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"How is Agent Hotchner getting along since the loss of his ex-wife?" Elizabeth Prentiss asked her daughter as she set her wine glass down on the pristine white tablecloth in the Café Promenade of the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. She had insisted they have a mother and daughter dinner since they hadn't seen each other at Christmas.

"It's hard," Emily responded. "Hotch is very focused on his work and he's had to step back a few times and let a case go on without him so he could do what's best for Jack.

"Do I sense a hint of bitterness in your voice?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, I'm not bitter mom, that's all water under the bridge." Emily took a sip from the green stemmed water glass. "As a team we just have to try and make things as easy as we can for Hotch. It was bad enough and then we lost JJ."

There was an uncomfortable pause while both mother and daughter looked around the large restaurant, Elizabeth's favorite, with its domed ceiling and the glistening chandelier that graced its center. There were fewer than usual diners in the comfortable rust colored chairs this evening with the Christmas season over and people staying at home after all the festivities.

"Speaking of your team," her mother said, "isn't that young Dr. Reid over there?" Elizabeth gestured just slightly with her head to the right.

Reid… here! Emily turned her head ever so slowly, like one wanting to look at something, but pretending not to. Sure enough there was Reid in a grey suit with a pink shirt and a maroon tie sitting with a very attractive woman. She had long brown hair that was pulled into an upswept do. What was Reid doing in a place like this with a woman? Well not that Reid shouldn't be with a woman, Emily told herself, it was just that he always seemed so awkward around the opposite sex, although he didn't look it with this woman. Was he having some secret romance he hadn't told them about? Well, she told herself again, there was no reason he had to tell them, but she thought that somehow the team would have noticed something that screamed, "I've found a woman." Maybe Reid had a better poker face than any of them knew.

"Ahem," her mother cleared her throat tastefully across from her.

"Oh, yeah, where were we?" Emily said as she turned her attention back to her mother.

"I'm glad I got a chance to see you tonight," the woman said.

"Do you come here often?" Reid asked motioning with one of his long fingers around the room.

"I've been here a couple of times," she smiled, "it's so beautiful, that chandelier, just the sense of history here, the timeless grandeur. I love that mural," she motioned to the wall that featured an old fashioned Mediterranean garden with a reflecting pool.

"The place was built in 1925," Reid replied, "so there is a lot of history here. Many of those whose legislation and judgments have affected our country have sat here. The mural's by a New Deal era painter, Edward Laning."

"It is beautiful," she said again as she picked up her menu. "Shall we order?"

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"Good morning Reid," Emily said brightly. "How are you this morning?"

"Good Emily," Reid said as he sipped his coffee, "you?"

"Great, do you know whether Garcia's in yet or not?"

"Yeah, I saw her a few minutes ago; she's likely in her office."

Emily looked at her watch. She had time, she thought, as she dashed for the door, almost bumping into Morgan as he entered.

"Where's the fire?" Morgan asked Reid.

"I don't know; she's got something on her mind. She's off to find Garcia, some kind of girl talk I suppose."

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"Reid, at the Café Promenade with a woman!" Garcia repeated what Emily had just told her. "That's one of the most expensive places in DC." The tech was almost jumping up and down, her red pigtails bouncing. "What was she like?"

"She was very attractive, looked to be in her thirties," Emily told her.

"Were they holding hands or anything?"

"No, they just talked and ate."

"What was she wearing?" Garcia continued to probe.

"She had on a stylish navy suit, lacy camisole underneath," Emily replied. "I wonder if Morgan knows anything."

"If he did, I'm sure he'd be teasing our sweet boy. Do you think we should let him in on it?"

"Let me dig a little and I'll let you know, I gotta go." Emily headed for the door.

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Morgan, Reid, Prentiss and Garcia sat in the break room. "So what did my stud do last night?" Garcia couldn't help herself.

"Watched the game and ate a bowl of popcorn, what'd you do mama?"

"Last night was my counseling session with victims' families," Garcia said, "what about you sweetcheeks, what did you do?"

"Not much," Reid replied as he finished his third challenger Sudoku since they'd sat down.

Garcia and Prentiss exchanged looks which did not go unnoticed by Morgan. "What's up," he whispered to the women as the group broke up to head for the conference room for their daily briefing and to collect their assignments.

"Should we tell him?" Emily asked Garcia.

Garcia nodded and gestured with her head for Emily to tell Morgan what she'd seen.

"I was out for dinner last evening with my mother at the Café Promenade and Reid was there with a woman." Emily said as they climbed the stairs.

"What woman?" Morgan wanted to know. "Is Reid holding out on us?" They headed toward the conference room. "So Reid, what does not much mean?"

"What?" Reid looked up from the file he was scanning. "What are you talking about?"

"I think there's something you're not telling us." Morgan replied.

"What would I not be telling you Morgan?" Reid said, still confused by this whole conversation.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe that you're getting a little lovin'."

"Morgan I have no idea what you're talking about." Reid was starting to get annoyed.

"Come on Reid, I saw you together last night at the Mayflower." Emily said.

"You saw me at the Mayflower?" Reid repeated.

"Yes, if it's supposed to be secret, you two shouldn't meet in public." She replied.

"Oh," the gist of the conversation suddenly seemed to dawn on him, "it's not secret and it's not what you think."

"What is it then?" Morgan asked.

"All right," Reid snapped, irritated now, "if you must know everything about my life, she was a head hunter," he blurted out as Hotch and Rossi entered the room. "Are you happy now?"

"Reid," Hotch said, "are you looking for another job?"

"No, I'm not looking for another job."

"Then why would you be meeting with a head hunter?" Morgan wanted to know.

Reid looked around the room and saw the concern in the eyes of his teammates. "It's not what you think. I get offers all the time."

"What kind of offers?" Rossi asked, "Job offers?"

Reid nodded. "I've always gotten them, usually one a month, sometimes more."

"From who?" Hotch asked.

"From all over, universities, engineering firms, private consulting firms, labs, pharmaceutical companies, the NSA…"

"The NSA," the rest of the team said as a group.

"Don't look so surprised. They think I'd be good at code decryption and they are the largest single employer of mathematicians in the world." He looked at his teammates again, "Look, I don't consider any of the offers."

"Then why do you meet with them?" Garcia asked.

"Because it's nice to be taken to the finest dining establishments DC has to offer on someone else's dime and have them tell you for two hours how great you are." Reid picked up his stack of files from the table and headed for the door. "I'll tell you what I told Gideon in New Orleans. I'll never miss another plane. Now, I have work to do."

"The NSA," Morgan said. "Hotch, they couldn't do to Reid what they did with JJ could they, just pluck him away from us?"

"I don't know Morgan, I hope not. There's no case right now but a detective in Flagstaff is sending me some paperwork so there might be something later today."

Morgan and Prentiss picked up their assigned cases from the table and they, along with Garcia, headed back to the bullpen.

Hotch and Rossi left the conference room and stopped, looking down at the young genius, intent on the file in front of him. "He's young, he's so bright. Sometimes I forget Dave that he could have the whole world," the unit chief remarked.

"That's always been an option Aaron and he chose this. And every time he goes to one of those meetings and they offer him a job, likely with more prestige and much better pay, he chooses this."

"Thank God," Hotch said.

Rossi touched his friend's shoulder and turned toward his office, "Amen to that."