"is it weird for you?" garcia asked you as the two of you began walking into the office. you took a sip of your coffee, looking over at her before responding. 

"what?"

"i mean that, reid has a girlfriend now and you two used to date," she explained herself as you shook your head. 

"no," you told her. "he can date whoever he wants. i don't care."

garcia stopped you by putting out her arm as you ran into it and spilled some coffee on your shirt. 

"oh, garcia," you muttered as you let out a sigh. "why did you feel the need to-"

"she's here?" 

you looked up from your shirt as you saw reid talking with a girl neither of you recognized. she looked exactly like how reid had described her to the team. you felt your stomach tightening into a knot as you watched them, ignoring the burning pain from the coffee on your shirt. when garcia looked over at you, she saw the look in your eyes and just knew. 

"come on," she said, pulling you forwards with her as you began to pass by the happy couple. reid noticed as he called for the two of you, causing your heart to begin pounding. 

"guys, this is maeve donovan," he said. "my girlfriend."

you turned around, feeling the burn of the coffee suddenly hurting as you regained feeling to your body. 

"hi, i've heard so much about you," you said as garcia nodded. the two of you briefly shook hands as garcia did the same as she looked down to your shirt, hopefully not noticing how you were looking at reid right now. 

"i think you might've spilled some coffee on your shirt," she said with a small smile. "i can help you get it out if you need to?"

you shook your head, looking back at her. 

"no, i'm fine. thank you though," you replied. "if you'll excuse me, i need to go get my extra shirt to change into. nice meeting you."

you turned around, walking away and towards the bathroom as you opened the door with your shoulder before entering. 

"alright, i should go but we'll meet tomorrow night," maeve said "right?"

he nodded, pressing a brief kiss to her forehead before she said goodbye to reid and garcia. as she left, she gave him one more smile before opening the doors and leaving. reid turned back to garcia.

"is she okay?" he asked.

"she seems fine to me with that smile she just gave you so i mean-" garcia began to answer but he shook his head. 

"no, i meant ______. is she okay?" he asked.

he watched as you came out of the bathroom now in a changed shirt as you wiped your eyes gently before taking a deep breath and walking over to your desk to go through some case files you had been given. 

"i need to go talk to her," he said but garcia stopped him. 

"no, reid," she began. "_____ is going through a lot right now."

"what's happening?" he asked, looking back over at garcia. 

"her mom is trying to finalize divorce papers, her dad is dealing with depression, her aunt is apparently missing from the home she's supposed to be in, her cousin committed suicide, she's been dealing with this heartbreak, and she has to come to work everyday and put on a mask so she can keep all her personal issues inside. i mean, she never told me any of this stuff until now because she always had you," garcia said, immediately shutting up after she said the last few words. 

reid looked back over at you, seeing you answering your phone.

"mom, please get a lawyer," you said. "i am not in that part of the court system to where i could help you with this."

you ran a hand through your hair before putting your palm to your forehead. 

"i know, mom. i'm sorry but i'm just dealing with a lot right now with work. is aunt melinda okay?"

you nodded, seeing reid walking over to you as you let out a sigh. 

"okay, let me know if you are notified with any information. bye, mom."

you hung up the phone as you set it down on your desk, putting your head in your hands as you exhaled heavily. 

"hey, you okay? that coffee seemed pretty hot," reid said as he took a seat next to you. you looked up at him, giving him a brief smile, tucking your hair behind your ear. 

"yeah, it was," you said with a smile, looking back at your phone to see your dad texting you a bunch of times while your mom had tried to call you again. you let out a sigh, staring at the screen as your uncle sent updates about your aunt. 

"i didn't know you were dealing with all of this," he said. 

"well, it's all been happening for the last few months and we've been broken up so there isn't much of a point of putting all of my issues on you when i can just deal with it myself now since we aren't together anymore," you told him. as you let out a sigh, you sat back in the seat as you looked up at him. "maeve seems nice."

he nodded, smiling to himself as he looked down towards his hands. "_____, i never meant to hurt you. i just need to make sure that you do know that," he told you. 

"reid, come on, every person says that in the breakup process. you know that," you told him as you let out a sigh. "look, i don't really want to talk about any of this, okay? there's just a lot that i'm going through and i can't really talk to somebody about it. i mean, i already feel awful telling garcia anything because she shouldn't have to deal with this. but you always told me that i could tell you anything, and so i did, and you handled it perfectly fine. i guess i just miss getting to do that." 

he nodded, looking down towards your hands to see that the ring he had given you on your third date was still on your finger. 

"you're wearing the ring?" he asked.

you looked down, seeing it as you began to take it off but reid shook his head, stopping you. 

"no, it's fine. i just didn't know you still wore it," he said as you nodded, looking down at the gold band you wore on your ring finger. 

"yeah, it's what i have left of you," you responded. "sorry, i shouldn't of said that, um," you continued as reid smiled before garcia called the two of you for a case. 

"_____, it's fine. i honestly don't care if you do or don't wear it. if it makes you feel okay, then i want you to wear it," he explained sweetly as you smiled at him, looking down at the ring again. 

"i'll see you in there, reid."