Reid Reads the Dictionary, a criminal minds fanfic

coun·te·nance

coun·te·nance [kówntənənss]

(formal)

n (plural coun·te·nanc·es)

1. face or expression: somebody's face, or the expression on it

2. composure: composure or self-control

vt (past and past participle coun·te·nanced, present participle coun·te·nanc·ing, 3rd person present singular coun·te·nanc·es)

tolerate or approve something: to tolerate, accept, or give approval to something

[13th century. Old French contenance "demeanor," literally "contents" contenir (see contain)]

-coun·te·nanc·er, , n

Reid's hand was moving swiftly over the pages. To everyone passing, it looked as though he were reading, as he should have been, but instead his eyes were firmly on the door to Hotch's office.

"Hey, man, what are you doing?" Morgan asked as he passed.

"Reading."

"What?"

Reid held up the book and Morgan just laughed.

"You're reading the dictionary?"

"It's one I haven't read before. It actually has different nuances in the definitions."

Morgan shook his head, grinning and tousled Reid's hair before moving on.

Reid stayed at his post, sitting at his desk with his feet up, pretending to read.

Finally, the door to Hotch's office opened, and SSA Aaron Hotchner stepped out, looking exhausted. He said farewell to the guest—Reid didn't recognize the woman—and walked back inside, leaving his door open, and Reid could see him gathering his things together. In moments, he was back out, his jacket over his arm—it really must have been a long day for him—and his briefcase in hand.

Reid kept a careful eye on the man as he walked to Rossi's office and poked his head in for a moment, unable to hear the murmured words before Hotch slipped back out and made his way down into the bullpen.

"Reid, why are you still here?"

I'm making sure you left before I did, Reid thought, but said, "I'm reading this new dictionary I found. It's quite fascinating."

Hotch shot him a puzzled glance as he sat down in an abandoned chair next to Reid's desk. "Come on, Reid, even you don't read the dictionary for fun."

"I was just a little worried about the outcome of your meeting," Reid admitted, and let his feet thump to the floor. "So how did it go?"

"She seems competent. I don't know yet, though." Reassured, Hotch stood again, and gave Reid a pointed glance that he was to follow suit.

"Rossi's still here and you aren't bothering him," Reid grumbled, getting to his feet and grabbing his bag. He started walking after Hotch, who led the way to the elevators.

"I know that Rossi has a legitimate excuse for being here."

The elevator dinged as it reached the floor and the doors slid open. Hotch stepped inside and Reid saw him hide a yawn before he pushed the button for the ground floor.

Oh, well. Reid knew that if he hadn't been sitting there, Hotch wouldn't have left yet, and it was only to make sure that Reid left that Hotch was leaving now.

Now all Reid had to do was make sure that Hotch made it to his car…he wouldn't be surprised if Hotch doubled back to his office after seeing Reid off…

A/N: I have no delusions of grandeur about this but wanted to try my hand at something for Criminal Minds because I adore the show. Did I get the characters right?

The woman leaving the office was Kate Callahan. I don't know how accurate this will be because we have seen nothing of her so please forgive any mistakes.

Something that I will point out myself so that no one else does is that the definition at the beginning is from an electronic dictionary and cannot be found in paper form.