By Fabrisse
Pairing: Emily Prentiss/Spencer Reid
Characters: Emily Prentiss, Spencer Reid, Mick Rawson
Rating: FREveryone, there's mentions of dating
Summary: Emily and Spencer have brunch the morning after the events in "Domino."
Author Note: The story is inspired by the Get. The. Cat. drive over at Television Without Pity.
Emily was sitting outside at Bonaparte's waiting for her drinks to arrive, when a shadow was cast across the table.
"My superior profiling powers tell me you're meeting someone for brunch, and they're late."
Emily looked up and saw Mick.
He sat down in the chair opposite her. The waitress put down two cups of coffee and two identical cocktails.
"I'll leave when she gets here."
"She?"
Mick held up the cocktail. "No man would choose a pink cocktail." He took a sip. "Tastes pretty good though."
"It's a French Summer -- essentially a mimosa with a shot of Chambord."
He smiled at her. "I'm betting it's Garcia from your office, mostly because I heard JJ talking about people named Will and Henry which I'm betting are the family she goes home to."
Emily nodded. "It's a good bet on JJ. Of course, I could have a friend who's not from the office."
Mick cast a quizzical glance at her.
"All right, with our schedules it's unlikely, but it's certainly not impossible."
When she gave him a small smile, he leapt in with, "I don't know what I said last night, but I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you. We could go to a movie this afternoon or something, start slower than dinner."
"No. I shouldn't have said yes in the first place. I was looking at having a date rather than dating you, if that makes sense."
"I'm a good bloke. I'll laugh at a woman's jokes. I'm mostly housebroken."
Emily laughed. "If you were housebroken, you wouldn't be drinking someone else's coffee."
"Fair point. But you're a lovely woman…"
"That she is." Reid had come up beside them. "I'll go in and ask if we can have three at the table. And get fresh drinks." He smiled at Emily and handed her a bag. "The pet store was already open." He walked into the restaurant and spoke to the hostess.
"Well, I wasn't too far off. Your Doctor Reid isn't exactly the most masculine guy." He took another sip of the cocktail. "This really isn't bad."
"You don't seem to like Reid much," Emily said.
"I don't know why he's on your team. It would make more sense to keep him at the academy and consult when you need him, since he's not really a field agent."
Reid was back with a chair, and the waitress put down a cup of coffee and a cocktail for him with a big smile.
He thanked her and turned to Mick. "I am a field agent. Morgan even told you I do reasonably well with a gun."
"And you're obviously not an alcoholic," Mick said raising the cocktail glass.
The waitress came over. "Are you ready to order?"
Mick said, "Eggs Florentine."
Emily raised an eyebrow before telling the waitress, "I'd like the smoked salmon and spinach crepe and another coffee."
"I'll have the nutella and banana crepes. Could you just bring a pitcher of coffee for the table?" Reid smiled at the girl.
"Of course, sir. I'll be back with your orders in a moment."
Mick turned to Reid. "How much of what I assessed about you was accurate?"
"I'm from Nevada. I'm an atheist who had an article due and decided not to drink to finish it. I have three Ph.D.s none of which is in a social science."
Mick gave a chuckle. "English lit? Basket weaving?"
Emily looked between them. "Wait a minute, were you profiling one of my teammates?"
Reid covered her hand with his for just a second. "Male bonding ritual."
She turned toward Mick. "You were showing off."
"Reid here was getting shirty because I asked about you. As he said, a little male bonding."
"I heard the Mormon versus alcoholic thing on the plane. What else did you surmise?"
"Well I was obviously wrong about his Ph.D. being in sociology or anthropology, but I stand by my statement that he's never been in real danger."
The waitress put down a pot of coffee at the far edge of the table and put the food in front of the appropriate person. "Enjoy your meal."
Emily's spine stiffened. "I take it that's when you went back to the hotel," she said to Reid.
He shrugged and took a bite of his crepes.
She looked at Mick. "He's been mostly in the field offices lately because he was shot and his leg has been healing."
"Did you kill the guy who shot you?"
Reid looked at him evenly. "I missed."
Emily started to say something, and Reid touched her hand briefly.
Mick gave a half grin. "So you've never looked someone in the eyes and killed them?"
"Have you?" Reid asked. "Isn't the whole point of being a sniper that you don't have to 'look someone in the eyes'?" He poured more coffee for everyone at the table.
For the first time, Mick really assessed Reid. "You're wearing what you had on yesterday."
"Probably."
He glanced between them and said to Reid, "I take it you've learned what it means to scratch the itch."
Reid went very still. "I'm going to the men's room. I'll pay the bill on my way out. You'll have gone by the time I get back." He stood and went inside.
Emily took a swallow of coffee. "Scratched the itch. I'm really relieved that I didn't go out with you."
"Come on. It's not like you'll be a lasting relationship. You've got what? A decade on him?"
"Even if I just end up with a toy boy for awhile, I'll know it's someone who likes me and cares enough not to start a fight at the breakfast table."
Mick took the last couple of bites of his breakfast and drank the last of his cocktail. "I still think we could have been good together, Prentiss." He bolted back the end of his coffee. "I assume I have a minute before he tries to throw me out bodily."
"Oh, he'll leave it to me to do that. We wouldn't want his knee reinjured." Her smile was brittle.
"Two questions, then. What are his Ph.D.s in?"
"Mathematics, chemistry, and engineering -- and he had all of them before he joined the Bureau at twenty one."
"Has he been in any real danger?"
Emily shook her head. "He spent over two days as a hostage to someone with multiple personalities. He was digging his own grave when he tricked the man into putting his gun down and shot him with it."
"I see. I had it all wrong then." Mick glanced into the restaurant. He saw Reid paying and stood to go. "You don't know what you're missing." He grinned at her. "I'll bet I know my way around women better than he does."
She laughed in disbelief. "I really doubt it. Lose my number, Mick."
He gave a half nod and swaggered off.
Reid came back to the table and calmly finished his crepes. "The waitress offered me her phone number if you decided to go with him."
"I never did check to see what's in the bag." She opened it and found two books on the best way to handle multiple cats and several cat toys. "You are such a pushover for cute little furry things."
He rolled his eyes at her. "They said the kittens are too young for catnip, but in a couple of months, we could -- I mean, you could -- get the plant."
"Yes, we could."
"I didn't want to presume."
Emily took his hand. "No, you didn't." She gave his fingers a squeeze. "I heard you're a reasonably good profiler, any idea what I want to do right now?"
He grinned. "Any chance we can keep Domino and Nefertiti out of the bedroom?"
They stood, and Emily threaded her arm through his to walk back to her house.
~
end