A/N: Wow, thank you for the reviews/follows/favorites, I honestly wasn't expecting it. I'm so appreciative of each and every one of you, and I hope an update will make y'all happy! :)
Edit: I will continue, thank you to all of the followers.
Tell me what you think!
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Chapter two: Secrets Come To Light
"We need to talk." Derek Morgan said immediately after opening his supervisor's office door.
Aaron Hotchner looked up and nodded to the seat before his desk, his stoic face not betraying the fear he was feeling. Something is definitely wrong with Reid.
Morgan tore his eyes away from the window, away from Reid sitting miserably at his desk, away from his team members looking fearfully at the depressed man. He sat, not entirely comfortable with the situation.
"What's going on with him?" Aaron asked, feeling no need to waste any more time.
Derek sighed, running a hand over his face. "It's not good, Hotch..."
Aaron sighed, running a hand over his eyes. "Is he using again?"
"No, Hotch. But he wants to, so so badly..." Derek looked disgusted with himself, "We haven't even helped him, Aaron. He's..He..."
"He doesn't think we care about him, he thinks we hate him." The voice was angry now, "And what he heard this morning has strengthened that thought."
"What did he hear?" Aaron asked seriously, trying not to let his emotions take over.
"Apparently, Grishel and Anderson were talking shit about him in the break room. They said that he should leave the team, he's no use to us, that we don't like him or listening to him."
Now, Aaron was angry. "They said that to his face?"
"No, they didn't know he was there...Hotch..Reid, he...he told me that we're just stuck with him until he kills himself." Morgan's voice was quiet, the image of a dead Spencer running through both men's minds.
"I can't lose him, we can't lose him...he doesn't know how important he is to us, because we never told him." Derek continued frantically, "We never asked how he was handling his kidnapping, the drugs, his mother, his mental state, we..we just were happy when we could use his brain again."
Aaron was silent, reflecting on how poorly he'd handled Spencer's situation. He couldn't find the words, shaking his head slightly.
Derek looked at him tearfully, understanding his supervisor's dilemma, "I know...I didn't know what to say either, all I could do was apologize and tell him that I'll never let him be alone again."
Hotch breathed out, "We..we messed up. But we're going to fix this."
.
.
Hotchner and Morgan exited the former's office, drawing the attention of their team members. Both looked somber as they stepped down into the bull pen.
Their eyes begged for answers, but the men gave none.
Hotch stepped towards Reid gingerly, placing a gentle hand on his back. "May I speak with you in my office?"
Spencer shot up, eyes watery and dead. He glanced towards Derek, who gave him an encouraging smile. Reid nodded, following his boss as he hugged himself.
The second Aaron's door shut, the rest of the team bombarded Derek.
"What's going on with my Junior G-man?" Penelope's voice wavered, concern strangling her words.
Rossi, Emily, and JJ stared expectantly at the buff man, each of their nervous ticks coming in to play.
Derek sighed, he didn't particularly enjoy exposing other people's lives...but this needed to be done, "We..he..he needs our help, we need to help him."
"What happened, Derek?" David questioned, sick of not knowing what was going on with the person he considered a son.
"We all love him." Derek started, confused looks passing through the small group. "But...god, we messed up."
"He's suicidal, he's craving.." He continued, "..and he thinks we hate him because he overheard Grishel and Anderson say so, amongst other things."
Each of their faces grew angry at the revelation of inner-office politics, before realizing the devastating words that came before.
"I thought he..recovered." JJ started, voice doubting and innocent. "He went to all the meetings, he seemed better."
"Did you ever ask him?" Morgan questioned.
Jennifer sputtered, "I..I.."
"I'm not blaming you personally, Jayje." Derek interrupted, "None of us did anything to help him. No one asked if he was okay."
"Well, obviously he's not." Penelope's voice was both bitter and sad, she looked towards David. "Though, you don't really have to blame yourself, you weren't there."
Rossi shook his head, "No, I wasn't there." He stopped, "But we did discuss it once, I knew what happened, and I'm just as at fault."
They all leaned back, each mind thinking back to all the instances that should have set off red flags.
"So Grishel and Anderson were just the tipping point." David commented on the obvious.
"Will they be reprimanded?" Garcia questioned, "Do you think?"
Derek shrugged his shoulders, "I doubt it, but I might have to speak with the both of them."
"I'll be right there with you." Emily promised, voice tight.
.
.
.
"I honestly don't know how to apologize to you." Aaron said again, guilt prodding at him consistently. "I put the team ahead of you, because I didn't want Strauss to find out."
"You protected me, and the team." Spencer responded quietly, defending his boss. "I likely would have lost my job."
"That doesn't mean we should have pretended that nothing happened." His voice oozed the regret he felt, "You had no one to turn to because we gave you no options..but we will be here from now on."
Reid actually smiled for the first time in hours, nodding subtly. "Thank you."
The young agent's face dropped slowly, something Hotch noticed immediately, "Lately, it's as if I'm drowning...I keep trying to remember the person I was before and I'm not sure I can anymore, and I don't know if that's a good thing."
"We'll help you figure it out."
