"Mr Reid."
Spencer looked up at the older man in a lab coat walking towards his bed.
"Where's Dr Travis?"
"He's with another patient. I'm Dr Lee. I'm one of the attendings."
"I'm Agent Gideon." The doctor turned to the door where Gideon and Hotch were walking back in. "This is Agent Hotcher."
"Gentlemen." The doctor nodded.
"Is something wrong?" Reid asked.
"Nothing unexpected. Dr Travis is a resident so he presented your chart to me. It's standard protocol." Lee smiled. "To be honest, I had to come see for myself. From your chart, you have been through a bit of an ordeal."
"In light of which, I'm sure you can understand that Agent Reid would really like to go home." Hotch cut in.
"Indeed. Home is Virginia, yes?"
Reid nodded.
"I'm afraid I really can't let you get on a plane right now."
"I thought you said nothing was wrong."
"I said nothing was unexpected. However, Agent Reid suffered a very nasty head wound and while there are no signs of a concussion there could be delayed onset. Also there is what appears to be a minor fracture to two ribs, if one of them should break it could pierce a lung. And then there was the seizure. It was likely caused by high levels of adrenaline in your system from the stress combined with the sudden fall. But any one of these things is reason enough to keep you under observation for a few hours."
"How long?"
"It's almost dawn now. I would really like to keep Agent Reid for the day, let him get some rest and keep a close eye on him. I can have him retested first thing in the morning and if everything is good he can be released and on a plane by lunchtime."
Gideon nodded. "Hotch, take the rest of the team home. I'll stay here with Reid."
"You don't have to." Reid protested.
"I didn't ask." Gideon said firmly, but with a smile.
"I'll have your ready bags brought over and JJ will have tickets arranged by dinner time."
"Good." Dr Lee nodded. "I'll have you moved to a more comfortable room as soon as possible . . ."
"Ma'am." A voice shouted from the hallway. "Ma'am you can't go back there."
"Don't ma'am me. Get out of my way." Penelope burst in the room. She made a beeline straight to the bed.
"Garcia, I'm okay." Reid said trying to smile despite his whole body aching.
"Really? You aren't just saying that. I saw the video feed, and I was so" Penelope choked up. "Oh, is it okay to hug?"
"Gently, I'm really bruised."
Penelope enveloped him. "Oh sugar bear, you had me so scared. Don't ever do that again okay?"
"Okay?"
"I tried to stop her." Morgan said from the doorway. "But then I remembered the rule."
"The rule?" Hotch said puzzled.
"Never get between a Mama bear and one of her cubs." Morgan said laughing.
"Not if you want to live." Garcia said grinning. "Not if you want to live."