Disclaimer: CM is not mine. No matter how much I pout and whine.
Dedicated to the writers. Slowing to a hault again. This isn't good.

Chapter 7: Close Call

When he next opened his eyes, his head was pounding. There was no pain, though, only pressure and black dots in his vision. He twitched the fingers of both hands, noting he could move them. That was a good start, though there was something in between the fingers of his left hand. He shifted his eyes down, not daring to move his head yet, and saw the needle sticking out of his right arm, and his left hand limply surrounding it.

'Oh, shit. What did I do?' he thought. He pulled the needle from his arm and set it on the floor. Next he tried to sit up, however the sudden shift in the elevation of his head sent more black dots into his vision, obliterating it completely for about 3 seconds, before it slowly dissolved back. He was able to keep himself from falling over, but was too afraid to attempt standing at this time. He was slowly becoming aware that he was hot and sweating. The shower, it was still on.

Doing his best to not move his head, he shifted forward onto his hands and knees, gravity causing the sleeve of his robe to fall back into place, and crawled forward to the head of the tub. He was sure there should be pain in his shoulder from this, but there wasn't; he smiled. Reaching past the curtain, he shut off the water, and then let himself flop back to the floor, on his side. This wasn't good, he knew this wasn't good. How long had he been out? He had no idea. As far as he knew, no one had tried to bang down the door so it couldn't have been too long right?

Slowly he helped himself stand, in small increments. Back to sitting, then kneeling, then up onto the edge of the tub, and finally a wobbly stand. He opened the door to the small cupboard in the corner that had been above his head moments ago. He pulled out a small white facecloth and wiped his brow, removing the sweat and, with it, the dirt and grime. He cleaned up his face and neck, and then pocketed the facecloth. Looking at the ground the spied the needle he'd set there, and carefully bent down to pick it up. He took it over to the wastebasket, and buried it under other bits of trash.

The mirror was still fogged up so he didn't bother checking himself over in it. He tied his robe front together, wrapping himself up in it, and then paused. There was still something he was missing. His eyes scanned the room again, looking for what he'd left behind. Near the foot of the tub he found it; the phial he's used. He knew Gideon would have his head if he found that. He picked it up and pocketed it again, then turned to the door. He swallowed and licked his lips, his hand hovering above the knob. He knew he couldn't stay in here forever.

He listened for a short moment, hearing two voices, which meant Morgan was here. He definitely couldn't put this off for any longer. He set his hand down on the knob and turned it. With a gentle pull it opened, and Reid flicked off the light and exited the room.

Both Gideon and Morgan stopped their conversation and looked at him. Gideon was on the couch again, and Morgan was sitting in the chair, both of them silent wearing neutral expressions. Reid shifted uncomfortably in their gazes and looked at the floor. "Umm, hey." he mumbled, glancing up once to see if their expressions had changed.

It was Morgan who spoke first, "Hey, yourself, Kid. We were starting to wonder."

"Oh." was Reid's simple reply. He decided after a second of silence that he should add to it, "Why?"

Gideon this time, "You were in there for about," he glanced at the clock, then at his watch, "35 minutes, maybe 40."

Reid gulped, putting together the timeline in his head. The drugs had put him about for approximately half an hour. Usually he was only out for 15 minutes maximum, which then posed the question: How much had he taken? He didn't remember measuring in his frenzy, which meant he had no idea. "Oh, sorry. Lost track of time I guess." he mumbled again, wrapping his arms around himself, protectively. He knew he looked guilty, but he just had to hope neither of them noticed.

Gideon stood and walked over to Reid, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You have any more withdrawal episodes while you were in there?" he said, looking genuinely concerned while he studied Reid. Reid's hair was dry, and still looked dirty, it didn't seem like he'd showered at all.

Reid shook his head, "No, I was fine. Probably soon, though." he fibbed. "Why do you ask?" he glanced up at Gideon, never quite making eye contact.

Gideon frowned, "No reason." He paused for a moment, "Listen, I'm going out to get groceries so I can make dinner later. Derek's going to stay here with you. If you need anything, he knows what to do."

Reid smiled weakly, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being transferred from one babysitter to the next. He simply nodded, afraid that if he opened his mouth he'd say something he'd regret. Gideon nodded in return and turned to walk down the hall towards the door. Reid stood at the end of the hall and watched Gideon leave before turning back towards the living room.

Morgan was lounging in his chair, giving him the trademark smile. Reid frowned, "You're in my chair."

Morgan gave him a confused look. "What?"

"Get out of my chair." he demanded calmly. When he got no immediate action he tried again, "Move, Morgan. The couch is free."

Morgan raised a brow but held up his hands in defeat, "Okay, okay, you win." He stood, moving over to the couch and flopping down on it.

Reid stood still, not moving for a moment, before he stopped hugging himself and went over to his chair. He sat down on it and immediately pulled his feet up onto the chair, curling himself into a ball, and hugging his knees.

There was silence as Morgan studied him, noting the hair just the same as Gideon had. "Hey, Kid." Reid looked up but didn't reply. Morgan sighed, "Are you sure you're alright?"

Reid nodded with a small, "Mm hmm."

It went back to silence, and it was Morgan again who broke it after several slow minutes, "How much did you take?"

Reid head snapped up, and his eyes were wide. "What? I didn't… No, I didn't take any! I swear!"

Morgan almost chuckled, "Chill, Reid. I know. I meant when you were using; how much."

"Oh…" Reid breathed a sigh of relief, "Not much. Regular dosage is 2 millilitres every 4 hours as needed. So that roughly translates to 6 times a day, which is 12 millilitres. I only ever took 1cc in the morning, and 1cc is approximately 1 millilitre." He shrugged, "That's only one-twelfth of what people normally do; I don't see the problem."

"The problem is, it got you shot, Reid. Add that to the fact you don't have a prescription…" he trailed off with a frown.

"It's better that I don't. If I did I'd be using more often then, wouldn't I?" Reid countered.

"True, but at least it'd be legal." Morgan leaned forward, looking at Reid while resting his forearms on his knees.

Reid glared, "I'm not a junkie, Morgan. I can stop at any time, and I have." another fib, though slightly larger.

He thought back to Reid's previous attitude over the past months; looked like junkie behaviour to him, now that he knew. "Yeah, and from what I heard you had a pretty serious withdrawal episode because of it, with more on the way. I'm worried about you, Reid. There are some people who may only take minimal amounts, but still get addicted just as easily. And eventually they'll start taking more, may not be for months, even a year, but it happens."

"You think I don't know that?" Reid snapped. "I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I knew to always be careful. I never broke my own rules." Again he lied.

"That's good, Reid. I'm glad." he sighed. "I guess I just wanted to make sure those drugs hadn't stolen you away from us. I'm glad we caught this before it was too late for you to stop."

Reid looked down at his knees, "Yeah… me too." he whispered. He was far too afraid to admit it might already be too late. He didn't want it to be too late for him. He wanted his second chance at a proper life, but at the same time he couldn't give up the drugs just like that. They were a part of his life just like each member of the team was. Each team member held a special place as part of who he was, part of his very soul, and so did those two little phials in his right-hand robe pocket.

Morgan sighed, "That didn't sound too convincing."

"Do I have to convince you? I wasn't aware I needed to force you into trusting me."

"You don't, Reid, but some enthusiasm would have been nice."

Reid shrugged, "I'm not in the mood for enthusiasm. I'd like to go to bed, actually."

"No way, Kid. It's too early for that." Morgan grinned.

"I don't recall asking your permission." He stood in one fluid motion and almost fell forward over the table, as black dots once again clouded his vision.

Morgan was by his side immediately, with an arm around him. "Whoa, you alright."

"I'm fine, Morgan. Just got a little light-headed." He pushed Morgan away from him, but it didn't do much good; Morgan didn't budge. "Morgan!" Reid snapped, "Just leave me alone, will you? Don't touch me." He pushed Morgan away again, and Morgan voluntarily stepped back. Reid glared at him before heading towards the hall and his room.

Morgan followed close behind, and got rewarded for his efforts with Reid's bedroom door slamming closed in front of his face. He rested his arm above his head on the doorframe and sighed. He was starting to worry they had lost the Reid they all loved.