Just a OneShot with spoilers up to 'With Friends Like These'
Lying is a Boy's Best Friend
The call had came in late that night- well, the third call had, anyways. Spencer Reid was exhausted, but he knew better than to ignore calls that came from Bennington. Unsure what it was about, he finally picked up the phone just before the ringer stopped. "Hello?" he asked cautiously.
"You need to talk to her," a nurse immediately said. "She needs to hear your voice right now- says she won't take her medication until she knows you're alright…?"
"Right, of course," Reid nodded. He was now alarmed, and his already high stress levels just spiked again. "Do you…do you know what brought this on?" he asked as he ran a hand over his face.
"It's schizophrenia, Dr. Reid," she sighed sympathetically. "We both know that there's no real way to know." There was a short pause before saying, "Alright, Dian-your mom's right here." Before passing the phone over, she added, "And thank you Dr. Reid; she really needs this." Reid found himself unable to respond, and he decided to just keep quiet as the phone exchange was made. In the meantime, he tried to keep his emotions under control.
"Spencer, is that you?" Diana quickly demanded.
"Hey mom, I'm right here," he smiled sadly.
"Is everything alright?"
That was the question he had been dreading- the inevitable and unavoidable question that he knew was coming but was never really ready to answer. Knowing that he had already paused to long, he fluttered his eyes in attempt to dry his newfound tears and nodded his head. His headache was killing him, he was most likely losing his mind and then after his job, JJ was gone, Prentiss was dead-
But everything was fine. At least, that was what he had been repeating to himself for the last four weeks. If he was being truthful- if he was being painfully honest- he knew that he was all but fine. His imaginary façade was fading and so was his willingness to keep up the lie. It was all just too exhausting, and at times like this he wondered why he even lied about it to begin with..
'She's schizophrenic,' something in the back of his mind reminded.
'Oh,' he thought, 'that's why.'
As the seconds passed his head started pounding even worse. He inwardly groaned in pain and relieved some of the pressure in his body by allowing it to at least slump on the wall. Squinting his eyes tight and regaining control of himself, he finally answered.
"Yeah, everything's fine."
"Are you sure?" she asked skeptically. "I've been so worried…"
"Don't worry about me, Mom, I'd tell you if I wasn't."
"Good," Diana sighed, obviously relieved. "I'd really love to chat some more, but I promised these neanderthals that I would take their medicine if they let me talk to you." Reid could practically hear his mother smile as she shifted the phone against her ear, something that he could remember her doing since he was a small child. "It was worth it," she added.
"I'm glad," Reid smiled as a new tear fell from his eye. Blinking its mate back, he tilted his head in attempt to stop any more from falling. He forced himself to smile and tried to think of something to say. Finally, he allowed himself to say something without fearing that his voice would crack and give him away. "I love you, Mom," he almost whispered.
"I love you too, Sweetie." And with that, she hung up.
Then, tired of lying and sick of being in pain, Spencer Reid sank against the wall, hung up the phone, and finally broke down into sobs.
It was going to be a long week.