Reid My Mind

27. Ghostbusters (fluff)

fool - cavetown

The one good thing about having a case in D.C. was that the ride home was a short one. We were back in the bullpen before I knew it, tidying our desks and saying our departing salutations. If only the case would leave my mind as quickly as we left, I mused. One random girl in her twenties disappearing every five days. The killer had gotten away with it for almost three weeks before we had found our unsub, Robert Zapel, an out-of-work handyman.

"There's something bugging me about this case," Reid said. He was standing beside my desk. Though his words were directed at me, his eyes studied a police report with unwavering intensity.

"You want to come over? We can look at it again," I offered. It took everything I had to keep my tone calm, especially since JJ was standing within eavesdropping distance. The was no reason he couldn't come over; we were just a couple of work friends looking into a case. Nothing to see here.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, nonchalant.

"I'll see you there," I said with a smile.

"If your car starts," he deadpanned. I laughed.

Thankfully, my car did start. I even beat Reid back home, so I had enough time to kick off my shoes and toss my keys on the counter before the doorbell rang. I pulled the door open to find Reid standing there sheepishly. Grabbing him by the arm I pulled him inside.

An hour later we were sat on the couch, a halo of papers surrounding us. We weren't getting anywhere.

"I don't see anything wrong," I told Reid. We had looked through everything: photos, statements, forensic reports. Everything led back to Rober Zapel. They had even found the DNA of two of the victims in Zapel's car. The only thing that was missing was the place where he took his victims for the five days before he killed them and dumped their body in some ill-lit alley.

"We profiled he would confess. He would want the credit. Either it's not Zapel..." He trailed off and scribbled something on a piece.

"Or what?"

"I don't know," he said, but I could tell there was something he wasn't saying. I glanced at the paper. On it were the names of the three girls found dead courtesy of the unsub.

Alison Price. Twenty-four, a hairdresser who had just passed the bar six months ago.

Maya Reyes. Twenty-six, a chef at a high-end restaurant in downtown D.C.

Jennifer Nguyen. Twenty-four, an intern at a big advertising agency, engaged.

I cringed every time I saw that last name. I had known a Jen Nguyen when I was in middle school back in California. I hadn't seen her in at least ten years. I wondered what she was up to.

"Or what?" I repeated, softly. I read and reread the names. Four random girls. A stroke of fate had ended their lives.

"Or he's got something else planned. Maybe even something bigger. Based on the current social fragility of this area, it could cause mass hysteria," Reid said. He finally looked up at me. Taking a deep breath, I looked at him, pushing the names from my mind. There was no use dwelling on what was lost. The case was closed.

"Dogs and cats, living together?" I quoted lightly.

"What?" He obviously didn't get the reference.

"'Dogs and cats, living together. Mass hysteria.' It's from Ghostbusters," I clarified. He looked at me like I was speaking Zulu.

"What's that?" he asked.

"It's a movie. Set in New York?" I said, twisting a lock of my hair, "Some guys figure out how to trap ghosts and they go around saving people. The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man makes an appearance."

"I've definitely never seen that before," Reid stated. I stared at him.

"How can you have not seen Ghostbusters? It came out in 1984. Everyone's seen Ghostbusters."

"Not me." One side of his mouth tugged upward. Obviously, he enjoyed my astonishment, but I was not having it.

"You're ridiculous. We're watching this right now," I said decidedly.

"We are?"

"Yes." He laughed but piled up the papers littering the couch. I scooched closer to him and marveled how just a few days ago Max and I had been sitting in almost exactly the same places. It was different, of course, with Spencer: I never had the urge to kiss Max, but there was still a feeling of closeness and I realized for the first time that I knew Reid. And, for the most part, and he knew me. We weren't strangers having sex. We were best friends with benefits. The was no way this was going to end well. But as the first scene of the movie started playing I couldn't bother looking into the grim future. I just leaned against Reid, the same way I would on the jet, and watched the movie.

It was fun watching with Reid. He'd make little observations about the playability of various elements of the movie while I jokingly compared different characters to members of the BAU team. We laughed so much my chest ached by the time the credits paraded lazily down the screen.

"I should get home," Reid said when the T.V. blinked off with a click.

"It's late. You can sleep here if you want," I said. I was already yawning. Reid made an attempt to protest, but I was insistent.

"I'll take the couch, then," he said. I laughed.

"Spencer, we can both sleep in my bed. It's big enough." And, I added as a mental afterthought, it certainly wouldn't be the first time we'd slept in the same bed.

"I still can't believe you hadn't heard of Ghostbusters. Next you're going to tell me you don't who the Beatles are. Or Elton John," I said. My eyelids were heavy.

"I know the Beatles," Reid mumbled.

"What about Elton John?"

"Who's that?"

"A singer. He does 'Rocketman,' you know?" I sung the chorus lazily.

"Oh, I've heard that." We sat in silence for a moment. I wondered what he was thinking. I wondered what I was thinking.

"I'm about to pass out, so I'm going to brush my teeth," I said and disappeared into the bathroom. Once I was done, I retired to my bedroom, changed into a big shirt, and slipped off my pants. Just when I thought Reid has taken the couch after all, he appeared in the doorway. Wordlessly, he slipped under the covers on the other side of the bed.

"Goodnight, Maya," Reid said quietly.

"Night, Spencer," I whispered back.