p class="MsoNormal"strongAlternate ending-Epilogue/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"The air in the room was alive with anxiety. The team, minus JJ who was being treated for hypothermia, were all nervously waiting around for news on Reid. Morgan was yet to change or wash up, being in a state of shock and pacing the small waiting room, blood still on his arms and jeans. Garcia was in the corner, knitting, keeping her hands busy in a way that didn't seem too obvious to an on-looker, but the profilers could see how stiff her hands were. Prentiss was in a chair bouncing her leg up and down and biting her nails but otherwise looked like an almost perfect image of calm./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hotch was standing up, appearing to go for the "pretending to be a statue" route as he was just standing there, not moving, with one hand on his chin as if contemplating and the other crossed across his chest Rossi was trying to act nonchalant as someone needed to keep the worry at bay. He was in the corner pretending to do a crossword puzzle, but he hadn't written anything down and there was a slight crease in his forehead. They were so lost in their own heads that they didn't hear the footsteps approaching until the person called out./p
p class="MsoNormal""Agent Hotchner?" The voice startled everyone, some (Garcia) jumping in surprise while others (Emily) reached for their gun. After seeing who it was though all stood with a more alert stance, ready to find out how their teammates were doing./p
p class="MsoNormal""yes, that's me. Anything you have to say can be said in front of my team as well."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Alright, first, Agent Jareau will be fine, she was being treated for hypothermia, as I'm sure you're aware, and despite the severity of it, she is responding quite well to treatment. I'd say if all goes well, she can go home in a few days."/p
p class="MsoNormal""really?" Garcia asked, her voice timid and unsure from where she was standing with her knitting kit./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah she certainly is a fighter."/p
p class="MsoNormal""that she is." Rossi's smooth tone came out, in a way reassuring everyone that she would be fine./p
p class="MsoNormal""And Dr Reid?" Hotch want sure if he wanted to know. They'd all seen the video and knew that he was drugged and that's all they knew. But someone had to ask. After all their youngest teammate had been through…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, he had more severe injuries and some of them were infected. We also ran a tox screen just in case and found high levels of dilaudid in his system. He is out of surgery, and the bullet was successfully removed. We're administering antibiotics for the infections and he is on non-narcotic pain killers considering the tox screen and his personal notes. There are some concerns, but we won't be able to monitor those until he is coherent enough to talk to us. We have also put him on a ventilator as he was having some trouble breathing."/p
p class="MsoNormal""will he be alright?" The concern in Emily's voice far from hidden./p
p class="MsoNormal""Once withdrawal is over and his body can heal, I believe he will make a speedy recovery. Both your agents in our care are strong."/p
p class="MsoNormal""What are the concerns that can't be monitored until he wakes up?" Morgan had a feeling he knew what the concern was, he was there when the kid was shot, but he was hoping that he was wrong./p
p class="MsoNormal""There's no easy way to say this but because of the entry of the bullet was in the thoracic region of his spinal cord.../p
p class="MsoNormal""They're worried about paralysis, aren't they?" God Morgan hoped he was wrong./p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Unfortunately, yes that is their biggest concern. And until he is coherent enough to tell us what we need to know, we have no way to know if that is the case." Morgan couldn't help it. His emotions and stress got the better of him and he slammed his fist into the wall and walked off, needing time to process and calm down. The others just let him go, some (hotch and Emily) feeling the exact same way but needing to keep their composure./p
/div
p class="MsoNormal"Reid woke up with the all too familiar smell and sound of a hospital room. God, he hated hospitals. His body felt like he'd been run over by a truck and the sound of the heart monitor was giving him a headache. Then his mind caught up to him and he started to become more aware of the ventilator he was on, and the effects of the withdrawal./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAt first the shaking wasn't that bad; he could handle it. But soon after he became aware of that the cramps and nausea started settling in. A doctor or nurse (Reid didn't really care) came in and started assessing him. He was apparently able to breath on his own and so the ventilator was taken out, and he became aware of just how raw his throat was. After somehow getting a drink of water there was one thing he had to ask./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ex-excuse me, can I request no visitors?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"He was trying to be polite, but he wasn't sure that's how it came across. But he really didn't want his team to see him like this. Especially not going through withdrawal. That was an ugly sight and he also felt slightly ashamed that he had to go through it again anyway, (he knew somewhere that it wasn't his fault but still…) The nurse(doctor?) said something and then was out the door./p
p class="MsoNormal"*Time skip*/p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"He wasn't sure how long had passed. The cramps and nausea were getting stronger to a point where that's all he could feel, and it was clouding his mind. He felt like he needed to vomit but he knew nothing would come up. The shaking also intensified, and he could feel sweat dripping down his neck, but he felt cold./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"He tried curling into a ball, trying to alleviate some of the pain. He felt exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but when he tried to move his legs nothing happened, and the memory of the shot came to mind. Instead of dwelling on it for now he hunched his back curling his arms around his torso. Feeling both hot and cold, tired, and shaking like a branch in a storm, Reid resigned himself to his fate. Unable to sleep and feeling, (not for the first time) helpless as he sat in the hospital bed./p
/div
p class="MsoNormal"It was a week after he was admitted to hospital that Reid finally allowed visitors, wanting to get through at least the worst of the withdrawal without witnesses. When the team walked into the room (fully aware that Reid couldn't feel his legs) their hearts fell to their stomach./p
p class="MsoNormal"Reid was under the hospital covers, looking small. His face was pale, eyes looking sunken and even in his sleep he looked haunted. When he eventually woke up they tried to avoid topics and Reid knew exactly what they were doing. He snapped. At the entire team./p
p class="MsoNormal""Just stop it already! I'm not a little kid, you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings with what you say!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Reid we're just…"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No. Don't. I'm not as fragile as you guys think I am. You don't NEED to protect me. It never ends well in one way or the other. If you plan on tiptoeing around the "issues" then you can all leave. I mean it. LEAVE."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The team was shocked. They decided it was best to let him cool down and all left the room. After the team left the dam broke and tears started tracing lines on Reid's face./p
p class="MsoNormal"It went on like that for a while. The team would go visit Reid. Sometimes he snapped at them and kicked them out. It broke their hearts even more because they all understood Reid and knew this was his way at protecting himself. It was after they had come back from a case that they got the biggest shock of their lives though./p
p class="MsoNormal"It was the day that Reid was being released from hospital. The team went in to see Reid and help him get home when they thought they had the wrong room. There was a small child about six, that had light blonde hair that came to her waist and was hugging Reid tight enough that it looked like he wouldn't be able to breathe. She was tall for her age though. There was also a woman, presumably the girl's mom, who looked to be in her thirties with the same blonde hair as the girl only shorter, being cropped at just below her shoulders. What really surprised them though was that Reid not only reciprocated the hug but seemed to rest his head in the crook of the girl's neck./p
p class="MsoNormal"It took a moment for the woman to notice them staring through the door, immediately pointing it out to Reid who gently pushed the child back and sat up straight. Whispering in her ear and handing over what looked to be a couple of dollars. The girl ran off giggling a bit and in a cheerful way that only small children could emanate. Reid's voice finally brought them out of their stupor./p
p class="MsoNormal""You can come in you know. We won't bite."/p
p class="MsoNormal"At the remark, the woman in the room gently swatted at Reid./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ow what was that for."/p
p class="MsoNormal""you don't have to be so rude you know. Especially not to your team."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You don't even know who they are. How could you possibly know that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Spencer it doesn't take a genius like you or a profiler to connect the dots. Also, you talk about them non-stop when you visit. It wasn't that big of a jump."/p
p class="MsoNormal""yeah yeah whatever." Reid knew this wasn't a battle he could win by the looks of it. The pair had obviously had many more similar interactions./p
p class="MsoNormal""so pretty boy, you going to introduce us?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""you must be Derek Morgan, I'm Sophie, a close friend of Spencer's."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm JJ, nice to meet you, though I didn't know spence had close friends outside the office."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You know spence is sitting right here? Please stop talking like I'm not."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Spencer?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes Sophie?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Behave. Or Sophie's not staying over."/p
p class="MsoNormal""that's mean and you know it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah and you know you're acting like a child right now, so I digress."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Fine you win. But seriously guys, I'm right here."/p
p class="MsoNormal""sorry spence I didn't mean to offend you. You just don't really talk about what happens outside of work."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah man, I mean what's up with that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I like keeping my personal life and work life separate?" Reid tried but he knew he failed when it came out more sounding like a question. JJ, thank his lucky stars saw he didn't want to continue with that line of conversation and switched topics./p
p class="MsoNormal""So how do you guys know each other?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""We met in college. Well it was my first year at college, I think it was like spencers third or fourth college."/p
p class="MsoNormal""It was Caltech."/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's right. Anyway, spencer was 18 at the time, I was struggling with some of my classes and was at risk of failing. Spencer ended up being my tutor in algebra and chemistry. After we worked out our differences and stopped being stubborn with each other it grew into an awesome friendship. And the rest is history."/p
p class="MsoNormal""So, who's the kid?" Rossi was curious./p
p class="MsoNormal""oh, that's Alice."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm guessing she's your daughter Sophie?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""yeah. She takes after her dad though." She said with a sly grin and a glance at Reid that the others missed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh really? How so?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, she's sweet, caring, smart and has started learning magic."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Sounds like an interesting guy." Hotch commented. "I'd assume you guys are close if Reid is comfortable enough to reciprocate her hugs."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Sophie just laughed. "You could say that."/p
p class="MsoNormal"It was then Garcia's curiosity got the best of her. "What do you mean by that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"And because it seems that the universe hates Reid I multiple ways, it was then that Alice decided to run in yelling/p
p class="MsoNormal""DADDY, LOOK WHAT I GOT!" as she ran up to give Reid a hug and show off the toy she'd just bought./p
p class="MsoNormal"As embarrassing as it was, he wished he had a camera to capture the team's faces as they all just shouted/p
p class="MsoNormal""WHAT!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"in unison, mouth gaping wide. And with that Reid burst out laughing at his teammates' reaction./p
p class="MsoNormal"The air in the room was alive with anxiety. The team, minus JJ who was being treated for hypothermia, were all nervously waiting around for news on Reid. Morgan was yet to change or wash up, being in a state of shock and pacing the small waiting room, blood still on his arms and jeans. Garcia was in the corner, knitting, keeping her hands busy in a way that didn't seem too obvious to an on-looker, but the profilers could see how stiff her hands were. Prentiss was in a chair bouncing her leg up and down and biting her nails but otherwise looked like an almost perfect image of calm./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hotch was standing up, appearing to go for the "pretending to be a statue" route as he was just standing there, not moving, with one hand on his chin as if contemplating and the other crossed across his chest Rossi was trying to act nonchalant as someone needed to keep the worry at bay. He was in the corner pretending to do a crossword puzzle, but he hadn't written anything down and there was a slight crease in his forehead. They were so lost in their own heads that they didn't hear the footsteps approaching until the person called out./p
p class="MsoNormal""Agent Hotchner?" The voice startled everyone, some (Garcia) jumping in surprise while others (Emily) reached for their gun. After seeing who it was though all stood with a more alert stance, ready to find out how their teammates were doing./p
p class="MsoNormal""yes, that's me. Anything you have to say can be said in front of my team as well."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Alright, first, Agent Jareau will be fine, she was being treated for hypothermia, as I'm sure you're aware, and despite the severity of it, she is responding quite well to treatment. I'd say if all goes well, she can go home in a few days."/p
p class="MsoNormal""really?" Garcia asked, her voice timid and unsure from where she was standing with her knitting kit./p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah she certainly is a fighter."/p
p class="MsoNormal""that she is." Rossi's smooth tone came out, in a way reassuring everyone that she would be fine./p
p class="MsoNormal""And Dr Reid?" Hotch want sure if he wanted to know. They'd all seen the video and knew that he was drugged and that's all they knew. But someone had to ask. After all their youngest teammate had been through…/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, he had more severe injuries and some of them were infected. We also ran a tox screen just in case and found high levels of dilaudid in his system. He is out of surgery, and the bullet was successfully removed. We're administering antibiotics for the infections and he is on non-narcotic pain killers considering the tox screen and his personal notes. There are some concerns, but we won't be able to monitor those until he is coherent enough to talk to us. We have also put him on a ventilator as he was having some trouble breathing."/p
p class="MsoNormal""will he be alright?" The concern in Emily's voice far from hidden./p
p class="MsoNormal""Once withdrawal is over and his body can heal, I believe he will make a speedy recovery. Both your agents in our care are strong."/p
p class="MsoNormal""What are the concerns that can't be monitored until he wakes up?" Morgan had a feeling he knew what the concern was, he was there when the kid was shot, but he was hoping that he was wrong./p
p class="MsoNormal""There's no easy way to say this but because of the entry of the bullet was in the thoracic region of his spinal cord.../p
p class="MsoNormal""They're worried about paralysis, aren't they?" God Morgan hoped he was wrong./p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Unfortunately, yes that is their biggest concern. And until he is coherent enough to tell us what we need to know, we have no way to know if that is the case." Morgan couldn't help it. His emotions and stress got the better of him and he slammed his fist into the wall and walked off, needing time to process and calm down. The others just let him go, some (hotch and Emily) feeling the exact same way but needing to keep their composure./p
/div
p class="MsoNormal"Reid woke up with the all too familiar smell and sound of a hospital room. God, he hated hospitals. His body felt like he'd been run over by a truck and the sound of the heart monitor was giving him a headache. Then his mind caught up to him and he started to become more aware of the ventilator he was on, and the effects of the withdrawal./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAt first the shaking wasn't that bad; he could handle it. But soon after he became aware of that the cramps and nausea started settling in. A doctor or nurse (Reid didn't really care) came in and started assessing him. He was apparently able to breath on his own and so the ventilator was taken out, and he became aware of just how raw his throat was. After somehow getting a drink of water there was one thing he had to ask./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ex-excuse me, can I request no visitors?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"He was trying to be polite, but he wasn't sure that's how it came across. But he really didn't want his team to see him like this. Especially not going through withdrawal. That was an ugly sight and he also felt slightly ashamed that he had to go through it again anyway, (he knew somewhere that it wasn't his fault but still…) The nurse(doctor?) said something and then was out the door./p
p class="MsoNormal"*Time skip*/p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"He wasn't sure how long had passed. The cramps and nausea were getting stronger to a point where that's all he could feel, and it was clouding his mind. He felt like he needed to vomit but he knew nothing would come up. The shaking also intensified, and he could feel sweat dripping down his neck, but he felt cold./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"He tried curling into a ball, trying to alleviate some of the pain. He felt exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but when he tried to move his legs nothing happened, and the memory of the shot came to mind. Instead of dwelling on it for now he hunched his back curling his arms around his torso. Feeling both hot and cold, tired, and shaking like a branch in a storm, Reid resigned himself to his fate. Unable to sleep and feeling, (not for the first time) helpless as he sat in the hospital bed./p
/div
p class="MsoNormal"It was a week after he was admitted to hospital that Reid finally allowed visitors, wanting to get through at least the worst of the withdrawal without witnesses. When the team walked into the room (fully aware that Reid couldn't feel his legs) their hearts fell to their stomach./p
p class="MsoNormal"Reid was under the hospital covers, looking small. His face was pale, eyes looking sunken and even in his sleep he looked haunted. When he eventually woke up they tried to avoid topics and Reid knew exactly what they were doing. He snapped. At the entire team./p
p class="MsoNormal""Just stop it already! I'm not a little kid, you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings with what you say!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Reid we're just…"/p
p class="MsoNormal""No. Don't. I'm not as fragile as you guys think I am. You don't NEED to protect me. It never ends well in one way or the other. If you plan on tiptoeing around the "issues" then you can all leave. I mean it. LEAVE."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The team was shocked. They decided it was best to let him cool down and all left the room. After the team left the dam broke and tears started tracing lines on Reid's face./p
p class="MsoNormal"It went on like that for a while. The team would go visit Reid. Sometimes he snapped at them and kicked them out. It broke their hearts even more because they all understood Reid and knew this was his way at protecting himself. It was after they had come back from a case that they got the biggest shock of their lives though./p
p class="MsoNormal"It was the day that Reid was being released from hospital. The team went in to see Reid and help him get home when they thought they had the wrong room. There was a small child about six, that had light blonde hair that came to her waist and was hugging Reid tight enough that it looked like he wouldn't be able to breathe. She was tall for her age though. There was also a woman, presumably the girl's mom, who looked to be in her thirties with the same blonde hair as the girl only shorter, being cropped at just below her shoulders. What really surprised them though was that Reid not only reciprocated the hug but seemed to rest his head in the crook of the girl's neck./p
p class="MsoNormal"It took a moment for the woman to notice them staring through the door, immediately pointing it out to Reid who gently pushed the child back and sat up straight. Whispering in her ear and handing over what looked to be a couple of dollars. The girl ran off giggling a bit and in a cheerful way that only small children could emanate. Reid's voice finally brought them out of their stupor./p
p class="MsoNormal""You can come in you know. We won't bite."/p
p class="MsoNormal"At the remark, the woman in the room gently swatted at Reid./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ow what was that for."/p
p class="MsoNormal""you don't have to be so rude you know. Especially not to your team."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You don't even know who they are. How could you possibly know that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Spencer it doesn't take a genius like you or a profiler to connect the dots. Also, you talk about them non-stop when you visit. It wasn't that big of a jump."/p
p class="MsoNormal""yeah yeah whatever." Reid knew this wasn't a battle he could win by the looks of it. The pair had obviously had many more similar interactions./p
p class="MsoNormal""so pretty boy, you going to introduce us?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""you must be Derek Morgan, I'm Sophie, a close friend of Spencer's."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm JJ, nice to meet you, though I didn't know spence had close friends outside the office."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You know spence is sitting right here? Please stop talking like I'm not."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Spencer?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes Sophie?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Behave. Or Sophie's not staying over."/p
p class="MsoNormal""that's mean and you know it."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah and you know you're acting like a child right now, so I digress."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Fine you win. But seriously guys, I'm right here."/p
p class="MsoNormal""sorry spence I didn't mean to offend you. You just don't really talk about what happens outside of work."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah man, I mean what's up with that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""I like keeping my personal life and work life separate?" Reid tried but he knew he failed when it came out more sounding like a question. JJ, thank his lucky stars saw he didn't want to continue with that line of conversation and switched topics./p
p class="MsoNormal""So how do you guys know each other?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""We met in college. Well it was my first year at college, I think it was like spencers third or fourth college."/p
p class="MsoNormal""It was Caltech."/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's right. Anyway, spencer was 18 at the time, I was struggling with some of my classes and was at risk of failing. Spencer ended up being my tutor in algebra and chemistry. After we worked out our differences and stopped being stubborn with each other it grew into an awesome friendship. And the rest is history."/p
p class="MsoNormal""So, who's the kid?" Rossi was curious./p
p class="MsoNormal""oh, that's Alice."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm guessing she's your daughter Sophie?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""yeah. She takes after her dad though." She said with a sly grin and a glance at Reid that the others missed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh really? How so?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, she's sweet, caring, smart and has started learning magic."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Sounds like an interesting guy." Hotch commented. "I'd assume you guys are close if Reid is comfortable enough to reciprocate her hugs."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Sophie just laughed. "You could say that."/p
p class="MsoNormal"It was then Garcia's curiosity got the best of her. "What do you mean by that?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"And because it seems that the universe hates Reid I multiple ways, it was then that Alice decided to run in yelling/p
p class="MsoNormal""DADDY, LOOK WHAT I GOT!" as she ran up to give Reid a hug and show off the toy she'd just bought./p
p class="MsoNormal"As embarrassing as it was, he wished he had a camera to capture the team's faces as they all just shouted/p
p class="MsoNormal""WHAT!"/p
p class="MsoNormal"in unison, mouth gaping wide. And with that Reid burst out laughing at his teammates' reaction./p