Special Stranger - (Lexie Grey x Spencer Reid)

chapter four - spencer

We were sitting in silence, in Derek's room while he slept. He had woken up a few hours ago, but only for a couple minutes. He was okay. Which was good. The unsub, who had already confessed, was in police custody with Rossi. Hotch was sleeping in the only comfortable chair in the room. There was nothing left to do here but wait for Derek to recover.

Except... there was one thing left. Lexie. I couldn't stop thinking about her. The way she smiled with her teeth, the way her eyes lit up when she laughed, the way she stuttered sometimes like me... I couldn't help it.

I knew it wouldn't work. She lived here, and I lived a whole plane flight away. I fiddled with my cell phone. I really hoped she would call me. I hadn't gotten her number, there was no time. But I really, really hoped she would call me.

Emily looked at my hands. "Did you get her number?"

"I-I gave her one of my cards." I stammered.

JJ groaned. "Spence, come on. The cards- they don't work."

"She's not like that."

"She's like you?" JJ chuckled. "There's not many people like you."

"Well-she's- she's smart. She skipped third grade. She's younger than her co-workers, just like me. And-"

"And she has a photographic memory, right." Emily finished. "So you gave her your number, but you didn't get hers?"

"There was no time. JJ called me over, and-"

"Right." JJ sighed. "I cock-blocked you."

"You didn't- I-"

"She'll call you. She seemed pretty into you, far as I can tell." She patted my arm, which seemed almost patronizing.

"Yeah..." I grumbled. I couldn't stop thinking about the way she looked at Mark Sloan. "I think she still may be, you know..."

"Hung up? On the plastic surgeon?" Emily sighed.

"Yeah, I noticed she'd recently dyed her hair blonde, which probably meant she's trying to get over him. It's commonly used as a defense mechanism, a wall of sorts, to try to change, become someone-"

"Stop." JJ gripped my knee. "Spencer, she likes you. Focus on that. Little surgeon girl likes you."

"She likes me? She likes me."

Just then, Dr. Grey, Lexie's sister, walked in to check on Derek. She studied the monitor and started to change the dressings on his shoulder.

"Hey." Hotch said. He was awake now, I guess.

"Hey..." She said caustiously. "I'm Dr. Grey-Meredith Grey."

"Aaron Hotchner. You're Lexie's sister?"

She slowly grabbed a new roll of bandages. "Yeah, half-sister."

Hotch nodded at me, but I didn't know what to say. Meredith smiled.

"You're Spencer?" She asked, her eyes glinting.

"Uh... Spencer Reid." I stared at her.

"Don't tell her I said this."

JJ and Emily sat up, excited.

"She's pretty into you. I can tell. Don't mess it up." She applied the new dressings on Derek's shoulder.

JJ and Emily high-fived. "See! I told you." JJ patted my back.

"Uh-did she- Is she going to call? Because she has my number, you know, if she hasn't lost it, or thrown it away, but I don't have hers-"

"She knows your number. She memorized it. And she'll call." She finished the dressings and stepped back. "He's still on heavy pain meds, and I'd like to keep him for observation at least overnight, for the stomach wound. He should wake up soon, but he'll be out of it."

"Thanks." Hotch stood up. "Thank you guys so much."

"Just doing our jobs. Thanks for... doing whatever you were doing." Meredith backed out of the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

"She's pretty into you, see?" JJ laughed. "She'll call later, okay?"

I smiled in spite of myself. I felt pretty guilty, being excited about a date when my friend had just been shot, but I couldn't help it. Lexie. I wondered if that was short for something. Alexandria? Alexandra? I stared at my phone, then the clock.

I knew that if she was going to call, she would call after work. It was almost the end of the day, so I knew it would be soon. I sat there for a while, switching his gaze between the clock, Derek, and my phone.  Clock, Derek, phone. Clock, Derek, phone.

Finally, it rang. I fumbled it out of my lap and flipped it open. Unknown number.

"This is Special Agent Spencer Reid with the BAU."

"I know who it is."

I grinned. " Hey, Lexie."

"I was wondering, there's this bar across the street from the hospital. Joe's. Do you maybe want-want to, you know, meet me there? Like, later? If you can't, it's fine I-"

"Of course, I will." I glanced at the clock. It was 7:33. "8? I can wait in the lobby."

Lexie giggled on the other end of the phone. "That's perfect. Yeah. I'll meet you."

"Bye,"

"Bye."  The phone clicked off.

I chuckled softly to myself as I put the phone back in my pocket.

"So?" JJ asked, staring at me.

"There's this bar across the street, apparently. I told her I would meet her in the lobby at 8." Just as I stood up, Derek opened his eyes and groaned.

"Derek!" Emily grabbed his hand. "Thank god."

"Hey." I said quietly.

"What's up?" He mumbled, sitting up.

JJ laughed. "Spencer's got a hot date."

"Well, I can cancel. I mean, since you're up, it's-"

"No, man. Go. I'm good." He looked around. "Who is she?"

"She's a surgeon here." I glanced at the clock again. "Really, I should stay."

"No. Go." Morgan waved me off. "Get out of here!"

"Okay, okay." I started out the door.

"Tell us how it goes, okay? Every detail." JJ patted my back.

I nodded.

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