Heatbeat.
"Reid, can you hear me?" A faded male voice asked.
A long beeping noice. Stop the noice, stop it!
"Spence"
JJ, it's you… My head hurts…
"Come on, kid. Open your eyes for me"
Reid opened his eyes slowly. It was all a blur.
Heartbeat.
"M-Morgan?"
Sighs of relief.
"JJ's here too, like you asked for. Now tell me what happened"
I asked for JJ to come?
His vision got clearer and Morgan's concerned face was looking at him.
"JJ?"
"I'm right here"
He felt a warm hand gently squeeze his frozen fingers and it made him smile.
"Reid, I need you to try and stand up so we can get you in the warm car, alright?" Morgan said. His voice was loud and clear.
"Should I call an ambulance?" JJ asked.
Reid turned his head and looked at her. The chilly air had given her nose a pale shade of red.
"JJ…" Reid began and swallowed. His throat hurt from the cold air. She leaned in closer so she could hear him. "You came for me"
She nodded.
"Of course, Spence. I told you to call, remember, on the plane"
He remembered as she said it. It made him nod.
"It's bad this time, JJ"
"I know"
Morgan put an arm under Reid's back, causing him to hiss as the marks on his back burned like acid.
"I'm sorry, Reid, but I have to get you up. Will you help me? On three… One… Two…"
Reid tried his hardest to stand, and without their support he wouldn't have made it. His legs were shaking as he stood.
"I'm dizzy… I need to…"
"It's okay, let's stand here like this for a while"
Morgan's arms were warm and strong, and Reid knew he wouldn't fall when those arms held him.
"Spence, where is he?" JJ asked. It took Reid a few seconds to understand she was talking about Bill.
"Bi- uh, he's in bed"
The look on JJ's face showed him she was angry. Not with him, but with Bill. It was a strange kind of look, showing both anger and care at the same time.
"Who?" Morgan asked JJ. "You know who did this?"
She looked down and nodded.
"I'm sorry, Derek" Reid said, surprised by his own choice of using his first name. "I wanted to tell you, but I…"
Morgan interrupted him with kind eyes.
"It's okay. You called me, didn't you" Reid nodded slowly. "Let's see if we can walk to the car"
One step at a time, slowly. Reid kept staring at his feet and he noticed his shirt was stained heavily with blood.
Morgan helped him lay down in the backseat and JJ joined Reid in the car. She sat down on the floor and wrapped the blanket Morgan kept there, around Reid's thin form. They heard Morgan re-load his gun.
"Wha-what's he doing?" Reid asked, shivering as his body started to register the cold. JJ looked over her shoulder and straight at Morgan.
"I'm going to have a little chat with the guy who did this"
Reid was about to yell, but it made him cough hard.
"Don't… He's too s-strong"
"Who is this guy anyway?"
JJ bit her lip before she said anything.
"It's his boyfriend"
The next few minutes were quiet, except for Reid's hoarse breathing. JJ grabbed her phone. "I'm telling the ER we're coming"
"Did you say boyfriend?" Morgan asked.
"Could we have this discussion later?... Yes, this is Special agent Jennifer Jerau of the FBI, my collegue has been severly abused…"
Her attention turned back to Reid and the phonecall. Reid could't help but look at Morgan, as if he was prepared to be judged, but Morgan's face showed no traces of that.
"Let's get you to the hospital, kid" he said and quickly got in the car.
***
Reid's head got clearer as the car ride slowly warmed him up and he remembered everthing. JJ was looking at him, stroking the side of his face softly.
"You were right…" he said quietly.
"What do you mean?" she asked and grabbed his hand. He swallowed.
"I… I shouldn't have stayed with him. I tried JJ, I did I just…"
"Spence, it's okay"
He shook his head.
"No I should have reported him, but I was scared I'd lose my job if it came out that I'm…."
She didn't know what to say, so Morgan talked instead.
"He's gonna pay, Reid, you hear me?!" Reid looked at Morgan through the rear-view mirror and for a second their eyes met, before Morgan had to focus on the road. "I'll turn him into god damn Quasimodo with my own bare hands"
There was a moment of silence, before Reid burst out laughing.
"Ow, ow" he couldn't stop laughing, but it hurt. "You did that on purpose"
JJ smiled at Reid.
"These situations aren't made for laughter" she told him. Reid calmed down and gave her a weak smile in return.
"It hurts to cry too, and I prefer this one"
The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes and darkness surrounded him again was JJ's kind, smiling face.
