Down A Long, Dark Path

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Criminal Minds. (Though I do wish that I owned Reid.)

Summary: After a severe concussion, Reid struggles to put the pieces of his life back together after being comatose. Will he ever be the same again?

Third Person (April, 2013)

"Uncle Spencer!" Henry cried early the next morning, jumping onto the bed. JJ peaked her head in the door.

"Henry, I told you to wake up Uncle Spencer. Not to scare him to death," she laughed.

"Mommy made pancakes!" Henry said in an astonished voice, not paying a lick of attention to his mother.

"Did she now?" Spencer asked, only slightly stumbling on his words, but still choosing them very carefully. "I'm going to have to get me some."

Henry and JJ left, shutting the door behind them. Spencer slipped his shirt on without a hiccup, but when he tried to put his foot through the hole in his sweatpants he tripped and fell backwards onto the bed. He remained there laying and tried to put his sweatpants on, this time finding progress. After being fully clothed, he left the bedroom.

"Thank you," he said as he walked into the kitchen, seeing a plate of pancakes at the table. JJ smiled, setting a plate of chocolate pancakes in front of Henry. Henry's face lit up, and Spencer suddenly wished that he was four years old again and chocolate could fix all of his problems.

When Spencer tried to cut the pancake his hand slipped and the fork landed in a pile of syrup. Then, when he got it on the fork he misjudged the distance between his mouth and the fork. He felt so stupid that he thought about cussing, but with how frustrated he was it took him longer to think about how to say it and by then he remembered that Henry was there and he closed his mouth tightly, biting his tongue. Reid retried, his face slightly flushed with embarrassment, and this time swallowed the pancake without a hitch.

Spencer thought about a shower, but Henry asked if he could play a board game and Spencer quickly accepted. He couldn't resist his godson.

"You don't have to keep him occupied, you know," JJ told Spencer quietly.

"I know... But... I... I want to," Spencer said. Maybe, if he kept Henry busy for JJ, he could somehow make up for imposing on her.

"Alright," JJ relented, smiling. Maybe playing with Henry would help Spencer, she hoped. JJ knew that her son had a way of making anybody smile. As soon as that thought passed through her head, JJ's phone buzzed. It was from Garcia.

"Duty calls. Triple in Alabama. Hotch says of course you can work from home," the text read. JJ sighed.

"Duty calls, Spence. I'll be right back."

Spencer nodded, masking his disappointment with false cheeriness. He would have done anything to be the one going on that case. But he couldn't. He might never be able to work at the B.A.U. ever again.

"Mommy has to go to work," JJ explained to Henry, picking him up. "Why don't you come with me? You can come see everybody. And I'll worry."

"Alright," Spencer agreed. But the thought of going to work made his stomach flip.

A/n: I only planned on having Spencer alone for like ten minutes, but I went back to make it more clear and realized I wanted something different. So here is the real chapter 3.

Kateryn1: Which one is? And it's okay, it's your opinion. Thanks so much! :)

Namira O.O: Lol yes. Thank you so much for reviewing!

White collar black wolf: We shall see. :)

Marjereid: Oh that's weird but I'm glad you got to read! Thanks so much for your reviewing and taking the time to read.

MW3addict: Thank you so much! And that's why I feel so bad for him here, but he's so sweet.

Stay Gold lovelies,

- Alee XxX