Wow, this chapter didn't go anywhere where that I thought it would!


Chapter Two

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If anyone ever wanted evidence of a secret hive mind controlling society, they had no further to look than the typical hospital waiting room. All over the Western World - doctor's offices, dentist's offices, hospitals - hundreds and thousands of rooms all with the same rows of cheap, light vinyl-covered chairs; the same muted pastel walls; same vapid mass-produced art on said walls; same old mindless magazines and the same ten-year-old tv bolted to one corner showing a never-ending run of talk-show hosts telling you how to make a nutritious smoothie "your kids will really enjoy".

Rossi skimmed through a torn issue of People with its four-page article on Jennifer Anniston's latest boyfriend, turning the pages more for the physical exercise of it than anything else, and trying not to snap at Reid, who was twisting a candy wrapper in his long fingers. Rossi knew the kid was on edge, and with good reason, but the constant crackling sound was getting on his nerves.

"Reid, I know these magazines aren't your style - would you like me to check the gift shop to see if they have any half-decent books?"

His young colleague shook his head.

Okay, no reading, no talking - this is bad. So try another tactic. "Maybe we could go get a coffee?" Rossi asked.

Reid shook his head again, still not saying anything.

"How about - " Rossi began, but Reid interrupted him.

"She screamed at me," he said. Rossi didn't know what to say. "She said no one had ever had such an awful, deceitful son as her," Reid went on. "One who would turn his own mother into to the government after all she had done for him."

"She's not lucid right now, Reid. You know that."

"I couldn't get through to her. She started… they had to restrain her! She kept thrashing around. Hitting herself. Beating her hands against her head and screaming for them to let her out. "

Dave put a hand on the back of Reid's neck. Reid didn't usually like to be touched, he knew, but sometimes even the young genius needed physical comfort. Rossi took it as a good sign that Reid didn't flinch away. "Spencer, I can't begin to know what you're going through. All I do know though, is that you did nothing wrong. You had to let them bring her here. She has to have the biopsy. I normally don't condone ignoring someone's wishes when it comes to their health, but your mother is not able to make an informed choice right now. So it had to be you and I'm sorry for that, but you did the right thing.

"Look, I guess it comes down to this: do you love her enough to - temporarily - sacrifice her affection for you in exchange for her health, or would you risk her life just to spare yourself her anger?"

Reid swallowed hard. "The first one," he answered.

"Good man."

"But what if it turns out she's sick and she won't let me help?"

"You help her anyway. She'll come round."

"But if my being there only increases her agitation? How would that help her?"

"Why don't you cross that bridge when you come to it, huh?"

"You know, I've never understood the etymology of that expression. How can you cross a bridge before you come to it? Speaking in terms of physics - "

"Don't do that, Spencer," Rossi told him, interrupting Reid before the younger man could gather speed on his ramble. "Don't try to change the subject by going off on a tangent. Ask the question you really want to ask."

Reid fidgeted, silent for some moments. "What...what if she dies before she forgives me?" he finally asked in a whisper.

"Then you, my friend, will have to remember all the times she told you she loved you, and accept that that was the real her talking to you. This today? That was the illness speaking. The illness and her fear. It wasn't her. You know her. You know how she really feels. Think back to the Riley Jenkins case - she was the one who knew how much you needed the truth. Not the rest of us. She knew how much you needed the truth and she risked her own health by going off her meds to give it to you. A mother doesn't do that if there's no love. And a mother doesn't get that intuitive grasp of who her child is without it either. Your mother loves you. She loves you more than anything else in this world and if she never remembers it again, then that just means you'll have to remember for her."

Reid didn't look at him, but there was one hitching breath and then a shaky nod, followed by a quick swipe of his hand across his eyes. Suddenly Reid jumped to his feet and strode swiftly off towards the bathrooms down the hall. Rossi let him go, knowing the younger man wouldn't want him to see him lose his composure.

-x-

The surgery went smoothly and, while the results wouldn't be known for a couple of weeks, the fact that his mother had got through at least this part relieved Reid to some small degree.

"What would you like to do now?" Rossi asked after Reid had visited his mother in recovery. "You should go and blow off some steam, enjoy yourself for a few hours."

"No, thank you," Reid said wanly. "But you go if you'd like. I'll be all right at the hotel."

"C'mon! What fun am I going to have on my own?"

Reid stared at him for a moment before dryly mentioning, "Well, apparently there's a casino or two in town. Least so I've heard."

Rossi actually snorted. "Was that a joke?"

"From me? Nah, couldn't be that."

"A casino. In Vegas. Imagine that!" He grinned at the man. "Good to know you can still smile, kid." But as quick as it was there, the smile was gone again, fleeing before the returning shadow. "You okay, Reid?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You keep rubbing your forehead. And every so often you squint like the light's bothering you."

Reid shrugged. "It's nothing. Bit of a headache. Likely stress from everything that's been happening."

"Okay then, let's head back to the hotel."

"You don't have to - "

"Don't worry about it, Reid. I want to freshen up and get something to eat anyway."

So, after a late lunch from room service (Reid only managing to eat about a third of his), Rossi went out for a few hours. He was a bit torn about leaving Reid, who was suddenly looking a touch peaked, but figured the other man might appreciate a bit of space and some quiet time alone after the emotionally gruelling day he'd gone through. Rossi hit Bally's and Bellagio's and a few others on the Strip, had a few drinks and then went out for dinner. It was a little dull on his own, but from the way the tightness between his shoulder blades loosened a bit, he realized he'd needed a break nearly as much as Reid had.

Coming back to the room, he was happy to see Reid asleep. Dumping the steak sandwich, fries and bottle of ibuprofen he'd picked up for his friend on a table, he was thinking about turning in himself when he decided to check his messages.

"One hundred and seven!" he exclaimed before he could stop himself.

Reid stirred at the noise, but didn't wake. He rolled over and whimpered something that sounded like, "Leave me alone, J.J.," but then fell quiet again.

Rossi looked to the heavens for guidance. Sometimes he wondered if this crazy family of his was just a little too close.

-x-

He didn't know what woke him. Just one of those things, he supposed, where one minute you were completely under and the next Bang! you were wide awake. The green numbers of the digital clock read 4:17.

"Are you awake, Rossi?" Reid asked from the other bed, startling him badly.

"Jeez, kid!"

"Sorry."

"Yeah, okay. Forget about it. How about you - you been awake long?"

"Since 2:04," Reid replied.

"And you've just been lying there, doing nothing the whole time?"

"I didn't want to wake you."

"Right." A thought occurred to Rossi. "You haven't been lying there staring at me for two hours, have you? Because that would be a little weird."

"Two hours and thirteen minutes, and no, I wasn't staring at you. I was thinking."

"Oh? Care to tell me?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Rossi told him.

"How did you know Emily hadn't really died?"

Never an easy one, huh kid? Rossi took a moment and considered his answer. "I don't really know. It wasn't anything definite, just… things that didn't seem right."

"What sort of things?"

"Well, I remember going to see the M.E. on a case a few weeks later, when one of his assistants came in to take another body out to send it to the funeral home. That made me think of something Emily had once said about wanting to be cremated."

"I remember! The Roderick Gless case. He was kidnapping and embalming young blonde women, as surrogates for his dead au pair. We were flying out to Olympia, Washington. And…" Reid broke off suddenly, and Rossi could guess why.

"And now you're asking yourself why you didn't remember that."

"I could have. I should have! The clue was right there!"

"Reid, don't beat yourself up about it. You were grieving."

"So were you!"

"It was just luck, Reid. The M.E.'s assistant coming in at just the right time. He triggered the one little connection to a memory that got me wondering and going over everything again."

"So there were other clues?"

"Once I started thinking, I found it strange that Prentiss's parents hadn't been at her funeral. I know they're important and busy people, and I know Emily's had her problems with her mother, but her parents still love her. And even if they didn't, they're the kind of people who still would have made the time to come for propriety's sake, if nothing else."

"God!" Reid swore and punched the headboard of his bed.

"Reid, it's not a big deal."

"Yes, it is!" Reid practically shouted.

"What are you doing?" Rossi asked as Reid whipped the covers off of himself, jumped out of bed and started stripping off his pyjamas.

"I'm getting dressed and then I'm going out."

"Where are you going to go at four in the morning?"

"Out! This is Vegas - there's always some place open," Reid said, furiously yanking on a pair of pants. Shirt and shoes were on and Reid out the door before Rossi could blink.

Shouldn't you go after him? Rossi's conscience asked.

He's twenty-nine, the practical side of him argued.

He's also a distraught ex-addict at the end of his rope, his conscience reminded him. Is it really a good idea for him to be roaming the streets of Vegas in the middle of the night?

"Damnit!" Rossi swore out loud and got out of bed. He dressed as quickly as he could, but Reid had vanished by the time he got to the lobby.

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Okay, a little shorter this time, but on the plus side, you'll be getting at least one extra chapter. (I really thought this would merely be a two-shot.) Anyway, huge thanks to all of my readers and reviewers! Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Oh, and while I've mentioned a couple of things from episodes ("Memoriam" and "Cold Comfort"), the story of Rossi and the M.E.'s assistant is just something I made up. Being the expert profiler he is, he probably guessed almost immediately that Emily was alive, but for the purposes of my story he will initially have been just as in the dark as Reid, Morgan and Garcia were when J.J. first told them.