Psychopathy

Chapter 71- An Unexpected Hero

"Ah, now, don't you be blaming this on me!" Morgan exclaimed from the pitching machine.

"You should have told me there was a tarp there! A tarp that just happened to be almost the exact same color as the stairs!" Akilah argued, before taking a deep breath to control her temper. "Anyway. I slipped on the tarp and fell down the stairs. Fractured my wrist in two places. And now I have to wear this thing for a minimum of six weeks. So no softball for me, which is a shame, because you know that between the two of us, the Secret Service wouldn't stand a chance."

"That also means you can't go into the field," Reid mentioned, and Akilah rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for reminding me. But, I suppose, I'll have a good time hanging with Garcia. I'm sure the two of us can come up with a great plan to get back at Derek for breaking my wrist," she responded, and Reid saw Morgan swallow hard. He'd be nervous too if Garcia and Akilah were plotting revenge on him. To steer the conversation away from his impending doom, Morgan picked up one of the softballs.

"You're going to like this, kid. I promise. See it and hit it. Just relax. Here we go." Reid brought the bat up, trying to mimic the way Morgan had been holding it, but it felt all kinds of wrong. The bat felt like an alien weight in his hands, and he wasn't sure how to compensate for it. Morgan put the ball in the pitching machine, and before Reid knew what was happening, it was coming at him in a perfect arch. He watched it for a second, before closing his eyes and swinging with all of his might. The momentum sent him spinning in a complete 180 as the bat hit nothing but air.

"Well, that was something," Akilah snickered, throwing her hands up when Reid glared at her.

"Okay, okay. First try. Keep your eye on the ball," Morgan advised as Reid rubbed his face. He tried to break his swing down into scientific terms. That was how he operated. Maybe if he could figure out the science behind it, he could figure out how to hit the damn thing. He just needed to understand the science.

"Gravity plus drag coefficient plus magnus- I see what you're saying!" Reid exclaimed. He'd figured it out. He now just needed to test the theory. "If I can adjust the velocity of my swing-"

"No, what I'm saying is get out of your head!" Morgan responded as he held a softball in each hand. Get out of his head? How did one do that? "Just feel it!"

"Feel it. Feel it," Reid repeated, as if somehow repeating that phrase would make it make sense.

"Don't think, just feel," Morgan told him.

"Just feel. Don't think, just feel." Saying it didn't make it seem any less preposterous. How did one feel without thinking? Without trying to break down what they were feeling until it made sense? Reid had never been able to just feel- even with Ciara, he was constantly overthinking how he felt, breaking it down into bite-size pieces. Always hoping that by doing so, he'd find a way to make those feelings more manageable. So far, it hadn't worked, but maybe he just hadn't found the right equation.

"Here it comes," Morgan said with a laugh. As the ball was spat out of the pitching machine, Reid tried to do as Morgan advised. He kept his eye on the ball the whole time. He grunted loudly as he swung, hoping it would give him more power. Wasn't that what the sports players all did? But still, he missed the ball completely. "Reid, that's not feeling it."

"I'm feeling like an idiot!" Reid admitted. Morgan laughed softly as his phone began to ring.

"Well, today's your lucky day. We just got a case."

"Yes! Thank God," Reid said as he dropped the bat. He practically ran to the dugout to grab his things. He knew he had to figure out this whole softball thing, but it wasn't going to be right now. Maybe he could talk to Ciara? He doubted she had any sports experience, but at least she'd be able to understand him. She'd understand his thought process, or she would at least let him complain about having to play at all. Maybe she'd complain about her own sports memories if she had them.