Becky knew of a quaint little place not too far from the airstrip. She’d told him it was her favourite place when she needed time away and even her partner knew better than to try and find her. She knew they’d be afforded at least a little bit of privacy in there. And she had a feeling that to get anything out of the suddenly quiet Dr Spencer Reid, she would need as much privacy as possible. He didn’t order anything, which didn’t exactly surprise her. He was already skittish. He probably didn’t need the caffeine.
“So? What happened?”
“We were dating.”
“Past tense.”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“We grew apart,” Spencer said solemnly. Yes, he was angry at JJ for pulling away so quickly and so completely but he wasn’t about to bad mouth her to a woman who had been her colleague for almost a week.
“Could you be any more vague?”
“Becky, there’s a million reasons why she could have pulled away.”
“Give me one.”
“I’m younger than she is.”
Becky raised an eyebrow. “By what? A year?”
“Three.”
“Still, it’s really not the biggest age gap I’ve heard of.”
It wasn’t the biggest one he’d heard of either. Emily and Hotch were more than a decade apart and it didn’t seem to bother them one bit.
“She threw herself into her friend’s pregnancy.”
“Bull. On her part I mean.”
“We work together.”
“Uh huh, and regardless of the rules there are workplace romances that actually work out.”
Emily and Hotch. Morgan and Garcia. But Becky didn’t need to know his team was filled with fraternization.
“We’re two totally different people.”
“And yet you’re still completely enraptured with her,” Becky pointed out. She’d been trying to flirt with him, to get him to go out for dinner with them over the case, but he hadn’t budged. It had taken her a few days to realize it was because of the petite blond in their midst. That was the point where Becky had put two and two together and though she was a little down about the fact that she didn’t have a chance with the adorable genius, she’d hoped Agent Jareau was what he was looking for.
Now that she heard about all of this, she most definitely wasn’t so sure.
For his part, Spencer sighed. He’d pondered and pondered what on earth had made JJ pulled away. It had taken him a bit but he’d found it and nowhere else but in the FBI itself. Spencer knew the grapevine was rampant with rumours and tidbits, some true, most not, and he had a feeling that it was that chain of useless information that had scared her away.
And he knew it was fear that had pulled her back. JJ was a compassionate person, one of the most compassionate he knew, but when it came down to her own relationships, she often balked. It was a matter of being absolutely terrified and he knew that. Not of commitment, per se, but of opening herself up to getting hurt. He had a feeling it had happened before and he knew there was nothing he could do or say that would make her believe otherwise. The rumours had simply made a convenient justification for her fears.
“Honestly. Some people just need to pull their heads out of their rears.”
Spencer found himself smiling at that idea. “It just doesn’t work all the time.”
“But you ended it, so you two were smart enough to start it in the first place. I can see where you’re as different as day and night, it’s almost written in your job descriptions, but still. I’ve seen people who fight constantly make a marriage work.”
“Look, I know it doesn’t make sense to you-“
“Oh, it makes perfect sense,” Becky protested. “My confusion is more from why you guys didn’t just talk about it and work through it.”
“She didn’t say anything. I can’t be a mind-reader all the time.”
“There’s a lot of things us women don’t tell you men, Spencer,” Becky told him seriously.
Spencer shook his head. “Why are you women so complicated?”
“To keep you on your toes,” Becky responded promptly and with a cheeky grin. “That was it though?”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“Heaven knows it’s not,” she agreed.
“I guess I just got sick of being dragged along like a puppy,” he told her. “When her friend got pregnant, she was all by herself, so JJ threw herself into the pregnancy to get away. We only ever saw each other at work.”
“It got too hard. That’s completely understandable.”
“I didn’t want to do it.”
Becky shrugged. “If you love something, let it go, if it comes back, it’s meant to be.”
“Wise words.”
“Not mine.”
Silence fell between them, the same comfortable silence that had characterized their friendship since the beginning. Eventually, Becky looked up at Spencer.
“Got any plans for the rest of your stay?”
“Visit my mother,” Spencer replied promptly.
Becky raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? You’re in Las Vegas and you’re going to spend the time visiting your mother? It’s sweet, but there’s a whole crap load of stuff to do.”
He shrugged. “It’s why I was here to begin with, to visit my mother.”
“You were here to get away from everything in Quantico,” she said bluntly. “We’ve just been talking about it. You were hurt, you’re human, it’s okay to admit that kind of stuff.” She stood, tossing her cardboard up in the nearby bin. “Come on, we’re going to tour Las Vegas.”
Days later, Spencer Reid deplaned in Washington a little bit stunned and definitely bogged down with luggage. Emily was waiting for him at the airport as she’d promised she’d be. It was just easier to have someone pick him up than it was to take a cab home. Emily had offered willingly.
“What the heck happened to you?”
Spencer sighed. “Becky.” He knew the expression on her face without looking at her. “She took me around Las Vegas.”
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” she asked as she took some of his bags. “She take you on a shopping spree at the same time?”
“Worse.”
“Oh?”
“She made me bring something back for everyone.”
Emily’s eyes lit up as she started rifling through the bags. “Where’s my present?”
It was moments like these that he forgot she was his colleague and she turned into his exasperating but more than loveable older sister. He glanced down at the bags he was carrying. “I have it.”
“Well hand it over!” she ordered.
“Emily, we’re walking through the middle of a crowded airport and you want me to dig through my bags to find something Becky thought you’d like?”
“First of all, I have a strong doubt it was Det. Chard that picked out my present. Second of all, of course!”
Spencer found himself smiling. He’d enjoyed his time with Becky, but it was nice to be back with his family.