighed.
"No, because she is my colleague and I don't like her like that." I said and he just chuckled at me, Emily just shrugged at me.
"Why not, I mean she is your age, smart, beautiful and you do have great chemistry." She said
and shrugged walking away.
Why was she trying to sell me on this? This was very weird, I did not like them trying to set me up with Lola, she was my friend and I liked her like that, why would I change that?
"She is my colleague." I exclaimed hoping they would drop the subject soon. It was getting on my nerves and I would like to get back to work.
"Sure. But kid you went what? 10 minutes out of your way just to walk her home. If it was anyone else, I would say you were smitten." Morgan said finally getting up from my desk where he had sat to get some coffee.
So apparently being nice to someone means that you like them. These guys are weird, it is like they read into all of these weird things that I had not even considered could be seen that way. I know quantum physics but ironically enough I did not understand this. Ali walked in and smiled at me but looked tired and was panting.
"Sorry I'm late, I actually did not know when to meet in, plus I had to figure out how to get here myself and kind of got lost." I smiled at her kindly she was having a stressful morning I could tell.
"It's okay. So is your new apartment nice? And how do you like civilian life so far? 29,5% of all former inmates have a hard time adjusting to normal society due to the total freedom. It is sort of like Kirkegaard's bird theory. Where he has a bird in a cage, when it is in the cage it wants to break free and talks of all the plans it has when it gets out of the cage, but when the cage is actually opened it is afraid to fly because it has so many options that it is afraid it will regret its decisions, so it ends up not flying at all." I said smiling up at her she smiled a little angrily at me, I hope I have not offended her, that was not my intention at all. I was just asking and it reminded me of that cute little story I read when studying philosophy.
"Well seeing as I haven't been out more than 24 hours I am handling it fine. Gonna have get used to some things, like cooking for myself, and eating alone, and buying groceries. But that is not so much of a prison thing and more of a I was incarcerated before I experienced real adult life. And my apartment is fine, it comes with no furniture so I slept on the cold floor. I am going to buy some cheap furniture, know a place?" She said smiling at me.
I could hear on her tone that I had hit a little bit of a nerve when I mentioned the getting out thing but she did not seem mad at me. I could relate to her struggle sort of it is hard being an adult, but adjustment when you have had all meals prepared for you and been on a tight schedule all your adult life.
"Ikea have some cheap stuff, by the way we girls are going shopping friday, after all you need a whole new wardrobe, all of the girls are going." Emily said dropping off an ikea magazine for her to look through, she thanked her and opened it.
"And Morgan and I could help you put the furniture together, well mostly Morgan I'm not that handy. And hey if you don't feel like eating alone you can always have dinner with me." I said smiling at her. She smiled back and nodded, at first her reaction was to furrow her eyebrows but she ended up smiling at me.
"Thanks doc. Well I will go ask Hotch about how I am gonna cover these expenses, since my money is still "tied up". See you later guys." She said getting up, she walked a few steps when I hurried up and stopped her.
"Oh Lola, happy birthday." I said smiling at her, her face lit up and she thanked me and walked away from me, I saw her blushing and I could feel myself smile at that. She looked cute when she was blushing. Emily walked up behind me and smacked my arm, I complained and turned to her confused.
"Not smitten my ass doctor Reid." She said and I looked at her confused.
"What did I say? I just wished her happy birthday, I wish you happy birthday too, doesn't mean I'm in love with you." I protested and she chuckled and shook her head.
"No. Oh if you don't wanna eat alone, you can eat dinner with me. You know like a date." She said smirking at me, I could feel my mouth open when that realisation sank in.
So that was why she looked at me weirdly when I said that. I did not mean for it to sound like that but now that Emily pointed it out I could see what she meant. I did mean if she was lonely, not being used to eating alone, and I usually ate alone too, so if she wanted some company I would hang out with her. I do not even think a date would work with me and Lola, what would we talk about? How would it go? It would be super weird. I also should not have said that, Morgan and Prentiss are gonna have a field day with that comment.
As a certified genius, I should probably think more before I speak.