Playing Games by JuliaBC

It was with hands that shook with trepidation that Kate knocked on the door to Reid's apartment. Would he welcome her intrusion? Was this the right thing to be doing?

But...

She couldn't deny what she'd seen in his eyes as they'd left, and how he'd fingered the chess set.

This would be the first time she had picked the game, and not Meg.

She knocked again, and waited, but exhaled in one big whoosh when she realized he wasn't there.

Or wasn't answering.

She turned around and started down the stairs, facing the ground and concentrating on the movement her feet made on the steps.

"Kate?"

She jerked up her head, and met the surprised gaze of one Spencer Reid, who was coming up the stairs with a bag full of groceries.

For once, she didn't have to look up to see his face.

"Reid," she said, and then moved to the side. "Sorry, I'm in your way."

He continued up, smiling at her. "I suppose you're leaving because I didn't answer the door."

She nodded, still nervous.

"Come on up," he said. "You've never seen my apartment, have you?"

"I've..." she trailed off, concentrating. "I've only been to Rossi's place."

Reid shifted the bag of groceries to one arm, to reach his keys.

"I can take that, while you look," Kate said, jumping forward, but Reid found the keys and unlocked the door.

The first thing she noticed was the huge window, partially covered with a yellow curtain. The late afternoon light filtering through gave the apartment an enchanted feel.

The next thing was the bookshelf that entirely covered one wall. She walked forward, in awe. "You—"

"Yes, I've read all of them," Reid said, putting the bag down.

"No, you own all of them!" She corrected. "You've been able to find a first edition Great Expectations?"

"That was from Rossi, actually," Reid said, walking over to finger it.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Stick around for long," Reid began, walking back into his kitchen, "and you might get something priceless from him too."

Kate scoffed. "That wasn't why I 'wow'ed," she said, following him. "What's all this?"

Reid was unpacking his bag; getting out pasta, onions, tomatoes and bread. "This is something that...Gideon...used to make."

"Oh," she said, suddenly realizing what he was doing. "Can I...can I stay?"

He looked up, and she saw the tears bright in his eyes. "Yes, please do. You can make the garlic bread."

She nodded quickly, and went to the sink to wash her hands.

Reid was starting to chop the onions.

Kate fingered a fresh clove of garlic. "Do you want fresh garlic for it?"

"Yes, I bought enough for the sauce and the bread," Reid said. "But I only have one knife so I need to do that."

She peeled the garlic, and handed him one clove. He broke it, and chopped it up, then handed it back to her.

"Real butter for the bread?"

"Yes," he said. "I left it to thaw before I went shopping. It's over by the toaster."

Kate nodded, and jumped into action. Before long, the bread was in the oven and the pot on the stove was gentling bubbling.

Reid wiped his hands. "Now we just wait for the pasta to boil," he said.

He walked back to his living area, flicking on the light switch as he walked past, making Kate realize how much time had passed.

She'd told Meg she might not be home for dinner, but she didn't think she really wouldn't be.

"What did you bring?" Reid asked, gesturing to the flowered bag on the floor.

Kate hesitated, and then bent to pick it up. "So...there was no plane ride this time."

"No, there wasn't," Reid agreed, sitting down in an armchair.

Kate chose a chair across from him; there was now a small table between them.

"And, well, I thought you'd probably already have your own set, but..."

She slid the game from the bag. Reid stiffened.

"Chess."

"Lord of the Rings chess," Kate corrected, her voice very quiet.

Reid blinked, staring at it. "The market value for that is at least five hundred dollars." He looked up at her. "I didn't realize you were a fan of Tolkien."

"I am. I like The Hobbit better than the Lord of the Rings, though" she said. "I can relate to the snarky Bilbo Baggins better than the innocent Frodo."

Reid laughed, a rather choked sound.

"I really wasn't sure," Kate began. "I wasn't sure you'd want to play so soon after, especially since...you didn't complete the checkmate at Gideon's."

"No, I didn't," Reid said. "Let me just go check the pasta. Could you set it up?"

Relief flooded her. "Of course."

Her fingers moved quickly, clumsily, putting all the knights and rooks, bishops and pawns, kings and queens in their places.

Reid returned, bearing steaming bowls.

"I bet that I can get checkmate in..." Reid's voice trailed off as he set the food down, his eyes shooting over the board and then onto Kate herself.

"Five moves," Reid finished,

Kate snorted. "I resent that. I've played this before."

"That's fine," Reid said. "Let me just beat you."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Okay. Am I white?"

"Sure," Reid said, slurping the spaghetti.

Kate moved her first pawn, two spaces.

Reid raised his eyebrows as he countered her move.

It was a slow game. Kate was taking as long as she could before making it to the fifth move, and considered each move long and hard before daring to move her piece.

Reid took the dishes back into the kitchen, and she followed him to wash her hands again.

Returning to the game, she was quickly and mercilessly defeated, and was relieved to see smug Reid glancing up at her at the end.

"Five moves," he grinned.

"You win," she said, throwing her hands in the air. "What do I lose?"

"Your personal dignity," Reid said. "And admit that you hustled me during Othello."

"Hustle is a bit of a strong word," she protested. "But I did make the bet to purposely distract you."

Reid's fingers caressed a chess piece. "Thank you," he said earnestly, meeting her eyes through his hair.

The smile that came was slow and tender. "You really are welcome," she murmured, and Reid smiled back.

A/N: Chess. LOTR chess can be found on Amazon, and is indeed five hundred simoleons. Good luck funding that :P

I can definitely see Kate as a Tolkien fan, just maybe more of the movies than the books. But I admit the Hobbit preference was all me.

The episode (Nelson's Sparrow) was a lot more serious than I was expecting, so this was written on the spur of the moment, almost, to replace what I had planned since it was much too lighthearted.

Depending on this week's episode, we'll see how serious that is.

And I may have gotten Gideon's dinner wrong. I just didn't feel like watching the Fisher King to find out.

This chapter is iffy in a lot of parts, even without considering that the promos for Hero Worship seem to have the chess thing covered. But this is my story, and though it's not AU (yet, because for the future, who knows?) I'm having Kate play chess.

Your thoughts on this?