If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
- John Adams

I am not sure that it is of the first importance that you should be happy. Many an unhappy man has been of deep service to himself and to the world.
- Woodrow Wilson


Chapter 1

Washington Hospital Center
5 Northwest Pavilion
Washington DC

Spencer

He woke up not knowing where he was.

This wasn't where he had been, he knew that much. He was in a bed, for one thing, and he was dressed and the dim light was coming from a lamp not a fire.

And he was alone.

At least he thought he was alone.

He blinked and slowly raised his head. He felt awful, sore and stiff and thirsty, but he was used to all that now. In a moment he'd go have a warm shower in the dark which would help. She was right about that. Except where was she? He looked around the room, trying to make out shapes in the dimness and the blur. He'd taken his contacts out and….wait, when did he take them out anyway?

He turned his head to look the other way and caught the attention of someone standing beside the door. It didn't look like he put down a book, there was no television on and he did not remove ear phones. He had apparently just been standing, silent, watching with infinite patience. But now he stepped quietly forward. Spencer had the impression of a smaller man, compact, powerful, a solid presence. He lifted his hand, but did not touch Spencer's shoulder. "Just lie still." He said, quietly, calmly.

Command presence. Familiar now. Comforting. Spencer lay back in the bed. He had to clear his throat three times to manage to speak. "Um, Sir? Where's Cali?" He finally got out in a hoarse whisper.

"Next door." A glass with a bent straw, traditional for hospitals, appeared before him, "Drink. All of it if you can."

Water, cool and fresh and needed, Spencer finished the glass and lay back again, feeling the sheets against bruised skin, feeling the bandages over a number of shallow tears. At least one had started seeping again, he could feel the dampness. "I need to see her. Please, Sir." He needed Cali here; he couldn't do this without her. He wouldn't know how.

The man took the glass back and returned it to the nightstand. "I know. The doctor is with her now. When Dr. Mueller is finished she'll be coming in to tend to you."

Spencer looked at his wrist, still in the air from the glass, admired the pattern of bruises upon bruises on his skin. A doctor, Spencer's stomach churned. He didn't think he could handle anyone touching him right now; anyone but Cali. "I would rather…" I really just want to go, he thought. With Cali. Go back and curl up and…

"I know." The man replied, giving off a sense that he somehow knew exactly what Spencer was feeling right then. "Dr. Mueller is a specialist, she'll be kind."

Kind. Maybe it would be all right if she was kind. Spencer was going to say that when he realized he was cold; very cold. A shiver that was almost a spasm started shaking him from his core. Acute stress reaction, some distant part of his mind told him, what some call psychological shock. You have all the symptoms, "C…c…cold."

"I know." The man carefully pulled the blankets up to Spencer's chin then moved away.

From the movements of the blur Spencer assumed he was increasing the thermostat. Whoever this man was Spencer was grateful for his presence. Instinctively he knew he could trust him, at least for now. Not that he had much choice. "Who are you?" He asked. This man did not sound like Master at all.

"Chris Parker."


.


Notes: Yes, new story, not connected to anything else.

This is a crossover story, few of the characters are my own. So to get the copyright issues out of the way first:

All Criminal Minds characters are copyright to Jeff Davis, CBS Television, and their assorted creators. I don't own them and am not making a profit, I'm just having fun.

All character and locations belonging to "the organization", including Imala Anderson and Chris Parker, among others, are copyright to a writer who's initials are "LA". No, I am not going to give her name or mention her books by name because they are very much rated MA and I don't want anyone underage going to look them up. I do believe she would agree with me on that. That said, her themes are rather interesting and not MA, and so I'm going to explore them a bit, while being no more explicit than my other stories. Same as above, I don't own them and am not making a profit, I'm just having fun.

If you're familiar with the books in question I moved Anderson from New York to DC, and the Long Island house to Virginia. Cannon through the third book in the series, but I have yet to read the fourth or fifth, so not for those two.

Set sometime after Chris' second stay in Japan, and after CM Episode 07:02.