Wildfire

Reid could feel exhaustion setting into his bones by the time he was back at his hotel room that night. There were no new leads on the unsub and the team was stuck waiting for another body to show up, a position they all hated to be in. Reid dropped his shoulder bag onto one of the hard armchairs in his room and collapsed onto the bed, burying his face deep into one of the musty smelling pillows.

His brain was racing with facts of the case, and all the little things he noticed throughout the day. The faint scent of cigars underneath Rossi’s cologne told Reid that he had picked up smoking again. Emily’s nails were slowly being bitten away, the only sign of the stress she was feeling over some unknown situation. And Morgan hadn’t had sex in months, his mood growing blacker by the day.

He rolled over onto his side to stare at the faded wallpaper and sighed. It hadn’t even been two weeks and already his skin felt like it was too tight and trying to crawl off him. The uneasiness of it all was slowly driving him insane, and Reid was digging his phone out of his pocket and dialing Jasmine’s number before he could stop himself.

“’ullo?”

Her voice was groggy and rough, but it was like a balm to Reid’s nerves. He let out a breath and turned to lie on his back and tuck one hand underneath his head.

“Hey, Jaz.”

“Spence?” There was some shuffling around before her voice came back on the line. “What are you still doing up? It’s past one in the morning.”

He hadn’t even thought about what time it was, just dialed her phone number mindlessly.

“Yeah, I know, sorry. I just got back to my hotel room. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Not really. I’m on-call at the hospital and I figured I’d catch a few minutes of sleep before my next patient. This trauma surgeon’s work is never done, ya know.” There was move moving around before he heard her voice again. “Wait, hang on. I gotta put the phone down a sec.”

Reid could practically picture her sitting up, her black hair probably thrown up in a messy ponytail, olive skin free of make-up and scrubs wrinkled and askew. Then he heard a loud ‘ow’ followed by some muttered swearing and he had to stifle a laugh.

“You okay, Jaz?”

“Ugh, yeah, yeah. I fell asleep in the most awkward position ever, in the most uncomfortable chair ever and had to move around a bit. So, what’s with the late call? Did you need something?”

“Oh, um, I’m not really sure. I mean, I was just lying in bed, thinking about you, and I figured I’d give you a call and…”

Jasmine busted out laughing so loudly that Reid had to pull the phone away from his ear.

“Why Spencer Reid, were you intending on having phone sex with me?”

“Yes, exactly!”

Reid latched onto the ridiculous idea, even though it was the farthest from the truth. But it stopped him from having to explain why he all of a sudden had to hear her voice, something he himself didn’t even understand.

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m at work. And…shit, my pager just went off. I gotta go. Call me when you get back in to town and we’ll have regular, un-phone sex.”

And with a click she was gone, leaving Reid staring at the phone, mouth hanging open.