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The headache crept up on her. One moment she was deep into a consult for a detective in Bangor Maine, and the next her head was thumping like someone set up a blacksmith shop inside her brain. She sat up, stretched, and groaned.

Reid looked up at her, and then bent his head back over his own stack of files when she caught his gaze. It was tempting to reach over and smack him. He hadn't answered any of her calls and now he was ignoring her. He didn't even ask her opinion on his cases. They always bounced ideas off each other and every time she'd tried to talk to him he'd put her off with needing coffee, the bathroom or going up to Garcia's office for tech support.

She pressed two fingers to her eyes and rubbed. It was impossible to concentrate when it felt like any minute the tension would pop like a balloon at a child's birthday party. Even Morgan was staying away in his office, which was strange.

He's got too much to worry about. Hotch is still out and Morgan's still doing his job for the moment. He doesn't have time to wonder about you and you know you'd just tell him to leave it alone if he did ask.

She sighed and rubbed at her aching temples. Maybe she had a bottle of ibuprofen in her desk. A search did turn up a bottle, so she popped two pills with the last of her coffee. A check of the time showed her that it was just after three pm. She clamped down on the urge to groan aloud.

The bullpen was full of agents talking on phones, going over files or talking to each other so she grabbed her phone and hurried to a corner near the elevator.

"Hey Elaine," She said quietly when her friend answered.

"Why are you whispering?"

"I'm at work."

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need to talk to you. I know we made plans to have lunch on Saturday, but I really need to talk."

Elaine immediately sobered. "What's wrong?"

"I can't talk about it now. Can you meet me at my place at seven? I'll cook you dinner."

"No way, I'll pick up a couple of gyro combos from the "Starving Greek."

"You don't need to do that."

"It's your favorite, don't argue with me."

Emily barked out a short laugh. "Okay, okay, I give up."

"I'll see you at seven. "

Elaine hung up without saying goodbye, which righted Emily's universe. At least one friend was acting the way she expected.

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Elaine was ten minutes late, which was also normal. She was pink cheeked and smirking when Emily opened the door. Her long, wavy red hair the color of copper was pulled back in a messy ponytail. Her cinnamon brown eyes twinkled merrily over her light blue scarf. "I brought sustenance." She held up a white bag and wiggled her eyebrows. "I told you I'd come through.

"Come in."

They curled up in Emily's living room with plates and glasses of wine. Elaine took the Queen Anne chair across from the sofa and curled up. She was barely five feet tall and looked like a fairy queen with her lithe little body. One of her nicknames in college had been Tinker Bell.

"You look so happy." Emily observed. "Have you heard from Nick?"

"How did you know?"

Emily raised her eyebrows over a forkful of rice.

"Oh right, profiler. I forgot. Has anyone told you that's really annoying?"

"Elaine."

"Yeah, I skyped with him last night. He's safe and healthy, just working too hard as usual. I can't wait till he gets home."

"I don't blame you."

Elaine took a sip of her wine. "We're not here to talk about Nick in Afghanistan."

Emily set her plate aside in favor of more wine. "I need some advice."

"I'm intrigued. Spill it."

Instead, Emily got up and went to her window. The winter storm that had roared through was gone. Now all she could see was the lights from the city, black sky, and traffic.

"Do you remember Dr. Spencer Reid?"

"Isn't he the one you told me about over several shots of tequila at Sunset Larry's a couple of months ago?"

"Don't remind me how smashed I got that night."

Emily shuddered, but she wouldn't turn around and face her friend.

"I believe you said, after five shots, that this Dr. Reid was sizzling hot and if you had the chance you'd -"

"I don't need a reminder."

"Whoa, why're you so freaked? Talk to me."

Emily finally returned to her couch and curled up with a brightly colored throw blanket. She pulled it tight around her shoulders and started picking at the last of her food.

"Night before last on a case, I went to his room and seduced him. Then I left in the middle of the night without a goodbye or some much as a note"

Elaine choked on her wine. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"I don't need recriminations from you. I'm getting enough from Spencer."

"I don't blame him."

"I didn't do it on purpose. It wasn't like that, Lane. I really care about him."

Elaine swallowed the last of her gyro. "If you care about him, why did you leave?"

"I woke up about three and I needed to go to the bathroom. When I came out, Reid was muttering in his sleep. He said he loved me"

"How do you know he was talking about you?"

Emily's head whipped up to see that Elaine wasn't kidding. "Don't you think it was a little ego centric to make that assumption," her friend continued.

"I heard him say my name."

Elaine rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm just teasing you. So he said he loved you in his sleep. Did he say it when he was awake?"

Emily pursed her lips. "No."

"So you left because he didn't say it when he was awake and coherent?"

"No, that's not what this is about." Emily got up to pace around the room. "I'm not ready -"

"Stop right there," Elaine held up her hand. "It's not just what you said about him over tequila. You've had a new light about you in the last couple of months."

"I don't -"

"You talk about him all the time, Emily. You're in love with him. Why are you resisting?"

"I'm not resisting."

"You left in the middle of the night. Guys do that, not women in love with the guys. What's really bothering you."

"I don't know?" Emily shouted.

"Hey, don't yell at me."

Elaine was on her feet and Emily was reminded why they also called her the "Irish Spit Fire" in college. Her eyes blazed and she radiated enough energy to light up a city block.

"I'm sorry," Emily whispered.

Elaine immediately went to her and pulled her back down on the couch. "You're almost in tears my friend. You never cry. What's wrong?"

"I'm scared."

"I get that, so you're going to let the best thing that's ever come into your life get away because you're scared."

Emily wiped furiously at her eyes. "I don't know what I'm doing, Lane. It's like everything good in my life, I mess up. I guess I heard him say he loved me and I freaked out. We don't really know each other outside of work. How can he love what he doesn't know?"

Elaine hugged her friend, drawing her head down on one shoulder. She stroked Emily's hair like a mother with her child. "So you're afraid that if he gets to know the so called real you, he'll realize he made a mistake and leave."

"Yeah, I guess that's it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Emily lifted her head. "I wanted advice."

Elaine's eyes were dancing again. "My advice to you is to talk to Dr. Reid, not me."

"I've tried. He won't call me back and he acts, at work like we barely know each other."

"Then I suggest you find another way."

Emily pulled away from her friend and got up to pace the room again. "I don't know what to do."

Elaine tucked up her feet and grinned at her friend. "You're the profiler. I have every confidence that you'll figure it out. Now come over here and sit down. We're going to have more wine and talk. I'm not going anywhere until the kick ass FBI agent I know and love is back."

Emily rolled her eyes and joined Elaine on the couch. "I don't feel very kick ass."

"Then we'll have to fix that too."

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"Reid, I want you and Emily to talk to the coroner." Morgan was saying three days later. "Find out if he found anything significant and get the results of the tox screens."

Emily flicked her eyes over at Reid whose face was utter stone. For once, since she'd known him, she couldn't read his face.

"Emily."

She looked up to see Morgan staring at her. "Did you hear me?"

"Yes, um sorry Morgan. We'll get right on it."

Reid nodded stiffly and hurried as fast as his cane would let him, out of the small room they'd been given by the local LEOs to use for their case. She followed him, ignoring the smirk on Rossi's face.

Reid already had the borrowed SUV started. She climbed in and he threw the truck into gear.

"Don't you think I should drive?"

"It's an automatic. I only need one good leg to drive."

She stared at him, but he ignored her for the first half mile. Her skin prickled with nerves, but she couldn't take the enforced silence.

"Reid I -"

"I don't want to talk to you unless it's about work." He cut her off as neatly as a sports car in heavy traffic.

"I don't want to have this conversation in this truck, but you refuse to return my calls."

He glanced over at her and his face in the somber light of the winter morning resembled a brick wall. It was blank, and scaling it was going to be tough.

"I didn't call you back because I don't wanna talk to you."

She faced the road, and watched businesses flash by as they made their way north. "I'm sorry I hurt you -"

"Save it."

Her head whipped in his direction so fast it cramped. She hissed, but made her hands stay in her lap instead of reaching up to massage out the pain. His tone slapped her like tree branches blocking her path in the forest.

"Reid, please listen."

"I said I don't want to hear it. Emily, I get that what happened between us was just a release valve for extraordinary stress. It's okay."

Reid -"

He held up a hand. "I told you I understand the psychology behind our behavior. What I don't understand is why you just left. Why didn't you just tell me it didn't mean anything? I would have understood."

She turned her head away to the side window because she couldn't bear the pain in his eyes. The wall was down, but now she wished it were back.

"Is that what you think?"

"What?"

"I said, it that what you think."

She reached over and slapped off the heat. The truck was suddenly stifling and she couldn't draw breath. Her eyes went back to him, seemingly of their own free will.

"I left because I heard you talking in your sleep. You said you loved me and that scared the hell out of me."

Now it was his turn to turn away from her. He made a left hand turn at the next light as per the irritating voice of the GPS and drove on for three blocks.

A cold descended over the truck that was more psychic than physical, but she resisted the urge to reach for the controls again.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," He finally said. "People say odd things in their sleep all the time."

"How would you know?" Emily blurted out.

He glanced over at her with eyes that were so deep, they seemed to go on forever, like the chasm of some unexplored fantasy world.

"We're here, and I don't want to walk into the morgue arguing with you."

She reached over and grabbed his arm as he finally pulled into the parking lot of the Public Health Department. "You don't get to take the easy way."

He arrowed into a slot, slammed the gearshift into park, and shut off the engine. "We've got work to do."

"No, I'm not letting you out of this truck."

He sat back in his seat. "Then say what you have to say."

He stared straight ahead at the huge, modern building built of sand colored brick with glass and steel.

"I'm sorry I hurt you I -"

"Apology accepted. Can we please go do our jobs?" Reid interrupted so stiffly the words broke like pottery crashing to the floor.

She slammed open her door. "By all means, Dr. Reid, let's go do our almighty, god-damn jobs. After all, we don't have anything else to do."