"Healing Question"

May 2006

Reid took a deep breath, taking time to smell the air that was distinctly CalSci. He had just spent the last few days with his mom at Bennington after their plane ride home. Since their vacations had been interrupted, Hotch had granted the team another week off to recover from the Fisher King.

The time with his mother was nice, overall, but thoughts were bouncing around that he couldn't discuss with her. That's when he decided to cut his visit with her a little short and visit another place that had been like home. He walked around the quad, memories washing over him. He was so lost in thought that it surprised him when he found himself already at his destination. What he saw was also unexpected.

Charlie was sitting on his desk, just staring at the chalkboard. There were headings of 'Mom,' 'Dad,' 'Robbery,' and 'Pancakes' written on the board. Reid raised an eyebrow. Okay, so maybe they both needed to talk. Reid knocked softly on the doorframe. He watched his friend jump slightly before turning to see whom his intruder was. The startled gaze quickly became one of surprise and happiness.

"Spencer Reid! This is a surprise." Charlie jumped off the desk and made his way over. The two shared a brief, slightly awkward – at least for Reid – hug.

"Hi Charlie."

The shorter of the pair patted his friend on the shoulder, "It's good to see you. What brings you by?"

The two started to walk back into the office. "I had a few days off and was in Vegas so I wasn't that far away…" Reid rattled off. He walked over to the chalkboard. "What are you working on?"

Charlie sighed, "I'm actually done, I just hadn't erased that yet. I was analyzing a dream of mine using the activation synthesis model. But, I uh, solved it another way."

Reid turned and looked at his friend. "Math for dream analysis, that's a new one for me," he smiled. He looked back at the board, his fingers hovering over the word 'mom.' "Was it the first dream you'd had with your mom in it since she passed away?"

Charlie shook his head, "How did you figure that out so quickly?"

Reid shrugged. "It's been a few years since she passed. You were using a very organized technique to analyze something that is inheritably not a logic problem. You seemed to be in deep thought when I knocked. And you just mentioned that you'd solved it another way, which I'm guessing was a follow up dream. If this had happened more frequently, I don't think you would have dived into deciphering it the same way." When he turned to face Charlie there was a small smile and a look of awe on the curly haired man's face. Reid wrinkled his brow. "What?"

"I've never been profiled before. I also haven't ever seen you do it; it was impressive, albeit unnerving." Reid smiled, looking down at the floor. Even when Hotch or Gideon would tell him he did a good job, he still didn't fully believe it. It was a whole other level to have Charlie say it. "You're correct, by the way. It was my first dream about her and I think I found the answer in another dream last night. I was just starring at the board because I felt like if I erased the math, I'd forget about her again." Charlie turned to take a seat in his desk chair and rubbed his forehead.

Reid nodded, understanding. There were times when his mom was so lucid that he just wanted time to stand still so he could have those rich conversations he so treasured with her forever. Reid took a seat in one of the other chairs. He could feel the gaze from his friend.

"So what really brings you by?" The pair locked eye contact. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see you, but I detect there's another reason for your visit than you were just in the neighborhood."

Reid shifted his gaze and in his seat. Sometimes he wondered if Charlie wasn't a profiler too. But then again, he hadn't made regular trips to campus since he had left for the academy so he could see why this was out of place. "We had this case where the unsub thought he was the Fisher King and my team and I were the Knights of the Round Table. He knew all these things…things that only I knew and had told my mom. I can't help but feel like I caused it all by sharing things with her that he then learned and used in his delusion. And Elle…" He swallowed hard. "Elle got shot." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together.

"Is she okay?" Charlie's question came out as a whisper. Charlie didn't know Elle, but could tell Spencer cared for his teammate, just like he cared for all of Don's team.

"Yeah. Well, she survived. Okay is a relative term and it's too soon to tell." Heavy air hung in the office. Charlie studied his friend, trying to determine how best to help him. He could see him mentally pulling into himself, a trait they shared. He had a feeling that if he tried to reason with him, it wasn't going to work. At least not yet.

"Well that's good news. I'm sure she will be in time, Spencer." The younger man nodded.

"Professor Eppes?" The pair spun their heads to the sound of another voice. Charlie immediately recognized one of his students standing in the doorway. "I was running late to class but noticed you were still in here. Are we not meeting today to review for the final?"

Charlie's eyes grew wide and glanced at the clock in his room. Thankfully, it was only five past three; not too late. "Yes, yes we are having class. Thanks for stopping Julie. I just lost track of time. Please head down there and tell everyone I'm right behind you." The student nodded and left as Charlie stood to collect his things.

Reid stood as well. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I didn't even think of that. I should go."

"Don't worry about it. And you don't have to leave; we can talk more after my class. In fact, you're welcome to sit in on it if you want. Or you're welcome to stay here or wander around campus. I'm sure you remember your way around." The pair started to head out he door.

"I do," Reid briefly smiled. "I'll find you after class." Charlie nodded as he ran off to his class of anxious students.

+ - x / + - x / + - x /

"This really is something, Charlie." Reid was standing in his mentor's garage, admiring the start of his cognitive emergence theory. The pair had picked up a pizza after Charlie's class, which had long since been forgotten after Reid started to review the work before him.

"Thank you. It's been a slow but steady progress. I find some time in between classes and helping Don out at the FBI."

Reid nodded, "I look forward to updates as you make them." He took a sip of his soda and turned back to face the other.

Charlie held his breath for a moment, "So, the Fisher King?" Reid set down his soda on the table and took a seat on the couch. He then poured out the story to Charlie. From getting the key at his mom's hospital to Garcia's computer hack and all the way to walking down the hallway to talk with Randall Garner. Charlie was fascinated and yet appalled at the story before him.

He moved from his leaning on the table to take a seat next to his younger friend. "Were you able to ask the healing question?"

"I asked him if he could forgive himself for what happened to his family."

"And?"

"He blew himself up."

Charlie's eyes widened; he wasn't expecting that. "Wow, ok. Were you able to save the grail? What was the grail, anyway?"

"His daughter that he had given up for adoption when she was five after the fire. And yes." Reid rubbed his eyes; it was like the smoke from the burning house was filling them again. He shook his head.

A sigh escaped Charlie's lips. "So it sounds like this man built quite the complex maze into his own delusional world. It also sounds like the faulty logic he used to build his world would have happened in some other way if he hadn't talked with your mother. Perhaps involving a different Knights of the Round Table or another story he wanted to embed himself into. And maybe that group wouldn't have been able to put everything together. Did you think of that probability?"

Reid opened his eyes and looked over to his friend. He supposed that would be true. Gardner was a man on a mission. If he hadn't heard of Reid's team while with his mother in the hospital, he would have found some other delusion to hold on to and committed the crimes in some other way, possibly with worse results. Reid slowly nodded. "I guess you're right."

Charlie patted him on the back, "So I guess I should ask you what you asked Gardner. Can you forgive yourself for writing things to your mom?"

The younger man sat back in the couch and let out a deep breath. "I think I can."

"Good." The pair was silent for a few moments. "Now, since I have you here, are we playing air hockey or chess because I'm pretty sure I still have the record in both." Reid glared at Charlie even as a smile crossed his lips. He was grateful for his friend's advise…and for a distraction as well.

"Oh it's on."