2007 - Quantico, Virginia:
Finishing the current file he was working on, SSA Spencer Reid closed the folder. Reaching his hands up over his head, he stretched, loosening the stiff muscles of his shoulders. Bringing his arms down he glanced at his watch. It was almost five o'clock on a Friday. Almost time for them to call it a day and head home.
Placing the file on top of the others that were completed, Reid got to his feet. Though Morgan hadn't asked him if he was okay since that morning, he knew his friend. Reid had no doubt that Morgan would make another attempt at it before he headed out of the office. Hoping to avoid that, Reid got to his feet and walking past Morgan and Prentiss' desks headed to the upper level of the room, toward JJ's office.
Reaching the media liaison's office, Reid knocked on the metal doorframe as the door was open. JJ looked up from her computer screen. As usual, piles of files were stacked in various places around the office, five stacks on her desk alone. To his surprise, JJ didn't have a file open on her desk.
"Hey, Spence," JJ said, motioning for him to come into the office. "What can I do for you?"
"Nothing, really," Reid replied, with a shrug of his shoulders, as he took a couple of steps into the room. "I just reached a good stopping point for the day and thought I'd drop by. Are you busy?"
"For a change no," JJ replied, having been told by Hotch that under no circumstances was she to stay late tonight, she had decided ten minutes ago not to open another file, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stop in the middle of it.
The whole team had been pushing themselves lately, what with Gideon's abrupt departure, Strauss attempts to break up the team, and getting use to a new team member. Their unit chief had told them this morning that he wanted them to all enjoy their weekend because they deserved some time to themselves. He had later paid a personal visit to his media liaison, knowing that she often put in just as many hours as himself, staying late and arriving early. Her response to his request that she left on time was to make him promise the same thing and she intended to see that he did. Of course, as well as she knew Hotch, she knew he would probably end up taking work home with him.
"Have a seat," she told her friend, indicating the chair across from her. She had a feeling the young genius did indeed have something on his mind. At the same time, she knew that getting him to talk about it might take some finesse. Saving the email she had been composing to Will LaMontange, she logged out of her email.
Looking up, she noticed Reid absently rearranging the pens in the cup that sat by her computer screen. JJ leaned back in her high-backed black chair.
"Got any plans for this weekend?" JJ asked, figuring the best way to go about things was to get him talking and then narrow in on what it really was that had brought him to her office.
"Not really, though I am coming up on a deadline for an article for the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. I'll probably try to work on that."
"I thought Hotch told us to relax this weekend?"
Reid shrugged. "Writing can be relaxing. Besides, it's not like I have a whole lot of friends I could call up and make plans with."
JJ cringed inwardly. No one knew better than JJ just how few friends Spencer had outside of the team. It hadn't been her intent to remind him of that fact. She wanted to suggest they do something together but she was hoping Will would have some free time that would make a trip down to New Orleans for a night worthwhile. As she hadn't told anyone on the team that she had been keeping in touch with Will LaMontange since their case in The Big Easy, she couldn't very well tell Reid that or invite him along with her.
"And what would this article be about?"
"A study I've been doing about whether juvenile detention centers truly rehabilitate children like they are intended to or is it really just a punishment. The data I've collected is really quite interesting."
"You'll need to let me know when it comes out so I can read it," JJ told him quickly, wanting to show interest but really not wanting to hear a lecture on the subject right before the end of a workday right before a weekend off.
"I will," Reid told her, smiling. Morgan and Prentiss had both been coming up with excuses that they needed to be elsewhere whenever he brought the subject of his paper. It didn't take him long to figure out that they really just weren't interested.
There was a pause and silence filled the air. As close as JJ and Reid were, the silence was an easy and comfortable one. Still moving the pens around in the cup, Reid thought over how to best segue into the topic that he was hoping to discuss with JJ. At the very least, he knew that the blonde media liaison would not laugh at him even if she didn't have any advice on how he should proceed.
"JJ, what do you think of Agent Rossi?" Reid finally asked, letting go of a pen he had been holding, and letting it fall to the side of the cup.
"Where did that come from?"
"Just curious," Reid replied, plucking a pen from the cup and spinning it, while holding it between his thumbs and forefinger. He watched the pen instead of looking up at JJ.
"Well, I feel it's an honor to be able to work with him. Hearing him at a book reading was what led me to join the FBI. I just found it so inspiring but as he was retired, I figured I would never get a chance to work with him, and it seems unreal sometimes that I am. He isn't exactly what I thought he would be like, though I think we'll all learn a lot from working with him. Despite the rough start he had with the team, I think he's starting to get the hang of how things work around here."
JJ paused, expecting Reid to say something. Maybe even explain the reason he had asked the question in the first place. When he didn't offer an explanation, she spoke again.
"Feeling a little let down about meeting your idol in real life?" she asked, half jokingly. She knew Reid was a huge fan of Rossi and his books, a fact that he didn't exactly keep secret.
"Maybe a little. He hasn't exactly seemed open to the conversations I've started with him, but I guess I should be use to that by now," Reid replied, as he managed to spin the pen out of his fingers. The pen fell on the edge of the desk and then bounced down to the floor.
"Maybe you're trying too hard, Spence," JJ commented, as the young profiler leaned over to retrieve the pen.
Reid returned the pen to the cup and then crossed his arms across himself. "Maybe. Social graces aren't exactly my forte. Still, I sometimes get the feeling that he doesn't really like me."
"It's not that he doesn't like you, Spence, but more that he doesn't quite yet know what to make of you yet. You're not exactly a typical FBI agent."
"I'm not a typical anything," Reid replied. "I've only ever felt like I belonged three times in my life. My mother, despite her disease, always made me feel that way and, yeah it took a little while, but I feel like I belong with this team, well at least until recently. Now I'm not so sure."
"You do belong with this team. You're a very special part of this team and that hasn't changed now that Rossi is here," JJ told him, wishing he was a little closer to her so she could give him a hug or even pat his shoulder. "What was the third time?"
"What?"
"You said you felt like you belonged three times, but you only named two times," JJ pointed out. "So, what aren't you telling me, Spence?"
At the question, JJ noticed her friend's face flush. She had a feeling she had hit on the real reason he had come into the office.
"The third time was when I was at Caltech. I had met this girl and we were sort of dating."
"There is no such thing as sort of dating. You either were or you weren't."
"I guess you could say we were a couple though it was casual. She was kind of reluctant to be in a relationship and well, you know from experience what being out on a 'date' with me can be like."
"Don't sell yourself short, Spence. You're a great guy and one day you're going to find the right girl for you who is going to realize that." JJ paused but when Reid didn't reply she asked another question. "What happened between the two of you?"
"Our careers. I came out East for the FBI academy while she was finishing up at Caltech. Following graduation she joined the Coast Guard. We've stayed in touch but she's never shown any interest in a long distance relationship."
"What about you? Did you ever express to her any interest in pursuing the relationship?"
Reid shrugged his shoulders. "I always thought the relationship was hard enough when we were in the same city. Always felt like I was in over my head. That at any moment she would wake up and realize she could have any guy she wanted and they would all be a better choice than me."
"There you go selling yourself short again. You've got a lot to offer and any woman who can't see that isn't worth it."
Reid ducked his head in embarrassment.
"The fact that she's kept in touch gives me the impression that she's still interested," JJ told him, continuing with her advice even though he wasn't directly asking for it. Something told her that was what she had come into her office for, even if he couldn't bring himself to say so. "How long distance are we talking about?"
"Well, she's been serving up in Kodiak, Alaska. However, she sent me a message this morning that she's being transferred to D.C."
JJ smiled and nodded her head. "Seems to me she's implying that she's interested in getting back together with you."
"You haven't even met her."
It was JJ's turn to shrug her shoulders. "It's a woman intuition thing."
"Yeah, well I'm suddenly wondering if pursuing any type of a relationship is really a wise thing for me to do."
"And why is that?"
"I know a lot about both of her parents, especially her father. Knew she was closer to him than her mother. Knew that she had kept his last name and what he did. I just never put two and two together and now it just seems so obvious. I should've have realized it before."
"Realized what, Spence?" JJ asked, suddenly feeling completely lost.
"She's Rossi's daughter."
"Really!" JJ said sitting up. "I didn't even realize Rossi had a daughter. Are you sure?"
"Yes. I asked. He's got a picture of her in his office. A picture that I took back when we were in LA. Even if we could figure out how to make things work, how am I ever going to be able to face Agent Rossi. He already doesn't like me. If he finds out I ever dated his daughter he's probably going to hate me more and with us all in the same city, he's going to find out."
"Relax. You're over reacting."
"Overreacting! The guy carries at least one gun!" Reid told her.
JJ bit her lower lip to keep herself from laughing. She really felt that he was worrying for nothing, but trying to convince him of that was the trick.
"Agent Rossi isn't going to shoot you," JJ said calmly, while managing to keep a straight face. Showing her amusement wasn't going to help the situation any. "And who knows, maybe he already knows you dated his daughter at one time. Just because you didn't make the connection doesn't mean he didn't."
"Great, maybe that's why he already hates me."
JJ got to her feet and leaned across her desk. Careful not to knock over any of the stacks of files, she rested her hand on one of Reid's folded arms she looked straight at him. "You are reading things into this situation that is not there. Don't let that cloud your judgement. This girl, whoever she is, must still be interested on some level or she would not have told you about the transfer. Maybe the two of you will be able to work something out and maybe you won't but whatever the outcome, let it be between the two of you. Don't make a decision based on how you think someone else is going to react."
"I'm scared," Reid admitted softly.
"Love can do that to a person," JJ replied, as she sat back down in her chair. She thought about Will, the New Orleans detective she had met awhile back. She had never met someone who intrigued her the way he did. Who was such a gentleman and the perfect combination of strength and tenderness. Yet the idea of caring about someone, of being dependent on someone like that, scared the hell out of her. The distance between them gave her a sense of security which was the only thing keeping her from running as fast as she could away from a relationship with the Cajun.
Before either of them could say anything else, there was a knock at the door. Both JJ and Reid looked toward the door to find their unit chief standing in the doorway.
"Just dropping by to let you know that I'm upholding my end of the bargain by heading for home. You should do the same."
"Right," JJ replied with a smile. "I'll be leaving shortly and I promise, I won't be working on anything," the blonde told him. She waved her hands over her desk. "See, no files opened."
"Good. You both enjoy your weekend," Hotch said, with a slight nod. Both JJ and Reid bid him good-bye as he left the doorway and headed in the direction of the elevators.
Reid turned his head to look back across the desk at JJ. "What was that about?"
"Hotch wanted to make sure I didn't stay late going through files, and I made him promise the same thing."
"Well, I don't want to be the one to keep you here at the office," Reid commented, getting to his feet.
"Spence, you don't have to leave. If you want to talk, I'm always here for you."
"No, it's fine. I don't want to keep you. A weekend off has been a rarity lately. I'll see you Monday, JJ."
"Okay," JJ said, sensing her friend drawing back into himself. He obviously had decided he had said all he was going to say for now. She made a mental note to call him at least once during their weekend off, just to check up on him. "If you need to talk, don't hesitate to call," she added as Reid approached the door.
"I'll remember that," Reid replied, before he ducked out of the office.
JJ watched Reid head back toward the bullpen. Somehow, it surprised her that Reid had ever had a serious relationship with anyone. He was just so shy and closed off to people so much of the time that she couldn't picture it. She also had her own experience of the football game she had gone to with Reid. It had been fun, and he had been sweet but he also definitely had seemed completely out of his element. Still, if someone were to get past all of that, they would be one lucky person.
~Maybe I need to strike up another conversation with Agent Rossi, ~ JJ thought as she logged back into her email account. ~Casually bring up his daughter and try to get a feel for what she's like myself, ~
Still, that would have to wait until the new week began. Right now, she wanted to finish her email to Will and then head on home, leaving this job and all its horrors behind for the next few days.
Leaving JJ's office, Reid headed back down toward his desk. Prentiss had already left, but to his disappointment, Morgan hadn't. Apparently the trip to JJ's office wasn't going to let him avoid Morgan after all. The dark-skinned profiler wasn't even trying to be subtle about his intent, as he stood leaning against Reid's desk, obviously waiting for him.
"Did you think you could avoid me, Kid?" Morgan asked, as Reid made his way down into the bullpen and toward his desk.
"I just wanted to talk to JJ," Reid replied, not making eye contact with Morgan.
"Yeah, sure," Morgan said, not sounding at all convinced. His eyes watched Reid as he the younger profiler walked past him and pulled out his chair. Reid picked up the messenger bag that had been sitting on the chair and placed the strap over his head, settling it on one shoulder. "Do you have any plans for tonight?"
Reid shrugged his shoulders, still not looking up at Morgan. Instead, he glanced up at Agent Rossi's office. The room was dark, and he assumed that Rossi had already left. Gideon had often stayed late even on a Friday before a weekend off. Reid had lost count of how many times he had ended up staying after hours with Gideon, talking about this or that or even just playing a game of chess. That wouldn't happen any longer.
"Let's go grab something to eat," Morgan suggested, seeing where his friend's gaze had fallen. He knew now was not the time to bring up the subject of what was bothering his friend, but he also wasn't ready to let it go.
"I don't think I'd be very good company," Reid replied, taking his eye's off the office. He pushed the chair back under the desk as he took a step backward away from his desk.
"So what. I think I've got the knack of one-sided conversations down pat from hanging around you," Morgan said lightly, in a joking tone. The words didn't have the intended effect though as he received an unamused look from his friend.
"Reid, what is it, man?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Morgan," Reid replied, stepping away from the desk and turning to head for the set of steps out of the bullpen that were behind him.
To his relief, Morgan didn't try to follow him. To avoid getting stuck in the elevator with Morgan or anyone else who might be on their way out and want to talk, Reid headed for the stairwell. Though it required going down six flights of stairs, it was worth it as he didn't want to talk to anyone right about then.
As he headed for the closest subway station, Reid thought about what JJ had told him about needing to let the relationship between him and Amber be about the two of them and not the reactions of those around him. It made a lot of sense. The relationship was about the two of them. They were the ones who had to live with any decision that was made. Still, he couldn't help but think about how it would affect those around them. People who were just as important in their lives as he and Amber were to each other.
That was one thing that he was sure of, even after these last few years of being apart, Amber was still an important person in his life. They had shared something special once upon a time. She had held out an offer of friendship when so many other people around him had just gone on with their own lives. That friendship had developed into something deeper and though the paths of their lives had taken them in separate directions, what they had didn't mean any less to him now than it did back then. The question was, did Amber feel the same way he did. JJ seemed to think the fact that she had told him about the transfer meant it did and when it came to people, JJ knew more about that subject than he did himself. And there was the fact that it seemed as though she had told him about the transfer before telling her father. Was that just because of sending the text message to him while she had called Agent Rossi or was there something significant about that fact?
Reid continued to analyze the situation as he boarded the train into D.C. Started going through any number of possible scenarios. Trying to anticipate any direction this relationship could probably take. Amber's message had said that she would call him tonight. Reid tried to think of anything she could possibly say and how he should respond to it. This call could be his only chance. His last chance to make something of the relationship he shared with her.
The lingering doubt in his head though was what Agent Rossi was going to think if they did work it out. Would he want a co-worker dating his daughter? Was that why the older agent was so distant when around him or was it something else entirely? Was Agent Rossi still just getting use to the new environment he found himself in or did he just want to keep a distance between himself and the other team members?
Agent Rossi had left the BAU a little before five that evening, stopping by to bid Hotch a good evening as he slipped out. Ever since Amber's call earlier that morning, he had been thinking about the prospect of having his daughter close again. It had been quite awhile since the two of them had been living in the same city, Amber having lived with her mother, Rossi's first wife, most of the time during her childhood. The exception to that had been during Margaret's third marriage.
Margaret had moved away from Commack to Texas, when she had gotten married a second time. He had been with the Marines at the time, and when he could get leaves he had gone to Texas to see his little girl. Despite their differences, the one thing Margaret had never given him a problem with was arranging time for him to spend with Amber, for which he was grateful. As for custody, Rossi had figured for the most part, a girl needed to be with her mother. Not to mention that his job, first with the Marines and then with the FBI, had taken him away so much while Amber was growing up that it was better that Margaret had custody. His first wife's second marriage had only lasted three years but even following her second divorce, Margaret stayed in Texas. It was there that she had met her third husband.
Not long after that wedding, Amber had started talking about wanting to come live with him. Rossi wasn't sure what had prompted the sudden request. Amber had just turned twelve, and he figured that would be a time in her life where she would rather talk to her mother about issues growing up than to talk to her father. At first, he chalked it up to her having problems at school as the requests started coming at the beginning of a new school year.
He had put it off at first because he was struggling to make his own third marriage work, the time he put in at the BAU putting a strain on that relationship. The hours he worked also raised a concern that being that his wife would be home with Amber whenever a case took him out of town, which tended to be quite often. Though Wendy had wanted kids, he didn't think she would suddenly want to become a mother to a twelve-year-old girl. The third factor was that he didn't want to get involved in yet another argument with his first wife.
Ironically, it was Wendy that encouraged him to fight for custody. He had been away when Amber had called one night, clearly upset. She had talked to Wendy and told her what was going on. When he had found out, David Rossi's first action had been to file for custody of his daughter. Amber had confessed to Wendy that her stepfather had raped her. That he had been making inappropriate comments and behavior toward her since he had married Margaret and that was what had prompted her requests to come live with him. Rossi had felt guilty about not talking to his daughter more about why she wanted to come live with him. Guilty that he hadn't done more to keep what had happened from happening. That he had left her in the environment that had led to the situation. So it was that right after Halloween of 1992, Amber had moved in with him and Wendy in his home in Virginia.
Amber had stayed with him for three years. Looking back, having Amber there was probably the only thing that had kept Wendy from walking out on him sooner. Wendy had hated him being away so much. Felt he had put the job before her. Before his own daughter. He had tried to argue against that view but his arguments felt hollow even in his own ears. Margaret had finally stopped visiting and officially divorced the jerk who had raped their daughter and Amber had gone back to Texas to finish high school with her friends. A week after Amber had gone back to Texas, Wendy had walked out on him, having had enough. After three years of having both a wife and daughter to come home to, coming home to an empty house had been made even worse. Out in Texas, Amber was making a name for herself as a high school swim star and Rossi had lost track of how many of her meets he had missed because he was out chasing the bad guys. Knowing what he was missing in his daughter's life had contributed to his decision to retire from the bureau and pursue his writing full time. At least he would have enough control over his schedule of writing and when books tours took place that he could be a part of the important events in his daughter's life.
Rossi knew that finding time to spend with his daughter was going to be hard even with them in the same are because of their jobs. Not to mention, Amber wasn't going to want to spend all her free time with her old man. He had been only too happy to open his home to her when she had asked this morning assuring her that she could stay with him until she got settled. He wouldn't mind having her just stay with him while she was stationed at Station Washington, which operated off the Bolling Air Force Base, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Amber enjoyed her independence too much. She had lived on her own since leaving for college, even renting an apartment during her summer breaks. As soon as she got here, Amber would be looking for a place to stay other then under his roof. If he couldn't keep her under his roof though, he was at least determined to make sure that the roof that was over her head was a decent one.
Pulling into the parking lot of the Real Estate Agency he had used in the past, Rossi parked his SUV. He had called earlier that afternoon and arranged to meet with an agent at five thirty. What good was having money if you couldn't use it to help others, especially those you loved?