Reid woke to Hotch shaking him, thankfully. The nightmare just wouldn't end. He sat up and cried for a few minutes until he was able to catch a breath. He looked his superior in the eye in the pleading way his hazel eyes were.
"Hotch... I'm sorry I keep waking you up. Maybe you should just go home and get some sleep." Hotch smiled faintly, then nodded toward the clock. Reid squinted his eyes, which were still cloudy, to read the clock, which showed they had to go to work in an hour.
"Time to get up anyways. Unless you want to take some time off. I understand if you do." Reid shook his head.
"That's the last thing I want to do. Just don't tell anybody else."
"I won't. I want them focusing on the case. If anything was going on, they'd go straight to worrying about you. I can name a few times you don't know where they were close to outvoting me to stop a case just for you." Hotch frowned.
"I think I can make a few guesses. Not that hard since I always get into the worst trouble. Anthrax, Tobias, Benjamin Cyrus... they are all pains in the ass." Reid smiled and wiped his eyes once again.
"One more... the one with Cory, when you were having nightmares. Morgan and Gideon wanted to stop the case because they were worried about you. You are definitely the baby of the team." Hotch teased.
"They don't need to be worrying about nightmares with me again. They need to worry about the cases." Hotch nodded.
"I agree. Get ready." Reid obeyed. He stood and walked to his bathroom.
Reid was ready in only minutes. He didn't feel like taking a shower, but he did feel like he was falling apart all over again. The last time he felt like this was after the case of Tobias Hankel. When he walked out of the bathroom only minutes after he entered, Hotch looked at him weird.
"I thought you were going to take a shower." Hotch frowned.
"I don't feel like it right now. I just want to get to work and away from this place. I just need something to keep my mind occupied." Hotch sighed; nodding. He knew Spencer was going through a hard time, and he'd be having times where he just wanted to escape his own mind, but he did hope it wouldn't go to far. It was only nightmares.
They left without a word. The whole ride to the BAU was silent, almost way too silent. Reid watched as trees passed, and Hotch kept his eyes on the road. Hotch decided to break the silence.
"What was your nightmare about?" Hotch asked; turning his head to face the young agent.
"Well, this one was different. The other ones were just either Adam or Tobias. This one was both. Tobias, well Raphael, was trying to kill me and Adam because Amanda was trying to hurt me and Adam, and I was trying to hurt Adam, and... every other way around." Hotch gave an understanding nod.
"Are you going to be alright?" Hotch asked in a soft tone. It almost made Reid jump, but he just answered.
"I hope so. I know they're just nightmares, but it feels like something else. It feels real, like nothing I've ever felt before. It really scares me." Hotch nodded. They didn't speak another word until they reached the BAU. They both got out and headed toward the doors. Nobody would suspect of them coming in together, since they were always the first ones there.
Reid sat at his desk. He couldn't help but feel someone was watching him. As he glanced up at his superior's office, he figured Hotch was just checking on him, but he got the sudden chills, and he was suddenly up. He turned around and noticed a shadow lurking in the darkness where there were no lights on. He looked back at Hotch's office, but took his gun and moved stealthily toward the movement into the woman's restroom.
"Hello Dr. Reid." Reid was speechless.
"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." He said to himself, but like always, he wouldn't.
"It's time for you to pay. Then, I'll leave this world peacefully before somebody can hurt Adam." Amanda said in a soft sing-song voice.
Amanda lifted the revolver and pointed it to Reid's torso and pulled the trigger."
Hotch ran to the bathrooms. The first thing he saw was Reid on the floor, semi-unconscious and Amanda holding a gun, smiling.
"Agent Hotchner. My work here is done, as you may see." Hotch had his gun pulled out. Amanda lifted her gun, and with one shot from Hotch, she was dead. Hotch crouched down to Reid and covered the wound. After he called 9-11, he pressed his over-coat to Reid's torso. Luckily, Hotch could tell, Reid had only gotten shot in the torso. He'd be okay, easily. Plus, the bullet wasn't lodged anywhere dangerous, so he would be taken to the hospital, in surgery, recovery for a day, then able to leave. However, he'd be on desk duty until he was cleared to work in the field.
The medics came rather fast, but it seemed longer than fast to Hotch. They lifted him onto a gurney and wheeled him away. Hotch, of course, rode with him to the hospital. Reid was fully awake at the point, and asked a question Hotch didn't think of.
"How did she get out of the mental institution?" Hotch didn't know what to say. What could he say?
"I don't know. Don't talk." Hotch ordered. Reid nodded and winced at the pain given by the medics trying to stop the blood, which wasn't a lot, considering where he was shot. He got lucky. Anymore off, and he could've hit his heart. Maybe Amanda wasn't trying to kill him. She would've killed him, but maybe, just maybe, Adam was coming back, maybe Adam saved his life. Now it was Reid's duty to save Adam, and he wouldn't give up.
At the hospital, Reid was taken into surgery and given a sedative, although he didn't want it, but he knew he wasn't going to come to unconsciousness on his own. The wound wasn't that bad to get to that point, so he reluctantly allowed a small amount.
Hotch watched in small worry as the rest of the team arrived. He hadn't told them what happened, so when they saw Reid covered in blood, they panicked.
"Calm down... he's fine. I was just talking to him. Listen, before anyone interrupts me, I'm going to admit... Amanda did this. I don't know how she got in the BAU, or even how she got out of a guarded mental institution. But I can say this, Reid is going to be fine. He'll be able to leave tomorrow. This morning, we were at work early and he went into the bathroom and found Amanda there. She shot him. When I got there, Amanda said she had done her job, then suicide. Reid doesn't know, so don't tell him right away. He told me it was Adam that made it so Amanda couldn't shoot him anywhere dangerous and he owes Adam." Hotch ordered. They all sighed of relief.
"Thank god my Junior G-man's alright. I would seriously be angry if he got hurt too much. Curse this job." Garcia said.
"Easy there baby-girl. Let's go get you some ice-cream..." Morgan said.
"No offense on the offer, cupcake, but how could you think about eating at a time like this." Morgan put his hands up in defense.
"I was just makin' sure my girl got what she wanted." Morgan said as he backed away.
After the surgery was over and Reid was transferred to recovery, the team was allowed to visit. Though when Reid talked, it hurt, he still did. He had a smile on his face. The doctor wanted to give him pain medication after the surgery, but Reid refused, for obvious reasons. The doctor shrugged and left after checking his vitals.
Reid laughed, then immediately scolded himself for being dumb. The pain shot down his arms and through his stomach. The team watched and knew Reid wouldn't take any medication, but they didn't care at the point.
"Maybe you should take some of that medication the doctor was going to give you." Rossi said. Hotch told him partially what happened when Reid was being transferred.
"No... No." Reid replied hastily. "No... I'm fine." The whole team knew exactly why, but didn't push him on drugs, especially since it'd been the problem in the first place.
"Okay, but after you get out of here, you are going to get that prescription filled. It's alright." Reid gave in and nodded. He didn't like the idea of another drug being in his body, but he knew it would help physically instead of mentally. That was the difference. His body needed it now, but before, not at all.
"What happened to Amanda? Where did she go?" Reid asked after a moments silence.
"Uh... we have her in custody." Hotch said. He waved for the rest of the team to leave.
"Hotch... seriously. What happened?" Hotch shook his head.
"Nothing. I told you, we have her in custody."
"I know when people lie Hotch. I can profile people too." Reid said without showing any sign of emotion.
"I know. You're a great profiler too. Remember Owen? That was awesome. You knew exactly..."
"Hotch! Tell me what happened." Hotch sighed and waited a moment.
"When I got there, Amanda had the gun and raised it. I had to do it, Reid." Hotch said in a trying-to-comfort tone.
"I can't save him now. Now, now I can't pay him back. Just like with Tobias. God damn!"
Reid said angrily.
"Just calm down. You don't have to pay anybody back... you know that. Since you were shot, obviously, the doctor recommended you to take at least two weeks off, paid leave. Afterward, you'll be on desk duty for about another couple weeks, depending on your recovery." Hotch stated easily, trying to change the subject.
"I-I'm fine. I can work. It doesn't even hurt..." Reid said quietly.
"One, no you can't. The doctor wants you to take it easy for a while. Two, the reason it doesn't hurt now is because of the dr- pain killers." Hotch corrected himself, but knew it was too late.
"It's okay, Hotch. I know already, they gave me narcotics. I don't care, really. But please don't make me stay at home alone. I still see them. Not for real anymore, but the nightmares. They're not that bad, but still enough to... yanno... They are not common in children under 5, but they are more common in young children, 25% experiencing a nightmare at least once per week, most common in adolescents, and less common in adults, dropping in frequency about one third from age 25 to 55... They are usually caused by stress or psychological issues, which neither are in any connection with me, so I really don't know." Reid said, Hotch just let him keep going since it was keeping his mind on only one thing, and it wasn't his constant nightmares.
"But also, they can be caused by sleep disorders, like Dyssomnia, which is basically to the point where a person can't get to sleep easily or can't stay asleep. There's two types of treatment already discovered. Psychological, cognitive behavior, and pharmacological. Psychological would be most appropriate for primary insomnia, however, pharmacological would best be suited with acute distress. However, there are some treatments that have benefited somewhat, but haven't been committed as an actual treatment. Such as: ingestion of melatonin, light sleep therapy, or even as simple as a prescription sleep medicine." Hotch wasn't paying attention. Reid lost him at 'Dyssomnia'.
"I think I'm going to go back to sleep." Hotch nodded, finally coming out of his own worries.
"Well, doc said you can leave sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'll be here to take you home after work, since tomorrow's Sunday, and we'll be out shortly after noon. I think Garcia wants to sit with you a while though, so sorry if she keeps you up." Reid managed a small laugh of happiness, but was quickly replaced with pain in his stomach, starting with the wound in his right shoulder.
"Reid..." Hotch turned. "Take it easy." Reid smile, careful not to laugh again, knowing the narcotics weren't enough to numb everything.
Hotch left the room and looked toward Garcia. "Garcia, you can go in now. Reid wants to sleep, though." Garcia nodded.
"You didn't think I was going to keep my junior G-man up, did you?" Garcia smiled falsely. She stood and walked to the door. When she entered, she was surprised to see him already asleep.
"What's up little genius?" Garcia said sweetly, brushing the hair out of his face. She sat down in the plastic chair next to his bed and took Reid's hand. "It's going to be alright."
A/N: How'd you like? Sorry I couldn't update sooner. My computer was running slow and OpenOffice was being a B1tch. LOLz. I got the sleep disorder info from Wikipedia.