Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds in any way.

Notes: Spoilers for Revelations and Conflicted.

Thanks to my fantastic beta Little Miss Artist!

Enjoy!

On We March
#20: Sympathy

Word: Sympathy
Season: After Conflicted (4x20) - Spoilers for Revelations and the following episodes.
Length: 650

Reid had forlornly concluded that Morgan didn't understand. And he was right, Morgan didn't understand. Didn't understand at all.

Whenever he thought of Tobias Hankel, the first thing that came to mind each and every time was wishing he could have got there earlier and killed the bastard himself.

He thought of a man who had kidnapped, tortured, and drugged his Reid. Killed his Reid. There was no forgiveness from Morgan and there was no sympathy either.

But not so for Reid. For some reason Spencer seemed to feel for Tobias.

Morgan didn't realize it until the case in Florida, the one with Adam Jackson and Amanda. Standing on the roof top after the case was done and over, listening to Reid berate himself for not noticing the signs of DID earlier, Morgan realized. Reid held only Charles Hankle and Raphael accountable for his stay in hell. He held no blame for Tobias.

One of the hardest things of being a profiler was when it all made sense. When looking into an Unsub's past revealed a victim. It was like Reid said, the abuser walked free and the victim was locked up. Just as with Adam, Tobias had a horrific past. And, scary though it was, it almost made sense – him becoming what he was. That was the hardest part, when a tortured soul found the only outlet possible and turned into a killer. His mind had done what it had to to keep him from completely breaking down into madness.

Perhaps, had Reid not been taken, Morgan may have felt for Tobias Hankle. Just a bit. After all, the murderers were still gruesome and they were still posted on the internet, but could he help killing sinners after the awful religion-based abuse he had suffered? He was not born a killer, he was made into a killer. The mind is a powerful tool.

But, this man had taken Reid and then any sympathy was lost.

The only question was how did Reid still have some? After all, it was Reid who had to go through all of it, who had to stay there even when the camera was turned off.

In a way, it made Morgan mad, knowing that even then, years later, Tobias was still with Reid, probably always would be.

Reid was staring out the window on the flight back. He was one of the only ones awake, even Hotch and Rossi had put away the case files and were dozing.

Careful not to awake anyone, Morgan got up and came to sit down across from Reid.

"I don't want to talk about it," Reid said instantly, still looking out the window.

"Which part?" he asked. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Tobias and see how the man still tortured Reid just a bit every day since, but he would listen if that was what Reid needed.

"Any of it. None of it. You know what I mean."

"Look, just because of what happened with Tobias…it doesn't mean you owe anyone else anything."

"I just feel bad for him."

"I don't," Morgan said instantly, unwilling to lie. "I can't feel bad for someone who kidnapped, drugged, and stood by and watched as you were tortured."

"He didn't exactly stand by and watch," Reid corrected him, still not facing Morgan. "He also saved my life."

"And for that I'm grateful," Morgan said, realizing he needed to give just a little for this to work. He draped his arms over Reid's shoulder and pulled Reid's back to his chest. "But I won't give him my sympathy. And you shouldn't either. Otherwise, you'll never move on."

Reid frowned, but eventually sighed. "Okay."

"Promise you'll try to let this go?" Morgan asked.

Finally, Reid tilted his head back and looked up at Morgan. "I promise."

"Good."

They sealed the deal with a kiss.

Yeah, not great...to make it up to y'all I'll probably post tomorrow with the next one.