Chapter 10: The Unwanted Memories
Reid was looking at JJ, the man looked familiar to him, but yet his memory made it difficult. "Reid, do you remember who this is?" JJ asked.
"He told me that he was a friend of ours, he doesn't seem much of a threat," Reid replied.
"You're right, he's not," JJ commented.
Henry was staring at the older man and waved his hand. "Hi," he greeted.
"Hi there again," Gideon greeted.
"It my birfday," Henry said beaming.
"Well happy birthday," Gideon said smiling, "How old are you?"
Henry held up his hand. "That's a good age," Gideon commented. JJ kissed her son's cheek.
"Henry, mama's going to make you birthday waffles and then can you go upstairs to play?" she asked.
Henry nodded and JJ carried him into the kitchen. "Yours and JJ's?" Gideon asked, looking at Reid.
"No, we're just friends living together," Reid replied, "Henry's father was killed in action about ten months ago."
"I'm sorry to hear about JJ's husband," Gideon commented, "And I hear you haven't been doing too well yourself."
"I'm doing fine," Reid replied, "Just trying to get my head together."
"I gather that, let's see if you can remember much of this," Gideon commented.
Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a small chess board and started setting the game up. "White or black, Spencer?" he asked.
"Um white," Reid replied.
Gideon turned the board around so the white pieces were facing Reid. "We played chess?" he asked.
"Did we?" Gideon asked, looking at the young man across from him.
Reid moved a pawn forward and Gideon moved his piece forward. "How many paces do you look ahead of the game?" Gideon asked after a few minutes.
"Look ahead?" Reid asked.
"Yes, how many paces do you look ahead in a chess game?" Gideon asked.
Reid stared at the game and they went back and forth for four turns before Gideon sat back. "Checkmate," he told the baffled young man.
"W—What?" he asked, looking at the board.
"Try again?" Gideon asked.
"Absolutely," Reid replied as Gideon put the board back together.
JJ was getting Henry's party together when she looked through the sliding glass door to see Reid and Gideon in a second round of chess. "Can you believe Gideon's back? After he just left the way he did?" Morgan asked.
"If anything can help Spence's memory back, it'd be Gideon," JJ replied as she hung up some more balloons.
Later on, an hour before the party was supposed to start, JJ walked into the living room to see Reid getting frustrated with the game. "Gideon, I think you should stop," she suggested
"How is he going to learn if he quits?" Gideon asked, not looking up.
"He has amnesia, this isn't like he's a kid quitting a baseball game," JJ answered.
"He's not going to regain any of his memory with all of you treating him like a child," Gideon stated.
JJ gave the man a glare. "We don't treat him like a child!" she answered.
"Then why isn't he at least observing the team on the field?" Gideon asked as Reid moved another piece forward.
"That's not my call," JJ answered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hotch would ask for an evaluation from you, why haven't you given Hotch any reason to let Reid back on the field?" Gideon asked.
"Medically, he's not cleared to even fly," JJ answered.
"So have him cleared, he has amnesia, don't think that would affect flying," Hotch told her.
While they were arguing, Reid's head suddenly started to hurt. Suddenly, several flashes whipped through his head.
Him and Gideon on a plane and he saw himself holding tickets to a game. "The only person in the whole world who calls you 'Spence'," Gideon told the young man. He glanced over his shoulder at JJ who was reading the newspaper.
There as a flash and he was seeing Gideon's face on a computer screen. "Reid, if you are watching this, this is not your fault, you understand me? This s not your fault," he insisted
The memory flashed to Gideon sitting across from Reid. "I'm struggling," Reid told the older man.
"I know," Gideon answered.
The next memory flashed to him sitting at a desk with a badge and a gun in front of him while there was a letter in his hands.
Reid stood up, holding his head. "Spence?" JJ called, grabbing his arm lightly.
"Make it stop!" he exclaimed, 'It hurts!"
JJ's eyes grew wide. "Spence, come on, look at me," she insisted.
"Don't try to snap him out of it," Gideon told her.
"He's in pain!" JJ answered.
"He's remembering, he only thinks he's in pain," Gideon told her.
Reid let out a shaky breath as he kept holding his head.
He was in a shed, a dark dimly lit shed. Looking in front of him, he saw a man kneeling by his chair. Reid was suddenly aware that the man was tying a belt around his arm and there was a syringe in his hands. "No, please, I don't want it, I don't want it," Reid begged.
"Trust me, it'll help," the man told him as the needle sunk into his skin.
Snapping his eyes open, Reid grabbed at his sleeves. "I don't want it, I don't want help," he muttered under his breath.
"Spence, it's okay," JJ told him.
"I don't want it!" he exclaimed.
JJ had tears in her eyes as Morgan suddenly grabbed Reid's arms, holding onto him so he wouldn't hurt himself. "I don't want it!" he exclaimed.
"It's okay, kid, you're alright," Morgan insisted.
Reid was struggling against his hold, but Morgan refused to let him go. "Reid, relax," he told him. JJ had tears in her eyes as she watched him remember one of the most traumatic experiences of his life.
"I don't want to choose," he murmured with tears in his eyes, he wasn't talking to anyone in the room.
Suddenly, Henry ran into the room. "Mommy," he called. JJ turned around and picked her son up into her arms.
"Hey, let's go outside and play with your friends," she told the now five-year-old, taking him outside.
"Gideon have you lost your mind?! He's now having a meltdown with a bunch of little kids outside!" Morgan snapped.
"Would you rather him having this melt down in the middle of a mall or an airport?" Gideon asked.
Reid was starting to calm down and they could tell. His eyes weren't glassy and his face wasn't so sickly pale. "Spence, come on, Spence, come back," JJ told him as she walked back over to them.
"I remember Tobias," he said suddenly, unshed tears showing in his eyes, "I remember what happened."
JJ swallowed hard as she pulled him into a hug and she looked at Gideon. "This is why he can't come back to work yet, he's still having these moments," She told him, "He'd be an easy target for an unsub!'
"Then find more triggers to bring his memory back, don't treat him like he's glass. He's still the same Spencer Reid, just the one we know is locked in that head somewhere and you need to help him get him out," Gideon explained.
"The rest of the team want to help him, why do you just keep looking at me?" JJ asked.
"Because it wasn't the other team's names that he called out while he was in the hospital after the Hankel case," Gideon replied.
Reid let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes.
Reid's vision was blurry. He had no idea where he was. "JJ?" he called out. His heart started racing in his chest. "JJ!" he called out, he could hear rapid beeping by his head.
"I'm here, Spence, I'm here," he heard JJ say, turning the lights to his room on.
Making her way to him, she smiled softly as she moved her fingers through his hair. "Don't leave," he said quietly.
"Never," she answered.
Leaning forward, she brushed her lips over his and he reached up, resting his hand against the side of her neck. Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her while she made sure that she wouldn't pull any of the needles out of him. "I love you," he whispered as exhaustion started taking over. He felt her fingers trace over his wrist.
"I love you too, forever," she answered as she rested her head on his chest.
Reid closed his eyes as he fell asleep.
Opening his eyes, he saw JJ staring at him. "What happened to forever?" he asked as he got up.
"Spence?" she asked, standing up as he went outside.
Walking outside, he smiled as Henry ran over to him. "Unca Pence, come play!" he said excitedly, pulling him over to the little games. Glancing at JJ, he went to play with his godson while his question left unanswered and leaving JJ confused.