Blood and Battle | Criminal Minds (gxg)

Chapter 19

I'm flipping through channels as I sit on my couch, a pint of ice cream in my lap. I settle in as I find a channel playing Friends reruns. The electronic clock set into the tv cabinet reads 7:03. It's Friday and I purposely left the night free of plans. I closed all my cases this week and I deserve some Ben and Jerry's.

Less than ten minutes later I hear the buzzer telling me there's someone downstairs.

I groan, turning the volume down and stretching as I stand. I walk through the kitchen to put what's left of the pint in the freezer. The buzz comes again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," I say to myself, annoyed.

I walk down the short hallway to the door and let them up. Two minutes later I hear a knock. I look through the peephole and sigh as I open the door. "What," I say sharply.

"Rude," Garcia says. 

"Nice to see you too, C." Morgan whistles as I turn to face him. I blush slightly as I remember what I'm wearing.

I'm barefoot in an XXL Patriots hoodie and a pair of black underwear. That's it. My hair flows down my shoulders, loose as usual.

"Do we have a case or something?" I look back at Garcia, ignoring the way Morgan's eyes watch my exposed legs.

"No." Garcia's smiling at me. "You have any plans tonight?"

"No..." I say hesitantly.

"Great!" She pushes past me into my apartment, Morgan right behind her.

"Please, come in," I say sarcastically to the now empty doorway. I sigh and shut the door.

Morgan sits on the back of my couch as Garcia puts her bag on the counter. "You guys really need to call me when we're doing this," I say with a light laugh.

Garcia smiles. "It's more fun to see your face when we don't tell you."

"But why is it always my place?"

"Cause you have the nicest apartment. And a big couch. And food?" Morgan says the last part like a question.

I roll my eyes and point at the fridge. "Help yourself." I walk back to the couch and flop onto the cushions.

"I'll call JJ and Elle and you call Reid?" Garcia says to Morgan.

"Sure thing, Baby Girl."

I turn around to look at them. "Hey, wait. Don't I get a say?"

They look at each other before turning to me. "No," they say at the same time.

I shake my head. "I'm gonna go put shorts on."

Morgan's right, I do have a nice apartment. The front door opens onto a short hallway that opens up into the first floor. The kitchen is on the left with a counter that wraps around the wall, sticking out at one end as a sitting area. A small island sits in the center of the U shape.

On the right of the hall is the dining room, and the living room is directly ahead. I have a brown leather, bracket-shaped couch facing a tv mounted above the fireplace. The windows stretch from floor to ceiling on either side.

On the right of the living room are the stairs leading up to my room. It's a loft apartment, the bedroom above the kitchen and dining room. Closets are set into the wall on each side, my queen bed in the center pushed against the back wall. The fourth side of the room is open to the rest of the apartment, a wooden railing blocking the drop.

I jog back down the stairs a minute later, black running shorts now beneath my hoodie. Garcia approaches me as I turn into the living room. "Do you want to wear... something else?" she asks.

I laugh. "PG, you're going to show up at my apartment with no warning on a Friday night, host a party, and expect me to care enough to change into something much less comfortable?"

She laughs with me. "I meant just put pants on so Morgan isn't drooling over you all night."

"Hey," he says from the sofa, "I don't drool."

I shake my head and follow Garcia into the kitchen. I jump up to sit on the island as she opens my fridge. "Carli, you have no food."

"Not true," I say, pointing from the counter. "I've got lemonade, beer, at least five apples, frozen pizza in the freezer, and a box of granola bars in the cabinet."

She looks back at me with a sad look. "You're insane."

"No, I'm just home only fifty percent of the time and am usually too tired to cook." I give her a sideways smile. "Which reminds me, I have a box of pasta and a jar of sauce as well."

She just laughs. "Forever the Italian," she says as she shakes her head.

I hop off the counter and grab the phone. "Here. Order Chinese." I hand her the receiver as the door buzzer goes off. I press the button to let them up.

I open my door a few minutes later to see JJ and Spencer. "Hi, party's that way." I point behind me.

"Not your idea, was it?" JJ says with a laugh.

"Do you see what I'm wearing? I had a date with a pint of ice cream and a good night's sleep." I smile as I let them in, closing the door behind them.

That just leaves Elle. If she comes. I feel the sweatshirt brush against my bare legs. Maybe I should change? No. If I do now it'll look weird, especially after what I said to Garcia.

I walk back into my apartment and see my friends lounging. Spencer and Derek are sitting on the couch watching Friends, which I never turned off. Garcia and JJ sit on the stools at the counter, chatting away. There are worse ways to spend a Friday night. Although I was enjoying my ice cream.

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A/n
tysm for all the love!! please feel free to comment/vote to let me know you're enjoying the story!!
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