Playing Games by JuliaBC
A/N: After Pariahville, which I personally viewed as a trainwreck, we had an AMAZING episode titled Target Rich.
But this is an episode tag to 11x04: Outlaw.
I liked Outlaw. Just the...presence/feel to the episode made me sit there waiting for John Wayne to show up and blow the UnSub to bits.
No, seriously, I was waiting for John Wayne.
Kate stood next to Jamie's crib, her son perched on her shoulder, crying. "Come on, baby, it's okay," she soothed, rubbing his back in circular motions. "You'll be fine. I'm here."
She'd been up for fifteen minutes now, having woken up like a shot when his wails first pierced the house. Chris was at his shift and she'd been hoping to not wake Meg but here was her niece, padding into the room.
"Is he okay?" Meg asked.
"He's fine," Kate promised. "At any rate, I think I'm better off than poor JJ. Michael's got colic."
"Do you know why Jamie's up?" Her niece asked, rubbing her eyes. "I mean, I get crying but it's been fifteen minutes."
"I'm sorry, I thought I'd be able to get him calmed down by now," Kate apologized. "I don't know what's up with him. I changed his diaper and I tried to see if he wanted to be nursed but he just cried harder."
"Do babies have nightmares?" Meg asked, stepping forward.
"That's a question for someone much smarter than I am," Kate said, her weariness showing through.
"When is Dr. Reid coming to pick up Poe?" Meg asked. "Because I was there when Penelope texted to say that the case was over."
Kate closed her eyes against the thought of what Penelope had told her about the case. "Um...yeah. Maybe not until tomorrow after work." She looked over at the clock, which read 2:34 a.m. "They might still be in the air," she said quietly. "I don't know. At any rate, he hasn't called yet."
Meg nodded. "Do you want me to take him? You need sleep too."
"You need sleep more," Kate scolded. "You've got school tomorrow. So thank you for the offer but I'll get him settled alone."
"Okay," Meg said and fell back, turning to leave as quietly as she'd come in.
Kate held Jamie against her chest. "Oh, honey," she soothed.
With that thought, she picked up her cell phone as she headed to the rocking chair and sat down. Settling Jamie more into her chest area, she started to rock while sliding her cell phone on.
Do babies have nightmares?
She sent the text to Reid, not really expecting a response. He wasn't much for cell phones and usually turned them off while flying.
Jamie had just begun to doze; Kate along with him, when her cell phone buzzed.
It's very possible and thereby probable. Babies spend a large amount of time in REM sleep.
She smiled at his answer. I'm up, if you want to come pick up Poe. Are you done flying?
She didn't wait as long this time. We're stuck on the runway. Will you really still be up in half an hour?
DC traffic is light this time of day. She backspaced and instead sent, DC traffic is light this time of night. It won't be quite half an hour, and I probably will.
I guess I will come by then. Kate smiled at the reply and snuggled Jamie closer before realizing that he'd finally hit deep sleep. "Score one for first time mama," she whispered, testing his restfulness by standing up. He stayed asleep so she settled him into his crib.
Finally.
She was definitely 'up' now, though, and that was why she'd told Reid she'd be fine with him coming by then. She went downstairs as quietly as she could, trying to not disturb Meg.
Truth be told, even before Jamie she'd been used to staying up at all odd hours, even when at home and not on a case. She liked to be awake when Chris got home and sometimes had stayed up for him on days between cases when she wasn't sure she'd have much time at home.
Chris had the all night shift, though. He wouldn't be home until past dawn.
Poe was in the kitchen, sleeping, but he immediately got up when he saw her walk in. "Hey, Poe babe," she said, bending to scratch his ears. "You ready to go home?"
His tail wagged. "I'll let you out," she whispered. "Do your business."
She opened the back door and yawned as he dashed out into the yard. His bed was still on the floor so she took the opportunity to pack it up, and his favorite toy, a sock monkey; Kate had no idea where Reid had obtained a sock monkey, nor why he let Poe chew it all up.
A thought struck her so she went to the front door and switched on the porch light.
It was very peaceful to be up at this hour. Even in the DC suburbs, traffic slowed at 3:00 a.m., so though there were cars going by, they were considerably less in number.
She pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle another yawn as Poe came skittering back inside, his toenails making clipping sounds on the tiled floor. She headed back into the kitchen to close the back door, and Poe waited for her.
The clock told her that Reid would be another fifteen minutes so she found herself sinking onto the floor and pulling Poe onto her lap. He was considerably bigger by now but still small enough that he fit nicely. She stroked along his back, feeling sleepiness coming on.
I should have told Reid to wait until morning, she thought sleepily, and, what seemed like moments later, there was knocking at the front door.
Of course he wouldn't use the bell.
She jerked awake and headed to the door and quickly as possible.
Reid was standing outside, looking even more tired than she felt.
"I'm sorry, I kept up both up by making you do this," Kate yawned, unable to even form a coherent sentence.
Reid concurred by yawning himself instead of petting Poe, whose tail was wagging uncontrollably at seeing his master.
"I wrote this out for you," he said. "While I was waiting on the plane. It's all I know about babies and their possibilities for nightmares. Keep in mind that I didn't have time to fact check it but I can give you another, better researched, copy tomorrow."
Reid. A better version of google.
"This is fine," she smiled. "Now go home."
"One last thing," Reid said. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
"Are you kidding me?" She asked. "There are a million possible answers to that question but none of them are correct."
"Yeah, but maybe I'll keep you up with it," Reid said. "Lewis Carroll did actually later answer that question. There is a definitive answer. I can give it to you sometime."
"You do that," Kate yawned and Reid left her doorstep, Poe's toy in hand and Poe next to him.
That afternoon, at 1:59 p.m. exactly (or the minute before Reid's lunch hour ended) she got a text from him.
Lewis's answer: "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!"
The fool she was, Kate replied with, You spelled never wrong.
Nevar is raven backwards, came Reid's reply. Carroll's proofreader got it wrong and corrected it too.
Garcia told me you guys stayed for the funeral, Kate texted back. That's not the usual team protocol.
We had time, Reid said simply.
Kate understood that so she dropped the subject. And Tara?
Kate stayed by her phone much longer than she should have, waiting for an answer. She even resorted to playing Candy Crush but Reid was back at work.
She sighed and finally turned her phone to silent, heading upstairs to see Jamie.
A/N: Not quite a game but, though I liked Outlaw, it didn't give me much to work with. And I got a review recently stating this wasn't a very realistic portrayal of the team in regards to Kate; that they wouldn't give her this much thought. While it was just the ranting of a bitter JJ 'fan', it did make me think. So no real game this time.