Reid leaned heavily against the police cruiser, watching as the last remnants of dusk turned into night. The debrief had been grueling and no one seemed to care he'd just almost died. Due to protocol and personal connections, his team hadn't been allowed to be present when the lead officer had questioned him. And the officer was a classic narcissist with the whole 'I'd rather be golfing' attitude.

He'd refused to go back to the FBI offices after they'd separated him from Morgan for questioning and to their credit, the local cops refused to let him go, claiming—rightly so—he was a material witness in a case they had jurisdiction over: Spencer Reid's attempted murder. Just the words gave him heart-pounding flashbacks.

Instead, they drove him over to the smaller police station that was nearby. A compassionate officer had managed to pull him aside and get him some sweats to change into. He'd arranged for Reid to take a shower in the locker room and he took his time trying to scrub away the sickly algae infused water from his body. Reid had asked him to look after Morgan as well and had gone into the debrief at least knowing Morgan wasn't sopping wet and miserable whenever they were questioning him.

At some point they had put food in front of him, but all he remembered was asking them to make sure they fed Morgan as well. When they told him Morgan had been released, he felt a sense of relief followed by a twang of loneliness. He'd grown so accustomed to Morgan by his side that it felt wrong to go through all of this without him.

Some hours later, Reid found himself sitting in one of the chairs in the BAU conference room with his teammates seated around him. He avoided looking at their concerned eyes as he finished telling his story.

"So once we surfaced, Morgan pulled me over to a ladder on the side of the dock so we could climb out. I could hear sirens and then the police officers showed up. After they separated us, they took us to the police station for questioning."

"What happened to Bonham?" JJ asked and Reid met her deep blue eyes for a millisecond before looking back down at both of her hands covering one of his on the table top.

"Morgan shot him, didn't he?" Rossi prompted from the other side of the table.

Reid nodded. "He didn't mean to kill him. He was running and Nico shot at him first. He fired back and… Well, I guess Morgan's a good shot even under fire."

"Damn straight," Garcia agreed, her hands covering the hand JJ wasn't holding. "Good Lord, if my handsome chocolate man hadn't shown up…"

"I'm fine, Garcia," he insisted for the umpteenth time. He could feel the knowing eyes of Hotch and Rossi when he turned to the distressed blonde. He gently pulled his hands out of the two girls' hands and gestured at his chest. "See? Nothings broken, I'm fine."

"I know but…" Garcia sniffled and wiped at her eyes under her aqua colored classes. Reid bit the inside of his cheek and looked over at the other members of his team, feeling yet again the slight twinge of loneliness that appeared whenever Morgan wasn't around.

Wait.

"Where's Morgan?" Reid asked.

"He had to clear up a few things down at the station," Hotch spoke up. "Technically, Nico Bonham's case wasn't even in our jurisdiction and Morgan killed him—there's a lot of paperwork to be done about that."

Reid's face reddened and he nodded slowly.

"Speak of the devil…" Rossi murmured and Reid followed his eyes through the window to see Morgan's tense statue making his way through to bullpen. He was obviously not in a good mood and Reid couldn't blame him, those police reports could be a bitch.

"C'mon, Reid," was the first thing he said when he made it to the conference room. "I'm taking you home."

Reid smiled gratefully at him, "Finally."


"You're going the wrong way," Reid said when he realized which way they were driving.

"I know," Morgan said. "We're gonna stay at my place."

"Oh?"

"In case you haven't noticed, genius, you haven't stopped shaking since we left the BAU," Morgan's tone was soft, not teasing. Reid frowned and tried to hold his body still.

"That wasn't what I was trying to get to," Morgan chuckled at Reid's attempt to become a statue.

Reid puffed out a breath of air and slumped in the leather seat of the SUV. "Thank you" he said softly. "You know… for saving my life."

Morgan put a comforting hand on Reid's knee. "Anytime. Seriously, you can count on me."

Reid closed his eyes briefly once and the moment on the dock displayed itself behind his eyes. The emotion, the certainty in Morgan's eyes as he helped Reid climb unsteadily up the ladder…

"I can do that," he said.

"The Bureau's got counselors," Morgan suggested after a few moments silence. "I think it would be good if you tried to talk to them."

Rolling his eyes, Reid replied with a snip, "I know the Bureau has counselors."

Morgan didn't speak again and the ride was silent for the rest of the way to his house.

Reid's only ever been to Morgan's house once on one of the rare cook-outs the team has, and Reid had been slightly impressed with the living establishments Morgan had. It wasn't anything too flashy—just a modest two-story home with a nice backyard and Jacuzzi, but that was an amazing difference compared to the crap apartment Reid was accustomed to.

Morgan pulled into the driveway and turned off the car and exited the SUV, Reid mirroring his movements. He stumbled a bit when his feet hit the concrete but Morgan had suddenly materialized right next to him to steady him. It took a while, but finally Reid managed to get his feet back where they could work properly.

"You must be exhausted," Morgan said gently. "We should get you into bed. Did you eat?"

"Yeah," Reid muttered, letting Morgan lead his up the front steps. "They gave me something so I'm good. But I could sleep for a week."

"Sorry, can't offer you a week," Morgan said apologetically. "Strauss gave you a four-day leave and I decided to take some time off to… recuperate." When Reid looked at him, surprised, Morgan continued. "You almost died. If that isn't a time for a friend then… I don't know what is."

Reid nodded in understanding. "I just can't believe the whole team didn't try for some time off, you know how they get."

"They wanted to, trust me," Morgan explained, "but I told them not to. Said you needed to rest and that wasn't going to happen with them going nuts—which you know they would."

Reid leaned a little more heavily against Morgan. "I am tired. But…"

"Don't worry," Morgan interrupted. "The windows are already all open."

Reid gazed up at him and smiled his gratitude. "Thank you… For everything…"

Morgan grinned and steered them towards the staircase. "Come on. Let's get you upstairs and tucked into bed."

"Are you going to stay?" Reid asked.

"Wild horses couldn't tear me away," he promised.

"I'd like to see wild horses try to get past your security," Reid joked, his words slurring slightly from weariness.

Morgan let out a choked off cough of laughter. "Okay, didn't see that coming. If you can joke like that after the day you've had…"

"Mmm…" he mumbled tiredly.

Morgan opened the door to the master bedroom and beckoned Reid inside. Reid toed off his shoes and slipped between the sheets, letting the cool fabric soothe him as the faint sounds of a distant owl floated through the windows.

"You coming?" he asked, a bit of nervousness in his voice.

"I'm not leaving," Morgan assured him and kicked off his own shoes and slid in next to Reid. "Try to sleep."

Before Reid drifted off, he felt Morgan press a soft kiss to his forehead. Content, he fell asleep, feeling safe once more.