40%
Well, 40 – 60% if Reid wanted to be exact; that is the percent of addicts that relapsed. He was hoping to hold on to the 40%, the lower the odds the better he hoped to beat them. Which he knew was illogical of him to think but at the moment he did not care.
He was staring at the syringe and the bottle of dilaudid that was sitting on his kitchen counter, trying to remind himself every single reason why he quit. Trying to tell himself that it was not worth it, trying to remind himself what he would be risking if he gave in. Reid closes his eyes and let his head fall back, knowing he needed to get rid of the drug but not finding any strength in him to do so. He breathed out a sigh of defeat before picking up his phone, dialing the most recent number on his call log, hit the speaker button and placed the phone on the counter. Filling the silent apartment with the sound of the ringing phone.
3 rings was all that it took for the other receiver to pick up the phone.
"This is Morgan," the profiler answered in a groggy voice. Indicating to Reid that the man on the other end, fell asleep as soon as he got into his house. Seeing that it was only 93 minutes since they got back from their latest case.
"Reid?" he questioned with far more alertness this time, sensing that something might indeed be wrong.
"Were you sleeping?" Reid asked, instantly feeling bad for waking him up.
"No, after working on a case that took a full week and getting back at 1:30 in the morning I am up and alert," sarcasm lacing Morgan's words. "What's wrong kid?" He asked more seriously.
"How fast can you get over here?" He asked, hoping he didn't sound that needy. "I'm not in immediate danger and you don't have to come if you don't want to. But if you do, I just don't want you to come in busting through the door with your gun pointed. Still don't feel that you HAVE to come because I know you didn't get any sleep on the plane and you only got roughly 4 hours of sleep, every night while on the case and-"
"Kid," Morgan said, stopping Reid mid - sentence knowing he could go on for longer.
"Yeah?"
"I'll be over there in 15. Unless you want me to make it 10."
"15. 15 is good." Reid agreed before pressing the end button and closing his eyes again.
The case, he thought bitterly. That what started this whole mess.
Based in Memphis, Tennessee. A guy was kidnapping college students from off – campus housing, drugging them for 3 days with high dosages of methamphetamine and cocaine. During those 3 days the unsub would also starve and beat his victims, while keeping them in a basement that was 5 miles from the college. After the 3 days were up, he would then bury them in a graveyard that was 10 miles away from the holding place.
From the moment Penelope presented the case, Reid knew this was going to be a hard one. Adding to the fact that his mom couldn't exactly remember who he was, when he called earlier and he was having one of those days (weeks), where the urge for the drug and the need to just forget was starting to be unavoidable.
The unsub attended the college but recently dropped out due to the loss of a baseball scholarship because of his grades. Which caused him to start kidnapping, drugging and killing athletes that not only succeeded at their sport of choice but were also among some of the students with the highest GPA . At first it was hard to track the guy because once he stopped attending the college, he went completely off the grid. No phone, no social media, not even an active email, he became a ghost.
About 5 days of nothingness and dead ends, Garcia finally found social media talk about the unsub, someone claiming they saw him at a party. Which is how the team ended up going to the party to question people and Reid staying behind to work on the geographic profile. He cracked the location on both the holding place and the graveyard in no time once he got the information he needed from the team.
He met the team at the house and was the second one to go in, immediately catching the unsub in the act of injecting the drug into victim #6. Flashbacks of when Hankel did the same thing, flooded his mind at the moment but he tried his hardest to push it in the back, solely focusing on this unsub. Thankfully, that's when Morgan stepped in and demanded Mike (the Unsub) to drop the syringe.
After that, everything else happened in a blur, because for some reason all Reid could focus on was the line of needles and bottles of drugs that were sitting on the table. JJ, Morgan and Emily asked if he was alright once the case was wrapped and they were all back at the station to clean up. Which of course he lied and said he was fine, blaming it on too much caffeine and not enough sleep. Even Hotch let him go back to the hotel early, which normally he would deny but he was glad to get away from everyone for even just a little bit.
Spencer thought the cravings would go away once they were on the jet and he could get some sleep. But once they landed and he drove home, his desire for the drug grew. Which is how he found himself in this exact position.
He's shaking and he can't seem to stop, relieved to finally hear a quiet knock on his door. Jumping up he quickly looks through the peephole and sees Morgan.
"You actually came and in 12 minutes and 42 seconds."
"I don't think you would have called me at 2:30 in the morning for nothing kid, now out with it." Morgan said, just glancing at the man in front of him knowing something was definitely wrong. The kid looked utterly defeated and his gut was telling him it was just not solely from the case.
Reid didn't say anything, just allowed his eyes to fall on the syringe and bottle on his counter which Morgan followed. The breath he inhaled told both himself and Spencer that it was going to be a long night.
Stepping fully inside he closed the door, locked it and stood in front of his younger co-worker.
"Roll up your sleeves."
"Morgan, I didn't –
"Sleeves, now." He demanded because this was not happening again, he couldn't let this happen again.
The doctor did what he was told, allowing Morgan to carefully examine both his arms. The touch burning his skin but he knew pulling away would just make him look guilty.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he rolled Reid sleeves down again.
"Why didn't you tell one of us that you were having cravings again?" Which Morgan really meant was why Spencer didn't tell HIM that he was craving? Especially when he asked if he was okay.
"Morgan, I promise I will answer all of your questions but right now I need you to get rid of it, I don't care how just do." Pleading because it was getting tempting with each and every second that passed.
"Do you have any more?"
He considered lying, really he did but this was Derek. "Sock drawer, it's the bottom drawer," he confessed.
"Syringes?"
"Messenger bag," feeling his voice cracking because he thought for damn sure that it wouldn't get to this point again.
"We'll get through this, I promise," Derek reassured the younger man before grabbing both the syringe and bottle and walking towards the younger profilers room.
12 minutes was all it took for Spencer to hear Morgan come back into the kitchen, empty handed.
"What did you do with it?" He asked, curious.
"Do you really want to know?" He asked, eyebrow raised going over to the coffee machine but then deciding that tea was the better drink to calm both of their nerves.
"Do you have any tea? Because I am not giving you any coffee at this hour," the older agent asked turning to face Reid.
"Ummm…upper cabinet, pretty sure the tea Emily gave me is still there," he answered, wondering why Morgan was being so calm.
"Did I ummm, did I ever tell you that I switched to decaf when I was using," the younger profiler said once Morgan turned back to start making the tea.
He snorted before speaking, "and to think I thought you were snappy because of the drugs."
"I didn't completely switch over, I had one caffeinated coffee a day and then the rest was decaf. Plus, I stopped taking any pain meds, didn't drink any alcohol I mean I wasn't a big drinker to begin with but still. I never used the same needle twice and always made sure it was one straight from the package. I may be a drug addict but at least I'm smart one." Reid confessed not knowing exactly why he was saying these things but thought that Morgan should know.
"Do you want to know how I confirmed you were doing drugs? I suspected but could never confirm it," he finally said after 55 seconds of silence.
"I called a contact that I have in the DC police, specializes in the drug division. Asked if he ever arrested anyone whose drug of choice was dilaudid. He gave me a couple of names but I knew you wouldn't buy in your area, so I estimated that you went to the neighborhood 15 minutes away from here, by foot."
"But that doesn't –"
"I wanted to know the how before really confirming the if and I suspected the answer was in your messenger bag because you clung to that thing like a damn baby to a bottle. So that's why I spilled coffee on you 'by accident', you murmured something and then hurried off to the bathroom. Everyone was at lunch so once you left, I looked in the pocket within the pocket of your bag and saw a syringe."
"How'd you know about the secret pocket?"
"Really? You spend 20 minutes talking everything from the maker to every stitch of that thing. Despite what you think, pretty boy, I do listen to your rants most of the time."
That made Spencer smile and he ducked his head to try to hide the blush he could feel coming on.
"You know technically, you should have had a search warrant for my bag," he joked.
"When someone I care about is in trouble and I know I can help, procedures be damned."
"And to think I thought you hated me, when we first met," the genius confessed.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, for the first 5 months, 2 weeks and 3 days of our partnership. I thought you hated me or at least didn't like me."
"What happened at 5 months, 2 weeks and the 4th day?"
"You bought me coffee and it was mainly correct. Even though I was very much surprised it only took you 4 more times to get it completely right."
"Black with 4 sugars and 1 creme, on a good day. When you're stressed out, it is usually black with 6 sugars." Morgan recited because even though Reid was nice enough to just thank him for the coffee, he would subtly add to it when he thought Morgan wasn't looking.
"And that took you exactly 7 months, on the dot."
"Only 7 months to win your heart," Morgan joked before pouring the now finished tea in two separate mugs.
"You don't have to stay you know, I'm pretty sure the craving is gone."
"Pretty sure?"
"Yeah, the cravings usually are strongest after a case like the one we just had. But once I do the paperwork for it, I should be completely in control again. Plus, it helped that we talked and acting pretty normal also there is none in my possession anymore."
"Good, so I won't have to turn this place upside down. I'm not going anywhere, it's beyond late and that couch is looking pretty comfortable at the moment. And frankly, I just don't think you should be alone. Not tonight at least."
"Afraid I'll do something stupid?"
Morgan just shook his head, while sipping his tea. "No, I just think you'll be better off being with someone. Seeing that we have the next couple of days off, we could spend it together. We haven't really hung out in a while."
"What do you have in mind?"
"I was going to put the finishing touches on a house I am renovating. Painting and all that stuff, wanna help?"
"Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen one of your houses anyways," Reid said, actually excited that he'll be doing something other than just reading on his days off. Plus, he had to admit that Morgan was right, the cravings usually downsized when he was with someone he actually enjoyed.
"Good, you'll love the house. It's beautiful, it kind of resembles that one we saw in Dallas with the brick exterior and you said that if you ever bought a house; that would be the one."
"And I thought I was the one with the eidetic memory," he joked.
"I listen!" Morgan exclaimed a little too loudly, which caused a real to honest laugh from Reid.
"You don't have to take the couch, I can. You're the guest." Spencer reassured him.
"Nah, I am not kicking you out of your bed. I'm not that mean." Morgan joked before moving to stand right next to Reid. "And thanks."
"For what?"
"Calling me. I'm here for you no matter what, I am just glad you're finally taking me up on that offer." Morgan said while flipping Reid's tucked hair to the front of his face. "Go get some sleep, your genius brain needs to rest."
"Let me just get you a pillow and a blanket," he offered before going down the hall to the linen closet.
"You sure you're okay, I mean I can take you to a meeting when we wake up." Morgan reassured the younger man while setting up his makeshift bed.
"I am okay for now, thanks. I'll let you know if anything changes."
"Tea," Derek simply said, which caused a head tilt from Spencer.
"If you're struggling, or having a craving or really need some one on one talk. I will drop everything and call you or go to you. If it's during a case, as soon as we get some alone time, if it gets that bad. 'Tea' will be our code word for that."
"You really mean that?"
"Wouldn't say it, if I didn't. Now go sleep, I am putting you in charge of painting the study, which is basically a library for a wife."
"Ooo, then the color could be blue. Did you know that blue is known for its calming effect? Dating back to -."
"Kid, save it for tomorrow," Morgan said already gotten comfortable on the couch and eyes closed.
"Thanks, Morgan."
"Anytime, that's what I am here for."
Which caused a smile from Reid as he cut the kitchen and living rooms lights off and made his way to his room. Feeling pretty satisfied with his decision to finally ask for help tonight.
So I just got into Criminal Minds a couple of months ago (already on season 8) and I love it. Especially the pairing of Morgan and Reid. I am thinking about making this into a series, leading up to their eventual getting together as more than just friends. Comments and thoughts would be great, especially since this is my first time writing for the fandom. I hoped you all enjoyed!