Disclaimer: I still do not own Criminal Minds
A rather short chapter!
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When Reid and Garcia arrived at the motel Reid took her to the office to get her keys. "Hi Sherry, can we get the keys for Garcia here?"
Confusion was apparent on Sherry's face, "Keys?"
"You have a room booked for Penelope Garcia."
"No Agent Reid, I don't. No one called to book a room for someone named Garcia." Sherry looked very upset.
Reid turned to Garcia and said, "You didn't book a room?"
"I thought you booked the room."
"Oops, oh well I'm sure we can get one now."
"Well really, you can't. Half our rooms are closed for painting; we did have one room until about a half hour ago when a trucker took it. He was dead tired and needed to rest or he's afraid he'd have an accident."
"Garcia looked at Reid and said, "All righty then, what do we do now genius?"
"Okay, you can have my room, I'll bunk with Gideon."
Reid went to Gideon's room which was in darkness with a do not disturb sign on the doorknob. "He can't be asleep yet, it's not that late." Just then headlights came into the parking lot and Reid recognized Kyle's cruiser.
"Hey Reid," Kyle said, "You saw the sign," pointing to the doorknob. "Agent Gideon had a nasty headache on the way back from Castleton and was turning in early. He said if I saw you to tell you he'd see you in the morning." Kyle waved good night and headed off to his cruiser.
Reid turned and looked at Garcia who said, "Hey roomie. You won't jump me in the night will you?"
"Oh no Garcia, I would never do that."
"Damn!"
He opened the room and said, "Garcia, you do not breathe a word of this to anyone."
"Scout's honor Reid," she replied, holding up two fingers.
"Were you ever a girl scout Garcia?"
"Truthfully…No, I was a nerd. Hey sweet pea, maybe we can find some Star Trek reruns on TV. Let's go buy some soda and popcorn."
They found an all night market and loaded up on popcorn, peanuts, chocolate and soda and headed back to the motel where they made themselves comfortable, Garcia in her pajamas and Reid in sweatpants and an old T shirt. They settled down with their goodies and watched Star Trek reruns well into the night.
Reid woke in the middle of the night to find Garcia's head resting on his shoulder. She was quietly snoring. He promised himself he'd never tell her that. He gently slid out from under her and placed a pillow beneath her head. He removed her glasses and softly brushed her hair out of her face and covered her with the duvet. He moved to the other bed and settled to sleep.
Reid came to life in the morning to the feeling of someone messing his hair and opened his eyes to see Garcia staring down at him. 'Wake up sleeping beauty," she said.
"I thought sleeping beauty got woken up with a kiss," he groaned groggily, his head in the pillow.
Too late he realized what he had said as Garcia's lips found his with a quick peck and now he was definitely awake. "Garcia!"
"Well you brought it up."
"I was just stating a fairy tale fact. Is there such a thing as a fairy tale fact?" He sat up, "Good morning Garcia."
"Good morning honeybunch."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, someone took good care of me."
"Do you need the bathroom first?"
"Oh, I was done a while ago sweet thing, it's all yours."
Reid gathered some clothes and went into the bathroom. Garcia heard the shower running and started tidying up her things, when there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find Gideon, Kyle and Colleen standing there.
At that moment the bathroom door opened and Reid came out with his shirt untucked and said, "Garcia have you seen my wristwa…" He stopped dead when he saw the group at his door.
"Good morning Reid," Gideon said with a lopsided grin on his face.
"Um, Reid thought I booked a room and I thought he booked a room and anyway we got here and voila no room at the inn, so we had to share, separate beds of course." Garcia rattled off all in one breath.
Reid looked mortified and all he could do was look at the floor. Colleen turned and headed for the cruiser, got in and slammed the door.
"Kyle said, "We'll see you in Castleton; we'll pick up Roy," as he turned and went back to the cruiser.
"Gideon, this is not what it looks like. I was going to give Garcia my room and bunk with you but then you had that sign on your doorknob and Kyle came by and said you had a bad headache and we couldn't think of anything else to do. I feel really bad about this. Oh this is not going to look good for me is it? And Colleen is already mad at me because she thinks Garcia and I are, well you know, and we're not, not at all. But of course now she'll think we are."
"Reid, Reid," Gideon entered the room. "Take a breath and calm down. This is not the end of the world."
"No just maybe the end of my career."
"Reid, it's going to be okay. You haven't broken any rules or done anything wrong." Reid looked about to say something but Gideon held up his hands. "Even if something did happen and I totally believe you when you tell me it didn't, there's no rule against fraternization among agents. So try and relax. Your career is not in jeopardy. Now go get ready, you have a job to do."
Reid went back into the bathroom and finished getting ready for the day. When he came out Garcia and Gideon were talking at the table. "Ready," Gideon said. Reid nodded and they got in the SUV and headed for Castleton.