Am I ever going to do a fic where Reid doesn't collapse? Who knows?

S2 E1

"There's someone upstairs."
"Where?"
"I saw a shadow." Reid took a breath, letting out nervous energy. Derek raced ahead of him along with a few SWAT agents. He followed after, tailing behind Hotch. The three reached the end of the long hallway. Reid ran across, pinning himself behind a wall. Glancing down the hall to the slightly opened door, he saw a figure briefly walk past.

"He's in there." He whispered, gesturing towards the door. Morgan stepped forwards, preparing to walk in.

"Alright, cover me. I'm gunna go in-"

"Wait, wait, wait. wait." Reid interrupted. Derek stepped back once more, waiting for an explanation. "Mr. Garner? My name's Spencer Reid… You were in the hospital with my mother. I-I think she might have confused you." He paused but when he didn't hear a reply, continued, "All we want to do is help Rebecca. That's exactly what you want, right? That's why you sent us the puzzles? That's why you said you hoped you'd be seeing us soon?"
"Ask the question." A raspy voice answered from the room.

Hotch and Derek stared at Reid. "There is no magical question Mr. Garner." He turned to his two friends, explaining, "He believes if I ask him the right question, it'll heal all of his wounds." The two stared, slightly confused at the reason.

"Do you know the question?" Hotch asked.

"I know what he wants…" nervously he shifted from foot to foot before making his next move, "I'm going to move to where he can see me."
"Reid!" "Reid, no!" the two whispered simultaneously. But Reid had made up his mind. He took a confident step forward, ordering the SWAT team to fall back. Ignoring the words of his fellow agents, he handed his gun to one of the SWAT officers. Raising his hands, he began to slowly walk towards the office.

"Stay calm, Mr. Garner."
"Ask the question, Sir Percival."

Reid continued sneaking forwards slowly, "I told you, I'm not Percival. My name is Dr. Spencer Reid from the FBI. You were in the hospital with my mother, Diana?"
"If you want the grail you must ask the question!"

"She's not a grail!" Reid snapped. "She's your daughter. Her name's Rebecca."
"My daughters died in a fire, and my son, and my wife."
"Rebecca lived…"

"No. Your mother, she explained it all to me."

Reid paused, swallowing the lump in his throat. His team had no idea about his mom, but, he supposed, that was about to change. "My mother's a paranoid schizophrenic who'd forget to eat if she wasn't properly medicated and supervised." He could feel the stares of his partners behind him, but there wasn't time for that now.

"She made me realize none of it was real. I didn't lose Rebecca. She never existed in the first place."
"She does exist, Mr. Garner, and we're here to help her." Reid had finally reached the door. He slowly reached out, widening the gap, so he could see the man. He was sat at his desk, a very heavy-duty looking bomb strapped to his chest. Reid's heart jumped into his throat and nerves filled his body. The man's hand was on the button, shaking slightly. Fear filled the young agent's eyes as he attempted to warn the other members of his team.

"Hotch, Morgan? I think m-maybe it'd be better if you guys waited downstairs" he paused, taking another small shaky step into the room, "Mr. Garner and I are just gunna… talk alone up here."

Morgan answered immediately, determination in his voice, "Go ahead and talk, Reid, but we're not goin' anywhere."

"Ask the question, I'll be healed, and you may take the grail… just ask the question Sir Knight"

Reid looked at the man sadly, hands still raised for him to see. Licking his lips, he answered, "I can't"

"HEAL ME" the man said, raising his raspy voice slightly. Reid reeled backwards slightly, the man's finger seemingly tightening on the trigger.

"Mr. Garner, a fisher king wound cannot be healed by somebody else, it's not a wound to the body, it's a wound to the memory, a wound to the mind. It's… it's a wound that only you can find, and a wound that only you can heal." He attempted to explain. Reasoning with the man seemed to be his only chance to get them both out of this, but he was starting to think it wasn't in the cards.

"Just ask the question."

"There's only one question that matters, Mr. Garner. There's only one really important question. Can you forgive yourself?" Reid saw the man's eyes cloud over in sorrow. He felt a small amount of relief, it seemed as though he might've gotten through to him.

"I couldn't get to them."

Reid smiled, nodding slightly, "If you tell me where she is, you can save Rebecca now!" the man didn't move, but Reid kept prodding him, plastering a look of excitement on his face, "Tell me where Rebecca is."

"You already know. I sent your mother the map."

Reid's brows furrowed in confusion, once again the man wasn't making sense. "What map?"

"Can I forgive myself?" Reid sensed danger once again. The man was slipping back into his delusion. He once more realized the hand around the trigger had tightened and he began slowly backing towards the door. "No, I can't."
Reid realized what was about to happen and immediately turned around.

"RUN!" He screamed, launching himself out of the door as fast as he could. The explosion followed a second later, throwing his body even further backwards with the force of the blast. His arms instinctively reached up to his head, but he felt debris bounce off the rest of his body. Heat seemed to be licking at his feet and leg. His ears rung from the noise. Pain begun to fill the back of his left leg. He managed to prop himself up on his forearms and attempted to look back towards the explosion.

"Don't move Reid! Don't move!" Derek's voice pierced through the ringing. He was running behind him and… hitting his leg with something? Oh, maybe that's why his leg stung, his pant leg was on fire. Dazed, he began to try and stand, fumbling as his limbs failed to cooperate. Hotch appeared on his other side suddenly, reaching for his arm.

"Get him out, get- let's go, let's go!" Hotch dragged him off the ground, grabbing hold of his torso. He awkwardly pulled him up to as much of a standing position as he could while Reid attempted to get his legs under him.

"Let's roll, let's go!" Morgan shouted. Morgan reached for Reid and tried taking his other side, but the movements were still awkward as he struggled to move his legs at the same speed as the other two. They were essentially dragging him along. He tried to get his mind working again but instead began choking on the smokey air.

"What the hell was that?" Hotch questioned stoically, still dragging Reid down the hallway. His body was curled in on itself, attempting to stay below smokey air but also somewhat unable to hold itself up. His left leg was stinging with pain and he couldn't put much weight on it.

"He had a bomb." He retorted between coughs.

"You didn't think we needed to know that?"
"I told you to go downstairs."

"Well you didn't say bomb, you left that part out."
Reid's adrenalin suddenly kicked in as he remembered the girl. He had to get the girl out. She was somewhere in the house and she was going to die if he couldn't figure out the riddle. The pain he was feeling seemed to leave him and he grabbed onto the handrail, effectively stopping Hotch and Morgan from continuing to drag him downstairs.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop"
"What do you mean stop?! The house is on fire Reid let's go!"
Reid's hands shook with frustration as he attempted to figure out the riddle. "Just let me think, let me think! He's the fisher king, this is his castle, Rebecca's got to be here!"

"Reid, there may not be time for a search, let's go." Hotch stated, holding out an arm towards the young man. But Reid didn't move.

"Location's on the map that he gave to my mom." He mumbled to himself.

"Reid all she told us about was that photo!"

Suddenly, it hit him. The photo! He recalled the image of the photo from his memory. It was a photo of the house from the outside. Some lights were on upstairs-probably in the room he just blew up. And also… in the basement, there was a light on in the basement as well!
"Down- She's in the basement downstairs!" he yelled, rushing down the stairs past the other two agents. His adrenalin was running strong as he sprinted, ignoring the questions Morgan was sending him. Quickly he navigated downstairs, Hotch and Derek hot on his tail. He suddenly heard a girl's voice screaming for help.

"She's in here! Rebecca!" he said, turning the corner. Rebecca was sitting on the ground, chained to the earth. The voices seemed to distort around him as he backed himself into the corner of the room. The faces were swimming in front of him, but he attempted to focus as much as he could.

"He called me Sir Percival…" he mumbled to himself.

"Reid, hurry." Hotch said, worry on his face.

"The key. The key, the youngest one holds the key! Tell me you got the key!"

Reid began searching his pockets absentmindedly before he pulled the key out. Wow, it was a good thing his mother had messed with the evidence board or he wouldn't have had it with him. He quickly bent down, undoing the lock around her foot before bolting out of the room. The others quickly followed, getting out just before another explosion occurred.

They managed to exit the house without losing anyone else. Everyone was accounted for and Rebecca seemed to be physically unharmed.

As they waited for the ambulance to arrive, Reid leaned himself against one of the SUVs. The pain in his leg was beginning to make an appearance once more and his body felt sore from being thrown against the ground. He was coughing occasionally from the smoke inhalation, but he didn't think much of it.

Reid was beginning to feel fairly exhausted. The adrenalin had worn off almost completely and the only thing holding him up at the moment was the car he was leaning on. He glanced around, making sure everyone else was ok.

Hotch and Morgan were talking to Rebecca, who was bundled in a blanket. They all looked relatively unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief at this.

The world began to shift slightly as his body began to collapse. He felt his knees collapse into the concrete, and soon after his upper body as well. He let out a weak cough as his ribs jolted against the ground. He laid there, on his front, floating for a moment, before someone began rolling him over.

"R-d… eid!.. Spe-r… come o- k-d…" Derek was hovering above him when he opened his eyes.
"What happened?" He questioned, bringing a hand to his head. His ears were still ringing from the explosion and his head pounded.

"You collapsed; you were probably coming down from an adrenalin high." Hotch stated. He was rubbing his hand up and down the kid's arm comfortingly. "Think you can sit up?"

"mmm hmmm" Reid hummed, eyes beginning to shut again against his will.

"Reid, pass out and you're going to wake up in a hospital bed."

That woke him up. Reid's eyes snapped open. He was not about to end up at the hospital again. The two placed gentle hands on his back. They slowly propped him up, Hotch settling behind him to hold him in a sitting position. When they'd finished, the EMTs had finally arrived. Derek quickly waved them over.

They placed an oxygen mask over his mouth and he immediately sighed in relief. He hadn't realized how hard it had become to breath until just now. The pain in his chest slightly subsided as he clutched the mask, taking as deep of breaths as he possibly could. Hotch was listing his known injuries to the paramedics from behind him. He leaned into the man's body, comforted by his father-figure's protective nature. The man had one arm protectively wrapped around his torso and the other around his waist, keeping him from slumping over too much. Reid let his eyes begin to drift closed as they began rolling up his pants leg.

They applied some burn cream to the back of his leg, but luckily it wasn't too bad. They wrapped it in gauze and said as long as he kept it clean it would heal quickly with minimal scarring. They did find some bits of wood stuck in his ankles from the blast, along with bruising, but nothing too life threatening. The bits of wood were pulled out fairly easily and bandaged up. His arms were bruised as well, but nothing too serious.

His head was checked and, somehow, he managed not to hit his head either time he'd fallen to the ground that night. Lastly, the paramedics pulled up his shirt to check his ribs.

His chest was a mess of bruises from the hard landing. One of the paramedics took out their stethoscope to listen to his breathing. It was regulating fairly fast. Luckily, he hadn't inhaled all that much smoke.

When they'd finished his checkup, his eyes didn't feel as heavy. The oxygen mask had definitely helped him. The paramedics suggested he go to the hospital just in case, but seeing that Reid had managed to stay awake, Hotch told them he didn't need to. They had, however, decided to let him sit with the oxygen a few more minutes.

Reid breathed deeply, his lungs feeling much better after ridding themselves of the smoke. Hotch continued to hold him, unconsciously rocking him back and forth a little. He placed his chin atop Reid's sweaty hair and the kid involuntarily leaned back against him a little more. Derek had gotten up while they were working on Reid and had gone to help Rebecca, so it was just the two of them sitting there.

"Reid." Hotch said. Reid opened his mouth to answer but was cut off, "Don't say anything, just listen. What you did tonight was idiotic. You should have let us know there was a bomb in the room. You could have gotten yourself killed." Reid's eyes began to fill with tears from disappointing Hotch, but the man continued. "However, I am extraordinarily proud of you. You managed to save Rebecca without any other casualties. You tried your best with Mr. Garner, but he'd already decided his fate. And I hope you know that we're not going to look at you different because of what you shared about your mom. I hope you know that you can talk to us about anything, you don't have to hide yourself from us, you can let us in. But we won't pressure you to do that. Do you understand?"

Reid nodded, refusing to let the tears fall. Hotch held him a little tighter for a moment, before loosening his grip. The two sat there a while longer, Reid attempting to get hold of his emotions while continuing to use the oxygen mask, Hotch acting as his rock.

When the EMTs did finally come back to reclaim the oxygen mask, Reid felt a thousand times better. Hotch moved out from behind him and helped him stand. His legs were still shaky, but he didn't feel as weak as before.

Soon the ambulance with Rebecca left, on its way to the hospital, and the three climbed into the SUV, on their way back to Quantico. Reid smiled, staring out the window. He was lucky to have family like this and, overall, the night hadn't been that bad. Sure, he couldn't save Mr. Garner, he felt a pang of guilt, but he saved Rebecca.

They made it back to Quantico. Reid was relieved when they were greeted by JJ and Garcia in the bullpen. They informed them that Elle was awake in the hospital and they collectively sighed in relief. He was certain he probably still looked like shit, but he was happy that his team and mother were safe. He glanced up to the round table room where his mom was sitting and smiled.

"I think we've all really earned some more time off. Hopefully we won't be interrupted this time. I'll see you all next week." Hotch stated. He patted the kid on the back, nodding towards his mom, "take her back to Vegas, you can take the jet"
Reid turned to look at Hotch, a smile plastered on his face and childlike wonder in his eyes.

"Really?!" Hotch nodded once more, a rare grin appearing as the kid turned to run to the office. The kid deserved some time with his mom, and now, hopefully, their time would be uninterrupted.

A few hours later, Reid was sitting on the jet with his mother. She glanced nervously out the window. She'd always hated flying. He sighed, his eyes softening. He'd felt bad that he'd pulled her from her home so abruptly, but he was so scared she would get hurt. Her knuckles were white, clutching the seat. Reid suddenly had an idea.

He grabbed one of the books out of her bag and flipped open to a random page. He began to read the page aloud, placing his other hand atop hers. She didn't completely relax, but he could tell she was listening. Smiling, he continued, grateful to have this time with her.

Yayyyyy so I finally got to season 2!
Just a quick aside, I'm not going to write a ton on season 2 because of Revelations. I'm sorry if you're disappointed by this but I don't feel like I could do Reid's problems with drugs justice in just a few chapters. I feel like if I did a fic about Revelations and the following episodes, I would need to do a whole separate series. Plus, there are a crapload of fics out there that tackle it which do a much better job than I think I could.
That being said, I'm going to publish two more fics which take place in season 2 before Revelations, but then I'll go ahead and jump to season 3.
Just thought I'd give a heads up to those who read the notes :)
Anyways, be ready for some fluff coming up here soon, the next chapter I wrote is VERY fluffy 3