They all arrived quickly with squad cars following behind. They all trailed behind Hotch and Morgan who were leading the team to enter the house.
"Rossi, JJ, and Emily go through the back," Hotch ordered and they listened, splitting up to go around the house and to the back. Reid and Morgan followed close behind Hotch, the sheriff and his men trailing behind. Hotch looked at Morgan as they reached the front door and in a second Morgan kicked the door open. Dr. Reid secretly enjoyed watching Morgan do that. He found it quite attractive though he would've ever admitted it of course. Damn it, Reid, focus. Stop staring at his godly figure, he scolded himself as they entered the house.
"FBI FREEZE!" Hotch shouted, pointing his gun at Michael Stole.
"Drop your weapon!" Rossi yelled from behind the unsub.
"No, no, you don't understand. I'm doing these families a favor. The picture-perfect family is nothing but a facade! I'm helping to free the men from the evils of women!" he exclaimed, shaking his head furiously. "All they do is hurt us! Hurt me!"
"No, Michael," Morgan started. "Not all families have women that treat men unfairly."
"Lies! I've seen it!" Michael pushed again.
"Just put your weapon down, we can help you help other families with similar situations," Rossi said slowly. "You can make a difference in a different way," Rossi attempted to bribe the unsub.
"I need to kill them! I need to kill Ashley!" he stated, tightening his grip on the knife in hand. "My mother is gone and she's the only reminder of that memory. She needs to be gone too. She has to die."
"You don't want to kill anyone," Emily tried, shaking her head.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK TO ME!" the unsub yelled, glaring down at both JJ and Prentiss who were standing side by side. Michael made a move to attack the two agents but a shot was fired before he could take a second step. Hotch sighed, lowering his weapon.
"Nice shot," Rossi told Hotch who murmured an unenthusiastic 'thanks' as he never really liked having to pull the trigger sometimes.
Back on the jet, everyone was resting silently.
"That was a quick case," JJ stated, loud enough for everyone to agree.
"In honor, I'll buy us all dinner tonight!" Rossi grinned and the rest of the team cheered. Whenever Rossi paid for dinner, they knew they were in for a good meal.
"Here are your books back, Morgan. Thanks for letting me read them," Reid handed the agent back his books shyly.
"You finished- of course, you finished them already," Morgan chuckled, not even trying to finish his first thought because he already knew the answer.
"I can-" Spencer started but Morgan finished for him.
"Read 20,000 words per minute, I know, Pretty Boy, I know," Morgan laughed, tucking the books into his bag.
"Yeah," the doctor blushed, looking down at his fingers in his lap.
"Good job today, by the way. You sure did figure out a lot, and quickly," Morgan complimented. Reid didn't know Morgan made him blush so much until that very moment when he felt his cheeks flush an even darker shade of red. Morgan noticed the bashful look on the younger man's face and decided to call him out on it since everyone else on the plane was either asleep or listening to music. "Why so blushy today, Reid?" Morgan smirked.
"Did you know that when a person blushes it's because you release a specific hormone also known as adrenaline. The adrenaline casts an effect on your nervous system which causes the capillaries that carry blood to widen. Because of this, your blood is closer to the skin, therefore, turning the skin red and is what we call blushing," Reid ranted nervously. Morgan listened with a smile as Reid ranted about something he could care less about but again, he liked it when the doctor would spout like that.
"I do now," Morgan shrugged, leaning back in his seat. The doctor didn't reply, he simply looked down. "You didn't answer my question."
"Oh, I am not blushing," Reid looked up quickly, trying to avoid having Morgan look at his face to show that he was indeed blushing but didn't want to admit it for reasons that could possibly lead to an unwanted confession.
"You definitely are," Morgan pushed. "Why is that? Who you thinking 'bout?" Morgan teased. Deep down, however, he did not want to hear if Reid was indeed blushing over some person. It bothered him yet he didn't understand why. He knew he was protective over the young genius, but didn't fully understand how far that limit reached.
"I am not, shut up Morgan," Reid slouched further, scolding himself to stop blushing.
"Come on, Reid. Just to tell me who the lucky girl is," Morgan continued to hold the smirk on his face even though he really didn't want to hear the answer.
"There is no girl, Morgan," Reid rolled his eyes, scoffing. He wished it was over a girl, it'd make his life a whole lot easier. His recent discovery about being attracted to men was something he wasn't ready to share. Perhaps he wasn't attracted to all men, perhaps it was just Morgan whom he had feelings for. The doctor had never felt any sort of attraction for any other man.
"Alright, alright," Morgan laughed, shaking his head. He was quite content with the doctor's answer, however.
Once they arrived back at Quantico, everyone piled up and drove to the restaurant of Rossi's choice. He was paying for dinner anyway. It was of course Italian but no one was bothered by it. They were seated around a large round table where Morgan and Reid had coincidentally sat down next to one another.
After a night of laughs and delicious food, everyone headed home. Reid, not owning a car, began to call a cab when Morgan noticed who the agent was calling.
Spencer Reid
"Hi, can I get a cab to-" my phone was snatched away from my ear by an unknown hand and I heard the call end. "What are you doing?" I turned around to face Morgan.
"I'm taking you home, what else?" he furrowed his eyebrows as he began towards his truck.
"What do you mean? That's not necessary, I was already calling a cab in case you didn't notice when you took my phone," I pointed out as I followed. He did still have my phone which I needed.
"Just get in the car and let's go, Reid," Morgan chuckled. I frowned and folded my arms, fighting back a blush that always seems to want to arise whenever I was around him like this.
"Seriously, I can-" he cut me off.
"Seriously I will grab your skinny ass and throw you in, your choice, Pretty boy," Morgan smirked and this time I did blush at the thought of Morgan's big arms around me.
"Okay, okay," I gave in, climbing inside and Morgan slid into the driver's seat. We drove in silence, a bit of awkward silence which I absolutely hated. I didn't know what to say without looking or sounding like an idiot.
"You think we'll have a day off from working a case tomorrow?" Morgan piped as he stopped at a red light.
"Well, statistically speaking-"
"No stats, Reid. Your opinion," Morgan chuckled as he started off again once the light turned green.
"Uh maybe," I shrugged. "I say it's about 75 to 25," I added just because I couldn't help myself.
"Alright," he laughed as he neared my apartment complex. I chewed on my lower lip. A day without a case did sound really nice and it would be a very much needed break from having cases back to back. "What're you thinking about?"
"How do you know I'm thinking?" I asked.
"You're always thinking," I smiled at that.
"Just that it would be nice to have a day of files as a break instead of having cases back to back," I told him truthfully. He only nodded in agreement and I went back to fiddling with my fingers, waiting the few minutes it would take to reach my apartment. In the time span of that, we talked about work and related things that filled up an unwanted silence.
"See you tomorrow, kid," Morgan told me as he parked in front of the complex.
"Goodnight, Morgan," I said as I opened the door. "Thanks for the ride home," I added.
"No problem, sleep well," he said before I turned and walked into my complex, hearing as he started the engine once I had shut the door to the building. I made my way up to my apartment where I locked the door behind me and immediately went to lie down to finally be able to think about what I actually wanted to think about:
Morgan's hand brushing against my own three times during our dinner, all under the table. It took a lot to stop me from blushing when it happened and it still didn't fully work because my face had felt hot. It was probably unintentional on his part but it made me think things I shouldn't. Feel things I definitely shouldn't, not only because he was my best friend and coworker, but because I knew that Morgan did not like men.
I sighed to myself, deciding to just call a night before letting my eyes droop and fall asleep almost instantly.