Playing Games by JuliaBC
"Are we waiting for them to get back?" Kate asked, interrupting Reid's thoughts.
"Yeah, we'll see if they find a boat," he said and straightened in his chair.
Kate nodded and eased into a chair. "Hey, want to play something?"
Reid looked around the room. "Did you bring something? Because it would be incredibly macabre to use one of their games."
"It would," Kate said, shuddering a little. "So we can play something that doesn't require a board. A brain game."
"Like what?" Reid said, looking intrigued. "Hangman?"
"That's macabre," Kate said. "But sure. You have a notebook."
He nodded and had quickly sketched ten blanks.
"So it's a ten letter word?" Kate asked. "Okay. A."
The second blank was filled in. _ A_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
"E," Kate said. "I always guess vowels first."
"Smart move," Reid congratulated. "But no E." He sketched the first part of the hanging platform.
"I," Kate said automatically.
_ A_ I _ I _ I _ _.
"Three of them?" Kate asked. "Interesting word."
"It is indeed," Reid said. "Come on."
"O," Kate said. "Might as well finish the vowels."
Reid drew a line going up from the platform, a small smile twitching at his lips.
"This word had better be pronounceable," Kate said, narrowing her eyes. "And in most dictionaries."
"It is," Reid said, but couldn't keep the smile out of his voice.
"U," Kate said, and another line was added to the hanging platform.
"Keep guessing," Reid said.
"Okay, T," Kate said, and yet another line was added to the platform.
"M," she tried, and he put drew one in, causing her to exhale in relief. "I don't want to be hung," she confessed, leaning forward to look at the word.
M A_ I M I _ I _ _.
"What is it?" She murmured, puzzled.
"I'm not going to tell you," Reid said. "How are you feeling?"
"Hmm?" She asked, confused by the change in subject. "What do you mean?"
"With the pregnancy," Reid said hesitantly. "Are you okay with it? Any excessive morning sickness?"
Kate shrugged. "I'm doing okay," she began. "I'm still feeling active, and my doctor said that's good. Oh, I went in for an ultrasound the other day. Chris was at work, and couldn't make it, but I wanted company so I took Meg."
"How did that go?" Reid asked.
"N," Kate said, and Reid filled in another blank.
M A_ I M I _ I N _.
"It went well," Kate continued. "She got this look of awe on her face. I think she's finally coming around to the idea of a baby. Maybe not to the idea of a sibling, but to the idea of a baby. I caught her looking up baby videos on YouTube." Kate rolled her eyes at that, but the smile stayed on her face.
"That's good, I guess," Reid said. "And besides, aren't you the one who was talking about baby hippos with Garcia?"
Kate opened her mouth to protest, and then shook her head. "I guess I was," she admitted. "Okay. The last letter has to be a G."
"It is," Reid said.
M A_ I M I _ I N G.
She stared at the word, still puzzled. "I feel like it's obvious, but I'm just stupid and can't see it," she complained.
Reid neither denied or confirmed.
"Reid," Kate said.
"What?"
"I'm scared," she said.
"Of being a mother?" He asked, his tone careful.
"Yeah," she said. "Meg was already one when...when 9/11 happened. I didn't do the pregnancy part. I was crazy busy with school at that point, so I only started really spending time with her after it happened. I remember going to her baptism, and being the godmother, right?" She said. "And I tried to spend more time with my sister, but it didn't always happen. I was always cancelling plans, and rearranging things. And then one Tuesday morning...suddenly, I had a daughter. I don't know how to handle that first year, though!"
"No one does," Reid assured her. "Everyone parents for the first time."
"Not like this," Kate said. "I'm sorry. Pregnancy hormones, right? That's why I'm crying. X and Z."
"What?" Reid said.
"X and Z," she repeated. "The word is maximizing."
"That's right," Reid said and put the letters in. "You got it. Now it's your turn to write something."
She pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes before taking the pad. "Okay. Here you go."
There were ten blanks again.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
"A, E, I, O, U," Reid said, all at one. "Which ones?"
"That's cheating," she protested.
"That's time-saving," he said. "You just do them at once. I'm not skipping anything.
"Fine," she said. "Okay."
E _ _ E _ _ I A _ _.
He looked at it, and she could almost see his brain whirring. "You're cheating again," she teased. "Your mind is working overtime to compute what letters fit into those blanks. You're just supposed to guess."
"Essentials," Reid blurted, and Kate tossed her hands up; the pad flew into the air.
"Seriously? That's half the game!" Kate said. "You couldn't have even pretended to guess?"
"Hangman is boring," Reid said. "I have a better idea."
"Do you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Let's play charades," he said. "I love charades. I'm actually really bad at it, but maybe that's why I like it so much."
"Aren't we a little short on players to do charades?" Kate asked.
"You can play a two player version," he said and hopped up.
"Let me go first," Kate said and pushed herself to her feet, one hand going to her stomach in a protective gesture.
She held up two fingers.
"Two words," Reid said immediately.
She considered something, then whirled her hand like she was winding something.
"It's a movie," he said.
She held up one finger.
"First word."
Reid's phone rang then, and they jumped.
"Hello?" He asked, immediately picking up.
Garcia's voice came over the speaker. "They've got them," she cheered. "All of them. Full rescue. You two, get back here."
"Looks like our job is done, then," Reid said after Garcia had hung up again. "I'll drive, okay? You might not fit behind the wheel." He gently, briefly, laid a hand on her stomach.
"Good timing," Kate praised. "I just felt a kick."
A/N: A few clues for the movie Kate picked: Tommy Lee Jones. Best action movie ever.
It was a long wait, and I'm sorry for that! Can I just say how much I liked Kate's straightened hair in this?
And please review! I'd love to hit 90 with this chapter. (Hint hint)