I love this episode so much! The writers of CM really said HotchxReid rights this season. The past like five episodes I've watched have had lots of adorable moments between the two and it makes me so happy.
Enjoy!

S3 E14

What if Reid hadn't been able to stop Hotch and Chester from fighting?

Reid wasn't sure what to make of Chester Hardwick. He was happy that the man had agreed to do an interview with them before he was sentenced to death next week, but he was starting to feel nervous. Something felt off.

Reid had studied his case, reading all the files and reviewing all the crime scenes before they'd flown down to Connecticut to meet with him. He didn't seem the type who would request to speak with the BAU before death, but that's why Reid had been a little excited about the whole thing.

They were probably going to uncover a lot of new information into the minds of serial killers who fit his same profile because this profile didn't tend to request interviews like this.

Perhaps he should have been more confused and concerned at the thought of this. It was likely that there was an alternative motive to his actions. However, he'd been too blinded by the possibility of new information to even think of something like that.

He started to get a pit in his stomach the moment the man began lying to them. Reid knew that Hardwick was aware of the information they had on him. There was no reason to lie to them about things as menial as his childhood because they knew everything there was to know about it already. They really only asked basic questions like those to establish a basis before leaning into inquiries such as "why did you choose to murder her, of all people?" or "did the killing make you feel anything?"

The man seemed uninterested in them. He lied about his childhood questions as well as multiple other baseline questions that Reid had asked. He stood with his back to them, staring out the slightly opened window.

Hotch was becoming agitated. The man had been on edge recently because of the pending divorce and it seemed like he was ready to take out his anger on this prisoner.

Reid attempted to be the mediator and keep the tensions down, but Hotch was really pushing it when the man began to lie to them.

"Why did you ask us here?" Hotch demanded, clearly very pissed off that the man was wasting their time.

"I wanted to smell the air."

"What?"

"They've got me on death watch. 24 hour a day isolation, and I will be until they take me to the death chamber. So I wanted to smell the air one last time before I die." The man explained. He'd finally turned around and was attempting a stare down with Hotch. "Thank you for giving me that."
Hotch looked pissed. He turned and began walking towards the door. "Let's pack it up."

Reid's brows furrowed. Were they really going to just walk out without having gathered any information? "Should we at least-"

"No, no." Hotch interrupted. He pressed the buzzer on the door, indicating to the guards that they wanted to be let out. "Have a nice trip, Chester. You're going where you belong." Hotch stated harshly.

Reid began quickly gathering all the papers he'd placed on the table. He heard Hotch ring the buzzer another time as he started shoving things back into his satchel. He stood up, turning to look at Hotch. They shared a confused look with one another before Chester began speaking again.

"it's 5:17." The man stated, looking outside once more. He paused for a moment before turning back around to face the two of them. "Evening yard started at 5:00. Guard staff's outside with the population. There won't be anyone to open that door for at least… 13 minutes." The man grabbed one of the crime scene photos from his previous murders and held it up, "and it took me less than five to do this." A grin spread across his face.

Reid's mind suddenly connected the dots. This was why the man had wanted them to come. Not to interview him, but because he wanted one last chance to murder someone.

"While you were doing your research," the man began again, slowly stepping towards Hotch, "maybe a question or two about security tones would have been a good idea."
"I heard the tones" Hotch stated defensively.

Chester smiled evilly, inching closer and closer to Hotch. "So you planned to be locked inside with me, with no guns or weapons?"

Hotch's stare got colder, "I won't need a gun."

Reid began slowly making his way to the other side of the room, not wanting the man to have them both boxed into one corner. Afterall, there were two of them and only one of him.

"There's no way they're gunna execute me next week, not after I kill two FBI agents. You saved by life by coming here."
"But unfortunately for you, I'm not a five-foot-tall, 100-pound girl. All your life you've gone after victims who couldn't fight back. And the rest of the time you spent looking over your shoulder, worried about the knock on the door, scared that somebody like me would be on the other side waiting to put you away." Hotch stated, anger in his eyes. He was taking off his jacket and tie, getting ready to fight the man. "At your core, you're a coward, Chester."

Reid was shocked when suddenly Chester lunged at Hotch. Hotch easily dodged the punch, delivering one of his own. Reid threw his satchel to the side, ready to try and assist in any way he could, but he wasn't super handy at hand to hand combat. He watched as the two of them threw punches and kicks. Most of Hotch's landed, but they weren't hard enough to completely knock Chester down. Suddenly, the man landed a punch to Hotch's temple that seemed to be a lucky blow. He watched his superior drop to the ground quickly.

"Hotch!"

Reid froze up completely, terrified. Chester turned to face him, smiling maliciously. He quickly moved towards Reid who knew he didn't stand much of a chance in this fight. The man swiftly began throwing punches which Reid tried to evade as much as possible. He wasn't a great fighter but luckily because of his lean frame he was able to dodge quickly.

However, that only worked for a little while because the man had managed to back him into a corner. Reid managed to land two punches before any hit him, but the blows weren't strong enough to effect Chester all that much.

The first blow Chester landed was to his gut. This made Reid yelp and double over in pain. Before he could recover, the man landed another blow right into his left eye socket. The motion of the punch caused Reid's head to snap against the wall he'd been pinned against. He dropped to the ground limply, slowly reaching up to clutch his aching head.

'Great, I'm gunna have a black eye for sure.' Reid thought, his eye throbbing sharply.

Chester continued his assault, kicking Reid's ribs continuously. Reid wanted to clutch his ribs, but he couldn't, choosing to protect his head instead. So, the attack on his ribs continued.

His shoes seemed to be made of lead. Every kick filled with such a power that Reid was smacked back against the wall. He could feel the air leaving his body and wasn't able to recover quickly enough to fully take a breath. Reid felt as his ribs bruised, then cracked, and possibly eventually snapped from the assault.

It felt like the man was kicking him for hours but, eventually, he stopped. Reid coughed weakly, trying to manage the pain and take a full breath, but the latter seemed impossible. He was certain his chest was currently one big bruise, and his lungs were not cooperating.

Reid's eyes were blurring, and he was trying not to pass out. A hand appeared around his neck suddenly, lifting him off the ground. Immediately both of Reid's hands gripped at Chester's, trying to get him to stop suffocating him. He was being held up against the wall, quickly losing the small amount of air he'd regained. He looked over Chester's shoulder, seeing Hotch was slowly coming back to himself.

He'd forgotten Hotch was there temporarily, too focused on the pain to think about his surroundings. However, suddenly, he was filled with a new drive. If he passed out, then Chester would go after Hotch next. He needed to stay strong for his father figure, he didn't want him to get killed too.

Reid needed to stall for time. Hopefully then Hotch could recover enough to possibly save himself, maybe call a guard and get himself out of the room.

Reid sucked in as much air as he could and tried to speak, though it came out as more of a whisper, "do you want to know why you killed those women?"

The man's grip instantly slackened, and Reid sucked in more air. "What?"

"Earlier you s-said you wish that you were different. I can tell you why you killed them. Why you are… what you are." He choked out.

The man was clearly intrigued. He let go of Reid's neck, letting him fall to the ground. Reid coughed for a minute, catching his breath. Something wet and metallic filled his mouth after a bit.

'Blood.' He thought, 'that's probably not good.'

He glanced over to Hotch, who was standing up slowly. He clutched his head briefly but seemed okay besides that. Reid sighed in relief, glad that he'd get out of this okay. Hotch made eye contact with him, encouraging him to continue the distraction. He was grabbing the chair as silently as he could. Reid just needed to hold Chester's attention a few more seconds.

"You can tell me why I did the things I did?"

"I th-think so. I do."

Luckily, before he even had to start whipping something up, Hotch hit the man over the head with the chair. He managed to hit him hard enough to knock him out, and the man fell to the floor, unconscious.

Reid sighed in relief, closing his eyes. Hotch would be okay.

"Reid, keep your eyes open." Hotch ordered, tapping on his face. Reid complied reluctantly. The pain which he'd temporarily forgotten was catching up with him again.

His eye socket throbbed from being punched and the back of his head was probably bleeding from where it had hit the wall. He could feel blood dripping out of his mouth, probably internal bleeding from all the kicks to his ribs. Speaking of, it really hurt to breath. He could feel a rattling in his chest with every inhale, and he was pretty sure Hotch could hear it.
Hotch grabbed him by the armpits and began gently dragging him away from the man and towards the door. Reid's head lulled forwards, he was starting to lose consciousness. The edges of his vision were starting to darken.

But he had to hold on for Hotch.

The man propped him up against the wall next to the door. He was insistently pushing the buzzer, hoping anyone would hear it. Reid hung onto the noise, trying to stay awake. He coughed a few times, tasting more blood in his mouth. It began to drip down his chin, but Reid didn't have the energy to wipe it away.

"Hotch. '-re you 'kay?" He asked wetly. Hotch's face appeared in his blurring vision. The man clutched his head gently in his hands. His mouth was moving but, weirdly, no words were coming out. Or maybe he just couldn't hear him anymore. "-m sorry" Reid slurred, vision dropping off again. He began to fall into oblivion, watching Hotch's face drift further and further away from him until everything was dark.

He heard a lot of voices and sirens. They all sounded muffled, like his ears were stuffed with cotton. Reid saw a bright light; it was warm and beckoning him to walk towards it. He began moving forward to the warmth but, suddenly, something pulled him back. He felt a pressure around his right wrist. He didn't know what it was, but it almost felt like the pressure was telling him not to go, asking him to stay behind. Reid wasn't sure what to do, but when the pressure became tighter, more desperate, he clung to it, using it to ground himself. He felt as though he needed to hold on to it for some reason, like it wasn't quite time to reach towards the warm embrace of the light.

When he felt the beckoning of the light again, he resisted. The pressure was no longer there on his wrist, but he remembered it's desperation. How it pleaded with him to fight. He struggled to hold on, pushing away from it. Reid couldn't remember why he was fighting, but he knew one thing, he couldn't let go.

Reid awoke in a dark hospital room. His body was aching, especially his torso. He could feel tight wrappings around his ribs. He coughed a few times inadvertently and a hand placed itself on his own.

Reid turned his head to see Hotch sitting beside him. His face was bruised, and he had stitches in his forehead, but he was clearly much better off than Reid currently was. He looked stressed though, and exhausted. He clearly hadn't slept at all.

Hotch squeezed his hand tightly, worry in his eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

He smiled at the man, "'re you 'kay?"

Hotch's face softened. "I'm perfectly fine Reid, I got a few stitches but nothing serious. Now How are you feeling?"

"I'm fi-"

"If you say fine, I will smack you." Hotch interrupted seriously, "Spencer, we almost lost you. He broke six of your ribs and cracked a bunch more. Two of them pierced one of your lungs, you were in surgery for four hours. They lost you on the table twice. So please, do not tell me you're fine."

"Shit." Was all Spencer could say. That explained why he felt so poorly. "Uh, yeah. I'm sore and it's hard to breath, but I'm alive." He stated, giving Hotch a small smile. The man squeezed his hand again before leaning back in his chair.

Hotch looked as if he might start crying and Reid was not sure what to do. He awkwardly squeezed the man's hand, hoping to provide some form of reassurance.

Then, Hotch unexpectedly wrapped Reid in a gentle hug, awkwardly leaning over him to avoid squeezing his injuries too much. Reid buried his face in the man's shoulder, reciprocating the hug as much as he could.

When they separated, Hotch took Reid's hand once again, as if it was his lifeline.

"Spencer," He started, not sure what to say, "I watched you code, in the ambulance." Hotch clenched his jaw, clearly fighting back tears.

Reid swallowed, brows furrowing. He felt bad that he'd had to witness that.

"I held onto your wrist, feeling for a pulse, but it was gone. Your body was still warm, but your heart stopped, your lungs stopped. You were dead, and I felt like I'd lost my son." A tear fell and Hotch immediately wiped it away.

Reid felt tears fill his own eyes. He was touched that Hotch had cared so much for him. In his heart he knew that they had sort of a father-son relationship going on, but neither of them had outright said it until now. He swallowed the lump in his throat, moved by the man's statement.

"I just held onto you," Hotch continued, "begging you to come back. It took a few tries, but eventually you did. But then when I'd heard that you coded again in the OR… I really wasn't sure you were going to make it. And I don't know if I would have been able to keep going if you hadn't, not when I was the one who told the guards to take off Hardwick's chains."

Reid squeezed the man's hand reassuringly. "'s not your fault." He began, smiling, "'m just glad you're 'kay."

Hotch smiled, letting a few more tears flow. He ran his other hand through the kid's hair affectionately, thankful he was alive.

He thought he'd lost the kid the moment he passed out in the interview room. The ambulance ride had been horrifying and the hours they'd had him in the OR were filled with anxiety.

Walking into the hospital room after the surgery had been horrifying as well. The kid was as white as the sheet except for the black eye he'd sustained. And he was incredibly still, something no one ever used to describe Spencer Reid. So, Hotch had sat and waited, alone in the room, praying that he would be okay.

"The rest of the team is driving down to see you now." Hotch said, smiling, continuously running his hand through his hair. "Get some more rest, I'm sure they'll want to talk to you too once they arrive."

Reid nodded, eyes already drooping from exhaustion. "Love you." He slurred, already dropping off to sleep.

Hotch kept his hand tightly around Spencer's, lips quirking into a smile.

"I love you too Spencer."

HEHEHEHE I love the family love between the two of them, I just can't get enough! 3
I was going to write about elephant's memory next, a truly iconic episode.
But after watching the ep there's honestly already so much amazing angst and sadness portrayed by MGG that I didn't see a need to add anything to it. I have read a few fics based on the ep that I thought did an amazing job addressing Reid's trauma and the decisions he made, and I've also read some alternate ending ones that were awesome!
However, for me personally, I think the episode was great and I have nothing that I feel the need to add, so I'm doing an extra instead (until I find another angsty ep to manipulate, muhahaha)
You'll have to wait and see what its about, but I'm very excited to share it :)