PT 2

Reid was relieved when he'd been moved out of the ICU. He'd be happier once he was out of the hospital all together, but for now, this was good enough. At least now he had his own bathroom and a bit more privacy.

Morgan left a little while ago, needing to get home and get some rest of his own. He hadn't been home since before the case had begun, hanging out with Reid in the hospital once they'd caught the unsub.

But Reid insisted he went home now that he was out of the ICU. He didn't want Morgan to be stuck in the hospital with him for the next few days.

Plus, he didn't want Morgan to see how shitty he actually felt. He was definitely better than he'd been, there was no doubt about that. But Reid still felt horrible.

It was still difficult to breath; his body was incredibly sore, and he felt very nauseous. One of the nurses had come in a little while ago with some bland food for him to eat, but he hadn't taken a bite yet. He felt like he might puke just looking at the food.

Reid also felt exhausted. He could probably sleep for a few days and still be tired. So, he decided that instead of eating, maybe he'd just go back to sleep. Sure, the medical staff probably wouldn't be too happy with him about that, but he could always claim it wasn't on purpose.

His eyes slid closed and Reid turned on his side, facing away from the door. He pulled his legs up against his chest, curling into a ball. It was awkward, maneuvering with all the different devices he was hooked up to, from the oxygen cannula in his nose to the IV in his hand, but he made it work. He coughed a few times when his breath caught in his chest, but luckily there wasn't any blood anymore, so he took that as a good sign.

He shivered under the thin blanket, pulling his body in even closer. Reid huffed, annoyed that it was so cold in the room.

Despite his shivering, Reid managed to drift off into a light slumber.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he began to rouse, but whispering voices are what brought him back to consciousness. His body felt heavy and warm.

Reid opened his eyes to a squint and he immediately noticed Prentiss sitting in a chair in front of him. She was looking over him at someone else, speaking quietly to them. There was a bouquet of flowers sitting on one of the tables behind her and some balloons as well which read 'Get Well Soon'. It made him smile

"Em?" his voice was raspy when he spoke, but Emily immediately jumped up, inching closer to Reid. He pushed himself onto his back, looking to see who else was in the room. Garcia was walking towards him with a smile on her face. "Penelope?"

"Spencer! You're awake! How are you feeling?" Emily asked, placing a hand on his arm. Garcia grabbed his other hand, holding it in her own.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. What are you guys doing here?"

The two exchanged a look, Prentiss rolling her eyes and Garcia shaking her head.

"Yeah I'm sure you're feeling amazing. You look like a million bucks." Prentiss stated sarcastically, causing Garcia to laugh.

"Hun, no offense but you look awful," Garcia said softly, "which is understandable. You almost died from anthrax. We're here because the team wasn't just going to abandon you in the hospital."

Reid's brows furrowed in slight confusion. Didn't they have somewhere more important to be? It's not like he would be going anywhere for the next few days. "You guys don't have to stay-"

"Oh my god spennnnnnnccccceeerrrrr we're not leaving. This is the best, most important place we could be right now, don't think you're going to convince us otherwise." Emily said, shaking her head.

Reid closed his mouth, still confused, but too exhausted to argue with them. He was grateful they were there; he just didn't want them to feel obligated to staying with him. He looked down, noticing the bright colored heavy blanket laying on top of the typical white hospital sheet. Immediately he recognized it from Garcia's office.

"Thanks for bringing this" he said, nodding down towards the blanket.

"Are you kidding? Of course! I knew you'd need a blanket since you're always cold." Garcia stated. Reid's brows shot up in confusion. He'd never mentioned that to anyone before, but he was pretty constantly chilly, probably due to his low amount of body fat.

Prentiss spoke up before Reid could, "Before you try and deny it, we all see you constantly shivering and putting on more layers. We are profilers, don't look so shocked, Spencer."

"Anyways, the doc said you needed to eat something when you woke up," Garcia said, changing the subject, "she insisted." She picked up a plate with plain toast on it and a jell-o cup, offering them to Reid.

He paled at the sight of them, a wave of nausea hitting him once again at the thought of eating something. "Um, I'm good. Thanks."

Emily rubbed his arm affectionately, noting his blanched complexion.

Garcia looked at him with pity, "You need to eat something hun. Please? Maybe just a bite of jell-o? You haven't eaten anything since before you got sick. And I don't remember seeing you eat anything during the case either, so it's clearly been too long."

"When was the last time you ate something, Reid?" Emily asked, looking concerned.

Reid thought back to the case. Once he'd been infected, he hadn't had anything. Before that… He remembered drinking coffee that morning, but he hadn't had breakfast. And he'd skipped dinner the night before…

He bit his lip, connecting the dots. He hadn't eaten in almost four days. They were right, he did need to eat something. Plus, he'd probably feel better once he had something in his stomach.

Reid held his hand out towards Garcia, refusing to answer the question but gesturing towards the jell-o.

She handed it to him, giving a small smile. Emily helped him tear off the top, his hands were too shaky to do it himself, and he quietly stared at the jell-o, working up the courage to take a bite. The two women started speaking about nothing in particular, knowing that Reid wouldn't want all the attention on him right now.

After a few minutes, he took a bite. The nausea was still there, but it wasn't horrible, and he didn't gag at all after he had swallowed his first bite. Slowly, he kept eating until the cup was gone. His stomach did feel a bit of relief, and he felt a little bit better than he had before.

Prentiss handed him a cup of water, which he quickly downed after realizing how thirsty he'd been. The two kept talking and Reid very quickly began to drift off again, already exhausted once more.

The next morning when Reid awoke, the two women were still there, and Morgan was back as well. Emily and Penelope were both asleep in their chairs, but Morgan was sipping on coffee, reading the newspaper in his. He looked up, making eye contact with Reid, and smiled, putting down the paper.

"Hey kid, how yah doin?"

Reid smiled, trying to blink away the exhaustion, "Better."

Morgan leaned forwards, ruffling his hair.

"Morgan?"

"Yeah kid."

"Can you, uh, help me up?"

"Why?"
"I wanna shower."

"Kid, you're not off oxygen yet, I don't think they're gunna let you take a shower."

Reid frowned, realizing the cannula was still under his nose. He knew he was still struggling to breath a little, but he just felt so disgusting. He glanced at the machine next to him, reading his own oxygen levels. They were tapering between 88 and 89%.

That was good enough, right? They'd get to take him off when he reached 90% anyways, and the machine probably had a slight error, so he was probably okay by now anyways. He turned back to Derek, giving the biggest puppy dog eyes he could. The man immediately frowned, recognizing his tactic.

"Damnit kid no-"

"but… please?" Reid frowned, looking as pathetic as possible.

"Kid it's about your health, it's not up to me-"

"Derrrreeeekkkkkkk-"

"Spencer, no-"

"pleassssssssssse"

"God damnit." Morgan said, breaking eye contact. Reid knew he'd been successful. "Alright, but no locking the door and if you start to feel bad at all you need to tell me right away okay? And I'm gunna check in every few minutes to make sure you haven't collapsed"

Reid rolled his eyes, but nodded, agreeing to the man's terms.

They carefully removed the oxygen cannula and unhooked him from the machines. Luckily, they'd taken out his IV drip line, otherwise this would've been much more difficult.

Morgan helped Reid maneuver so that he was sitting sideways, legs hanging off the edge of the bed. He slowly put his feet on the ground, flinching at how cold the floor was. Morgan wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling Reid's arm around his shoulder. Then, they slowly stood him up.

Reid was immediately hit by a wave of dizziness, but luckily Morgan was there to hold him up.

"Kid I don't think this is a good idea."

Reid shut his eyes, shaking his head to clear it. "No, no, I'm fine." He reopened his eyes; the dizziness having dissipated. "I'm okay."

Morgan nodded, looking unsure, but helped him move forwards anyways. It was a slow walk, Reid's body still very weak. His chest felt tight and he was panting a lot more than he probably should've been, but he was determined.

They finally made it to the bathroom and Morgan deposited Reid on the toilet lid, letting him catch his breath. Reid closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath. He coughed a few times, but it didn't get out of control.

"You sure you're up for this?" Morgan asked. Reid opened his eyes, seeing a very skeptical Morgan standing in front of him. He glanced to the shower, noticing it was already on. Morgan must've turned it on for him. Reid nodded, taking a deep breath before starting to stand again.

Once he got upright, he was able to hold himself up on his own (with the exception of one hand holding the wall).

"Need help?" Reid shook his head, gesturing for Morgan to leave. He turned to go but kept an eye on him as he retreated. He left the door cracked, and Reid was sure he was probably standing right outside, ready to sprint in at a moment's notice.

Reid sighed, awkwardly undoing the ties on the hospital gown he wore and throwing it on the counter. He quickly climbed in the shower, pulling the curtain so that he was shielded.

The water temperature was perfect. Reid immediately let out a sigh of relief, finally feeling warm for the first time in a few days. It felt amazing to get the sweat off of his body and wash his hair. Inhaling the steam made his lungs feel a little bit better, and his throat felt less scratchy as well. He would've stayed in there all day, but it was beginning to get hard to hold himself up. He felt like he might fall asleep on his feet if he didn't get himself out soon. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to live down Morgan having to come in and carry him out of the shower naked.

Reid stepped out, drying off quickly. He immediately began shivering, having taken the warmth of the water for granted. He threw the gown back on over his skinny body and proceeded to sit on the toilet, taking the time to towel dry his hair. By the time he was done, he was completely exhausted, but it had been worth it.

Reid cleared his throat, attempting to call for Morgan, but his breath caught. It sent him spiraling into a coughing fit. He began coughing hard into his elbow, struggling to stop. He heard Morgan's voice, but was too distracted to understand what the man was saying.

Reid was not surprised when the man appeared in the bathroom a minute or so later, immediately kneeling in front of him. He made eye contact with Morgan, starting to become terrified that he couldn't seem to breath. Morgan instantly grabbed him, easily lifting him and carrying him into the other room.

He placed him in the bed gently, but Reid couldn't stop coughing. He couldn't breathe. His vision was starting to darken from the lack of oxygen, and he was starting to taste blood in his mouth again.

Reid's eyes were starting to slip shut, and he heard alarms ringing and voices shouting, but the only thing he could focus on was the fact that he couldn't breathe. His breaths were becoming more and more shallow and his body was giving up.

Thankfully, Reid suddenly felt air rush into his lungs. He took as deep a breath as he could, shakily reaching up to clutch the mask that had been put on his face. Reid realized that there must be people around, because someone was petting his hair, another person was holding his unoccupied hand, and a third was trying to wipe the accidental tears away from his face.

When he finally felt like he could breathe again, Reid opened his eyes. Morgan, Prentiss, and Garcia all looked extremely worried, but lightened up when he'd looked at them.

"We're not going to try anything like that again Reid." Morgan said, looking serious but voice wavering as if he was scared. Reid made eye contact with him, nodding lazily in agreement.

Reid wanted to say something like 'thank you', but he wasn't sure he'd be able to talk. Instead, he let himself succumb to his exhaustion, falling asleep while still clutching the oxygen mask on his face like a lifeline.

The next time Reid awoke, it was clearly afternoon. He blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the light filtering in the room and smiled when he noticed Morgan and Rossi standing at the end of his bed, talking.

"Look who's awake." Rossi said when he noticed Reid waking up.

Reid lazily smiled, "hey" he said softly, pushing himself on his elbows.

"You slept all day yesterday after your coughing episode, really did a number on yourself, kid."

Reid's eyebrows shot up. "Wait, what?"

The two exchanged a glance, laughing before Rossi stepped towards him. "You've been asleep for over 24 hours, but it's okay, you needed your rest."

Reid rubbed his forehead with his hands. "Shit. At least I can breathe again."

"Your numbers are much better today," Rossi said, nodding towards the machine. His O2 levels read '93%'. Thank god it was back in the normal range!

"Hey, kid, on a another note-" Morgan walked around his side, grabbing a plate of food and placing it in Reid's lap "eat up. You've got a chest x-ray in a few hours and if it's all clear you might get to go home tomorrow," Reid's brows shot up in excitement, but Morgan continued, "but you've gotta eat and hydrate as well."

Reid nodded, immediately grabbing the toast that lay in front of him. He ate it fairly slowly, not wanting to accidently choke on a piece and have another episode and drank some water. He was grateful that Rossi and Morgan were there with him, just keeping him company.

When it was time for his chest x-ray, the two of them helped him get into the wheelchair and walked with him down to the room. They'd waited right outside for him as the doctor took scans and were ready for him when he was done. It felt childish to admit to himself but going through the whole process had been a little intimidating, and he was thankful that they'd been there for it.

A little while later the doctor came in, saying that his lungs were on their way to recovering.

"They may never heal fully," Dr. Kimura said seriously, "your lymph nodes look to be okay luckily, but it's hard to gage how much of your alveoli were damaged. For now, we need you to just take it easy, no hard exercising or doing any activity that will cause too much exertion. We want your lungs to heal as much as they possibly can, which means no overextending yourself. Understand?"

"Yeah." Reid said, nodding. It was hard to hear, but he'd known when he'd first gotten infected what was happening to his lungs. He was lucky to have survived at all, but it did suck to know that he'd probably forever deal with breathing problems.

Dr. Kimura smiled, putting down her chart. "Now, it looks like you are healing well. Despite the setback yesterday morning, any blood that you coughed up seemed to come from your throat being dry, not your lungs, which was a good sign. You can probably be released from the hospital tomorrow as long as you continue improving."
"Really?" Reid asked excitedly. He couldn't wait to be out of here and back in his own bed.

"Yes. I recommend someone stay with you to make sure you're taking your medication and not pushing yourself too hard, but I see no other reason to keep you under observation as long as we have no more setbacks. I do want you coming in next week though for another chest scan. We need to keep monitoring the progress of your healing."

Reid nodded, smiling with excitement. He was going to be able to go home. Finally.

The rest of the night was a blur, Reid buzzing with excitement that he'd get to go home. Morgan volunteered to stay with him at his apartment and he didn't leave any room for argument.

The next day went well, Reid's oxygen levels were improving even more, and he was genuinely feeling much better. He managed to eat more food and was not as exhausted either.

Around 3pm, he was finally released from the hospital. He had awkwardly gotten dressed into the clothing Morgan had brought for him. He'd loaned him some of his own clothing, giving him much too large sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but Reid couldn't complain. They were soft and warm, and he was leaving the hospital, so nothing could ruin his mood.

Morgan wheeled him out the front entrance, where Rossi was waiting for them in the car. Morgan helped him get into the car, and they drove towards Reid's apartment.

As the scenery passed, he couldn't help but reflect on how lucky he'd been. He should've died from the anthrax, yet somehow, again, he'd narrowly evaded death. Reid smiled, thinking about how grateful he was for his friends as well. The fact that they'd been keeping him company at the hospital was incredible, and Reid truly didn't know how he'd gotten so lucky.

"Thank you, guys, for, yah know, being there." Reid said, briefly interrupting Rossi and Morgan's conversation.

Rossi eyed him through the rearview, smiling. "It's no problem kiddo." He said, before glancing back towards the road.

Morgan turned around in his seat, facing Reid. He patted him on the knee, smiling. "There's no place I'd rather be. Don't worry, you'll be back to normal in no time."

Reid smiled, looking out the window once more.

Yeah, he was super lucky to have a family like this one.