"Bad Memories" one-shot, maybe two-shot. Always wondered how Reid was procuring dilaudid post Hankel. I own nothing. Enjoy.


Possible Two-Shot "Bad Memories"

"You are coming, right?" Reid looked up from placing files in his messenger bag to see his unit chief Emily walking towards him with determination. She added, "to Anderson's going away party?" Anderson was leaving Quantico and moving to a field office in Arizona.

"Oh, is that tonight?" Reid responded, acting like he didn't remember. She nodded. "I wish I could but I have something else planned already, so -," Emily cut him off,

"No you don't, you're a terrible liar - I will not allow you to miss another team outing. You're coming and that's an order," she was half joking.

Reid hadn't been out with the team since he got out of prison. It was hard to get him out on the town before that anyway. Reid asked,

"Is it still at the Red Room?", Emily confirmed it was. Reid was hoping it had changed locations. The venue was the primary reason he did not want to go. "I don't know, it's kind of in a sketchy part of town and on a Saturday night it's going to be packed," he tried to rationalize his position.

"Oh yeah, you'll be in real danger with a room full of FBI agents" Emily rebutted. She paused before asking, "why don't you want to hang out with the team?"

Reid's head shot up, "It's not that I don't want to hang out with you guys, I just -" Emily cut him off again, "Great! So you're coming, I can give you a ride." Reid knew he didn't have an option at this point. It's not like he could just tell his boss that the Red Room is where he used to buy drugs and he really didn't want to revisit that part of his life again. Emily watched him carefully as he just stood there thinking. She instructed, "I'll meet you at the elevator in 5."


They pulled up to the bar which was, as Reid predicted, packed. The rest of team was already inside. JJ and Will were talking to Anderson, Matt and his wife made a brief appearance before going home to their kids, and Luke and Lisa were on the floor dancing. Reid, Emily, Garcia, Rossi, and his wife - Krystall - sat in a booth watching their friends. Reid was quiet. He looked tense. Rossi bought everyone a round in hopes to loosen up the young agent, but he hadn't touched his drink. Rossi and Emily exchanged looks, they knew there was something more going on than just Reid wanting to be home reading a book rather than at a bar with his teammates.

"Who wants another round?" Rossi offered. Hands shot up.

"Oh me, definitely" said Garcia. Emily agreed. Krystall raised her empty glass,

"Make that three, Dave". Rossi nudged Reid with his elbow,

"Alright kid, you're coming with me up to the bar to carry all of these," Reid didn't object.

Reid kept his head down as they made their way through the crowd. There was a certain someone he was really hoping he didn't run into. They reached the bar, ordered, and waited. Rossi took this time to try to figure out what was going on,

"What's got you so down, kid?" Reid didn't look at him.

"Nothing," he said, almost inaudibly given the loud music.

"Are you really going to do this with me, Spencer? Who do you think you're talking to?" the use of his first name made him look up. Just then a feminine voice called out from behind them,

"Spencer?"

Both agents turned to see where it came from. Upon seeing it's origin, Reid was frozen in his place. A woman walked up to him and gasped, "It is you! It's been so long, how are you?" Rossi was very confused to say the least. This woman who seemed to be an old friend, or maybe more, was beautiful. She had long, medium-brown hair in waves; she had striking green eyes; and was wearing a very flattering violet cocktail dress. Rossi was able to manage carrying all the drinks himself so, in Morgan-fashion, he mumbled a "go get 'em" and returned to the booth to give his coworker some space.

Rossi sat the drinks down on the table,

"Where's Reid, did you lose him?" Emily questioned, Rossi stepped to the side allowing the other teammates to get a good view at their young friend and this mystery woman at the bar.

"Our boy's a little busy right now," Rossi smirked.

Reid, however, did not share the same excitement as this woman, nor his coworkers. This was exactly who he had been trying to avoid running into. The woman went by "Amber". He just kept starring at her. She finally scoffed,

"What's wrong, Spencer? Nervous?" she leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "I might have something that could calm you down?" Reid backed up as much as he could before his back was touching the bar. He replied adamantly,

"No, no thanks, I don't need anything," Amber pouted. She reached out and gently grabbed his tie,

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you've gone all straight and narrow on me, huh?" Spencer brushed her hand away. He was becoming less petrified and more agitated. He didn't want to be here.

"Well this isn't going like I thought it would," Rossi said as he peered over his glass. By this time, JJ, Will, Luke, and Lisa had made it over to the group's table and were intently watching the exchange. Luke chimed in,

"He doesn't look too happy to see her - maybe she's an ex?" this idea made Garcia perk up,

"Oh, this is juicy - did anyone know he had a girlfriend?" JJ responded,

"I didn't think so, not since Maeve anyway."

"I'll tell you what," Amber charmed, starting to open her clutch, "a welcome back gift, on the house" she pulled a tiny clear bag containing two white tablets out of her bag.

Garcia was on the edge of her seat,

"Omg, what's she giving him? Her phone number? I can't see?" Emily was sitting only a little bit closer and could make out the object being dangled in front of Reid's panic-stricken face,

"Oh no" she said under her breath as she got up to make her way towards her friend.

Reid let out a breathy laugh as he decided that was enough and squirmed his way past her and headed towards the door. Amber called after him,

"Boo, Spency - you're no fun!"


Reid made it out onto the sidewalk and started walking. It was cold and yet he was sweating. He had his hands shoved into his pocket but took one of them out to rub his eye and brush his hair up off of his forehead. He didn't hear the quickening sound of heeled footsteps approaching. Emily had followed after him,

"Reid!" she called out. He kept walking. She caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Reid brushed her hand away and continued on.

"Don't touch me," he said - not angrily - but sternly nonetheless. Emily recoiled,

"Sorry," she took a second to analyze him. She was figuring out the best way to proceed, "your friend back there, who was she?"

"She's not my friend," he huffed. Emily decided she needed to be more direct,

"Spencer, I saw what she was trying to give you," Reid slowed down and came to a halt. He turned to look at his friend,

"There's a reason I didn't want to come here, Emily. That place and that woman are bad memories of a time I try really hard to forget, daily," she was putting all the pieces together,

"Oh my god, Spencer. She was your -" Reid cut her off before she could say it and make it real,

"Yeah." Amber was his drug dealer after Hankel. Emily didn't know what to say, when she goaded the young agent in to going out with the rest of the team she never would have predicted this is how the night would end up. Reid just wanted this conversation to be over with,

"Please Emily, just leave me alone. I'm going home." Emily argued,

"We're like three miles from your place, let me at least give you a ride," Reid quickly dismissed her,

"Believe me, I've made the walk dozens of times - I'll be fine." Emily refused to let him go. She grabbed his shoulder again, this time spinning him to the side, backing him up against the brick wall exterior of a building to face her.

"There is no way I'm letting you leave here by yourself, you need to talk to me." Now Reid was mad,

"There's nothing to discuss. I didn't want to go out tonight, you dragged me here anyway, she saw me, wanted to resume business as usual, I had to leave." Emily insisted,

"Reid, I'm sorry. You're right, I shouldn't have forced you to go out with us. I thought hanging out would be good for team morale. I should have trusted that you had a good reason for not wanting to come. I know you don't like to talk about this but I'm worried about you - I don't want you to -," Reid cut her off again,

"What? What do you think I'm going to do?" Emily tried to be cautious but there was really no way around it,

"I'm not saying that I don't trust you or that I don't think you're strong, I do - but you're also human, Spencer - and now I'm just worried that running into that woman could have been a trigger and -," Reid kept finishing her thoughts for her,

"You think one little bad memory resurfacing is gonna cause me to relapse? Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence,"

"Reid, that's not what I meant," Emily reasoned. He continued,

"You said you saw what she did; she offered me pills, I turned her down, I left. You don't need to worry. I'm fine. I have no desire to get high, my sobriety is not in any danger. Now please, can I go?" It was odd for Reid to speak so candidly about his past addiction - especially since he was talking to his superior - but he was so desperate to get away from her, he thought the quickest way to do that was to be as open and honest as possible. Emily believed him and she backed up, allowing him to walk past her.