A/N I am so incredibly sorry about the long delay in getting this chapter out to you. First, I went on vacation to Disney World and then I was sick and lastly, my computer died, but I'm back with a new laptop and a new chapter for all of y'all!-Autumn
It was two weeks since Reid had returned to the BAU. He had since moved back into his own apartment once Garcia was done with the "modifications," as she had worded the changes. She had enlisted Morgan to rearrange the furniture to have a clear walkway to the door at all times, in case he became ill and needed help fast. She had also installed a multi-functional panel on his wall that would remind him to eat (for all his genius, Reid was admittedly lax in that aspect), and to test himself. It included a voice-activated feature that would automatically dial 911 and Garcia herself.
Reid pondered the life changes he had to make as he walked out of the subway on his way to work. He sipped his piping hot, Splenda-laden coffee as he journeyed to the FBI building. It had been a struggle to be able to be independent as every member of the team wanted him in their sight. It hadn't helped that he had a low blood sugar incident the very first day that he had returned to work, but that couldn't be helped now. It had been the only such incident at work, and Reid hoped his luck would hold. He did wonder how it would be the first time they had to go travel for a case-peculiarly they had been in the office the entire two weeks since his return. Not that his boss ever said, but Spencer was certain Hotch had a hand in that and probably had passed cases to other teams to allow him time to get used to his new life.
At long last, he arrived at the famed FBI building and swiped his badge as he made his way into the office. A short elevator ride later and he arrived on the BAU floor.
"Hi, Prentiss!" the genius greeted as he swung his messenger bag to the floor next to his desk.
"Hey, Reid," she returned in kind as she glanced at him. She held his gaze for a moment until the genius laughed self-consciously.
"Do I have coffee on my face or something?" Reid brushed once of his hands up to wipe at his face.
"No, no, it's just, well, you are looking much healthier." It was true, too. Since being diagnosed he had been able to gain some of his sorely needed weight back. He still had a long way to go as he had already been underweight before he had become sick and it had only made things worse.
"Nah, I think Pretty Boy needs to gain some muscle," Morgan cut in as he walked towards them. Reid jumped slightly and he felt his heart jump-he hadn't seen Morgan come in and had been startled. "Come on, Kid, I'll coach you at the gym, we can start this week!" the older agent jibbed.
"No, thanks, I'm perfectly happy being the geeky nerd and you being the muscle of the group." Reid groused in good nature.
Proving how good his ears were, Hotch joined the small group from where he had been talking with Rossi, who wandered over a moment later. "I think you should take Morgan up on his offer Reid." His boss made it seem like it wasn't a request. "Your doctor said you needed exercise to help to balance out your blood sugar besides the fact that it's simply healthy."
Reid sighed, how did he manage to go over ten years at the BAU without any regular exercise routine to suddenly be thrust into it. Such as his life, he guessed.
"Enough about that now, though, we have a case." Hotch announced and the group assembled into the conference room.
Garcia was already inside the room and pointed her remote at the screen while almost-theatrically closing her eyes. "This is, or was, Ryan Young." Two pictures of the victim appeared onto the screen. In the first, a young man of about twenty-five with sandy blond hair stared happily at the screen with a golden retriever at his side. In the second, the same man stared blankly ahead, slash marks covering his torso and sporting an obviously broken neck. "He was last seen hiking on the Rocky Mountains in Colorado," some other hikers had been alerted to his body when his dog began howling. He's the third young man to have been found with the same MO in the area. The other two," four more pictures appeared on the screen, all similarly featured as Ryan, "Tyler Jones and Brendan Baker, were found two and three months ago respectively. Each of them were missing for a month before they were found."
Reid, "So, assuming that the Unsub takes one victim and keeps him for one month before dumping and replacing him, we can assume that he is patient and organized. Garcia, were the broken necks the cause of death?"
"For Tyler and Brendan, yes, but the ME hasn't concluded his autopsy of Ryan." The tech answered the resident genius.
The team discussed a few more details before Hotch pushed himself up from the table and declared "Wheels up in thirty!" As the profilers piled out of the room, the unit chief caught Reid's attention. "Not to irritate you, but before we take off, I need you to test your blood sugar, altitude can affect your blood sugar, undoubtedly you already know that but I still wanted to make it clear. I know you hate us babying you but we're not and in any case it's my job as Unit Chief to ensure the health and safety of all my agents." Hotch said in a firm but gentle voice that seemed only he could manage.
"Yes Sir." Reid agreed, he hadn't expected anything less. He smiled, a shy and hopeful one that when he was a new agent, had graced his features but was seldom seen now as life had chipped away at it.
As promised, Reid checked his blood sugar and found it to be satisfactory before the jet had taken off. He would have to check it mid-flight, he figured, but for now it was fine. He settled into a seat next to Prentiss as Garcia's face appeared on the team member's tablets. Prentiss had angled her own so that Reid, well known for his love of paper files that meant he didn't own a tablet, could see.
"The results of Ryan Young's autopsy came back; his cause of death was also the broken neck." Garcia informed the traveling team.
"Ok, when we arrive, I want JJ and Rossi to go talk to Ryan's family, Morgan and Prentiss, to the latest crime scene, Reid and I have the ME." Hotch gave out the assignments. He would have had Reid go to the victim's house but he was still hesitant to have Reid in the field quite yet. He knew that his youngest agent was aching to get back into the field, but whether it was the Unit Chief or the father inside of him, Hotch wanted to protect him. The genius had already had more than his share of troubles, and it was almost impossible to allow him to be the agent that he had proven himself to be.
Reid followed his boss inside the chilly morgue. He noticed that the young Asian Medical Examiner was wearing lilac colored scrubs, and wondered inanely if that was the only color that MEs wore.
"We've already received the autopsy reports on the three victims but was there anything else significant that you found," Hotch asked the worker.
"Nothing, other than, judging by the pattern of the cuts, I'd say that they were made by some sort of animal. Perhaps a bear. As for their broken necks, each victim's third and fourth vertebra were shattered and their fifth was bent at a 90-degree angle. I'd say, once their necks were broken, death was instant."
"Each victim was found at the bottom of a cliff of the mountain. Since the odds are 1,00,00,000,000 to 1 that they'd each have the same exact injury from falling and also that no other bones were broken, it's highly doubtful that they fell off the mountain or rather that they were pushed. Do you have any ideas of what possibly could have caused their injuries?" Reid questioned, rummaging through his messenger back for a note pad and pen.
"No, other than I found circular bruising on each of their necks, so they were hit with something but I wasn't able to place what it was. Too big to be a hammer, to asymmetrical to be a baseball bat, and so forth."
After about thirty minutes, the ME had no more news for the pair of agents and Hotch decided that it was time to meet with the other team members. Hopefully they had had better luck than he or Reid did.
"All right, thank you for your time and we'll be in touch." Hotch acknowledged the woman as he and his agent left the morgue.
"We'll meet with the others at the station and then break for dinner." Hotch decided, looking at the clock. It was nearing six pm and gone were the days where his team could simply postpone dinner until late in the night. It was fine though as they often had working dinners.
"Hotch, it's early and we just got here." Reid offered up a feeble objection. He didn't like to feel that he was the one to have to hold up an investigation simply so he could eat.
"We're meeting and then breaking for dinner." Hotch simply informed the genius.
Unfortunately, the other team members didn't have any more luck than Hotch and Reid had. There were simply too much they didn't know at the moment. But they would solve it, they always did.
As if on cue, a deputy of the station, deputy Jonathan Lewis, walked into the room the team was using. Most of the team was scattered around the table looking at the crime scene photos whereas Reid was standing in front of the geographical map he had plotted. The team glanced at him from time to time but he had yet to have that all too familiar gleam in his eyes that signaled the genius had figured out something important.
"I was sent in here to find out what your team wanted for dinner," Deputy Lewis said with no small amount of annoyance. To the team, he didn't seem to even be trying to hide his disgust at having to play host to the group of feds.
"What's close by?" JJ asked, hoping that showing that they cared enough to make it easy would help lighten his mood.
No such luck. "We have Cracker Barrel three miles to one direction and Top's Chinese four miles in another." He held out two worn pamphlets for both.
"Well, we can place an order and one of us go and grab it," Prentiss assured the annoyed man.
"No, you can't. My boss, Sergeant Thomas Cox put me on 'food duty,' he rolled his eyes as he spoke.
The team looked at each other. Silently they all hoped that Deputy Lewis was the only officer that they would encounter who had a bad attitude. It always made investigations so much harder when there was hostility between them and the locals. "I think, Cracker Barrel, would be fine," Hotch glanced at the team who all nodded. Hotch accepted the proffered pamphlet and passed it around his team. Each of the members made their selections as the paper was passed and ended up with Reid who stared at it in soft dismay. "Um, is there an online menu?" He asked the room in general.
JJ caught onto what he was implying quickly. "No, sorry Spence, there isn't." She disappointingly responded to him after she had pulled up the site on her tablet. The agents noticed the deputy tabbing his foot impatiently.
"Hey, chill out, we'll be done in a moment." Morgan said in Reid's defense.
Embarrassed by the attention he was receiving, Reid softly sighed and chose something at random. "Um, the grilled chicken tenderloins and the cooked baby carrots sound good." He gulped and made one final request, "If it's no trouble, please see if they have a nutritional guide brochure there."
Deputy Lewis openly sighed at that request, waited until JJ placed the order and slunk out of the room.
The entire team, save Reid, was glaring at the back of the arrogant deputy as he went to pick up the food. They watched as he grabbed his jacket and made his way out of the building.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I will be glad to solve this case and leave that deputy far away." Rossi announced. He had seen his fair share of deputies who had an attitude for the simple reason that the FBI had been called into to solve their case, but it always was annoying. He couldn't help but think that Lewis would be a problem.
After twenty minutes, the sullen deputy returned with the promised food and his trademark look of annoyance. He plumped the bags onto the table with a small thud and shoved a brown sheet of paper at the resident genius. "You watching your girlish figure? Not anorexic enough?" He snidely remarked. He didn't realize all of the glares he was getting from five of the agents, the one he was addressing simply stared at him in a "beyond bored" expression. "If I was anorexic, I likely would not be endeavoring to eat and also I would be secretive as to not ask for a nutritional guide in front of my teammates who, by the way, would have noticed a long time before now that I had an eating disorder and it is doubtful that I'd be here and not in treatment inpatient somewhere." He calmly stated even as he could see Morgan's fists balling up.
"Ok, if you aren't anorexic-which I'm still betting you are, then are you some sort of patsy?" Deputy Lewis looked at him and cackled. Morgan, having had grown tired of the behavior of the cop shrugged off Hotch's arm that until that moment, he hadn't even realized was laying atop of his own arm, and stepped towards Lewis and his best friend.
"What he is, is a FBI agent with three doctorates who will always outrank you and you had best show him some respect." Every word that Morgan spoke was spat out like some sort of disgusting medicine. If the cop had any sense of self-preservation, he would heed Morgan's words.
Deputy Lewis had no sense of self-preservation the team discovered. The cop openly stared at Reid, who had figured out how many carbs he was ingesting and was preparing to press the injection button on his insulin pen as he felt it being yanked out of his hands, causing the needle to plunge into his arm and tear a cut but not inject any insulin. "Erugh!" He muttered as it stung.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" he cried out as the other man ran to the door with his life sustaining medicine. The BAU team, at first startled frozen came alive again and the team quickly ran out of the door and into the station's small bullpen. Lewis was crossing over it and ramming his fist on his superior's door. They easily caught up with him.
"Yes, Lewis?" Sergeant Cox's voice came out a sigh and it was obvious to the profilers Cox had no small amount of impatience dealing with Lewis.
"I knew invited the feds was a bad idea! Look, one of them is openly doing drugs!" He triumphantly held out the injection pen.
For the second time in less than that many minutes the team was frozen. Except for Reid. HE was doubled over in laughter. "You-you-you think this is recreational drugs?" Uncharacteristically, he could barely get the words out. His proclamation unfroze his teammates who joined in the laughter. Cox, who had been thrust the pen by his subordinate was too busy giving the lousy cop the stink eye to his employee to say anything to the chortling team.
Lewis still showed he was not the brightest person in the room as he huffed to his boss. "Sergeant Cox, see the other agents are enabling the druggie by joining in his laughter! You know what, they all should be-they all should be arrested!" The slightly pudgy balding deputy exclaimed in no shortage of disgust.
Sergeant Cox thrust up his hands in annoyance. "Lewis, you are a disgrace to our station and to our profession! Before you go accusing fellow law enforcement, especially those that outrank you by a lot, of illegal activity, perhaps you should first investigate matters much more thoroughly!" Cox turned to the BAU agents while shaking his head. "Agent Reid, here's your insulin pen back. I suggest you go eat while I deal with Lewis here."
"Insul-iiin?" Lewis questioned, his face turning white.
"Yes, insulin! If you had not made such erroneous and wild claims, you would have seen the script label!" Hotch couldn't help but spit out. He knew he should keep his cool so the team could focus on the case but after hearing the genius being called a 'junkie,' he didn't feel inclined to do so. He knew his team and he knew that Reid would undoubtedly be filled with self-regret over past transgressions.
"That scrawny beanpole is diabetic! Ha, he doesn't look diabetic!" Lewis tried to refute.
"Agent Dr. Spencer Reid has a form of diabetes that anyone and everyone can get. Now, I suggest if you don't want us to write you up-mind you, in addition to whatever punishment Sergeant Cox decides upon, you will not interfere any longer." Rossi ground in.
Prentiss, who had been glaring at the chastised cop heard a slight noise and looked around. Not seeing anything she glanced at her teammates, all but one looking like they wanted to pummel a certain deputy. The one who was no longer paying Lewis any mind was the one who had caught her attention.
Reid was staring at the floor, no longer laughing. His face was paling in front of her eyes and she noticed a slight tremor throughout his body.
"Reid?"
"I think I need to eat." His voice was soft as he absentmindedly continued, "I'll need to test again, rework my units."
"Your arm needs to be tended to as well." Prentiss stared at the angry cut and abruptly straightened up. "Guys. We need to eat. Right now." She announced to the group, giving a side eye to the genius.
IF ever there were magic words to pull the team from disciplining the stray cop themselves, these were it.
"Pretty Boy, you okay?" Morgan rushed to where Reid was shifting on his feet as if drunk.
"Let's get you sitting down." No sooner had he said the words, Cox was out of his desk chair and rolling it to where the young agent stood.
"Here, use this. I'll go grab your food," he offered and then realized one member of the team, he thought it was JJ was already out of the room. "If you'll excuse me, Lewis and I are going to have a little chat in my boss's office." He practically dragged the arrogant man out of the room.
"Here, Spence, here's your kit." JJ retrieved the lancet and meter from it. Reid's hands shook as he struggled to put in a needle into the lancet.
Having enough of seeing the poor boy struggling, Rossi stepped up and inserted the needle for the genius. "Ready?" he asked a moment later.
"Rossi, you don't have to-" Reid protested.
"Oh contra, but I want to do this for you." Rossi looked at Reid expectantly. The young agent slowly nodded, giving in.
"Good agent." Rossi softly gibed as he poked Spencer's finger and then pressed it up to the meter.
"70. Low but not dangerously so. If you eat now, it shouldn't be a problem." Rossi knew he was simply saying things that his young friend already knew but he couldn't help it.
"I need to recalculate my insulin dose," Reid stated, "it will be a much lower dose." Even weakened, the genius quickly figured out the new dose and waited patiently for Rossi to inject it into his arm. That task quickly completed, and the team finally sat down to enjoy their meal, all keeping a careful eye on their youngest.
After the team had finally finished dinner, they dove back into the case. Soon thereafter, Sargent Cox knocked on the door where the team had set up shop. "I wanted to inform you that Deputy Lewis has been relieved of his duty for the next two days. When he comes back to work, he will be pulling desk duty on the graveyard shift." The no-nonsense official stated without preamble. "I want to apologize to you, Agent Reid, on his behalf, the incident should have never happened and I do hope that Deputy Lewis hasn't tarnished your team's opinion of this station."
The BAU family glanced at each other before Reid addressed the man, "Sir, Deputy Lewis isn't the first, nor will he be the last law enforcement officer to have a negative disposition towards the FBI. Likewise, he will undoubtedly be the last person who has misconceptions about me." Reid tried to shrug it off for the sake of the Sargent, but his profiler family was not fooled in the least. At least one, if not all, of them would be talking with their youngest before the night was through.
"Well, I thank you for your assurances, I have to go see about some paperwork, but I will be in my office if any of you need me." As quickly as the man had come, he exited.
In an attempt to get out of the limelight, Reid moved towards the geographical map he had made. Hopefully there would be clues. Aware that his team, though laden with their own case files was still keeping a careful eye on him, he did his best to ignore it.
"Guys, all of the victims were dumped within a two-mile radius. There are ten businesses, including shops, restaurants, the library, the post office and a family owned zip lining mini-school in that circle.
"Baby Girl, run a check for anyone with grievances, personal tragedies at the list I'm sending you." Morgan, correctly anticipating that Reid would be able to find some clue, had slid out his cell while the genius studied the map.
"Sure thing Hot stuff," the sound of furious fingering tapping away at the keys was heard through the speaker phone. "Okay, got the list, it'll take a few minutes, since there are several places to weed through, but I'll hit you back." The line disconnected as the tech went to work sleuthing.
Garcia had been good to her word. Within an hour, she had weeded out four possible suspects. "A Chad Jacob from the library was fired due to attendance issues. Marv Smith from the Quickie mart has recently been released from jail, he had a domestic disturbance charge. Corey Minor, from Ally's Zip Line Adventure, was fired and later sued after not ensuring that a client's harness was secure. Thankfully, it seems it was only on a practice height and the customer only fell ten feet-broke an arm, but otherwise was fine. Lastly, an Isaac Applegate from the quickly becoming extinct post office was charged with tampering with mail and was released ten months ago. All of this info is coming to your tablets. . .now!"
Reid quickly read over Morgan's shoulder.
"Garcia, one more thing-"
Reid's instinct was correct. He had asked the bubbly blonde to send over photos over of the people who had either done the firing of the three who had gotten fired as well as anyone else involved. To no one's real shock, the man who had had fallen while on the practice line, Trever Chase, was twenty-five and had sandy colored blonde hair.
From then it was only a matter of gathering more evidence, since each team member knew what they had was circumstantial at best. Pointed in the right direction, they were able to find the evidence needed and then apprehend the unsub, now known as Corey Minor. The man had used heavy-duty carbonator hooks to knock the victims out and then attack their necks. His torture hadn't stopped there as he had laid the bodies where bears had been spotted, let them attack them and finally, somehow (the team wasn't sure how he got the bodies back from the bears as no animals had been killed) took them to their dumping locations.
All in all, the case ended on a positive note. Corey had been aiming to get Trevor but they thwarted his plans before he could reach the man. Since it was already late into the night, they made plans to stay at the hotel and travel back home the next morning. It was very rare that cases were solved so quickly, but sometimes it just came together fast.
Spencer laid his go bag next to his bed at the Hampton Inn they were staying at. He grabbed what he would need for a shower and headed towards the small in-suite bathroom. Before he could get there, there was a knock on his door. He sighed, he really had hoped that they would forget, even as he knew that there wasn't any chance for that to happen. Changing course, he walked towards the door and peered out of the peek hole. Morgan stood at the other side.
"Hi, Kid." Morgan greeted after the younger agent had opened the door for him. He went to the window where there were a set of cushioned chairs. Spencer followed, knowing he wasn't likely to get out of this conversation.
"Hi, Morgan." Reid too sat down.
"So, first case back." Morgan stated, simply for something to say.
"Yes, that's correct. "Reid responded in kind.
Two minutes of silence occurred between the friends before Morgan leaned closer in his chair. "We both know why I'm here. How you doing after what that deputy accused you of?"
Reid looked away, his drug abusing days were long past but he still couldn't help the shame that washed over him each and every time he thought about those days when he was so lost. It was a battle he'd always be fighting but it was much easier to win now. He sat in silence for a moment before lowering his eyes to the floor.
"You know what's funny?" He questioned the older agent.
"No, what, Kid? Morgan did his best to make eye contact but it was for naught as Reid wouldn't look up.
"When I was. . . using, I never got accused of being a druggie-well, except for a friend in New Orleans but he'd battled alcoholism, so he was familiar with it-but now that I'm not using, I'm accused." He gave a dry humorless laugh. This is the second time in a month that I've been accused of abusing drugs." His voice trailed off.
Morgan flushed, embarrassed. After all, he knew exactly where he would find Reid's first accuser, and Morgan would be able to find him in a mirror.
"Reid, I am so sorry that I accused you of that- "Morgan apologized again for deed. Reid wasted no time in waving off his friend's apology.
"It's truly fine, Morgan. I just feel like I'll never be able to ditch my sordid past." Reid's voice was barely audible.
"Kid, you went through something that no one should ever have to endure and they were forced on you at the beginning. It's no wonder that you became addicted." Morgan had had this conversation with the genius before.
"I could have not taken them. I didn't have to continue it after I was rescued." Reid refuted.
"Reid, the important thing is that you did quit and have never stumbled from that." Ever the friend, Morgan retorted.
Reid didn't respond to that so Morgan continued, "and today, Deputy Lewis is a jerk. He was looking for something to complain about, we all could see that!" A small smirk graced the doctor's face for a brief second. "Any fool could tell that your insulin pen wasn't the normal hypodermic needle used for other drugs. How's your arm by the way?" Morgan gestured to the large bandage on Reid's right left arm.
"It's fine." Morgan nodded, he hadn't expected any other response. 'Fine,' was the genius's response always to that question. The Kid had answered that he was fine after being infected with anthrax, directly after being shot in the knee and a slew of other times.
The conversation wound down after a moment and Morgan touched his little brother's shoulder. "My room is two doors from yours if you need anything." Morgan excused himself. Reid followed the man to the doorway and made sure his door was locked.
Once again sighing, the genius headed for his much needed shower. If only he could wipe today off of him.
Morning arrived too early for the team as they straggled to the awaiting jet, each with coffee in hand. Reid forewent sipping his beverage and gulped it, causing his teammates to give him a long stare. "You okay, Spence?" JJ asked, wondering if he was drinking fast due to being overly thirsty or it was some other reason.
"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine." He assured them. He knew he wouldn't fool anyone though. Nightmares had kept the genius from having a restful sleep. He hadn't expected anything less. While he hadn't been threatened by Lewis, the man's accusation, as ludicrous as it was, had revisited him several times throughout the night.
"Right. . .keep telling yourself that." Prentiss retorted as she passed by him. She reached up and ruffled his hair. Reid rolled his eyes at the move and walked up the boarding steps to their jet. He settled his messenger bag onto the couch and remembered Hotch's stipulation about testing before flying. He quickly tested his blood sugar and seeing that it was perfect gave his boss a nod. Hotch's own nod served as a thank you for the genius heeding his wishes. Reid watched while Hotch sat by Rossi, he wasn't fooled, he knew that Hotch would be paying him a visit before the flight was over. It was his Unit Chief's typical reaction when one of his agents had had difficulties on a case.
In the meantime, Prentiss and Morgan sat near him and after takeoff, Morgan pulled out a game of cards that he had bought in the hotel gift shop. He knew Reid kept a pack with him but the older agent wanted to reach out to him. "Poker?" He asked at large. JJ, who was sitting a bit farther away, shook her head 'no,' as she chatted with Will on the phone.
"I'm in. Prentiss decided, having caught onto Morgan's plan. Reid, who obviously deduced it as well, smiled and accepted the branch Morgan was holding.
The trio of friends played five rounds. Reid won all of them before setting the cards aside and made idle talk for a few minutes. True to his prediction, Hotch joined them and after joining in a quick game of cards, Reid wining again, motioned his youngest agent to where Rossi and he had been sitting. The BAU godfather, to his credit, came and sat by Morgan and Prentiss, knowing the need for privacy.
Reid followed his boss down to the set of seats.
"Reid, I know that yesterday wasn't easy for you." Hotch wasted no time in getting to the point.
"Hotch, it's fine. Lewis was a jerk, but I've had much worse, we all have had much worse than Lewis could ever hope to be." Reid shrugged it off.
"Don't pretend that it is just Lewis that made the day hard. I'm sure his accusation brought up some unpleasant memories." Hotch chided softly.
"Not really. Those memories are always in the forefront of my mind even without the eidetic memory." Reid admitted, giving the unit chief a small smile. This conversation was getting too close to the Thing they didn't discuss. Couldn't discuss.
"I don't tell any of you enough, but you make me proud." Hotch confessed. He wasn't a very demonstrative boss but he still tried to make it clear that he valued each of the team members. Hotch watched his underling look at him confused. "You have grown up in the more than a decade that you've been on the team. When you joined the team I had heard from Gideon your intellectual skills but that first day when you came into my office, I had wondered why a teenager was visiting the BAU. You quickly proved your worth though. This team, this family wouldn't be the same without you. Sure, you have things you're not proud of, but every one of us does as well. When I look at the man you have become, I see an agent that has helped save countless victims and unsubs alike. I see the friend who refused to leave his partner's side when faced with a bomb. I see the agent who can calm a mentally unstable woman simply by returning what was hers and had been stolen from her." Hotch rarely voiced his praises but there were times it was needed and this was one of those times.
"Reid, whatever you do, please don't judge yourself by your shortcomings you had years ago but judge how the rest of us see you." Hotch ended his little speech and tapped Spencer on the shoulder as he rose.
Reid nodded as he sat staring out the window. He had a lot to think about.
A week passed by quickly with the routine of paperwork, and consults. The others groaned at paperwork but Reid often found it calming, soothing, even. The genius even had been able to put Deputy Lewis out of the forefront of his mind and had gone out with the team for dinner the night before. Figuring out his insulin units was easy for him but it was even becoming easier to tell by sight how many carbs something had if he had something similar before. Garcia's app had also helped on occasion. Reid loved the mom-and-pop restaurants that surrounded the area but found that the national chains were easier to find the nutritional information.
True to his word, Morgan had cornered him the day before last about exercising with him. Reid had really hoped he and Hotch would have forgotten about that promise. To no avail though and he was scheduled to go to a secluded gym with the muscular agent that afternoon.
All too soon, the day wound to a close and he reluctantly gathered up his messenger bag and go bag. He was keeping his gym bag in his car-less of a chance for anyone laugh at his expense. Before he could leave his desk, an aid caught his attention.
"Dr. Reid, this came for you." She gave him an official-looking envelope. He noted that it was from the Colorado PD. He slid a long finger through the envelope's seal.
Dear Dr. Spencer Reid;
Thank you and your team for the swift solving of our case. Without the BAU, we would still have the perp at large. I wanted to write and formally apologize for the behavior of my subordinate, Lewis. He was given a two-day suspension and when it became apparent that he had learned nothing from it, was formally dismissed from the station. I thought that you should know. I do not tolerate the unprofessional attitude that Lewis displayed towards you and am deeply embarrassed you had to witness the infantile behavior of my former employee.
I wish you well and thank you again.
Sincerely,
Sargent Thomas Cox
Reid put down the letter slowly. While he had almost expecting that outcome, he couldn't help but feel bad for the disgraced deputy. He picked up the letter again and slid it into his messenger bag, noticing that Morgan was waiting for him.
"You ready, Kid?"
"If I said, 'no,' would you leave without me?" Reid gibed.
"Not on your life."
"Damn." He followed his friend out of the office, his mind still pondering the letter. Determined not to let it ruin the night (the exercise would be enough to do that for him!), he swallowed his unease.
A/N Well, here we are at the end of another chapter. Once again, I apologize for the tardiness of this installment, I attempted to make it extra-long to atone for it. If anybody is wondering, I have no ill feelings for the police, I greatly respect them. Lewis truly wrote himself. Also, it wasn't until I had nearly finished the chapter that I realized that I had named the cop Lewis, forgetting the new agent's name. Sorry about that. They are not related. Also, I made a mention in the chapter that Reid can identify certain food's carb count by looking at it. I tried to make it clear that it was food that he's had similar to other dishes he had already found out the counts for. My sister and her husband and do this with certain food for my niece. We've been told that it gets easier. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and feel free to review, if you so wish. Autumn J