Nightmares
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds isn't mine. Princess is.
Hotch leant forwards to wipe a clump of sweaty hair out of Reid's face. He was still not quite used to the plaster caste they had put on his broken forearm, but gently he brushed the hair out of his face. Reid stared at Hotch and took a big sobbing breath. Hotch smiled slightly just as Reid spat in his face. Hotch reeled back as the saliva ran down the side of his face, and he swiped angrily at it with his good arm.
"Reid, it's OK. It's me. It's Hotch."
And he placed his hand back over Reid's still restrained left hand which was in a fist so tight that Hotch could see blood dripping from cuts he was making with this fingernails. Reid turned his head away from Hotch "Don't touch me."
"Reid." He said very quietly. "You are in a hospital. You have been injured. Everything is going to be alright."
"No Hotch." And he almost spat the words out. "Everything is far from alright. You ruined everything. Why couldn't you just leave me alone?" Then he started shouting "Doctor! Unbind me damn you! I won't be kept here like a prisoner!"
Hotch let go of Reid's hand and stood back away from him as the doctor came running in. Once again the heart monitors were going crazy.
"I was afraid this might happen." Muttered the doctor and he said calming "It's alright Dr Reid, you are confused. We are not going to hurt you."
"Then undo my restraints." He hissed back in a very un-Reid like way.
"I think you need to calm down."
"I think you need to undo my restraints." He spat back "Undo these restraints!" and now he was pulling against them and spitting and fighting against them.
Hotch got up and stood looking at Reid. He had never seen him like this before. He knew Emily had felt the sharp side of his tongue but never anything like this. Reid was cursing and swearing words even Hotch, the SWAT guy had never said. His back was arching at an impossible angle and the newly grown skin on his back split and started to bleed again. Reid's words were now incomprehensible. Just vile noses coming from somewhere deep inside as he thrashed and foamed at the mouth.
The doctors injected something into his IV bag, and stood back ready with paddles and tubes which Hotch didn't want to know about waiting to see if it would work. Slowly Reid seemed to relax and his body stopped jerking.
Hotch went back to looking down at Reid. His face white, pink foam bubbling from his open mouth but he was breathing, and the heart monitors had a normal steady rate.
"I need to make a call." Aaron told the doctors. "Don't do anything to him until I get back" and he rushed from the room.
…..
His first call was to Gideon.
"There is something very wrong here Jason. I think we need to wait to see what is going to happen to Reid before we go back to that place."
"Hotch? What's happening?"
"I hope it isn't what it looks like. Right now Reid's mind is not his. We have to wait."
"Aaron, stay with him. I will check in with Garcia and Morgan. They seem to have an idea of what has been going on. It's the depth of it we are unsure of. I am going to check on Reid's apartment too."
And Hotch closed the phone and walked slowly back to Reid's room. He touched the doctor gently on the arm.
"Is there somewhere we can talk. I need to go over some things with you about Reid."
…….
Garcia had written the little program she needed and settled down with Morgan to put it into action. Morgan's phone rang.
"Gideon, I am with Garcia now. We are being very careful." A long pause. "I see. OK. Well hopefully Garcia has put a stop to that."
He turned to Pen who was sitting looking worried. "Go careful Pen. This stuff has done something bad to Reid."
"Ok…well this is the start of it, the origami instructions, but it's more than that. There are orders as such to make them, but with specific things. Someone was sending Reid paper through the mail. It's telling him to use it, and only it, and to erm inhale it."
Morgan was back on the phone to Gideon.
"Yes paper delivered to his home." He was saying. "I am thinking it was impregnated with something."
….
Gideon unlocked Reid's small apartment using the key he kept under a flowerpot. The pot was empty. Gideon turned off Reid's alarm. He had been here often enough to know the code. He turned on the lights and looked around. At first he couldn't understand exactly what it was he was looking at. The floor of Reid's lounge was covered in thousands of small paper animals. Different types, different colours. They were everywhere. On the desk where Reid would have had his laptop plugged in was a huge pile of print outs. They looked like codes of some kind and so Gideon figured they were printouts of the emails he had been getting. Jason walked over and pushed open Reid's bathroom door. In here the floor was covered in soggy printouts. It looked like Reid was looking at them when he was in the tub. They were pinned to his kitchen notice board, and scattered around the floor next to Reid's big leather armchair. The phone suddenly ringing made Gideon jump. He waited for the answer phone to come on.
"This is Dr Reid. Sorry I am unable to take your call. Please call back later or leave a message." Then the beep
"I know you are there Jason Gideon. You can't hide. You can't keep him. He is mine." Said a child's voice.
…..
A man was standing in the hospital car park. He was wearing glasses, a hat, a long dust coat, and black boot. He was alone, and watching the doors to the main entrance. Slowly he started to walk forwards muttering under his breath. "I warned you. I told you to protect her. Now look what has happened."
….
Reid was finally sleeping quietly. His breathing was normal, his heart rate was normal. The doctor had insisted on keeping Reid restrained though. Hotch had talked to the doctor about brainwashing and mind controlling substances and all he could think of that may have happened to Reid over the course of what felt like a very short time. The emails though were going back months, and until that was finally unravelled they weren't sure what was really going on.
Hotch went to get a coffee and something quick to eat while Reid slept. This time it was not drug induced. This time Hotch hoped he would awaken properly and not still within his nightmare.
The man waited until he was sure Hotch had gone, then slipped silently into Reid's room. He gently undid the restraints and put a hand on Reid's chest and shook him gently. Reid's eyes shot open and he stared at the man leaning over him.
"You failed."
A/N Thank you everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story. You are all wonderful. I know I posted a vid, but being me I had to do it again and do it better…so please if you want go see: YouTube: Scarecrow2 Reid's Nightmare.
Link is also on my bio
sleep well
