Disclaimer: See chapter 1
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"A nightmare," Reid said into the phone after Theresa had told him the reason for her call. Reid had stepped out of the conference room and was now in a corner of the bullpen. "Did he say what it was about?"
"Ches," Theresa relayed what Fletcher had told her about his dream. "Spencer, I am so sad. Poor Fletcher, he has had too much violent death around him for an eight year old."
"Why didn't he tell me?" Reid was confused. "I thought he trusted me."
"He does Spencer but he is afraid that he will be too much trouble for you. He told me you said to him that you had enough on your mind with the case. He is afraid you will regret taking him. I told him that would never happen, that you love him but I do not know if I convinced him."
"Thanks for calling me Theresa. I'll talk to him," Reid assured her.
"If you need anything I am here. I offered to come up but he said no," Theresa stated. "Take care Spencer."
"I will, thanks again, bye." Reid ended the call, put the cell back in his pocket and returned to the conference room where the team was tossing out ideas. "Hotch, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Hotch followed Reid into the bullpen. "What is it Reid?"
"I know this isn't the best time but I need a few hours personal time." He went on to explain Theresa's call. "She's right, at eight Fletcher's had to deal with Muriel Dressler killing prostitutes and abducting him, David Rafferty being shot in an elevator and Theresa being blamed for it and now one of his teachers is murdered at his school. No matter how smart he is, he's still only an eight year old child. How can we expect him to handle so much violence and not be adversely affected?"
As Reid drove the SUV through the Baltimore streets towards Weinthorpe Academy his thoughts revolved around his own childhood and his attempts to be the perfect child, as if not rocking the boat would have somehow made his life with his mother easier. Now he was seeing the same thing in Fletcher. He hadn't tried and succeeded in getting Fletcher away from his neglectful parents only to have him feel the way he himself had felt as a child. That was the very thing he had been trying to avoid. He wanted Fletcher to feel secure in his love for him. With his job that wasn't always easy so if he had to take a little personal time now and then to make sure that that happened so be it. He'd earned it after all.
The halls were quiet as he entered the dorm building at Weinthorpe Academy, too quiet. Young children populated this floor of the dormitory. There should be noise, Reid thought, music or the television set. He walked towards the lounge. He saw a few students spread throughout the room, mostly boys, reading or playing either chess or go. He supposed they didn't feel they should be laughing or enjoying music or the other pleasures of life when their teacher had just died. He knew that Doug Hay wouldn't want this. Reid pulled his cell from the pocket of his grey cords which he'd coordinated today with a cranberry shirt, a grey sweater vest topped with a black jacket. His tie featured slanted stripes in grey, black and a cranberry that matched his shirt. He hit speed dial.
"Hi Spencer," the small voice came through his phone.
"Hi bud, I'm in the lobby. How about you meet me out here?"
"Are you doing more investigation on the case?"
"No, I came to see you."
Fletcher's voice deflated, "Theresa called you didn't she? I knew I shouldn't have told her."
"Yes, you should have told her but, more importantly, you should have told me."
"But Spencer you said…" the boy began to argue.
"I know what I said. Look, I don't want to have this discussion on the phone. Come to the lobby please."
"Okay, I'll be right there." Fletcher closed his cell phone. "Spencer's in the lobby," he told Jamal as he headed for the door.
He didn't sound too happy about it, Jamal thought, what was that about?
Reid paced the lobby as he waited for Fletcher. How could he have said what he did? He, of all people, knew what it was like to feel unwanted as a child. How could he have said something so insensitive to make Fletcher feel unwanted? He'd thought Fletcher felt confident enough in their relationship that his off hand comment wouldn't affect him too much. Well he was certainly wrong about that wasn't he? The door to the dormitory opened and the little blond head appeared. Fletcher wore a robin's egg blue polo shirt with navy blue cords for which Reid was thankful. He'd persuaded the boy to leave most of his sweater vests at home when he'd come to Weinthorpe.
"Hi Spencer," the youngster looked at the floor.
"Hi Fletcher, let's go to the lounge," Reid led the boy into the lounge where they found two wing back chairs upholstered in the familiar wine colored leather of the school in a secluded corner by the window.
"Okay, tell me about the nightmare," Reid said gently and sternly.
Fletcher relayed the nightmare as he remembered it. "When I woke up I was soaking wet. I almost thought I had been out in the rain; it seemed so real but then I realized it wasn't. I got up and changed my pajamas and went back to bed. I kept telling myself it was just a dream and eventually I fell asleep."
Reid didn't interrupt Fletcher as he told his story but only nodded his head encouragingly. How many times had he changed soaked pajamas in the night or left his room to sleep on the couch because his bed linens were soaked with sweat.
"Anyway, I'm okay now," Fletcher asserted bravely.
"Are you…really?"
Fletcher only nodded.
"Have you spoken to the counselor yet?" Reid asked.
"No," Fletcher replied, "I don't see her until after lunch, 1:30."
"I thought we agreed that you would tell me about the nightmares," Reid stated, looking at the boy sternly.
"I didn't want to bother you. You said you had enough on your mind with…"
"I know, and I shouldn't have said that. I was thinking I couldn't take time away from the case because you and Jamal were running around playing mini FBI agents." He put up his hand when Fletcher was about to speak. "But I want to be there for you when something like this happens. I know with my work I won't always be able to but I want to try even if I'm just a voice on the phone, you'll know it's a voice that understands. Most of all I want you to know and be secure in the fact that I'm in this for the long haul. Just because you have a nightmare or do something to make me angry doesn't mean I'm going to ship you back to your parents." He gave Fletcher a little smirk. "I'm new at this so I'll probably make mistakes and that's okay. I made a mistake in letting you think I was too busy for you and you made a mistake in not telling me about the nightmare. So, we're even." Fletcher smirked at this disclosure.
Reid cleared his throat, not sure how his next words would be received. "I think you should tell your counselor about your nightmare."
"No Spencer, I told you, okay. I'm fine. Don't make me tell her."
"Who's her?" Reid asked.
Fletcher pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket with the name Dr. Beth Ellis and the time of the appointment printed on it and handed it to Spencer.
"Why don't you want to tell her?" Reid wanted to know.
"I don't want her to think I'm like a weakling or a baby."
Reid's mouth opened in awe, "Is that what you think of me because, believe me, I still have nightmares? Do you think I'm weak?"
"No, no Spencer, I think you're the best guy in the world and I love you more than anybody. I didn't mean anything by it."
"I've had psych evaluations and I've had sessions with therapists that work for the bureau. They don't look on nightmares as a sign of weakness. Though, I have to admit, I thought that too in my early days at the bureau. I didn't want any of them to know I was having nightmares. It was Morgan that picked up on it. He told me everybody has them. Now, there's nobody cooler than Morgan and if he admits to having nightmares then it can't be that bad can it?"
"I'm really okay," the boy looked Spencer in the eye. His words sounded convincing.
Reid glanced at his watch. "You're going to have to go for lunch soon," he said as he stood and the pair left the lounge getting looks now and then from students who occupied the room. "I'll call you later and find out how it went with Dr. Ellis."
"Okay, I'll talk to you later," Fletcher inserted his key card in the dormitory door and waved good bye to Reid before the door closed behind him.
Beth Ellis opened the door to the office she'd been assigned to let out the last student before lunch and found a man sitting in the hallway outside the door. "Dr. Ellis," he pushed back the brown hair that had fallen in his face. "I wonder if I might have a word with you."