"Do you know how long each session is going to take?" Derek asked Spencer, who was looking over the information that Nan had given them.

"Averagely, 10 to 15 minutes," Spencer said as he piled everything together and slipped it into his bag.

Derek nodded. "Basically in-and-out then?"

"Thankfully."

"You okay?"

Spencer shrugged. "As much as I can be right now. This is just making everything seem real and it's getting a little overwhelming," he admitted, turning his head away from Derek.

Derek sighed. "Baby boy, it's going to be fine. You know that."

"All the same."

"I know."

They drove into Quantico and made their way to the parking garage closest to their entrance. "Someone's gotta tell Garcia," Spencer said as Derek parked the car and they made their to the main building.

The two of them showing up to work together never raised any eyebrows, even though they were still hiding their relationship from the rest of the team. Their usual explanation was that 'overprotective Morgan' felt better if he knew Reid was safely getting to and from work.

"I can do it while you're talking to Hotch?" Derek suggested as the two of them stepped into the, thankfully, empty elevator.

"Thank you," Spencer said, smiling.

Derek grinned in response. "How many seconds until we reach our floor?"

"6 if it doesn't stop on 5," Spencer said instantly, smile growing as he realized why Derek was asking.

"Good," Derek whispered as he quickly wrapped an arm around Spencer's waist and pulled him close, kissing him.

They broke away the second the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened to the sixth floor. They both stepped out and waved to one another as Derek made his way to his office, and Spencer into the bullpen of the BAU.

He was, admittedly, getting lonely sitting there by himself. Sure, Seaver was there, but as proven many times over, she wasn't the best conversationalist when it came to her and Reid.

As he made his way over to his desk, he was surprised to see Rossi sitting on Derek's old one.

"Hi, David," Spencer greeted the man as he walked past him and took a seat at his desk.

"About time you got here," Rossi said as he stood up and walked over to Spencer's desk, leaning against the end.

Spencer raised an eyebrow in confusion as he set his bag on the floor under his desk and turned towards the older profiler. "Am I late?" He asked, biting his lip and looking over at the clock. It was 9:45. The appointment with Doctor Haq hadn't taken that long and they had arrived at Quantico at a reasonable time. There also weren't any calls or texts from Garcia or Hotch about a case.

"No, but there have been some things going on," Rossi explained.

"Things, what kind of things?" Spencer asked.

"We've got a new agent, first of all," Rossi said and nodded his head in the direction of Hotch's door. Spencer was surprised to find it closed.

"And what does that have anything to do with me?"

"Seaver left the unit," Rossi said, avoiding Spencer's question.

"Really?"

"Well, she transferred to SSA Swan's unit."

Spencer nodded. "It did seem like she would fit in better there than here. Now, I still don't know what that has to do with me not being late for work."

Before Rossi could respond, the door to Hotch's office opened and Hotch walked out with a familiar blonde.

"JJ?" Spencer said, looking at her in surprise. Both she and Hotch turned towards Spencer, JJ grinning and even Hotch smiling slightly. Out of his peripheral, he could see Rossi grinning as well.

"Hey Spence!" JJ said, as she made her way down the catwalk and over to Spencer's desk. Spencer stood up automatically and hugged her as soon as she got close enough.

Spencer had seen JJ more often since Emily's passing. As a cover, he said he came over to spend sometime with Henry, but more often than not, he ended up releasing everything to JJ and falling asleep on her couch. He surprised himself when he never revealed his diagnosis to her. Derek had understood, knowing that Spencer didn't want to see him break down, and he knew he needed his time with JJ.

"It's good to see you," he said as they stepped back.

"Told you it was about time you got here," Rossi said, chuckling slightly as he patted Spencer on the shoulder and made his way to his office.

"Wait," Spencer said, his mind instantly making the connection. "You're back?"

JJ grinned and nodded, the two of them hugging again. "I've been taking the profiler classes, so, once I complete those I'll be doing everything with you guys," she explained, as she sat down on the end of Spencer's desk and he sat down in his chair.

"So how've you been? You haven't been over in a couple weeks," JJ asked, as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Spencer.

Spencer frowned slightly when he remembered he still needed to talk to Hotch.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked, concerned. She had noticed how fast Spencer had switched emotions.

"Oh yeah, fine. I just really need to Hotch about something," he said, giving her an apologetic look.

She shook her head and smiled. "You're fine. Find me after?" She asked, standing up from his desk.

He nodded and gave her a quick smile as he stood up. "Of course!" He made his way up the catwalk and to Hotch's office.

Derek dropped his stuff off in his office before making his way to Garcia's. He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Office of Unmitigated Superiority, enter mortal!"

Derek laughed as he opened the door and entered the room. "Morning, Baby Girl," he greeted as she turned around, and he closed the door behind him.

"Morning, tiger!" She said as she stood up and hugged Derek. "Where's baby genius?" she asked as she looked past Derek for the other man.

"He's probably in talking to Hotch," he said, taking a deep breath.

"What? Why? Did he get a call from someone? Is he okay? Is it the-" Garcia trailed off and pointed to her head, she couldn't find it in herself to call it a tumor.

Derek sighed. "We talked to a radiologist this morning. Spencer's going to go through a month of radiation therapy and he recommended a two week recovery time," Derek explained.

"Why does he need to talk to Hotch? Is he actually telling him or?"

"He's taking a sabbatical."

"A sabbatical?! Why? He's got to have more than enough vacation time saved up."

Derek shrugged. "We both talked about it but came to the agreement that a sabbatical would just be easier. He was never clear on how he was going to explain it to Hotch but it wouldn't ask as many questions as requesting a six week leave would with answering questions he doesn't want to yet."

Penelope sat back down in her chair and pouted. "If he's not here, how are we going to keep an eye on him?"

"We discussed that too. His appointment are in the morning before work, I'll drive him in and drive him home. He is not to turn off his cell phone or the house phone, keeping them near him at all times no matter where he is in the house. And then there were a few things we wanted to ask you."

"Anything," Garcia blurted out without any hesitation.

Derek grinned. "I know we're going to be called out on a couple of cases-"

"And say no more, angelfish, I'd be more than happy to sleep in your comfy guest room and keep my eye him."

"You're the best, baby girl," Derek said, kissing her cheek.

"Damn right," she said, winking. Derek laughed.

"I'm gonna go see if Spencer's done talking to Hotch. Lunch later?"

"Of course! Send my love to 187!"

"See ya later, mama!"

Spencer took a deep breath before he knocked on Hotch's door. Aaron's head instantly popped up and he looked surprised.

"Something I can help you with, Reid?"

Spencer bit his lip slightly and hesitantly stepped into the room, nodding. "I need to talk to you about something."

Hotch looked at Spencer for a few seconds before nodding. "Close the door and take a seat."

Spencer let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and closed the door behind him before sitting down in the chair.

"Is everything okay?" Hotch asked.

Spencer started to fidget with the sleeves of his cardigan as he tried to figure out the right way to go about explaining this to Hotch without releasing so much information.

"Reid?"

"I wanted to request a sabbatical," Spencer said, hoping that his voice wouldn't betray him.

Hotch raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise. That was something he wouldn't be expecting, most of all from Reid.

"A sabbatical?"

Spencer nodded.

"Reid, you do know with the amount of vacation and PTO you have, you don't need to declare a sabbatical," Hotch explained.

Spencer shrugged. He and Derek had discussed the same thing. "I know, but I rather have those as a backup for any sort of emergency."

"Is everything alright?"

Spencer knew what he needed to say to make sure Hotch understood as much as Spencer wanted him to.

"Remember in Miami when I told you I pretended to have a headache?" Spencer asked. Hotch nodded in response.

"I, I lied," Spencer admitted, stumbling over his words. "I had a migraine, a rather intense migraine, might I add. Sensitive to light, loud noises. I've been getting them on and off for a few days before that case and ever since then they've been steadily getting more intense."

"How so?"

Spencer licked his lips. "Ever since, since Boston, I've noticed them getting slightly worse. They're constant over at least 2 days, I can't focus on our cases, I-, I only read 5 books last week," Spencer said and released a small, awkward laugh. HIs voice cracked as he rambled and he kept his eyes on the ground, avoiding as much eye contact as he could.

Hotch looked at Spencer surprised. He had figured that there were more to the headaches than when he and the others had witnessed them happening. He felt slightly guilty because he sort of had a theory that he might've been using again, but Morgan had been quick to shoot that down.

"Have you seen a doctor?"

Spencer looked up at him briefly before looking away and nodding.

"What did they say?"

"They're not exactly sure."

"What do you mean?"

"The tests have been inconclusive. Some scans showed one thing, others show nothing. Some doctors said I was fine, one said it was psychosomatic which the last doctor I saw shot that idea down," Spencer explained.

Aaron felt slightly relieved at that. He knew how hard and personal the case with the schizophrenic unsub had been on Reid, especially since he was at the age where the symptoms begin to show.

"What did the last doctor say?'

'Time to lie, again!' Spencer thought to himself before responding. "He wanted to a sort of clinical trial, in a sense. There are few tests with MRI and CT scans that have worked for a case close to this before."

Hotch nodded, the sabbatical now making sense to him. "Luckily for you, medical sabbaticals are paid leave," he told Reid, smirking slightly.

Spencer smiled at him in return. "I was wondering if it could start officially next Monday."

"For how long?"

"Six weeks."

"Done," Hotch said without hesitation. "You deserve the rest. Who knows, maybe this is all stress related."

Spencer laughed at that and stood as Hotch came around his desk and clapped him on the shoulder. "If there are any cases this week, you're free to work them from here with Garcia, just in case."

"Thank you, Hotch, I really appreciate it," Spencer said, the relief in his voice genuine.

"No problem." He gave Reid another smile before he watched the younger man walk down the catwalk and make his way over to JJ's new assigned desk.

"What was that about?" He heard a voice ask from behind him. Hotch turned around and saw Dave leaning against his door.

"Reid requested a sabbatical," Hotch said as he walked over to him.

Rossi raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked down into the bullpen at JJ and Reid before looking back at Aaron. "Really?" The disbelief was obvious in his voice.

"Yeah, threw me off right away too."

"Did he explain why?"

Hotch nodded. "Intense migraines. He needs the time off."

"Damn right," Rossi mumbled and stepped back in his office.

"So, what did you need to talk to Hotch about?" JJ asked Reid as he walked over to her desk. She patted the empty spot on the end and quickly sat down.

"I'm taking a sabbatical," he told her, his voice quiet. He began rubbing the back of his neck when he saw the surprised look on her face.

"Is everything okay?"

"Remember the headaches?" he asked her.

JJ nodded. "Did you finally see a doctor?"

The weeks he had come over, he had mentioned the headaches and how bad they were, but he had never told her if he had seen a doctor or not.

Spencer nodded. "A few, actually. The latest one suggested a clinical trial of sorts."

"And they think it's going to help?"

Spencer shrugged. "I'm hoping. But, it's weird hours and weird side effects. I'm still going to be in town, but I figured the sabbatical would be the easiest, especially a medical one."

JJ nodded in agreement. "How long?"

"Six weeks."

"And you're definitely staying in town?'

"Yeah, why?"'

JJ grinned. "Dinner with 'Unca Spence' has become a part of Henry's routine. It would be a shame for someone to go and screw that up," she teased him.

Spencer grinned in return. "Well we don't want that now, do we?"

The next few days following had been relatively uneventful. All paperwork, a few consults, but nothing more than that.

Spencer kind of wished he wasn't taking the sabbatical, because he really enjoyed having someone in the bullpen with him. JJ was someone he could actually talk to ,and was completely comfortable around her. He did, however, apologize for abandoning her for six weeks.

It wasn't until Hotch called an early meeting on Friday that things got strange.

Like before, they had gathered in the conference room. JJ was sitting next to Spencer, Derek and Penelope across from them. Hotch and Rossi had yet to show up .

"This type of deja vu sucks," Penelope had complained upon walking into the room. "This isn't a secret "You Better Come Back After Your Sabbatical" Party for Reid is it?" She asked, looking over at Spencer.

"Why would someone want to do that?" Spencer asked innocently as he raised an eyebrow. Derek and JJ were laughing.

"Is this another meeting about the budgets? I don't like those kind of meetings," Garcia asked, worried slightly.

"We'll find out soon, hopefully," Derek said.

"We really need to stop meeting like this," Rossi mumbled as he walked into the conference room and took a seat. "Hotch will be in a minute."

And he did just that. "I really appreciate everyone coming in this early, again." He said as he took a seat at the table.

"What's going on?" JJ asked.

Hotch let out a sigh. "We're being forced to downsize for a couple months."

Everyone looked at the unit chief with surprise and confusion. "What does that mean exactly?" Derek asked.

"Reid will not be the only one taking time off from the unit. I've been requested to be temporarily reassigned," Hotch explained.

"Reassigned to what?" Spencer asked.

"I'm going to be leading an investigative task force in the Middle East for a few months."

"They can do that?" Garcia asked.

"Apparently," Rossi mumbled shaking his head. "What does that mean for the rest of us?"

"Morgan, you will be acting unit chief in my absence," Hotch said, looking over to Derek, who nodded as he understood. "As for cases, since it'll be down to three field agents, we'll be on a slightly different rotation. There will still be cases, just not as often or intense. More than likely there will be multiple consults."

It had taken most of the day for the news that they were about to lose two more team members, even if it was temporary, to really sink in with the team. When the time came to leave, everyone took the time to say goodbye to Hotch, since he wouldn't be in the country for the next few months. It made it easier to tell Reid good luck since he would still be in the area, just not at work.

There were promises of skype calls, letters, and keeping up to date on things, enforced with threats from Garcia, and nobody wanted to cross her on that.

The drive home between Spencer and Derek was comfortably silent. Spencer was curled up in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, resting his head against the window. Derek figured he might have a headache, considering how quiet Spencer had been.

When they came to a red light, Derek turned to Spencer and took one his hands. "Everything okay?" He asked.

Spencer opened his eyes and lifted his head up from the window, yawning slightly as he looked over at Derek. "Sorry, what?"

Derek smiled and squeezed Spencer's hand. "Just wanted to know how you're doing. You've been quiet since we left the office."

Spencer shrugged. "It's just weird, I guess. I sort of feel bad taking so much time off. If I had known that Hotch was going to be leaving for a while-"

Derek quickly cut him off. "Spencer, right now your health is what's more important. Your job isn't going anywhere and neither are you. The team can handle being a little smaller for now. You'll be back before you know it."

Spencer nodded. "I know. At least you can work on the Doyle case a little easier, right? I could even help from home."

Spencer and Garcia were the only ones who knew that Derek was looking into everything he could find about Ian Doyle. Spencer knew how hard Emily's passing had been for Derek, especially since he was the last one to see her alive.

After the funeral, the three of them had talked about it, and had started collecting as much information as they could. They could easily guess that Hotch might've had somewhat of a suspicion but hadn't said anything on the subject.

"Spencer, I know you want to help with the case, but I want you to take a break."

Spencer groaned. "I know, I know. It's already bad enough you're keeping me from the shooting range," he whined slightly.

That was another thing that Spencer had been personally working on since Boston. Everyone knew how much trouble Spencer had with his gun qualification exam, and was noted to do 'some of his best work under extreme pressure'. He wanted to be able to do his best work when it was needed. So, for at least 10 hours spread over the week, he'd be at the shooting range.

Derek chuckled and shook his head. "You, my little genius, should know better that even if you have headphones on, loud noises don't mix well with headaches."

"If I promise to stay away while I'm getting the actual treatments, if in the recovery time I'm not showing any symptoms, can I go the range for a few hours?"

Derek looked over and sighed when he saw Spencer giving him the puppy dog eyes. "Screw the profile, your best weapon is your eyes."

Spencer grinned. "So, is that a yes?"

Derek laughed. "Yes."