A/N: Gideon and Reid in this chapter. Then we're back to Hotch. :)
Sometimes Gideon really felt like the parent of a small child. When Reid fell asleep while watching TV, when he fussed about eating what was on his plate, when he more or less threw tantrums, when he got excited about some new magic trick. When Gideon was called up in the middle of an interesting documentary by David Rossi and told to come and pick "his kid" up at the BAU, since apparently Hotch had said something that upset him.
Not that Gideon really minded. These days Reid was the main occupation in his life, because there was little else that mattered to him, and he liked spending his days not travelling with the young man, even if the cause was that something had upset him. And he suspected that Reid had to be quite upset at the moment, because otherwise Rossi was unlikely to call him. Not that Rossi distrusted him or disliked him, though that seemed to be a pretty commonly held belief, but because despite what he often felt Reid wasn't a small child, and he didn't need Gideon to run to his rescue as soon as he didn't feel a hundred percent.
And Rossi liked to remind him of this, which was really rather hypocritical of the man because he did not only treat Reid as a child himself, he also occasionally slipped into his old habit of treating Hotch like a kid, something Gideon at least couldn't be accused of.
When Gideon pulled up in front of the FBI building Reid was already there, waiting with his satchel bag over his shoulder. The kid entered the car and buckled his seat belt without saying anything, and refusing to look at Gideon. It seemed that he was in a bad mood.
Gideon too remained silent, hoping that the quiet of the car would prompt Reid to start speaking. Because if there was one thing the kid had difficulty handling it was silence. And sure enough, within a few minutes Reid broke the quiet, still without looking at Gideon.
"Rossi thinks I broke one of your rules", he blurted out. Gideon took his eyes of the road for a moment to throw a look at the kid. So that was what Rossi's final comment had been about.
"Mm-hmm", he said, prompting. A small pout appeared on Reid's face and he burrowed deeper down into the seat, still looking out the window.
"I didn't really, though", he said, "I was just discussing possibilities and evaluating my place in the world which is really quite reasonable and it's not something you can punish me for!"
At the end of his small rant Reid was looking really upset, and inches away from stomping his foot, to be honest, and Gideon immediately realized that the kid had broken a rule. He also realized that Reid was probably hurting, emotionally and physically, and that he was tired and that all of this made him what in a child would be called cranky.
"Mm-hmm", Gideon repeated, which earned him a glare from Reid who seemed to want some sort of response to his words.
"And I'm not silly!"
Gideon frowned in confusion. "Never said you were", he soothed, but it didn't seem to calm Reid down.
"Rossi did", he muttered angrily, infusing the name with as much vehemence as he could muster. Gideon gave him a stern glance, because even though Gideon was the first to admit that David Rossi could be an annoying bastard, Reid shouldn't be speaking that way about a superior. Reid sighed in reply to the censuring glare. "It's not fair."
"What isn't?" Gideon inquired mildly.
"That you want to punish me for thinking critically!"
The kid's voice was shrill and upset, and Gideon had a feeling that unless he wanted a full blown argument with him, he would have to calm Reid down quickly.
"Calm down, Spencer", he ordered, "I never said I want to punish you; I don't even know if you've done anything wrong."
That silenced Reid, and for a while there was no sound except the car's engine.
"Dave told me what Hotch said", Gideon said after a moment. Reid sighed deeply, and his lower lip began trembling. Gone from annoyed and high-strung to downcast in a moment.
"He didn't mean it", Reid mumbled, but he didn't sound convinced and Gideon felt a flare of anger at the unit chief. He knew Hotch was hurting, but that didn't mean he was allowed to hurt Reid. Which was why he had demanded that Rossi let him speak to Hotch, so that he could say some choice words to the younger man. Rossi, though, had merely replied evasively and Gideon had a feeling that he wouldn't be let anywhere near Hotch for a day or two.
"Exactly, Spencer", Gideon reassured the young man, "he didn't. You know that."
Reid glanced at him out of the corners of his eyes, and pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I guess I do", he said. "But it's Hotch, you know?"
Gideon knew. Hotch was a constant in Reid's life, and had been for years. Gideon had been his main role model, his hero and his father. But he had left, and Hotch had remained. The unit chief would never be a father figure to Reid, or even much of a mentor in the usual sense of the word, but he was definitely a role model and a hero, probably more so than Gideon was these days, and what he said had huge impact on Reid. The kid had very little concept of Hotch losing control of his emotions.
"Even Hotch is human", Gideon said. Reid gave him a look that was partly exasperation and partly pleading.
"I know that", he said, almost whining.
"He makes mistakes, just like all of us. He made one today."
Reid nodded, and Gideon decided that he could leave it at that. He seemed to have made his point, and he knew that he was hardly going to conquer all of Reid's insecurities by simply repeating himself. It was a process started several years ago and he knew he had halted it by his sudden departure, but they were getting there.
"So", Gideon said after a few minutes more of silence, as they were getting close to Reid's apartment, "Did you break a rule?"
"Eh… maybe?" Reid ventured, and the shrill note in his voice would immediately have given him away even if Gideon hadn't already guessed.
"Which one?" Gideon asked calmly, because he'd realized over the years that Reid responded better to calm, reasonable questions that angry lectures.
Reid sighed and looked down at his feet, fiddling with the crutches in his hands, and looking very much like he wanted to be anywhere but there. "I was questioning my right to be on the team", he recited, and at Gideon's demanding nod he continued, "and I was letting myself get caught in spiral of negative thoughts without coming to you or someone else on the team for help."
It was the exact wording Gideon had used when he had explained the rule to the kid, and though he should be used to it by now it still surprised him slightly to hear himself quoted word for word. After Reid had finished, he kept staring straight ahead with a frown on his face. It was obvious there was something he wanted to say, and Gideon gave him a curious look.
"Something on your mind?" he asked. Reid bit his lip for a moment, before he seemed to decide.
"I'm not a child", he said.
"I know", Gideon said, humoring him and figuring that Reid probably had some point he wanted to make.
"And I shouldn't be treated like one."
Gideon frowned and gave the young man a stern look, making sure to let his disapproval show. "Are you trying to talk your way out of trouble, Spencer?" he asked and noted with some satisfaction the blush that appeared on the kid's face.
"No, I'm not", he said, "I'm just saying that I can decide for myself what I want to think about myself."
"No, you can't", Gideon replied, and when Reid looked as if he would argue he raised a hand from the wheel to stop him. "It's not because I think you're a child, it's because you're human. And I care about you."
Reid snorted and gave the floor of the car a small kick. "No-one tells you what to think", he muttered.
Gideon pressed his lips together tightly and this time he didn't show his disapproval by glaring at the young man next to him, instead he kept staring grimly at the road ahead.
"And look how that went", he said. Reid frowned in confusion for a moment before he caught on to what Gideon meant, and then his cheeks flooded with color and he opened his mouth to stammer out some apology. There was an unwritten rule between them not to speak about Gideon's state of mind when he left the BAU or Gideon's emotional state generally, because Gideon didn't think Reid needed to know how close he had been to doing something considerably more permanent than going on a road trip.
"It's okay", he reassured Reid when it seemed that the young man was too flustered to continue. "Do you see my point?"
Again, Reid bit his lip in consideration, before he nodded slowly. "I do", he said.
For the remaining few minutes of the car ride they were silent, and Reid seemed to be too deep in thought to be bothered by it. When Gideon pulled up outside his apartment building he seemed almost surprised, and he was still fumbling with his seat belt when Gideon got around to his side of the car to help him out. For a moment it looked as if Reid would protest being assisted, but when the man moved his leg and winced at even that small movement, he seemed to realize it was for the best and allowed Gideon to pull him out of the car and support him on the way to the elevators.
Reid was grimacing in pain every step of the way from the elevator to his front door, and Gideon briefly considered carrying the kid the rest of the way, because frankly he couldn't weigh more than 150 lbs. But before he had time to grow any more concerned about the strained look around Reid's mouth and start to seriously consider the idea, they reached the door and Reid began fumbling for his key.
"You should take some painkiller with lunch", Gideon told the young man, who nodded in response; perhaps not quite trusting his voice after the painful walk.
When they had entered Gideon wasted no time in steering the kid over to the couch with a firm grip on his arm. Halfway there Reid seemed to realize where this was going, and tried to fight. Wary of the risk that he would hurt himself by losing his balance or something else, Gideon halted his attempts with a firm swats to the seat of his pants. Reid turned large, accusing eyes on him.
"We just agreed you broke a rule. You thought you wouldn't be punished?" Gideon asked, and it seemed Reid didn't have any answer to that. When they reached the couch Gideon put aside Reid's crutches and took a seat, then carefully lowered the young man over his lap, making sure not to damage his injured knee.
Then, without further preamble because Reid knew perfectly well why he was in this position, he smacked the backside in front of him a dozen or so times, making sure to cover it all of it but focusing the last five, hardest swat on the curve where thighs met buttocks, and drawing a small yelp from Reid. It wasn't really much of a punishment; but it would sting for half an hour or so and it would show Reid that if rules were broken, there was punishment.
After the very brief spanking, Gideon helped Reid up, still minding his knee, and sat the young man next to him.
"What, that's it?" Reid asked, a frown on his face. Gideon had to smile, and gave the kid an amused look.
"Unless you want more?" he said, raising his eyebrows in question. Reid quickly shook his head.
"No sir", he said with a small smile, and as Gideon enveloped him in a sideways embrace he concluded that the kid was going to be all right, this time as well.
A/N2: Thank you for reading and please review!
