"So where is he?" Emily asked getting up from her seat to get a closer look at the screen.
"Don't get your hopes up yet" Garcia pointed to the map on her screen.
"He's in his apartment building" She elaborated.
"He's gone home?" JJ asked in disbelief.
"Looks like it" Penelope sighed.
"Another one of your great plans to fail yet again" Emily joked looking over at Morgan.
"Hang on now, he might just have gone home to get freshened up before his big date, that's what I would do." Morgan defended.
"Yeah, what you would do Morgan" Emily rolled her eyes "Last time I checked you're not Spencer"
"Just give him time, you'll see" Morgan snapped. He turned to Garcia as an afterthought and added.
"Are we still okay to crash here a little longer?"
"If you want to spend more quality time with me sugar, who am I to deprive my subjects?" She grinned wickedly at him.
Then he turned to JJ and Emily again.
"If you two want to leave I'm not stopping you but I'm seeing this through" He stated determinedly.
The women shared a look before JJ spoke.
"I'll stay"
"Yeah, me two" Emily added.
Meanwhile at Spencer's apartment
Trunk and backseats filled with the content of Spencer's apartment including the majority of the man's 'light reading pile' that filled the foot well of both backseats and the front passenger. Causing Spencer to have to sit crossed legged in his seat.
After squeezing the last box into the back seat Erin took a second to eye up the car proudly from the drivers seat.
"We should play tetras sometime; something tells me we'd be good" She laughed moving a long lamp that poked out between the seats to the side so that she could grab the handbrake. She cautiously started the car. It rattled to life groaning under the weight it now carried. Spencer and Erin shared a concerned look.
"Come on girl you can make it. You get us back home tonight and tomorrow I promise I'll book you in to get valeted" Erin whispered playfully to the car tapping the dash a couple times. Spencer smiled at her quirky ways nothing like the stern faced boss that he once thought he knew.
The rattling noise muffled as they pulled off. Erin let out a triumphant sound and Spencer gave a round of applause.
They crawled through the city. Driving excruciatingly slowly to lesson the crashing sounds coming from the trunk. Spencer had one hand on the lamp holding it in place and with the other he haphazardly tried to catch falling objects from the backseats.
"Not much further" Strauss muttered more to the car than Spencer.
"Corner" She called warning Spencer.
He turned as far around in his seat as possible. Outstretching his arm to cover as much of the back seats as he could. In time to get an up close view as his things started to tumble down the seats towards him. The objects that didn't hit him in the face were caught and he passed them back onto the seat as they straightened up. The thought had crossed his mind that Morgan or Emily or really anyone on the team would have thought of a better way to do this. But honestly, he didn't care he was laughing too hard at the absurdity of the situation to overthink himself for once. Erin glanced over causing her two to giggle at their predicament.
"Corner" Again the car turned and his things slid closer, he repeated his actions grabbing as much as he could.
Over the pained sounds from the engine a new sound was added to the symphony. It took Reid a second to recognise the sound of his phone. Placed in his satchel that was now buried under his things the ringtone came out distorted. He tried to lean over to grab the bag's handle poking out from a pile of books. But the best he could do was to brush it with his fingertips.
Seeing what Spencer was trying to do Erin spoke up.
"My place is just two minutes away, once we pull up you can check your phone. Saves you breaking something trying to snag that bag that is clearly out of reach."
"Yeah you're right" He was already in a precarious position as it was adding in a daring lean over to grab the bag and he might be tempting fate a little too much. He turned back around in his seat taking in the neighbourhood they were travelling through. It was clearly upper class each house they passed was grander than the last. The perfectly maintained gardens and over the top houses were a far cry from his childhood home back in Vegas. He awkwardly wiggled in his seat already feeling out of place. Almost instinctively Strauss turned to Spencer giving him a broad smile that calmed his nerves.
Two streets later and Erin pointed to a house in the distance.
"Here we are"
The house in question was a tall three-story town house with a double garage and large immaculately kept gardens. Opposite the row of houses lay the local park adding to the picturesque quality of the neighbourhood.
On the driveway sat a dark car, the shadow of its owner stood by the front door. With the sun long set the only light to identify the figure came from the streetlamps. Causing both Spencer and Erin to have to squint to make out who was on the doorstep.
Upon hearing the advancing car that was now pulling up behind the first car on the drive. The figure turned around to reveal the smiling face of David Rossi walking towards them.
"I was beginning to think something had happened" Rossi called walking towards the car. "I gave you both a call when nobody answered the door" He waved his phone to make the point tucking it back into his pocket. But after getting a look at the car's content he abruptly stopped talking.
"You don't travel light kid" Dave joked.
"Sorry David with everything going on I forgot to give you a call to let you know we were running a little late. We had a few unexpected incidents to deal with" Erin covered as Spencer tried to extract himself from the car. He opened his passenger door causing a cascade of books to fall to the floor. Rossi raised an eyebrow at Spencer and the books he was picking up.
"I can see that Erin, what's gone on?" He questioned helping Spencer pick up the last of the books.
"My buildings been deemed unlivable, rats in walls" He shrugged not wanting to go into much detail "so Erin's letting me stay with her. We brought as much of my apartment as we could fit into the car" Spencer elaborated.
"That's terrible news Spencer are you going to be okay? You know my door is always open" David kindly stated.
"I think I'll be okay here but thank you for the offer" Rossi nodded expecting the response.
"I just need to work out how to get my furniture somewhere safe" Spencer added.
"Now that is something I can help with. Just give me a minute to make some calls, I know some people"
"Okay thank you Rossi I really appreciate it" Spencer sincerely thanked him.
"Don't mention it, I'm happy to be of use"
By the time Erin and Spencer had cleared the items from the front seat and brought them up to sit by the front door. David was off the phone.
"All sorted, my guys are on their way over to pick up your keys. They'll have everything out in no time and I've got a storage facility ready to put it in until you're ready for it all.
"Impressive Dave, you work quickly. Mind helping us take what's left in the car?" Erin asked handing Dave the tall lamp from the middle of the car.
David laughed carrying out her orders. After another couple of runs from the car to the door everything was out and ready to be moved in.
With the immediate problems of the afternoon handled Spencer had a moment to catch up with himself. It was one crazy event after another recently. But now staring up at the lavish house he found himself in front of he couldn't help smiling at Erin and David who playfully argued with one another. Both Erin and Rossi had effortlessly helped him tonight diverting what Spencer could only imagine would of been a nightmare of lost possessions and dank motel rooms. Instead he felt nothing but safe and happy enjoying the show as the two bickered like an old married couple.
So after two rounds of technical difficulties and a lot of lost writing I finally present the latest chapter. Let me know what you think.