PT 3

Reid awoke as the sunlight started to filter into the office. Garcia must have opened the blinds when it was dark out, happy to be in a room with windows. Now Reid was flinching against it, burying his face deeper in the pillow.

His head was pounding again, and he felt nauseated. Before he knew it, Reid had thrown himself off the couch, sticking his head in the wastebin under Hotch's desk. He retched a few times, not bringing much up. However, each time he did, his head throbbed more and more.

By the time his stomach had stabilized, the light had gotten brighter and he'd curled in on himself on the floor, trying to get rid of the pain. Reid didn't notice when he slowly slumped to the side, he just proceeded to automatically curl up in a ball, tightly wrapping his arms over his eyes. His back faced the window, he was doing anything in his power to block the light.

Reid knew it wouldn't take much to stand and turn the blinds, but he was in too much pain at the moment. He felt his skin becoming slick with sweat and he felt like he might pass out form the pain.

He flinched hard when he heard the door open and someone yelled his name loudly. The sound bounced off his ears, reverberating agonizingly into his skull. He vaguely heard footsteps. Someone appeared next to him, placing their hands on him timidly, attempting to pull him out of the tight ball he'd wrapped himself up into.

The light in the room began to dim and some of the pain lessened. Someone else must be there, closing the blinds. Reid sat there, stiff, for a few minutes. The throbbing dulled to more of an ache. Hands were rubbing his back affectionately and the person was whispering comforting words.

Eventually, Reid began to melt against the touch. His body became more relaxed, and the hands worked to pull him onto their lap, out of the fetal position he'd been in. Reid lazily opened his eyes, seeing Hotch staring down at him with a terrified looking Garcia sitting next to him.

"Spencer." She said in a quiet voice. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left the blinds open-"

"'s okay." Reid mumbled, smiling at her, he closed his eyes, fading quickly. His body was left exhausted after the whole event.

"Painkillers first, Spencer. Then sleep." Reid pried his eyes open, staring at Hotch who was looking at him expectantly. He nodded his head slightly, before allowing the two of them to help him sit up. They maneuvered him so that he was propped up against the couch.

He downed his pills, ready to crash, but he suddenly perked up a bit as he remembered the case.

"Case?" he asked simply, knowing they'd understand.

Hotch smiled. "We got him, don't worry. Your geographical profile helped us figure out where the unsub was going to be, and we managed to catch him before anyone else died."
Reid smiled, letting his eyes droop closed. Some cases went better than others, he was happy this one ended well. he quickly dropped off to sleep.

Reid found himself waking on Hotch's couch once more. This seemed to be developing into a pattern. This time, though, he was not alone. Hotch was sitting at his desk in the dark, typing away on his computer.

He sat up slowly, wincing at his ever-present headache. At least this time he wasn't going to be sick.

"Water. Pills." Hotch stated, not looking up from his computer. Reid glanced to his side, seeing the two items and he graciously took them.

After gulping down the water, he placed his head in his hands. He was getting really sick and tired of the whole headache thing. It made it really hard to focus on anything.

"You okay, Reid?" Reid quickly snapped his head up, wincing at the sudden movement, but he nodded regardless. He rubbed his eyes before glancing at the clock. It was the middle of the day. Part of him just wanted to go back to sleep, but he also knew he should probably get some work done.

Reid placed his feet on the ground, getting ready to stand. However, Hotch beat him to it before he could even get the strength to begin.

"What are you doing?" He said, suddenly appearing in front of Reid, stopping his movement.

Reid was confused at Hotch's confusion. "Going to do some work?"

Hotch shook his head, "No."

"What? Why not?"

"Reid you just woke up, you got sick this morning, you haven't eaten, and you still have a concussion despite your best efforts to convince yourself that you don't. You don't need to do any work."

"But my paperwork-"

"Spencer," He interrupted, "you don't have any paperwork." Reid glanced up, confused. Hotch continued explaining, "I know that Emily and Derek tend to slip you their paperwork sometimes, so it was their turn to pay back the favor. They did all your paperwork. There's no work for you to do so, please, just relax."

Reid sat back, relaxing more into the couch. He wasn't sure what to do with himself now, relaxing wasn't really his thing.

"Here," Hotch said, sitting next to him, "let me replace the bandaging on your wound and then I can go get a few books for you from your desk. Or your chess set. Okay?"

Reid nodded, "Okay." He said in a small voice.

Hotch began carefully taking off the bandage. Reid's wound was healing well, but the area around the cut was still very bruised and the cut itself didn't look great. He had to have a few stitches, but luckily none of them had pulled and the wound itself did not look infected at all.

He pulled out his first aid kit, bringing out some new gauze, tape, and alcohol. As he dipped a cotton ball in the alcohol, Reid immediately tensed up. He knew they had to keep the wound clean, but it always stung so much.

Hotch reached up, dabbing his wound softly with the alcohol. Reid cringed but did not flinch away, knowing it would go faster if he held still. When Hotch finished, he prodded the surrounding area slightly, making sure the swelling was going down.

It seemed like he might need to ice it, but they could do that when he'd finished. Hotch rebandaged the wound, replacing the tape as carefully as possible.

He stood, making his way to the small fridge he had in his wound. He pulled out an ice pack and threw it to Reid.

Reid caught it, looking gratefully at Hotch, and he brought it up to his head. It hurt a little at first but almost instantly it began to make his headache dull out. He sighed a bit, thankful for the relief. Reid slouched back against the couch, clutching the ice pack like a lifeline, and he closed his eyes.

After ten minutes, Hotch reclaimed the ice pack, placing it back in the fridge. He ran out and grabbed Reid a few books, bringing them back to his office. Reid took them, thankful to have something to occupy his mind with. He definitely couldn't read as fast as normal, but at least his eyes seemed to be properly functioning again.

They spent the next few hours in silence Hotch's office. Hotch was slowly getting through his work and Reid was reading his books. Hotch coerced Reid into eating a sandwich and drinking some water, which was a win.

Reid dozed off for a little while at one point, but when he snapped back awake, he denied it ever happening.

All in all, Reid was actually able to relax, which was what Hotch had hoped to accomplish.

When the end of the day came, Hotch began packing up and Reid watched him from the couch. He was having his own internal monologue, wondering if he'd be dropped at his apartment or if Hotch would want to keep an eye on him again.

He secretly hoped that maybe Hotch would bring him back to his house, he didn't really want to be alone, especially if he got sick again. But he also didn't want to be a burden.

'Maybe I should just go home. That way Hotch can actually have a nice evening and get some sleep.' He thought to himself. Reid decided that, though he didn't want to do that, it was the best decision. This way Hotch wouldn't have to watch over him like a child.

A little while later, the two of them made their way out of the office. Reid's eyes were hiding behind sunglasses again, but the light definitely wasn't hurting him as much as it had the first time, he'd walked in the building a few days ago.

They got into the SUV and Reid cleared his throat when Hotch began driving out of the parking lot.

"Uh you can just drop me at my apartment. I'll be okay for the night and I'll come in for work tomorrow." It was supposed to be his first day back anyways, even though they had tried to argue for him to take more time off.

"No, Reid you're coming home with me."

Reid glanced to Hotch. The man's face showed nothing except determination. "Hotch really just drop me at my place I'll be f-"

"Reid." Hotch interrupted, briefly glancing Reid's way, "You're coming to my house. I don't wanna hear any of this 'I'm a burden' bullshit. You're my family. When you're sick or injured you need family, and, despite your constant attempts at isolating yourself, I am going to be there for you until you get better, and even after that. Okay?"

Reid swallowed a lump in his throat and smiled. "Yeah. O-okay." He said in a small voice.

Reid focused out the window, the smile staying on his face. There was some guilt in his heart, knowing that he would probably cause Hotch to lose some sleep and might make him work a little extra, but that's what family was for. His smile grew a little more, affection and gratitude filling his heart, and they continued driving home.