Playing Games by JuliaBC

A/N: 11x13: The Bond. What an utter waste of time. I am not usually a person to complain about episodes or characters, but good god, was there a scene without Tara? You guys all know how excited I was for Aisha Tyler to join the cast. And others have pointed out that maybe the main cast's schedules aren't as forgiving as they used to be, and they actually need her there to fill in the cracks.

That doesn't mean I like it. Tara is a great character. Aisha's a good actress and a wonderful person. Not knocking either of them. But if anyone was watching for any other character, they'd have been disappointed. Just saying.

"Kate, where are my tights?" Meg asked, hurrying down the stairs in her pajamas.

"You're going to bed, why do you need your tights?" Kate asked, clutching a phone to her ear.

"Sorry, are you busy?" Meg asked, halting.

"I'm on hold," Kate replied.

"I need them for school," Meg said. "I want to wear my orange skirt."

After telling Meg where they were, Kate felt her eyes fill with grateful tears. Thank god that Meg had fully returned to the girl that a fourteen year old should be. Worried about clothes again.

There had been a time that Kate was afraid Meg would never care about clothes again, about impressing the popular girls or the new boy in Spanish class.

There were still times when Meg would say no, a little too loudly and suddenly. Times that her niece would come home from school, pull Penny into her arms and then just hover at Kate's side for the rest of the afternoon as she finished whatever she was doing.

Kate was wondering if there was such a thing as too much babysitting, also. Though she was relieved that Meg liked her cousin, and completely doted on him, she wondered if she should be thinking about getting Meg more involved in the community, at church or something.

Usually a social girl, she now declined invitations to go anywhere. Kate couldn't decide if this was good or bad, as the caller on the other end abruptly returned to the call.

"That's on backorder, and we'll have to get back to you regarding it."

"Okay, thanks for trying, Luke," Kate said, hanging up.

Poe bounded around her legs, yipping.

"Is that the sign that Reid's home?" Kate asked, before wondering if she really meant that the way she'd said it. Of course Reid was home. He was in the DC area again. That counted as home.

Did her house count as home to him?

Remembering their conversation a few weeks ago, she really hoped it did. She truly hoped that he counted her house as a place of refuge now, a place to go to clear his head and recover after cases.

She walked down the hallway, Poe bounding ahead of her.

"Hey, it is him!" She said, and twisted the knob.

Reid smiled as Poe jumped at him. "I feel like this has happened before," he joked. "Only I think Poe was a little bit smaller."

"Yeah, he's getting big," Kate said, folding her arms. "So, back already?"

"It wasn't that long a case," Reid said. "I almost want to start taking Poe with me. It almost seems feasible sometimes, beyond the fact that it's against rule 35.6 of the FBI handbook." He shrugged.

"How does that go, no pets or children allowed on cases?" Kate asked, wondering that there was actually an explicit rule banning pets.

"No animals that aren't service animals," Reid corrected, a bit absently. "I had a lot of down time. I read a lot."

"Really?" Kate wondered. "How were you that...not busy?"

"Tara's doing a lot of the heavy work," Reid said. "Something happened with her committee; I think Hotch has been assigning her to do more in the BAU to make up for it. She doesn't have a home life."

Kate opened her mouth to correct him but paused. "I thought...she had a fiance or boyfriend...or girlfriend. Never heard the details, but...no?"

"I thought I'd told you," Reid said, and a worried look swept over his face. "I guess I forgot."

"Everyone does," Kate almost scolded. "Have you read more about testing or avoiding dementia?" She didn't like being the type of person who couldn't name things and she stated it baldly now, knowing that sometimes at the BAU things were avoided. A bit too much.

Reid almost laughed. "A whole library's worth of the subject," he said, ducking his head. "I'm thinking about chiropractic or acupuncture but I just don't know, can't believe that it could actually help."

"It could," Kate said. "And you should try it."

Reid just shook his head again. "To get back to our original topic, he broke up with Tara when she got more involved with the BAU. He couldn't handle her being gone so much."

Poe had stopped his frantic tail wagging and now sat down, rather soberly, at Reid's feet, sensing his master's mood.

"What's really eating you?" Kate asked.

"Can I come in?" He asked, not looking at her.

"Of course," she said, stepping aside. He went for the living room, Poe at his heels. Once inside, he noticed the game set up.

"What's this?" He wondered.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's something I set up for Jamie to play with," Kate said, then realizing that he was actually interested, stopped herself from trying to put it away. "It's feel and find, a baby development tool thing. You've got objects inside the bag, and cards to match them to. You're supposed to feel around and find the correct object as portrayed on the card."

"I think Henry had something similar," Reid said, fingering one of the objects. "But, if you'll pardon me asking, Jamie is way too young for this."

"It was new, and it brought back memories," Kate confessed, shifting from foot to foot. "I opened it."

Reid chuckled, sitting down. "That's...you never fail to cheer me up."

"Well, at least I'm good for something," Kate said, sitting across from him. "Want to play a round?"

He was already putting the shapes into the bag. "This is so puerile."

"It is not," Kate protested before pausing. "Unless it is."

"Childish," Reid said. The shape on the card was a heart. He felt around inside the bag, not looking, before drawing out a heart.

"Beautiful," Kate said, as he put it on the card, both trying not to laugh. "I had a 100% success rate earlier."

"That's a good sign for Jamie, his mother's got brains," Reid said, twitching with suppressed laughter.

Kate took the bag back. "My shape is a star," she said, and withdrew the right piece.

Reid felt inside the bag, trying for a car, when suddenly he wasn't having fun anymore.

"This is what motherhood is supposed to be," he said suddenly. "Playing with them...or for them."

"What's up?" She asked.

He set the bag down, and the piece he placed on the table was in no way a car.

"It hurts so much when cases directly involve mothers and sons," he said flatly, finished with beating around the bush. "When I see the ways it could have been me. There was...a man, in my childhood."

"Yeah?" Kate asked, her hands frozen.

"He kidnapped a boy in my neighborhood, and was killed himself for it," Reid said.

She wondered where this was going.

"For a time...I thought my mother had been the one to do it, because she thought I was his next target," Reid said, his face neutral but the tics...oh, so telling.

"And?"

"She wasn't, but I've never forgotten the feeling of thinking that my mother could be capable of something like that," Reid finished. "Of thinking that this was one more thing I might...inherit."

"Oh, Spencer," she breathed.

"And this case brought it back, full force," he said. "And then it was over so quickly and I was just looking down at myself wondering if I could really believe it. But it was and I wasn't even there, to see him, to talk to him."

"Spencer," she repeated, unable to say more.

"I want to forget," Reid said. "But if I forget...then I can't remember the important things."

"I'm sorry," she settled on, and took his hand in her own for a brief, strong grip.

"I wanted to talk to him," Reid said. "Ask him..."

"But what?" She wondered.

"He was taken in custody and committed suicide," Reid finished. "And just like that, game over. One life ruined so many others...and all because of his mother."

Poe whimpered, perhaps wanting to suffer with his master right now.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

He nodded, standing up. "Thanks for the game," he said. "For the representation of how mothers can be."

"If I helped, I don't know how," she confessed.

"You listened," Reid said. "And sometimes that's more than enough for someone who used to go home to an empty apartment. Come on, Poe."

A/N: So, yeah, just wanted to add some Reid in. Is it too farfetched for the show to consider that Reid might have been affected by it?

And yes, I think that Randy's suicide happened later, but I fast-forwarded to it. Since the episode just *had* to end with it, instead of showing any of the team.

I just needed to add some emotions to an otherwise freezing episode.

So a bit too sappy at the end, but I was frustrated. And weird things happen when I am.