Chapter 12
The hospital was about a mile away from the hotel, Ryan crawled out of bed as quietly as he could so as not to wake Garcia from her dreams of cupcakes, kittens and hunky men baking cupcakes and petting kittens. He hadn't slept that night. Ryan was relieved but concerned about trying to get Reid to change his mind about them. He put his clothes on and headed downs stairs to the coffee shop a few blocks away. He picked up a coffee for himself so he could stay awake for a little while, and one for Reid, because a little sucking up never hurt anyone. He continued walking in the quiet morning, contemplating what to say to Reid who was probably too traumatized to discuss whatever there was or was not between them.
"Hello sweetheart, would you like to buy a rose for that special someone? A wife? A girlfriend? Maybe even a sister?" A pleasant voice said.
An old woman in a floral print button down and white pants stopped him in his tracks. She had a pink bandanna tied around her head, holding back her greying hair.
"They're just a dollar each, home grown. Each comes with a ribbon." She pleaded.
Ryan thought a moment. Maybe a little bit more ass-kissing wouldn't hurt. Ryan looked at her selection, all of the natural colors and ones that started out white, but where turned into every color of the rainbow with colored water. A purple one caught Ryan's eye.
"I'll have a purple one." Ryan said to the lady, knowing it was Reid's favorite color. He paid the woman, thanked her and walked off, toward the hospital.
When he walked into the cold sterile building, he was hit with the smell of antiseptics designed to kill all of the germs from every kind of contagion you could think of. The problem was, the contagions kept evolving and becoming resistant to the disinfectants. "We're all going to die from some kind of superbug because of all this." Ryan thought, checking in at the visitors desk and taking the elevator up to Reid's room. The coffee was still warm and the rose smelled sweet. He smiled a little.
He had been cleaned up a bit, though he was still covered in cuts and bruises. He was awake and staring at nothing. "Dr. Reid, you have a visitor." A nurse said, "alright." Reid murmured, pushing his hair off of his face.
Ryan peeked around the corner at Reid, who didn't seem to be looking at him , or anything for that matter. "Hey…" Ryan sighed, entering the room
Spencer was secretly happy to see the boy who had snatched away his first kiss almost a week earlier.
"um…Hi." Reid almost whispered.
"I brought you a couple things." Ryan said. "It's still warm." He handed Reid the coffee.
"A purple rose? Where'd you find that?" Reid asked, sipping his coffee.
"There was this lady selling them on the street." Ryan replied
"Purple roses are connotative of enchantment, of desire, of love at first sight. But it really has no permanence to it. Enchantment can be fleeting. But I guess that's why there's only one. A single rose is a symbol of love and devotion. But on the other hand, sending a single purple rose is a way of telling someone they're beautiful because purple is often a color used to represent opulence and beauty.. You really wouldn't think one little flower could have such meaning." Reid said, twirling the stem in his fingers.
Ryan just smiled a little, all this time he picked the purple one because he thought it was Reid's favorite color.
"So I guess what you're trying to say is that you're enchanted, that you felt something for me at first sight, but you're also devoted, that this enchantment isn't fleeting, that you want to stay with me?" Reid continued.
"Yeah." The corners of Ryan's mouth turned up a little. His palms were sweaty as they grasped the small Railing on the side of Reid's hospital bed.
Spencer began to muster up all of the strength and bravery he could. He managed to sit up all of the way, place his hands on either side of Ryan's face and kiss him full and hard on the lips. That one big kiss lead into a string of softer, smaller ones until they faded completely and Reid was left cupping Ryan's face and smiling "That's all I needed to know." Reid whispered letting Ryan go. Ryan kissed his forehead and stroked Reid's soft brown hair.
Reid felt warm inside, "Is this what having someone is like?" He thought. He was enjoying this feeling, it felt comforting.
A nurse came in. "Dr. Reid, you should be released sometime this afternoon." She said, and looking lustily at Ryan she asked. "Will you be taking Dr. Reid home?"
"He's mine." Reid thought coldly.
"No. SSA Hotchner should be arriving later today to take him to the airport and back to Quantico." Ryan said.
"So… How are we going to do this?" Reid asked "We obviously can't be walking around the BAU holding hands and cuddling on the jet."
"You're right. We might want to keep this quiet. I guess we'll be seeing each other a lot after work." Ryan chuckled. Ryan kissed Reid again, tracing the outline of his ear as he pushed a lock of hair behind it.
Spencer felt that same woozy feeling he felt when he fell asleep next to Ryan that night. "Did you know that on average; two thirds of people tilt their head to the right when kissing? It also helps boost immunity." Reid smiled.
"I knew about the immunity part, but not the whole turning your head to the right thing." Ryan sighed, feeling happier than he had in a long time.
" , " A brusque voice said in the doorway. "Hotch." Reid said, trying to hide the rose discreetly under his blanket. "I'd like a word with you both." He said
"sure." Reid said.
"Well as I'm sure you're both aware, you each have two weeks of AL, annual leave. " Hotch began.
They both nodded.
"Well I'd like both of you to take yours when we return home, Reid you need time to recover, and Stanson, I want you to stay with Reid, I don't want him to be alone at a time like this. Its not like you do much around the BAU anyways." Hotch continued, shooting an awful look at Ryan.
"Are you suggesting I need a baby sitter?" Reid snapped at Hotch.
"Yes, Reid, that's what I'm saying." Hotch replied. "I don't feel like you're going to be mentally stable enough to be alone for two weeks. "
With that, Hotch left the room.
"So we've got two weeks to ourselves, starting when we get home. " Spencer smiled, pulling the rose back out from under the blanket. "What can we do with that?" he asked.