Two Minds & All the Places They Have Been
Chapter Eight / On Two Feet
Things became a little more stable in the apartment. Zyla finally accepted that yes, she needed help, and Spencer helped her through it. She decided to journal and draw to try and help her go through her thoughts, and with that and talking to Spencer, it was actually kind of working. She still had nightmares and triggered panic attacks, and probably still drank a little too much, but it became easier to deal with now that she didn't have to bottle it up and bear it alone.
Somewhat of a routine started to be between the two. Spencer went back to work and had the occasional weekend or day off. Zyla would get up and go for a run, spend some time reading, writing, or drawing, then continue her time lengthily job hunting. So far she hadn't found much of anything with her qualifications (in many places she was very overqualified), and there wasn't many job positions in the FBI she wanted. It was all very frustrating and stressful.
Zyla woke up later than usual. She had hardly gotten any sleep that night from repeatedly waking up and fitfully sleeping, and she felt exhausted. She dragged herself out of bed and went on a hellish run anyway around the park, feeling only slightly more energized than before. After she showered, she decided to pay Spencer a visit, so she bought him lunch on the way and made her way through the BAU security.
She had only brought him lunch a couple of times, but a few people in the building who recognized her smiled at her as she walked by. Getting to the main floor, she noticed it was busy as usual, but Spencer was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, she continued to look around, realizing that none of the team were in there.
"Zyla? What are you doing here?" a woman asked behind her. Zyla turned and was almost taken aback by how much color she was being attacked with from this woman and she immediately recognized her as Penelope Garcia, the team's techie. Getting past the blinding overwhelming color she was first faced with, Zyla smiled at her. She had only briefly met Penelope once before, but she grew an instant liking to her, as she had with the others on the team that she had only briefly met.
"I came to bring Spence lunch, but no one's here." she explained. "Yeah, they just left to board the plane. They have a case in Cleveland." Penelope told her. Zyla frowned again. Spencer hadn't told her about another case, and he hadn't called her yet.
Just as she finished that thought, her phone began to rang. She gave Penelope a look, rolling her eyes, when she realized it was Spencer. She told her to hold a minute, and answered it. "Hey, Zy, it's me. We just got a case in Cleveland, it'll probably be a couple days."
"Yeah, I heard." she sighed, her voice sounding slightly amused. "What? How did you know that we got a case, we just boarded the plane." he exclaimed. Zyla laughed slightly. "I'm here at the BAU. The one time I try to be a good girlfriend and bring you lunch, you board a plane for Cleveland. What a typical guy."
Spencer, on the other end, had turned somewhat red at her mention of "his girlfriend". His stomach fluttered like he was still in high school, and he laughed at her lighthearted sarcasm. "Sorry I couldn't be more original for you. I'll make it up to you when I get back." he said, staring out the window as the plane began to move. He quieted his voice, knowing that his teammates can get nosy.
"I'll hold you to that," she smiled. "Stay safe. Get all the villains for me." Spencer laughed again. "Villains? Since when did I become Superman?" Zyla smiled softly, and was suddenly reminded of the little boy she saved from bullies. She remembered the genius who always one-upped her, but would always buy her her favorite candy after he would because he felt too bad. She remembered the man who fought back against Andrew and protected her when she needed him to. She remembered her best friend throughout years and the person she fell in love with when she was a kid. "You were always Superman, Spence," she responded softly, still smiling slightly. A moment of silence was heard from the other end. "See you back at home."
"Yeah," he finally said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. They hung up, and she turned back to Penelope, who was grinning so hard Zyla thought her cheeks might crack. Zyla stared at her with scrunched eyebrows. "What?" she asked. Garcia just kept smiling, and she asked again.
"It's just.. you guys are so adorable! You two are more adorable than my cat, and that's saying something." she gushed. Zyla laughed at her happiness. "What? We're adorable? Since when?" she joked, laughing. "Two two are cuter than Brad and Angelina, I swear," Penelope laughed. At this, Zyla paused, confused. "Wait, who?"
Penelope actually gasped. "Really? You've never heard of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Like, ever? You're more like Reid than I thought- come with me," with this, she grabbed her and began dragging Zyla unceremoniously to her office. Zyla, amused at her antics, kept up with her up to her cave where Penelope burst in and began searching the web for all things Brad and Angelina.
At some point during the lesson, Penelope began teaching her about all the other important famous people ("Wait, why are the Kardashians famous again?") and the amazing world of social media. While on the run, Zyla never tuned into news or anything like that, and she didn't care much about it even before that, but she found the intensity of Penelope's excitement about it very amusing. They bonded over Penelope's social and technical world, stories from Zyla, and they both began eating the lunch Zyla bought for Spencer, seeing it was going to go to waste anyway since he wasn't there.
"-so I had gotten lost downtown at some point in the night and ended up God knows where in the middle of the city, and it's about three o'clock in the morning at this point and I've tried calling Spencer and my mom and nobody answers and I don't have any money for a cab. Somehow I ended up in the casino playing this guy who was trying to sell me drugs and I stole like a hundred dollars from him or something, and then I tried to get back home. Anyway, long story short, I ended up getting into a fight with him and the drugs spill everywhere and the cops arrest the both of us-" she was interrupted by Penelope's computers ringing, signaling a video call. Each were still laughing slightly, Penelope mostly in shock and slight disbelief, when she answered it.
"Hello, crime fighters, what have you got for me?" she asked, but was dismissed at first when the team realized that Zyla was in the background, getting ready to leave.
"What are you doing there?" Spencer asked. "Pen and I ate the lunch you abandoned and I learned about something called Justin Bieber," she said simply, smiling widely. She walked out the door saying her goodbyes. Behind her, she could hear Spencer ask who that was, and she began laughing again.
Zyla stopped by a cafe on her way back, deciding to take a walk around the park as it was a nice day. As she finished paying, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. A scraggly-looking guy was grinning at her widely, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a coffee cup in his hand. His hair was sticking up in a messy sort of way, and a scruffy beard made his jawline and cheekbones more pronounced. He was wearing a stained white t-shirt, rugged denim jeans, and silver dog-tags around his neck. It took Zyla a moment to recognize her old friend, but when she did, her face broke open into a laughing grin and the two hugged tightly.
"Seb, I can't believe you're here!" she exclaimed, happy.
He smelled like old cigarettes and liquor, but there was the smell of laundry detergent and citrus underneath that. Zyla pulled back, amazed that she had found her old friend in Quantico, of all places.
"Here to see you, sunshine," he smirked. At her confused look, he laughed and booped her nose, like an older brother-like way. His laughter was like a deep chuckle, and it sounded friendly and familiar. She smiled back at him. "I own the bail bonds place down the street, been here for a few months now. Decided to move up in the world. What about you? Why are you here in the great town of Quantico, Virginia?"
As the two started walking through the park, she told him everything that had happened since they had last met two years ago. Running from Andrew, finding Spencer again, Andrew being arrested, and now she was living with Spencer and desperately trying to put everything behind her.
After she had finished, Seb didn't say much. "Well, shit, sunshine." he stated, slight bewilderment in his smirk, taking his cigarette out of his mouth with two fingers and stomping on it. Zyla rolled her eyes at his blunt statement, but her lips curved up in an amused smile. "You've been through a right whole mess, haven't you?"
Zyla sighed, watching the people in the park mill around as they slowly walked. "Well, you know. I've always seemed to have a knack for trouble, as Spencer would say," she squinted at Seb through the sunlight. "Now if only that trouble could do something useful, like find me a job. I've been trying forever."
A moment's pause, then, "Come work for me."
Zyla actually stopped, turning to face him, eyebrows raised. "What, really? You want me to be a bounty hunter or something? You do realize that I have two PhDs and I'm an FBI graduate."
"Oh, c'mon, Zy, if you wanted to work for those suits then you would be. Come work for me and you'll be having loads more fun, and you'll get to see this pretty face every day." he grinned. Zyla rolled her eyes again, but then actually started considering it. It wouldn't be that bad, would it? She didn't want to do it the rest of her life, but it could be good for a while. She really needed a job. She was certainly qualified enough, and she would be able to see Seb more.
"Not to mention that you're currently unemployed right now." he chimed, interrupting her thoughts. She chuckled and playfully hit his arm. She bit her lip in thought, then slowly started nodding. "Okay, maybe. I'll think about it, alright?"
Seb grinned even wider, laughing in victory. They exchanged numbers and hugged goodbye, Zyla telling him that this was not a yes, it was a maybe. He continued to grin, because he knew that she would eventually succumb and call him. She went back to her lonely apartment, his job offer still on her mind, even when she said goodnight to Spencer and went to sleep.
Sebastian Prince hadn't gotten much sleep that night. He usually didn't anyway, but he couldn't get his exchange with Zyla out of his mind. They had become quite close in the short time they spent together, and he had to admit that he had developed feelings for her at the start. How couldn't he? She was gorgeous, brilliant, and hilarious. She was a great friend to him in a time of need, and vise versa.
But she was quite clear for her feelings for Spencer, so Seb never acted on his feelings, and he got over it after she left. He had briefly moved onto her, but even she left in the end.
He ran a hand through his scraggly hair, setting a cigarette between his lips and lighting it as he sighed, blowing smoke into his dim bedroom. He couldn't think about that now. The clock on the bedside table ticked on into the early morning, sun rays peeking through his blinds as it rose in the sky. He finished his cigarette slowly, enjoying the silence of his apartment as the day began to start.
At around eight in the morning, his phone began to ring, snapping him out of his exhausted trance. He grinned when he saw Zyla's name, knowing that she would accept his offer. After all, he was irresistible.
"Good morning, sunshine. Did you have a good rest, sleeping beauty?"
Zyla chuckled on the other end, still half-asleep from recently waking up. She was currently curled on the couch with a cup of coffee, having mulled over her and Seb's meet up the previous day for about half an hour before she made up her mind and decided to call him. "Wonderful, Prince Charming. And yours?"
"Even better now that you've called. Anything you've decided? Want to share with the class?"
"Alright, alright, I get it, okay? I'll take it. I'll take the job, but only because I need one, alright?"
Sebastian laughed in victory, grinning. "Keep telling yourself that, sunshine."
Zyla chuckled again, fighting back a yawn as her stomach growled. "I've gotta go. Need to call Spence to tell him the good news," she paused for a second. "Thank you, Seb. Really."
Sebastian smiled. It's true that he didn't have feelings for her anymore, but damn, she could still make him smile so easily.
"Don't mention it. I have a rep to maintain. You start on Monday, sunshine."
A/N: Again, I am sorry for the long period between updates! With everything going on, it gets hard to try to find a good time to write. I'm not going to promise anything about the next update, but hopefully it should be relatively soon. I hope you aren't finding this story too boring for now; I do have big plans in the future! By the way, my face claim for Sebastian is Robert Pattinson (more specifically, from his role in "Remember Me").
Reviews are always fully appreciated and responded to. Thank you for your patience and support.
