EASY WAY OUT ¹ ➢ spencer reid

XXV

"Isla Rafferty reporting for duty ma'am," I gave Garcia a fake salute as I stood at the doorway of her office.

She swivelled in her chair, smiling wide. "Hi! Oh, my gosh!" She hopped up and ran towards me, pulling me in for the tightest hug I think I've ever experienced. I grunted at the impact, stifling a laugh as she nuzzled herself into my chest. "I'm so glad you're okay."

I patted her head awkwardly. "I won't be if you don't let me breathe."

She pulled away and gave me an apologetic look. "Oops."

"It's okay," I adjusted the crutches underneath my armpits before moving over to the other chair in the room. I sat down, letting out a heavy breath. "So, uh, what's on the agenda for today, boss?"

"Nothing fun, I'm afraid." She cringed, walking towards my chair. She placed her hand on the huge stack of piles stationed in front of me. "We gotta get all this scanned and uploaded to the storage bay ASAP."

"Okay and how would I do that?" I raised my brow.

Garcia gave me a quick rundown on the programs I needed to use. Overall, the whole process was pretty straight forward. Tedious, sure, but nothing I couldn't handle. As I started sifting through folders I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. I turned around, watching as Reid wandered into the room, a pair of coffee cups in his hands.

"Ah, hey doc." Garcia smiled.

"Hey," he smiled back, giving her a small head nod before turning his attention to me. "I, uh, thought you might want coffee." He placed the cup in front me. His tongue ran along his bottom lip as we made eye contact.

"You're actually my hero, thank-you." I took the cup in my hands and brought it to my chest. I hadn't realized how freezing Garcia's office was. A shudder ran up my spine as I took a sip.

"I got you one too." He handed the second cup to Garcia who looked at Reid with large puppy dog eyes.

"You sweet little baby angel." Garcia cooed, taking a quick sip. "I love you with all of my heart." She brought her hand to her chest and stared at him longingly.

He let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, uh, hey I totally forgot to thank-you for the ride this morning." I said.

Reid shrugged. "No problem."

"How come I didn't get this kind of treatment from you when I got shot?" Garcia wandered over to her chair, plopping down. She raised her brow jokingly, taking another sip of her coffee as she crossed one leg over the other.

"You had Morgan," he responded with a shrug.

"You got shot?" I looked at her, half surprised. "What happened?" The idea of Garcia being out on the field was a strange one. She just seemed so dainty. I couldn't really see her running around catching bad guys.

"Long story." She closed her eyes and shook her head before turning back to her computer and typing.

Obviously she didn't want to talk about it so I shut up immediately, sipping my coffee as I twisted back and forth in my chair. "Do you guys have a case yet?" I asked.

"Not sure. Hotch is having a meeting with Strauss."

Garcia stopped typing and looked over her shoulder. In the short time I'd been here, I automatically knew that any mention of Strauss was a bad sign. I let out a heavy sigh, feeling sorry for Hotch. I couldn't image the amount of stress he had to go through on a daily basis, especially now that Strauss was around. "Do you know what it's about?" She asked.