Sick Leave- Chapter 9

Feeling Green

"..........Thanks all who reviewed! If you do it again I promise you more Christmas goodness! :)"

Aaron Hotchner sighed as he heard a knock on his door. He had just fallen to sleep, but it was already 6:30. He got up, and put his shoes on; he had kept his normal clothes on, ready to ac if he needed to. Hotch looked through the hotel room's peephole, seeing Haley on the other side. He sighed, and opened the door.

"Hello, Aaron." she greeted.

"Hi Haley; sorry about your sister." Hotch said. Haley nodded, and walked in as Hotch moved out of her way. "Where's Jack?" he asked.

"Oh, he's in the car with my mom; he's still sleeping." Haley explained. "It is only 6:30."

"Yeah." he mumbled.

"How's Dr. Reid? I heard that he was in the hospital." Haley asked.

"He's doing better. Will and JJ brought their son, Henry. That seemed to cheer him up a bit." Hotch said.

"He doesn't mind Jack joining you guys for Christmas, does he?"

"No, he said 'the more the merrier.' " Hotch smiled. "I think he just doesn't want to be alone right now. He's been alone for almost all of his life."

"What do you mean most of his life?" Haley asked.

"His father left when he was about five and his mother is schizophrenic. He basically raised himself, and after Gideon left a few years ago, he was by himself again." Hotch quickly explained.

"That's sad." Haley mumbled. '

"When does your flight take off?" Hotch asked, trying to hint that she should leave now.

"Oh, um, about an hours. I guess I should leave. Thanks for taking Jack for the holiday. I will call you before I get on my flight home." Haley said. Hotch nodded. "Can you help me get Jack?" she asked. Once more. Hotch nodded. With that, he went out into the cold, snowy atmosphere, shutting the door behind him......

A few hours later, Jack woke up. "Hey buddy." Hotch said with a smile. Jack smiled back, letting out a yawn. "Mommy's going to be out of town for a few days, so you are going to be staying with me for a few days." Jack's smiled widened; he was happy to see his dad again. "Hungry?" Jack nodded.

Hotch got up from the couch, and headed off toward the small 'kitchen' of his hotel room. He grabbed a fruit snack from the bag the Haley had given him, and walked back to Jack. He opened the package, and gave it to Jack.

"Hey, do you remember Uncle Spencer?" he asked. Jack nodded. The last time he had seen Reid, he had done a magic trick, which left a good impression on Jack. "He's sick right now, and he's in the hospital. We are going to visit him, with the rest of my team."

" 'K daddy." Jack answered. Hotch nodded, and ruffled his son's hair.

"We're going to be leaving at 8. it is 7:20 now. Do you think you will be ready?" he asked.

"Yeah." Jack said back.

"Good." Hotch smiled. ….

"Watch your language! There's going to be a very impressionable toddler with us!" Penelope Garcia scolded at Morgan.

"Why do you hurt me, baby girl?" he smirked.

"Oh, just worried about his language?" JJ asked Garcia. Will, who was standing behind Emily Prentiss, pointed down at her.

"Hey! I don't swear that much!" Prentiss said defensively.

"Sure you don't." Rossi mumbled.

"Yeah, as clean as Reid." Morgan smirked.

"Fine. EVERYONE keep it clean!" Garcia said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh. There he is!" Garcia added as she pointed to Jack and Hotch.

"Hey guys. Say hi, Jack." Hotch said.

"Hi." Jack said with a yawn. Hotch smiled at that,as did Garcia.

"Are we all ready?" Rossi asked. Every one on the team nodded. "Alright, then let's get going." With that, the team split up so they could all file in to the black SUV. ….

When the BAU team got to the hospital, Spencer Reid was still sleeping. The nurse had told them that he had been sleeping since they had left yesterday."He probably needed the extra sleep. He's been through a lot in the past few days." the nurse said.

"Should we leave, then? We can always come back later........" Rossi started.

"No,no. That's fine. We have to wake him up now,anyways. It's been five hours." the nurse answered.

"Good thing we came when we did, then." Morgan smiled. The nurse nodded, ans signaled for the BAU team to follow her into Reid's hospital room.

"Hey Pretty Boy," Morgan said, taking his rightful place by Reid's bedside. "Wakey-wakey." Reid groaned, and threw his pillow at him. "Go away; I am tired." he shined. Morgan laughed.

"Relax kid, we're all here. Even Jack." Morgan said.

"Sorry." Reid mumbled. "Hey Jack."

"Hi." Jack said back. "Daddy, I am hungry." Jack said to his father.

"Okay, after this, we can get something to eat.. I promise." Hotch said.

"If you're hungry, you can got get something to eat. I'm not going anywhere. " Reid offered.

"Are you sure?" Hotch asked. Reid nodded his head.

"Sure; go eat."

"Anyone else hungry?" Hotch asked.

"Uh......I think I will go with you guys." Prentiss said. "I woke up late and didn't have time to eat." Hotch- carrying Jack- and Prentiss both stood up.

"We'll meet you guys here in about an hour." Prentiss said.

"Bye guys." Reid said. They said good-bye back, and left the room.

"Are you guys sure you're not hungry?" Reid asked. They nodded.

"And what about you?" Rossi asked. "Are you hungry?" Reid frowned. The very idea of food sounded repulsive right now. Although it felt like he hadn't ate substantial food for months, he felt no desire to eat anything. At the moment.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale......" JJ asked.

"Sorry," Rossi said. "I shouldn't have mentioned food."

"No, I am fine." Reid lied- although he was mostly trying to convince himself he was fine.

"Kid, you're the worst liar I've ever known." Morgan said. Reid frowned, feeling as though he was going to puke.

Just in time, a nurse came in with Reid's pill. But when she saw Reid, she frowned. "I came in here to give you your next pill, but you don't look too well. Well, of course you're sick, but you look like you're going to vomit. I am going to get the doctor and ask him if he thinks you should take the pill a bit later today." Reid nodded, and the nurse left the room.

A few minutes later, the nurse returned with the doctor.

"Hello Dr Reid and uh........" he started, not sure how to address the other profilers.

"Oh, um David, Emily, Derek, JJ, Will, and baby Henry." Garcia said. "I'm Penelope." the doctor smiled, and shook her head.

"Nice to meet you all."

After that, he turned his attention back to Reid. "Now, it seems my nurse is afraid you will get sick, and undo the effects of the last three pills you have taken. I happen to agree, but that's a risk we have to take. If we don't give you the pill now, it will undo the last four pills we have given you. Do you think you're ready for this?" he asked. Reid nodded,and the doctor gave Reid the pill. "Now, I will be back in about an hour to see how you're doing, alright?" Reid and the BAU nodded,so the doctor left.

Reid took a deep breath as he looked at the pill laying in front of him. '

'This isn't going to be good...........' he thought.

"............okay, so I AM in fact delaying Christmas as much as possible to make this story last up TO Christmas. Me = sorry, but thats the way this has to be :( More Christmas talk in the next 1-2 chaps hopefully, though. Please R&R!"