"Agent Hotchner, are you sure about this?" Spencer asked as they were being led down the hall to the evaluation room.

"Spencer, if you are as smart as you say you are, then yes, I'm positive," Aaron answered the young man, briefly glancing in his direction.

"Right this way, Spencer. Before we begin, I will need you to read over this," the doctor directed Spencer to a room that looked like a therapist's office, handing him a packet of what Aaron guessed to be guidelines and precautions of some sort.

Spencer took the packet and guided his finger down the first page, before turning the page and continued to read the entire thing for what seemed like only a minute to Aaron.

"Okay, thank you," Spencer said, handing the packet back to the doctor.

Aaron stared in disbelief at Spencer then looked to the doctor who didn't seem fazed at all, "Did you actually read that whole thing?"

Spencer blushed and looked at the floor, "I can read 20,000 words a minute," he spoke just barely loud enough for Aaron to hear him.

"Have a seat, Spencer. Agent, I'll need you to step out and wait in the lobby, please," the doctor ushered Spencer into the room and shooed Aaron away.

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Aaron found his way to the lobby and sat down, mulling over the events of his day. He had met a very extraordinary man. He had never met anyone with an IQ that high, or anyone who could read that fast. And graduating high school at age 12? That was just surreal to Aaron.

Just then, the agent's phone rang. Aaron quickly scrambled for it, as to not draw much attention to himself, "Hotchner," he stated in his agent voice.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to step out into the hall to take that call," a woman that Aaron figured to be an aid whispered to him.

"Sorry, ma'am, of course," Aaron quickly got up and walked out into the hall, "Can you repeat that, Morgan?" Aaron asked once he was out in the hall.

"Where are you, Hotch?" Aaron's colleague inquired.

"I'm still at Bennington. The kid of the latest victim is a genius and we could really use him on this case," Hotch explained somewhat excitedly.

"Hotch, the kid's locked up in an insane asylum. We can't take him in on the team," Morgan replied with disbelief.

"It's not an insane asylum, and he's here against his will. His father kept him here out of fear, Morgan. He's in getting a psych eval right now. If they clear him, I can bring him in on the case. Trust me, Morgan, we need him," Hotch fought with his co-worker, refusing to let him talk bad about Spencer.

"You may need him, but I don't just want some lunatic stranger coming in on my team," Morgan retorted.

"He is NOT a lunatic, Morgan!" Hotch had to struggle to keep from shouting, "He is the brightest man I have ever met and has the darkest past I've ever seen, yes even darker than yours, Derek," Hotch spat out spitefully, he couldn't take the rude comments being made at Spencer's expense. Morgan didn't know Spencer, he couldn't say a thing about him.

"Hotch, you've known the kid for an hour…" Hotch could tell Morgan was trying to control his temper.

"He talks fast," Hotch had to suppress a slight chuckle, "besides I'm a profiler, remember? I can tell things about a person."

"Fine, you have a point. But if this blows up in our faces, Hotch, you will be held responsible," Morgan made himself clear before he hung up the phone.

As he pocketed the phone, Hotch thought to himself, it won't blow up in our faces; this is going to be one of the greatest things in his time as an FBI agent.

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Hotch went back into the lobby and sat down, picking up a sports magazine. Hotch didn't really care much for sports but it kept him busy.

"Are you the man who's taking my Spencer away?" Hotch looked up to see a tall, thin, sickly blonde woman looking directly at him.

"I'm Diana Reid, Spencer's mother. I heard that an FBI agent was here to take my son with him," the woman said, sitting down across from Hotch.

"I'm Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, ma'am. I did speak with your son earlier, but he is not in trouble, I promise you. He is getting evaluated right now so he can come with my team to investigate a case we just got," Hotch tried to explain the situation as carefully and vaguely as possible to this woman.

Diana seemed to except this and nodded, "He's always wanted to be in the FBI. But I don't want my baby to get hurt," she said bringing her hand to her mouth.

"I promise you Mrs. Reid, nothing will happen to your son as long as I am around," Hotch reached out to place his hand on the woman's shoulder, but she jerked away.

"Thank you, Agent Hotchner, was it?" Diana thanked Hotch as she got up from her seat, "But if he dies…" Diana just shook her head, holding back tears as she quickly ran off.

Hotch could immediately tell the difference between Spencer and his mother. Similar non-contact ticks, but Spencer's wasn't as extreme. Diana has seemed more frail and distant than Spencer who kept engaged in conversation with Hotch. Diana definitely fit the profile of a schizophrenic, whereas Spencer only fit the profile of one who had been abused. But by who, Aaron wasn't quite sure yet.