Natalie

Chapter 15

Natalie was putting her books in her locker when she heard footsteps approaching her. The source of the footsteps waited behind the locker door, and waited for Natalie to close it. She quickly grabbed her notebook for sixth period, and closed the door.

Britney was standing right in front of Natalie, smiling from ear to ear. Her energy was definitely much more peppy than what Natalie was used to, but she was the first one to talk to Natalie at this school. So, Natalie considered her a friend, and she hoped that Britney considered her the same.

It was now Friday, arguably the best day of the week. Natalie knew that the party Britney had mentioned was tonight, and Spencer still wasn't back from the case yet. Apparently, if they don't get any leads today, they have to come home tomorrow. He said it was because they were there to give the profile, and since there were many other open cases waiting for them, they had to rely on local law enforcement to catch the guy.

Natalie knew what the ridiculous, fake smile on Britney's face was for. It was clear that Britney really wanted Natalie to go to that party with her. So, Natalie finally caved, and smiled back at Britney. Then she waited a moment, and nodded, signaling that the answer was yes.

Suddenly, the smile was real, and Britney was jumping. She gave Natalie a huge hug, and laughed, "So, I'll meet you at your place, and we'll head over to the warehouse together. I can't wait!"

"Me neither," Natalie replied, her tone being much calmer than Britney.

---

Natalie unlocked Reid's apartment door, and entered, throwing her bag down on the couch. As much as she wanted to sit on the couch and watch TV, Spencer had no TV. That was something she would have to work on. Before she could even get near her room, she heard the front door open.

It startled her for a moment, but then a tall figure walked through the door frame. Spencer frowned at Natalie who looked quite confused. He put his keys on his desk, and picked up the mail, beginning to search through the mail he missed while gone.

"You know you should lock the door when it's just you," he stated matter-of-factly.

Natalie dropped the confused look, and smiled, apologetically. "You're back earlier than you said,"

"Is there a problem with that?" Spencer laughed, and put the mail down. Before entering his room to put his coat away, he gave Natalie a quick hug, and then proceeded on his way.

Remembering her plans for tonight Natalie yelled into the other room, "So, you remember my friend Britney? She's stopping by in a couple hours, and then we're going out... if that's alright,"

"Yeah, of course!" Spencer hopped back out from his room, and noticed she was still standing where she was, when he got home. "Are you planning on standing there until your friend gets here or?"

Natalie just laughed the comment off, and went to sit on the couch. There was no reason for her to be awkward around Spencer, but she really didn't want to tell him that she was going to a party. Their whole relationship was confusing to Natalie, she didn't know if he was going to parent her, or just be some form of guidance to her.

"Where are you going?" Spencer asked, interrupting Natalie's thoughts.

"Um... we're meeting up with a couple friends. Just hanging out for a bit, one of them lives downtown," Natalie lied.

Lucky for Spencer, profiling basically turned him into a human lie detector. Everything about what Natalie just said, told him that she was flat out lying. Teenagers tended to lie, and he knew that even if he never had to at that age, but that was only because he had no one to lie to. Technically, Spencer should call her out for lying, but he didn't want to ruin her night. All he cared about was Natalie's safety, and he did promise her she could have a social life.

"Just, let me know when you get there. And keep your phone on! If anything happens, call me and I can have Garcia do a-" Spencer was interrupted by a knock on the door. "That would be for you,"

Shaking her head at Spencer acting way more over protective than normal, Natalie got up and opened the door. It was way earlier than Natalie expected, but Britney was waiting on the other side of the door. Then again, she never specified a time she would show up. 

"Hey!" Britney exclaimed, walking inside the apartment. She glanced around the room, and noticed the ridiculous amount of books. It was also quite a sight to see the old fashioned nature of the decor. 

Noticing her body language, Natalie smiled and said, "My room is this way,"

Britney nodded, still looking around the place. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tall man who was awkwardly staring at the biggest bookshelf in the room. Almost as if he was trying to avoid any interaction. 

"Oh! Are you Mr. Cindy?" Britney asked, completely ignoring the signs that Reid wasn't really much of a talker.

Surprised, Spencer turned around. He gave an awkward laugh, like he was not expecting Britney acknowledge his existence at all. It also surprised him that Natalie didn't mention that she didn't live with her parents, but instead, a thirty year old FBI agent who struggled with social interactions.

Noticing that Spencer was thrown off guard, Natalie interjected, "No, uh... he's my... he's like way too young to be my dad, um-"

"I'm Spencer," he waved, cutting off Natalie's rambling. It was extremely unusual for him to stop someone else from rambling.

"We can hang out in my room for a bit," Natalie said pointing to her room. She was definitely relieved that Spencer cut in. 

It wasn't that Natalie didn't want people to know that she was a foster child, she just didn't know how to casually bring it up into conversation. There was just something incredibly weird about bringing up her parents disappearance. It made her sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist.

When they entered Natalie's room, Britney sat down on the bed. She watched Natalie close the door, and awkwardly lean against the door. Britney glanced at her with a look that completely called Natalie out for what just happened.

"I wasn't expecting him to be home..." Natalie sighed.

"Aren't you a bit old for a babysitter?" Britney asked, sarcastically.

Natalie rolled her eyes, "He's not my... babysitter."

Britney stared at her for a moment, and just shrugged her shoulders. As much as she was curious, she didn't want to infringe on Natalie's privacy. They had only known each other for about a week now. She figured that Natalie would tell her eventually. Besides, they had a party to get ready for.

This wasn't Natalie's first high school party. She was just way more nervous than she wanted to admit going to this one. Not only was it at a new school, but Natalie was technically younger than most of the kids in her classes, even Britney. It reminded her that she didn't even tell Britney she wasn't even old enough to drive.

"You ready to go?" Britney asked.

"Yup, you don't mind driving do you?" Natalie asked, trying to avoid explaining that she doesn't even have a permit.

"Course not! You can't anyways," Britney laughed. She jumped up, and grabbed her purse.

"Oh... so you know?" Natalie asked, confused.

Britney stood by the door, and crossed her arms, "I saw your student ID yesterday,"

Making an 'O' shape with her mouth, Natalie opened her bedroom door. On the outside, Spencer was sitting at his desk looking through files that were most likely from old cases. He was reading textbooks that corresponded with the files as fast as he normally does. It wasn't anything that shocked Natalie, but when she looked at Britney, she was staring at him.

"We're heading out Spencer," Natalie interrupted him.

Spencer looked up, his finger still placed on the line he was reading, "Be home by midnight," Spencer said before quickly changing his mind and saying, "One, be home by one,"

Natalie smiled, and headed towards the door. She let Britney walk through the door, and then turned around, "Thank you, I'll see you later,"

"Have fun at your party," Spencer replied, completely engrossed in the textbooks again.

Of course he knows.