"Why Hartford, Doctor Reid?"
Spencer mimicked a comfortable smile. "That depends on what context you're referring to ma'am."
"Doctor Reid, until this past week, I can't remember ever having an issue with you. As you're well aware, I can make life your boss extremely... uncomfortable. With that knowledge, and your present problem, I think you may appreciate being more helpful."
Reid began cautiously, "I got a call a month ago." He spun the octagonal glass of water clockwise small quarter turns as he took a long pause.
"Doctor Reid." She spat.
A tear rolled down his bruised right eye. Simultaneously the splashing of the drop onto the cold dark table top triggered Spencer to quickly raise the glass. The violent jerk was such that it tossed two ice cubes and a majority of the water across his arm. The algid water and both cubes of ice landed harshly on a deep, poorly stitched gash. It both hurt and soothed the discomfort the cut was causing him. It took a little extra effort for him to raise the glass to his dry lips and finish the small gulp that was left.
"Since we've been at this nearly an hour and you can't seem to think sensibly and say anything," the Ice Queen stood and turned her back on Reid. "I think we done here."
Morgan's lip quivered. He could see Reid's temper modeled across his bruised face for the first time in nearly four years. Hotchner put his hand onto Morgan's muscular shoulder as to hold him back. To stop him from interrupting, even though Aaron wanted to go in and stop everything that was unfolding beyond the one way glass directly in front of him.
Forcibly Reid slammed the glass top first onto the black aluminum table. The cheap snifter broke in to six pieces, one slid neatly through the webbing of his thumb and index finger. "Dammit Strauss," Spencer stammered, "Dep... Deputy Director Strauss," Reid nodded and whimpered, "He told me that he had my mother!" The pain should have stunned his brain but just didn't register with him. The last two days of mental and physical battery had left him anesthetized. He was more shocked at his own over reaction than it seemed Section Chief Strauss was, "He said he had my mom." He raised both hands to his face pushing the glass almost clean out of his hand, he began to weep harder than he could remember crying since he'd had his mother committed.
Her face clinched in self control. Both Morgan and Hotchner could see a whisper of humanity in her cold demeanor. It cooled their profuse distaste for her, only as much a tablespoon of water cools a glowing fire poker. "We need to get that looked at." She gestured to the once again bleeding wound at the bottom of his bicep. He dropped his hand it was smothered in blood and the cracks continued to fill with crimson like the striping of some Warhalesque zebra. "Normally let emotion sway me Doctor Reid, my job is to protect this institution, not you. But given the threats," she swallowed hard, "against your family and your atypical irrationality I'm going to give you a little more of my time. That is if, and I can't stress the word if enough, you try to restrain yourself."
Morgan was waiting for her to walk out the door at his left. "I think-" he began.
Erin Strauss lifted her hand to silence him while she robotically closed the door behind her before addressing him, "We may pay you to think, but I don't need your opinion on this case. Not now!" She walked away before she could finish. Hotch started to follow the paramedic, Morgan had called for, into Reid's interrogation room. "Agent Hotchner," Strauss didn't have to turn around, "I would really appreciate you not going in there."
Erin seemed not hear what she said, "There have been plenty of circumstances you could have taken my badge; it goes without saying we are all aware that you want to." He was holding the handle of the door firmly enough that his knuckles were as white as his stern eyes, "If you're looking for another reason, I'd suggest you making that an order -"
"That is Agent-" She tried to interrupt him, before being cut off herself.
Hotch continued a little louder, "so I can disobey it." He shut the door behind himself quickly so as not to hear anything else she had to say. "What happened Reid?" He directed at his blood stained friend.
Spencer looked terribly scared and intimidated by the confrontational attitude Hotch continued to project towards Reid. The way Hotch was speaking to him was much like Hotch treats a Unsub, "I... I'm... I" Reid was shaking and sputtering, unable to finish his sentence.
"Spencer, we are your friends. Your family. I want to believe and will help you," Hotch was much more restrained, and became more so as he sat down, "I will help you. I've said what I am about to say to many people, I never wanted to say it to you." It took him a few moments to finish, and left it much more purposeful, "Just help us, to help you Spencer."
The Paramedic, using a pair of tweezers, gripped the thin crescent of glass, "Son, I guaranty this is going to hurt."
"Okay." He said in his exaggerated uncomfortable tone, "Thank you Hotch, Morgan, I know your listening" He wiped away tears and blood, "Thank you." As the paramedic pulled the shard from Reid's palm he yelped. The scream that followed started silent, and grew more audibly nauseating as the young bearded medic began to clean the heavily bleeding ragged pierce.
Morgan didn't want to stand alone in the room. He'd seen lots of miserably grim and grotesque scenes, both in pictures and person. But to see one of his closest friends, someone that he was so protective of, in that kind of distress spattered and streaked with his own blood weeping from pain and angst. Morgan began moving down the long hallway towards the stairs. He turned away as the jagged shard pulled uncomfortably from Reid's flesh. It was getting too much for his sleep deprived and violence rattle mind. The cluster-fuck of unpredictable insanity that was the previous week had managed to stain his soul black and scarlet in a way that few other cases did. The more the whole miserable job of finding Reid, and Sam rolled around his sleep deprived mind. The more he thought of it the faster his feet moved him up the countless steps from the basement to their fifth floor office.
Stone faced he opened the door overlooking the bull pen. "Unit Chief Strauss!" Morgan had been running so hard and fast up the bland winding stairs he had just barely made it in time to see her start around the corner. The ever busy bullpen, scampering all the faster that day came to a halt as if a sports car slammed into a redwood. "We need to talk ma'am!" The room was silent aside from the whirring of the fans in all the computers; the only acknowledgment he got was the slam of her office door.
"Take a breath Derek." Gideon's composed voice was the only thing holding Morgan back from kicking down her door. His hand was quivering, until Gideon slowly breathed for him from across the room in his typical relaxed manner.
Slowly the room returned to its consistent controlled frenzy. Morgan and Gideon watched each other from across the room. It took Morgan a second to move again. Once he did again it was at a fast pace. He hopped up the short set of stairs and moved swiftly to Rossi's office where Gideon was waiting for him. "I'm glad you're alright man."
Gideon smiled and gestured him into the meticulously organized room where Garcia was sitting. "Hey handsome," Penelope smiled her bright wide smile, "you too hot chocolate!"
Morgan walked into Reid's interrogation room with a Nalgene bottle of ice and water and a dripping wash cloth. "We've been talking about you upstairs kid." He put the bottle into Reid's bandaged hand. "There are six dead people in that building."
Reid's demeanor wasn't his typical nerdy ungainliness, he was tired and utterly emotionless. "I killed two people yesterday." Reid blinked and dropped his head, "How's Rossi?" The last statement came like Reid was coming out of a deep sleep.
"What do you remember?"
"Rossi, is he okay?" He shrugged, "I don't know Derek. Honestly. Rossi-"
Morgan's agitation spiked. "Dammit!" He slammed his hand on the table, forcing an envelope of pictures onto the aluminum. "Reid, pull it together man, he's fine. You drove him to the hospital."
"You know, slamming your hand on the table wont jog my memory." Spencer was struck by his own insolence, "I'm sorry, I know your trying Morgan, but this hasn't been a really easy week for me; and from what you just said, its not looking like it's gonna get any better in the next few hours." He opened the top and took a big gulp, "I did what?" His words were clear now that his throat was a little more moist.
Morgan relaxed, sitting down and looking Reid in the eye, "You alright buddy?" He gave Reid a quizzical look and opened the folder, "If you are then we need to go on. The city has a dead mayor, a room full of cut up theologians, professors, doctors, and a missing Unsub to boot. We were lucky to get you back to Quantico in one piece, for a host of reasons." He pulled out a picture of an aging business woman. "Mayor Juelvez, was shot in both eye's at close range with your gun."
"What? I didn't do that, I couldn't have."
"Reid, you can't remember driving Rossi to Hartford Hospital. I would like to think that I know you well enough that you didn't do this. Your far too rational, but you took a hell of a beating there and a fist full of Caapi Vine. I'm not surprised you aren't able to remember much." He turned the packet to his beaten friend, and leaned forward, "I just need to know what from this envelope you remember."
"Let me tell you Derek Morgan you are one lucky man." Strauss was in mid sentence as she walked in to the harshly lit room so Reid couldn't answer Morgan. "I'm fairly sure you are too Doctor Reid."
"None but the Deity can tell what is good luck and what is bad before the returns are all in." Reid smacked his lips after he took a deep gulp of the plastic flavored water.
"Don't be a wise ass!" She snapped at Reid. Morgan just had to look at him to convey the same basic message.
Spencer lifted his eyebrow, "I thought a Samuel Clemens quote might be apt since we just left Hartford." He looked ashamed over his not so average conversational style.
"It's a nice quote man, I just want to know what 'good luck'", he gestured the 'quote marks' mockingly, "she has for us." Morgan patted Reid on the forearm that was flipping through the folder of photos and crime scene notes. He looked intently at the Unit Chief before continuing, "Since it's one of the few times I ever remember bringing us any." He leaned back in the wooden chair that creaked loudly as he stretched out his legs, and crossed his arms.
Strauss didn't seem too impressed by the bitter and un-welcoming repoire she was receiving. "How sweet of you Morgan." She smirked, "The only reason that you may be lucky is because your colleague, at this moment is."
"I think I speak for both of us when I say that you have our attention." Reid lifted his head as if in agreement with Morgan.
She pulled out the third and final chair in the room and took a seat. "The coroners report just hit my desk. It would seem that Doctor Reid here," she gestured apathetically to Spencer, "couldn't have done this."
Reid squinted his brow, "I know I'm supposed to be defending myself," he put both of his hands on the desk, hoping that would show his boss that he did't in fact have anything but constraint and open ears, "its just intriguing to me that you went from it being all but unequivocally me, to it can't be."
"Well Agent, Mayor Juelvez was murdered at the same time you were getting released from Hartford Hospital." She smiled at him and for that short moment she seemed genuine, "I was gonna rake you across the keel of this preverbal boat. But your one of the best minds The Bureau has ever seen. With that knowlage I'm going to release you to the custody of Former Agent Jason Gideon who has agreed to fill Agent Rossi's place for the case because of the personal touch it has presented to us; and because of you." She looked hard at Reid, "You are going to remain unarmed for this case and until such time you can complete a full report on the happenings at the old Colt building." She collected the papers that were spread across the table, "Since your claiming Amnesia, I would like to read what you remember without it being contaminated." She got to the door before turning around to the two men still sitting down, "Are you going to get up and find this guy, who killed a Mayor and some of Hartford's best minds or, are you gonna just sit in this cold second basement looking stupid?"