Chapter Text
“What greater gift than the love of a cat ?”
- Charles Dickens
As soon as the plane had touched ground, the team had hurriedly gotten off and pilled up in the SUV’s that would bring them back to the Bureau. The case they had been working on for the last couple of days had been particularly gruesome, as it almost always was on the job. They arrived at the FBI’s headquarters at 10 p.m, but that didn’t mean the end of the work day fort either of them. When they passed the glass doors to the desks, Reid didn’t take the time to set down his bag and instead immediately went to the coffee corner, needing a boost of caffeine to write his rapport. He wasn’t alone for long, Emily soon taking a cup next to the sink and joining him at the table, waiting for the coffee to be ready. Spencer had guesses that most of the team would be needing at least a cup to get the work done, so he had already started brewing enough for all of them. As Emily sat down Reid examined the heavy bags under her eyes, the same ones that most likely adorned his own face. JJ sat down not long later, her own cup resting in her hands.
“I’m dying for some real coffee right now”, said Emily jokingly.
”I know what you mean, that strange brown liquid that we had was definitely not coffee, I just can’t accept it can taste THAT bad…”, retorted a desperate JJ.
”How people got any work done before discovering coffee is a mystery to me… I can’t even get out of bed without it…” Emily sighed.
Spencer chuckled lightly, the coffee of the last police station they had invaded had been one of the worst he had tasted, and that was an accomplishment in itself considering all the strange and bad coffees they had had.
”you know, coffee is thought to date back to 800 A.D., where it was discovered by 9th century goat herders in Ethiopia. It was said that they noticed their goats eating the plant and afterwards it appeared like they were ‘dancing’. When they-“
”Please no more Reid, my head is gonna burst if you try to push in more informations”, groaned Emily, already massaging her eyes with her thumbs.
”yeah, let’s talk about something else, not work related.” Said JJ, giving a side-eye at Reid as she said the second part. She turned back to Prentiss her face illuminated, “I know, why don’t you tell me about Sergio ? How is he doing ? Is he still Keeping you up all night ?”.
Spencer felt his cheeks grow warm and embarrassed as she said those words, did Emily have a boyfriend he didn’t know about ? She didn’t seem like she was in a relationship, her behaviour hadn’t hinted at it…. “I think this is my cue to leave, I certainly do not want to hear anything regarding Emily’s…. Love life.”, the last words were chosen carefully, the implication enough to embarrass the young doctor further.
Emily and JJ looked at each other before laughing loudly. They could stop as Reid just stood there, watching them mouth hanging slightly open and a confused look in his eyes. What did I say that was so funny ? The girls, seeing the confusion in his face, started laughing even more. After a few minutes of more laughing and trying to regain their breath, Emily wiped under her eyes while trying to explain to him why they had been laughing.
”Ser…. Sergio…. He’s not my boyfriend….” She said through small chuckles, “It’s my cat’s name”.
A sign of realisation passed Reid’s eyes as he recalled her talking about having a cat, but not once had he heard the name of said cat. His mouth opened to form a unique sound “Ohhhhhh”. The girls chuckled when they looked at each other again, and Reid was glad when the coffee machine started making a beeping sound, announcing that the drink was ready. He didn’t want to stay longer than needed too, as he wanted to finish writing his rapport early and go home for the night. He filled his cup and started walking away to his desk, but was stopped by JJ’s question.
”Not much of a cat person are you Spence ?”
“Well…. Animals can carry a lot of diseases and they loose lot’s of hair, so they tend to make a mess….”, he answered sheepishly.
”Right, how could we forget that our resident genius is germ-conscious….?” Asked Emily jokingly.
His rapport sheet completed, Spencer stood from his desk, jacket in hand, ready to go home. He was tired and was decided on skipping dinner and just getting a few hours of sleep. Luckily for them, the next day was supposed to be a rest day, but knowing the BAU and their track record with vacations, he didn’t truly believe he would get to spend the day quietly without receiving a call about a case. Knowing that, he really had to enjoy the few hours he would get to spend at his appartement.
He exited the FBI building, heading straight for the metro station just down the street. The metro platform was empty at this hour, and the ride back was quiet. He had taken out a book from his bag, shifting through the pages at his normal pace but that he knew was considered outrageously rapid by most people. He was reading one of his favorite books, for what must have been the 100th time, “The Narrative of John Smith” by Arthur Conan Doyle. He was almost at the start of the final chapter by the time the speaker’s voice announced the oncoming stop as the one he needed to get off at. Putting the book back in his back, he exited the metro and quickly left the station, outside, the moon was now high up in the sky and even thought he couldn’t see them, he imagined the constellations that were actually over his head.
The quiet walk was doing him a lot of good. Even thought his body was tired, what needed the most rest was his mind. After all the horrors he saw everyday on the job, he needed to focus his mind on other things and let the pressure flow out of himself. Soon, the small stairs leading to the entrance of his appartement building could be seen down the road, his strides became bigger and in no time, he had reached the bottom of the stairs. However, something wasn’t right. On the steps he could see small dark stains that shone when they were hit by the lights of the cars that passed on the road. His hand instinctively went to rest on his holstered gun, while his stance shifted from up-right to slightly hunched. He stayed for a while trying to see where it could have come from, but didn’t see anything in the darkness.
He ascended the stairs on guard but was left uncertain of what to do when he arrived by the door…. On the ground on his doorstep, a small bundle of fur lay without moving. At first, he thought the animal had died, but after watching it for some more, he noticed the way its body would rise and deflate every now and then. The breathing seemed laboured and blood seemed to be covering the ground and the fur on one side of the ribs of what he recognised as a cat. It’s fur was white and grey, with streaks of darker grey giving a linear pattern to the grey areas. He watched the small creature, unsure of what he was going to do. He couldn’t just leave it there since it seemed to be in such a bad shape, however he also couldn’t take it inside of his appartement since he couldn’t really help him get better. The only solution was to find an animal clinic that was open this late at night and get it treated correctly.
Spencer looked at his watch and sighed as the smaller arm of the clock was almost pointing at the first mark. It’s almost 1 a.m…. Where am I gonna find a place that is still open at this hour ? Spencer sighed, he knew lots of things but the veterinary clinics near his home and their urgency schedule was not a part of it…. He took his phone out of his bag and composed one of the many phone numbers he knew by heart, hoping that the other person wasn’t already sleeping and would know where to go. The first 2 rings went by unanswered, but by the third, Emily had answered the call.
”Reid ? Is everything alright ?”, she asked in a confused and tired tone. She had been sleeping….
“Hi, yes everything is alright don’t worry. Sorry to call you this late but I was hoping you would be able to help me.”
”Sure, what’s going on ?” She answered, already sounding more awake and ready to help.
”Hum…. There’s this cat…. He’s in front of my doorstep and he looks badly hurt…. I was wondering if you knew an animal clinic open at this hour where I could take it ?”
Emily didn’t answer for a while, a bit stunned that the germaphobe doctor would go out of his way to help an unknown stray that had winded up on his doorstep. At the same time as that thought crossed her mind, she felt ridiculous, Spencer Reid was one of the most caring people she knew, the fact he was going out of his way for that cat just reminded her of how much he was a good and kind person.
”Sure, I have this clinics number registered in case of an emergency. They are open around the clock and offer good services, it’s not too far from where you live, I’ll send you their number and the address.”, she said, already searching through her contacts for the information.
”Okay thanks”, replied Reid, glad that she did know of a place that could help the poor creature.
”I just sent it to you by mail, do you want me to accompany you ? I can get there in 30 minutes if I leave now.” She offered.
”No it’s okay I got this, but thank you.”
”alright, keep me posted on how it goes !”, she said as she ended the call.
spencer turned around, looking at the small white and grey cat once again.
”Okay…. How am I going to transport you now….”