Many thanks to you all for your patience as I attempt to get back into my writing groove. I've got plans for a couple holiday themed conversations again this year...and I'm hard at work on those.

This one jumps in with the illustrious Dr. Reid again. It's tagged to season 5's "A Thousand Words" and gives an answer to exactly what Morgan and Prentiss owe Reid for going through those journals with the teeny tiny writing. Kudos to Shadpup for bugging me to write this one.

Happy reading =)

"…no existence can be validly fulfilled if it is limited to itself." – Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity

"Hey, Pretty Boy," Morgan says to me as he puts his leftovers in the microwave to heat up.

"Hey, Morgan," I reply as I stir some sugar into my coffee while estimating how long the remainder of the stack of files on my desk will take to complete. At my current files per hour output, taking into consideration an average addition of 2.5 files for each of Morgan and Emily – they really aren't subtle at all when it comes to sliding the files onto my pile – and factoring in 40 minutes for lunch, snacks, and coffee refills, I estimate I'll be finished by 4:38pm.

"Whatcha up to this weekend?"

"Besides reading that is," Emily interjects teasingly as she joins us in the kitchenette to fill up her mug with fresh coffee – her fourth of the day so far. She must have had a late night… Generally she limits her coffee intake on paperwork days to 4 cups per day, but she's already reached 4 and it's only 1pm.

"I do things other than read," I say in my own defence. Emily raises an eyebrow while shaking her head in amusement. "What? I do."

"Okay, so what are you doing then?" Emily asks, stirring her coffee and inhaling its aroma deeply.

"I'm going to Georgetown for a lecture."

"Oh, my alma mater! What are you lecturing on?" Emily asks before taking a sip from her mug and leaning against the counter, no doubt relishing the break from the files, forms, and consults that had built up on our desks in the last few weeks – hers and Morgan's are rather large thanks to their general aversion to paperwork.

"I'm actu-"

"Does this mean we have to start calling you Professor Reid now?" Morgan interjects with a grin.

"I'm actually not lecturing. I'm attending a lecture."

"Really?" Morgan says, his brow furrowing. "Hotch ask you to go on behalf of the team?"

"No," I say slowly, as a frown forms on my face. "I had some free time, and am interested in the topic, so I'm going."

"For fun?"

"Yeah. Why? What are you doing?"

"Well, depending on the weather, I might work a little on the exterior of my latest project. There's just a bit of cosmetic work left to be done before I can put it on the market, so I'm pretty excited to get it done. And then I'll probably watch some football."

"The latest forecast is predicting rain all weekend, based on a number of factors, most notably the strong-"

"Whoa, okay Mr. Weather Man. I don't need to know how the forecast came to be what it is. Just need to know if it's gonna rain."

"Hey, Morgan?" Emily says, the corners of her mouth twitching in amusement.

"Yeah?" he replies, turning to face her, surprisingly oblivious to the oncoming sass. Even I know what's coming.

"It's supposed to rain this weekend," she says, laughter threatening to fall from her lips.

"Thanks," he says with a roll of his eyes and a glare. "I had no idea."

"Well given that your plans are now spoiled, you're welcome to join me," I offer. "It's going to be quite fascinating."

"Uh, no offense, kid, but it's not really my thing."

"How do you know? You don't even know what the topic is."

"Doesn't matter – I finished with school a long time ago."

"A very long time ago indeed," Emily says, just barely containing her laughter.

"I'd watch yourself, Prentiss. I happen to know when your birthday is…"

"It's not polite to speak of a lady's age," I point out.

"That's right, Dr. Reid. You hear that, Morgan? You could learn a thing or two from him. Maybe you should go to the lecture."

"No thanks, don't need to relive the heyday of college."

"You're not going to be tested on it," I point out.

"So not the point," Morgan replies.

"You never know…you might enjoy it. It's a fascinating subject."

"Okay, I'll bite. What's the topic?"

"Existentialism."

"See, I was right. Definitely not my thing."

"Do you even know what it is?"

"Doesn't matter. If you're going to it and are enthusiastic about it, chances are high I'll be hopelessly lost throughout the whole thing. Doesn't sound like a good time to me."

"How is that different than how we spend every day with him?" Emily says with a laugh.

I shoot her look that gives away how unimpressed I am with what she's inferring. "You should give it a chance," I say, turning to face Morgan. "There are several interesting parallels with our work."

"Ah, see, there's the problem. We work enough as it is – I don't need to bring it home with me too."

"Fine," I say with a huff. "What about you, Emily?"

"Sorry, handsome, I've got plans."

"Ohh," Morgan says, perking up at her words. "What kind of plans?"

"Ones that don't include you," she replies coolly.

"Ouch. That hurts."

She just grins widely in response.

"Come on, Prentiss. What're you doing?"

"None of your business, Morgan," she says as she shoots him a pointed look and heads back toward her desk.

"Any idea what she's doing?" Morgan asks, turning to face me.

I shrug. "No clue," I answer as I turn and had back toward my own desk before Morgan has a chance to slide more consults from his pile onto mine and stretch out my day any longer.

"What the hell is the topic again?" Morgan asks as he leans against Emily's desk. He's been avoiding going back to his office since he stopped to have lunch. I think he misses being out in the bullpen and having that buzz of activity around and the brief interactions with the team. Or he's just avoiding his stack of paperwork. Both are equally plausible explanations.

"Existentialism," I answer without looking up.

"And what is that?"

I let out a sigh before putting my pen down and meeting his confused gaze. My work day just got extended a few minutes, though I can't say I'm totally bothered by it. It's not often he takes an interest in my hobbies. "It's a branch of philosophy typically attributed to Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and Søren Kierkegaard among others, that emphasizes the role of each individual in their own development through their freedom and responsibility."

"Ah, yes. Man is condemned to be free," Emily chimes in, looking up from her file.

"Don't tell me you know about this mumjo jumbo too?!"

"It's hard to live for any significant amount of time in France without hearing about the brilliant Jean-Paul Sartre."

"So you know what the hell he's talking about?"

"Existence precedes essence."

"Oh lord help me. I'm surrounded by nerds."

"You're just realizing this now? Maybe Hotch should make you take the qualification exam again. Your profiling skills seem to be lacking…" Emily teases.

"You better watch yourself, Princess."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll make sure Hotch hears about yours and JJ's little gallivant last month-"

"Okay!" she says quickly. "There's no need to bring that up," she says quickly.

I raise an eyebrow at their exchange. Not a chance I'm going to be getting any more work done until they wrap this up, so I resign to let it play out. The fact that Emily has an understanding of existentialism is interesting though.

"Back to this philosophy mumbo jumbo," Morgan says, swinging his gaze over to me. "You said it had several parallels with profiling?" He must be desperate to avoid returning to his office if he's prolonging the conversation.

"With law enforcement in general," I correct, "but, yes."

"How?" he asks skeptically.

"Existentialism, though varying with each philosopher's take on it, holds that ideas and wisdom must be tested in everyday existence. Most notably that one's ideas must be backed up by one's actions. We are a product of the choices we make and our actions."

"What makes this concept any different from the idea of being held responsible?"

"But that's just it – in existentialism, every action is a choice – even inaction – and so one could argue that we must hold each individual accountable for their choices."

"I still say it isn't any different from just plain old responsibility."

"There are several nuances, and it varies slightly depending on which philosopher you read."

"Right," he says slowly.

"It's also been suggested that as law enforcement officers, we're required more so than in other professions to have our actions support our ideas," I explain.

"And that's the topic of the lecture?"

"Yeah. You sure you don't want to come? You're both more than welcome to come with me. I'd love the company."

"Nah, I think I'll leave that to you."

I turn to Emily and find a pained expression on her face. "I- I mean, I wish I-"

"Actually," I say as a thought occurs to me. "I'm collecting on the favour the two of you owe me."

"What favour?" the two of them reply in unison with scrunched brows.

"You passed off combing through journals to me."

"When?" Emily says doubtfully.

"May 5, 2010, in Tallahassee, Florida."

"Oh, that guy with the tattoos, right?" Morgan says after a moment.

"Right, he was covered in 'em," Emily says with a nod, clearly having recalled the case.

"Yes. And I told you both you owed me when you made me read them instead of you."

"Well, yeah, but I mean, it was in the best interest of the team, and the community for those journals to get read as quickly as possible…" she says, no doubt trying to worm her way out of it.

I shoot her an unimpressed look. "Hotch assigned it to you two," I point out.

"But-"

"You two owe me, and I'm collecting on that. So the two of you are coming with me to the lecture."

"Pretty Boy, c'mon," Morgan pleads. "Anything else. Anything."

"Comicon is coming up…" I say, grinning triumphantly. "We could all go to that."

"Now that doesn't sound too bad. I read comics as a kid. I could put up with being surrounded by ner-"

"In costume," I finish.

His eyes widen. "Uh, yeah, I'm down with philosophy."

"What, you don't want to dress up, Morgan? You'd be a hit with everyone for sure. Isn't there a Thor movie coming out soon? You've got the body for that…" Emily teases.

"She's right," I chime in, enjoying the uncomfortable shifting Morgan is doing. "Although it leads me to wonder why she has so much knowledge of Comicon…"

"Garcia, obviously," she answers quickly. Now that's a deflection if I've ever seen one.

"Oh, that was way too quick a response for it to be true," Morgan says with a grin, noticing the same thing I had. "Is the classy and worldly Emily Prentiss secretly a fan of all things nerdy?"

"Not all things," she mumbles before shooting us both cool stares and then putting her head back down to continue working.

"Oh, I'm never gonna let you this one down, Princess," Morgan says gleefully, a wide grin spreading on his face once more.

"Just remember that Garcia will side with a fellow nerd sooner than she will with you – the one who is making fun of nerds," Emily says, letting the significance of that statement sink in. I hold back a chuckle as his grin fades quickly in the face of her threat.

"So what time are you picking me up?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Uh, well what time is the lecture?"

"11am."

"Okay, uh, maybe 10ish?"

"Make it 9:15 and we'll grab some breakfast first."

"Fine. 9:15 it is."

"See you then."

"Yeah, yeah," Morgan grumbles.

"And Emily?" I add.

"Yeah?"

"Comicon?"

"I'll be there," she says reluctantly. I smile widely. It's been a few years since I've been able to go, let alone bring a friend. This is going to be great.

"Thanks for coming, Emily," I say as she pulls into the parking lot next to my building. "I had a great time."

She shoots me a smile. "So did I, handsome. I will admit that it was a pretty unfair way for me to repay my debt."

My eyes widen slightly in surprise. "You really had a good time?"

"I did," she says with a nod and another warm smile. "It was nice to spend time with you outside of the BAU…even if it was in costume."

"We should do this again sometime."

"Are you asking me out, Dr. Reid?"

"What?!" I say in surprise, my voice rising in pitch despite my best efforts. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I-" I stammer.

"Relax, Reid," she says with a laugh. "I was kidding."

"Oh," I say in relief. Not that Emily isn't a wonderful woman…but she's not for me. I think she's more suited to someone a little more assertive than me. "Well do you want to come up for some coffee?"

"Sure," she says with a warm smile and turns off the car. "Let me just grab my bag – this thing is a bit uncomfortable."

"It was quite popular and well received."

"That might've been more so the result of the grossly unequal proportion of males to females in the crowds," she says with a laugh. "But still…nice to be noticed, I suppose."

"I can't imagine a situation where you would be ignored," I muse aloud as we make our way up to my apartment.

Emily pauses for a moment, as though my words have shocked her. "You know, I haven't always been this drop dead gorgeous," she says in a sarcastic tone, clearly choosing to go a self-deprecating route. But more often than not there is an element of truth in the shield of humour she so often resorts to. In fact, now that I think about it, for as much as Emily Prentiss tends to seem mysterious and unknown to even us, her closest friends, I think she reveals more about herself than she intends to.

"Be that as it may," I say as I unlock my door and gesture for her to enter. "I find it hard to believe that you could go ignored in an instance now."

"You'd be surprised."

"Oh?"

"Mmhmm."

"…where are you ignored?" I ask with a frown.

"I'm just going to change," she says quickly, holding up her bag. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Just over there, second door on your left," I say while pointing across the room. I watch as she makes her way quickly over to the door, as though she's running away from the conversation topic.

I begin to make a pot of coffee with the expensive coffee Garcia bought me for last Christmas, while mulling over our conversations thus far. She hadn't meant to delve into this topic, her discomfort with it was significant enough to make that clear. Should I let it go and move on? Or should I press for details? Curiosity wages war with the manners my mother had instilled in me. In the end my manners win out over my curiosity. Straining my friendship with her isn't worth pressing for details that will likely come out in time anyway.

Before she returns, I head to my bedroom to change out of costume and into some more comfortable clothes. By the time I return to the kitchen, she's just exiting the bathroom. I watch her as she drops her bag by the door and joins me in the kitchen, sitting at the small table by the window.

"So how was the existentialism lecture? I forgot to ask."

"It was great," I say with a wide grin, my enthusiasm escaping. "Some really interesting rhetoric, and some good questions raised by the audience as well."

"Did Morgan behave himself?"

I grin widely. "I think he actually enjoyed himself."

"No," she breathes in disbelief. "Really? I thought for sure he'd zone out."

"I guess he decided to make the best of a bad situation," I say with a shrug. She's not the only one who falls back on self-deprecating tendencies occasionally.

She frowns. "That's not how you really see it, is it? He loves spending time with you, you know. You're like his little brother."

"I am?" I say in surprise.

She nods solemnly. "Yeah. He always talks about how he has to teach you how to do some basic repair work."

"But I've read the procedural-"

"You know as well as I do, Dr. Reid, that theory and practice are two very different beasts."

"I suppose…"

"Anyway, it wasn't a bad situation for him at all. And he certainly wasn't dreading it as much as he likes to think he was."

"Oh," I say in realization. I had been surprised that he had enjoyed himself. Although looking back I probably shouldn't have been so surprised that he was able to keep up with the concepts. He's a lot smarter than I give him credit for sometimes.

"Who knows, maybe you've converted him and he'll go with you to more lectures."

"Maybe," I say with a smile. Suddenly I recall the question I'd wanted to ask her all day. "Hey, how did you know so much about Comicon anyway?"

"Is it so incomprehensible that a woman would enjoy Comicon?" she retorts.

"No," I say with a shake of my head. "But it is that you would."

"Why?"

"Because you're Emily Prentiss," I answer easily.

"I thought you knew me better than that, Dr. Reid," she says with a frown.

"You haven't answered my question," I counter, hoping to avoid getting sidetracked.

She lets out a sigh. "When I was a kid, I got dragged along to my mother's meetings and appointments a lot. To pass the time I brought toys and games to play with, but eventually I got my hands on some comics and I read those instead. Mother would buy me stacks of them to keep me busy and out of her hair."

"Okay…but how did you become familiar with Comicon?"

"A friend of mine in college found out I'd read comics as a kid and dragged me to a few events, including a road trip to Chicago for Comicon."

"Have you gone back to one since then?"

She shakes her head. "No, I got busy with work and didn't have time. Not to mention, it's not something I'd ever do by myself – I only went the first time because of my friend, and this time because of you."

"We could go next year," I suggest.

She smiles. "Maybe. We'll see, handsome. Got any food? I'm starving."

I shoot her a lopsided grin before I get up to open up my fridge. I'd never have guessed this was a part of my life I could share with Emily. She never seemed the type to appreciate comics, and the all-around 'nerdy' pop culture. But then again, I don't really know her all that well despite having worked with her for a few years now.

Maybe it's time I spent a little more time getting to know her – it seems like she's here at the BAU for the long-haul. Between our mutual love of coffee, chess, science fiction, and comics, I'd say we actually have quite a bit in common…

So...did the existentialism have you completely lost? Did you smirk at the thought of Reid dragging Morgan to a lecture? Curious as to what/who Emily dressed up as for Comicon? Enjoy the bantering between the three teammates? Let me know!