Spencer woke up whimpering. The sensation of a wet diaper was not one he enjoyed. He opened his eyes blearily and felt himself being lifted up into the air. The fuzzy image of his mother filled his vision. He was fully awake when he noticed the redness of her face. He could tell she'd been crying. His worry grew tenfold.
When he was changed, his frown deepened. Diana settled him on her hip, and he hugged her neck tightly. Her own grip on him tightened in response. He looked up at her, saddened by her grief. She cuddled him, trying to alleviate his clearly visible distress.
Once again, her guilt reared it's ugly head. She hated that her son felt bad on her behalf.
"It's okay, baby." She said, kissing his temple.
He tried to smile, but faltered.
She sat him down gently, and tried to push her sad feelings down, but like a spring under pressure, they kept bouncing back up.
"Do you want to read?" She asked, kindly. He nodded, still wary of his Mother's emotions. She pulled a collection of Chaucer's works from her bookshelf and began to read.
The day passed with startling speed. By the time nine o'clock rolled around, it was time for William to leave. Spencer was surprised to find himself depressed at the idea. Diana kissed her husband goodbye, and Spencer gave him a hug.
"I'll be back as soon as I can." He promised. They walked him to the door and watched a taxi drive him away. Mother and son went back to their room and retired for the evening.
The next day came and went like a summer breeze. Spencer was sad to leave his Mommy, but knew he had a job to do. He left, swearing to come back the next weekend. He went back to his apartment and unpacked his things before heading off to bed that evening.
In the next few days, William began searching for a job at a law firm in Virginia. It was strange for him to do so, knowing that he was leaving the life he'd carved out for himself behind. But, the promise of being with his family was more important. He found a job at the Parker And Sons law firm three weeks later, and bought a house that was a mere twenty minutes away from the Piedmont Sanitarium. As he prepared for his move, he tied up the final ends of his life in Las Vegas. He had his sickly cat put down after fourteen years of life. He packed up his things and began his trip to his new home in Virginia.
Starting over in a new community was always hard to adjust to, but because of his rather introverted personality it wasn't much of a problem. The neighborhood was a quiet, suburban one, much like the home he had once shared with his wife and son. It was a three bedroom two bath home painted a distinct shade of medium blue. After getting out the essentials, he opened one new box per day and unpacked it. In another two weeks time, he'd finished all his unpacking and had gotten himself into the groove of a daily routine.
He got up at five thirty, showered, dressed, and had a suitcase and cup of coffee in hand by six. He stopped at a drive through for a light breakfast and was at work half an hour early so that he could prepare for the day ahead. He had his assistant go and buy his lunch, and usually finished his day around four thirty. After that he went to the sanitarium to visit his wife, and only when he got home at seven at night did he finally eat dinner. After that, he had three hours to himself to do what he pleased before going to bed around ten thirty. It was a constantly repeated pattern of living that helped him adjust to the major changes that moving brought. At the end of the day he finally felt satisfied with the path his life had taken.
Spencer's life had turned on a dime. Under the watchful eyes of two parents, he was much happier. All of his teammates noticed it at one point or another, but didn't ask. That, however, didn't stop their curiosity.
Garcia was the first to pull him aside and ask what the others were too polite to.
"Okay, sweetness, what's going on?" She asked with a smile.
"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.
"We've all noticed that you're way happier than usual, so dish!"
Spencer shook his head, smiling. "Sorry, Garcia. That's my secret."
Penelope's eyes narrowed. "You mark my words, Spencer Reid, I will find out what you're up to."
"I'm sure you will." He said, earnestly.
Weekends became even more important to Spencer, because they now meant time with his family. He watched the connection between his parents grow stronger by the day. Every time they shared actions or words of affection, it reenforced how hard they were working toward having a better relationship, and encouraged Spencer to do the same. He became closer with his Father than ever before.
Spencer's life had become perfect- which, of course, meant that something had to come along and ruin it.
They were investigating a series of missing person cases in Dumfries, Virginia when it happened.
Spencer had gone around to the back garage, hunting for clues, when a hand snaked around his face and shoved a chloroform-soaked rag into his nose. Although he put up a fight, he was overpowered and quickly taken away.
His captor, a vigilant man who had studied each agent on the team diligently, had chosen Spencer as his target because of his lack of fighting skill and his vulnerability to schizophrenia. He locked him in a steel room that had a camera on the inside of the door. The captor, a man who introduced himself only as "The Doctor", turned on the camera in an all-black ensemble with contacts and a voice modulator.
"Hello, agents. I'll make this brief- you have twenty four hours to go to the Fairfax County Adult Correctional Facility and release prisoner 5169558 from his cell. He will tell you the rendezvous point where you can find your agent after he is freed. Until then, Dr. Reid will be injected with a drug of my own invention that stops the effects of his medication. He will be held prisoner to his own mind unless you save him." He injected Spencer with the drug, and watched the terror flash across his features.
"Tick tock, agents. The clock is running out."
The screen went black.