Breathing Room

Author's Notes: Yep…the lame one has once again returned. I can't believe how long it's taken me to update my baby story. I truly did not forget about it. Life just seemed to get so hectic. But, it has since slowed down, so I promise to update much more often. Thank you all for sticking in for this little underdog story! It means more to me than I can say!

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Brooke sat at a corner table in the coffee bistro, her hazel eyes staring out the window at the bustling street, her pencil hovering over the half-finished sketch on the table top.

Midday in Washington D.C. The streets were crowded, hundreds of bodies swarming the sidewalks as they fought to get to his place or that place. Hundreds of people, hundreds of voices…

But all she could hear, all she could see…

Was him.

She sighed, looking down at the sketch before her.

Rocker-glam-chic, with just the slightest hint of elegance thrown in. A wedding dress fit for a wannabe badass like Peyton.

She smiled wistfully as she shaded a certain spot around the neckline. Wannabe badass or not, Brooke was happy for her best friend.

Even though she herself was drowning.

"Brooke."

She looked up at the sound of her name, and saw Reid walking towards her table. She smiled, letting the pencil drop to the side as she watched him head hesitantly to her table, a Styrofoam cup in his hand, and his leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder. She had to admit, his goofy, somewhat embarrassed smile was very cute.

"Dr. Reid," she said, smiling. "I take it you're getting your daily caffeine fix?"

Reid smiled, bobbing his head in a nod. "You too, I see?"

Brooke shrugged, lifting her cup to him in a toast. "Can't live without it."

Reid nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Actually, that's a pretty accurate statement. Caffeine is an addictive substance, and like any other take such a drastic toll on your body, that when you withhold it, especially after relying on it for an extended amount of time, the effects can be catastrophic. I mean, people take coffee so frequently that it interferes with their appetite for food, so all day, when normal appetite appears, they quell it with more caffeine. Meanwhile, their nervous system has been taken to a state of high tension because of it, and while the mind acts quicker, it's also more sensitive and gradually more irritable. In fact, the entire nervous system gradually becomes more irritable. Emotions are sporadic, tempers are triggered on a snap-"

Brooke laughed suddenly, a wide smile spreading across her face. She shook her head, waving her hand apologetically when he frowned at her. "I'm sorry," she said, chuckling. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, it's just…when Uncle Aaron talked about you, I always thought he exaggerated." She looked at him, smiling. "You really are a genius, huh?"

Reid laughed, shrugging. "That depends on who you ask, I suppose." He smiled, motioning to the empty seat across from her. "Do you…mind if I join you?"

Brooke smiled again, nodding. "Sure."

She watched as he settled into the seat, laying his messenger bag to the side of the table and bringing his cup of coffee to his lips. She couldn't quite figure out why, but at that moment, she felt very…normal. She didn't feel like eyes were watching her from every corner of the room, or that there where whispered conversations going on behind cupped hands. Spencer Reid could somehow, in the course of just a few seconds, make her feel like she was just Brooke Davis again. Not the victim, not the statistic. Just…Brooke.

Reid's eyes landed on the sketch in front of her, and he raised his eyebrows, motioning to it with his cup. "New fashion line?" he asked, watching the way her fingers slid across the half finished design, seeming to almost attempt the obscure it from his sight.

She shook her head. "Wedding dress," she said. "My best friend Peyton is getting married in a few months. It's kind of tradition…that I make the wedding dress when it comes to my group of friends back home."

Reid nodded, his eyes taking in every intricate detail of the sketch. "Wow," he said. "You're amazingly talented." He looked up to see her smiling and rolling her eyes, and he grinned. "Really! I've never seen so much attention to detail in just a sketch. I can only imagine what the finished product will look like."

Brooke smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "Thanks," she said softly, nearly biting the inside of her cheek to keep the tears at bay. How talented could she be, with no company to help show it?

"You know, I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but I'm finding it a little difficult to see Hotch as your uncle."

Brooke arched an eyebrow in question, tilting her head to the side. "Well, he's my mom's big brother."

Reid shook his head. "No, no—I can see the resemblance. There are strong physical attributes that you both possess, your dark coloring being one of the most obvious. But, despite the close bond you both have, your personalities seem to be completely opposite." He noticed her frown, and rested his elbows on the table, leaning towards her slightly. "I've been working with your uncle for years, and I've found him to be fair and rational, but I've also seen him be…distant and taciturn. But then there's you. And while you also seem fair and rational, you're also warm and bright and enthusiastic. You seem to be the polar opposite of Hotch."

Brooke listened as he spoke, recalling the numerous memories of her uncle she had catalogued in her mind. Over the years, it did seem that he had mellowed out. He was still Uncle Aaron, who could make her smile and laugh and would sit through countless hours of Monty Python movies with her over the weekend. But it was true. His smile didn't make as many appearances as it once did.

But then again, neither did hers.

She shrugged, shifting in her seat. "I don't know. Sometimes I think we're more alike than people think. Growing up, I spent more time with Uncle Aaron than both my parents combined, and I've kind of…adopted parts of him, I guess. I mean, we've both seen some pretty horrible things, but still try to see the good in the world. He tends to shoulder more responsibility than he actually needs to, and that was pretty much my story the last year of high school. We both want a normal, happy family, but sadly, it's not looking too fantastic for either of us. We both had pretty fabulous careers but gave them up for something more…"

"More?"

She froze at the sound of Reid's voice, and she raised her eyes to meet his, seeing the slight confusion in them.

She sighed, smiling as she shrugged. "I don't own Clothes Over Bros. anymore."

Reid frowned. "What happened?" he asked.

"Life." Brooke laughed. "Or lack of, I guess. I mean…I'm 23 years old, and I have more money than I know what to do with. I've seen the most glamorous cities in the world and walked a hundred red carpets, but…it wasn't my life." She blinked, horrified when she felt the sting of tears in her eyes. She raised a hand quickly to wipe them away, but knew that they hadn't been ignored by the pair of eyes that obviously missed nothing.

"Anyway…I decided I wanted to be Brooke again. I wanted to laugh and have fun and just remember what it was like to just…BE, you know?"

Reid was silent as she tried to compose herself, swiping at the tears that she seemed embarrassed to be crying.

Wasn't this the exact thing Victoria said made her a failure at business? Emotion?

"Except you haven't," Reid said softly.

Brooke raised her eyes.

"You're good at pretending. But you don't really laugh and have fun." He smiled then, a sad smile that she had seen mirrored in her reflection. "I recognize the…shadows in your eyes, Brooke. I've seen them in hundreds of victims, even in…myself." He licked his lips nervously, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "My father left when I was a kid, and my mother…was an undiagnosed schizophrenic. Until I had her committed when I turned 18." He tried to ignore the sadness he saw in her eyes as he spoke, shaking his head slightly. "Those shadows…no matter how hard you try to convince everyone else that you're fine, the shadows prove you're not."

Brooke stared at him as he spoke. She would never have guessed about Spencer Reid, about the secret behind the man he had become, that it was so heartbreaking. As kid, she'd had Uncle Aaron and Aunt Haylee, but Reid…he'd had no one. But to see him now…

She let out a shaky sigh. "When do they go away?" she asked quietly.

Reid smiled softly, shrugging. "That depends on when you feel like you can move forward and…not dwell on what used to be." He watched her nod slowly. "You're a lot more than just a clothing line, Brooke. And trust me…I'm a genius."

Brooke laughed, ducking her head so that her dark hair framed her face, and he smiled. She really was pretty…inside as well, he was starting to see. Maybe Morgan did know what he was talking about…

The buzzing of his beeper in his pocket tore his attention from his wanderings, and he held up a finger to Brooke in apology as he glanced at the number. It was J.J., informing him that they had another case. He sighed, shoving the beeper deep into his pocket. He smiled, shrugging. "Duty calls."

Brooke nodded, smiling, as her fingers wrapped around her coffee cup. "Doesn't it always?" she asked.

She watched as he gathered his things, his dark eyes traveling over the small area around them to ensure he hadn't left anything in haste, before he rose to his feet, pulling the strap of his messenger bag onto his shoulder.

She was probably crazy—no, scratch that, she WAS crazy—when she looked up at him, and before he could turn to leave, asked, "Do you…maybe want to have dinner this weekend?"

She watched as his head whipped around to stare at her, and she winced inwardly. Sure, Brooke. You completely unloaded a crap load of baggage onto the guy. I'm sure he's jumping at the chance.

She shrugged, smiling self-consciously. "I don't really know anyone in town…apart from my family. And I'm sure I kind of seem like a crazy, emotional person right now, but…it'd be nice, you know, to…move forward? You know…have a little fun and laugh…preferably with someone who's kind of been there too?"

She watched as his face seemed to register everything she was saying, and she mentally kicked herself for blurting it all out.

Reid was, for the first time, honestly speechless. True, he'd been thinking the very same thought just moments ago, but to hear the words coming out Brooke's mouth was…staggering.

He smiled slightly, leaning back onto the heels of his feet as he nodded. "Sure…sure, dinner sounds…nice."

Brooke smiled, nodding. "Good," she said, relieved.

"Yeah…yeah, I'll uh…I'll give you a call tomorrow. Maybe plan for, um…Sat—er—Saturday?"

She nodded again, shrugging. "Sounds good."

"Good…good," he said, smiling. He watched her laugh softly, and he was relieve to see that she seemed just as nervous as he did. He was jolted back to the matters at hand when his beeper went off again, and he smiled, waving at her as he turned. "See you soon…then."

Brooke nodded, waving in farewell herself, and watched as he made this way through the small crowd, throwing her one last look over his shoulder before he disappeared through the door.

She smiled, leaning back in her seat.

Moving forward….

She laughed softly, shaking her head as she picked up her pencil again.

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Reid could feel the smile on his face as he walked into the conference room, and he didn't miss the look Morgan gave him as he passed him to his seat. From the corner of his eye, he could see Morgan turn his chair to follow his movements, his hand cradling his chin as he watched him lower into his chair, shuffling his bag to the side.

"Morning, Pretty Boy," Morgan drawled, his eyebrows raised slightly.

Reid nodded at him, his eyes transfixed on the blank screen fixed on the wall. "Morning," he replied.

"In a good mood today? I'm just asking because you've got one hell of a dopey ass smile on your face."

"Yeah, I'm good," he mumbled, his eyes darting to his friend and back. "Just um…waiting on the rest of the team."

"Uh-huh…you're hiding something. And I'm guessing, since I've seen that smile numerous times on people other than you, it involves a young lady." There was a teasing tone to Morgan's voice, and it made Reid smile slightly. "Come on now, Reid! Don't leave a brother hanging. Did we meet a young, mystery girl that you're not telling me about?"

Reid chuckled, looking over at him as he raised his cup to his lips again. "No, you've met her."

Morgan grinned, laughing as he clapped his friend on the back. "My man," he said, shaking his head. "So, I've met her, huh? I'm guessing recently, since that smile hasn't been on your face since the whole Lyla thing a few years ago."

Reid could see the cogs turning in Morgan's head, and he laughed a little to himself. The pairing of he and Brooke wasn't one you thought of automatically, he admitted that. Looking over, he could see Morgan going through the last few weeks in his head, and Reid frowned. "How many women have you met lately?"

Morgan's trademark grin appeared at that comment, and Reid sighed. "Never mind."

"So tell me, Reid…who is this lucky lady?"

"There's no 'lucky lady', Morgan. It's just a dinner between two acquaintances. There's hardly anything at all romantic about that."

"Except for the whole, man-woman-dinner thing." Morgan laughed. "Alright, so who's the 'acquaintance' then?"

Reid sighed, leaning his elbows on the arms of his chair as he swiveled it to peer at him. "Brooke and I are going to dinner on Saturday."

The older man's eyebrows rose high on his forehead as he leaned forward, his arms braced on his knees. "Brooke Davis?"

"Yes. And it's simply a dinner. She doesn't know many people here in town apart from Hotch and her aunt. It's never easy being the stranger in a different town, so it's just a form of…welcoming. Between two friends."

Morgan grinned. "So we went from 'acquaintance' to 'friend', huh?"

Reid rolled his eyes, turning back to the blank TV screen, as he took another sip from his coffee.

"Man…Brooke Davis…Now, didn't I tell you she was the whole package, Reid? And you, Mr. Know-It-All-Brainiac didn't believe me. You two must have been spending an awful lot of time together these last couple weeks if you're headed to dinner already." He grinned when his taunts her studiously ignored by his friend, and he chuckled. "Well, hey. I think it's great. You know…the whole…'welcoming' thing. Over dinner. Between you and Brooke." He clicked this tongue. "Yep, nothing at all romantic about that."

Reid closed his eyes, shaking his head.

It had never taken so long for a team meeting to get started.

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Aww…I love writing Brooke and Reid fluff!

Hopefully this was a good starter chapter for their big "date." I thoroughly enjoyed their whole exchange, and the fact that Reid could so openly connect with what Brooke's going through, even if their situations are very different. Hopefully nobody thought it was too jumping-the-gun.

And, can I just say, that I have never had more fun writing a character exchange than the one between Reid and Morgan? *grin*

Anyway, hopefully this made up for the absence, which I again apologize for and promise won't happen again. I'm excited to hear what you guys think!