𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓪 𝓳𝓪𝓷𝓮 ➢ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃

Mara sat between Reid and JJ, her knee tapping a mile a minute. JJ had somewhat convinced her that it wasn't her fault but she still felt bad.

Reid suddenly reached out and laid a hand on her knee, stopping the bouncing. Mara looked over at him, pushing his hand off her knee.

"You know, you can bounce your leg for hours because you're barely engaging the Achilles' tendon, which the entire purpose of which is to act as an energy-conserving spring," Reid spoke quietly. "There's surprisingly little actual muscle involved with bouncing movements. When you long run distance, a huge amount of energy is conserved by the foot or ankle interface."

Mara tilted her head back, resting it on Reid's shoulder. "Tell me more."

His eyes fell down to the red spot on the back of her hand where she'd burned herself on coffee. "Most people aren't aware but hot coffee can cause burns up to third degree."

Mara sighed heavily, listening to his voice, calming her down. "A New Mexico lawsuit, Liebeck v McDonalds, an elderly woman bought a cup of coffee through the drive-thru and put it between her legs and parked. She took the top off and the coffee spilled."

Reid reached over, his thumb brushing over the red spot on Mara's hand. "McDonald's coffee is served at one hundred and eighty degrees fahrenheit and drops approximately ten degrees when poured into the cup. The coffee melted her polyester pants and caused third degree burns on her legs."

Mara's body started to slump as Reid's voice lulled her to sleep. "She received two point seven million dollars for one second of coffee splashing on her pants. You know, hot coffee in two seconds at one hundred and forty nine degrees Fahrenheit can caused third degree burns."

Mara let her guard drop for a while, resting against Reid. Right now, she needed his comfort. Even his stupid rambling on was something she'd come to find comforting.

"Penelope Garcia?"

Everyone shot up, even Mara who'd been asleep a second before. "Yes."

"The bullet went in her chest and ricocheted into her abdomen," the doctor explained. "She lost a lot of blood. It was touch-and-go for a while, but we were able to repair the injuries."

Morgan had walked in at some point, his shoulders tense as he stared at the doctor. "What are you saying?"

"One centimeter over and it would have torn right through her heart," the doctor said. "Instead, she could actually walk out of here in a couple of days..."

Mara didn't hear the rest of what the doctor had to say. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. She was going to be okay.

Mara turned around and her hands pressed against her knees as she breathed in deeply, relief washing over her.