You already know where this one is going… I don't think there's much to say except, enjoy!

S5 E1

"Barton!" Reid shouted, immediately standing to run after the man. If he was right, then the unsub would probably be outside waiting for him!

He sprinted towards the doorway, seeing a man outside with a gun. He was raising it up to shoot Barton, Reid had to act quick. So, he did the first thing he thought of. He tackled Barton to the ground.

A shot rang out as Reid fell, and he immediately felt pain in his leg.

"Ugh!" He let out a cry of pain but tried to compose himself. He immediately sat up, glancing at his leg. There was blood flowing out and he placed his hand over the wound, putting pressure on it to stop the flow. He groaned in pain but turned his attention back to the civilian. "Are you hit?"
"No."

Reid breathed a sigh of relief, looking back to the unsub. He was beginning to approach. Reid reached for his gun, but noticed it was no longer in its holster. He looked to the side, noticing it sitting on the ground a few feet from himself.

"Get my gun. My gun!" he said, pointing to the weapon. The man quickly leaned over, handing it to him. He grabbed it, attempting to get a good grip with the slick blood on his palm.

"Get away from him! Get away from him!" The unsub shouted, continuing his approach.

"Whatever you do, stay down" Reid ordered. He took a deep breath, pushing down the pain and nausea, trying to stay composed. He sat up, aiming his gun at the unsub, trying to ignore his own wound.

"Don't protect him!"
"Drop the gun!"

"He killed my son!"

"He did not kill your son!" Reid shouted, scooching his body further in front of where Barton was laying, making sure he would be shielded from any bullet that came their way. He felt adrenaline start to rush through his body and he got a burst of energy, pain dissipating for the moment. "Your son was killed by a car accident."

"Stand up!"

"I'm gunna ask you again, I do not wanna shoot you, please drop the gun."

"Stand up you coward!"

"Mr. Meyers, listen to me, alright? It's over. Dr. Barton did not kill your son. Your son was killed by a car. And this is not what he would want. Okay? So, drop the gun, please."

Reid heard the sounds of sirens and let out a sigh of relief. The unsub was lowering his weapon, and it looked like he'd gotten through to him. However, a new look appeared on the man's face as realization that his son was gone seemed to set in. It was a look of determination, one that Reid had seen too many times before.

"Don't do it." He pleaded.

The unsub turned to look at him once more. "I'm sorry," he said, beginning to raise the gun at them once more. The man aimed at him and Reid knew he had no choice.

He pulled the trigger.

A shot rang out, and Reid watched as the unsub fell to the ground. His heart was beating fast, and he sighed, upset at himself. Once again, he was unsuccessful at talking down an unsub. Barton started looking at his leg, but Reid knew if there was a chance, that he should try and save the unsub's life.

"I'm fine, go to him. Go to him!" he shouted, gesturing at the unsub who was lying face down on the ground. "Kick his gun away," he instructed as Dr. Barton approached the man, "make sure his gun's not near him."

Reid placed a hand on his own wound again, trying to stop the bleeding. There was a lot of blood, but his body seemed to be numb. It was probably the adrenaline, or shock. Reid shook his head, attempting to clear it, focusing on the doctor trying to save the unsub's life. His vision was starting to get fuzzy, and the sirens sounded like they were getting further away, but he had to hang on a little longer. He had to make sure his team knew about Hotch.

Pain seemed to come back again; this time much worse than it had before. The arm that had been holding him up gave out, and he collapsed even further on the ground, starting to become lightheaded. He tried to keep his hand on the wound, but he just didn't have enough strength to keep the proper amount of pressure on it. It stung immensely, and his whole leg was aching.

He tried to focus back up, knowing the doctor needed some assistance. He propped himself up as much as he could off the ground, seeing an ambulance pull up.

"The medics are almost here; can you keep him stabilized?" He shouted, a little weaker than earlier.

"Yes, I think so" Dr. Barton replied, keeping pressure over the man's wound. "Hold on, hold on, the ambulance is right here, help is coming alright?" The man spoke to the unsub, immediately slipping into doctor mode.

Reid felt his arm give out again, slumping backwards onto the grass again. He was losing too much blood; he wasn't going to be able to stay awake much longer.

His hearing started to go out after he saw the EMTs pull up. His job was now done. Hopefully they could save the man in time. Reid felt his hand was shaking and it started to slip off the wound as he was becoming less and less aware of his surroundings. The pain was becoming too much.

However, he felt a new hand slide over his wound. He lazily looked up at Dr. Barton, who was now applying pressure to his own wound.
"Looks like it went clean through." The man remarked. Reid nodded, trying to keep his eyes open, grinding his teeth in pain. His stomach rolled and he felt like he may vomit, but he pushed that feeling away.

He took a deep breath looking back to the doctor. "You might've just saved his life."

The doctor nodded, grabbing his hand and placing it over the wound. "Keep pressure on this, okay?" Reid nodded, glancing up to see his team running towards him. He noticed the man's son who looked terrified at the scene that was playing out in front of their house.
"I'm good, I'm fine. Go to your son." The man looked up, glancing at his son, before turning back to Reid, but he insisted; "I'm good. I'm fine, go." Dr. Barton nodded, standing and rushing to his son.

JJ and Morgan jogged up, looking confused as to why he just sent the doctor away.

"You okay?" JJ asked, concerned and confused.
"Yeah, fine."

"We'll get you to a hospital." Morgan said, grabbing Reid's gun off the ground.

Reid gasped in pain but turned his attention back to the group, he needed to tell them. "You need to find Emily. Call Emily."

"Where is she?" Rossi asked, approaching their group.

"Something's happened to Hotch." The team exchanged glances. Reid took a shuttering breath, clearing his throat, "He's in the hospital, call Emily. I'm fine, please, call Emily."

Rossi nodded, pulling his phone out and stepping away, but Morgan and JJ stayed next to him. JJ placed her hand over top his, applying more pressure to the wound. Reid gasped in pain at this, cringing. His hearing started to go out again and he could feel the world start spinning around him.

His arm gave out and he was lying flat on the ground. He groaned, hearing shouting but not understanding the words. Reid opened his eyes again, noticing Morgan calling people over. He turned back to Reid, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"St- with me -d" Reid heard through cotton. This was a lot different than the last time he'd been shot, Reid thought. That time he'd passed out so quick, but this time was so much more painful.

He didn't realize he'd shut his eyes until a hand was grasping his cheek, asking him to open them again. Reid didn't want to though, he wanted to pass out. He wanted the pain to go away. So that's what he did, he let the pain slip away and went limp on the ground.

When Reid awoke, he was in a hospital bed. The first thing he noticed was the ever-present pain in his leg, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. He opened his eyes, glancing around the room.

JJ was sitting in a chair next to him, staring at her phone.

"How's Hotch?" he asked, causing her to startle.

"Spence! You're awake!" She jumped up, immediately giving him a hug. Reid returned weakly, smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, JJ, is Hotch okay?"

She frowned but nodded. "He's hanging in there. He woke up a few times and is clearly in pain, but he's okay." She took a deep breath, looking downwards. "Foyet tried to go after Haley and Jack though."
"What?" Reid said, sitting up. He groaned a little at the unintentional shift he'd caused his leg to feel, but he continued, "are they okay?"
"Yes. Thankfully we got to them in time. But…" JJ shook her head, eyes filled with sadness, "they're going into witness protection. It's the only way to keep them safe from Foyet. Which means Hotch won't be able to see them anymore."
Reid's jaw dropped, brows furrowing in sadness. "Shit…" he shook his head, not knowing what to say. Just then, they were interrupted by the doctor walking into the room.

He said that the bullet had gone right through, but it had shattered some of Reid's patella on the way. They'd had go put him through surgery to fix it, and he'd be stuck on crutches for a while. Luckily, though, it looked like he'd make a full recovery.

After the doctor left, Reid let out a sigh of relief. He was not happy that he'd be on crutches, but at least he'd eventually get back to normal. Still though, he couldn't help but feel like he'd be pretty useless for a while on the team, being confined to the desk.

Not that he was super helpful in the field either…

"Hey," JJ said, reading him like a book, "it's going to be okay. Even if you can't be in the field for a while, it's not like you're going to get thrown off the team. We can still use that brain of yours" she said, ruffling his hair.

Reid smiled, nodding at her. "Kicking down doors is Morgan's job anyways." The two of them laughed at this for a while, before Reid's attention shifted back to Hotch.

"Is he at this hospital?"

"Yeah, he's just downstairs."
"Go."

JJ's brows furrowed. "What?"
"Go to Hotch. It's okay, he needs the team more than I do right now. I always appreciate you being with me, but I can see you're worried about him. You keep glancing down at your phone, waiting for an update, so go. I'll be alright. Plus, it's not like I'm going anywhere, you can come back up later."

JJ smiled, placing her hand on his. "I'll only be gone for a little, and maybe I'll bring you back a coffee."

Reid nodded at this, smiling as he watched her walk out of the room. As much as he wanted her there, he knew that Hotch needed all the support he could get right now. If he could be there, he would be too, but for now, he just hoped the man would pull through.

Ok so here's the thing, tomlinsoul commented on my last post and was talking about how Reid is low key kinda pushed aside this season and there are some comments and stuff made about him which clearly make him kinda sad, and honestly? Such a good point.

I didn't even really think about it until they pointed it out, but it got me thinking… maybe, just maybe, since there's SO much good hurt/angsty/injured Reid potential this season, but there's also a lot of sweeping his issues under the rug (to be fair Hotch has his thing goin which is depressing and MGG had his knee injury so I think he was just kinda gone a lot at the start because of all the surgeries and shit he had to have) maybe all of the season 5 fics are a lil different.

Maybe we're a lil sadder.

Maybe there's not as much fluff cuz people kinda have their own issues going.

Maybe Reid does a shitty job coping on his own.

And then possibly it'll all come crashing down at some point (im thinking Alaska ep because that is an amazing ep) and we'll finally get some good fluff. I'm kinda excited for how this is gunna turn out, but hold on cuz it's gonna be a wild ride yall.