CLANDESTINE : Spencer Reid

03

The weekend isn't long enough. My roommate, Estelle, is at a conference in The Hague. I sat in while she practiced her seminar twice last week. If I could be there to watch her present in person, I would. If I had started this Tuesday rather than on the damn Friday, I'd be by her side now, listening to something I know she's been practicing for a month.

At least in her absence I have the opportunity to clear my head. On Monday, I almost feel like my own person again. I've bought a new phone, and transferred all my contacts, photos, and the like. I'll have to get Garcia to help me set up multi-factor authentication once more, but then I doubt I will have to bother her anymore.

The rest of the weekend I try to spend relaxing. I do some research to help a professor at Georgetown and I try to get some work done at their library. When Estelle is with me, I get more accomplished. While I could have gotten through my first master's degree without her, the nights would have been much longer and my work less polished. she's on my mind so much, I decide to get her something when I grab the final part of my brother's birthday gift. I spend the better part of Sunday afternoon looking for stuff for the pair of them. Thinking of what to buy them is never difficult but getting them actual gifts is harder. After perusing six different small shops, I'm content with my selection.

Then, I get a call on Sunday evening. It's my youngest brother. I answer the call.

"Hey Bastien," I say into the phone, stretching my neck. "What's up?"

"Hey, what time can we pick you up on Friday?" his voice is scratchy through the line.

It sounds like he's in a tunnel. Actually, I imagine our sister texted him, and he's popped out of a club to send the call. Maybe he's even drunk on the other end of the line. As I've heard, turning twenty-one has made him more wild.

"I should be ready to go at six," I don't sign audibly, not that he'd be able to hear it. "But listen, I've got this new job and they might keep me late, so if I might not be able to-"

"Yeah, yeah," he says on the line. "Listen, there's always something better to do than see us, I get it, and but you know how Caro gets. If I have to listen to her and her boyfriend complain about it during the nine-hour drive, then-"

"Boyfriend?" my fingers grip the phone tighter, as if pressing it to my head will make his voice less filled with static. "What boyfriend?"

"God, I know you're slow, but they've been dating since 2004. She complained all of last Christmas about how he had to fly out to Texas to see family and so he couldn't make it," Bastien tuts at the end of the line. "If she knew you didn't even remember him, she'd kill you, me, and then all of us. It would be the nastiest murder-suicide to ever happen. On God."

I roll my eyes. Caro is dramatic, but not that dramatic, "yeah, well hopefully I won't need to know him this Christmas."

"He is the worst," Bastien agrees. "She wants him to propose next year though. I swear, I cannot be one of his groomsmen. It would be a disaster."

I nod. Although, anyone brave enough to marry Caro should be fine facing a disaster.

I would tell Bastien that she is too young to be married, but he is younger than Caro and hates it when I remind him. Two years of dating isn't enough to expect a proposal, but then again, it's Caro.

"Oh, also, I need your help," Bastien says. "I wanted to know if you had any advice. The military is going to run a background check on me, and it's going to be thorough. They'll be contacting you, Caro, and Stéphane. They are going to even bring a translator when they visit Maman."