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“You’re ringing, Pretty Boy. Got a hot date tonight?” Morgan laughed and leaned against Reid’s desk. Prentiss bit her lip to keep from laughing but her lips still curved upwards.
Reid shot him a dirty look and snatched up the ringing phone. “This is Reid,” he answered.
“Hi, Spencer. It’s Jessica. I hope I didn’t call at a bad time,” the woman said quickly.
Reid’s gaze shot to Hotch’s doorway. “Is everything okay? Is it Jack? You sound anxious.” Morgan tensed, and Prentiss launched out of her chair, waiting for a signal to head for their Unit Chief’s office.
“No, everything’s fine. I just wasn’t sure if you would want to talk to me is all,” Jessica responded.
He waved off the other agents’ concern. “It’s fine. How are you?”
“Bored out of my skull. I have to get out of this house. My boss won’t let me go back to work ‘til the middle of next week. I’m touched that she’s concerned, but I didn’t need two weeks off. She won’t even let me work from home,” Jessica whined.
Reid smiled sympathetically. “I know the feeling.”
“That’s why I called you. Aaron’s mother-henning me when he’s home, and if I have to sit at home on a Friday night with him and Jack again, I might snap. Please, please do something with me tonight.”
He laughed. “I’m so telling everyone that you called Hotch a mother-hen. Alright, what kind of movies do you like to watch? Maybe we could do dinner and a movie?”
She sighed in relief. “Sounds perfect. No action or horror. Otherwise, you can pick whatever you want.”
“Okay, I’ll catch a ride with Hotch then when he leaves, and you can drive from there.” He pushed himself up and grabbed the crutches propped against the side of his desk.
“Awesome! You’re my knight on shining crutches, Spencer. My favorite person in the world. See you later.”
“Bye Jessica.” He chuckled before making his way to Hotch’s office. He knocked twice on the open door and waited for Hotch to gesture him in.
Hotch glanced at him. “Do you need more files already?”
He lightly swung himself forward and back on his crutches. “No. Jessica just called, and we made plans together this evening. Would you be willing to take me home with you so I don’t have to catch a cab?”
The older man nodded once. “Fine. We’ll leave at six, and I’ll stop for some takeout for Jack and me on the way.”
“Thanks, Hotch.” Reid returned to his own desk until it was time for them to leave.
“You ready, Reid?” Hotch called, shutting off the lights in his office and pulling the door shut behind him.
“Yes, sir.” He pulled on his messenger bag and started for the elevator.
Hotch glanced at him sideways as they got on the elevator. “Sir?”
Reid snickered and ducked his head. “She called you a mother hen.”
“I suppose you told everyone else.” The older man watched his shoulders shake from the effort of containing his laughter.
“Noooooo. I only told Emily and Derek. Derek told Garcia. Emily told JJ and Rossi. So everyone knows. But not because I told them.” Reid tried to make himself look innocent.
Hotch sighed. “I sort of miss shy, scared-of-me Reid. He would never have thought that someone calling me a mother-hen was funny or told the rest of the team about it. What happened to him? Can we get him back?”
“Nope. That guy is long gone. He’s never coming back.” Reid grinned and followed Hotch to his car.
“Pity,” Hotch responded flatly. Reid snickered again and got in the car. They lapsed into a comfortable silence. “You want something, Reid?” Hotch broke the silence turning into a drive-thru a couple blocks from his house.
Reid shook his head. “Jessica and I are getting dinner, but thanks, though.”
Hotch nodded in acknowledgment and ordered for himself and his son. “I have been over protective the last couple weeks. I can’t help it.”
“I’m sure she understands. She’s just bored. Is she still staying with you?” The younger man looked up from the book on his lap.
Hotch crept the car forwards. “She refuses to even go to her apartment. I went and got all of the stuff that she wanted to have. I really don’t mind. Michael doesn’t know where I live, so he can’t show up unexpectedly. And it’s nice …” he trailed off.
“What is?” Reid asked after a moment of silence.
“Coming home to someone. Even though it’s completely platonic and always will be, it’s nice to know that someone is at home waiting for me besides Jack.”
Reid nodded in understanding. Hotch needed his BAU job like he needed air. It was vital to his existence, but the younger man also knew that Hotch needed a family unit centering him, giving him a reason to keep locking away the criminals. “Does she like classic movies? There’s a movie theater that shows only old stuff. Tonight’s movie is The Philadelphia Story.”
Hotch pulled up to the window to retrieve his order. “Jess loves Katherine Hepburn, so she’ll be all over that suggestion. Do not eat my fries.” He warned but allowed Reid to pull the bag into his lap. He laughed when the man made a face at him. “That’s the same face Jack makes.”
“I’m not sure I like being compared with a five-year-old.”
“Then don’t act like a five-year-old. I see your hand sneaking into the bag.” He reached over and lightly smacked the offending hand. He watched the younger man in his peripheral vision, knowing he was likely to attempt another fry theft before they reached the house. Two more smacks to Reid’s hand later, he was pulling into his garage.
Jack appeared in the doorway to the house before the door was even down all the way. “Hi Spencer,” Jack waved.
“Hey, Jack. How are you?” Reid smiled.
“Hungry. Jessica says she’s not ready yet. Are you going on a date?” The little boy hurried over to relieve Hotch of the drive-through bag. He immediately grabbed a handful of fries to cram into his mouth.
Hotch shook his head. “Wait till you’re at the table, Jack. And it’s rude to ask people if they’re going on a date.”
Jack swallowed the fries quickly. “Sorry. Sorry Spencer.”
“It’s okay, Jack. Jessica and I are just friends. So it’s a friend date I guess,” Reid explained and followed the two Hotchners into the kitchen.
“Do not let Reid steal any of my fries,” Hotch instructed. “You want to leave your gun here?”
Spencer shook his head. “I have a case for it in my bag.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back,” he said and slipped out of the kitchen to secure his own weapons in the safe.
Reid eyed Jack for a moment. He leaned towards him and dropped his voice to a whisper. “If you take the fry and hand it to me, then technically I’m not stealing your dad’s fries. Right?” Jack grinned at him and passed him some fries from the container he had set at Hotch’s place.
Jessica stepped into the kitchen and laughed. “Oh, you are a man living on borrowed time, my friend.”
“Yes, he is. Get him out of here before I decide to end that borrowed time right now.” Hotch took his seat at the table and stole some fries from him son.
She laughed. “Come on, Spencer. Let’s go save your life. See you boys later.” Reid waved and followed her back to the garage to her car. “So what’s the plan?”
“The Majestic Theater is playing The Philadelphia Story tonight. I thought we could see that. It starts at 8:30 so we have some time to get dinner first if you want,” he said.
“Yes! I love that movie! Want to get a pizza at the place across from the theater?” At his now, she pulled out of the garage and waited for the door to close before completely pulling into the street. “So how was your day?”
“Quiet. It was a paperwork and file day.” They fell into an easy rhythm of chatting and friendly silences. They discussed their jobs, their overprotective bosses, and a shared interest in classic literature on the short car ride and over pizza. “Thanks for calling me to do this. I don’t generally hang out with a lot of people outside of the team,” he said as they crossed to the theater.
She smiled. “Is it because of your schedule?”
“Partly, but also because a lot of the people I know outside the team are professional acquaintances, not people you’d call and ask to share a pizza and a movie with.” He neatly cut her off from the ticket window and bought their tickets.
She pulled the door open and held it so he could get through with his crutches. “Well, now you have me. We’ll have to do this again sometime. Unless you try to talk through this movie. Then I’ll have to break up with you as a friend. You can’t talk across a movie this great.”
He laughed. “I’ll try to contain myself and not talk till after the end.”
She nodded and sank into the seat next to him. “Good. Then I think we have a very bright future ahead of us.”