UNSTEADY ➢ spencer reid

RESTLESS

Over the next few days I started working again. After my run in with Spencer I went home and immediately texted Rich. I told him that I wanted to start working again and within the hour he'd shown up at my door to give me the rundown on everything he'd be doing up to this point, which frankly, wasn't a whole out. They were behind on a couple of things, while others were basically in the same state I'd left it in just nine months ago. I could feel the work already piling up, but unlike before it didn't feel like a bad thing. I was excited to get back into the swing of things.

Every day after that I went to the little cafe on the corner, engrossing myself in my work, while secretly hoping Spencer might walk in. I'd order a big iced coffee, much to the dismay of the girl at the counter who'd I'd seen with Spencer the first day I'd come here. I'd spend hours there, sitting at the table near the window, sipping coffee and doing reports. After about a week my routine had become so set that it felt like I'd been coming here for months.

Around noon, about a week and half after our last encounter, Spencer walked in. His attention was solely focused on the book in his hand as he walked to the counter and quickly looked up at counter girl and smiled. She said something and he nodded before paying and walking over to the hand-off plane. He looked around, eventually spotting me in the corner. He gave me a big smile, waving his hand.

I waved back, watching as he grabbed his coffee and sat down across from me. "Nice office." He said.

"Thanks, it's my week and a half anniversary with my brand new desk." I motioned to the table we were at.

"You started a week and a half ago?"

I nodded, turning my attention back to my computer to type a few things into my spreadsheet before I forgot.

He leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee. "How's being back at work?"

"It's a lot," I sighed, "but like, a good a lot? If that makes sense."

"I get it."

"It's giving me a lot to do and helping me with distractions."

"Distractions?" He raised his brow.

I blinked, instantly regretting my choice of words. "You know, like, the cravings and stuff?" I tried to play it off like it totally wasn't about him, even though I was most definitely referring to him.

He smirked, sipping his coffee silently.

"Uh," I cleared my throat, "anyway, what's new with you?"

"Just got back from Seattle. We were there for the last week."

I turned my attention back to my computer, hoping it would make me appear more nonchalant. "How'd that go?"

"Really good actually. I had the best clam chowder." He licked his lips.

"Do you know who invented clam chowder?"

"While no specific person is named, it's said to have originated somewhere between the sixteenth and seventeenth century off the coast of Europe."

"Of course you know."

He laughed. "What are you working on?" He motioned to the huge stack of papers.

"At the moment I'm balancing our warehouse costs. With the new stuff coming in we're looking to cut wherever we can without cutting actual people in order to get an estimate of how much extra money we're going to need."

"And how's that going?"

"Decently," I responded, taking a glance at what I'd done so far, "despite how much shit we have, the only thing that really costs a lot to run is our cooling and heating system and the glycol chiller." I took one more quick look before glancing up at Spencer who staring at me. "I, uh, think we'll be okay."