Reid knocked twice before slowly opening the office door to see an irritated Strauss sitting behind piles of paperwork at her desk.
"Take a seat" She said sharply and placed her pen down on the desk. Reid quickly did so and tried his best to steady his breathing. "As you're aware I asked for you or agent Prentiss' contracts with the Bureau to be terminated two months ago" She said and looked up at him through her glasses. Reid slowly nodded and subconsciously licked his lips. "And the BAU's first case since the turn of events has just finished" Reid slowly nodded again, his brain trying to figure out where this could be going. "It took two weeks for them to solve this case. I've looked through your case history and it's extremely rare for a case to run that long, is that correct?"
"Yes it is" Reid replied quietly, was she trying to insult the team? He'd only been in Strauss's office a few times before and all of those times one of the team members' jobs was being threatened.
"Don't you think that's strange?" Strauss said and raised an eyebrow.
"Some cases take longer to solve" Reid said with a small shrug. "The success and speed of a case being closed depends on the UnSub's profile and the police departments cooperation with the team among other factors" He added and glanced out the window where he could just about see the team laughing about something.
"But, from what the records suggest, the police department was more than cooperative; the UnSubs profile was remarkably simple once worked out. How do you explain the length of the time the team were there for?" Strauss asked and pushed the file over to Reid.
"With all due respect, ma'am, I no longer work for the FBI and anything I do say is offered voluntarily as a member of the public" Reid said, choosing his words carefully. Strauss nodded as acceptance to Reid's warning so he cleared his throat and looked thoughtful. "When the team's dynamics are changed the outcome of cases is affected, once the team has become comfortable with working without me the length of cases should decrease"
"And how long, do you think, it will take the team to adjust?" Strauss asked and leant back in her chair.
"It's impossible to predict" Reid said, then, noticing Strauss raising her eyebrow, chose to explain further. "Each team member reacted, and continues to react, differently. Some might settle into the new team dynamics within the next few cases while others might take longer"
Strauss paused for a moment, pulled the file back and flicked through it. "According to the case file, the team saw no indication of two UnSubs and ruled it out entirely until two days before the UnSubs were caught and the case was closed. What do you think caused the sudden change of thinking within the team?"
"I wasn't there to see firsthand so I can't be sure" Reid said simply, his palms starting to sweat again.
"It also says here that agent Prentiss was the one to suggest the theory of two UnSubs. Why do you think that is?"
"Again, I wasn't there so-" Reid began but Strauss cut him off.
"You and agent Prentiss talked every night, correct? You have a child together, after all. I'm sure it liked to hear mommy's voice each night" Strauss said and gave a small smile, realising she'd hit a nerve with Reid as his eyes flashed hatred.
"Her nameis Jessie. Not 'it'. And yes we do have a child together, as you are aware. Yes, she called every night to talk to Jessie, as any decent mother would" He said and flicked his eyes over to the pictures of Strauss' children. "If that's all you need to know I'd like to leave" He added as he quickly stood and walked toward the door.
Strauss' smile quickly slipped as she realised she'd pushed him too far. "Agent Reid, sit down" She commanded as he yanked the door open.
"I'm not agent Reid since I was fired" He said, his voice full of spite as he took a step outside the door.
Strauss quickly walked after him, her face full of panic as she stepped out onto the catwalk with Reid a few paces ahead of her. "And I'm very sorry about that, it was a careless mistake that should never have happened" She tried to explain as he carried on walking away with her following.
"Well it was made so apologising isn't going to help" Reid said, his voice full of anger as he finally said what he'd bottled up for the last few weeks.
"I'm offering you your job back" Strauss called as his hand was inches from the briefing room door handle.
"What?" Reid asked as he slowly turned to stare at Strauss.
"It's obvious now that the team doesn't work without you… I've spoken to the other board members and they all agree. We all want you back on the team" Strauss begged as Reid's face painted a picture of shock.
"So you think you can just switch me in and pull Emily out?" Reid asked with a flash of anger.
"No, we want you both on the team. You've both made it clear neither of you want to progress into further career choices and, if you can remain impartial around each other, we want you both on the team" Strauss explained, her voice full of hope.
"I want it in my contract that, if I rejoin the BAU, Emily can't be fired because of our relationship" Reid stated as his mind began running through everything.
"I can't do that but-" Strauss began to explain but Reid cut her off.
"Then I can't accept your job offer" Reid said with a small, painful, shrug and put his hand back on the door handle.
"Ok, ok. Agent Prentiss won't be fired over your relationship. Come to my office and we'll write it up now" Strauss said and motioned backwards to her open office door.
"She can't be put in a position where she has to transfer or resign, either" Reid added as he remembered what had happened to JJ. Strauss hesitated for a moment before she exhaled and nodded.
"You've got yourself a deal" Strauss sighed as she closed the door of her office behind them and sat down at her desk, preparing to write up Reid's new contract.
First off i've gotta say a HUGE thank you to my tech god James. Without him i doubt i'd be posting for at least a couple of months. James had a look at the laptop and the screen is in a pretty bad way but luckily he managed to transfer all of the chapters onto a memory stick. The next chapter will be the last for this story, i'll start drafting for the follow up in a week or so but i doubt i'll actually start writing up as her laptop is so different from mine it's taking a while just to write this! I really appreciate your support, the next, and final, chapter will be up tomorrow as i don't wanna keep you waiting too long. Thanks again! :)