AN: Updating my story seemed like a good way to start the new year so here is Chapter 7! Hope you enjoy and Happy New Year to All!
2007 - Kodiak Alaska:
Amber Rossi finished putting the last gift from her farewell party into her duffel bag. She hadn't been sure she was going to be able to make everything fit but somehow she had managed it. It had been a fun night. Her flight crew had joined the rest of her fellow house mates at the boarding house and surprised her with the party. Mrs. Franklin had gone all out with the dinner and the farewell cake she had baked. It had been late when the Coast Guard personnel had left and the rest of them had headed up to bed.
She glanced at her watch. She still had plenty of time to make it the Kodiak Airport in time to catch her Alaskan Airlines flight to Anchorage. In Anchorage, she would change flights and head down to Texas. She planned to spend three days with her mother before flying to D.C., which would still give her two days to settle in before she had to report at Station Washington. It was kind of strange concept that she wouldn't be jumping from a helicopter to rescue people for a living anymore. Doing so had become a part of who she was. A way she defined herself. She was one of the Coast Guard's elite, even more so as she was a woman. Yet, it was a relief at the same time. She wasn't sure what Station Washington held for her but she knew it would be a different adventure than what Alaska had held for her. Amber knew she would have to find a new way to define herself. There was more to her than just being a Coast Guard rescue swimmer.
Picking up her Bluetooth, she placed it in her ear and clipped her cell phone onto her belt. Amber then started going through drawers and checking her closet to make sure that she wasn't forgetting anything. This room had been home for the past few years and she was going to miss it.
She was just closing the closet door, satisfied that she wasn't forgetting anything when the cell phone rang. Reaching up, she hit the button on the Bluetooth to answer the phone.
"Hello."
"Hey Amber," came Spencer's voice through the Bluetooth. "Hope I'm not bothering you. I just wanted to touch base with you before you left up there."
"You're calls are never a bother," Amber told him, a slight smile at the nervous lilt to her friend's voice. Spencer always had worried about inconveniencing her with his phone calls. The fact that he thought of others in everything he did, was one of the things she liked about him. "I just finished packing a few last things, and making sure I'm not forgetting anything before heading for the airport."
"What time is your flight?"
"My flight to Anchorage leaves at ten," Amber told him, as she put the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder and then picked up her two suitcases. She headed downstairs, as she continued the conversation. "I'll get a flight to Laredo International Airport in Anchorage. My mother is suppose to meet there."
"Well, you have a safe flight. Give me a call when you reach Texas, just to let me know you got there okay."
"Now you're starting to sound like my father," Amber said as she walked down the steps to the first floor of the boarding house.
"Sorry," Spencer said, apologetically. "You don't have to call if you don't want . . ."
"Relax. It's sweet. Besides, it'll give me an excuse to call you," Amber told him cutting his apology off.
Mrs. Franklin was waiting for her near the front door. As Amber reached the first floor, the older woman opened the door for her.
"I'll be back in to say good-bye," Amber told her land lady as she walked out the door with her bags.
"What was that?" Spencer asked, as Mrs. Franklin nodded her ascent.
"Sorry, I was just telling my landlady I'd be back in to tell her good-bye. I'm heading out to my truck with my bags. Or well, should I say Macy's truck as the title is actually in her name now," Amber replied.
Instead of trying to ship the truck out to the east coast, Amber had decided that buying a new vehicle once she got to the D.C. area would be much more practical. She had decided to sell the truck cheaply to Macy, who didn't have a vehicle. Amber would drive to the airport with it and leave it there. Conrad and Finney had agreed to bring it back to the boarding house when they left the base that evening.
"Oh, okay," Spencer said. There was a pause in the conversation. Amber had reached the vehicle by the time Spencer spoke again. "Hey Amber, have you ever mentioned me to your father? I mean would he know we once dated? I mean I didn't even really make the connection of who your father was until after you told me about the transfer so I was just wondering if you knew if he knew who I was or what?"
"Has my father been giving you a hard time?" Amber asked, even as she smiled at Spencer's roundabout way of asking such a simple question.
"No not really. It just seems like he tolerates me being around because he has too, sometimes, though I guess I have that effect on a lot of people. I guess I was just wondering if that reacion was really just me or because you and I, well that we once went out."
"Well, I told my father about you back when we were dating, Spencer. I think I even sent him a few pictures with you in them. Now, whether he's actually made the connection himself, I couldn't tell you but I know I haven't come right out and told him recently. Guess I didn't want to jinx any chance we might have," Amber told him as she put her bags into the vehicle.
"Chance we might have? Then you do want to give our relationship another shot?"
"Well, yes. I mean if that's what you want, too. You haven't ever mentioned to me that you were dating anyone so I guess I kind of just assumed I didn't have any competition. Do I?"
"Do you have any competition? No. I haven't exactly been out on many dates since you and I broke up and even then I'm not sure you would really call the one time I went out with a co-worker a date."
"Good. I don't care for competition," Amber told him. "Look, I hate to do this but I'm going to have to end this conversation. I need to say good-be to Mrs. Franklin and head for the airport. I'll call you tonight when I'm in Texas okay."
"Okay. I should probably get off the phone myself. I'll talk to you later. Have a safe-flight."
"Thanks," Amber said, before reaching up to disconnect the call as she walked back toward the boarding house.
It was the first time she had talked about getting back together with Spencer out loud, though she had acknowledged to herself that she was hoping it would happen. That was, after all, why she had called him upon finding out about the transfer. Why she had sent the text message to Spencer before she had called either one of her parents.
She hadn't factored in the fact that Spencer was now working with her father. Would that effect their chances? Had her father made the connection like Spencer had? What did he think of the younger profiler? Would the fact that Spencer was dating his 'little girl' color her father's opinion of the younger agent? Would it cause problems for the two of them at work?
These were all questions that she hadn't considered before this. Questions which she didn't have the answers for but whose answers might just affect any chances that she and Spencer had. Perhaps she needed to have a conversation with her father on the subject, though as Amber reentered the boarding house, she decided that was one conversation she would prefer to have face-to-face with him rather than over the phone.
2007 - En route to Bridgewater, Florida - Time frame during the episode "Lucky":
SSA Dr. Spencer Reid stared out the window of the jet as it continued its flight to Bridgewater, Florida. He had moved to the end of the bench seat in the jet, trying to distant himself as much as he could from everybody else. The team had finished their on flight briefing of the case and decided on a course of action once they landed. Most of his other teammates were still going over case materials - flipping through their copy of the file and looking at the few photos that they had. It was something that Reid didn't need to do anymore of. He already knew everything that was in those files. Could recite it to anyone who asked if need be.
Sometimes his eidetic memory was a blessing. Saved him time because he didn't have to review things that other people did. Other times it was curse. When he couldn't forget things that had happened. Horrors that were burned into his mind. A curse when he needed something to occupy his mind but there wasn't anything to do because he already knew it. This was one of those times.
So, instead of going over the case files, his mind was replaying the team briefing. It that replay had been limited to the information relative to the case, that would have been fine. However, more had happened than just that. He recalled the look that Agent Rossi had given him when he commented about Reid reciting his book word for word. A look that the older agent had continued to give him, as Morgan had cut Reid off from relaying more information from the book. It was a look that had made Reid very uncomfortable. One thing he knew for sure, he definitely wasn't winning any points with Amber's father today.
It wasn't only Rossi today either. Reid felt like he was alienating everyone today. Morgan's words about not telling him what he believed still echoed in his mind. He hadn't meant to upset his friend with his remarks and though he wanted to apologize, he wasn't about to do so with Prentiss sitting right next to Morgan. An apology would have to wait.
Trying to forget his friend's angry words directed toward him, Reid tried to think of something other than Morgan and his thoughts fell back to Rossi.
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
Were those words only intended to be in a response to JJ's question or was there something more. Rossi had glanced at all of them as he left the conference room, however, Reid felt like his gaze had hung on him just a second longer than the rest of him. Had it, or was he just imagining things? Had Agent Rossi been giving him a hidden also been sending him a message? Telling him that he knew about Reid and Amber and that Reid didn't stand a chance. That he wouldn't tolerate them being together.
Or was he just being paranoid. Making the situation worse than it really was. Amber had said she had told Rossi about them when they were dating. That didn't mean Agent Rossi had made any connections. He hadn't himself until he had saw Amber's picture in his office. Besides, he and Amber weren't really a couple anymore. Why worry about any of this right now? The best thing would be to just wait and see what happened when Amber got into town. Then, if he and Amber did get back together, well, he could cross that bridge when he came to it.
"Is the scenery really that interesting?"
Reid jumped at the sound of Agent Rossi's voice and he felt his heart skip a beat. Looking away from the window, he saw that Rossi had moved from his previous seat and was sitting at the other end of the bench seat. Reid glanced around the jet to see that the rest of his team still looked absorbed in their own activities and were paying no mind to the to of them.
"Um, no not really," Reid asked, glancing briefly at Agent Rossi, and then back out the window. Feeling self-conscious about that given Rossi's previous comment, Reid averted his gaze to the closed file sitting on the seat in between them.
"So just how were you able to quote my book word for word?" Rossi asked, wanting to satisfy his own curiosity about the youngest agent on this team he had joined. He had seen the kid in action on the last several cases and he still wasn't quite sure what made him tick.
"Um, I have an eidetic memory. I read something and I instantly remember it. It's almost like I can just see it again in my mind when I try to recall it," Reid replied. "I didn't mean to steal any of your thunder or anything. I tend to get overzealous when it comes to restating information. I sometimes forget that other people aren't quite as interested in things like that as I am."
"That's right. Amber commented one time that hanging around you was like having her own personal tour guide," Rossi commented, watching Spencer for his reaction.
The tour guide reminder would have made Spencer smiled under any other circumstances. However, the fact that it came from Agent Rossi made that impossible. Reid knew what that meant.
"You know then?" Reid asked, his voice barely above a whisper, though he really didn't need the answer.
"That you dated my daughter at one time?" Rossi asked. Spencer barely managed a nod. "I didn't make the connection the first time I met you. I reckon that I made the connection just after you did. When you asked who the picture was of in my office, it got me thinking. Not having your eidetic memory, I had to look back at some things but I was able to satisfy my curiosity."
"So I guess this is where you tell me to stay away from your daughter."
Rossi raised his eyebrow as he looked at his co-worker. "Even if I wanted to do that, I believe Amber would have something to say about that. She's got quite an independent streak. Her mother blames that one me," he added, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, I'm not naive enough to think that she won't date someone just because I don't want her too and if she even suspected that I had anything to do with the guy suddenly running off in the opposite direction, she'd have a few things to say about that," he said. "Besides, what I want is for my daughter to be happy. The happiest I ever remember seeing her was while she was dating you."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that whatever the two of you decide, I don't plan on getting in the way," Rossi told him. "Of course if you hurt her, then I probably will have something to say about that," he added, before getting to his feet.
Reid watched as Rossi made his way back to the front of the jet and sat in a seat opposite of Hotch. The young genius was suddenly very glad that when they landed he would not be in the same group as Rossi. Keeping some distance between them for a little while would probably be the best course of action he could take right now.
During the episode "Lucky" - before Tracy Lambert is abducted:
Hotch had sent them all to the hotel to grab a couple hours of sleep after the whole team had met back at police station and compared notes. The news about the fingers had been disturbing but it had also told them something. Abbey Kelton wasn't the UnSub's first victim and the fact that there were six index fingers meant that there was at least three more victims. They were definitely dealing with a serial killer here in Bridgewater.
As soon as he walked into his hotel room though, Reid knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep. He doubted his teammates would get much sleep either. They had a missing woman out there that was running out of time. Even as Reid tried going over the facts of the case in his mind though, he mind kept going back to something else. Back to Morgan's comment from the plane.
Reid hadn't found a time to talk to the other agent alone over the course of the day, at least not alone. Taking the chance that Morgan wouldn't have yet fallen asleep, Reid left his own room and walked down the hall the short distance to Morgan's. He knocked on the door and waited.
Reid waited a bit and when there was no answer knocked again. He listened, but heard nothing from inside the room. Deciding the other agent must have already fallen asleep, Reid turned and headed back toward his own room. He had only taken a couple of steps when a voice stopped him.
"Hey, Kid. Were you looking for me?"
Reid turned to see Morgan coming down the hallway from the opposite direction. Reid watched Morgan twist the cap of the soda he was carrying open, and figured Morgan had gone in search of a vending machine.
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you," Reid said nervously, wondering if his friend was still upset with him from his earlier comment.
"Okay," Morgan said, picking up on his friend's nervous tone and wondering about it. He had a feeling this wasn't a conversation that would be appropriate for the hallway. "Come on in," Morgan told him, reaching the door and inserting the key card.
Reid followed Morgan into the room. The dark-skinned agent tossed the key card on the desk as he headed toward the small table by the window of the room. As he took a swig of the soda he was carrying, he sat down in one of the chairs.
"What's on your mind?" Morgan asked, looking at Reid, who still stood, having only come into the room about half-way.
"About earlier, on the plane, I'm sorry if what I said offended you. I didn't mean anything by it and I would never try to tell anyone what they should believe."
"It's cool, man. I guess I'm just a little sensitive when it comes to religion," Morgan told him. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did though."
Reid nodded, relieved that Morgan wasn't still mad at him.
"Is Rossi given you a hard time?" Morgan asked, as he thought about his own issues today with the legendary profiler. Still, he could deal with Rossi. Morgan knew the older gentleman was challenging him on purpose and he wasn't about to let him get to him. However, Rossi given him a hard time was one thing, but if their new teammate was giving Reid a hard time, Morgan wasn't about to let it go without sticking up with his friend.
"What?" Reid asked, surprised by the question.
"I saw him talking to you on the plane. Is he giving you a hard time? I'll talk to him if he is."
"No. It's fine. We were just talking," Reid told him, with a wave of dismissal.
Morgan didn't need to be a profiler to tell it wasn't as simple as that. That there was something that Reid still wasn't telling him. Not to mention the phone call earlier that day that he had been so secretive about. Instead of pressing the issue though, Morgan just nodded. Now wasn't the time to stir things up. They should both really try to get some sleep. Morning would come quick and they had an UnSub out their somewhere that they had to find.
Following the team's return from Bridgewater FL:
Reid walked into his apartment, and reached out to flip on the switch. The apartment was suddenly cast in light. There was something comforting about coming home to the familiar surroundings, especially after a case like this last one.
Stepping inside, Reid dropped his go-bag on the floor, and closed the apartment door behind him. He checked the lock and then slid the dead bolt into place. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, which he placed on the counter. Going to the refrigerator, he grabbed the jug of water there, his eyes falling on the unopened package of sliced ham. He suddenly felt nauseous. After this last case, he had a feeling he wouldn't look at meat the same way for awhile. A vegetarian diet might be the best way to go.
Reid poured the water into the glass and returned the jug to the refrigerator. He took a couple of swallows of the cold liquid before leaving the kitchen area. Walking over to the couch, he sat down, placing the glass on a coaster on the coffee table. Leaning back on the couch, he let his head rest of the back of it and closed his eyes. There were plenty of things he should probably try to get done before retiring that night but right now, he didn't have any desire to move.
At the sound of his cell phone ringing, Reid let out a groan. It was the last thing he wanted to hear. He just wanted one night to himself. One night to be able to relax as well as he could, after the long hours they had put in during this last case. Reid wanted just to ignore the ringing phone. Despite what he wanted to do, Reid reached for his cell phone. Not moving his head from where it was, he opened his eyes, and holding the phone up glanced at the screen. He felt a measure of relief to see that it wasn't any of his teammates calling.
"Hey. What's up?" Reid said, answering the call and putting the phone to his ear.
"Not much. Just trying to drown out the argument going on downstairs between Mom and the latest guy she's dating. Even the ear muffs I brought from Alaska aren't helping," Amber replied. "Are you still on that case?" Amber asked, knowing that if he was this might be a short call.
When she had landed in Texas the other night, she had called her Dad first. Getting his voice mail, she had left a message and then called Spencer. Though Spencer had answered, the conversation had been kept short due to what had been going on in his current case.
"No, we caught the guy. I just got home a little while ago, actually."
"You sound tired. Was this a bad time to call?"
"No, I'm glad you called. It's nice to hear your voice. I need to hear something cheerful after a case like this last one."
It wasn't the most romantic thing that a guy had ever told her. Being told that your voice was cheerful was nice but more a comment a friend might make. Of course, all she and Spencer were right now were friends. They had been more to one another once. Even then, Spencer had never been any good a whispering the sweet words that most guys said, trying to make the woman feel good. Trying to get the one thing they wanted. He had never been that way. Amber figured he never would, not that it really mattered to her. While his compliments might not be Hollywood caliber, but they were always genuine. Somehow, Amber thought that meant more.
"Well, then what would you like to hear about and please, don't say Texas. I'm starting to regret paying my mother a visit," Amber told him, as a few words from the argument downstairs became audible in her old bedroom. They were words that Amber would never think of repeating even in the most frustrating of times.
"I'm sure it can't be that bad. It's just a bad night."
"You're right, it wouldn't be all that bad, if she would dump the current guy she is with. I seriously don't know what she can see in him. Hold up, I thought I said I didn't want to talk about what's going on here."
"You did. I'm sorry," Spencer told her. Amber's mother's constantly revolving men in her life had always been a sore spot with her. It wasn't that she hated everyone her mother dated. There had been a few that Amber had liked, even a couple of her step fathers. However, the bad experiences had over shadowed the good. Especially with her mother's third husband. "How about we talk about your father instead?" Spencer said, hesitantly, the conversation with Agent Rosi on the plane down to Florida coming back to mind.
Between the case keeping them busy and the others being around, nothing else had been said between the two of them since the initial conversation. In some ways, Reid had been relieved. At other times, he felt as though things had been left in an awkward place for them. Reid wasn't sure what to do about it though. Did he try to be friends with Agent Rossi or just let things go for now?
"What about my father?" Amber asked, wondering where her friend was trying to steer the conversation to. She recalled Spencer asking if she knew whether her father knew about the fact that they use to date during their conversation before she had left Alaska. He had seemed nervous then. Was that the direction he was taking the conversation in now or had something else taken place? Though she had spoken briefly with her father, as he had called her back upon getting the voice mail she had left for him, Spencer had not come up in the conversation.
"He's made the connection."
"You know this for sure?"
Reid found himself nodding before realizing that she wouldn't be able to see the gesture. "He told me. I'm not exactly sure how to take the comments he made to me either. He sort of sounded okay with the whole idea, but then sort of ended the conversation with a veiled threat," Spencer finally told her. He was surprised to hear Amber's laugh on the other end of the phone. "I don't see what is so funny about this situation."
"What I find funny is that you're sounding like a teenager who is about to meet his girlfriend's father for the very first time. All we need is the proverbial shot-gun."
"Not a very comforting analogy. Your father does carry a gun."
"Two guns, actually," Amber commented off-handedly, thinking of the concealed back-up piece that he carried in an ankle holster.
"That doesn't help any," Reid told her.
"My father isn't going to shoot you," Amber told him. "He's always been very polite to all of my friends as well as the other guys I have dated."
"Then how come you never actually introduced me to your father when we were dating?" Reid asked, finally asking the question he had been wanting to ask for awhile. He had met Amber's mother as well as her step-father at the time when they were dating but never her biological father.
"It just never come up. It wasn't like I spent a lot of time with my father during that time. Not to mention you never expressed a direct desire to meet him back then. If you had asked, I would have found a way to introduce you. Unlike with your mother. I don't think you would have chosen to introduce me to her if you had your way."
"That was a completely different situation. Things with my mother weren't exactly stable when we first met," Reid said in his defense. "I did finally introduce you. Which reminds me, I wrote to her and told her you were coming out to D.C.," Reid told her, smiling to himself as he thought of what his mother had written to him in response to that information. "She told me not to let you get away this time."
"I always knew she had good taste," Amber responded. "Back to the subject of my father, I think you're overreacting. If it'll make you feel better, we can plan some time for the three of us to spend some time together. You'll find that despite the rough edges and growl, my Dad is really of softie at heart."
"Somehow, that description just doesn't fit the Agent Rossi that I've been exposed to," Reid informed her. He was about to say something more when a beep sounded in his ear indicating that he had another call. "Amber, I'm gonna put you on hold for a moment. I've got someone else calling."
"Okay," Amber replied. "I don't exactly have any plans."
"I'll get right back to you," Reid promised before putting the call on hold and answering the incoming call, which was from JJ. "JJ, what's going on? Please don't tell me we've got another case."
"I almost wish I was calling with another case, Spence," JJ told him. By the tone in her voice he immediately knew that something bad had happened. "Garcia was shot. She was taken to the hospital by the paramedics. That's all I really know right now."
Spencer felt the lighter mood that talking to Amber had brought to him disappear like a flash of lightening. He didn't want to believe that he had heard JJ right. That anyone would want to shoot someone like Garcia.