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A Conversation with Dr Reid

Reid sat just outside SC Strauss's office. His right leg bounced up and down as he stared at the wall directly across from his seat. There was a portrait of the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hanging right in his line of sight. Secretary Clinton's face faded away as he stared at it, and was replaced with Emily's face. It was the same face in her portrait on the wall outside the BAU.

He stopped to look her picture everyday even though he couldn't forget it with his eidetic memory. How he wished he could extract her face from his head.

He didn't know he was smiling or that one of his long fingers was tapping his thigh as imagined exactly what she would say if she were here and about to interrogated by Strauss.

"Don't let her get to you Reid."

Her voice in his head didn't surprise him. He'd never forget it. It seemed to come back with what he called "Emily Wisdom," when he needed it.

"I miss you." He answered just as he always did when she spoke up in his head.

"Pay attention... She wants to split up the team."

He sighed, his eyes glued on her face staring back at him. The picture didn't move like magical pictures in a Harry Potter book even though he wished she could move. It was too bad. If the photo could move, than maybe Emily could draw him into where she was and he'd have his friend back again without all the blood and horror.

"Dr Reid…"

A very irritated voice finally pierced his total concentration. Someone was touching his shoulder and his headache was back in full force. He flinched away from the touching hand and looked up to see Strauss standing there staring at him like he was a squashed bug on her shoe.

"I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes. I don't like to be kept waiting."

"Sorry ma'am…" He grabbed his bag and hitched it onto his shoulder.

She turned and went back into her office. "Sit down…"

He took one chair to the right of her desk so that he faced her obliquely. He could see part of a framed photograph turned to him. He couldn't see if it was a person or something else.

"Dr. Reid…" She perched her glasses on her nose and stared at him. "I'm sure you've been expecting this summons."

"Yes ma'am."

"Do you know why you're here?"

He flicked his eye up to her. "Hotch said someone overheard an agent speaking about the team in a less then flattering way."

"Yes… I'm curious -"

"Excuse me for interrupting." He interjected. "I'd like to ask you a question."

"Go on," She said, the irritated edge returning to her voice.

"I'm confused why you'd call us in one by one on the strength of a rumor. I'm sure whoever spoke out of turn was just expressing their opinion. Did you know that most people gossip because they envy something that someone else has? Jealousy is a powerful thing."

"I'm aware of that Dr. Reid." She took off her glasses again. "I didn't ask you in here to hear a lecture on gossip. When I hear these kinds of rumors and gossip as you call it, I have to look into it."

"I realize that ma'am. I'm simply saying that you should take it all with a grain of salt unless you don't trust us."

"Trust isn't the issue here, Dr. Reid."

The ever-increasing anger in her tone and her eyes confused him. Why was she so mad at him? What did she want from him?

"I think it is." He said despite her anger. "If you trusted us, you'd name your source."

"I'm not going to argue with you about names. I'm more concerned about the kind of relationship you had with Agent Prentiss."

"I'm not sure what you mean ma'am. Emily was my friend. She was a member of my team and like an older sister in some ways."

Strauss tapped the end of her gold pen on a file folder lying on her desk. He watched the pen thump up and down and counted the times, it hit the file.

"Did you have an inappropriate relationship with Agent Prentiss?"

"Again ma'am, I'm not sure what you mean by inappropriate." He said as he counted the taps of her pen. She was up to one hundred and nine taps.

"Do you mean… did we ride home together on the train every night and talk? Are you referring to the fact that we played cards for pretzels on the jet after almost every case? We went to a couple of movies together on the weekends. She liked foreign films, especially Italian and Russian. Are you wondering if we sat in the back and made out like a couple of teenagers?"

"Dr. Reid… You know what I'm referring to when I ask." The tapping of her pen had increased, but he followed it without trouble. He counted up to three hundred and fifty-seven.

"No ma'am… I'm not sure what you mean. Perhaps you had better just say it outright. I'm very literal minded. I might misunderstand your meaning."

The pen tapped so fast it was a blur. Pain stabbed his head and he lost count, but didn't drop his eyes from watching it move.

"I'm not in the mood for games Dr. Reid." She said testily, and then dropped the pen on the file folder. It rolled off, onto her desk and down to the hard plastic mat under her chair. She didn't move to pick it up.

"I'm asking you if you had an intimate relationship with Agent Prentiss."

"Yes…" He said, staring at the photo on her desk again. "If you mean that we told each other everything."

Except for one very important thing.

He ignored the voice in his head and finally raised his eyes to SC Strauss's face. "We trusted each other implicitly. Did I love her? Yes, I did, as my best friend and a member of my family.

"That's not what I meant… Did you have a sexual relationship with Agent Prentiss?"

"No!"

Her eyes told him that she didn't believe him.

"Why don't you tell me about the case in Miami?"

His eyes flicked up to her face at the change in topic. "What, specifically, do you want to know? You can find everything in the case file."

"I'm fast losing my patience Dr. Reid."

"I'm sorry ma'am… If you give me specifics I can speak to it."

"The fact that you went into a private home without your vest, where you knew there was an armed suspect, is something that should have been in all your reports. Why isn't it there?"

"I don't know ma'am."

"You are perilously close to insubordination. I will not tolerate -"

"I'm not feeling particularly well ma'am. I'm going to take the rest of the day off." He grabbed his bag and stood up.

"Dr. Reid… I'm not finished."

"I really have to go. You can't keep me here if I tell you I need sick time ma'am."

"I know the rules. Go on… Don't turn off your phone." She commanded.

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"How did you find out it was Seaver?" Hotch asked.

Rossi threw himself into one of the chairs across from Hotch. "I have friends in high places too. Let's say that one of my contacts watches Strauss's spy. Unfortunately, she didn't get the intel on what happened until it was too late to stop Strauss.

"How do you think we could do that?"

Rossi smiled tightly. "I told you I know where some of the skeletons are in Strauss's closet. I've been waiting for the perfect time to use them."

Hotch didn't respond for a long time. Rossi watched him carefully wondering if this was going to be the final straw for Hotch.

"What exactly did she say?"

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Ashley Seaver knocked on Hotch's door. Her heart thudded in her chest. Was she the next to be summoned into Strauss's office?"

"Come in."

The brittle tone in Hotch's voice didn't surprise her. What did surprise her was David Rossi sitting there looking like someone had told him Italy had stopped making pasta.

"Sit down…" Hotch ordered and his voice had taken on artic tones.

"Yes sir." She sat down even though she wanted to run far away.

He looked up at her and she flinched away from the burn in them. "I'm told it was you who spoke out of school about the team."

"Sir… I don't understand what you mean."

She flicked her eyes over to Rossi as though for help. She didn't find it. Rossi was looking at her as though she'd betrayed him on some deep level.

"Agent Seaver… Please look at me when I talk to you."

She yanked her eyes back to Hotch's stony gaze. "I gave you a chance with the BAU because I saw true potential in you."

"Sir… I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I didn't say anything about the team."

"Ashley…"

She couldn't make her eyes go back to Rossi because he sounded like she'd bruised his heart and she couldn't stand it.

"Tell us what happened in the bar two nights ago."

She stiffened. How did they know about the bar?

"Agent Seaver?"

"I met a friend there for a little post graduation celebration. We had a couple of drinks and we talked. We took a cab to her place for snacks and more drinks. I got a little drunk."

"Drunk enough that you don't remember trashing the team." Rossi said.

She looked back and forth between them. Was it possible she'd said something that could ruin everything for her?

"I don't remember." She said honestly. "I guess I got a little more smashed then I thought."

"You were overheard giving your opinion on everything from Reid's behavior to Garcia and Morgan." Rossi said.

"I'm sorry… I really didn't mean to say anything derogatory about the members of this team. I know how lucky I am to be here and I wouldn't do anything to ruin it." She blinked hard against the tears in her eyes.

"I know you wouldn't," Rossi said gravelly. "However, the damage is done. Strauss knows all about and has drawn her own conclusions."

"I'm so sorry."

Hotch sat back in his chair. "It's important that I trust my team members implicitly. Questions have been raised and will have to be answered. I want you to go back to the conference room and stay there until I hear from Strauss. At that time we'll take about your future with this team."