First published: May 28, 2014
Author's Note: No edits have been made to the structure of this story, it's simply been republished. Thanks to my beta at the time, xxxDrSpencerReidxxx
Doctor Spencer Reid wasn't the same as he was before he went to Gideon's house; he was quieter, more withdrawn. Nobody dared ask him why though. They'd find out soon enough in today's morning debriefing. All they knew was Reid had gone to Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon's cabin in the woods after they'd arrived home from their latest case late last night. Nobody had heard from him since. Or so they thought. In actuality, Reid had called Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner within minutes of arriving at the cabin to arrange a forensic team to come out and meet him. At the time, Agent Hotchner; or Hotch as the members of the Behavioural Analysis Unit called him, didn't ask any questions but immediately organised the back up his young doctor had requested. He didn't need to ask any questions; he had his suspicions of what he thought Reid would have found when he got to the cabin: and his asking of the forensic team confirmed this.
It was 6 hours later, at 4:02am that Spencer Reid was finally able to leave his boss' cabin and go home. Knowing it would take him about an hour to get home, and his alarm was set for 5:30am in order to get ready for work; Reid saw no point in sleeping that night and instead opted to drive past a 24 hour diner on his way home and pick up a hot, strong coffee to keep him awake. Once he was back at his apartment he locked his gun away in the gun safe behind a photo of his mum, Diana Reid, and went through to the bathroom to get a hot shower. Having not showered since they had returned from the case, and effectively spending the night in the woods, Reid felt dirty and disgusting. However, 10 minutes later, he was out of the warmth of his bathroom and in his bedroom looking for a clean shirt to wear for the day. Oh, how comfortable and tempting his bed looked! Just five minutes to sit down and relax…
Almost two hours later, Reid awoke to "Bat Outta Hell" blaring from his cell phone which was on the bed next to him; his ringtone for anyone at the BAU phoning him. Sitting up quickly and wiping the sleepiness out of his eyes with his left hand, he quickly answered his phone.
"Reid"
"Where are you, man? We're meant to be debriefing in ten minutes" his best friend at the Bureau, Derek Morgan, asked sharply down the line.
"I… I fell asleep; I was at Gideon's place all night. I'll be there in 20 minutes."
Reid hung up the phone and pulled on his shirt that he had managed to not crease after he's fallen asleep practically on top of it. Within 5 minutes, he'd made a cup of strong coffee to take with him in a travel mug and was pulling out onto his road in his dark green SUV. Luckily, with flowing traffic and no traffic signals going against him, Doctor Spencer Reid was able to make it to the FBI by 7:30am. Running through security, flashing his identification at the guard by the door as he flew past; he made it to the sixth floor where the BAU were situated just a few minutes later: just as SSAs Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan and Jennifer "JJ" Jareau were making their way through to the conference room.
"Someone overslept!" Emily Prentiss jeered as Reid caught up, followed closely by computer tech analysis Penelope Garcia.
"So would you if you got in at just gone 5am when you had to get up at 5:30" Reid shot back; very much unlike his usual, teasing self.
Solemnly, Prentiss glanced sideways at JJ who just shrugs her shoulders lightly.
Once everyone was sat down in the conference room, Hotch walked in closely followed by Section Chief Erin Strauss; something wasn't quite right if Strauss was doing the debriefing and the team knew it! Sharing concerned glances, everyone but Reid felt a wave of nausea wash over them. Something definitely wasn't right.
"You have a new team member starting today." Erin Strauss stated; straight to the point as usual as an older, dark haired man walked into the room.
"This is David Rossi. Some of you may already know him. He used to work with Aaron many years ago and we've bought him out of retirement to join your team on a permanent basis."
"Why?" Morgan began. "We've got enough profilers here. Once Gideon turns up again. Where is he anyway?"
"Derek..." Hotch began "Gideon isn't going to be coming back. Reid went to his cabin in the woods last night and found him dead. He'd shot himself in the head."
Silent gasps of shock resonated around the room as what Hotch had just said sank in. Garcia, being her usual self and wearing her heart on her sleeve burst into tears and ran out of the room back into her little office down the corridor, closely followed by JJ.
"Reid... I'm so sorry." Prentiss apologised as she realised how she had teased the young genius just a few moments ago. "I had no idea. Are you okay?"
Reid had been the only person not to react to what his bosses had just said: he just stared at the board behind them not saying or doing anything. Morgan was beginning to wonder if he could actually still hear what was going on around him. He just sat there, motionless.
Okay, so now I've finished it, I think and it seems there might be space in the future to make it into a multiple chapter story. What do you guys think? Should I leave it how it is or continue it?