SELCOUTH

Chapter 9

"And why would the increasingly smart Dr. Spencer Reid need to know if women hold grudges?" I asked.

Reid looked at me straight in the eyes. "It's for the case."

I cocked an eyebrow. "That seems a little hard to believe, Reid."

Reid took in a breath and turned from me to his computer. He began looking over his case notes for the billionth time.

I laughed at Reid's immaturity and stood behind him. I whispered in his ear, "If I were you, I'd apologize without asking for anything in return,"

I felt Reid take in air to speak but I stopped him.

"That includes not telling her why she was wrong or how you were right. Just say sorry and walk away." I clapped him on the back, fully aware that he would shy away from me because of my "Morgan germs". I left him with his thoughts and went to help Garcia.

 Allison had her thick glasses pushed up to her face and her hair was wrapped in a messy bun on the top of her head. Little slivers of hair trickled down her neck and tiny sprigs appeared around the back of her hairline. Her shoulders hunched and shifted under her shirt as she studied her case photos and compared them with similar case photos in our database. I straightened my tie and pushed my falling hair away from my face.

"Al-" my throat caught. "Allison?" I said quietly.

She sighed but otherwise didn't acknowledge me. 

I swallowed and somehow plucked up enough courage to begin. "Look, I uh, I know that you're the intern and I shouldn't have to apologize but-"

She whipped around to face me. Her eyes were steely and her body language cold. 

I gulped. "I just uh, wanted to say that, uh, I'm sorry I asked you to help me today...you seemed to get pretty upset about that and I don't uh, don't know why. Really." I pulled at my button down. "I'm uh, gonna leave you alone now." I turned to leave when she spoke.

"You are horrible at apologies and you are completely wrong about why I am upset, Dr. Spencer Reid."

I turned back to face her. My face must have shown confusion because she continued,

"I am upset because you dismissed the single most important event in my life like it was nothing and demanded me to do the same. I'm not okay with that Reid. But, I do accept that you are sorry for it, if in fact that is what you were referring to."

I nodded ferociously. "Yes, yes. That's it."

She smirked. "Okay then."