Pretty Boy

A/N: I'm back with a vengeance! I've had massive writer's block lately and despite the large amount of time I've had to write, I just couldn't. Therefore, I'm writing this to kind of break out of it. I apologize for any crappiness contained within and I hope the subject matter makes up for it. In other words, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable, including, but not limited to: Criminal Minds, the characters, or an office. Not that I really need any of those things… Oh, and Deirdre Lovell is a name I made up. If there is someone by that name, it is purely coincidence.

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A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us be what we should.

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"I can't believe her!" Prentiss muttered angrily as she and JJ returned to the bullpen.

"Can't believe who?" Morgan asked, turning to face the two women.

"Deirdre Lovell, the witness we went to talk to." JJ supplied, sitting down in the empty chair at Reid's desk, Reid being in the briefing room, analyzing letters from the unsub.

"What did she do that was so unbelievable?" Morgan cast a wary glance in Prentiss' direction.

"She was so irritating! She talked down to both of us and treated us like idiots!" Prentiss fumed.

"And she refused to tell us anything. She said she'd already talked to the police and she wasn't about to go around at the beck and call of- and I'm quoting this: "two lowly FBI agents." And to top that off, she was sexist." JJ explained.

"Oh, my God, she must have had an affair with every other guy she's hired! We talked to some of them, and they told us that it was either sleep with the boss or get fired." Prentiss told him.

"Not that they were exactly complaining." JJ muttered.

"Mm. I'll give her this much: she's beautiful. And she's not afraid to use that to her advantage." Prentiss said, flopping down in her own chair.

Morgan stared at the two women before him for a moment and then began to laugh. "What's so funny? She had some good information! It sounded as though it could lead to a break in the case." JJ said, glaring at Morgan.

"It's not funny, I was just thinking; this woman likes her men, right? Well, what if I go talk to her?" Morgan asked.

Prentiss and JJ exchanged doubting looks. "What?" Morgan asked, the grin sliding off his face.

"Well, you're good-looking and all, but you don't appeal to every woman. Lovell prefers a different type of guy…" Prentiss told him gently.

Morgan looked from Prentiss to JJ and back again. "Okay, well, what kind of men is she interested in?" He asked, almost indignantly.

"Tall, kind of on the thin side…" JJ began.

"Kind of sweet, not really rugged, but definitely good-looking…" Prentiss continued.

"Kind of like…" JJ and Prentiss exchanged knowing glances.

"Reid." They concluded in tandem.

Morgan stared in disbelief at his female coworkers, before turning and looking up at Reid, who was visible, leaning over the round table in the briefing room. "Reid?" He asked.

"Yeah. You know, if you gave him a change of clothes and fixed his hair, he wouldn't be half bad…" Prentiss said, also turning to look at Reid.

"Definitely. Not bad at all." JJ agreed.

The three stared up at their coworker for a moment, who remained blissfully unaware of the attention he was receiving. Garcia came out of her office in search of the team and found them still staring. "Why are we all staring at Reid?" She asked, following their line of sight.

"Oh, we were just talking about how annoying the lead you gave us was." JJ said, turning her attention to Garcia.

"You mean Deirdre Lovell? What's wrong with her?" The tech asked.

JJ and Prentiss explained again why Lovell was so irritating and had soon come full circle. "Which is why we were all staring at Reid." Prentiss said.

"You know, you're right. A few minor adjustments, and…" Garcia began, looking back to look up at the young man.

"Oh, not you too, Baby Girl!" Morgan said, looking in disbelief at Garcia.

The three women before him giggled quietly. "Sorry, Babe. You're a super fox, but, you've got to admit, Boy Genius is hot stuff." Garcia said.

"No, I don't." Morgan said, shaking his head.

Garcia, Prentiss and JJ pointedly ignored their coworker in favor of Reid. "Hey, I have an idea!" Garcia exclaimed, heading up to the briefing room.

"Right behind you." JJ said, quickly following.

Prentiss wasted no time in heading up the stairs as well, a grin working its way onto her face. Morgan, however, stayed at his desk, watching and hoping that, for his sake, the unsuspecting genius didn't fall into the girls' trap.

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Reid remained absorbed in the letters he was reading as Garcia, JJ, and Prentiss all ran up the stairs and came to an abrupt halt outside the briefing room. He still didn't look up as they all strolled casually in and sat down opposite him at the round table. "Reid?" Garcia tried to catch his attention.

"Hmm?" He didn't look up from the letters.

"We have a problem…" She continued sweetly.

"Mm hmm." He still didn't pay any attention.

"Reid!" Garcia shouted, snapping her fingers.

"What??" Reid looked up from his work, startled.

"We have a problem." Garcia repeated, adopting her sweet voice once again.

"Oh. How can I help?" Reid asked, still slightly ruffled

"Well, you see, we have a possible lead," JJ began.

"It could mean a break in the case, but she just won't listen to us." Prentiss continued.

"We think you might have a better time getting the information than we did." JJ told him.

"There's just a few things you'll need to do." Garcia said.

Reid looked from face to face, not entirely sure he liked the way they were tag-teaming. "What would I have to do?" He asked warily.

"Well… think of it like going under cover." Prentiss told him.

"Think of what like going under cover?"

Garcia grinned, took his hand, and began to pull him out of the room and down the stairs. "What are you doing?" Reid asked, half-heartedly tugging on his arm.

"This woman won't listen to us, but we think she'll listen to you." Prentiss said.

"We've already established that." Reid said coming to a full stop at the bottom of the stairs, not allowing Garcia to pull him any further. "But why will she listen to me?"

"Because, we're going to fix you." Garcia said simply pulling him once more towards her office.

"But I'm not broken!" Reid protested, pulling out of Garcia's grip altogether.

The girls giggled and ushered him into the tech's office. "We're just going to make you a little more… presentable." Prentiss told him.

"Yeah, just a new shirt, maybe a hair cut…" JJ said.

"But…" Reid began to protest once more.

"No 'buts', baby cakes, this'll be good for you." Garcia told him, pulling him the rest of the way into the office and shutting the door behind them, leaving JJ and Prentiss outside.

After a minute or two, the two women had dissolved into silent giggles, listening at the door, and Morgan's curiosity got the better of him. He came over and leaned close to the door. Though it was thick, he could make out the louder parts of the conversation. "Give it to me." Garcia's voice.

"I'm not doing this." Reid.

"Give it here."

"No!" Reid's voice sounded strained.

There was a crash, a bang, some grunting, and, finally, Garcia's triumphant shout of Ah HA! Suddenly, the door opened and something flew out of the office before the door shut again. The three agents stared at it for a moment before Prentiss picked it up. It was a sweater vest.

"Was that entirely necessary?" Reid asked, his voice slightly higher pitched than before.

"Yes." Garcia's reply came.

The rest of the conversation was muffled. However, just as the three agents on the outside were leaning in to here more, Hotch walked by. "What are you all doing?" He asked sharply.

"Hotch! Ah- there was a lead, but she wouldn't give us information…" JJ began lamely.

"But we figured Reid might be able to get her to talk…" Prentiss told him.

Hotch's eyebrows moved into an expression of confusion. He remained silent and allowed the two women to continue digging a deeper hole. "… and, besides, it's really for his own good, I mean, have you seen his hair lately? It's just… wild…" Prentiss was quickly running out of explanation.

"Wild." JJ agreed, not offering much help.

Hotch nodded slowly, still glaring at the three agents. "It's really not a bad idea, actually." He conceded, surprising the three.

"What?" Morgan, who had, until this point, been silently amused, was now incredulous.

"It's no different than sending an attractive female agent in to speak to a witness, though this is an unconventional way to do it…"

Morgan probably would have interrupted, but Reid saved him the trouble. "What are you doing with those?"

"Just hold still."

"Don't come near me with those!"

"Stop being a baby! Just- oops!"

"What? What?? There should be no 'oops'!"

"Then hold still!"

The group of four sitting outside the office listened with a mixture of amusement and worry as the conversation inside grew quiet once more. JJ, Prentiss and Morgan exchanged glances and then looked over at Hotch. Their superior only shook his head and continued up to his office.

10 minutes later, Garcia poked her head around the door and spotted Prentiss, Morgan, and JJ, all pretending to not be waiting for the results. She grinned at them. "Ladies and Gentleman, are you ready for the new and improved Dr. Spencer Reid?" She asked in a booming voice.

The agents stood and came closer to get a good view. Still smiling, Garcia threw open the door of her office, revealing an embarrassed Reid, who waved shyly at them. No one said anything at first. The changes were minimal, but the overall effect was something.

Garcia had disposed of the sweater vest, leaving Reid in his white button-down shirt, which had been un-tucked and the topmost buttons undone. His hair was shorter, the 'oops' had obviously been fixed. Garcia had then styled the unruly follicles into submission. Someone- Reid had the sneaking suspicion in may have been Morgan- broke the silence with a wolf-whistle. "Now that is much better." JJ said, nodding with approval.

"You're not kidding." Prentiss agreed.

Reid blushed deeper. "It wasn't that bad before…" He muttered.

"No, of course not." JJ quickly reassured him. "But this is still better."

"I look good?" The young genius asked uncertainly.

"Kid, as much as I hate to admit it, they were right." Morgan said, slapping Reid good-naturedly on the back.

"Right about what?" Reid asked.

"He means that you, Dr. Reid, are hot stuff." Garcia told him.

"Oh…" Reid looked to be as embarrassed as humanly possible by this point.

"Now, go on. You and Morgan should go do the interview." JJ reminded them.

When Reid didn't respond, Morgan laughed and ushered him out of the room. "C'mon, Pretty Boy, let's go test you out."

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Half an hour later, Reid stepped out of Deirdre Lovell's office and motioned to Morgan, who had been interviewing workers, that he had what they needed. He was blushing again and there was a faint smear of lipstick on his cheek. "How'd it go?" Morgan asked, trying to hold back laughter.

Reid looked slightly outraged. "She…" He began to speak, but the sound of Lovell's office door opening cut him off.

"Oh, Dr. Reid!" Lovell called, coming to stand before him, twisting her hair and smiling.

"If I think of any more information, can I call you?" She asked, her voice breathy and flirtatious.

Reid looked around, as if searching for a way out before he answered. "I'm sorry, but- uh- No." He said quickly before turning and practically dragging Morgan out of the building.

Morgan laughed, shaking his head as he got into the driver's seat of the federal SUV. "It went that good, huh?"

Reid glanced at him, sinking in his seat slightly. "I feel violated." He muttered.

Morgan only continued laughing as they pulled out of the parking lot. "Better get used to it, Pretty Boy, I get the feeling we'll be using you to do interviews a lot more often."

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You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.

~Laurence J. Peter

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A/N: The sweater vest needed to go. Heh heh. That was fun to write. I hope you guys enjoyed it. There probably won't be another one too soon because I have to go get some teeth ripped out of my skull tomorrow and I probably won't want to write anything afterwards. Anyway, review, if you like. Thanks!