Author's note: After reading the two Reid and Elle fanfiction stories, "The Start of Something New," and "Complications," both by Hidge, I decided to write an alternate ending to the "Complications" story. Please read both stories before reading my story. What if Reid woke up before Elle could leave him?
Elle and Reid were sleeping together naked in Reid's bed after passionately making love to each other overnight. Elle woke up and looked at Reid's clock. It was nearly 6 am. Elle tried to slip out of Reid's arms quietly but he looked up.
"Elle?" muttered Reid. "Where...are you going?"
"I'm sorry, Spencer," said Elle. "I just have to go to the bathroom. Go back to sleep."
Elle kissed Reid's cheek.
"I love you, sweetie," whispered Elle.
"I love you, too," muttered Reid.
Elle quietly went into the bathroom. Ten minutes later, she peeked back into Reid's bedroom to find him sound asleep. Elle quietly put back on her panties and her bra. Then, she picked her jeans up from the floor. Elle pulled a goodbye letter out of her jeans pocket and she looked at Reid with a tear streaming down her face. Nobody made her feel so good and so happy after sex like Reid did. Elle put the letter on the pillow on her side of the bed. Elle put back on her jeans. Then she picked up her red sweater, her coat and her shoes and she took one last look at her sweet lover.
"Goodbye, Spencer Reid," tearfully thought Elle to herself. "I will always love you."
Elle tiptoed out of the bedroom. Reid opened his eyes noticing that Elle hadn't returned to bed. Reid saw the goodbye letter on the pillow and he put on his glasses and he opened the letter and he speed-read it. Elle finished putting back on her red sweater and her shoes. She was about to open the door to leave the apartment.
"Elle?" said Reid.
Elle quietly gasped and turned around. Reid was wearing his boxers and he was holding her letter in his hand.
"You're leaving me for good?" asked Reid.
"You weren't supposed to wake up and read that letter until after I was gone," blushed Elle.
"You didn't come back to bed after going to the bathroom," explained Reid. "And, I can read 20,000 words per minute, remember? You were just going to leave me without saying goodbye?"
"Yes," tearfully admitted Elle.
"Why?" asked Reid. "Because of Garner? You're blaming me for him shooting you?"
"No," answered Elle. "I never blamed you for that. If I did, I never would have asked you to have sex with me."
"Am...I a terrible lover?" asked Reid.
"Never," answered Elle. "You were unbelievably wonderful. You gave me feelings I have never felt before. I've had the best sex of my entire life with you. Nobody has ever made me feel this good before. If you were a terrible lover, I wouldn't have come here last night to be with you one more time."
"Be with me one more time?" repeated Reid. "So, last night was goodbye sex?"
"Yes," tearfully admitted Elle.
"So, you...don't really love me?" asked Reid.
"I do love you, Spencer," tearfully answered Elle. "I love you with all of my heart. I love you enough to let you go."
"Why?" asked Reid.
Elle answered, "I realized during the Lee case that I'm not the same person anymore. The Elle Greenaway who you fell for in Seattle isn't here anymore."
"Yes, she is," said Reid. "She's standing right here in front of me. You're just deeply lost in all of those bad feelings that Garner gave you after you were shot."
"Yes, I am lost in all of those bad feelings," admitted Elle. "But, that's not the only reason why I'm leaving. Like I said in the letter, I have way too much baggage and I need to overcome my personal demons before I can really open myself up to someone. Even to you, sweetie. You think that you can help me, but you can't."
"How do you know that, Elle?" asked Reid. "You're afraid to even try helping yourself. You didn't go to the psych eval. You've quit the BAU. And, every time I've tried talking to you, you would rather drink or have sex with me instead of trying to open up to me. You can't overcome your personal demons all by yourself. Now, I admit that I'm just as inexperienced in boyfriend/girlfriend relationships as I was in sexual relationships. But, Elle, what we have together is wonderful. I think that we can make each other very happy together. I mean, we've both already went through the most difficult part of our new relationship."
"What difficult part?" asked Elle.
"Morgan found out about us having sex before we even left Ohio," answered Reid.
Elle started smiling from thinking about that morning.
"I smiled and said, 'Good morning,' to Morgan," recalled Reid.
Elle laughed, "And, Morgan said, 'Reid?! You had sex with Reid?!' And, I smiled and proudly said, 'Yeah.'"
Reid laughed, "And, Morgan said to me, 'And you had sex with Elle?!' And, I said, 'Morgan, I'm in love with her.'"
"And, Morgan said, 'Are you serious? I gotta digest this. I'll see you guys on the plane,'" laughed Elle while mimicking Morgan.
"You see?" added Reid. "That morning was funny. I'm laughing about it. You're laughing about it. I love seeing you laugh, Elle. We can make many more funny and happy memories if we stay together. Somewhere down the line, you got it in your head that you are a weak person if you accept help from someone who loves you. The Elle Greenaway I know and love could never be weak. I'm just asking you to give us a chance. Don't leave me without letting me try to help you, Elle."
"But, Reid, I'm a total mess," cried Elle. "I still have PTSD. I can't sleep at home anymore. Garner violated me and took away my safe feeling in my own home."
"You're still recovering from getting shot," said Reid.
"I wanted to go kill Lee that night," admitted Elle.
"But, you didn't," said Reid.
"I'm a man hating bitch," said Elle.
"But, you still love me," said Reid. "And, I love you, Elle. I've watched you sleeping peacefully in my arms."
"But, Reid," cried Elle. "You've said it yourself. I've been drinking, And, I've had sex with you instead of going to the psych eval. And, instead of talking to you about us like you wanted. I've hurt you then. I will really hate myself if I ever hurt you again."
"Elle," said Reid. "The only way you could really hurt me is if you go through with walking out that door now. Please don't leave."
"I have to leave," cried Elle. "You...deserve someone...better than me."
"That's not true," tearfully said Reid. "I deserve someone who I love and who loves me back. I deserve you, Elle. We deserve each other. I think that you're just afraid of being happy with me. Don't run away from me. From us."
Elle's heart was breaking. She opened the door to leave.
"Goodbye, Spencer," cried Elle.
"Elle," tearfully said Reid.
"I will always love you," tearfully vowed Elle.
Reid's heart was breaking.
"Elle..." cried Reid.
Elle walked through the doorway.
"Marry me," said Reid.
Elle gasped. She turned around with her eyes open wide and her jaw dropped. Reid had an engagement ring in his hand.
"W...what?" asked Elle.
"Marry me, Elle," repeated Reid.
Elle walked back inside the doorway.
"When did you get that?" asked Elle.
"After the first time we made love together in Ohio," answered Reid. "I was planning to ask you after our next case together. But, you're no longer with the BAU. So, Elle, will you marry me?"
Elle's heart was pounding rapidly. She wrote that goodbye letter because she knew that if she kissed Reid goodbye or even held his hand that she would be too weak to leave him. But, she never thought that Reid loved her enough to propose to her. Elle realized that she would have really been weak if she left Reid. The Brooklyn brunette's mind walled off any further thoughts of leaving the young genius who she loved. Elle closed the door from inside. She jumped on Reid and wrapped her arms and legs around him.
"Oh, yes, Spencer," happily cried Elle. "Yes! A million times yes! I will marry you!"
Reid placed the engagement ring on Elle's finger. Elle and Reid kissed each other's lips.
"I love you," smiled Elle.
"I love you, too," smiled Reid.
"Let's go back to bed and celebrate," suggested Elle.
"We will," smiled Reid. "After we talk about your baggage. Please tell me, when did all of these bad feelings really start for you, Elle?"
Reid and Elle sat down together on the living room couch. Elle took her goodbye letter and she tore it up. Reid took Elle's hands into his hands.
"When I was 8 years old," tearfully answered Elle. "My dad was...shot dead in the line of duty..."
Elle spent the whole morning telling Reid about her father going in to work for a patrol on his day off instead of teaching her how to ride a bike that day that he was murdered. And Elle yelling, "I hate you!" to her father when he left home for the last time. And, that Elle watched her mom getting the phone call about him getting shot dead. And, how Elle never really forgave herself for yelling, "I hate you!" that day. And, because of his murder, she never learned how to ride a bike. And, how difficult her father's birthday, Father's Day, Christmas and New Year's were to Elle every year without him.
Then, Reid told Elle about his mother being a schizophrenic and about his father abandoning him and his mother when he was 8 years old. And, about the time Reid was tied up naked on the goalpost by a mean girl and the whole football team in high school. And, how he didn't get home from that until midnight. And, how Reid took care of his mom alone at home. And, the hardest choice of his life when he sent his mother to the Bennington Sanitarium after he turned 18. And, about his fear of getting schizophrenia himself before he turned 30. Reid and Elle cried together in each other's arms.
Elle narrated: "Everyone you meet comes with baggage. Find someone who loves you enough to help you unpack."
After having some breakfast together, Elle and Reid went down to the courthouse and they officially got married. They returned to Reid's apartment and they spent the rest of the day consumating their marriage in bed. Around midnight, Elle woke up naked and snuggling in Reid's arms. She was sore all over from the passionate lovemaking they've shared together. She looked at her wedding ring on her left hand and she smiled warmly at her sleeping husband. Elle thought that by leaving she was saving Reid from a miserable future with her. But, she realized that Reid had instead saved her from a miserable future alone. Garner had taken her feeling of peace at home away from her when he shot her. But, Elle had found a new feeling of love, contentment and peace from sleeping in Reid's arms. She felt happier than she's ever felt before.
"I'm home," tearfully thought Elle to herself. "I'm finally home."
The following morning, Elle woke up to notice Reid was not in bed with her. Reid left her a note on the pillow on his side of the bed with a key taped to it. Elle read the note.
"Dear Mrs. Reid,
Hotch and Gideon called me in to consult on a new case. It's a local case so I should be back home before 6 pm. When I return, we can talk about whether you should move in here with me or if we both should get ourselves a new home together. In the meantime, I left you my spare key just in case you want to bring some more of your clothes over here. So please, make yourself at home.
Love always, your husband, Dr. Spencer Reid."
Elle giggled from reading the letter. She picked up Reid's discarded dress shirt off of the floor and put it on to cover up her naked body. She smelled his scent on it. It gave her goosebumps. Elle smiled with a glow. She decided to familiarize herself with Reid's apartment to help her decide if she should move in there with him.
Suddenly, she felt very nauseous and she quickly ran to the bathroom to throw up. Elle barely made it in time to vomit everything into the porcelain bowl. After she wiped her mouth off with a towel and rinsed her mouth with some mouthwash, she had a wonderful realization. Elle got dressed and she drove out to the nearest pharmacy and she bought herself a pregnancy test.
Epilogue
Nine months later, Elle was in the maternity wing in bed happily holding her twin baby boy and baby girl in her arms. Reid kissed the top of his wife's head.
"I still can't believe that our short time having sex with each other got me pregnant, Spencer," smiled Elle. "I was on the pill."
"Elle," said Reid. "Nothing is one hundred percent effective against a woman getting pregnant except for abstinence."
Elle laughed, "And, after we started having sex, abstinence was far off of the table! If you hadn't asked me to marry you that morning, I would have dealt with my entire pregnancy all alone. Thank you. I love you, Spencer."
"I love you, too, Elle," smiled Reid.
Gideon, Hotch, Morgan, Garcia, JJ and Emily Prentiss walked in. Garcia held a "It's a Boy!" balloon and a "It's a Girl!" balloon in her hands. Elle and Reid gently kissed each other's lips.
"Hey, hey, none of that," said Morgan. "That's what got you two into this mess in the first place!"
Reid and Elle looked at Morgan and the others. Elle felt annoyed.
"Spencer, hold our babies for me," smirked Elle. "I need to give Derek a black eye!"
"Elle, no," said Reid. "You've just given birth. You need to rest."
Morgan laughed at Elle.
"You just wait until I get back on my feet, Derek Morgan," threatened Elle.
"Oh, I'm scared," teased Morgan.
"You should be," smirked Elle.
"Ignore him," said JJ.
Reid said, "You'd think he had learned his lesson after Elle gave him a black eye for singing, 'Reid and Greenaway sittin' in a tree.'"
"It's Morgan," said JJ.
"He'll never learn," added Prentiss.
"Congratulations," smiled Hotch.
"How are you doing, Elle?" asked Gideon.
"It was very hard giving childbirth to two babies at once," smiled Elle. "But, I'll be fine, dad."
"Oh, they look so precious I could just eat them both up!" smiled Garcia.
"They're both beautiful, guys," smiled JJ.
"What are their names?" asked Prentiss.
"Meet Spencer Robert Reid and Erica Diana Reid," smiled Elle. "Named after my husband, my father and both of our mothers."
"Oh, your moms will be very pleased when they hear her name," smiled Garcia.
"I think my mom already knows," said Reid.
"Why do you say that, Reid?" asked Gideon.
"Because she already knew that Elle was pregnant when we flew down to Las Vegas to tell her that Elle was pregnant," answered Reid.
"A mother knows," said Elle. "That's what she told us."