Chapter 23

Capitol Plaza Apartments
Unit #25
Washington DC

Spencer Reid normally ran on three sleep cycles a night. Or it would be three if he was human. Roughly 4.5 hours to be specific. Sometimes, if he was lucky he would read for a bit and then get another hour and a half. Or if he was really lucky he would sleep five hours. But luck hit him rarely. He had just gotten used to functioning on very little sleep.

He still went to bed at a so-called decent hour though, if only for the discipline of it. So on the first night the cat slept over he turned his main lights out at 10 pm.

At 10 am the next morning he woke up, rolled over, and blinked at the clock in shock.

Not only had he just slept twelve solid hours he was….oh hell. He picked up his phone and hit a programmed dial. "JJ, I am so sorry." He said. "I have never overslept like this in my life."

"It's okay Spence." She replied. "If you're not feeling good stay home. I'd rather my kids not get it."

"Not feeling good? What do you mean?" He rolled over and shifted a heavy lump that gave an annoyed meow.

"You texted earlier, said you weren't feeling well and were going to sleep."

"I texted?' Spencer looked at his phone. Sure enough, three hours earlier he had sent a text. Not feeling well. Need to sleep. Will miss appointment, Sorry. "I must have been sleepwalking." He said. "Sleep texting. Can I make it up to you with lunch?"

"Uncle Spencer and grilled cheese. Henry would love that."

"Deal. I'll make reservations at the Diner?"

"Make it 12:30."

"I'll see you there." He rung off and looked down at the furry lump in the bed. "Okay, I'm going out. And so are you." He lifted the cat, marveled once again at how good it felt to hold, and put it on the fire escape. This time it ran down without argument. "It probably has a home." He said. Then he went about his day.


He picked up the assortment of gloves his mother had for him. He went to lunch with his godchildren. He went to pick up his dry cleaning, his library order, and some groceries. And then he went home to prepare for the week.

Twenty minutes after he arrived there was a yowling sound from the bedroom.

Yes, it was the cat, scratching frantically to get in. He opened the window and it hopped down as usual. "You have to have a home somewhere." He said. "You're too well fed. Not that I mind the company." He locked the window down to cat size once again and went back to the kitchen, where he put down a bowl of water. Then he picked up a can and looked from it to the cat now sitting on the drainboard. "You know, if I do this you'll never leave."

The cat blinked at him.

"You're going to need a name. I can't keep calling you cat."

The cat's whiskers twitched.

"Hmmm. How about…Tristan? It's relatively gender neutral since I have no idea how to sex a cat. And it seems inappropriate."

The cat…Tristan's…tail twitched.

"Tristan you shall be." He opened the can, dished out the food, and then went about his business.

When he brought his tea to his desk to work on notes for a lecture he was supposed to give that week Tristan jumped up on the couch and walked over his remote, turning the TV on. "Stop that." He said, and he turned it off.

A couple of moments after he sat down Tristan deliberately jumped on the coffee table and turned it back on. "Really?" He got up and turned it off,

A couple of moments later it was back on. He got up to find that Tristan had fetched the remote and was battling with it fiercely, scrolling through the streaming services as he went. "I should have gotten toys." Spencer said with a sigh. "Fine. Watch TV then." He turned down the volume and sat back down.

A few minutes later the flicking of the TV stopped. He looked up to see that Ultimate Beastmaster was on Netflix and Tristan was sprawled out on the couch, happily grooming. "Your taste is very questionable." He said to the cat.

Tristan looked at him and went back to washing his ears.

Spencer worked through about two and a half episodes, but he didn't turn it off until the third episode was over. It just seemed rude. But at the end of the third one he snapped it off. "I'm going to shut down this room and go take a bath before bed." He told Tristan. "I'll leave the window open so you can head home."

Spencer cleaned up his tea, collected a bedtime snack, checked the door, and turned out the lights. As he headed through his living area there was no cat to be seen. He went into his bedroom, took out clean pajamas, and went into the bathroom. While the tub filled he did what wanted doing before he started to get undressed.

When he was bare to the waist and just starting on his pants the door opened and Tristan walked in. "Really?" Tristan hopped up on the closed toilet lid and started purring. "You're making me very uncomfortable you know." But there was no point in moving him, the cat would come right back. So with Tristan watching his every move he stripped off and got into the tub. There he settled back with a book that was not too precious to risk water damage and his bit of pastry. Tristan remained on the toilet purring happily.

When the water went from steaming to tepid Spencer got up, set is book safely aside, and pulled the curtain to rinse off as the tub drained. When he finished he noticed that Tristan had stuck his head around the curtain to watch. "You are quite the peeping tom, you know." He said.

Tristan blinked at him.

Okay, bedtime. Spencer toweled off, got into his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and got into bed. A few moments after he turned out his light he felt the familiar weight jump into the bed with him. Tristan slowly walked up until his whiskers brushed Spencer's chin.

Then he licked a spot in the hollow of Spencer's throat. Just once. "Ahh." Spencer said. "Cat germs."

Tristan fell asleep in his arms.