Playing Games by JuliaBC
Honestly, Kate had no idea what to do on the plane ride home. Everyone was tiptoeing around JJ, Morgan was trying to talk to her and Kate...
Kate knew it wasn't her place. As much as it hurt to admit it, and it hurt more than she'd thought it would, she was not part of this team yet, not like that.
She couldn't counsel JJ, she couldn't give her the valuable lessons about overcoming PTSD she herself had received. JJ would not welcome her help.
And Kate understood that. She just wished the divide hadn't been drawn so clearly when they'd gotten onto the plane.
Besides that, she wasn't sure whether Reid would come over again. She knew she had no reason to expect it, but she'd been looking forward to it, regardless.
She reached into her go-bag, and was pleased to feel two objects in it.
Sweet, sweet Meg. She'd been delighted to hear that someone else on the team was enjoying the games she picked, and had minded Kate's words about Reid not wanting to play alone.
Kate carefully withdrew the two cloth bags, and realized what they were.
Rush Hour. It's appropriate, somehow.
Looking around her, she saw that everyone was busy. Hotch was doing paperwork, as he always did, Rossi was on a handheld device, Morgan was listening to music and JJ was curled up on a seat, as if trying to make the rest of the world go away.
I see Morgan got nowhere, Kate thought.
She withdrew one set from its bag, the car set. She knew that the other was a train set, but it was bigger and she didn't want to attract Hotch's attention and make him think she wasn't taking this seriously, especially after JJ's actions.
Reid sat down opposite her. She tried to not show how much this pleased her, but then gave it up and smiled a big smile at him.
"I was hoping you'd want more," she said. "Meg was, also. She packed two this time."
"How do you play this one?" He asked, looking quizzically at the square, ridged board covered in plastic cars.
"It's a maze, a traffic jam logic game," she began, reading from the packaging on the deck of cards. "It's kind of like the Clue game last time. You have to figure out where to slide the cars so that you can get this little red car out safely. When Meg was little, she loved this. She couldn't do many of the puzzles, but she'd played plays with them, little scenarios like where the driver of the red car has to get to the hospital because his wife's having a baby."
Reid chuckled. "I guess something appropriate for us would be that we're in a hurry to apprehend an UnSub."
"Yeah," she agreed, setting up the puzzle on card number 1, the easiest and, therefore, quickest. She moved a blue car three spaces, pushed back another car and made short work of the board. The red car slid to freedom, and Reid looked delighted.
"I came prepared, as I said," Kate said and took the second case from her bag. She handed it to Reid and he opened it.
"It's a train version," he said. "Nice." She saw his gaze momentarily skate to JJ, then back to his board.
He shuffled through the deck, passing the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced cards, and withdrew the Expert cards, and Kate took the Advanced cards from her deck.
"Want to try this again?" She asked, setting up card number 30.
He set up his own, fingering the small red engine. "This one is red, too," he said. "I wonder what the reasoning behind that is."
"There's also a Safari set," Kate said. "I'm pretty sure the color for the escaping car there is green, however."
"I guess they're matching them up to what they think suits," Reid said. "Red car and engine for speed and a green car to blend with the other colors."
Their respective boards set up, they slid the cars around in hopes of freeing the red car and engine.
Kate found herself really wanting to beat Reid, just once, and mocked herself when Reid slid his engine to freedom long before she was ready.
She was glad that Reid hadn't taken her teasing earlier seriously. She was glad that she'd dared to ask it, and question his mental abilities. How many boats...
He waited for her to finish, and his lips were twitching at her slowness.
"Shut up," she said, her cheeks flushing just slightly.
"I didn't say anything," he said, but a twinkle in his eyes made her think he knew exactly what she meant. "Unless you were talking about boats."
They tried again, Reid beat her again, and Kate mock-glared at him.
"You're good," she complained.
"Yes, I am," he said, leaning back in his seat contentedly.
"Try the hardest," she said and he accordingly set up card number 40.
This one took longer, as it included more of the train yard. Reid bit his lip in concentration, his eyes flying over the board so as to memorize the order.
Kate watched, trying to resent the ease with which he won, but finding it impossible.
"Got it," he said, and his nimble fingers went to work on the board. He moved the luggage carriers, and boxcars, the oilcars and cabooses, and the big engines that took up the same amount of space as a semi did on Kate's car set.
He slid his red engine to freedom, and smiled triumphantly at Kate. She grinned back, glad to bring such simple pleasure to his day, especially since she had a feeling he'd be talking to JJ after the plane landed, and before she'd taken it out, he'd been sitting alone, deep in dark thoughts.
Reid and Kate played Rush Hour until the plane landed. Kate slid them both back into her bag, and as Reid started to exit the plane, he mouthed a thank you to Kate.
She had an idea that a two-player game was called for next time.
She'd have to mention that to Meg.
A/N: All the games are real.
Clue Suspects can be found on Amazon if you enter the keywords clue suspects. It is by Winning Moves, and not Clue.
Rush Hour can be found on Amazon if you enter the keywords ThinkFun rush hour. Sadly, the Train Yard version (my personal favorite) has been discontinued by the manufacturer and can only be bought second hand.
Most of the inspiration for this series is that I, too, am a big game lover. I do have a big list ahead of me for games I'd like to write for, but if you have any suggestions I'd be glad to add them to my list.
I hope to eventually have more conversation, and not just be describing the game so much, but that's something I think I'll have to build up to.
If all goes well, I plan this to last at least as long as Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Kate Callahan, which will hopefully be a long time indeed.
And a big thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed. It made this chapter *that* much sweeter to write.