A/n many thanks to all who've taken the time to read and review the first chapter. Thanks again to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC.
Disclaimer: I own only my own characters. No copyright infringement is intended.
Breakfast, Boys, and Business Suits
Lisa tied her hair back in a gold ribbon and tucked in the white blouse she wore with a pair of brand new blue jeans. It was Friday and career day. Spencer had promised her that he would be there and so far he hadn't called to say there was a case, so he should be showing up to her school at eleven o'clock.
Her teacher in Social Studies was Mrs. Carmichael and she was pretty impressed to know that a real profiler would be coming to speak to the class. The other kids that weren't in her circle of friends and who didn't know Spencer didn't believe her when the teacher told them he was coming in to speak to them. She couldn't wait for him to walk into the classroom so that the other kids would stop teasing her about him.
She grabbed her book bag and put her cell phone in the inner pocket of the bag. She went out the door and down the stairs to the kitchen. Maggie Reid was making pancakes and listening to the classical music station. Lisa always teased her mom about loving Bach, Schubert and Mozart, but in reality Lisa liked the music too.
"Hey mom, how come you got the boring music on?" She slid into a chair at the table and jabbed her fork into a couple of pancakes.
"I listen to this to irritate you, sweetheart."
"Very funny mom; how was your date with Jason last night?" She poured raspberry syrup all over the pancakes, and pretended not to notice the look on her mother's face.
"It was nice and that's all you need to know my beauty."
Lisa stuck out her tongue at Maggie and was rewarded with a giggle. She sometimes wished that her dad was still there and that things were like they had been before Brian had died. Today wasn't a day to think about how much she hated her dad, today was a day to have fun and spend more time with Spencer.
"Mom… do you think Spencer will let me baby-sit the new baby after it's born?"
"I don't know honey. You will have to ask him." Maggie started on her own stack of pancakes, with maple syrup and lots of butter.
Lisa put down her fork and stared thoughtfully at her glass of apple juice. "I think he will. I have lots of experience with the neighbor kids and he wouldn't have to pay me as much as a stranger."
"Lisa Reid, are you telling me you'd make your brother pay you to baby-sit?"
"Well yeah… just cause he's my brother doesn't mean he gets free labor, besides I have to save for college somehow." She stuffed another forkful of pancakes into her mouth, smearing the syrup over her mouth.
"Here, wipe your face." Her mother handed her a napkin. "You really are a true mercenary my dear. I think you'll make a fortune for yourself before you're thirty."
"Do you think so Mom?" Lisa asked wide eyed.
"Oh honey… you always give me a good laugh, now get out of here. You'll miss your bus. Tell Spencer I said hello."
"Don't worry mom, I'll make sure that Spencer tells Gideon hello for you."
"Ha, ha… get out of here already." Maggie laughed as her daughter grabbed her bag and ran out the door to the bus. As she watched the teen run for the bus, she thanked God that her daughter was dealing so well with the loss of her father from her life. She had Spencer to thank for a lot of her daughter's recovery from the divorce; he was an expert at dealing with the trauma of William Reid's abandonment. Gideon helped too; Lisa loved him like a father. She was yanked out of her thoughts by the ringing of her phone. She looked at the clock and heaved a sigh; it was time to go back to work.
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He pulled at the dark blue tie with white pinstripes. It didn't look right somehow. In fact… the whole suit was wrong. He ran his long fingers over the collar of the dark blue suit jacket and sighed. This was terrible; he looked like an accountant, or an investment banker, or worse a secret service agent. He sighed again and then jumped when a low whistle sounded behind him.
"What's with all the finery, stud?" His wife's voice said.
He looked at her in the mirror. Her eyes were dancing like stars and she was looking at him with keen interest and something else…
"Don't look at me like that," he said a little too loudly, his face beginning to go pink.
"You look good enough to eat," she said ignoring the look of horror that came into his eyes, or the way his face turned crimson.
"I look ridiculous; Morgan is going to laugh his ass off."
"Who cares about Morgan? If you don't like the suit, why did you put it on? You're not going to a wedding you know." She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his middle, her baby belly pressing into his back.
"I have to look professional." He insisted, and frowned when she began to laugh.
"Honey professional is one thing, resemblance to an undertaker is quite another."
"It's not that bad," he insisted, tugging at the tie again.
"I didn't say it was you're the one complaining about it. If you don't like it, put on your usual work clothes. You'll look great either way. Anyway this is a classroom full of teenagers, not the United Nations."
He didn't reply because she was right, damn it when did she get to be such a great profiler?
"You're right," he agreed. He pulled away from her and left the bathroom for their bedroom with JJ on his heels. He took off the jacket and kicked off his shoes. The pants came next, and JJ began to hum at burlesque bump and grind under her breath.
"Don't start," he whined flushing deep red again.
"I can't help it; you're a damn sexy man, Supervisory Special Agent Dr Reid." She said coyly. One hand fiddled with her ponytail and that look was back in her eyes.
"JJ, you're due to give birth," he looked at his watch dramatically, "two days ago, you can't possibly be interested in…"
"I'm not, can't a girl just look and remember fondly back to the days before her husband got her knocked up and miserable."
"Excuse me, but I believe it takes two to tango," he held up two fingers while his free hand pulled his dark brown cords out of the closet.
She opened her mouth to reply and the phone next to the bed rang. She shuffled over to grab it and grinned at Spencer trying to put his pants on without falling over.
"Reid residence," she answered brightly. Penelope was going to love this when she called later for their daily gossip session.
"Hi JJ, can I talk to Spencer," Lisa's voice was a little crackly. JJ looked at her watch and wondered why the teen wasn't on the bus to school.
"Hey Lisa, shouldn't you be going to school."
"I am this is my cell."
"Oh right, well just a minute, Spencer is a bit indisposed at the moment." She laughed again when he hopped around trying to put a shoe on.
"Give me the phone," he hissed between his teeth. She gave it to him, kissed his cheek and waddled out of the room for some breakfast.
"Hi Lisa, what's up? Did the career day get cancelled?"
"You wish, but no big brother, I'm sorry to disappoint you."
"I'm not disappointed."
"Right, anyway are you sure you can come today? You guys don't have any cases right?"
(Not unless one drops out of the sky and saves my ass from getting up in front of a bunch of fifteen and sixteen year old kids.)
"No we don't have any cases, I'll be there at eleven o'clock like I promised; now get off the phone and get to school."
"For your information, I'm on the bus right now. Why do you have to sound like my mom?"
"Because education is important, and I don't sound like your mom!"
"I know… I know… geez!."
"See you later Lisa."
"Okay, bye Spencer."
He put the phone down and sighed, it was going to be a very long day.
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The bus arrived at Andrew Jackson High School, twenty minutes before Lisa's first class. She had biology first and that was her favorite class after English literature. She exited the yellow vehicle and ran straight into her best friend Jessica.
"Hey watch where you're going girl." She said rubbing her arm where they collided.
"Oh sorry, I'm so excited for today, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Lisa said anxiously.
"Don't worry, I forgive you." Lisa and pointed in the direction of the main doors to the school. "Hey… there's David. Why don't you go say hi?"
Lisa flushed scarlet and pushed her friends hand down to her side. "Stop pointing at him, he'll see you."
"Oh quit being so shy, you're driving me crazy. Everybody knows that you like him, so why don't you go talk to him?"
"Leave me alone, I'll talk to him when I want to." Lisa said her face still red. She walked faster toward the building, hoping that David wouldn't see her face. Why couldn't she stop blushing at the most inconvenient times?
"No… If I leave it up to you, you'll never get anywhere with him, besides I was there the last time he bumped into you and I can tell he likes you." Jessica chided her friend, walking fast to keep up with Lisa's long legs. "I don't understand you, you're totally hot and you're smart." Jessica explained to her.
"I'm not hot and guys don't like smart girls, or tall ones." Lisa said, keeping her head turned away from David as she passed him and his friends.
"Hey Lisa," she heard him say. He was smiling at her and her heart began to race. She could only say "Ah - hi." Then she dashed away into the school with Jessica hot on her heels. David told his laughing friends to shut up as he watched her go into the building. He'd been trying to talk to her for a month and she never said more then a few words to him, how was he going to change that?
"Lee-lee, hey… Lee-lee." Jessica called after her as she ran into the school and down the hallway to the lockers.
"Lisa Reid, what is wrong with you." She demanded, very out of breath.
"I told you to leave it alone!" Lisa said still very red in the face. She slammed her locker open and glared at her friend.
Jessica glared back, but then she decided it wasn't worth the fight. "Okay, I didn't mean to embarrass you, but if you don't make your move, someone else will, someone like Sheryl James."
Lisa frowned and tossed her book bag into the locker. "She's a total bitch. He wouldn't like someone like that, would he?"
"Lisa, for someone so smart, you're pretty stupid. Sheryl flirts with all the good looking guys. They all like her."
"Do you really think that he'd ask her out?"
"Yeah, so you better hurry up before she gets her hooks into him."
"Okay, but you gotta promise to let me do this my way."
"Al right, but if you don't do anything, I'm going to take matters into my own hands." Jessica said slamming her locker shut and spinning the dial on the combination lock.
"Don't worry I will." Lisa said faintly. This was just great! She didn't know what to say to David, maybe Spencer could help her. She would ask him after Career Day.
She headed off down the hall weaving around two boys and a couple of girls. She turned the corner and went up the stairs. At the first landing, Hank Dugdale and two of his gorilla-like friends were standing with their backs against the wall. Henry or Hank as the kids called him was six two and muscle-bound. He had dirty blond hair and muddy brown eyes. His nose looked like it had been broken at least twice and his hands were the biggest she had ever seen. He was her age, but he looked a lot older.
She was brought up short by the sight of them and as her heart began to pound, Hank said, "Hey there beautiful!"
His friends pushed away from the wall and took up position around her.
"Get lost creep!" She said, trying to sound more confident and un-afraid than she felt.
"Now… that's no way to talk, why don't you let me take you out this weekend? I can show you how to talk to me." He ran a finger down her bare arm.
"Get your hands off her?" David's furious voice suddenly came from behind them.
"Or what Randall... are you going to take on all of us?" Hank smirked; Lisa whirled around and saw three of David's friends join him from around the corner.
"No, but we're four against three, you want to take those odds." David crossed his arms over his chest and gave Hank a dirty look.
"Come here Lisa," David said. She pushed through the gorillas and ran down to David. He put an arm around her, and she was too relieved to be embarrassed at the embrace.
"Don't even think about touching her again, do you understand me?" David sneered at Hank.
"Your friends won't always be around Randall." Hank shot back with a little less bravado.
"That's true… but if you don't back off and any of us gets hurt you'll have the FBI on your ass so fast you won't know what hit you." David turned and walked away still holding on to Lisa. His friends followed them all the way to her first class.
"You okay?" He asked, concern entering his eyes for the first time since the confrontation with Hank.
"Yeah, thanks David."
"I really like you Lisa and I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you." His arm was still around her shoulder and it tightened as he spoke.
"I like you too David." She found herself able to look him in the eye for the first time.
"I… If you don't hate guys now, would you like to go a baseball game with me on Saturday?"
"Sure, I suppose not all guys are bad." She said cheekily and he grinned at her making her blush again. She pulled away from his arm and dug a pencil and piece of paper out of her bag. She wrote down her cell number and gave it to him.
"Call me." She said and she walked away to her classroom door.