Title: Matters of the Universe: Shades of Envy (Part 7 of 15)
Author: Trista Groulx aka dustytiger
Rating: T (same as the show to be safe)
Disclaimer: I still do not own CM, it's a pitty really, it belongs to many people, writers, directors, actors, actresses, creators, network types none of whom are me. I also do not own the quotes at the beginning. They belong to the people who wrote and preform them, and likely SOCAN as well.
Summary: Reid and Prentiss meet in a bar one night before she joins the team, but things don't go how she plans. What happens when they have to work together?
Notes: The prompt for this one was Reid sees Prentiss being hit on by a Local Enforcement Officer and doesn't like it.' So this is where I went with it... Thank you as always for the reviews and support.

"You came around, Your hands did all the talking, As you sat me down, For a bittersweet reminder, You heard me, I shouted, I'd never allow it, 'Cause maybe I'm naïve, But I'm not fucking stupid, And still, with all this overkill, And bitterness instilled, My heart's left unfulfilled, But I'm not jaded." Melissa Mcclelland (Jaded)

Reid hadn't realised before how much of slap in the face it was to watch someone he cared about getting hit on by another person. It had been three weeks since Lila's unexpected visit, and their relationship was now past the point of being only friends, but they still hadn't told anyone about the relationship. Everything was too new, and too uncertain. Reid had had to spend the day watching as one of the local law enforcement offers relentlessly pursued her as they worked their latest case. He understood why she didn't want to say she was seeing someone but it was getting tiresome to listen to the agent. Reid honestly didn't know what Prentiss could see in him, the officer who was hitting on her was much more suave and had that GQ look to him.

Reid realised he had probably had more coffee breaks than he had ever had one any case before. Each time he would get a coffee he'd bring one back for Prentiss, but never for the officer who had been hitting on her. Prentiss seemed appreciative of the gesture but as the day wore on she seemed more and more annoyed with Reid. He knew he was doing something wrong but he wasn't sure what; it would be a bad idea to try confront the officer so all he could think of to do was get away from the situation before he did something wrong. Reid wasn't the kind of person who fought with anyone and he knew that he started something with the officer the team would know that his intentions toward Prentiss were more than friendly.

Prentiss had tried to be diplomatic all day at work but it hadn't been easy. One of the officers the team had been working with had been hitting on her the whole day. She was sick of it and even more tired of Reid leaving the room every time it happened. She knew they were keeping their relationship between them, but she hadn't expected him to act like that. It was almost like he didn't care that someone else was hitting on her. She thought things were finally starting to progress well between the two of them until this had happened that day. She still worried about dating someone younger than her, especially since he didn't have a lot of experience dating seriously. She knew they hadn't professed their love for one another but she thought she meant something to him, but after the way he acted she wondered if he really felt the same way.

When she got to her room that night all she wanted was to relax. She didn't want to deal with anything or anyone. She had changed into her pajamas as soon as she got to the hotel room, hoping to have a relaxing night of reading. She pulled her hair up into a sloppy bun to keep it out of the way while she read. She was just about to curl up in the hotel bed with her new book when she heard knocking at the door. She sighed and pulled on a bathrobe before going to the door. She growled seeing Reid standing there holding a coffee cup and a bag with some kind of pastry in it.

"What?" she barked.

Reid sighed, offering the items in his hand. "I deserve that. I'm sorry Emily."

"Do you even know what you're sorry for?"

"Yes, for leaving the room whenever Jones would talk to you."

"Talk to me?" she asked. "He was doing a hell of a lot more then talking!"

"I'm sorry. I just – I couldn't listen anymore. I wanted to say something that would make him stop, but I wasn't sure what I should say."

"I'm sure you could have thought of something, Reid."

He cringed hearing her call him that, she hadn't called him Reid when they were alone in weeks. Sometimes she would call him Doctor Reid if he'd beat her in a game but they always used their first names in private. He knew he'd gone about everything the wrong way, and he needed to do something to fix it. He knew he should tell her the truth, so far when he'd done something wrong being honest with her had helped the situation. But he was still embarrassed by the fact that he was still having so much trouble learning how to act in a relationship.

"I somehow think that she has a boyfriend and he happens to be in the room would not have been the best choice since we haven't told anyone the truth about us yet," Reid reasoned.

"I suppose not, but I hate keeping this quiet," she sighed.

"I know, I want to tell a few people about what's going on between us as well. But do you think we are ready to tell the team now?"

"I don't know. I don't think so, Spencer."

"Then what was I supposed to do? I couldn't sit there and listen to him speak to you like that, and I couldn't tell him the truth because that would involve too much explaining to our superiors. I didn't know what to do in the situation. "

"So leaving me alone with him seemed like the best solution?"

"It seemed like the only solution if I wasn't going to let the cat out of the bag. I would think that if he was bothering you that much you would have gone through official channels of complaint. Also you have more experience in those matters so I assumed you have ways of deflecting the attention."

"Why do you think I would have experience in this?"

He shrugged. "Because you're beautiful, and a man would have to be blind not to notice you."

"You certainly know how to defuse a woman's anger."

"I was being sincere. Emily I am sorry for the way I acted, but this is all new to me, and there are no books to help me learn how to deal with any given situation we end up in."

"I know, and thank you for being honest about this, all of this, but that doesn't make what happened today any easier. I'll talk to Hotch tomorrow about me not working with Jones anymore."

"I think that would be best. I'm sorry that I left you alone with him, if I thought there might be a better solution I would have tried."

"I know, today just sucked."

"I'm sorry."

She sighed, and shook her head. "You really are one of the good ones Spencer, you did what you thought you had to do. I just want things to be easier for us."

"I want that too," he assured her, pulling her into a hug. "But right now it's best if everyone just thinks we're friends."

"I know."

"Do you want to hear something funny, well not funny exactly, but it seems to be the best word I can think of."

"Sure."

"I don't think I've ever been jealous before. I've never had a reason to be. I thought at first that you might be more interested in Jones, and then the more he spoke the more I needed to get away."

"I felt the same way. Guys like that are a dime a dozen, and when I was younger I would have been interested, but now I want something more than that. I want a man who I'm attracted to, who I can be geeky around without being embarrassed about it, and who I can have a real conversation with; even if he can get carried away with himself sometimes."

"Really?"

"Yes, really, Spencer, now you mentioned something about my being beautiful before."

"You are."

He leaned in and kissed her softly, and she relaxed into the embrace. He ran his hand down her back finally resting on her ass, pulling her closer to him. She moaned softly into his mouth which only encouraged him. It amazed her how this man could get her into a frenzy so quickly only barely touching her. This was one of their most intimate embraces, and as much as her body was telling her she wanted more she knew she had to stop him. She knew that this wasn't the time nor place for their relationship to change in a way neither of them would be able to go back on.

She knew once she got this man into her bed she would not be able to let him go. It had been longer than she wanted to admit since she had been with a man. She knew that if they ended up together she would want to lay next to him the rest of the night, hearing him breathing so that she would know that this time things would end up different. If they went further that night he would have to end up in his own room at some point and she didn't want that.

"You're getting better at this, Doctor Reid," she whispered when she finally felt the need to pull away from him. "But are you forgetting we're on a case?"

"I have an eidetic memory, I don't forget anything, but I hoped we could overlook it for a moment longer," he told her.

"If we do go public this isn't the way to do it, you know that."

He nodded. "I do, I should go back to my room."

"That might be for the best."

"When we get home…"

"I'll follow you home so we can continue this."

"All right."

Reid then left her room leaving her standing here wondering what might happen when they got back from the case. She knew there was not turning back from what they had just shared. She knew when they got back their relationship would change forever and she knew that that's what she wanted. For the first time in a long time she knew she wanted a future with someone and that person was the socially awkward genius she had met not even a month before.

End Part 7

Notes: I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I hope you enjoyed it.