More Like You

Emily and Reid

June 2010

"Ugh," cried SSA Emily Prentiss as she walked into the break room on Friday morning "no one speak to me."

Her co-workers were gathered around. Penelope had her face in the paper reading a gossip column aloud to Derek, who was leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed behind his head, seeming not too interested in the news but also staring at Penelope the whole time.

At the counter, pouring an ungodly amount of sugar in his cup, was Dr. Spencer Reid: resident genius. Emily bumped her hip into him and told him "Move. I need coffee and if I don't get it someone just may get shot up in here."

Derek chuckled. "Bad night, Prentiss? What was his name?"

"Shut up," she told him, pouring the coffee in her mug. "And Alan."

Derek chuckled again. "Alan, huh? I take it that Alan," he dragged out the name in a teasing way "didn't rock your world?"

She turned to face Derek. "Alan," she slurred the name "couldn't rock my parking space let alone my world."

Reid asked "What does that even mean?"

"UGH!" Emily cried in frustration. "I don't know why I put myself through this. I really don't. You would think I'd learn my lesson."

Derek teased her "Don't stress about it. I've heard its hard for nerds to find love."

Emily said "PG, hit him for me."

Penelope pushed Derek's shoulder. "Be nice."

He flirted with her, waggling his eyebrows as he leaned close, "You would like for me to be nice to you, wouldn't you, mama?"

"You know I would but we're talking about Em now. Stop teasing her," Penelope told Derek "or else that spanking you always threaten to give me just might be felt on your handsome, chocolate ass."

Emily rolled her eyes. "What a threat. He'd like that! Thanks for nothing."

Reid focused on Emily and asked, as if it was really important and part of a case, "What exactly were Alan's faults that you found so unattractive?"

"What was attractive about him is a better question," Emily said "And a shorter answer."

"There certainly must have been something that drew you to him in the first place. A sexual attraction, perhaps?" Reid asked.

"Ewww! Don't say sexual attraction to me," Emily told him.

"I don't see why not," Reid answered "We use those words often in the course of our cases. Why shouldn't I use it now to better understand your situation?"

Derek chimed in. "She might like it too much, kid."

Emily picked up a sugar packet and flicked it at Derek's head. It smacked against him and he told her "You could have taken out an eye of The Derek Morgan."

Emily shot back. "This is what's wrong with the world, right here."

Penelope smirked. Derek chuckled. Reid asked "What? What's wrong with the world?"

"Men!" Emily cried. "Men who speak in the third person about themselves like Morgan just did. Men who think they are God's gift to women. Men who think they can date five women at the same time-"

Derek grinned and teased "How did this become about me? I thought Alan was the cause of your foul mood?"

Reid said "We still haven't established what exactly Alan did to be rejected by you."

"He was born," Emily told him. "He's an asshole. That's it, plain and simple."

Reid said "Without more information I find it rash for you to conclude that. I certainly haven't been able to draw that interference from what you've said so far. Only that you were dissatisfied with his company last night. The why is still a mystery."

"He's just a jerk. Not all guys are like you, Reid. Some are just scuzz and I meet them all. And then agree to drinks with them! You know just once, just one damn time, I would like to meet a guy like you instead."

Derek and Penelope shared a smile. Reid looked confused, constipated almost. He asked "And what is that supposed to mean, exactly? Another nerd?"

"Forget it!" She went to leave the break room. "I have paperwork to do. Remember: no one talks to me or they die."

Derek called after her "You need to take the bullets out of that gun, Prentiss! I'm too young to die. My Ma wants grandbabies," then he laughed when she flipped him off.

Reid followed Emily. As he left the break room he could hear Penelope telling Derek he had to lay off Emily today because she was having the worse run of luck with men. She really wanted to settle down finally but it wasn't looking like it wasn't going to happen.

Reid meant to ask Emily right away to further explain her comment about wanting to meet a man like him but the tense expression on her face as she worked at her desk stopped him. He waited till the end of the work day. When she went to go home he grabbed his coat and headed for the elevators too.

By this time her bad mood at passed. Standing there he said "Alan obviously wasn't compatible for you."

She made a sound that meant Duh. "Obviously. Your point?"

"Only that its curious that you think someone like I would be. In what way?"

"Let it go, Reid. I was obviously still drunk when I said that."

"What time did you have your last drink last night?"

She shook her head at him and gave him a strange look while they walked into the elevator. "You wanna know what I meant?"

"It would be helpful to me, yes."

She smiled a little at that. "Oh, yeah? Gonna take my theories and use them on the next woman you hit on."

"I don't hit on women. When I date its usually because of a complicated set of circumstances, mostly work related, that thrust me and a woman into the same orbit for a period of time. And it usually is very unfulfilling because the circumstances change and she moves on with her life."

The elevator opened into the parking garage and they walked out together. "And how is knowing what I think about you going to help any of that?" Emily asked

"It could assist me in seeking out the right kind of woman next time. Someone more compatible, as you will certainly try to do for yourself also after this Alan debacle."

"It wasn't a debacle!" she cried. "Okay, it was. Thanks for naming it. Now I will forever think of last night as The Alan Debacle." She gave him a small smile to show she was teasing.

He kept giving her with a very serious look. Like she was a science experiment. They reached Emily's car. She stuck her key in the door.

Reid prompted "You want to find a man more like me. In what way? And be precise please."

"Geez, Reid, you sure are fishing."

"Phishing? Garcia warned me about that. Isn't that where your credit card information is stolen?"

Emily rolled her eyes and smiled. "Fishing for compliments is what I meant."

"Oh." He blushed a little. "No, its not that, not really. I just am very interested to know what you meant by that off-hand comment. If you didn't truly mean it though-"

"No, I did!"

He stared at her. There seemed to be an increase in tension between them in that moment. At least Emily suddenly felt warm and like she couldn't swallow. She distracted herself by opening the door of her car and tossing her purse inside.

She turned and looked at him again, slowly raising her eyes to meet his, resisting the urge to brush his hair away from his eyes. Emily resisted that urge about two hundred times in a typical day so that was nothing new.

"Okay, Reid, its like this. You are a good man. That's rare. You're intelligent-"

He frowned at that, as if that was the last thing he wanted to hear.

She quickly added "And very sexy! You're what women want to have for themselves and Alan is what makes women wanna go gay. Its simple. I want someone more you like and less him like. Whatever makes you interesting, different and special is what I mean."

He was still frowning. "Thank you, Prentiss. Have a good weekend." He went to walk away.

"Hold on." She grabbed his arm and he looked back. "You don't believe me, do you? Why would I bother to lie about it? Trust me I don't care to build up the ego of yet one more man in this world. I meet enough egotistical jackasses. I wouldn't blow smoke up your ass."

"I should hope not."

"That means-"

"I know what that means."

Softly she assured him, desperate now to drive her point home if for no other reason than she felt lousy about herself that day and didn't want Reid to feel the same, "I meant it."

His frown became a look of intense concentration. "In that case there is one way to solve your problem."

"You know where I can find lots of men as intriguing as you? Point me in that direction!" she joked. "Look at me, taking dating advice from you. This is one for the record books."

"There isn't anywhere you can find an abundance of men such as myself. Though if you want a man who is intelligent you could try mensa, for starters, or your college alumni get togethers."

"Geez, thanks, Ried. I will get right on that," she said, sarcastically.

"Before you do I suggest you try an alternate course of action. A more direct route to finding a man such as myself for yourself. It will require you to be open minded but, in the end, you may just find the desired result."

"Open minded? The last time a man said that to me I ended up handcuffed to my bed. And wanting to kick his ass."

"Something like that should be a mutually agreed upon activity after careful thought and consideration to what boundaries each partner is comfortable with. Statistics show that only thirty percent of people enjoy being bound during sexual activity and a far fewer percentage actually require that to achieve-"

"Reid! What's your advice for me? I need to get home and drink a case of wine."

"Oh......I was going to suggest you consider, and I think if you think about it you will see that this idea is not as strange as it might at first sound-"

"Spit it out. Consider what? Speed dating? Asking someone to set me up? Trolling chess tournaments for geniuses with good morals and teeth? Not to mention a great ass."

"Are you referring to me?"

"Your advice, Reid. I'm tired and want to go home now. Come on, just say it."

"It seems circuitous to your goal to start a search for a man like me when I am, at present, uninvolved in any sort of romantic relationship. Ever since things went south with Austin I've been spending my evenings with the works of Sir Walter Releigh but I could instead escort you wherever it is Alan took you and show you if you were, in fact, right. If you would have more fun with a man like me over a man like him."

"I would have more fun with a bag of rattlesnakes than a man like him." She stared at Reid for a moment, trying to decipher why he was asking her out. "You're asking me on a date, right?"

He blushed a little. "You're the one who said that you would like a guy like me to show interest in you. Well you have that right now. So, you're move, Emily." The last few words were said with a slight challenge. The same way he said them when they played chess.

She got in her car, turned it on and rolled down the window. "My place. Tomorrow night. Eight thirty. We'll eat dinner in. You're move, Spencer."

With that said she drove away. When she was out on the street, stopped at a red light, Emily did a happy dance in her seat. When a stranger on the street laughed at her she flipped him off.

All that night she couldn't stop smiling. Good bye, Alan, you reject, she thought to herself, And hello Dr. Spencer Reid.

Someone had to bag that genius one of these days. She just never thought it would actually be her. It looked like her luck was turning around after all.

THE END