So my second crack at a CM fic. Be warned: Reid is a bit OOC.

The atmosphere in the bullpen was light and carefree as the team finished up paperwork and packed away personal belongings, getting ready to leave.

Reid still couldn't believe Hotch's lucky timing in getting them a guaranteed week off from work. For once he wouldn't have to turn down his friends' pleas to join them, promising, again, that he would go with them next time. He thought they might be getting annoyed with him, no matter how much they claimed to understand. Though he supposed he'd be annoyed too, since the last time he had seen them all had been almost two months ago.

"Hey, pretty boy, you got a stack of books waiting for you at home?"

Derek's voice interrupted his excited thoughts and he bit his lip to keep from smiling. He felt a little silly for being so excited about something most people considered to be common place: hanging out with your friends. On a Saturday no less!

"Uh, yeah, sure." he replied absently. He had never been bothered that everyone on the team assumed he was a social outcast with no friends that spent all his free time alone with piles of books as his only company, and he wasn't about to start correcting them.

But now Derek was frowning at him, the same look on his face as when he was analyzing evidence and trying to piece together the puzzle that was their unsub.

"Reid?"

Forcing his face into a neutral expression, Spencer met his coworker's inquisitive stare. "What?"

The older agent appeared to be taking a moment to decide what words to use so as not to sound too rude or forward. "I know you said you couldn't make it to Hotch's this weekend but you really should try and stop by."

"Morgan..." Spencer trailed off with a sigh, small pangs of annoyance making themselves known in the pit of his stomach. He knew Derek meant well, but his tone of voice and choice of words had grated his nerves. Like the man was trying to let him know that he knew Reid had no plans and was trying to save the young man the embarrassment of having to admit it.

He shoved the last of his notebooks into his messenger bag, slung it over his shoulder and turned to regard Derek with what he was sure was a very out of place look of exasperated annoyance on his face.

His suspicions were confirmed when Derek blinked in surprise, looking slightly taken aback by Reid's expression.

"I told you I can't make it, ok?"

Morgan shrugged then, trying to appear nonchalant, "Ok, no problem. Enjoy your week off." he smiled disarmingly and Spencer felt his muscles relax and he returned the grin, unwilling to start his, or Morgan's, week off on a sour note.

"You too."

Just at that moment when Spencer thought he had a chance of escaping, when he could see a clear path to the elevator from where he stood, Garcia came bouncing into the bullpen with Emily and JJ in tow, and the three women effectively blocked his escape route.

"Reid!" The tech analyst cried accusingly, seeming not to notice as Spencer's shoulders and eyebrows lowered simultaneously. "JJ told me you aren't coming to the barbeque at Hotch's tomorrow!"

Spencer shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of his team. "Er..."

"Penelope, leave the poor boy alone." Rossi drawled as he and Hotch joined them in the bullpen. "He's allowed to spend his vacation with whoever he wants."

Emily turned her gaze from Rossi back to Spencer and slapped her hand to her chest and gasped as if shocked and appalled. "You have other friends?"

Spencer smiled, amused by her antics.

"But-"

"Let it go, baby girl."

The blond huffed in disappointment and pulled out her phone. Three seconds later Spencer felt his own cell vibrating against his leg and he cocked a brow at the techie when she held her bejewelled hands in the air as if he had a gun pointed at her, saying defensively, "I just texted you Hotch's address in case you change...in case you find the time to stop by."

Spencer stared at her for another beat, his jaw jutting out to one side in irritation, and then turned on his heel, throwing a "Have a good weekend!" over his shoulder as he, finally, stepped into the elevator.

At last in the silence the lift provided, Reid forced the tension and annoyance from his mind and muscles and allowed himself to relax, the way he did when he was alone in his apartment or, when opportunity allowed, hanging out with his friends. He was, as of this moment, officially not at work anymore and he refused to leave the building and start his week off while still carrying around work related stress.

As he waited for the next train, mingled amongst other commuters headed home to spend the weekend however they pleased, Spencer pulled his phone from his pocket, ignored the text from Garcia and hit the speed dial labelled 'Justin'.

"SPENCE!"

The young profiler pulled the phone away from his ear on instinct, startled by the loud voice. "Jesus!" He cursed, the word slipping past his lips before he could catch it.

An elderly lady sitting on the bench next to him peered disapprovingly over her reading glasses and he grimaced apologetically.

"Please, just call me Jay." was Justin's obnoxious reply in his ear.

"Thought that old lady was going to swing her purse at my head." Spencer mumbled once he had shuffled shamefully out of earshot of the old woman.

"So when are you gonna be home?" Justin yelled in his ear.

"We aren't standing on opposite ends of a football field, Jay!" he snapped, feeling that odd combination of annoyance and amusement that only a close friend could incite .

He got a snort in response. "Yeah, like either of us would be caught dead on a football field...er, except for that one time when we were."

"I'll be home in fifteen, Jay." Spencer deadpanned.

"Kay, see you in a bit!"

He hung up with a smile and a shake of his head, stepping onto the train and maintaining at least a three person buffer between him and the old lady.

He hadn't been home long before several people came charging through his door like a heard of angry buffalo, yelling a wordless war cry, and crashing into him one by one.

"Spence!"

"We thought you didn't like us anymore!"

"Dude, where's your beer?"

"What are you wearing?"

"Seriously dude, your beer, where is it?"

"Wait 'till you see the new jump I made, man!"

"I'll be back in a sec, I gotta go get some beer..."

Spencer felt a genuine smile split his face when he looked into his living room, where the TV was already turned to some channel that showed guys doing extreme stunts on bike trails in the woods and three of his friends sat comfortably on the couch, their feet resting up on the coffee table.

The other one, Justin, was in the kitchen, his head already shoved into one of the cupboards.

"You gotta buy some food, man." Justin said as his face appeared around the door.

Spencer shook his head, "I don't even bother anymore. It just goes bad."

He slung his arm over the other boy's shoulders and the two of them made their way into the living room and took a seat on the floor in front of the couch just as the guy on TV grossly miscalculated his jump.

"Ohhhhh..." the five friends groaned in unified sympathy, their faces scrunched up in memory of their own injuries.

The door was kicked open then and a blond stumbled through the opening, a case of beer under each arm.

"Got the beer!"

Three Hours Later...

"You gotta crouch right down and just ride through with the board, you know-"

"Spence."

"-if you lean back you're just gonna eat dirt-"

"Spence!"

"-and I always forget to-"

"SPENCE!"

The genius swivelled on the spot as best he could after the amount of alcohol he had consumed.

"What?"

He saw his cell phone leave Brian's hand and sail through the air towards him. Miraculously, he caught it in the hand that was not holding a half empty beer bottle, and a chorus of cheers rose up behind him in support of the amazing feat he had just accomplished.

"Hello?" he said, making an effort to not slur the word too badly.

"Reid?"

He threw an arm around the nearest set of shoulders, careful to keep his beer upright, and proclaimed with a smile "This is he!"

There was a moment of silence followed by the person on the other end saying something that was drowned out by a sudden flare of music from the stereo in the living room.

"Turn that down...christ!" He screamed over his shoulder at Raiden. Once his order had been carried out, he focused on the phone conversation once more. "Sorry, I'm surrounded by fucking monkeys."

"Reid, it's Morgan."

Recognizing the voice now that it's owner had identified himself, Spencer smiled, his head light with alcohol and his chest bursting with happiness. "What's up, man?"

Morgan was laughing. "Are you drunk?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Morgan." he said, only stumbling over his words a little.

Morgan started laughing harder, "Spencer Reid, you naughty little genius." he tsked.

"Hey! Who's that?" Justin asked loudly into the phone, causing Spencer to jerk his face away from the smell of his friend's breath.

"It's Morgan. Go away."

The song that had been playing in the background finally ended, though, due to the screaming drunks currently occupying his living room, the noise level didn't go down much. Brian, the owner of the shoulders supporting Spencer's arm, turned when he heard Morgan's name.

"Hey, no work stuff." he said, frowning in what was apparently a moment of sobriety brought about by his sudden worry that Reid may be called away.

Spencer put the phone on speaker, suddenly aware that it was no longer just he and Morgan having the conversation.

"Don't worry, pretty boy, I'm not calling about work."

Spencer closed his eyes briefly, to mentally prepare for what was about to transpire. Justin and Brian both moved so that they were directly in front of him, their eyes bright with laughter. The hollering from the living room had stopped and an anticipatory silence hung in the air.

"...pretty boy?" Justin repeated, stuttering the words out as if he wasn't sure he had heard properly.

Spencer sighed, staring up at the ceiling, "Morgan, I'm going to kill you."

"PRETTY BOY?" someone, he thought it might have been Taylor, screamed from the living room.

"Ok, Taylor is cut off."

"Whatever you say, pretty boy."

Spencer felt his eyes narrow. "I have a gun, you know." he took the phone off speaker and stepped out onto his deck where it was quiet. The sun had dipped below the horizon but the heat was still oppressive and the air was still sticky and heavy with humidity. To the Las Vegas native, it was comforting. "Sorry about them." he said, taking a swig of his not-so-cold-anymore beer.

It seemed as if the older profiler was only now getting his laughter under control, though his voice still wobbled with suppressed chuckles. "I was just calling to try one more time to convince you to come to Hotch's tomorrow."

"Sorry, I haven't seen these guys in like, two months. They'd never speak to me again if I blew them off."

"Alright, alright." Morgan said good-naturedly. "So...what are you guys doing tomorrow?" he asked, sounding overly casual.

"Dunno. Probably gonna go to Jay's." he replied, draining the rest of his beer. "He's got some pipes and jumps and stuff he built that he wants us to test out."

Morgan sounded confused when he said, "What?"

He picked absently at a corner of the label on the empty bottle. "Well, I mean, it's not pro stuff or anything but his work is solid." He managed to lift the sticker a couple of millimetres off the glass and it suddenly became very important that he peel the whole thing off without tearing it.

"Come on, Spence!" Justin wined as he came out onto the deck and shoved a fresh beer into his hand. He grabbed the empty one and tossed it over the side of the deck before Spencer even had time to realize what had happened.

"Hey!" He cried, Morgan forgotten as he sadly followed the bottle's trajectory to the ground. "I almost had the label all the way off!"

Justin stared at him for a moment in a haze of drunken confusion, swaying slightly. "Shit, man. I didn't know..." He looked distressed, but it was gone a second later as an idea suddenly sparked behind his eyes. "I know! Let's have a label peeling contest and, so it's fair, you get like, one...Tear Exemption or something."

Justin looked so proud and excited about the impending competition that Spencer didn't have the heart to refuse. Besides, he kick their asses anyway. He'd already gotten halfway through the last label, he could do it again!

"Gotta go Morgan!"

"Reid, wait-"

He hung up and followed Justin back into his apartment, where the boy was trying, and failing, to round up the rest of the group and explain to them the rules of the contest.

After a few more minutes, Justin gave up and came to stand by Spencer again. He clapped the young doctor on the shoulder and grinned, clearly more intoxicated than he had been ten minutes ago. "They didn't seem too keen on our idea. Probly 'cause they know we'd kick their butts." he sneered in the direction of the other boys, who seemed to be attempting to get themselves into some kind of circular formation while they tried their hand at beat boxing.

Justin's focus was soon on Spencer again though and he asked, "So when was the last time your converse' felt the sweet caress of the griptape?"

Spencer's affronted look was not totally fake, "A couple days ago, thank you very much. I do skate without you guys."

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, pretty boy."

Spencer wasn't sure how the others felt this morning but he was itching to throw his board in the back of Jay's truck and test the guy's new ramp. His apartment was a disaster zone of empty beer bottles, pizza boxes and other bits of debris, but he paid it no mind as he and his friends pushed their feet into shoes, grabbed bags and gear and poured themselves from the apartment and into the back of Justin's pickup.

It wasn't even noon yet and the sun was already creating mirages on the road and making Spencer's exposed skin tingle pleasantly. Thankful for his sunglasses, he turned his face upwards, letting the sun beat down on his poor, sun-starved Vegas skin.

After twenty minutes of driving in Saturday morning traffic the truck pulled into a quiet subdivision. After a few turns, the vehicle screeched to a stop, sending everyone in the bed smashing into the back of the cab.

"Real nice, Jay." grumbled Cody, a dark haired youth, as he rubbed the side of his head that had collided with the cab.

"Alright ladies, drop your shit and help me lug this stuff out of the garage!"

"Sweetie don't put that in your mouth! Here, give it to auntie Penny. Ok, thank you."

Derek watched with a smile as Henry dropped a popsicle stick coated in glitter into Garcia's open hand and ran from the room after Jack. She made a face and put the stick on top of a pile of various arts and crafts projects littering the coffee table. She dusted off her hands, scattering purple glitter all over the floor before turning to Morgan. "If anyone asks, I found the glitter here. Already in the house. In Hotch's house."

"Your secret is safe with me, baby girl."

"Derek! Can you grab the cooler and bring it out please?"

JJ sounded frazzled as she walked past the entryway to the living room with a plate of uncooked beef patties in one hand and a kicking and giggling Henry in the other, glitter drifting in a cloud in their wake.

The tech analyst made a squeaky noise, picked up the cooler sitting by the front door, and ran after the communications liaison. "Got it Jayje!"

Derek shook his head and rose from his chair, stretching out his muscles and rubbing a hand over his chiseled stomach in anticipation of the meal to come. He glanced out the large window, looking out into a street devoid of cars. Surprising, since it was Saturday, but perhaps most people were making use of their garages. He looked right and then left up the street, frowning and then grinning when he saw a bunch of kids struggling to haul a massive structure, hidden by a big blue tarp, out of their buddy's garage. One of the young men lost their footing and dropped an end of the structure, causing his friends to cry out in surprise. Once they realized he was not hurt, they appeared to take a few minutes to tell their friend how they felt about the whole incident.

He shook his head again and turned from the window, following the sounds of Jack and Henry making gunshot noises at each other, of Garcia and JJ and Emily laughing and of Rossi and Hotch's low baritones, undoubtedly discussing such things as Hotch's perfect lawn care regimen and the quality grade of meat currently sizzling on the grill.

He only wished they got to do things like this more often.

A small body smashed into his legs as soon as he stepped out onto the deck and he blinked down into Henry's big blue eyes, trying to ignore how much his little fingers tickled the back of his knees where they clutched his jeans.

"WHEN'S UNCLE SPESSER COMING?" he yelled, as if Derek were sitting on the roof instead of standing right in front of him.

JJ turned at her son's piercing yell, grasping his shoulders and gently guiding him back towards the lawn where Jack was still playing. "Remember how mommy told you about using your indoor voice?"

Emily and Garcia moved over to replace JJ's place in their circle with Derek.

"It's too bad Spence couldn't make it." JJ said, rejoining them, now that Henry had been successful distracted.

Garcia suddenly clapped her hands together excitedly, "Oh my gosh JJ, did Derek tell you about what happened last night?"

Emily was smiling broadly so JJ looked to the dark skinned man expectantly.

"Alright, alright, miss gossip. I called Reid last night to try and convince him to come over today and-"

"Reid was drunk!" Garcia cut him off, her smiling mouth hidden behind her hands.

JJ's jaw fell open. "No! No, way, I don't believe you!"

"He was trying pretty hard to hide it but it was obvious. You wouldn't believe how often he dropped the f bomb in our ten minute conversation." Derek remembered being shocked by the profanity spewing from the young genius' mouth. "And it sounded like he was throwing one hell of a party."

"Why are you all so shocked?" Rossi asked from his place by the barbeque, clearly having been eavesdropping. "Spencer is twenty eight years old."

"Yeah but only in body." Derek argued, chuckling. "Not in mind or personality."

Hotch and Rossi shared a glance but chose not to get any more involved.

There came a peaceful lull of silence where the boys were quiet and the only sound was the sizzling of grease dripping onto hot coals and the musical jingle of a neighbour's wind chimes. It didn't last long though, before the sound of shocked shouts, followed by a loud cracking noise and a cry of pain cut through the air like a knife.

"Came from the street." Hotch said, looking in that direction.

"I'll stay with the boys." Garcia offered at once, noting how they were all instantly in work mode.

They rushed out through the gate that separated the back yard from the front yard and stopped at the end of the driveway.

"You alright kid?" Derek asked, squinting against the glare of the sun.

A dark haired boy in his mid twenties sat in the middle of the road, cradling his arm, with three of his friends surrounding him in concern. He nodded shakily, more stunned than hurt. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just scraped my arm a bit."

One of his friends glanced over their shoulder at the group of off duty agents. "Someone just went to get the first aid kit. Thanks, though, guys."

Knowing a dismissal when they heard one, the team left the boys to tend to their friend.

Derek was bringing up the rear of their little group and turned around before passing through the gate to the back yard, just to make sure the boys were actually alright. But when he saw who was trotting towards the group of guys on the ground, he tripped and nearly smashed his face into the door of the open gate.

"Hotch!" he hissed, trying to get the unit chief's attention without alerting the boys in the street.

The older man turned, looking slightly alarmed by the urgency he heard in Derek's voice.

Derek's arm was gesturing frantically for Hotch to come closer.

"That's Reid, man!"

Hotch pulled a face and then peered out around the gate.

His eyebrows shot up towards his hairline.

Spencer Reid, boy genius of the BAU and holder of several PhD's stood amongst a group of young men. He was wearing a pair of very un-Reid-like cargo pants, bright red converse sneakers just visible beneath the hem. His white t shirt hugged his slender frame closer than anything he'd ever worn to work, showing off toned, tanned arms, visible for the first time Derek could remember, and decorated with several different bracelets. One of which Derek was able to identify as the green beaded one Julio had given him.

He shook his head, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Reid bent and picked up a skateboard that had been lying on the road, placing one end on the ground between his feet and using the other end to lean on, overlooking the medical attention being offered to his fallen comrade with a disinterested gaze.

After a few moments, they hauled their friend to his feet, his arm wrapped in a thin layer of gauze, and picked up their discarded boards, heading back to the large ramp structure currently taking up a good portion of the street.

"What are you guys doing?"

Derek heard Emily ask, suddenly appearing beside him and Hotch.

"Shh!"

Spencer went from a walk to a jog, throwing the board down before him and jumping on top, letting his momentum carry the board forward. Two of his friends followed, while the others moved towards a cooler sitting on the curbside. They sat down in the shade of a large tree and each opened a beer as the injured boy mournfully examined his skateboard. It had split nearly in half, explaining the loud cracking noise Derek had heard.

"Whoa! How can Reid be so clumsy on his feet and so coordinated on wheels?" Prentiss exclaimed, saying what both Hotch and Morgan were thinking.

Suddenly Rossi and JJ had joined them as well.

"What's taking you guys so...Is that Spence?"

"Shh!"

Reid and his two friends were now far up the street, standing in a group with their heads bent together, clearly conspiring over something. Suddenly one of them broke free and gestured down the road in the direction of the ramp, the high end of which was farthest from them. Just past the ramp was a metal railing, quite like one might find going down the side of an outside staircase, imbedded within large blocks of cement.

His coworkers watched in amazement that was quickly turning into worry.

Reid had started running towards the ramp, throwing his board down and jumping on, looking for all the world as comfortable and calm as he would be standing in line at the coffee shop.

But then he was propelling himself down the road towards the ramp, clearly trying to gain speed.

"Holy shit!"

Prentiss said, her voice sounding muffled behind her hands.

Derek couldn't help but agree when he watched the skinny kid speeding closer and closer to the ramp. Just before the wheels hit the wood, the genius crouched down low to the ground and grasped the edge of the board with one of his hands. He shot off the end of the ramp, his body twisting in a controlled manner as he sailed through the air so that he was now facing the opposite direction he had been.

With a loud CLANG the board hit the railing, grinding wood against metal until he reached the end, kicking the board in such a way that it separated from his feet, twirled around crazily, and landed wheels down on the pavement milliseconds before Spencer's converse hit the grip tape.

The doctor's hands went into the air in triumph and the other boys cheered loudly. Not a second later, the next one was already propelling himself towards the ramp.

Spencer jumped off the board, his heart pounding with adrenaline. So many things could have gone wrong with that jump but he had pulled it off perfectly.

As he made his way towards the cooler, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced over to the other side of the street.

He did a double take when he recognized the two young boys running towards him.

"UNCLE SPESSER!" Little Henry screamed, ignoring his mother's shrieks as he and Jack ran out into the road without looking.

Luckily there were no cars anyway and Spencer let his board fall in order to catch his godson just before impact, hefting him into the air amid gales of delighted laughter.

"Hi Spencer!" Jack said, his eyes darting between Reid and the skateboard.

"Hey Jack! How's the barbeque going?" Spencer was reeling from the fact that Justin lived just a few doors down from his boss. He hadn't known the address of Hotch's new place anyway, nor had he bothered to look at Garcia's text, but he was astounded as the statistics scrolled in front of his mind's eye. The improbability of this happening was astronomical. Yet, here they were.

"Cool." Spenser mumbled to himself as he smiled.

He followed Jack as the boy tugged on his arm, shouting over his shoulder to let his friends know he'd be back in a minute. He saw the rest of his team standing in Hotch's open gate, in varying stages of disbelief and confusion.

"You've got some serious explaining to do, kid." Derek managed to say after a moment.

Spencer rolled his eyes at the older man and let Henry down when he squirmed.

"That was awesome!" Emily cried, looking amazed.

With a cheeky grin in place, Spencer thanked her.

"Daddy, can I get a skateboard?"

After avoiding the question and instructing Jack to return to playing in the back yard, Hotch level his best glower on Reid and the genius had to resist the urge to swallow nervously and stuff his hands in his pockets.

"What?" he asked innocently.

Even dressed in a t-shirt and jeans and sporting what could only be classified as an apron, Spencer couldn't help but think that the spatula in Aaron Hotchner's hand had just become a dangerous weapon.

JJ, Garcia and Emily all looked to be putting great effort into containing their laughter while they slunk back through the open gate and left Spencer to deal with Hotch on his own, as Morgan and Rossi refused to be of any help

As he usually did whilst in extreme terror, Spencer defaulted to hurtling facts at the cause of his discomfort like one might hurtle rocks at a bear that looked as if it wanted to maul you.

"You know, as far as extra curricular activities go, skateboarding really isn't that bad. Did you know-"

"Reid, you have ten minutes to make it so that Jack never asks me for a skateboard again. Do I make myself clear?"

This time, Spencer did swallow. "Crystal."

"Come on, pretty boy." Derek said, throwing an arm around the young doctor's shoulders and steering him towards the back yard. "A couple burgers will do you good!"

Hotch returned to the grill but watched as his youngest agent removed himself from Morgan's grasp and trotted over to where Henry and Jack we sitting on the grass. He sat down between them and he and Jack exchanged a few words before Spencer rolled up one of his pant legs and pointed.

Even from where he stood, Hotch could make out the alarmingly large scar that ran from Reid's ankle almost to his knee. He was impressed with Spencer's chosen technique to discourage Jack from wanting a skateboard by showing him what injuries he could get.

"Aw, COOL!"

Reid flung himself back onto the grass with a groan of defeat and Hotch grimaced, seeing that his son was now even more excited about the idea of owning a skateboard of his very own.

"Look at it this way, Aaron." Dave said, his voice low. "If Reid can do it, how dangerous can it be?"

R&R Please! I want to know what ya think!