Haley (Criminal Minds fanfic/Spinoff in the Boss's Niece series)

Establishing Friendship

I arrived at work early the next morning. I stood at the coffee counter, making some tea. I wasn't a coffee person.

"Good morning, early bird," came a cheerful voice. I turned to see Scott approaching the coffee table.

"Morning," I said. "You're in early."

"So are you," he pointed out. "I like coming in early. It gives me time to warm up my computers and maybe play some video games. Would you like to join me in my lair?"

I chuckled. "That's what my Aunt Penelope used to call it."

"Well, she was a genius," Scott said. "Follow me Dr. Reid!"

I laughed and followed him to his office. It had changed a bit since Aunt Penelope retired. Her old photos and things that made the room look happy and bright were all gone. Now, there was little drawings on the whiteboard, cute little love messages from a D.C and some pictures of Scott.

"Like what I've done with the place?" he asked before sitting down at the computers. "I was inspired by Garcia. She really is my hero."

"Most people who are joining the BAU would call my mom their hero," I chuckled and sat down on a computer chair.

"Yeah, but someone not in your family needs the glory every once in a while."

I laughed again. I looked up at the messages on the whiteboard.

"Proud of you babe -D.C. Never let that evil get to you -D.C. I love you no matter what. Never forget it -D.C. You are the most amazing person I've ever met in my whole entire life -D.C."

"Who's D.C?" I asked. "Your girlfriend?"

"Boyfriend," Scott corrected. "Yeah, I'm gay."

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I wasn't sure what I was going to say. Of course I wasn't homophobic. I was raised in a household where we accepted everyone, no matter their sexual orientation, race or religion.

Scott laughed at my expression.

"Didn't see that one coming, did you?" he asked. "Yeah, I like men parts. My boyfriend works at the hospital, actually. We both have jobs that save or try to save lives except he sees the grusome stuff more than I do."

"What's his name?" I asked.

Scott pushed himself over to one of his pictures on the wall. He took it down and pushed himself back to me and passed me the picture.

"Darren," he replied.

I looked at the picture. It was of Scott and another man. This man was a little shorter than Scott. He had curly, brown hair and almond colored eyes. This was his boyfriend, Darren.

"He's cute," I commented.

"Back off, girl. You have LaMontagne," Scott laughed and took the picture from me to put it back on the wall.

"Henry?" I asked.

"Yeah. Aren't you two dating? You're always together and he's always talking about you."

I shook my head. "No, I don't have a boyfriend. I've never had one. I'm single and not exactly looking for anyone right now."

"Take my advice and date LaMontagne. You two would be the cutest couple ever and you could follow in your mom's footsteps with the whole dating someone from the team thing. Look how she turned out!"

I shrugged. "I don't really want a relationship right now. I just want to focus on my work and if I ever do start to develop feelings for Henry, I'll see what happens, but I'd doubt he likes me that way. I mean, Henry and I have known each other since we were little. I wouldn't be surprised if he just thought of me as a little sister." I was desperate to get off this topic. "So, how long have you been working at the BAU?"

"Only a year. I started when I was 23, fresh out of the academy. I knew I wanted to do something with computers and being a hacker for the good of man seemed like the best idea for me," he explained. "Darren was all for it. He thought I'd be great. My parents always wanted me to do something like be a policeman, but look at me. I'm a twig!"

I chuckled. "You're not THAT small."

"Yeah, but I'm not Monroe big either." We laughed at this. "Whatever. I get to hack, I don't have to leave my little man cave except to use the bathroom, go to briefings, eat or go home and I get paid a decent amount. I'm pretty happy with this job."

"It's not a bad job," I agreed.

"Do you have many friends on the team yet? Besides LaMontagne, I mean."

"Monroe. That's about it. I haven't been able to really talk to anyone else yet."

"Well, add me to that list," Scott said with a wide smile on his face. "You're an awesome girl and I have a feeling you and I are gonna be great friends."

I smiled back. "I think so, too."