Sorry for the extra long wait. I'm still working on this story but it's coming along. A little slower than I'd like but it is. This story isn't super long but I'm concidering a sequal. Maybe, we'll see. If you guys really want one when this is over.
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!
Words: 2,346
"I'm starting to believe he doesn't exist."
"Ask Riley, he's' met him!" Robin almost shouts at her friend, leaning across the table while gesturing to the young waiter next to them.
"Don't bring me into this." He says, holding up his free hand and backing away a step as both women sitting at his table laugh.
"Ah, she's seen pictures, she's just messing." Robin waves them both off, leaning back in the booth.
"Guilty." Marisa holds her hands up in surrender, smiling over at her friend. "I was just excited to finally meet him."
"I know, I know," Robin sighs. "He was excited to meet you too, but you gotta understand, his work is-"
"Demanding?"
"For lack of a better word." Robin nods to her friend, scooting over when Riley sits next to her.
"I think it's cool." The young man states, looking between both women. "FBI agent. I wanted to be a cop when I was a kid."
"You still are a kid." Robin tells the nineteen-year-old, raising a single eyebrow at him.
"Am not. And you're only a few years older than me." He defends, looking down at her. He was younger but much taller than she was, even sitting down. His sandy brown hair falling over his forehead, stopping just above his green eyes.
"Aren't you working?" The young woman questions him, her serious demeanor cut out by the smile on her face.
"Eh," The boy shrugs, pulling out his phone. "I'm on break."
"Okay." Marisa mumbles, leaning forward again to lace her hands together, her bright red nails standing out against her tan skin. "Well, I want to meet this 'perfect man' already. So as soon as he gets back..."
"I will let you know." Robin nods once to her friend. It's Thursday and Spencer was still working on that case but he'd said he didn't think it would be much longer before he gets back. "We can do dinner or something."
"I already can't wait." The dark-haired woman says. "I don't have a man so I have to live vicariously through you."
"You could literally ask any person, man or woman, in this room to go out with you, and they'd say yes."
"But none of them could keep up with me." Marisa says like it's obvious and Riley snorts without looking up from his phone.
"Hm, true." Robin hums in agreement. "Anyway, it is late, my folks, I gotta head out."
"Late?" Riley questions, finally looking up. "Wow, you really are old."
"Okay, mister, first of all, move. Second of all, do you have to work from seven pm to one am tomorrow? Yeah, didn't think so."
"Oh, I'm gonna stop by around eight-thirty, okay?" Marisa tells Robin while she slides from the booth.
"Alright." Robin nods as she slips on her jacket. "See you then. Riley, stay out of trouble."
"Yeah, yeah." The boy waves her off but smiles as he holds up his closed fist.
"'Not a kid'." Robin mumbles as she brings up her own fist to bump Rileys. "I'll see you guys later." Waving, Robin turns and exits the restaurant, walking to her car.
Despite what she'd said, it wasn't that late, but it was dark out. A few people are milling around the parking lot but it was mostly quiet. Robin would blame that for why she jumps when her phone suddenly sounds.
Fumbling with the device, Robin brings it to her ear and braces a hand over racing heart. "Ooh, you scared me." She says in greeting to Spencer, picking up her feet and continuing to her car.
"I'm sorry." Spencer apologizes and Robin halts her steps once more when she hears him.
"Spence, what's wrong?"
"Uh, nothing. Just, I'm sorry I couldn't be there." He mumbles with a sigh. He'd tried, but the case dragged on longer than he could've helped.
"It's okay," Robin assures him while unlocking her car. "Marisa and I hadn't had time together in a while anyway, it was nice. I'm sorry you couldn't be here too but it's no big deal." She rambles. "Though, as soon as you get back she will hunt us both down if we don't all have dinner together."
Huffing a short laugh, Spencer shakes his head. "Wouldn't want that." He mutters into the phone.
"Yeah, she can be ruthless." Robin chuckles. "But don't worry, she'll go easy on you. I've already told her to tone it down with any questioning she's planned."
"I'm usually the one doing the questioning." Spencer smiles, although it's small. And he closes his eyes as he listens to her talk.
"The tables are turning." Robin jokes, still sitting in her car in the restaurant's parking lot. "You sound tired."
"No, it's uh, just, long case."
"You'll solve it, you always do."
"Yeah." Spencer whispers into the phone, finding it too hard to raise his voice any louder.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Robin asks, leaning back in her seat, staring through her windshield.
"No." Reid shakes his head. "Tell me about your day?"
Smiling, Robin hums before starting to speak. She tells Spencer about her day and he listens, her voice calming to him. She knew why he didn't want to talk about work, he never did. There was a time she almost asked him why, but she bit her tongue. It wasn't hard to figure it out.
She worries for him. The look in his eyes after a case. Sometimes he gets a far off look like he's disappeared inside his head. And for someone like Spencer, with a mind so big, filled with the things he sees every day, that was a dangerous thing. She tries to be there for him, pull him back to the present when he gets like that. Sometimes it's harder than others but she doesn't plan on every stopping
"What's a lady gotta do to get some service around here?"
"Ha ha, very funny." Robin slides the beer bottle across the bar, watching as Marisa holds her hand out to catch it. "I don't know how you drink that stuff."
Shrugging, Maria brings the cold bottle up to her lips. "It's all my dad ever drinks, my brother's too. Guess it's a family thing." Robin only hums as she wipes absentmindedly at the counter with a rag. "Speaking of parents..."
"Nope." Robin shakes her head when Marisa trails off. "Not talking about this."
"I get that, but you can't avoid going home forever, Robi."
"I'm not avoiding it," Robin argues, her eyes glued to the smooth surface of the bar.
"Oh, yeah? Then what are you doing?" Marisa furrows her brows, ducking her head to try and catch her friend's eyes.
"I'm..." Robin sigh, pursing her lips and finally looking up. "Not talking about this."
"Fine." Marisa surrenders but points a stern finger at her friend. "But only because you're working."
"Yeah, yeah." Robin waves her off, moving down the bar to attend to another customer. She wasn't avoiding home, she wasn't, she just...she was busy here. Yeah, just busy, she tells herself.
"Oh, hey, James, I didn't think you worked today."
Grumbling, the man shakes his head and looks down at her. "Lost a bet with Marcus, gotta take his shift."
"Wow, okay." Robin snorts. "Well, uh, Marisa is here."
"She is?" James questions quickly before shaking his head. "I mean, cool, I'll say hey."
"Yeah, you do that." Robin smirks at him before moving aside, watching as the taller man goes around the bar, stopping next to her friend to say a little more than 'hey'. Rolling her eyes, Robin waits until James has moved away to approach her friend once again. "He's in love with you, by the way."
"You're insane."
"Obviously. But that has nothing to do with this." Robin tells her friend seriously. "Oh, come on," She chuckles. "He's sweet, so undeniably into you. You like him, why not give it a shot?"
"Because..."
"Now whos the one avoiding things?"
"So you admit you're avoiding home."
"Don't turn this onto me." Robin points to her friend, keeping her voice low so no one would butt in on their conversation. "If you don't want to, okay, I'll stop pushing. But, you know you want to. You're just scared."
"You're such a hypocrite."
"I've never denied that fact." Sighing, Marisa runs her hand through her hair, resting her elbow on the bar.
"I just, I don't do good in relationships." She whispers. "And James is a good guy, I don't want to...mess anything up, or hurt him. Cause that's how it'll end."
"You ever think maybe all your past relationships failed because they were with the wrong people?"
"When did you become so philosophical?"
"I'm not." Robin chuckles just as a group of people come bounding into the bar. "But I am about to be busy. Just, think about it, okay? I think you guys make a good match."
"Whatever you say, Birdy."
It's odd, how seeing one thing can change the way people think. Or maybe it just brings out what you already know but have buried deep down. Spencer knows thoughts like these have passed his mind before, they just never felt so...strong. Not all the time, at least. Maybe he'd been feeling this way for a while now, he just hadn't admitted it to himself.
A book sits open in his lap as the young genius stares out the jet window. The team is on their way home from another case. Two cases back to back. He'd had to make the phone call he hated making to cancel dinner with Robin and Marisa again. Again. There would never stop being agains, will there? He'll always get called away, have to reschedule. Miss important things, events, moments. Things he should be there for and things Robin deserves to have him there for. Deserves to have someone there for.
This last case hadn't been any different than the other cases they've worked. Not really. But this time things that would never usually stand out to him had been screaming in his face.
A husband more married to his work than his wife. But she stayed, for fear of never finding someone else who would love her like he did. Like she imagined he did. She wasted most of her life waiting for someone who was never going to be there.
Movement from the corner of his eye has Spencer straightening up, trying his best to look like he hadn't just been lost in thought. Apparently, he hadn't done a good job. If Morgan's question was anything to go by. "What's up with you, kid?"
"Nothing." Reid denies with a shake of his head, clearing his throat and glancing down at his book.
"You've been awfully quiet for 'nothing'." Derek pushes. He knows his friend and he knows something is bothering him. Past events make him want to get to the bottom of it rather than wait and see if he volunteers the information himself.
"Just..." Spencer trails off, turning his gaze back out the window. His leg wants to bounce up and down, but he stops it. "Do you ever think...with our job, relationships are...I don't know, feels like we shouldn't even try."
"I mean," Spencer starts again before Morgan can, looking up to meet the older man's eyes. "We're away more than we're home."
"Why are you bringing this up now?" Derek's voice is soft, gentle as he questions the man sitting across from him. He's a little suspicious, Spencer has never brought this stuff up to him. Maybe he's been thinking it for a while, just never said anything. But that doesn't feel right. There's something up with Reid, Morgan knows it, has his suspicions, but he isn't sure.
"Marla Wallace." Spencer states simply and Derek furrows his brows.
"What about her?"
"She..." Spencer once again trails off with a sigh, second-guessing his decision to voice his thoughts. "She had plans, she wanted to do so many things but never did. Her life was wasted waiting for someone who was never going to be there."
Sighing, Derek gives the smallest of nods as he takes in Spencer's expression. He is really bothered by this and Morgan is once again stumped for the reason of why. He thinks maybe there's someone in his life. A girlfriend maybe, but he has no proof to back up his theory. Sure, the kid sometimes rushes out of work, turns down offers to get drinks or dinner with the team more than he used too. Sometimes Derek would look over and see the small smile that had taken up residence on his face. Though that smile had disappeared a while ago and he'd been quieter lately. It worried the older agent.
"She may not have gotten to do the things she wanted yet, Reid." Derek starts, folding his hands in his lap as Spencer turns his eyes up to his once more. "But she's still got time. She'll still do those things."
Breaking his friend's unwavering gaze, Spencer turns back to the window, looking out into the pitch-black sky. He doesn't know what to say to that. The thought had presented itself. But he still can't stop thinking about the valuable lost time and the fact that he may be the cause of someone else losing the same.
Spencer and Robin both have things weighing on them. Different problems they're struggling with. They need each other more than they know but Robin hates relying on people and Spencer refuses to see it because of all the guilt blinding him. Will they talk it out or let it build until it's to late?
Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think!
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