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a/n This is M rated for a good reason. Watch out for adult behavior. It takes place sometime at the end of the last season.

Compartmentalization Skills

The warm water felt like home when I dived into the pool. A swim was just the thing I needed after our last case. The smell and taste of chlorine would clear the smell of blood and the taste of death from my nose and mouth. I don't have much time for swimming in the pool here at Quantico, but when I get the chance, I take it.

I stroke forward across the Olympic size pool deciding that I'm going to do at least five laps more than my personal best. My muscles stretch and flex as the water parts for my body. I turn my head reaching for air, and then put my face back in the water. I concentrate only on the movement of my body and the sound of the water in my ears.

It takes long, agonizing minutes but I finally get the image of that last teenage girl, beaten to within an inch of her life, and raped, out of my head. We were too late this time. We got him, but we didn't get there in time to save her from a terrifying death. He laughed at us when Hotch put the cuffs on him. I wanted to kill him.

I reached the end of the pool, flipped and turned around for the next lap. No one else comes down here this late, so I have the whole place to myself for as long as I want. I wanted to be there alone until I felt human again instead of like some emotionless machine. They all think they envy my infamous compartmentalization skills, but they don't know what it's like. I decided to push those thoughts out of my head and concentrate on my workout.

I finished, including the extra laps. My shoulders, my legs, and my arms ached and burned, as did my lungs as I climbed out of the pool. I couldn't think of anything but a steam, warm shower and a bed, which is exactly what I needed.

I was drying off when I heard something move behind me. I whirled around with my heart in my throat. I had a bathing suit and a towel for weapons. Nice going… You know better than that, I thought, and then I saw the person behind me.

"What the hell are you doing sneaking up on people," I demanded irritably.

He didn't speak, which irritated me even more. I was about to yell at him when he stepped closer out of the gloom. I like to swim with the light off, except for the lights embedded in the walls of the pool under the water. The soft yellow glow on his face took my breath away. The drawer in my mind that had his name on it opened against my will.

He just stood there looking at me as if he'd never seen my face. The sculptured planes of his face in the light sent my heart into a frenzy of beating. He wasn't smiling as he studied me. I don't know what he was thinking, which was odd, because Reid usually wore his emotions on his sleeve.

"Reid?"

He didn't answer. Why was he so silent? His eyes, which occupied most of the room in the drawer marked Dr Spencer Reid, stared at me, as if he was drowning alone.

"Hey… What's wrong?"

Oh good one Prentiss, I berated myself silently. The award for the stupidest question ever uttered goes to SSA Emily Prentiss!

"I knew you'd be down here." He said softly. "I just wanted to…" He trailed off and looked down at his dirty Converse shoes.

"You wanted to what?" I asked. It was so rare to see him this quiet, that I didn't really know what to say.

"I wanted to ask you how you do it." He asked so softly I could barely hear him.

"How I do what?" I was beginning to feel some irritation at this cryptic exchange.

"You compartmentalize all the blood and the horror. It never seems to get to you. I just don't know if I can take much more of all of this." He held his arms out wide. "How do you do it?" He asked again.

"I don't know."

In truth, I'd never thought about it. It was just something I did without conscious effort, like breathing.

"There has to be a way." He insisted.

"It's not something you can read about or learn." I argued. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged and turned to leave me standing there. "I'm sorry I can't help you." I blurted out. Why did I feel the need to apologize for something I couldn't teach him?

He turned back with a tiny little smile. It changed the whole look of his face. In the green tinted light with that smile, he looked like some beautiful creature from another planet. I shivered and it angered me. "I'm going to take a steam. I find it works wonders with relaxation. Want to join me?" I asked very sarcastically.

"I don't have a bathing suit." He said, and I couldn't believe my ears. He hadn't said no, just made an excuse.

"There are towels in the locker room." I reminded him.

"Right… So, I'll see you in a few minutes."

I watched him walk away, not bothering to keep my eyes off his newly sculptured backside. The crutches he'd used for months had worked wonders on his long lanky body.

I shook my head, trying to tell myself that this was a very bad idea. Instead, I decided to ignore that inconvenient inner voice that always told me to do the right thing. I headed into the steam room and set the lights at a low setting. I hurried out of my wet suit, dried off, and wrapped the towel around myself with trembling fingers.

"Get a grip… He's just joining you for a steam, not steamy sex."

I set the timer and sat back on the cold wooden seats while the heat and steam kicked in. My eyes were beginning to close when a bit of cold air stirred the steam around in the dimly light room and Reid stepped in with a towel around his waist and another one hung over his shoulders so that I got just a glimpse of his bare chest.

"Good idea." He said after a few moments.

All I could say was "Yeah…" as I stared at him.

He leaned back against the brick walls with his eyes closed. His beautiful, angelic face had lost the tension around his eyes and mouth so that he resembled someone ten years younger than his actual age. His new short haircut curled around his head in ringlets. I wished he'd open his eyes. If there was an example in the dictionary for the eyes are the windows to the soul it would read see Spencer Reid's eyes.

He didn't move. I know he must have felt my eyes on him, but he stayed silent and as still as Michelangelo's David. My eyes moved down his face to his long neck. I suddenly wanted to lick and suck on his Adam's apple.

Okay... Time to get up and just walk out.

I stayed there because we sat across from each other just inches between our bodies and I didn't want it to end.

His hands fell away from the towel across his shoulders. My eyes worshipped his newly sculpted arms. The towel mostly blocked my view of his chest. I could see some of his lanky torso down to his hips hidden by the second towel around his slim waist. His long legs hung over the edge of the slatted wooden bench to the concrete floor. They'd benefited from all the physical therapy he'd complained about so bitterly for the last months. The towel covered his thighs and other things I really wanted to ogle.

Sweat began dripping out of my hair and onto my towel. I swiped at it with my hand, cursing the fact that I hadn't thought to bring another towel with me.

"I see what you mean."

His voice startled me. I looked up to see him staring at me. How long had his glorious eyes been watching me? He regarded me with something in his eyes I'd never seen. Of course, all of this was so far out of the norm for him that I questioned what I saw until he said.

"Don't you think it's time we stopped walking around on eggshells around each other Emily."

The question sent my heart rate soaring so high I began to feel light headed, or maybe it was the heat of the steam.

"I don't know what you mean Reid."

"I'm sorry… I guess I got it wrong." He croaked through the steamy heat.

The next thing I knew I'd dropped my towel on the floor and climbed into his lap. He didn't say anything when our mouths met in a frenzy of wet heat that had nothing to do with the steam around our bodies.

Sweat dripped from his hair and onto my cheeks like tears, but I ignored it in favor of trying to get my tongue inside his mouth. He opened his mouth only to thrust his tongue inside my mouth. He sucked in, pulling my tongue with his back into his mouth until I couldn't breathe.

"God…" I pulled back shifting off his lap. "I'm sorry… I better get out of here before-"

I don't really know what happened next except that both his towels ended up on the floor and I finally saw big and little Reid in all their aroused glory before he pulled me back onto his lap. I opened for him and it was as glorious as a sunrise on the Great Sahara Desert.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect that when I came down for a swim." I said when it was over and I could breathe again.

"How about we get out of here before we get dehydrated?" He suggested with a weak laugh.

Later he took me back to his place, which was half a duplex in Alexandria. The other half was empty for the time being so we didn't worry about the noise we made in his bed. I never would have guessed that Dr. Reid had a thing about oral sex. I've never heard any man make the noises he did while I familiarized myself very well with not-so-little Reid. Who knew big Reid had that hidden in his endless pairs of cords and slacks.

"So you came down there on purpose." I said as I lay with my head on his chest.

"I come down to watch you swim all the time. I've wanted to follow you into the steam room so many times I've lost count."

"Who knew that Dr. 'I don't like to be touched,' Spencer Reid would have such naughty thoughts."

He smirked down at me. "It's true I don't like touch unless it's you." He confessed. "Ever since you hugged me after Colorado, I've wanted you to touch me."

"Good because I intend to touch you at least once a day for the rest of our lives. If you'll have me that is," I asked.

"Is this a proposal?" He asked anxiously.

"Oh yes, of the very indecent kind." I responded because I couldn't help myself.

"You know what I mean." He squeaked. God I love it when he squeaks.

"Why don't we just take it one day at a time?" I suggested.