A/N: Enjoy everyone. : )
"What are you doing here?" Aaron Hotchner asked looking at Spencer Reid who was digging through the case file. Aaron turned on his heels and looked for Morgan, "Why did you let him come here?"
"I know this looks carless Hotch but he passed your criteria so I had to let him come." Morgan said not sure if he did the right thing.
"Where is the puzzle?" asked Reid sniffing quietly and scanning the box of evidence, "I can't seem to locate it."
"That's because I have it." Said Aaron pulling out the piece of paper "I was afraid you would try to sneak out of the hotel to try and find it."
"You should trust me more." Said Reid as he finally held the note in his hands.
"Should I?" asked Hotch raising an eyebrow. He knew, Reid knew he knew, and Reid couldn't figure out why he wasn't saying anything. Ignoring it he examined the message and words began popping out at him – help, I, save, them, need.
"I think I got something with this letter. Do you know what a triangular number sequence is?" asked Reid looking up from the sheet of paper, a lock of his hair fell out from behind his ear and into his thin face. "It's like this mathematical equation with dots. Each dot counts as a number the pattern continues by adding one number higher to the number of dots. It's: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 37, 47, 58, 70…"
"We get it Reid, what's your point?" asked Emily playing with a pen.
"Well look at the letter." He handed it to her.
"It's in the shape of a triangle." Said Rossi looking over her shoulder.
"That's not all, look harder and follow the pattern."
...Help those you want
...What you need to do
...This is not you, it's I
...Why do you not look further, you can find them
...If you keep looking too far you won't find the girls in time to save us.
"Help need I, them save?" asked Emily.
"Now flip it." Said Reid.
"Save them, I need help." Hotchner said as he reversed the words in his head,
"Exactly. Between this note and the call I got I would say he's gotten himself into a mess he doesn't want to be in. He probably took the girls and now has no idea what to do. He doesn't want to hurt them but he can't just let them go." Reid cleared his throat in an attempt to stop the tickling; any type of cough would blow his cover.
"How did he get you number in the first place?" asked JJ.
"I don't know." Said Reid honestly.
"It doesn't matter. We need to wait for him to contact us again. Try to get him to stay on the line long enough to tell us where he is." Said Hotchner, "Also I want patrols out talking to neighbors, ask them if they've seen anything that seems out of the ordinary, it's a pretty small town people are going to notice if someone is acting strange. Morgan go with Emily, and Reid I want you with JJ." Everyone grabbed their things and headed towards the black SUVs.
"Hello, we're with the FBI and we were wondering if you could answer a few of our questions?" asked JJ smiling when the second victim's neighbor opened the door.
"Sure, come on in." said the women stepping back and letting the two agents walk in. Reid and Emily followed her into the house and sat on a couch across from the chair she sat in.
"Mrs. Kane, have you noticed anything strange in the neighborhood?" asked Reid fidgeting with his hands.
"No, not really." She said trying to think back.
"Any strange people walking outside?"
"No."
"How about any strange cars?" asked Reid as he began to think that lying about being sick might not have been the best idea.
"Nope, this is a pretty quiet neighborhood."
"All right, well if you think of anything please give us a call." Said JJ smiling and standing up from the couch she had been sitting on, "Have a nice day."
"Of course." She said smiling and standing up to walk the two agents back to the door. Reid could feel himself growing dizzy again and instantly reached for the counter to balance himself on. At the pause in his step JJ turned around to make sure he was okay.
"Reid?" she asked but the boy didn't answer. "Reid?"
"I'm fine, just give me a second." Spencer said as he held tighter onto the counter his hand shaking with the strength of his grip. After a few minutes the ground stabled and he was able to walk unsteadily to the car.
"You're not okay, are you?" JJ asked once she and Reid were sitting in the car.
"I don't think it's anything to worry about." He said as the feeling of dizziness came back to him.
"Reid, I can tell you aren't well, look at yourself. You're sweating so much so I could probably ring your shirt out, your face is so flushed you look like you've been sunburned, you're shaking so hard the car is almost moving and you're so dizzy you can't even keep your eyes open."
"You don't want me to keep my eyes open." Reid mumbled as he hoped the feeling subsided.
"Why is that?"
"Because I get motion sickness if they're open." Reid said as he gritted his teeth.
"And is having them closed helping?"JJ asked as she took the next right heading towards the first girl's workplace.
"No, pull over!" Reid said as JJ swerved her car to the side of the road. Reid yanked on the door and fumbled out falling to his knees. Reid felt himself let go of every thing I his stomach and then he felt something he didn't recognize. Small circles were being rubbed across his back while soothing words were being spoken.
"Let me know when you're ready to move and I'll call Hotch and tell him I'm taking you back to the hotel." JJ's voice felt comforting and her cold touch felt soothing against his burning skin.
"I'm ready." Said Reid after three minutes of kneeling on the ground waiting for the earth to stop turning and the nausea to subside.
"Alright, let's go." She said as she guided his body back into the car. Once he was settled in JJ climbed into the driver's side.
"Hotchner."
"Hey Hotch, it's JJ."
"What's the matter with him?"
"How did you know—never mind—I'm taking him back to the hotel now." JJ looked over to see Reid facing the window and curled up tightly with his legs drawn tightly to his chest.
"Drop him off at the hotel and then head back to the station; I'm going to have a word with him before sending anyone else to watch him." Said Aaron clicking the phone off.
Aaron Hotchner stormed into Spencer Reid's room, the boy shot up in bed obviously shocked by the sudden intrusion.
"How did you get a key?"
"I have a key to everyone's room just in case they do something stupid and should need help. You know something like lying about being seriously sick." Aaron said angrily pacing around the room.
"I didn't lie." Said Reid coughing.
"Oh, really?" said Hotchner stopping and looking at Reid.
"The thermometer said I didn't have a fever, you know I can't make that…" Reid began.
"The water. I did it a hundred times as a kid. You use a light bulb for the fever rise and you out it in the water if you had a game and needed to be in classes that day so you could play."
"Are you saying you tricked your parents so they would let you got to school so that you could play in a school sports game?" asked Reid.
"It's better than lying to all of us." Said Hotchner as he began to calm down.
"I'm sorry. I just, I can't stand sleeping while I know those girls are out there. You need me on this case because I can solve the puzzles quicker than anyone else. You need me for this stuff." Said Reid choking back the tears.
"What we need is to have a healthy agent. Reid if you sit one case out, a case where there doesn't seem to be an immediate threat, then you are helping more than if you over work yourself and have to sit out several cases trying to recover." Hotch said as he sat down next to Reid on the bed.
"I understand."
"Good. So no more lying?" Reid nodded. He wasn't used to the caring and it made him want to cry. "Reid, are you crying? Be honest."
"Yes." Said Reid deciding there was no point in lying and knowing he couldn't hide the sobs even if he wanted to. Hotch leaned in and examined the boy, although he was heaving and coughing as if crying there still weren't tears falling from his sunken in eyes.
"Give me your hand." Demanded Hotch as Reid obliged. When he held Reid's hand in his, Aaron could feel the immense heat radiating from the boy's skin; he had to be at least three degrees above a hundred. Gently Hotch took his pointer and middle finger and set them against Reid's wrist. Hotch looked down at his watch and counted every time he could feel Reid's blood rush through his vein in that minute.
"You're heart rate is way too high. It's nearing 130 beats per minute." Aaron then pushed down on the top of Reid's hand. He watched as the skin remained indented and didn't recoil after fifteen seconds. "Reid you are dehydrated and need help now. We need to get you to a hospital; I'm calling an ambulance."
A/N: There you go everyone! Chapter six! : ) please review if you get a chance, they make my day and they would greatly cheer me up seeing that I've jinxed myself and come down with a little summer cold. : )