PT2

Reid jumped at the sound of a knock. He thought he'd imagined it at first, but then another round of knocks landed on his door. He quickly stood, shaking off the wave of dizziness that overtook his body, and made his way to the door.

'Who the hell is here?' Reid wondered. He managed to stumble to the door and look through the peep hole. Standing there was a very concerned looking JJ.

He ran a hair through his knotted hair and swung the door open.

"JJ is everything alright?" he asked. She immediately stepped inside, looking around his apartment. "No yeah come in…?" he muttered to himself, closing the door. When he turned around, JJ had an odd look on her face. Concern? Mixed with something else maybe?

"Spence, where is it?" Reid was thoroughly confused now.

"Huh?"

JJ laughed sadly, tears starting to fill her eyes, "Spence where is the dilauded?"

"WHAT?" Reid yelled, slightly offended at her accusation, "JJ I'm clean! I'm not using dilauded anymore! I haven't for months!"

JJ shook her head, "Spence we all noticed how different you were acting the other day. It was just like when you started using. I am just trying to help you; I care about you and I don't want you to lose your job or end up killing yourself because of drugs. It's not your fault, now please, just tell me where they are."

Reid was pissed. How dare she accuse him of doing that?! He knew deep in his heart that she was just worried about him, but that didn't cause him any relief.

"Go ahead and look around JJ! You're not going to find anything. My god, do you want to test me? Or check my arms? I'm not lying to you," he yelled, gesturing wildly. He stopped, clenching his jaw tightly before staring her dead in the eye, "I'm. Clean."

She looked unsure before holding out her hand. He rolled his eyes, sticking his arms out for her to take. JJ rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. He had barely used that one anyways, there wasn't much scarring there. After checking it over, she began rolling up the sleeve on his right arm. JJ gasped, but not at any new track marks.

His arm was red with sluggishly bleeding scratches. Reid's brows furrowed, not even remembering scratching his arm in such a way. She gently ghosted her fingers over the marks but didn't see any new injection sites. JJ furrowed her brow.

If he wasn't doing drugs again, then why was he acting so weird?

He'd been doing so well, finally getting back on track after the whole Gideon fiasco. But suddenly, after he and Rossi had come back from scouting in Montana, he was silent.

She'd known him long enough to know that the only time Reid was quiet was when something was wrong. Otherwise, he always had something to say, especially if it was quiet. She thought he'd made it his personal mission to make sure that there was never any silence. As much as the team tended to get annoyed with his rambling, they all loved him for it. It was one of the adorable quirks that made him who he was.

JJ and Prentiss had talked about it on the plane, and she knew Morgan was worried from the glances he'd been sending Reid's way. Hotch had planned on talking to the kid when they'd gotten back to Quantico, but Spence had managed to slip away from them before they got upstairs.

Then, it was radio silence for the last few days. They'd all attempted to contact him, but his phone had gone straight to voicemail. Either he'd turned it off on purpose, or it had run out of battery and he neglected to charge it. Either way, JJ became worried enough that she decided to go check on him herself.

She continued holding his arm, frowning. "Let me help clean you up." She said, leading him towards his bathroom.

Reid let her walk him, knowing better than to fight against her. Plus, he'd pretty much used up all his energy yelling at her a minute ago. She led him to the toilet, gesturing for him to sit atop the lid. Pulling out his first-aid kit, she began cleaning the wounds on his arm.

Reid cringed, biting his lip as the antiseptic stung the scratches. He felt a need to fill the silence they were sitting in, hating the lack of noise, but he fought against it. He thought back to Rossi's words, knowing the man was right.

JJ continued working, glancing at Reid every once in a while. He'd been completely quiet since his initial blow up, except for the occasional gasp of pain. She carefully finished cleaning the wounds, wrapping his arm with some gauze. When she finished, she rolled his sleeve down before grabbing his hand.

Reid kept his eyes down, letting JJ lead him back into the kitchen. She gestured for him to sit down and he did obediently. Swiftly, she began making him something to eat, assuming he probably hadn't fed himself in the days he'd been home.

A few minutes later, she sat a bowl of mac n' cheese in front of him. She filled a bowl for herself as well, taking a seat near him. He still hadn't made a sound, barely acknowledging that she was there at all.

JJ knew that look on his face. Reid was deep within his mind, probably thinking some self-loathing thoughts as he sometimes did. Wanting to get him out of his head, she cleared her throat before beginning to talk.

"I'm sorry I accused you of doing drugs, Spence." She said softly, "I was just worried about you and when you were so quiet in Montana… well my mind went to the worst thought first."

His eyes began to clear, returning to the present. Reid looked at her quickly before dropping his gaze to the bowl sitting in front of him. His mind caught up slowly and he began grabbing his fork.

"It's okay." He whispered. "Sorry I yelled at you." He dipped his head, hunching over slightly in shame. He shouldn't have yelled at her; she was his best friend. Now JJ would probably never want to hang out with him ever again. He'd been so rude to her.

JJ's brows furrowed as she saw him begin retreating again. She stuck her arm out, making contact with him, and it seemed to stop him from falling back into his head.

Reid flinched at the touch, but not enough for her to remove her arm. She opened her mouth to speak again.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Reid slowly brought his head up, confusion written on his face. "What?"

"Well, something's clearly wrong, I mean, look around Spence, it doesn't take a profiler to know somethings up." She gestured around his apartment.

The usually neat and pristine room was messy with books and clothing thrown all over the place. The curtains were still drawn and all the blankets on his couch were unfolded.

Still, Reid shook his head. "Nothing's wrong."

"Spence," JJ placed her other hand on his arm as well, establishing more contact with him, "did something happen in Montana?"
"NO!" he shouted, standing up abruptly. Reid began walking away but JJ had stood quickly and grabbed his arm, turning him around to face her. His eyes were clenched shut; his mouth pulled into a miserable frown. She held his forearms tight, not allowing him to escape from her grasp.

He broke suddenly, tears running down his face. His body instantly slumped, no longer fighting against her hold. Reid began weeping silently, just as he had a few weeks ago when they'd found out Gideon had left.

JJ pulled him into a hug, cradling his head against her shoulder. He immediately buried his face in her shirt.

They stood there a few minutes, Reid crying in her arms. When the tears began to slow, she loosened her grip, allowing him to straighten up. He wiped the tears from his face and rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry." He muttered, and she shook her head.

"You don't have to apologize, just talk to me Spence." She tilted his chin so that he was looking at her, "Please."

He nodded and she led him gently to the couch. Reid quickly slipped under one of the random blankets and JJ sat close to him, placing her hand on his. She squeezed it, encouraging him to speak.

"It's d-dumb." He said, staring at the blanket.

JJ shook her head, "if it's making you this upset, it's not dumb."

"It was just something someone said… uh-about me talking too much. That n-no one really wants to listen to my r-rambling, and I should just…" he trailed off, eyes full of hurt.

"should just…?" JJ asked, urging him to continue.

He cleared his throat, shaking his head. "that I should just sh-shut up."

JJ frowned. She knew that sometimes the policemen they worked with could be unkind to Reid, not understanding his quirks, but typically their comments didn't hurt him that much. In fact, Reid didn't really care what people thought of him, except for those on the team… Wait!

JJ's eyes widened in understanding. Reid hadn't named the person who'd said that, not because it was someone random, but because it was someone on the team. That's why he cared so much. She quickly thought back to the case. It didn't really seem like something any of them would say to him except maybe Rossi.

'Rossi!' She thought, 'Hotch sent Reid and Rossi to talk to people! When he got back, that's when Spence started acting weird! Rossi had been the one to say that to Reid!'

He had been so excited to meet the man and he'd been nothing but rude to most everyone on the team. He would have been heartbroken if Rossi insulted him in some way.

She wanted to ask him to confirm her theory but decided against it. He clearly didn't want to talk about it in the first place, and if he had purposely not mentioned who it was that made the comment, he would probably be embarrassed if she asked who it was.

Instead she implemented another tactic.

"Spence, whoever said that clearly doesn't know you very well. Otherwise they'd appreciate your rambling." This got Reid's attention, he looked up in confusion. "Sure, sometimes we get annoyed, but we all get annoyed at one another sometimes. Don't you get annoyed with Morgan when he slips his files into your paperwork?"

Reid nodded, a small smirk on his face. "And don't you get annoyed when Prentiss uses all the sugar from the coffee bar? Or when Hotch takes your coffee away and makes you take a break during a case?" Reid continued nodding, smile getting bigger on his face. Sure, they all annoyed him from time to time, but he loved them

"That's how we feel with your rambling Spence, it can be annoying, but we love you for it. It's what makes you, you. And we don't want you to change." She brought a hand up to his face, cupping his cheek, "Please don't try and change yourself because of something some asshole said, okay?" He nodded once more into her hand. Reid leaned forward, wrapping JJ in a hug. She immediately returned it; glad she'd gotten through to him.

The rest of the afternoon went by swiftly. JJ made Reid eat the whole bowl of mac n' cheese, claiming she'd confiscate his coffee maker if he didn't. They sat together, laughing and talking about random things. It was nice to talk outside of work, pretending they had normal lives, just talking about ordinary things.

When she finally left, she gave him a big hug, stating she was glad he was back to his normal self.

"See you tomorrow!" He said as she left, smiling. Reid felt loads better. Knowing he'd sleep much better tonight; he fell on his bed with a smile on his face.

JJ immediately called Hotch.

"Hotchner."
"Hey Hotch, we need to talk. Can you get to work early tomorrow?"

The next day came quickly. Reid's alarm went off at its normal time and he quickly got dressed for work. He made a cup of coffee and was out the door. He checked his phone. About halfway through her visit, JJ had mentioned that she'd called him a few times, and he realized that his phone had died on their way home from the case. Luckily, he'd remembered to charge it the previous night.

He'd felt guilty when he'd seen the number of messages that his friends had left him. They cared for him much more than he'd given them credit for. Though he still didn't quite understand why they liked him, JJ had assured him that they were one big family, and they would have his back no matter what.

As he stepped off the train and saw a message from Hotch. The man had asked him to go get the team some coffee before coming in. His brows furrowed in confusion, that was kind of an odd request. He replied, stating that he'd be happy to, but he'd probably be late. Hotch quickly responded saying that was okay.

Reid shrugged; he wasn't going to question it. He'd never say no to coffee. Especially when Hotch was buying.

He made his way over to the local coffee shop outside of the FBI building. It took about twenty minutes to wait in line, place everyone's orders, and get everything successfully, but Hotch had said it was okay for him to be late, so he wasn't too worried. When he finally walked into the bullpen, the atmosphere seemed a little off.

JJ and Garcia weren't there, but Morgan and Prentiss were. Prentiss seemed worried about something, and Morgan looked downright pissed. He glanced up at Hotch's office and was shocked to see the door was closed and Rossi was standing in there. Hotch looked angry, speaking to Rossi as if he'd done something wrong.

Reid made his way to his desk, quickly setting everything down. Morgan's eyes immediately softened when he saw Reid.

"Here you go," Reid said, handing Morgan his coffee, "and… here's yours Em." He grabbed JJ and Garcia's cups, rushing off to find them. He didn't miss the concerned glances Prentiss and Morgan exchanged as he walked away, but he still wasn't certain what this was all about, so he chose to ignore them.

When he entered Garcia's office, she immediately stood, hugging him and profusely thanking him for the coffee. She seemed more doting than she normally did, but he was sure it was nothing. He made his way to JJ's office, but she wasn't there. He set her coffee down on her desk and exited, making his way back to his own desk.

Reentering the bullpen, something was still off. Morgan was now staring angrily at Rossi's office, which had the door closed. Prentiss was at his desk, speaking to him in a hushed voice. He was about to ask them what was going on when Hotch emerged from his office. He made eye contact with Reid and waved for him to come up.

Reid swallowed, he felt like he was being called to the principal's office. He grabbed Hotch's coffee and made his way up the stairs.

"uh, here's your coffee sir." Reid said awkwardly, handing the cup over.

Hotch nodded in thanks, requesting that he close the door and sit down. Reid did so nervously. He awkwardly took a sip of his drink before making eye contact with Hotch.

The man looked pissed off, but also kind of… concerned? Reid continued to be confused with what was going on.

"Sir?"

"Reid, if another agent is bothering you, you need to tell me."

Reid was taken aback. How the hell did he find out about that? He hadn't told anyone but JJ, and still, he didn't tell JJ that it was Rossi who'd been rude to him.

"No agent is bothering me, just one of the local policemen was rude. It was nothing important-"

"JJ called me."

"What?!"

"She called me yesterday after she left your apartment. It was obvious you were upset during the case and we were all worried about you. She called me to let me know you weren't doing anything harmful," Hotch's eyes traveled quickly to the kid's arm before returning to his eyes, "but let me know that someone had said something rude to you." He leaned forwards, placing his clasped hands on his desk, a serious look on his face. "Now we both know a random person's commentary wouldn't have hurt you that much, and I also know that this team thinks of itself as a family, and no one would say anything that hurtful to you. So that means that it had to be someone who's opinion you care about but isn't a part of our family. That essentially only leaves Rossi."

Reid clenched his jaw, his eyes dropping. He felt ashamed. He should be able to take a little criticism, even if the criticism was someone you looked up to yelling at you telling you to shut up.

"It's not his fault." Reid began, suddenly finding himself unable to stop talking, "I was being annoying and I knew I was being annoying but it was just so quiet in the car and I felt like I had to fill the silence and I tried to ask him about his books so that he would talk too but he wasn't giving long answers so I felt like I needed to keep talking and he was just annoyed that I wouldn't just shut up GOD why can't I just shut up!" He yelled, bringing his head forward and shutting his eyes. His hands gripped his hair tightly, pulling in annoyance at himself. He was breathing quickly, tears dripping down his cheeks.

Arms were wrapping around his torso, gently bringing him to the floor. Reid leaned against Hotch, the man's arms tightening around him, and he allowed himself to sob into his shoulder. Hotch rubbed his back affectionately, shushing him and whispering comforting words. It only took a few minutes for him to calm himself down.

He pushed himself away from Hotch, sniffing. The man was looking at him warmly, still gripping his arms. Reid looked up at the man, giving a small smile in thanks. Hotch stood swiftly, pulling the shades closed. He had pulled the kid down so he could comfort him, but also because he didn't want anyone looking through and seeing the kid break down. He had the right to his privacy.

When the shades were drawn, Hotch held down his hand for Reid to take. He did so quickly, and Hotch pulled him to his feet, guiding him to the couch. Reid rubbed his eyes, which were red and puffy from crying.

"Reid," Hotch began hesitantly, "this team loves you for you and we don't want you to change. Rossi will come around. I've already spoke to him about this," Reid's eyes widened in horror, "his behavior was unacceptable. If he speaks to you like that again, I'll kick him off the team."

Reid shook his head, "You can't do that Hotch, you need him-"

"No Reid, we need you." Hotch said seriously. "I don't care how good he is, we need you, okay?" Reid nodded reluctantly.

"Now please, if something like this happens again, I want you to tell me right away, alright? I can't have you shut down in the middle of a case. We need you and that big brain of yours." Hotch said with a smirk, ruffling Reid's hair.

Reid chuckled, nodding once more. They spoke for a few more minutes, Hotch reassuring Reid with kind words, hoping that he was getting through that thick head of his.

When Reid eventually left the office, he had a tiny smile on his face. He headed back towards his desk, sipping his coffee as he sat down. He definitely felt better after his talk with Hotch.

Morgan still looked like he wanted to strangle someone, and he kept eyeing Rossi's office. Reid slowly connected the dots and his face became hot with embarrassment. That must have been why everyone was acting weird. They'd all either figured it out or heard through the grapevine what had happened.

He stood to go to the bathroom, wanting to allow himself to recover from his sudden bout of embarrassment. He rushed to the bathroom. Finding it empty, he breathed a sigh of relief. Reid leaned over the sink, splashing cold water onto his face. He heard the door open behind him. Quickly looking into the mirror, he saw Morgan.

He wiped his face and turned around, an awkward smile on his face. He began to walk around Morgan in order to leave, but the man put his palm on his chest, stopping him. Reid backed up slightly, surrendering to his fate.

"Kid, why didn't you say something?"

"Morgan-"

"Reid please, yah gotta stop doin' this to me. How many times am I going to have to tell you that I care about you before you get it into that thick skull of yours?" Morgan immediately pulled Reid into a tight embrace. Reid hugged back immediately, appreciating the gesture. When he pulled back Reid smiled.

"Thank you for caring Morgan, really."

"You don't have to thank me, just don't make me worry so much next time. I was this close to punching his ass."

Reid nodded and Morgan placed his hand at the nape of the kid's neck, guiding him out the door.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. They didn't have a case, so most everyone was just catching up on paperwork and talking to one another.

At the end of the day, Reid was one of the last people in the office. Morgan and Prentiss had both just gone home and Hotch was packing up. JJ had left about an hour ago and it sounded like Garcia left as well. Reid was finishing up one last file, he'd go home once he was done.

"Reid," his head shot up, it was Rossi, "may I speak to you in my office?" Reid's heart began beating rapidly in anticipation, but he nodded. He quickly threw the papers down, anxiously approaching the man's office. He made eye contact with Hotch, who was now stepping out of his office. He nodded, encouraging him.

Reid took a deep breath, stepping into Rossi's office. He gestured for him to sit, so Reid did just that. Rossi looked nervous; he took a deep breath before speaking.

"What I said to you was out of line, Reid. You're clearly an asset to this team, I've seen that multiple times now. Frankly, I'm jealous that you're as good as you are at your age. You intimidated me the moment you started quoting my book from memory. I understand why they need you on this team, and why everyone's so quick to defend you. I apologize for what I said, and I hope that you can forgive me."
Reid swallowed thickly, nodding his head. "It's alright." He cleared his throat. "Thank y-you, uh, for saying that."

Rossi nodded, smiling. Reid already felt a little better. Maybe the two of them could become friends, maybe Gideon's stories hadn't been embellished, you just had to get to know Rossi before he opened up to you.

'Kinda like me' Reid thought, a smile emerging on his face.

Rossi leaned forward, a hint of playfulness in his eyes. "So… do you like pasta?"