II

The next morning I got on the plane. Prentiss drove me to the airport, claiming that I needed a proper send off. I tried to convince her otherwise, telling her I could just go by myself, but she wouldn't have it. According to her there was nothing worse than boarding a plane without a friend to say goodbye to.


She hugged me before I left, ordering me to call her the second I got a chance. I told her I would and left. Unlike the last time though, I looked back as I left, giving her a wave as I disappeared through security. After that I boarded the plane; once again finding myself in first class with a plastic cup full of wine. I strapped in, preparing myself for the long journey ahead as I plugged in my headphones and closed my eyes.


The flight was long. Every so often I'd check the time, sighing whenever I realized it'd only been twenty minutes since the last time I looked. I could feel my body getting antsy, vibrating as I tapped my feet against the ground and chewed my thumbnail. I tried to focus on the music I was listening to, but eventually, even the melodies couldn't mask the sudden burst of anxiety I felt, so I transitioned to movies. The in flight selection was alright. Most of the films were ones that I'd already seen, but eventually I found something that looked interesting. I plugged my headphones into the jack and started it up, adjusting myself in my seat as the opening credits rolled in.


When we landed about nine hours later I could feel my heart excitedly beating against my chest. The plane erupted into a chorus of chatter as the flight attendants got the plane ready for de-boarding. I pulled my purse out from underneath my seat and threw my headphones inside. Afterwards I grabbed my phone and sent a quick text to Issac, letting him know that we'd landed. Within a second he responded, claiming that he was already waiting for me.


I smiled at my phone screen and threw it in my bag, watching as people started standing to grab their stuff. Excitedly, I snuck past a couple of people, rushing to the front of the plane. People glared in my direction, but I didn't care. I thanked the attendants that stood near the entrance and rushed off, throwing my bag over my shoulder as I started running down the hallway and into the building.


I went through customs pretty quickly, knowing I had nothing to hide. When I was cleared I ran towards the baggage claim, searching for Issac's tall frame in the crowd of people waiting to pick up their loved ones. When I spotted him I screamed, running full force into his torso. I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tightly as I pressed my face against his chest. Never in my life had I been so glad to see him, so the sudden affection confused him.


He shoved me off, narrowing his eyes in my direction as he adjusted his shirt. "Calm down it's been like six months."


"Yeah, but that's so long," I wined.


"We talked every week." He started walking over to the baggage claim. I followed, scanning the carousel for my suitcases. After a couple of minutes I saw them fall into the queue with the rest of them. I dashed over and grabbed them, setting them on the floor next to me with a sigh. Issac walked over and grabbed one, pulling out the handle as he raised his brow in my direction. "Just these guys?"


I nodded.


We the left airport, walking side by side in silence as we traveled out to his car. We threw my stuff in the trunk and hopped in. I buckled my seatbelt and leaned forward, tapping the dash with my palms as I smiled. I'd barely left the airport and I already felt like I was home.


"Okay, I have to tell you something before we get to the apartment," he checked for traffic as he spoke, waiting for a few cars to pass before merging in and following the road. "I have some news."


"News?" I raised my brow.


"I, uh, sort of got a girlfriend when you were gone."


"A girlfriend?" I yelled. "You got a girlfriend and you didn't fucking bother to tell me?"


He rolled his eyes. "Not everything revolves around you, you know?"


"I know." I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest.


"I didn't tell you, because I thought you'd get mad and say we were moving too fast," he sighed.


"Why would I say that?"


"Well, uh, she moved in with me a couple of weeks ago."


I opened my mouth. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.


"See?" He gave me an unimpressed look. "If I hadn't have said that you'd be lecturing me right now."


I scoffed.


"Look, I know I shouldn't be rushing into anything, but I really like this girl and things kind of just fell into place. I know I said you could stay with me and that's still true, but there's just, uh," he swallowed, "a bit of time limit."


I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't necessarily mad, frustrated maybe, but honesty he was an adult. As much as I wanted to think I knew what was best for him, I didn't. He did; and what was best for him in his mind was apparently this girl.


"Fine, yup," I nodded my head, "you're right. I'm sorry. It's your life and I promise I won't say a thing." I pretended to lock my mouth and throw away the key, causing him to roll his eyes in response.


"Also, I thought I'd let you know I've got a friend who's looking for a roommate. I don't know if you want one, but I figured because you're so needy you might like having one," he smirked as he spoke, reaching over to punch my shoulder jokingly.


"Thanks," I replied sarcastically. Honestly, a roommate didn't sound like such a bad idea. I'd give me a chance to make a new friend, maybe. Either that or it could go the other way and I'd be forced to live with someone I hated. I figured at least meeting them wouldn't hurt. "Actually, yeah," I nodded, smiling slightly, "that might be a good idea."


He looked over at me, surprised by my willingness. "I was kidding," he replied, "but if you want to we could stop there on the way?"


"Sure," I shrugged. Even though I was still pretty tired from the plane I figured the faster I tried to get my life together the better. Plus, with Issac's new girlfriend in the picture I really didn't want to stay there anymore.


We got to the city just after five. The familiar landscape sent me into a frenzy of excitement as we drove through downtown towards the west side. I smiled at all the familiar buildings, pressing my face against the cold window as I felt my heart beat quicken. We ended up driving into a small suburban community. It kind of reminded me the area our parents lived in, which surprised me; I figured his friend would be in an apartment like the rest of us. Eventually he pulled into the driveway of a decent sized white house and shut off the car. He gave me a curious look, motioning towards the door. "This is it."


"It's nice," I nodded, admiring the outside. It was pretty plain, but still better than anywhere else I'd lived. I tore off my seatbelt and hopped out, adjusting my hair as I followed him to the door.


He grabbed the handle and pushed it open. I gave him a curious look, wondering why he didn't knock, but he didn't respond. He took a couple of steps in, scanning the house curiously. "Luke, we're here," he yelled. When he didn't get an answer he looked back at me, rolling his eyes.


I stepped into the house behind him, quietly closing the door. Issac called for Luke again as he stormed past the living room and into the hallway. I stayed put, scanning the house. He had a lot of shit. Framed posters of every sort of media lined the walls, along with shelves filled with books and action figures. I walked towards the first shelf, inspecting it's contents curiously. He was definitely a nerd. His collection consisted of a lot of gaming memorabilia, which I honestly thought was pretty cool.


"Isla!"


I stopped snooping and looked up to see Issac and another guy walking towards me. He was fairly tall with dark hair and thick brows. Along his face grew a thick coating of stubble that suited him well. He was wearing a set of headphones around his neck, smiling in my direction as he took a couple of steps forward. "Hey, sorry, I was in the middle of something," he responded. He threw his hand out in front of him, "I'm Luke."


"Isla," I responded.


His hand was sweaty, but still felt nice in mine. He gave it a quick shake before peeling it away and wiping it on the edge of his pant leg. He nervously chuckled, glancing between Issac and I. "So, uh, h-how was your flight?"


"Eh," I shrugged, "long. They didn't have any good movies so I mostly slept."


"Ah yeah," he replied, nodding his head. I could tell he felt weird. I would too if some stranger was coming over to ask to live with me.


"So," Issac cleared his throat, giving me a strange look, "I told Isla about how you were looking for a roommate."


"Oh yeah?" He smiled.


"Yeah," I replied, "I, uh, was gonna get a place by myself, but honestly I think having a roommate might be kind fun." I shrugged.


"Well, I've only ever lived with people so I can tell you that sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Regardless, I like to think I'm a pretty easy going roommate." He chuckled to himself, looking over at Issac who closed his eyes and sighed.


Something about the way they interacted made me chuckle. I could tell Issac was embarrassed over his friend. He wasn't the type of guy to feel socially awkward, so when other's around him did, it physically hurt him. I remember back in high school he had the pleasure of witnessing me get asked out by a boy. I tried to turn him down, unsure of what to say and the discomfort he felt was enough to take charge and turn him down for me.


"So, you like games?" I motioned to all the stuff he had, forcing myself to smile as I attempted to spark conversation.


"Yeah. I'm a software developer, so they're kind of my life."


"No fucking way!" I replied excitedly.


"Yeah," he repeated, "I don't know if you're into them, but I think they're amazing. You can do so much with them."


"Wow," I turned back to the shelf I was looking at previously. I scanned the figurines, noting a couple of ones I recognized. I pointed to one. It was an old western style character wearing a red poncho and holding a peacekeeper revolver. I turned back to Luke, raising my brow, "Overwatch?"


Issac looked over at me, his eyebrows raised as Luke let out a small chuckle and nodded his head. "Yeah."


"I've never played. My old coworker Rossi, he's an older guy, he played."


"Nice. Where'd you used to work?"


"I, uh, worked for the FBI," I responded awkwardly. Every time I mentioned my profession, no matter what it was people always got weird about it. I figured it was because of how young I was. People never looked at a girl like me and thought maybe she was a government official or a doctor. I remember at first it kind of pissed me off. Nowadays though, I expected the reactions.


Luke pressed his lips together, giving me an impressed look. It through me off, but somehow his response made me like him more.


"Hey, uh," Issac pulled out his phone, "you guys mind if I go for a bit? I promised Maggie I'd pick her up from work."


"Who's Mag-" I stopped and narrowed my eyes, "-ah right, girlfriend." I nodded.


"Is that okay?" He looked between Luke and I. We both shrugged and without a second thought Issac thanked us and left.


"So, uh," Luke's tongue poked out the side of his mouth as he stood there, lost in thought. His directed his gaze toward the floor as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and sort of nodded to himself.


"You wanna teach me how to play Overwatch?" I asked.


His whole face lit up as he nodded and looked back at me. After that he turned on his heel, motioning me to follow. I did, staring at the rest of the house excitedly. It really was nice. We made our way down the hall to the last door on the left, which he pushed open. "It's a bit of a mess, sorry," he gave me an apologetic look as he stepped inside.


I almost gasped at the sight of his computer set up, which was something I figured Garcia would drool over. Across the room sat his desk, which was fairly large, housing a glowing keyboard and double monitors. He wandered over to it, clicking the mouse and typing as he closed a couple of windows. "You like first person shooters?"


"I don't know," I chuckled. I leaned against the doorway, watching him pull up the game and start setting everything up, "my parents weren't big on tech so I never really got the chance to play much. Always wanted to."


"How come you don't now?"


"Once I finished school I started working at a medical examiner's office. After that I got caught up in trying to apply to the bureau and when I got that job I sort of just lost track of time." I shrugged.


"I thought you quit that job? What'd you do overseas?"


"Oh, uh," I swallowed hard, "yeah, after that I worked for Interpol for a bit."


He turned to face me, his eyes slightly widened. "You worked for Interpol."


"Yup," I replied nervously.


He shook his head. "You're like the complete opposite of your brother."


"I'm smarter too," I smirked.


"That's obvious," he laughed, "Issac's a dumbass."


"That he is," I agreed.


Luke turned back to the screens in front of him, clicking a couple more buttons on the keyboard before opening a drawer and pulling out another gaming controller. He synched it up to the computer and placed it on the desk with a sigh. "Alright, well," he smirked in my direction, "ready to get your ass kicked?"


"I guess so," I laughed.


We spent hours playing, even though I had no idea what I was doing. Within seconds of starting each game I'd die, getting re-spawned to ultimately die again. I had to admit it was frustrating. I could shoot a man dead in real life no problem, yet here I was struggling to fake shoot a bunch of twelve year-old boys over the internet. Luke tried giving me a couple of pointers, which helped a bit. As time went on I started getting the hang of it; managing to least surviving for longer than a minute at a time.


Eventually Issac showed up, pulling up a chair behind us to watch. "Where's your girlfriend?" I asked, glancing over at him.


"Home," he sighed, "she worked a double at the hospital so we ate dinner and she went to bed."


"Hospital? Is she a doctor?"


"Surgical nurse," he responded, staring at the screens in front of him. His eyes darted between mine and Luke's perspective, "someone's shooting you," he pointed towards my screen.


I turned back, panicking to correct my mistake. Unfortunately it didn't work and I was killed almost instantly. I swore under my breath and let out a heavy sigh, causing Luke to chuckle. "Why is this so hard?" I wined.


We played a couple more rounds before I really started feeling how tired I was. Once I died, I pulled out my phone, realizing it was nearly ten. I widened my eyes for a quick second before pocketing my phone again.


"Tired?" Luke asked.


"A bit, yeah," I nodded.


He paused the game. "We should do this again."


"Yeah," I agreed. "I think I'm finally getting good."


Luke and Issac laughed.


I rolled my eyes.


"So, uh, I know we don't really know each other that well, but if you wanted to move in I wouldn't be opposed." Luke shrugged his shoulders, offering me a hopeful smile.


Based on the last few hours, I knew moving in with him wouldn't be a bad idea. He was really nice, definitely someone I could see myself becoming friends with. Not only that, but he had a house, which despite him saying otherwise, was pretty well organized. He also had a stable job, which meant he was responsible.


"Yeah," I nodded. I looked over at Issac who gave me a smile. I knew he was only excited because it meant he'd get to keep living alone with his girlfriend. "I think I'd like that."


"Really?" Luke seemed surprised.


"Why not?" I shrugged.


"Cool, uh, well, I have to clear out a couple of things from the spare room downstairs, but maybe sometime this week you can stop by again and we can talk?"


"Sure." Despite things moving quicker than anticipated I was happy. Whether or not moving in with a total stranger was a good idea I was pumped.


We left not long after, saying a quick goodbye to my new roommate before we piled into the car. Issac and I talked the whole way home. He told me a little more about Luke and how they met and what he was like. Apparently they met a couple of years ago traveling. Luke was staying in the same hostel as him and while he was definitely more of the introverted type, Issac kind of adopted him, dragging him on all sorts of drunken adventures. After the trip was over, they stayed in touch, talking primarily online until eventually Luke was relocated here a couple of weeks ago.


When we got back to the apartment I felt a wave of familiarity rush over me. It felt kind of like when we first drove through the city only sadder. I swallowed hard as I got out of the car, clutching the strap of my bag as I threw it over my shoulder and walked to the back of the vehicle. We grabbed my bags, dropping them onto the sidewalk before closing the trunk and walking down the street towards the building. As we walked, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to all the times I spent here with Reid. It felt like a lifetime ago since I'd last spoke to him, even though it'd only been four days. I let out a heavy sigh as we walked up the steps and through the doors. I followed behind Issac, scanning the familiar walls and floors as we waited for the elevator.


I often wondered what life would've been like if I just stayed in Quantico. Would he and I still be together or was the breakup bound to happen regardless? Obviously I'd never know and that bothered me. Not knowing the outcome of things was a concept that stressed me out. Maybe it was my constant need for control or the fact that I didn't like surprises, either way I hated not knowing.


When we arrived at the door I swallowed hard and stared at Issac. "Maggie has to work pretty early so please be quiet," he whispered. He unlocked it and slowly pushed open. He walked in first, wheeling my suitcase over to the couch which housed a set of blankets and a pillow. I smiled at the sight, turning to Issac who shrugged his shoulders.


A small girl with straight brown hair and big eyes walked in through the bedroom. She blinked a couple of times, rubbing her face as she let out a small yawn. "Where the fuck were you guys?" She tiredly wandered over to Issac, pressing her forehead against his chest.


"Luke's house," he responded, wrapping his arms around her. He planted a kiss at the top of her head, smiling to himself. It was definitely weird seeing him show affection. Even with his ex he was pretty distant, only really kissing her when she left. This though, was entirely different. The way he gently held her, running his hands along her back as he peppered kisses along her head. It reminded me of Reid and how gentle he was. I pressed my lips together and hugged my chest, feeling slightly sick at the thought.


She turned to face me, flashing me a tired smile as she broke away from Issac's arms and took a step towards me. "Hi, I'm Maggie," she raised her hand, giving me a little wave.


"Isla," I responded, forcing a smile.


"I made you a bed. I know it's not ideal, but, uh I hope it makes up for stealing yours," she chuckled.


"Thank-you," I nodded.


"Well, uh, I'm gonna head back to bed," she gave Issac's chest a small tap before turning on her heel and moving back to the bedroom. She closed the door behind her.


He stared at her as she walked away. Once she disappeared he looked back at me, wiggling his brows. "Huh? Huh?"


"She's very cute," I responded, holding back a smile.


"Cute? Pfft, Isla she's fucking hot," he rolled his eyes.


"Yes she is," I laughed, "how'd you manage that?"


"No idea," he sighed.


Even a stranger could tell how absolutely smitten he was with her. The way he looked at her was textbook love. Despite my current bitterness to the the concept, I was definitely still happy for him. It'd been so long since he properly fell for someone and I could tell it was getting to him. Being alone at thirty was never his game plan, so over the last couple of months I could tell he was struggling, even if he refused to admit it.


"I'm gonna head to bed," he yawned.


"Okay, sounds good." I nodded.


He gave me a quick side hug and followed Maggie into the bedroom. When he was gone I got ready for bed. I opened one of my suitcases and pulled out a fresh pair of underwear, along with an oversized tee and a pair of shorts. I slipped out of my old clothes and pulled the new ones on, already feeling more refreshed than before. I grabbed my a hair tie and pulled my hair back into a messy bun before grabbing some toiletries and heading to the kitchen sink. Unfortunately with the bathroom being connected to the bedroom I had to wait until the morning to shower, so I took a quick sniff under my armpits, surprised at how little they smelled.


After I brushed my teeth and spat in the sink I quietly moved to the couch and laid down. I adjusted my head on the pillow, flipping it onto the cool side before laying down and pulling the blankets over top of me. I yawned and rolled onto my side, closing my eyes as I let the exhaustion of the day overtake me.

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