Sorry I took so long! The good news is that this means a longer chapter, and I'm hoping to get in another chapter in sooner than normal to help make up for it. College just really got in the way for a while. I hope you're all excited for the next chapter.
The doctor they called had treated the other survivors as well, and seemed to agree to their original assessment that Reid was not physically affected other than his mind, which could not really be confirmed without a scan of some sort. When they mentioned this, Reid attempted to bite them, so they refrained from repeating it within hearing distance of the patient. Since all three of the other victims (Sid Kennedy and George Corners having been released to their families only the day before) appeared to be fine without any other medical intervention and given the reaction of George Corners at his family's attempt to get him into a hospital, which had ended with six injured hospital personnel and George running away to one of his friends, it was safe to say it'd be easier to let Reid get what he wanted.
So the team took what they could to make Reid comfortable as they tried to figure out what the hell they could do. Questioning Reid worked about as well as it had with any of the others, in that it really didn't work at all. They answered every question with a riddle or nonsensical response, making it impossible to figure out what they meant. So for the most part, they just left him in the room, listening whenever he spoke but mostly just keeping an eye on him.
"Why are so sad Spence?" JJ asked. He was frowning at the wall opposite the couch, just to the left of the case board.
"Me and Hotch died. And Gideon. Lots of other people too. Sad day." He said, causing the whole room to stop what they were doing to stare at him.
"I'm sorry, but what?" Morgan asked, turning fully to face Reid, who had not moved in the slightest at this confession.
"We died. It happened. Not here, not now, not even soon. In a distant nowhere." Reid didn't seem to be inclined to speak anymore for quite a while after that. The rest of them tried to ignore the feeling of unease that radiated from each other. Reid had taken again to looking off in the distance, ignoring everything around him. It didn't appear that he had any idea what was going on, though he sometimes reacted to sudden movement, when one of them got up for another cup of coffee or for some other reason, his head would swivel toward them, eyes focusing for no more than a blink before they went distant again. Sometimes, he would look like he was about to say something, but for the most part, he remained silent, save for random exclamations and thoughts that seemed to make no sense.
In the meantime, there were going through everything, from the timeline of the disappearances to the backgrounds that Garcia had dug up on homeschooled girls. They had managed to narrow down the pool for the girls, but they all knew there was no guarantee that she would be in there.
Worse, it was clear that the rest of the police station was getting antsy. They had been there for about a week and they hadn't even been ready to give a profile yet. They would have to soon, and there was the pressure of doing that as well. They worked well into the evening, finally deciding that it would be best to retire for the night as Reid appeared to be falling asleep in his chair.
"So... are we going to send Reid to sleep in his own room?" Morgan asked when they arrived at the floor where all their rooms were. They all exchanged looks before they looked over at Reid, who was happily dozing against the wall.
"It would probably be better to have someone close to make sure nothing happens to him, especially in his... current state." Rossi said.
"Well who is going to watch after him?" JJ asked. From this point, a quiet but fierce argument began over who would be in the best position to look after Reid. As it turned out, Reid wasn't going to let them make this decision and instead he just got up from leaning on the wall and draped himself across Emily, who stumbled a bit at the unexpected weight ending the conversation abruptly.
"Well it looks like Reid knows where he wants to stay." Rossi seemed more amused than anything else.
"It could be a problem letting a female and male subordinate sharing a room." Hotch pointed out one of the arguments he had been using before as the others had attempted to say he should stay with them.
"Nothing is going to happen Hotch." Emily was barely managing to right herself under Reid's form, as he couldn't decide what was comfortable and therefore seemed to be fonder of the idea of just rearranging himself every time he almost got comfortable. "Reid, stay still for a minute." He finally acquiesced, though he seemed to be itching to move some more.
"I doubt anything is going to happen, and Emily can take care of both herself and Reid. Reid is certainly not in any state that he could try anything that would actually hurt her. We don't have to mention this in the reports." Rossi pointed out, tired and hopeful they could finally go to bed.
"Are you sure Prentiss?" Hotch asked.
"Yeah I'm sure Hotch." As though to prove it, she pulled Reid off of her and into a more manageable position, causing Reid to pout.
"Fine. But we are definitely leaving this out of the reports."
"No complaints from me." Emily muttered. Dragging Reid to his room, she grabbed his toiletry bag and found Reid picking out his own clothes (for which she was thankful) before they headed back to her room. Reid immediately went to the bathroom, taking his stuff out of her hands and coming out only a few minutes later dressed for bed. He took the left side and just tucked himself into bed. Emily found herself very amused by this. When she returned from showering and changing, she found that Reid had fallen asleep sprawled across half the bed.
He reminded her of a child, she realized, a sweet child. It was the same way all the others had acted, as innocent and as aware as a child, addressing the things they thought they knew with absolute certainty. She went to sleep on the other side of the bed, somehow managing not to bump into any of Reid's limbs as she settled in, setting her phone alarm and drifting off to sleep (barely remembering to keep the bathroom light on so that it wouldn't be completely dark).
She woke to the very unsettling sight of Reid staring at her. Trying to push the uneasiness that it generated aside, she smiled at him. "How did you sleep, Reid?"
"I slept well enough, though the assimilation was slower than it should have been. Hopefully it will not affect the assimilation today, or else I will not be able to focus on the now for very long." Reid's eyes slid out of focus for a moment, before he brought himself blinking back. "I will help anyway I can." A shadow of Reid was shining through. "However... the assimilation is so strong, I doubt I'd be able to help during one. They are so real... it is happening, but it isn't." As though to prove his point, Reid fell to silence, his eyes going completely distant, and his body merely laying there, breathing barely evident. It was more than disconcerting, it was scary. If Emily didn't know that all of the victims went through these phases and came out of them just fine, she would have been panicking.
She got out of the bed and began to get ready, her eyes constantly shifting over to Reid as he lay there, remaining unmoving. When she was ready, she gently shook him. "Reid, it's time to get dressed." She said quietly. To her surprise she found him getting up, going to the bathroom and coming out dressed. His eyes were still entirely unfocused and he appeared not to really know what he was doing, his actions entirely automatic. Emily tried not to feel too unnerved as she shot off a text to Hotch telling him they'd be down in a few minutes ready to go. Just as she sent the text she was startled by Reid's hand clamping down on her shoulder. Biting back her first response, she turned around and looked at him. His eyes were still distant, but his expression showed that whatever he was seeing, he was fighting, if only for that moment.
"He's going to kill you. He knows you're alive and he wants to kill you." Tears sheened Reid's eyes for only a moment before the moisture was blinked away and he face went slack again. She knew it was useless to try and get an answer out of him. Trying her very best not to react, Emily waited a minute to ensure she still had her own composure before she bothered to try and move Reid. As she expected, he was utterly compliant as she guided him to the elevator and then to the hotel's breakfast room. He gripped her arm tightly as they walked, and she found a plate made up for her and one for Reid at the table where the rest of the team had gathered. As soon as the food appeared before Reid he began to eat, while Prentiss tried to settle enough to eat.
"So how did things go last night?" Hotch asked, his eyes picking out the tension that Prentiss was pretty good at hiding.
"Fine. He slept like a rock." She answered honestly, spearing a piece of egg and watching as Reid shoveled food into his mouth with no type of discrimination. It was a little weird because that meant he was eating egg and orange at the same time, though it did not seem to bother him an iota.
"And this morning?" Rossi seemed to have caught onto whatever Hotch had.
"He was...aware for a little bit. He said the assimilation was slow last night and that it might affect the assimilation today, and that it's so strong he might not be able to help, which he said he would try to do. Then he said it was happening, but it wasn't."
"That makes absolutely no sense." Morgan shook his head. "That unsub really messed with his head."
"Well it tells us what Spence thinks is happening." JJ pointed out.
"Only barely." Morgan disagreed.
"Nothing else happened?" Hotch asked, his eyes on Prentiss, who opened her mouth to answer only to be interrupted by Reid.
"He's coming." Reid had stopped eating, and he turned towards Prentiss, his eyes going huge. "You lied." Then he grabbed her arm. "He knows and he is angry. He will take you from us and you will let him because he will threaten us. You love us too much. He will take us from you." His eyes burned into hers. "Lauren Reynolds is dead. Lauren Reynolds is dead." He brought a finger to his lips. "And so they fall, one by one, Lauren Reynolds is dead." His hand dropped away from her and he returned to his meal, eyes going distant once again, and the rest of the table was in stunned silence.
"Prentiss?" Hotch asked, his eyes flying to her once he realized Reid was not going to say anything else. She was staring at Reid, paler than bone with eyes wider than he had ever seen on her. For such a composed woman, she had never been more frightened or shocked looking.