For anyone who actually cares why I haven't updated, read the A/N at the bottom. Otherwise, enjoy.
Chapter 7
Reid walked off the plane, feeling drowsy and rather agitated. His stomach hurt. A LOT. But he tried to ignore it as he grumpily trudged by his co-workers into one of the SUVs. The team exchanged glances before splitting up and entering their respective vehicles.
Rossi was on his way to the morgue to examine the bodies of Melissa Moore, Kathy Wright, and Juliana Thames. Morgan and Prentiss were going to examine the most recent crime scene. J.J., Hotch, and Reid were headed to the police station. 'Most likely because Hotch thinks I'd be useless out on the field,' Reid thought bitterly.
Reid silently sulked in the backseat on the way to the station. The day carried on slowly. There weren't any leads and the team was unable to add anything new to their profile. Reid had been able to keep his moodiness to a minimal (as possible) for the majority of the day. It was during a late lunch that things went downhill.
The team (excluding Reid, who stayed in the station—Hotch's orders) had talked to the families of four victims and had returned empty-handed. The families didn't know of any recent boyfriends or new friends or possible threats. It was when Prentiss declared "I'm starving" that Hotch decided it would be a good time to give his team a break. Reid was offered to dine with them, and, naturally and expectedly, he declined. His excuse was "I want to work more on the geographic profile in case I missed something". Even the officers knew this was a blatant lie, seeing as how Reid had been upset the entire day for being allowed to do nothing more than review files and work the geographic profile.
Reid migrated to what was even worse than the BAU's excuse for a kitchen. He searched everywhere and only growled in frustration upon not finding what he wanted. An officer walked in and noticed this.
"You looking for something?"
It took every bit of willpower in Reid's body in order for him to hide his annoyance. "Yes. I am looking for a bottle of water. Is there any here?"
"Bottled water? I think we ran out just yesterday. Yeah, Wiser was supposed to buy more, but I guess he never got around to it." Reid sighed before he realized he was about to. "You know…if you're thirsty, you can always have some coffee." The officer pointed to the pot of coffee on the counter. Reid barely suppressed a cringe. "I know it isn't the best stuff in the world, but it—"
"I'm fine," Reid nearly snapped. "But thank you for the offer." He left the room in haste and returned to where the team had set up. He searched through his handbag, expecting to find what he needed, but was shocked when it was not there. He forgot to pack bottled water. Damn. He was getting sloppy.
He sighed. True, he could drink tap water, but there were risks with that. In the end, he saw that it was his only option. He didn't have any bottled water and he was confident Hotch wouldn't let him leave to buy some. The only other drinks in the station were coffee and soda from a machine downstairs.
With an air of reluctance, Reid walked back into the "kitchen". He was momentarily pleased to see that the officer from before had gone, but that was soon replaced upon seeing Emily Prentiss filling a coffee mug. Reid offered her a small friendly smile as he walked passed her to get a glass. He pretended to not notice her eyeing him with suspicion as he filled the glass with cool tap water.
"You know, Reid," He tried not to cringe upon hearing her speak. "There's some coffee over here. And it's only slightly worse than what we have back at Quantico."
"I'm fine." He took a sip and tried to ignore the pain in his stomach.
"Since when do you turn down coffee?" Reid ignored her as he took another sip. "I can remember when you could down a gallon a day and still want more sugar."
"I'm...trying to cut back. Is that so wrong?" Reid stared into the glass, not wanting to meet Prentiss's eyes.
"No…but do you think you could cut back on the cutting back?"
Reid's brows furrowed in confusion. ''Cut back on the cutting back'? What does she mean by that? I thought they would be happy I'm losing weight.' Reid looked at his co-worker in search of answers.
"What I mean is…you don't need to push yourself so hard, Reid. No one expects you to be everything, so it's okay if you're not. Just be you, the real you. That's all any of us want or need of you. You are more than enough."
Reid couldn't help the looks of shock and confusion that overcame his face. 'I don't understand. What does she mean by that? I don't…'
"Oh," Prentiss said, looking at a clock on the wall. "I think the food we ordered should be here soon. Better get back." She threw away her empty sugar packet and was about to leave before pausing to look back at Reid, who remained in the same position. "You know, Reid…" He looked up suddenly, as if coming out of a daze. "You really should reconsider having lunch with us. We'd all love it if you ate with us."
Reid swallowed, unsure of himself. Had Prentiss offered ten minutes ago, he would have readily said "no", as he had done before. But he was confused and in doubt. 'I still don't understand… What did she mean? I can't stop. I'm not finished yet. I still have work to do, so why would she say that?'
Reid swallowed again as he attempted to steady himself enough to form proper words. "N-no, I can't. I…" He swallowed once more to gain confidence. "I still have a lot of work to do, Emily, and I can't get distracted. Not until it's finished."
Prentiss suppressed a sigh. "All right. Well, we're all here for you if you ever need anything."
And with that, Reid was let alone, still struggling to decipher what Prentiss had said.
A/N: Okay, I actually started this chapter a month ago. Honest. But then something went wrong with my laptop. It started taking FOREVER just to log on. I mean an HOUR just to turn on, load, and log on. And anything from that point on took even longer. I'm sure it's a virus or something. In fact, I'm currently at the library listening to this little boy say "MOMMY! Come here! Mommy!" while the mother keeps saying (with annoyance) "No! Spencer, stop it! No, why don't you come HERE? You don't need to shout. If you don't behave we're going to leave. Do you want to leave?" And to the right of me is a little girl playing games on nick. com and not caring to lower the volume (and I'm way too nice to ask her). I've been trying all month to write, but it's a little hard to do so in a public place that can be rather noisy at times and that contains an abundance of people who like to watch everything you are doing on the computer until you stare back at them and they finally get the message. Ok…I've gone on a tangent…
Basically, I will still be updating, just not as frequently.
REVIEW RESPONSES:
Couragexoxo: Ok… Somehow you made me go from feeling like a child who was being scolded to feeling like a pet who finally learned a trick. Hmm…not entirely sure how should feel about that. Also, "you really do not have any option". Umm…was that a threat?
(Dies of laughter).
sandra. johansson. 144: The angry conversation about his suspected "using" is definitely happening. It would be cruel of me to write that chapter and NOT include a follow-up argument—I mean nice, friendly discussion. :D
MW3addict: Thank you. I anticipate a few more chapters throughout the story that are focused more around the team than Reid.
gardenflower: Hmm…well, this chapter did not go as planned, but it's not entirely my fault. I'm having a bit of trouble focusing for the reasons I mentioned in the A/N. I just hope this chapter was worth the wait.
ReidGurl: I was originally thinking of having Hotch do the confrontation, but you're right, it would be much more interesting with Rossi. But he won't be finding out the truth…not yet, at least. There's a lot of great ideas I want to incorporate into this story, and as a result, this is going to be MUCH longer than I originally anticipated. I suppose that is good in that it allows for a full story, but it also means waiting a long time for the conclusion. Whenever I write a long story, I also run the risk o becoming slightly bored with it half-way through and possibly forgetting (or just losing the motivation) to write for it. But we'll see how it all goes.
I don't know if you could tell, but I kept trying very hard to incorporate your coffee idea into this chapter. But every time I tried, the story took a new turn. The next chapter I'm going to try to do what I failed to do in this chapter.
ICanBeFunnySometimes: Thank you for the review and the suggestion. All right, since I already promised ReidGurl I'd have Rossi confront Reid, it seems I'll have two different confrontation scenes. How fun. Well…maybe not for the characters, but, oh, well. About the counselor…so, so many ideas for that. I already have one thing I'm going to do in a few more chapters (but I won't spoil it). Maybe I could do a follow-up story if Reid gets better at the end of this. Yes, I did say "IF Reid gets better". I make no promise that he will or that he won't. You'll just have to wait to find out. (Yes, I AM aware of how cruel I am and I am smirking wickedly at the thought of it).