"So," Morgan said after they had gotten in the car and pulled out of the parking garage, "how'd you like her?"
"She's nice," Reid said.
"Do you think she'll help?" Morgan asked cautiously.
Morgan saw Reid shrug out of the corner of his eye. The dark skinned man had hoped that he could get Reid to talk a bit more. Apparently, this wasn't the way to do it.
They were quiet for some time, listening to the soft music coming from the radio and the rush of wind as they flew down I-95.
"Do you want to get some take out for lunch or do you want something at home?" Morgan asked when they got closer to Lake Ridge. "We have some stew left, some mac and cheese, a few slices of pizza, and some of that chili and cornbread. What do you have a taste for?"
"Leftovers are fine with me," Reid said.
Ten minutes later Morgan pulled up in his driveway and turned his car off. He helped Reid into the house and they got to choosing their lunch.
"I think I am going to have some of that macaroni," Morgan stated. "What about you? I might have some canned soup and peanut butter if you would rather have that than what leftovers we have."
"The mac and cheese sounds fine," Reid decided.
"I'm gonna just stick the dish in the oven," Morgan said as he turned the knob to preheat the oven. "It'll taste better than in the microwave."
Reid nodded. He sat there for a moment while Morgan waited for the oven to get up to 350 and before deciding to look at the sheet of information on the mental institutions in the area.
"What's that?" Morgan asked when he sat down and saw that Reid was looking at something.
"Information about hospitals for my mom in our area," Reid answered.
"You gonna move her here?" Morgan inquired.
"If she says yes," the younger man responded, eyes flying over a page. "Dr. Shuler thinks that it would be a really good idea. Support systems and all that."
"See anywhere good?" Morgan asked.
"I don't know," Reid answered. "I would need to look into each hospital more thoroughly. The only information is the name, the location, and whether they are short or long-term. To find out what the conditions of the facility are, I need to look up more information online, call them, and visit the hospitals when I get it narrowed down."
"Are there any close by?" Morgan questioned.
"A few," he mumbled, "although most of the ones that are the kind of facilities that my mother would need are farther away than I would want. If she's going to live in Virginia I want it to be close enough to me that I can visit her any time I want."
The timer on the stove dinged brightly, signaling that their lunch was sufficiently heated up. Morgan got up and took the casserole dish out of the oven. It was bubbly and the smell made his mouth water.
After dishing up two plates of the steaming meal and pouring two glasses of water, Morgan joined Reid at the table.
"How're your sisters?" Reid asked after a moment of awkward silence had passed.
"Good," Morgan replied. "Sara got a better job and Des thinks that her boyfriend is going to propose soon."
"That's great," Reid agreed. "Have you met Des' boyfriend?"
"Yeah," the older agent answered, "when I was home last week. He seems a decent enough guy. He has a good job and he lives in the suburbs west of the city which is a lot nicer and nowhere near as dangerous as where Des is living now. I hate that her and Sara and my momma live in such a rotten area but I can't get them to move."
They continued eating, making small talk every so often but the majority of the meal was consumed in silence.
When they were finished and Morgan had washed up the plates and glasses, they retired to the living room.
"Wanna look into the hospitals now?" Morgan asked.
"Sure," Reid answered. "I have the papers right here."
Morgan grabbed his laptop from the coffee table where he had left it the night before and moved to the couch to take a seat next to Reid.
"You tell me the name and I'll see what I can find about it online," Morgan suggested as his laptop went through the startup process.
"Tell me when you're ready," Reid replied.
A minute or so later, the black man told his pale friend he was ready and they began searching for the perfect place.
~~~~~CM~~~~~
Two and a half hours later, the pair had it narrowed down to two facilities. All of the state facilities were well over an hour away from his Fredericksburg apartment and who knew how far it would be if he moved.
One choice was in Silver Spring, Maryland, not far outside of DC. It was a group home, so that meant Diana would live in a house with a few other adults, probably who had the same illness which would mean more freedom and a more normal life while still having round-the-clock care.
The other choice was a hospital in a town called Colchester, Virginia. It was a similar facility to Bennington albeit much smaller. It was a twenty-four bed hospital. His mother would have her own sitting room, bedroom, and bathroom, which was much nicer than the small bedroom and bathroom she currently had to herself.
"How about you call and set up appointments for us to see these places?" Morgan suggested. "It might be good to know which place she is going to be at when you ask her. That way you can tell her all about it. Or, if you can't decide, you can tell her about each and let her choose which she thinks sounds better."
"Good idea," the younger man said.
Twenty minutes later, Reid had appointments to see both facilities on Monday; Silver Springs at 10 a.m. and Colchester at 1 p.m.
Just as Reid ended the second call, Morgan's cell phone rang.
"Morgan," he answered. "Oh, hey."
He was silent for a moment before saying, "Alright, let me ask."
"Hey, Reid," he said, moving the phone away from his mouth, "it's JJ. She wants to bring Henry over tomorrow; she says that he really misses you. Do you mind?"
"No," the younger man said, despite that he really didn't feel like seeing anyone. It had been nice to see Garcia but it was so hard to try and show them that he was ok. It was exhausting trying to hide what he really felt. "That'd be nice."
"See you tomorrow, Jayje," Morgan said before he snapped the phone shut.
"What should we do now?" Morgan asked his roommate.
"I think I might go lay down," Reid said, sounding tired. "I didn't really sleep much last night."
Morgan immediately felt guilty. He had thought that Reid had fallen back to sleep after his nightmares. Obviously, he hadn't. He hoped that this nap would be nightmare free.
"Ok," Morgan said. "I'll get you for dinner if you don't wake up before then."
"Thanks," he mumbled and hobbled off to the bedroom where he fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep.