Flight Risk | Spencer Reid

VI

In which things are lost and found and borrowed.

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The case is of a vengeful Cinderella is closed, but as they prepare to head to the airport, Kate isn't feeling so well. Rossi offers to drive with her to a pharmacy to pick up some saltines and Dramamine, and the rest of the team heads to the airport to wait. Reid spots Y/N chatting outside the plane with Dobson, and he instinctively starts towards her. She must see him out of the corner of her eye because she turns to greet him, but before either of them can say anything a strong hand finds his shoulder, holding him back.

"Hold there, Pretty Boy. I wanna hear the details of your Prince Charming moment back there," Morgan says.

Y/N raises her eyebrows and he can feel his face flush. "There's um, not much to say," he stammers.

"Spence, come on, you were totally prince-like," JJ laughs. "Kneeling down on one knee with a glass slipper and everything?"

"A glass slipper?" Y/N asks. JJ describes, in detail, how he played the part of the knight in shining armor at the cemetery to get Claire Dunbar to leave with them. He's embarrassed through the whole tale, but by the time JJ gets down on one knee to kiss Morgan's hand as he did the unsub's, he's sure his face is scarlet. Y/N is laughing along the entire time at his fellow agents' melodramatic reenactment.

"Anyways, it was all very romantic. He totally swept her of her feet. The poor girl fell for him in a heartbeat," JJ says. For a moment, Reid tries to discern what Y/N is thinking. Her face is unreadable other than a bemused smile. Her body language tells him nothing. But he can't help but wonder – hearing about his heroics in the field, would she be jealous? Hearing how he played Prince Charming for Claire and kissed her hand. Then he wonders if he wants her to be. Is he curious because there's a part of him that wants her to want him? Is he secretly hoping that she'd feel slighted by any hint of romance towards someone else? And if he is hoping for that, what does that mean?

But Y/N just says, "I sure would have liked to see that."

"Next time we'll get it on camera," Morgan teases, ruffling Reid's hair. He swats his friend's hand away.

"You know, I love a good fairytale," Y/N says, turning to him.

"Well this one was more Grimm than Disney," he admits, trying to push the memories of the men Claire killed out of his mind. The story is over now. No more dragons to slay. Kate and Rossi return seconds later and it's time to go.

Y/N follows Captain Dobson up the steps of the jet, and he follows close behind her. Lost in his thoughts, he nearly loses his balance at the top of the stairs. Y/N immediately reaches a hand out to steady him. Her hand is soft around his. He holds tight, both to maintain his balance and to keep a connection to her. All his life he's been uncoordinated, but he's willing to fall over his own feet a million times if it means having the chance to finally hold her hand. With her help, he ascends to the top step, finally making it onto the jet. It strikes him, this sudden reversal of roles. Only a few hours ago he was offering his hand to a distressed damsel to lead her away, using his words to woo her. But now Y/N is the one coming to his rescue. She is steady. Confident. She doesn't need anyone to save her. If she did, he'd be there in a heartbeat. But she's saving him. Little by little. Maybe they're saving each other. One thing is for sure – she sweeps him of his feet without even trying. Knocks him out with a single smile. Quite literally puts his head in the clouds. And that's better than any fairytale.

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She's turning the pages of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, so taken by the story that she jumps when he calls her name. She turns to see him standing there, offering an awkward half-wave. Y/N can't help but smile at the sight of him. His cardigans and ties are becoming familiar. He always looks more like a librarian or a professor than a special agent. Not that she minds one bit. The clothes suit him well, though at this point she's convinced he'd look good in just about anything."