Chapter 35
"Married!" Garcia exclaimed. "Reid can't get married!"
She and Morgan had shown up right after Spencer went upstairs, and had been trailed closely by Blake. Now, as Rossi started in on supper Blake accepted a glass of wine and settled on one of his counter stool. "Why not?" Blake asked.
"Because he's just been through some kind of major trauma," Morgan said. "He's not thinking clearly."
"But we have evidence that as of the end of September he was thinking quite clearly." Blake countered. "And according to the story he asked her back at the end of May."
"Yeah, when they had only known each other, what, two months?"
Blake nodded, "Fair enough. So, how long do they have to live together to earn your support? Six months? One year? Five years?"
"It's not about that."
"No? Then what is it about? Is it because he is who he is? Is it because he doesn't fit the ideal husband mode? He's not Alpha enough, not commanding enough?"
"No…"
"Or is it because you're having trouble picturing him having a sexual relationship? Does he have to build up his body and sleep with a few dozen women first?"
"No!" Morgan sighed impatiently. "Where is this coming from?"
"Spencer didn't want to tell anyone, specifically you two and JJ, about his relationship with Maeve because he knew he'd be teased and laughed at instead of supported. So he shut down and stopped communicating, which lead directly to this mess. Now if we go in there guns blazing he's just going to shut down again."
"Yes, but there is no way he's in a good headspace to get married right away." Garcia protested.
"He didn't say he wanted to get married right away." Rossi pointed out. "He said sometime in the next 21 weeks, that's nearly five months."
"Exactly," Blake said. "He's met someone, he's in love, and he's engaged but nothing is set in stone. I suggest we offer both of them our acceptance so they feel supported enough to open up, even to the point of offering to help plan a nice wedding…a few months out."
Morgan was nodding, "Which will give them time to at least start to recover and think clearly." He agreed. "Slick."
"And if, in a few months, they still want to get married then we support them in that decision." Blake finished.
"Reid married." Garcia sounded a little gobsmacked. "Heck, Reid with a girl. It is kind of a concept. I honestly never thought of him…you know."
"He did have Maeve." Blake pointed out.
"Yeah, but that was all just letters and phone calls. That's like having a net boyfriend. I mean, they're sharing a room, right?"
Blake looked from her to Morgan, her incredulity rising. "Spencer is thirty-two and straight, what makes you think he wouldn't be interested in a sexual relationship?"
"Well…"
"What makes you think he's never had a sexual relationship?"
"He would have said something!" Garcia insisted.
Morgan turned to her. "Like he did about Maeve?"
"Good point."
"Just because he doesn't fit your ideal of attractive, or JJ's, doesn't mean other women don't see him that way." Rossi looked over from where he was stirring the pot. "I recall hearing a story about a certain actress named Lila Archer. Am I making porridge for everyone?" Everyone nodded so he started cracking more eggs. "What bothers me is that this apparently relates back to this 'experiment'. I'm more concerned with them still living under the Unsubs rules then with them deciding to marry."
"Well, offering to help with the wedding should help them relax and give us time to ferret out the details." Blake said.
Just then they heard a door open and close upstairs. A few minutes later Laura, cleaned up and tidy, came downstairs. "Hi." She said.
A general hello went around. Garcia got up and went over to meet her. "Hi. We haven't met. I'm Penelope. Garcia."
"Ahhh, the mysterious lady on the phone," Laura nodded. "Thank you for everything, by the way. All of you."
"Anytime. So, you two are going to get married?"
Laura nodded. "And you guys are okay with this?"
"Of course. We just want him happy, and if that's you then welcome to the family." With that Garcia pulled her into a hug.
When that broke Laura looked like she almost didn't believe it, but her eyes were growing misty. "Thanks. That…kinda really means a lot."
"So have you given any thought to when?"
"Honestly?"
"Always with us," Rossi said. "Even if it comes out wrong it's better to have something honest to work with." He poured the bowl of scrambled eggs in the pot and kept stirring.
Laura settled at the counter with the rest of the group, turned down wine from Morgan but accepted sparkling water. "Honestly, if you guys were going to give us a hard time like I know my family will we were just going to elope and force the issue." From behind, where Laura couldn't see, Blake gave them all her best 'I told you so'. "But given that we need to find a place to live…and a really good therapist…March might be good. That would be a year after we met."
March. It was now the end of November. "March works." Rossi said mildly. "Gives us all time to plan."
"March. In Las Vegas. For a lot of reasons." Laura started off into space and nodded. "And that is as far as I can go because while I can picture that I'm having trouble picturing tomorrow. My head is not on straight."
"That's okay." Blake said, stopping to rub her shoulder gently. "There's no rush."
Rossi added the scallions he had chopped earlier, gave the pot one more stir and started dishing up bowls. Tiny bits of pasta boiled in chicken broth, then eggs were quickly mixed in and allowed to cook, and the onion for flavor. He served it with fresh Parmesan. "Pastina con uova. Lots of protein and easy on the stomach before bed, which is probably not that far off." He said, eyeing the now freshly washed zombie that was making his way down the stairs.
They all turned to look. "They really are okay with it." She told him, evidently picking up a conversation from before. "You were right."
"See. Not your parents." He paused long enough to press a quick kiss to her temple before dropping on to one of the stools. "I told you we'd be all right."
Rossi raised his glass to Blake. Right move indeed.