The Beginning Of The End

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds isn't mine. Floyd Flanders is.

Floyd Flanders once said: The biggest disappointments in life are always your self. But then again he was a liar!

Floyd was dragged laughing from the hospital and back into a van where he was secured and guarded. His nose was blooded and his sides hurt from where Morgan had kicked him good few times, but he was still laughing.

The samples taken rather roughly by Morgan were rushed down to the labs along with the stuff Flanders had written down.

Hotch stood and looked at Reid twitching in his bed.

"What if this is all a trick Gideon."

Gideon shook his head. "He was shocked when he saw the state Reid was in. He needs Spencer. If this doesn't work it won't be because Flanders doesn't want it to."

Gideon took a damp cloth and wiped Reid's forehead. "It's going to be alright. We are fixing you OK?"

And Reid's fingers twitched in response. There was a terrible smell of death around Reid. Not the old decomposing death, but the fresh smell of death, the smell of fear and sweat. The smell of defeat. "Come on Spencer, you can't give up on us now, we are almost at the end. He can't get to you now. Just hold on a bit longer."

And Spencer opened his swollen sore eyes and looked up at the man who he thought of as a father and as he smiled his lips cracked and bled and his ragged breathing slowed and deepened. Gideon didn't know if he was just relaxing back into the pain he must be in, or looking at the world for the last time. Jason's heart was dying along with that of his agent.

They waited over an hour before the doctor came rushing back into the room again. He went to Reid's IV and injected a concoction into it then shrugged.

"I have never in my life seen anything like this. I have no idea if that will work or not. Now we just wait."

Gideon looked over to Hotch then back to Reid. "Let's hope it works fast."

………..

It was just NOT going to plan. Why was everything falling apart so suddenly? Floyd spat at the guard and swore at Morgan who was standing there watching.

"There ARE no guarantees in life. Look at you, little more than scum. Dirty on the inside. You make me want to vomit, and you dare keep me here in shackles and threaten me? You dirty whore dog! Let me go. I need to see Spencer!"

"You after getting me to kill you? It wont work, I will get far more pleasure seeing you in the slammer."

"I will tell you what I did to him, that little boy of yours. The agent with nothing left inside of him but a mess only I can untangle." He smirked as Morgan watched him. "You want to know don't you? You want to be able to look at him and imagine all those things. Even Spence doesn't know everything. It can be our secret." Flanders was talking now in a low sick whisper.

"Shut your mouth Flanders. You have nothing to say that I am interested in."

"Not interested yet, but I am sure I can find something." Morgan walked leaned over to a box on the floor of the van and removed a roll of tape. He waggled it at Floyd.

"One more work and I gag you."

"They won't lock me away. They can't do that. You know that. Come on Agent Derek Morgan, let me tell you some secrets."

And the tape was slapped around his mouth.

"I told you to shut up."

……..

Reid thought his eyes were going to explode. How was it possible to be in this much pain and not be dead? He thought he had gone blind. All he could see was bright white. He could hear or smell nothing. Occasionally he could feel something cold wipe across his forehead and he tried to move his hands to reach up and touch this person who was trying to save him but all he could do was twitch his fingers slightly, and the pain that caused was so immense that he didn't try again.

Gradually around the edges of the brightness came a fog. It was slow but it was there. A seeping darkness, a place for demons to hide, a place for the princess and little treasures, a place for Floyd. He moved his fingers and tried to look around him. But still the light was too bright but sounds, he could hear sounds. He wiggled his toes, and the sounds became muffled voices. He could hear Gideon. He opened his mouth to try to call out to someone to pull him out of this light. Was this the light at the beginning of death? Was this the beginning of the end? Had his body died? Was he dead? He tried to lift his hand up and attract the attention of his friends. He could hear Hotch. He could hear the words but they made no sense.

So Reid lay on the bed as the toxic fluids raced through his blood trying to wipe out everything which had once been Reid and replacing it with something dark. Something not right. And as they did something joined them in a fight. His brain seized again as it lost control.

Hotch and Gideon ran to his side and watched helplessly as their friend seemed to slip further and further away from them.

"It's not working."

The doctor was standing at their side. "No, it's fine. His heart rate has dropped. That's a good start. The Seizing we would expect. This is a lot for a person's body to deal with. It's just nature taking control again. We haven't lost him yet."

Hotch and Gideon looked at each other. They didn't look so sure.

"Can I come in?" a quiet voice from the door way. JJ looked quite shocking. She had been crying, and it looked like she had been sleeping in her clothes.

"JJ? Yes come in. Talk to him. Just don't expect a response yet OK. He looks worse than he is." Gideon hated to lie to her, but he really didn't want his liaison in tears.

Somewhere he could smell something sweet. He could smell roses and flowers. JJ? Was that JJ? If it was then he was still alive. He still had a chance. And something took his hand and kissed it gently. "Come on Spence, fight for a bit longer."

Slowly very slowly he closed his fingers around hers.

"JJ is that you?" and his voice was so soft and quiet that they nearly missed it.

"Yes Spence. Don't talk. Just fight this thing. Stay with us Spencer."

…….

The doctor called Hotchner over. "I need to talk to you about something. I know this comes under doctor patient confidentiality, but what I am unsure of his position in the FBI. Is he still an agent? You see it depends on what I say and what is just the business of Dr Reid."

Hotch nodded. "I understand. I think for these purposes we assume he is my agent. This was done to him before any questions were being asked of his suitability to remain in the BAU. What you say goes no further than the two of us."

The doctor led Hotch away to an office to have a quiet personal word with Hotch about unconnected issues concerning Dr Reid and his short time spent in prison.

……

Floyd was far from happy with his situation. They were taking him to a doctor for a mental stability evaluation. The swearing and cursing coming out his mouth when Morgan roughly ripped the tape away proved not only that this man was not totally sane, but that he had a fine vocabulary and was well versed on the curse words from many different European countries. He also seemed to think Morgan was a contortionist.

He was man handled down a brightly lit corridor to a small square white room at the end. His cuffs where secured to the floor and he was pushed down to sit in a chair. A doctor came in and sat the other side of the room. Morgan stood by the door. "I'm not letting this son of a bitch out of my sight." He informed the doctor who raised an eyebrow and turned to face Floyd.

"So Mr Flanders we are here to talk about you. Where do you want to start?"

Flanders yawned. "I was born in Italy. Small village in the south. We travelled. We travelled a lot."

"Who is 'we'?"

"OK..my clan travelled. They were stupid uneducated barbarians. They had no manners and no means to look forward. I took what I needed. I am here now. That is it..That is all you need to know."

"Mr Flanders, do you have cannibalistic tendencies?"

"You make it sound bad. I am not the first one, I won't be the last. Spence never complained about it. He happily ate human meat. He was fair game for anything was that boy." If he was going to say more it was lost under the feet and fists of agent Derek Morgan as he beat Flanders unconscious in the doctor's office.

"Yes I have an issue with my temper." Morgan said before the doctor could say anything.

…..

Reid opened his eyes again, but still it was all bright light, but the voices he could hear, and his hands and feet he could move with out the searing pain. Finally it was falling back and leaving him.

"I can't – I can't see." And Reid's hands fluttered up and gently touched his eyes.

"Give it time son." Gideon said. "Everything will take time."

Hotch stood in the doorway staring at Reid. The information he had just been given spinning in his head. He walked slowly over to Reid and just looked at him. Too much had happened to this person. Too much suffering and pain. Hotch was not sure they would ever get him back again now. Was this person he once thought he knew so well lost to them?

Hotch asked the others to leave for a while. He needed to talk to Spencer.

He stood and looked down at Spencer. And as the light became less bright Reid could finally focus on his boss and he sucked in his lips and gave a little smile.

"Hotch." His voice was dry and croaky.

"Don't talk Reid. I just need to say some things to you." Hotch rubbed at his temples and thought of what the doctor had said to him. "Reid I am sorry. I let you down over and over again. When this is over I am going to get a new coffee machine for your use only in the office. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you are spoiling me Agent Hotchner."

"Spencer I know I am not the best person maybe to talk this through with. I don't deal with emotional issues as well as some do but I do know that you should never just give in and let someone do something to you which you don't want to happen. Do you understand me? You have the ability to say no and you have the capability to fend people off. Don't become a victim Spencer because it's easier."

"I er."

"I don't mean this stuff" and Hotch gestured around the room. "I am talking about deep seated responses to things built into you. You can say no."

"Hotch. I know."

"OK now sleep. I will stay with you."

……….

A/N one more chapter I am thinking. Thank you all for reading!!