I do not own Criminal Minds and thanks to Dragonsmaiden for being my beta reader. As always I appreciate any commects or reviews.

Chapter #5

"What! You're kidding," Ashley said as she leaned back in her chair. She, along with the band she played with, were in Dougherty's Tavern, sitting in the empty bar.

"Sorry, Darling," said a man who was in his fifties with salt and pepper hair. He sat on the other side of table from Ashley.

"But Harry," she whined before her cell phone interrupted them. She pulled the cell from her purse, seeing Reid's name on the screen.

"Him?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but he can leave a message."

"You finally figured out of how to use your voicemail," Harry teased.

"Ha, ha, Spencer taught me of how to use it, alright. Jeez."

"Go on answer him. I am not going stop you having a love life." Then she heard the rest of her band doing the oohhhing sound and a few smooching sound.

She shook her head in disbelief, "Hey give me a second," she answered her cell. She walked away from them where they were still making smooching sounds.

She went into the ladies' room for more privacy. "Hi, please tell me that you need my expertise on a case."

"No sorry, why?"

"Long story short, Tommy, you meet him, he is the lead singer," she said as she started pacing back and forth in front of the sinks.

"Yes."

"He had to go in for an emergency appendectomy, so Bleeding Gums was going to cover for us tonight."

"Bleeding Gums?" he asked.

"Yeah, I know it is a weird name for a band. Anyway, their lead singer, the idiot, just got arrested for drug procession."

"Oh, which means?" Reid asked.

"We're playing tonight. And since Tommy is still in the hospital."

"You will be covering for him." She let out a groan, stopping. She bent down, putting her head down between her legs, feeling nauseous.

"So how are you doing?"

"Well I'm ok, I just wanted to say hi."

"Hi, are you still working?"

"No, we just finished."

"Uh-huh," she said.

Then she felt sick, "Gotta go," she said as she ran into one of the bathroom stalls.

Reid pulled his phone away from his ear as Ashley retched. He cringed for a moment then putting his cell phone back in his ear.

"Ashley," he said. But she had already hung up on him. He put his phone back in his pocket and got up from his seat.

Hotch was sitting alone in a booth, working. Rossi was relaxing on the couch, reading. Reid sat on the other side of the booth, facing Hotch.

"Hotch," he said, clearing his throat. Hotch looked up from the file that he was working on. "I was wondering if I can the rest of the evening off. Do the report tomorrow."

"Reid, are you asking for some time off?" Hotch asked surprised. "You never asked for time off before."

Reid squirmed in his seat for a bit, "Yes, Ashley…" he coughed a bit. "Her band is playing tonight and due to circumstances beyond her control, she is the lead singer tonight."

"She is?" Reid heard Rossi asking.

"Yes sir. Well Tommy had to get his appendix removed so Bleeding Gums were suppose to play tonight, but their lead singer got arrested," Reid explained as if it was one if the statistics he knew so well.

Hotch raised his hand up, "Reid, Reid. You want to be there for her." He nodded yes. "Alright, but get those reports done by noon tomorrow."

"Thank you," he said before leaving Hotch.

"Bleeding Gums," he heard Rossi asking in disbelief.

Reid went back to his seat, where he noticed Morgan had his headphone around his neck. He knew that Morgan had heard the conversation. He pulled his bag out from under his seat. He unzipped it and started digging through it.

"I don't mind if you want to come," he said, still looking in his bag.

As the plane approached Quantico, Reid came out of the bathroom, wearing his black dress shirt and black cords.

Morgan looked at him, teasing, "Look at you, all dressed up."

Reid blinked, not getting his joke, "Not really, the last time I saw her show, I glowed from the black lights. Which oddly enough, did you know that black light gives off highly energetic ultraviolet light. You can't see this part of the spectrum, which is how 'black lights' got their name. Fluorescent substances absorb the ultraviolet light and then re-emit it almost instantaneously."

Morgan held up his hand, stopping him, "Reid, Reid, we get it. Garcia is going to meet us at the bar."

"Us?"

"Yeah, me, Prentiss, and JJ are going."

"Is that ok, Spence?" He heard JJ asking from behind. He turned his head to the back of the chair, but only saw the chair.

"It's fine, but I don't think you guys should meet her until after the show. When I talked to her, she was throwing up from nerves. So I have no idea of how it is going to go."