Stress Release, Part Three
Criminal Minds
Know-It-All-2008
Teen to Mature
When her alarm went off at four am that morning it took all she had to drag herself out of bed and into the shower before stumbling out and into her training gear and wind suit, looking at a pot of coffee that she was sure she hadn't set a timer for the night before, then remembering Reid had walked her to her door, she made a mental note to thank him for that once it was a decent hour. As she pulled into the Training Academy's parking lot she was surprised to see quite a few cars there, once she made it onto the field by four thirty however she was even more surprised to see Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, JJ and Spencer Reid all in training gear, doing some form of warm up.
"You're late!" JJ yelled across the field as soon as she spotted the young girl.
"Didn't realize this was a group event." She said as she dropped her bag next to the rest of theirs before joining JJ in stretching out her ligaments and tendons. She was stiff as a board and she only had twenty minutes to warm up, this was going to be pure torture.
"We work as a team or haven't you figured that out, sugar?" She didn't even have to look to know that was Morgan's voice.
"Well thanks for the thought, when was the last time any of you ran the gauntlet?" she asked, knowing it had been a while for some of them.
The general consensus was their academy days expect for Derek, JJ and surprisingly Reid who all came out on alternating Saturday's and Sunday's.
"It started out as a way to get me into shape but we just kept it up from there." Reid said, surprising her when he snuck up behind her, which landed him flat on the track mat.
"Shit! Reid, don't sneak up on me; it's an automatic response." She said, before watching him pull himself up to his feet.
"It's fine; I should of learned my lesson when JJ matted me that way a few weeks ago." He played it off but she knew he would make her pay for it later if the heat in his eyes was anything to judge by.
By that point her academy instructor had shown up, surprised to see her entire team there with her.
"You sure are a loyal bunch; you realize I'm running her hard today. She missed the last two gauntlets because she was away with you guys. Seaver you're running it three times today" He said, trying to give them time to back out but one look at them told him they wouldn't back down from it. "You're lucky Seaver. Do you all remember how it's run?" he asked.
When he got nod's from five and a chuckle from Ashley, as if she would forget anytime soon, he lined them up and with a blow of his whistle they took off towards the field, working in pairs to get over the wall, Derrick vaulting JJ and Spencer up, while Aaron vaulted Ashley before clamoring over the wall themselves followed quickly by David. The rope course was the hardest part for David and Aaron while the rest had either brute strength or their limberness to help them get across quickly onto the tires, working their way through it with a little effort before the full body drag over the wall, Seaver slowed just enough to demonstrate how she learned it before carrying her body double over the wall, followed by JJ, Derrick, Hotch, Rossi, and finally Reid, topping the wall seconds after one another. Once under the razor wire it was onto the academy's equivalent of monkey bars which they all seemed to do fine on before starting the course again completing each run faster than the previous run.
When they finished their final run JJ and Ashley fell to the ground, giggling like school girls glad the torture was over Aaron and David a close second on hitting the ground, minus the giggling. Spencer reached out to pull Ashley up while Derek pulled JJ to her feet in one pull, laughing at Aaron and David who were stuck helping each other up, much to everyone's amusement.
"We've been out here almost three hours; I think its breakfast time." Derek said, earning weary smiles from everyone.
"Hit the showers, and then meet at that all day breakfast place across the street?" JJ asked, already dragging Ashley towards the showers before anyone had time to reply, knowing they would all be there. Thankfully Ashley remembered to bring her shower supplies as JJ had forgotten her things. They managed to pass back and forth her body wash and shampoo conditioner mix and still finish before the men on their team did.
"What took you boys so long? My hair's practically had time to dry in this heat." JJ asked as she slid into her car grinning at the gaggle of men walking out of the showers.
"We only had three shower heads between us and Dave's a primadonna. Now I believe food was mentioned, let's get to it." Aaron said, dodging the friendly blow David sent his way. "I would say call Garcia but I'm not brave enough to make that phone call…Derek you interested?"
Derek laughed before shaking his head in the negative.
"Eight o'clock on a day off? I don't think so, even I'm not that brave." He said chuckling before following the flow of cars toward the breakfast place they frequented when they pulled all-nighters.
Thankfully the corner booth was open leaving all six plenty of room to sit without taking up too much of the aisle space. When their waitress automatically came over with six coffee cups, she knew they came here a lot.
"I don't know this one. I assume you'll want coffee like the rest?" As she asked this she poured the other five cups and with a nod from Ashley poured her own cup of coffee. "Do you all want your usual's?" The fact she remembered five people's separate orders told her this was a good place to eat at.
When she had written down their usual orders she turned her attention to Ashley.
"What can I get you baby girl?" Ashley looked over the menu briefly before ordering the breakfast plate, causing the entire table to laugh as well as their waitress.
"What'd I miss?" she asked, glancing around the table once their waitress walked off with their order.
"We all got the same thing; we've been coming here so long that we never got anything else." Derek said, smiling at her, "you'll fit in just fine hun."
Coffee was shared generously as they went through two pots before their orders arrived and another two while they ate and talked.
People started drifting off by eleven, leaving Ashley and Spencer alone drinking what was left of their coffee.
"You still want to catch some sleep?" Spencer asked after he had paid for their meals, waving off her debit card when she tried to pay.
"Sleep sounds wonderful, follow you back to the apartment?" she asked this as she entered her car, knowing he would agree to it and with a nod of his head, followed him back to the Rolling Hills apartment complex.
They took the stairs two at a time, only pausing for Reid to push his key into the lock on his door, grabbing Ashley by the crock of her elbow before shutting and locking the door behind her, giving her a quick kiss before dragging her to his couch, stretching before swiftly pulling his shirt over his, stretching out on his couch and pulling her down on top of him.
"I don't know about you but I'm exhausted." Spencer said, tenderly pulling Ashley's hair down from the braid she placed it in from earlier that morning, running his fingers through her shimmering hair before placing a kiss on her temple.
"Exhausted doesn't cover it. How are you feeling by the way? I know you haven't run the gauntlet that often." It was her polite way of saying he wasn't in as good of shape as he could have been, but he took the deflected question with grace.
"I'll be fine, I ran it two weeks ago with JJ and Derek, and Derek has been dragging me to the gym lately so it gets easier every time." He said, allowing his eyes to close as he blindly reached for a remote that was sitting next to the couch, pressing a button on it before setting it down on the table behind his head as the soothing sound of Debussy began to fill his apartment, shifting Ashley so she was facing the back of his couch, his body draped over hers as they fell into a light slumber.
A knock at the door woke Spencer up from his nap, as he blinked the sleep from his eyes, a glance at his wristwatch told him they had been asleep for roughly three hours. The knocking continued at a faster pace, causing him to shift Ashley so that she was lying flat on the couch before stumbling the front door of his apartment, pulling it open without removing the chain, internally grumbling at the dark-skinned man on the other side of his door.
"This better be important Morgan, I was asleep." Spencer almost growled, he wasn't that much of a morning person and he didn't like being woken up from his sleep.
Derek raised his hands in a mock defensive position before giving a full-bodied laugh.
"Sorry boy genius didn't realize you were asleep." He said, giving a slight push on the door that still had the chain across the door. "Are you going to let me in? I found some coffee when I went shopping this afternoon, and I know how much you like coffee."
True to his word, Morgan held up a large canister of dark roast coffee, along with a coffee mug with a bright yellow smiley face on it, a grin on his face.
Spencer didn't say anything just closed his front door long enough to remove the chain before allowing him entrance into his apartment. As Morgan entered the apartment he handed Spencer the canister of coffee before shrugging off his jacket.
"Why are you so quiet Reid, usually I can't…" when his eyes fell on Seaver curled up on Reid's couch a grin came over his face as he raised his eyebrow at his teammate.
Spencer didn't say anything just nodded his head towards the back of his apartment, fixing two cups of coffee before stepping into his second bedroom that served as his office, silently handing Morgan his cup of coffee.
"Damn, pretty boy, and here I thought it was just brought on by the case we were on. I didn't expect to see her in your apartment." Derrick said, taking a sip from his mug, grimacing at how strong Reid made his coffee.
"She lives two floors above me Morgan. Don't make it into something it's not." He said, finally sitting down into the chair that backed up to the only window in the room, motioning for Morgan to take any chair he wished as he took a drag from his coffee cup.
"I'm not making it into anything; you two just seem to spend a lot of time together here lately." Derek said, grinning before throwing Spencer the canister of coffee at Reid, who struggled to catch it, only spilling a small portion of his coffee from the cup that had been in his hands at the time the canister was thrown.
Reid just shot him a look that gave him enough of a hint that he needed to change the subject right as the front door to Reid's apartment slammed shut, telling Reid he had most definitely said the wrong thing and had been heard by the wrong person.
"Damn it Morgan, get out of here." Reid said before brushing past him, grabbing his shirt as he darted out the door of his apartment, taking a sharp left before jogging up two flights of stairs making it to her level right as Seaver slammed her apartment door shut.
He rapped on the door as he heard her put the chain on her door.
"Ashley, open the door." He said, knocking harder when she didn't answer after the first knock.
"Come on Ashley, I was just trying to get him off our case. It gets old, he's picked on me forever, it's just how he is."
He stopped knocking when he heard the chain being retracted from the latch. When it didn't open he frowned at the door.
"Please Ashley, I didn't mean it. I haven't had a relationship in years, I don't like them picking on me for it, but it's the truth." His voice cracked, as he sank to his knees outside her door as the door finally opened.
She didn't say anything as she silently motioned him into the apartment before entering her kitchen and pouring herself a glass of red wine, sipping on it as she returned to her living room, curling up into her overstuffed chair before pulling a throw blanket around herself and tucking her feet under her body as Spencer sank to his knees in front of her chair
"I am sorry Ashley. I am not going to lie; I am not very good at relationships. I can never tell when a girl's hitting on me or just playing with my emotions. I'm a genius but I am not good with emotions. I do like you, I don't want what we had to be a one-night stand event, and I'd like to get to know you. I grew up with a mother who was a professor of 15th-century literature; I'd like to court you if you'd allow it. Most girls…" he was stopped mid-ramble as she leaned forward capturing his lips in a kiss.
"Yes, Mr. Reid, you can court me if it's still your intention." She said, blowing a light stream of air into his ear as he pulled her wine glass from her hand before kissing the back of her hand and giving her a feather-light kiss across her lips.
"It would be my pleasure Miss Seaver. I realize we started this relationship on the wrong foot, would you do me the pleasure of going on a date with me tonight?" He asked, smiling at her when she silently nodded her head.
And so the courtship of one Spencer Reid and one Ashley Seaver began with one slow kiss and night of wild passion.
Authoress Note: I hope you enjoyed this ficlet! I realize I haven't written in a while but I would rather put something out there that had time and quality put in it than rush just to put something out; I did that with the last one shot I wrote and I won't compromise it again.
I have a one-shot going up tonight as well.
Do you want to see a sequel that follows their courtship? Let me know by review!
I also went back and fixed Derek's name. I have a friend named Derrick that spells his name that way so I am not surprised I made such a mistake. I do not mind constructive criticism but if you sat there and read all 8,000 words can I please get a review other than "you spelled something wrong" ?
I also could use a BETA for grammer/spelling across all fields as I write for several different fandoms when I do write. PM me
