Title: Shooting Time
By: GargoyleSama
Disclaimer: I don't own, nor am I connected in anyway to Criminal Minds. If, in the future I am you will tell because there will be a lot more Garcia in it.
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Garcia and Reid
Spoiler for LDSK
Pairings: Garcia and Morgan
Summary: In the aftermath of L.D.S.K. Doctor Spencer Reid goes to the target range to try and improve. He is helped by an unexpected source.

***

Doctor Spencer Reid walked into the firing range with trepidation, the events of last week running through his mind. If he had meant for a head shot, then it would have been a text book perfect shot. 'If', he hated that word. Well, loathed it, unless it was in a Boolean phrase, then it was okay.

He slid into an empty alley and placed the nine millimeter pistol on the counter. He was still nervous of the weapon, all weapons to be honest, and that was part of the problems passing the test that he was so renowned for failing. He sighed as he sent the target to the ten yard mark.

All of a sudden, he was ripped from his mental berating of himself by the quick staccato cracks from a firearm. From the amount of shots, the whole clip was emptied into the target. He sighed as his apprehension grew; he had chosen this time because he was sure that he would be alone.

As the last shot finished its peal, he heard the distinctive sound of metal sliding against metal as the clip was ejected; it was followed by the sudden sound of another clip being slammed in and the first round being chambered. Another round of the thunderous cracks issued forth. Spencer looked out and noticed that the target was sitting at forty yards. As the last shot was still echoing, the target approached the booth. He started to slide on his safety glasses and noticed that all of the holes were clustered dead center on the outline. There were literal chunks missing from the image.

He brought up the piston and leveled it at the target, took a deep breath, aimed and squeezed the trigger. As the gun discharged, he flinched slightly, pulling the shot wide of his intended mark. Frowning he repeated the effort, this time flinching less and putting the slug closer to the target.

As he was placing the sidearm back on the shelf, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he saw a blond woman smirking at him. "You are pulling to the right. Compensate for it if you can't eliminate it."

"What?"

"Come on, Doc, think about it. You have the same results every time consistently, you don't change anything, and you expect change. What is the likelihood of that? Just like in golf, if you have a slice that you can't correct, you compensate," explained the short blonde.

The logic of the explanation was sound to his thoughts. He nodded. "So how would I do that? I have tried everything."

"Get into your stance." Spencer assumed his firing position. As Garcia looked at it, she started to kick his left foot back. "Take a shot now without trying to re-aim."

An object whizzed from the barrel of the pistol and placed itself into the center ring of the target. A look of shocked amazement crossed over the triple PhDs face. "How?"

"I compensated for your pull. I had the same problem when I was younger, but I worked it out," she said nonchalantly.

"So I take it that you played with firearms before you came to the FBI?"

"No, I didn't play with them. My dad was an avid shootist and hunter. I didn't have any brothers, so I go drug along by him. When I was fourteen, I could take down a deer with one shot at two hundred yards with the steel sights."

A look of aplomb appeared on the face of the prodigy. "I didn't know that you hunt…"

"I don't anymore. I was fifteen when these started to move in," as she indicated her chest, "and Dad stopped taking me, seemed he would rather kill the fauna animals instead of his friends that were animals. Not that he had anything to worry about."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, he wouldn't have a chance to get to them," she said with a gleam in her eye that caused the profiler to back away. This elicited a hearty laugh from the electronics export, "No really what happened is that I got interested in tech and was old enough to say no and I stopped going. I really had you going didn't I?"

"Well, yes," he hesitantly admitted. He was starting to get nervous around her now that the discussion had turned away from the technical realm.

"Well, anyway, go ahead and finish the clip. I want to see how good of a teacher I already know that I am."

Spencer took a deep breath to try and steady his nerves and then picked up the piece of steel. He took a stance with his left foot back and took a deep breath. He squeezed the trigger and again a slug of lead leapt from the tube and traveled through the paper target. This time it was closer to the intended target. Gradually the rest of the rounds in the clip were coaxed from the gun and into the target. The grouping wasn't impressive, but the second half of the clip yielded results happily in the intended area.

Spencer turned and looked into the sardonic smile of the curvaceous blond, "Not bad, but with my tutelage I wouldn't expect anything else." She hit the button to bring the target back to the booth. Looking closer at it, she nodded. "Do you go to the mall?"

Fear and uncertainty flooded his mind. Was she asking for a date? Words were at a loss, so all he did was nod.

"Good, this is your homework. Go to the arcade and put at least five dollars into any game that has a pistol attached to it. It won't have the kick, but you will get used to shooting at moving targets. That and some of them are nice for shoot, don't shoot scenarios. Well, I need to go, if I am too late Morgan gets himself into trouble with his flirting."

"Morgan and you? Together?"

"Yeah, I thought everyone knew. He is a helpless flirt, but then again so am I."

"I think you mean hopeless."

She stopped and turned at the door, "No, I mean helpless, we can't help it."

She winked and blew him a kiss as she left the door, leaving Doctor Spencer Reid trying to wrap his brain around a foreign concept that he was helplessly, or hopelessly unable to conceive.

Author's notes: When I first saw Extreme Aggressor, I was drawn to Garcia's character, even though she was barely in the episode. At that time, I saw her and Reid getting together. Then after I saw, Won't Get Fooled Again, and how she and Morgan worked together so comfortably, I thought friendship… But seeing how she answers and talks to others that call her… It seems to me that they have something more than that. Sorry Spence you will have to settle for someone else.