The Dangers of Falling (A Criminal Minds Story)

V

     The next morning, I made breakfast (and coffee, a new development!) and sat in front of my bedroom window, curled up on the little nook my sister helped me put together when she came to visit before I started at the B.A.U.
    I pulled out my phone, staring at the red case that my parents had gotten me for my twentieth birthday. It was dirty, a little ruined, and cracked in some places, but it was mine and that was what mattered. I dialled up my sister, checking the time to make sure the three hour difference between us wouldn't affect our phone call.
    I looked out the window, watching the people below me as the phone rang. I heard a noise as she picked up and the sound of washing dishes in the background.
    "Good morning."
    "Hey, Rose. How's the internship?" My sister was incredibly into fashion - she got her degree at FIT and was staying in California for a few months on a fashion internship.
    "It's amazing, Andy. It's better than I could have ever dreamed of." I smiled. "How's Quanitco? How are you liking your new job? You told me you would call me after your first case."
    "Sorry, I've been a little busy." I apologized, taking a sip of my coffee. It was less disgusting with sugar in it, but still bad nonetheless.
    "Tell me everything about it." And so I did, I told her about the first case, trying not to forget a single detail.
    "...And everyone on the team is great. There's Garcia, she's super eccentric, but one of the nicest people you would ever meet. She calls me Princess, though I can't figure out why. Oh, and JJ, she's really nice and she introduced me to everyone on my first day. Then there's Hotch, he's kind of... well, I don't really know how to explain him, he's... anyway, there's Emily, she's such a badass and really protective, we work together a lot. Morgan, well, his first name is Derek but I don't think I've heard anyone call him that. He's good friends with Garcia and ten times more protective than Emily is, which is a lot. And Rossi, he's from Long Island, actually. He's nice, he's written a lot of books, he's like... a celebrity in the FBI world and Reid-" My voice hitched when I said his name.
    "Reid?"
    "Yeah, uh, Spencer. Well, everyone just calls him Reid."
    "Ooh, Andy's got a crush." She said it in a sing song the way kids would do when we were little. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
    "Oh, shut up, Rose. I do not."
    "You totally do. I've never heard you say anyone's name like that before." There was a moment of silence and I felt myself blush. "What does he look like?"
    "Uh, he's got brown hair. He tucks it behind his ear and he always wears these striped socks. He kind of, I don't know, dresses like a professor. He's got an eidetic memory and, like, three PhDs, and he's really nice. He came to check up on me the other night and I swear after I got grazed with the bullet from the unsub's gun-"
    "You got grazed with a bullet from an unsub's gun?" Her voice was panicky and demanding. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? I swear, Andy, if you are in the hospital right now-"
    "No, Rose, no, I'm fine. I'm at home. It was just a scratch." I heard her sigh on the other line.
    "Please be more careful."
    "I will, I promise. I'm not going anywhere."
    "Okay." I was about to say something when I heard a knock on my door, three simple rasps against the wood. I stood up, holding my coffee in one hand and my phone in the other.
    "Rose, someone's at the door, I have to go."
    "Ooh, I bet it's-" I hung up before she could say anymore and laughed, placing my phone on the table before looking through the peephole to see who it was. Just as Rose had suspected, there was Reid, as awkward as ever, his hands shoved into his pockets as he looked around the hallway. I swung the door open and smiled.
    "You know, you should really lock your door." He came in right past me, and I turned around, shutting it behind me.
    "Good morning to you too, Reid." He walked around, eventually turning to face me. He pointed to my hand. "You're drinking coffee."
    I looked down at what was left of the liquid, which was most of it. I really didn't like coffee. "Yeah, so?"
    "You never drink coffee." I blinked.
    "Can I help you, Reid?" He wandered over to the bookshelf again.
    "Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were okay. That was a pretty tough case." I swallowed, looking anywhere but him before nodding.
    "I'm fine. I barely got hit."
    "You could have died." His voice sounded oddly serious, as if he was afraid of losing me.
    "What, are you worried?" He blinked.
    "No," He denied, moving over to the shelf with the photos again. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." I gave a small, secret smile while he was turned around. It was sweet of him to want that.
    "I'm fine, Reid." He nodded.
    "Good. Okay, well, I was just wondering. See you." He started towards the door, but I put out my hand to stop him.
    "You don't have to go, you know. Do you want coffee?" I asked, moving over to my Keurig.
    "Sure. Coffee would be nice." He sat down at the kitchen island and moved back and forth, swinging on the stool.
    "Okay." I put the mug under and let the coffee pour, leaning over the counter across from him. "What are you going to do today?" I asked. He shrugged.
    "Probably watch some television, but no more than two hours. Did you know that if you don't watch more than two hours of tv a day, you could add on over a year to your life?" He rambled, but this time I didn't stop him. "However, the average U.S. citizen watches about four to five hours a day."
    "But you only watch two."
    "Exactly." He smiled as I handed him his coffee. "Thank you. Oh, do you have any sugar?" I nodded, grabbing it from the cabinet and handing it to him. I watched him pour a continuous heavy stream of sugar into his coffee before handing him a spoon.
    "Wow. That's a lot of sugar." I said, watching him stir it. He shrugged.
    "Morgan always tells me that I put too much sugar in my coffee, but it's Morgan, so I've found it's easier to just ignore him than argue back." He said, and I nodded. There was a brief moment of silence. "Sorry, I know I used a lot. I can buy you some more."
    "No,  no, don't worry about it. It's not like I use it that much anyway." I smiled. He smiled, too. "So what have you been reading lately?"
    "Oh, just a little bit of everything." He said, looking around. "I've been reading a lot of Euripidies, a lot of Classic Greek novels, just my usual things." I nodded.
    "Well, do you want to borrow anything? I have loads of stuff." I blushed. "You've probably read them all, though." He walked over to my bookshelf and pulled out The Catcher in the Rye.
    "Can I take this?"
    "Yeah, but don't you have it?" He looked embarrassed.
    "Yeah, but I want to read yours." I turned away, not letting him see how much I was smiling.
    "Okay, sure, you can take it." He smiled, slipping it in the leather messenger bag that he constantly carried with him at all times. My phone rang again and I sighed, angry that the stupid ringtone ruined a great moment. I gave an awkward laugh, pointed to the phone, and turned away.
    "Rose, I really can't talk right now." I whispered harshly. I watched Reid wander around the apartment again.
    "He's there, isn't he? He came to your apartment?"
    "Yeah," I said irritably, hoping she would get off the phone. "I'll call you later, okay."
    "Tell Reid I said-" Her cheery voice was cut off and I turned off the phone, slipping it into my pocket quickly and effortlessly.
    "Hey, sorry about that," I said with a sigh. Reid didn't seem to mind. "That was my sister."
    "Rose, right?" He asked, and I nodded, happy that he remembered.
    "Yeah, that's right." He smiled.
    "Well, I do have an eidetic memory, so it's no big deal." He said humbly. He checked his watch. "Um, I have to go, but thanks for the coffee."
    "No problem." I smiled and he smiled, too, as I walked him to the door. "See you Monday."
    "Bye."