Fic: Like a Crack of Thunder (Criminal Minds - Morgan/Reid/Garcia - FRM

[moonflower75]

Title: Like a Crack of Thunder

Author: Moonflower

Date:  May 1^st 2009 

Fandom/Pairing: Criminal Minds - Morgan/Reid/Garcia

Rating: FRM, I think? …I’m not very familiar with the rating system….

Warnings: Unbetaed 

Spoiler: Season 3, more or less from "Lucky" onwards

Summary: All the big changes in her life had taken place with that soundtrack. 

Disclaimer: All characters contained here-in are the property of CBS. No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission. No profit is being made.

Notes and thanks:  this was originally meant as a reply/comment-fic for innerslytherin, but it got too long for that and too short to be called a real story, so here it is. And thanks to both innerslytherin and severity_softly for instilling the underlying idea in my head.

 

Thunder crashed loudly outside Morgan's living room window, following the lightning by scant thirty seconds. Penelope flinched slightly but didn't raise from her position, sprawled on the big sofa, the afghan keeping her warm and the scent of Derek and Spencer on it keeping her somewhat calm. It seemed to fit. All the big changes in her life had taken place with that soundtrack. Her parents. Her shooting…well, not a real thunderstorm, but the report of the gun had sounded as loud as a crack of thunder at the time. Her split with Kevin four months before.

 

She should be feeling weirder than this. She should be freaking out more about what had happened, both three weeks before and now. But seeing Spencer smile at her from the kitchen door, lips half puckered like he always did when he was slightly self-conscious, she realized she… simply didn’t feel like it. Not anymore. Now she felt like being cuddled. So she half smiled herself and said: “Come here, Spence. In my infinite kindness, I might even make room for you” but her tone was too reedy from her recent bout of tears to really carry any teasing.

 

Spencer crossed the room and got to her, but instead of sitting near her feet, he surprised her by tapping her softly on the shoulder so that she would raise a bit and, just like that, sliding between her and the cushioned sofa arm, hugging her from behind and nosing her slightly behind her ear. He was obviously imitating Derek, who had done that a couple of times himself, but still, the fact that it was coming from Spencer….

 

“Shouldn’t you be more upset? After all, in a way I barged in on your relationship with all the grace of a rhino and….”

 

“There was three of us there, Mama. A bit intoxicated, maybe, but definitely willing ” This was coming from Derek, who was standing at the bottom of the steps leading upstairs. He was barefooted and she hadn’t heard him come down. And he was empty-handed, as far as she could see. “And it’s still three of us. Nobody is forcing anything on anybody, right Spence?”

 

“Absolutely. You know – he sounded a bit hesitant but he pushed on nevertheless – after that night, Derek and I talked a bit. Imagined it would have been great if you had wanted to do that.. again. With a little bit more planning and a little less tequila, obviously, but…then you seemed so uncomfortable – he tightened his grip a bit – we simply decided not to mention it again…” and there he trailed off.

 

“When I woke that morning I thought I had screwed three things at once: our friendship, your relationship, and our vibe at work. All of this because I couldn’t hold my liquor on the anniversary of my parents’ death. Can you blame me for being a bit edgy? And then this afternoon, when I realized….”. Penelope kept her voice soft and her eyes on her feet, at the other end of the sofa, not really wanting to cross the gaze of either of them.

 

“Penelope…”

 

“Goddess – Derek had come around in the meantime, and without hesitation he had lifted her legs and seated himself, lodging his right tight flush against her bottom and bringing back a flash of great memories – what you should understand is that neither of us is about to cast blame. Neither on you or on each other” Derek and Spencer had then shared a look that she could hardly decipher.

 

“This afternoon you were upset. I, for one, am glad you came straight here to us” Hearing Spencer say that, Penelope reached for his hands, clasped right underneath her breasts and squeezed them tight, closing her eyes in relief for a second.

“Upset? Damn, Mama, I’ve rarely seen you agitated like that. But I hope you are feeling a little bit better now, because – and he extracted three sticks in a transparent plastic bag from his back pocket – these are ready”

 

Seeing them right there, she flashed back to a few hours before, when she had arrived at their doorstep almost in hysterics, not sure she could do it, not sure she could even check on her own. So Derek had simply taken her in his arms and caressed her hair to try and calm her down enough to understand what was going on. Spencer had hovered close, a hand on her neck, and when she had raised her eyes to his, it had taken him a nanosecond to connect the dots.

 

He had looked sucker-punched for a moment, then he had scrunched his face in a sort of uncertain, self-conscious smile and he had said to Derek: “Prepare her some chamomile tea, the one with rosebuds in it that she likes so much – then he had turned to her – you haven’t bought them already, right?”

 

She had simply shaken her head, already cursing herself for a fool.

 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll go get them right now, you just lay down and relax, ok?”
 

“What? – by this point Derek was thoroughly confused – what are you going to get, Spencer?” 

And they had both seen awareness dawn on Derek when Spencer had murmured: “The tests”. 

As soon as she had ‘done her part’, as Derek had so charmingly put it, Penelope had been herded back to the sofa by Spencer, and Derek had waited in the bathroom for the results before joining them. 

“So?” Penelope asked, when she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Derek laid in and kissed first her, then Spencer right on the lips. Deeply, with so much meaning behind, that just trying to contemplate it would make her head spin. Then he lifted an eyebrow, his lips curling in a devilish grin.

“So…” he repeated. 

 

Comments

[sandersyager.livejournal.com]

I'm just getting around to reading this, but it seems to be our day for that, no? I like it. I wasn't wholly sure where it was heading when you labeled it crack!fic, and I think it isn't. Crack's usually something that... there's an element of the bizarre to it, the kind of thing that can make you cackle or go "WTF? Are you serious?" I think what you've done here is establish a rare pair/rare triad that works well. There are a few places where the grammar is awkward, the breaks between speech and action, but overall, I really liked this. It's simple and straight forward, and believable.

But seeing Spencer smile at her from the kitchen door, lips half puckered like he always did when he was slightly self-conscious is my favorite line of all, this little detail of Spencer's mannerisms is perfect.

[moonflower75.livejournal.com]

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment this, it means a great deal to me :D

ok, it's clear that I didn't get what a crack!fic is. :D I really just thought it was another way to say: 'I've written something that for whatever reasons may weird you out (like a triad: I can SO see it, and I love it, but not everybody is like me), so I am giving you a heads-up about it'.

There are a few places where the grammar is awkward, the breaks between speech and action
thank you for telling me this as well. nobody else has, and I don't have a beta, because I don't really know anybody well enough to ask, but since I am not a native English speaker this is exactly what I need.
I know I am asking a lot, but... if you have the time and the inclination, would you mind pointing out to me the passages where you find these problems? maybe I can correct them, or if I feel I can't, at least I can try to avoid doing the same thing next time.

once again, thank you so much and sorry for being so long-winded

[sandersyager.livejournal.com]

The fandom terms can be obnoxious to keep track of. There used to be a great dictionary/reference guide online but I've lost the link and I think the page was taken down last year. Still, I'll have to see if I can get it at the wayback machine.

Yeah, crack is generally referring to the things that make you suspect the writer might have been under the influence. Triads, slash, heterosexual fic, bondage play, non-con, dub-con, character death or whumpage, those get put under the warnings by most people. Personally, I almost never warn for triads or slash if I've listed the pairing. I think people should be smart enough to catch that part on their own.

I'd be happy to go through the fic and point those things out. Would it be okay to email you with an edited copy? That might be easier than trying to do it in the comments. I just offered myself up to a Brit as an American English beta, and I'd be willing to do the same for you.

No apologies needed for being long-winded. I've written comments long enough to have to split them into three separate posting before. Besides, this is talking about writing and that's important.

[moonflower75.livejournal.com]

My first instinct too was not to give a specific warning concerning the triad apart from putting the three names separated by / in the header, but then I kinda second-guessed myself... and went for the wrong warning anyway *facepalm* :D

An email with an edited copy would be perfect! once again, thank you so much for your effort and your help, and thank you for offering to beta for me, I accept gladly, heck,I practically woke up the whole house 'squeeing' when I read your response ;D

p.s. what is whumpage?

[sandersyager.livejournal.com]

Whumpage is when a character's getting beat up on somewhere in the plot. For instance, if Reid were being held hostage and got physically assaulted, you might warn for it as "Reid whumpage". Daniel Jackson in Stargate SG-1 is a pretty classic example since he dies in a fair few episodes and fan writers love to kill him and bring him back or have him injured.

It's also kind of related to H/C or hurt/comfort fic, and woobie!character. H/C is just what it says, a character gets hurt, someone else provides comfort and it might take a romantic turn. You did a little bit of that in your fic, where Penelope had emotional things to handle and the boys provided comfort. It's also in canon with the episodes Lucky and Penelope where Penelope is shot and then Derek looks after her.

Woobies are the people hurt in the story. It's sort of like calling them 'oh, poor baby', and Reid tends to be that character in CM canon, continually set up to be in dangerous situations and/or fall ill in the process of working. They're the character that elicits sympathy and makes us want to take them home and cuddle them until it's all better.

I wouldn't worry too much about the warnings on this fic. It's just something to keep in mind for next time. I should be able to comb through the fic in the next day or two and get back to you with an edited version.

[moonflower75.livejournal.com]

first of all: happy (belated) July 4th!sorry about that, but here in Italy we obviously do not celebrate it and at work it was simply one of the busiest days of the year (first day of sales - a modern-day kind of hell...).

thank you for the explanation....I really should look for the reference guide you were mentioning on the wayback machine.... I know pitifully little about all of it ;D

Regarding the fic, you are doing me a huge favor (did I say thank you, btw? ;>) so please just take your time and don't worry about it; we all have busy RLs and this is something we do for fun, relaxation and passion....I don't want it to cause any more stress :D

[jellze.livejournal.com]

*SSQQQUUUEEEEEEE* Where is the follow-up?

[moonflower75.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!! *blushes*
except for a couple of scenes.... still just in my head I'm afraid, ;D but it refuses to drop out of existence so I just let it wander in my head and I'll see what comes of it.

thank you for reading and commenting :D