Never Alone

by DollhouseDancer

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, filled only by the ticking of a clock. The woman took a deep breath. "Dilaudid. I had to look it up. It's nasty stuff." "I didn't- I... I know." Spencer Reid was so alone in his addiction, until the day he ran into Ada. This story features an OC and deals with post-Revelations Reid and his addiction to dilaudid.

8. Wednesday Again

Ada called in sick. She hated to do it to her students, but she was in no position to teach. She made herself a big mug of hot chocolate, then curled up in her bed. She hoped she would hear from Spencer. The hours passed agonizingly slowly.

It was late. He hadn't called. He hadn't come by. In the late afternoon she had dragged herself out and driven by his apartment building, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. She hadn't really expected to see anything, but she was still disappointed.

The phone was sitting in front of her now, the tiny numbers lit up on the screen. For hours she had been staring at it, willing it to ring. But harsh reality was settling in.

Ada sighed and picked up the phone. 202-555-6573. The numbers had haunted her all day, and now they glared back at her in iridescent green. She took a deep breath and pushed the call button. She squeezed her eyes shut and lifted it to her ear.

"SSA Gideon." His voice was softer than she had expected. She cracked her eyes open.

"Agent Gideon, hello, my name is-" she stopped. "Actually, my name doesn't matter."

"Who are you? How did you get this number?"

Ada winced. "A friend gave it to me, to use in emergencies."
"And this is an emergency?"
"I think so."
"Who's your friend?"

"He's- he's someone very special to me, and to you too, I think. He says you like to play chess together. Some bad things happened to him recently, and he's been struggling. A lot. He's trying to hide it, but I know you must know."

Ada could hear him walking, and a moment later the sound of a door closing came across the line.

"I see. What makes this an emergency?"

"He's afraid to talk to any of you. He's been talking to me, and I've been trying to help. But now he's stopped. I don't want him to get hurt."

There was a long silence. The man on the other end cleared his throat. "You're right to be concerned. I know our friend isn't doing well. I don't know when or how you usually talk to him, but we're away right now, so you might not hear from him right away. I'll talk to him."

Ada sighed in relief. "Thank you Agent Gideon."

"Call me Jason. And thank you for caring about our friend. I know we haven't been able to the way we would like. I'm glad to know he has you."

The line went dead and Ada fell back into her bed.