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A/n hello all, it's time for chapter 2. I want to thank again everyone that has been kind enough to comment, like, or favorite this story. Please enjoy the next chapter.
Reid peered up from under his eyelids at the seat across the aisle and to his left. JJ sat there, reading a file. He noticed that she bit her lower lip, something she rarely did, except when extremely disturbed. As he watched her, she looked up. He cut his eyes away to his window while his heart galloped in his chest like a stampeding horse.
Good plan, get caught staring at her!
He shut his eyes and tried to sleep, but his thoughts wouldn't stop chasing each other around in his brain. Especially the sight of JJ in an intense conversation with Det. LaMontagne. Even he could see how it must have bothered her to see the detective during a case.
In the week that had passed since he'd left her passed out on her bed, they'd had conversations. She treated him politely, but never spoke to him outside of what they needed for work. He used every profiling skill he'd ever learned, but couldn't figure out why she wouldn't talk to him. Maybe he should ask Morgan for advice. No, talking to Derek was too humiliating.
Reid suppressed a sigh and thought about talking to Garcia. Again, not a good idea because he'd have to admit to his friend that he'd almost given in to a drunken JJ. He rejected talking to Emily, Rossi, and Hotch for reasons he thought best and sighed.
"What's on your mind, pretty boy?"
Reid opened his eyes to see Morgan take a seat across from him. Wonderful!
"Just tired," Reid calmly responded and fervently hoped that Morgan would leave it at that.
"You sure, you look a little off."
"I'm fine, just thinking about our case. I'm having trouble disassociating this time."
"You always have trouble with that," Morgan pointed out with a grin.
Reid rolled his eyes. "Not funny."
"You want to play poker?"
Reid didn't but decided that saying no would only make his friend suspicious. He concluded that concentrating on counting cards might keep his mind off JJ. "I'm happy to play if you don't mind losing."
"You hear that," Morgan announced. "I think someone needs to take Dr. Reid down."
"I'll play," Emily responded.
"Not me," Rossi and Hotch declined at the same time.
"What about you, blondie? Want to try your hand at beating Dr. Reid?"
Reid forced himself not to look at JJ as his heart began to accelerate to a hard thump. He prayed his friends couldn't hear it. Happily, his face stayed cool.
JJ appeared to think about it for a minute. "Sure, anything's better than work."
Reid managed to keep control of the cards he shuffled, but only because he didn't look at JJ. Morgan cut the deck and Reid dealt out the first hand.
"Ante up." As usual, they bet with their favorite snack foods.
Reid looked at his cards and realized that he had a winning hand. He let out a breath and began to feel more normal.
"Spence…"
He forced his eyes to meet her stare. "What?"
"I said, I need two cards."
"Right, sorry."
Morgan shook his head. "Stop daydreaming, kid."
Reid chose to ignore Morgan. Instead, he dealt out two cards to JJ and waited as the others made bets.
JJ kept her eyes on the cards and for the first time, he felt he could play against her without surrendering to the pull of her gaze.
Morgan brought him back to the present again with the word. "Fold."
"Too rich for your blood," Emily teased.
"No, I'm waiting for a better opportunity."
Emily eyed Reid speculatively. "I think you're right, Morgan. There's something about Reid that makes me think bluffing is out of the question tonight."
"It's always out of the question." Morgan put in, but he also studied Reid with curious eyes.
"Why are you staring at me?" Reid asked calmly.
"Yeah, you guys lose your nerve?" JJ piped up. "While we're young, Emily?"
"Okay, fine. I'll see you ten and raise you five." She added unshelled peanuts to the pot.
"Call," JJ said, and she looked Reid straight in the eyes. "Full house queens and fives."
"Four of a kind," Emily smirked and showed four jacks.
Reid laid down his straight in clubs and smiled. "That's it," Emily huffed. "I refuse to play with Reid ever, again."
He grinned at JJ because he'd managed to keep his hands steady as he'd taken the pot of peanuts, pretzels, and Cheetos.
"I'm going to sleep," Morgan said.
"I want the chance to win back my Cheetos," JJ demanded.
Reid won the next two games. He decided to ignore JJ glaring at him as if he'd committed an offense because the pilot announced their descent and there was no time for a third game.
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An hour after they landed, Reid closed his file and looked at the clock. It was closing in on midnight. He groaned and lay his head on his desk.
"Spence."
Adrenaline flashed into his blood, and he jumped to his feet in alarm.
"Hey," JJ soothed. "Calm down."
He realized she stood to his right with her go bag on her arm.
"What're you still doing here," he demanded, as his heart rate began to return to normal.
"Working," she snapped back. "What's your excuse?"
Reid jerked back in surprise, then nodded stiffly. "Sorry, I asked. See you later."
He grabbed his bag and nearly reached the elevator when JJ called to him. "Spence. Hey, Spence. Wait. Please."
He spun around and opened his mouth to say something he'd regret. JJ stood with her shoulders slumped and tears in her blue eyes. Her misery pierced him like an arrow. He took a step forward and began to raise his arms, then stopped and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"So am I."
"Look, can we talk? Please."
"About what?"
"Don't," she begged. "Let me explain."
He wanted to walk away to turn his back on her friendship because it hurt too much. "As you wish," he agreed.
What's wrong with you!
Reid ignored the voice of good sense in his head instead of walking away.
"I promise we'll go someplace with people and I will not get drunk."
"No," he shook his head. "This time I get to pick the location."
"All right," she agreed and reached for the elevator call button.
CMCMCMCMCMCMCM
Their neutral territory turned out to be a coffee shop. JJ looked around the small, quiet room that held only three other people. "How did you find this place?"
Reid shrugged. "A friend."
JJ took in the wood beams of the ceiling, the dark colors on the booths and the traditional semi-circular bar in the middle of the room. The smell of coffee mixed with caramel, chocolate, and other flavors teased at her nose. She decided to order, even if it meant no sleep that night.
"It's nice," JJ commented. "You going to order."
Reid smiled and some of the pressure surrounding the conversation, lifted. "What do you think?"
JJ rolled her eyes. "Sorry. I forgot who I was talking to."
Reid shrugged. "Doesn't matter."
JJ studied the window looking out on the street as the night pressed in on the glass and showed only her reflection in the smooth, cold surface.
"Spence," she began.
"JJ," Reid interrupted. "Before you speak, you should know that we saw your conversation with Will."
JJ nodded. "I figured. I should've stayed in DC this time. Will doesn't know how to accept that it's over for us."
"It looked to me like he accepted your decision."
"I hope you're right because I don't want to go through that again. I'm tired of men who think they have the right to tell me how to live my life. Do you know he wanted me to move to New Orleans? He said, "You're not a profiler, Jennifer. You can be a press liaison anywhere."
"I'm assuming you disabused him of that idea."
JJ smiled as their coffees appeared. "Yeah. I told him my joining the FBI wasn't a whim, and that I'd never expected him to give up his badge. What's the difference between his job and mine, Spence? Why does he think that because he's a police officer he can tell me what to do?"
Reid listened without speaking because he didn't know what to say to her. "What did you say?"
"I told him I couldn't continue with a long-distance relationship. He loves New Orleans and wants to stay there. I love the BAU and Virginia. I want to stay here."
"I'd say that's reasonable," Reid expostulated.
"I don't know. Maybe I'm using the bureau as an excuse because I don't want to get serious with anyone. I love my job. I don't want to get married and have kids right now."
Reid nodded automatically. His heart dropped into his shoes. She'd never noticed that he loved her so much it hurt. She'd never be the one to see that he wanted to take care of her. He breathed out a sigh and thought about more lonely nights.
"You get it, right?" JJ asked him. "You love your job. Remember that night in Lincoln, Nebraska. We couldn't leave because of the snow, and we sat in the hotel coffee shop. Talking. It reminds me of now."
"Yeah, I remember."
He'd never forget it. It was the only time he'd had a conversation with JJ that didn't include work. They'd just talked and talked for hours. One topic they'd touched on was his mother's illness and how he didn't want to have kids and pass it on to them. He remembered that JJ was surprisingly sympathetic to him.
"Do you think I'm selfish?"
"No, of course not."
"Will said I am. He said I expected him to pack up and leave his home."
"JJ, I don't think – "
"He's right," JJ interrupted as if she didn't hear him. "I am selfish."
"No, you're not," Reid argued. "You're the kindest and most unselfish person in the world."
JJ smiled at him, and her eyes crinkled a little at the edges. "You're sweet, Spence. Still, I know you're probably thinking about the odds of a long-distance relationship surviving."
"The odds aren't in your favor," he admitted.
"I figured," she said and sighed. "Look, the essential point is that it's over and, in a way, I'm glad."
"You are?"
"Yeah, I mean I'm sad because I like Will. He's funny, and I like the accent. He's good-looking, and he's in law enforcement, which I find attractive as well. Still, I don't think I ever really loved him, and even if one of us decided to move to be with the other, I don't think the relationship would've worked."
Hope rose again in Reid, but he kept his face calm and held onto his cup of coffee with both hands to still their trembling.
"You've always known what's best for you, JJ."
She smiled, then chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I have."
He swallowed hard and took another sip of his coffee. Something he couldn't identify suddenly made him nervous. He wanted to leave. "Um, it's getting late, and – "
"Don't go yet," JJ reached over and touched his hand. "I haven't apologized for the other night. I don't remember everything, but I remember that I tried – well, um, I vaguelly remember, trying to seduce you."
"It's ok, JJ."
"No, it's not. I want to thank you for saying no, Spence. I treasure you as a good friend. I don't want that to change."
He prayed she couldn't see the hurt that welled up in his chest. He forced a smiled unto his face. "Neither do I," he lied.
"Good, then I hope you'll stay here for a while and talk. I've missed you."
"Of course," he nodded. Against his better judgment, he stayed there. "I've missed talking to you too."