See disclaimers.
Three days later, and the restraints still hadn't come off. Reid was growing more and more impatient, feeling like he was being held against his will in a very nice prison cell. He wondered off and on if this was what his mother felt like on occasion, when her meds were working and she was having a 'good' day.
"Come on," Reid cried as the Nazi nurse from two days ago shook her head. "I've had no coffee, no salt, no chocolate, no aspirin—that's got to have helped some, hasn't it?"
"Some, Dr. Reid. But you're still stressed out. Stress is also not good for patients with high blood pressure, and you have to relax."
"Give me three hours in a hot tub filled with bath salt, and I'll be fine," Reid said irritably.
"Look, your doctor wants to keep you one more day for observation, just to see if the new meds are working for you. Then you can go home."
"Really? You mean you'll let me walk out of here? By myself?"
"Well, you'll have to have someone stay with you for a couple days, just in case the hypertension spikes again. I'd start thinking about who you might want to call…"
"Hey, handsome," a voice said, its owner peering in from the hall. A pair of lavender-rimmed glasses framed a round face, with blond hair tousled into a messy ponytail on top. In the woman's hands was a large basket.
"Hey, Garcia," Reid said, glad for the distraction. To the nurse he asked, "Are we done?"
"For now." As she stepped out of the room, Riley pulled the young man's visitor to one side. "He's going to need someone to stay with him once he's discharged," she said softly. "I thought I'd let you know…"
"Okay. I'll set something up," Garcia said. She hurriedly came in and overtook the lone chair that stood empty in the small room. "So, how's the patient?" she asked, her voice ever-cheerful.
"Garcia, do you think you could…"
"Sorry, doctor," she said, a half-smile crossing her face. "They still don't give out keys to the hired help."
"Worth a try, right?"
"Yeah. Listen, I hear you have to have someone stay with you once you get sprung from here," she said. "Any ideas as to who you want?"
"It's not like there's anyone…"
"Au contraire, mon ami," Garcia said, shaking her head. "I personally know six people who'd be happy to do it."
"I can't ask them," Reid pointed out. "Everyone's got work, and I'll still have to be off for at least three more days."
"Hmm. Let's see," Garcia said, holding a sugar cookie up from her basket. "You want one?"
"Sure." He opened his mouth wide and took a huge bite.
"I've also got peanut butter, and oatmeal ones without raisins."
"Thanks, Garcia."
"Don't mention it. I remember thinking the hospital food was actually edible plastic wrapped in cellophane when I was here."
"It's not much better, but the toast is okay."
"Ooh, toast. With butter?"
"Strawberry jam."
"You suck."
"But someone has to feed it to me, remember?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry 'bout that."
"Cookie?"
Garcia fed Reid another cookie, this one peanut butter.
"So, anyone you like?"
"Like?"
"To come stay with you. Geez, some genius." The analyst playfully batted Reid's leg as she said that.
"Garcia, everyone will…"
"I happen to know that Morgan and Emily are planning some time off. Hotch has that great big house with no one in it, and I'm pretty sure JJ wouldn't mind having you over at her place for a couple days as long as you help Will with the baby. Who is, by the way, even cuter than you are."
Reid smiled at that. The newborn was actually kind of cute, once you got past the bald head and the mass of wrinkles on the face. He had big green eyes, much like Will's were.
"And if you don't pick in the next ten seconds I'm taking you home," Garcia added. "You can sleep on my couch and I'll feed you ice cream."
The thought of being in Garcia's apartment sounded promising. "I'll have to think about it, okay?" he said. "There's a couple things I have to consider…like who I'll annoy less…"
"Oh, we're all used to you by now, gorgeous," Garcia pointed out. "Even Morgan, who might still complain from time to time. Fact is, I think he complains just because he cares."
"Cares about what?" another voice said, floating around the corner. The sight of Morgan and Emily waking in was the last thing Reid expected to see right then.
"Ooh, cookies," Emily said, hovering near the basket. "Mind if I have one?"
"Go ahead," Reid said.
"Hey, someone needs to stay with him once he leaves the hospital," Garcia said. "Just for a couple days…"
"I've got room on my couch," Morgan said.
"I can make up the spare room," Emily replied. "And fire up the hot tub."
"Guys, really," Reid said. "Don't we have a case or something?"
"The "B" team's really been slacking off this year," Emily said through bites of oatmeal cookie. "Hotch has been sending them on more cases the last couple of months."
"Yeah, kid, didn't you notice you've been in town a lot longer than normal?" Morgan chided gently.
"Considering I've only seen these four walls for the past four days, I guess I haven't noticed."
The four agents chattered on about everything and nothing until the nurse returned. "Dinner," she said, placing the tray on the small cabinet near the bed. "You want me to stay, or…"
"We'll handle it, ma'am, thanks," Morgan replied, shooing the woman off. She'd come dangerously close to seeing what was inside Garcia's basket, and he didn't want Reid to have to stay cooped up another day or two because he'd had a cookie.
"Thanks," the nurse said, happy to be relieved of her chore.
"We'll figure something out," Emily said as each of them took turns spoon-feeding Reid his dinner. "We could always just come stay with you a couple of days...unless you've gotta clean up a bit or hide the key to the spare closet you don't want us snooping through…" The grin on her face was wider than the window opening behind her.
Reid thought about that a moment. "Or I could put you to work…"
