I hope you enjoy part 4 of this fic! There is a lot of the episode in this chapter because with the timeline im running, I was on the last day of the case, but don't worry because I am going to continue this fic for at LEAST two more parts.
and those two parts will have nothing from the eps, it'll be purely from my brain (which is probably not a good thing but oh well) and there shall be a ton of fluff
but for now, enjoy
also its very important to note that Hotch saying "sit down and shut up" in this episode does things to me

PT 4

Reid awoke to a cell phone ringing. It startled him awake, but he still was sluggish in pulling open his eyes. The body he was lying against moved away from him, and he felt the mattress shift.

A very groggy sounding Hotch answered the phone. "Hotchner… Where?... I'll be there shortly." The man quickly hung up the phone and stood, immediately beginning to get dressed.

"Reid, got another body, its Carol."

Reid rolled over, brows furrowing as he slowly connected the dots. "Carol, like Carol's tavern Carol? Josh's mom?"

"Yes." Hotch's voice was serious as he quickly buttoned his shirt and threw on a tie. "I'm going to head to her house with Morgan. I need you and Rossi at the police station when they let everyone go. You need to speak with Josh about his mother before he hears from someone else. If the unsub is now targeting someone who doesn't fit their MO, Joshua probably has some connection with them. Go over the profile with him, find out what he knows."
By the time the man was done speaking, he was out the door. Reid slowly sat up, processing all of the information which had just been thrown at him. He rubbed the exhaustion out of his eyes, willing his body to awaken.

Within the next few minutes he managed to coax himself out of bed and to the bathroom. He once again lavished in the warmth of the shower, reluctant to step out from under the heat. He was becoming more and more irritated with the low temperatures as the days dragged on.

Reid quickly dressed himself, once again piling on as many layers as he could. This time he kept the sweatshirt that Hotch had given him on, pulling it over his vest, button-down shirt and tie, and throwing his jacket over it.

He had like five layers on at this point, but he was desperate for warmth. He didn't care that he looked a bit like a child whose mom had overdressed them for a winter outing.

Hopefully the layers would keep some of the heat trapped in.

It wasn't more than ten minutes later when Reid emerged from the room, feeling more awake but still in desperate need of coffee. When he reached the lobby, he found the team, save Hotch and Morgan, sitting around the fireplace.

When Rossi noticed his approach, he immediately turned, handing Reid a coffee, and motioned for them to go on ahead out the door.

They didn't have a ton of time before the men would be let go from the holding cells.

Reid sipped the warm coffee as they walked out the door, grateful that Rossi had grabbed it for him. The two of them silently walked across the street to the small station. Reid had a million thoughts running through his mind as he finally seemed to rouse enough to process the situation.

Joshua would most likely be sad, but incredibly angry with them. He was sure that the man would blame them for his mother's death, as he would've been with her had they not locked him up for the night.

Not that he blamed him, Reid would be angry as well. It was kind of their fault, yet they'd have to reason with him that he might have been killed as well if he'd been there.

Either way, it was going to be a very difficult conversation to have.

Rossi and he arrived in the station and Reid immediately breathed a sigh of relief at the warm air blasting. Rossi approached the sheriff, making conversation about when they'd be releasing everyone and the details of Carol's death.

Reid leaned against one of the desks, crossing his arms and biting his lip. He began to zone out a bit, feeling guilty about the woman's death. Maybe there was something they could've done to prevent it, something he could've found…

He refocused himself when the men began pouring out of the cells. They received many dirty looks as the people left, having proven that they weren't guilty of the crimes.

When Josh appeared, trailing behind with the Deputy, Reid's stomach rolled. This was always the worst part of the job. Delivering news like this was horrible, and he hated having to be a part of it, especially when he knew that he probably could've prevented her death if he'd worked a little harder…

"You guys finally realize I'm innocent?" Joshua questioned, smiling.

Deputy Flack took a breath, also unsure of how to begin. "Joshua, please have a seat."

"More questions?" Josh asked, staring at Rossi and he. When Josh went to look at Reid, he found his gaze quickly falling to the floor, unable to maintain eye contact with the man. "You serious?"

Reid tucked his hands in his pockets, awkwardly glancing at Rossi who was standing strong, showing no sign of emotion on his face.

"I'm telling you; I didn't do this."
"We know that, son." Rossi finally spoke up. "Please, sit down."
Joshua paused, turning to look back at Reid again. "What's going on?"

Reid bit his lip, avoiding eye contact once again. The pit in his stomach was growing with each second.

"Josh," Flack spoke up again, "the… the killer struck again last night."
"Oh, God." He sighed, "Who did he get?"

Rossi looked at the Deputy, clearly not wanting to be the one to break the news.

"Why are you guys only telling me this?" Joshua asked, facing Reid once more. As Reid looked anywhere but Joshua, the young man seemed to piece it together. "Where's my mom?"
Rossi looked at him, giving him all the answer he needed, and Joshua began to understand.

"No. No. No." Joshua said, voice beginning to break. Reid finally looked back up at him, seeing the pain filling the young man's eyes. "No, no, no, no." Reid dipped his head in sorrow at Josh's loss, feeling a lump beginning to form in his throat. "No, no, no that's impossible! She, she was just here! I- I just talked to her!" He yelled angerly, taking a step towards Reid.

As much as he wanted to reel back at this, he held his ground, looking at Josh once more. He understood what he was going through, but he knew that nothing he could say would make it better.

"I'm sorry Joshua" Rossi spoke calmly, "She's gone."
Joshua groaned in angst, eyes filling with tears. He muttered more denials to himself before taking a seat, unwilling to accept the horrible truth.

"You're lying" he accused, voice breaking.

Reid swallowed, finally feeling strong enough to speak; "I wish we were." He said in a small voice, watching the young man begin to fall apart.

Josh shook his head, letting tears fall. "I need to see her."

"Not right now." Rossi quickly replied, knowing that wasn't the best idea considering her violent death. "You don't wanna think of her that way."

Reid took a deep breath, knowing that he needed to get information for Hotch. Josh had to know something, they just needed to figure out what.

"Joshua, we know you need time to mourn, but the fact of the matter is, the man who did this is still out there and we think that you can help us find him."
"You had me locked up while she was…" Josh angrily spat at Reid, overcome with grief. But as quickly as the anger came, it was gone. "I could have helped her."
Reid felt awful for Joshua, knowing the guilt he was feeling inside. It was the same guilt that Reid constantly felt over every person they lost. Every victim they couldn't save. He blinked quickly, tearing his eyes away from Joshua. He didn't trust his voice anymore, knowing that he was on the verge of breaking down as well.

"If you had gone to her, there's a good chance you'd both be dead." Rossi stated, voice unwavering. "Now, we need your help."

"Why me?"
"The murders began when you returned to town," Reid started, voice weak and breaking for him, "now up until now he's only targeted people who were trying to leave but for some reason, with your mother, it was personal."

Rossi and Reid explained the profile to Joshua as much as they could, asking about anyone who might've had a grudge against his mother.

When they began describing the unsub, there was an obvious moment of realization in Joshua's eyes. But he denied it, and he didn't tell them anything. It was clear that the man knew who it was, they just needed to figure out who the unsub was for themselves before Joshua went off and did something stupid.

"Did you see his behavior shift from wanting to help us to wanting to leave? He's lying."

"Because he knows who the unsub is."

The two of them gathered their belongings, trekking back across the street to the lodge. The whole team, plus the sheriff and a few officers, were gathered in the lobby and Rossi quickly filled them in on the conversation they'd just had.

Reid found himself plopping down on the couch by Garcia after he'd refilled his coffee. He already felt emotionally drained for the day after that encounter, and it was only nine in the morning.

Hotch moved to stand on Reid's other side, hovering around him once more. He could feel the man's eyes on him and knew that the team had definitely noticed the man's concern at this point, but he was too tired to care.

Plus, they had a case to focus on.

Garcia was typing away on her laptop, looking for anyone who might fit their unsub's profile that they didn't have in custody the previous night. The team was conversing about their findings, but Reid wasn't really listening, allowing his mind to drift instead.

It was becoming more and more difficult for him to focus these days. He just constantly felt exhausted and drained, mix that with more guilt and he just wanted to burrow in bed and go to sleep for a week.

Hotch patted him on the shoulder, bringing him out of his trance. "Let's go." He said, grabbing his jacket and beginning to follow Rossi and the sheriff out the door.

Reid wasn't sure where they were going, but he reluctantly stood, rebuttoning his jacket and holding his warm coffee, and trailed behind the other three men.

They once again walked across the street to the police station, Reid sighing in relief once more at the heat as they stepped inside. If only the lodge had this kind of central heating.

Rossi and the Sheriff briskly walked to the back of the station, presumably going to grab something out of evidence. Hotch took the moment to turn and look at Reid, concern written all over his face.
"I shouldn't have made you talk to Joshua this morning. I'm sorry. I didn't think about how emotionally draining that can be and you're going through enough right now."
Reid's brows furrowed at this comment. "It's fine Hotch, really. I- I'm fine."

Hotch patted him on the shoulder, clearly seeing through his lame attempt at a lie. "You can always sit this one out-"

"Hotch, no. Really, I'm okay." Reid stated firmly. He did not want to be kicked off the case, he just needed to get back in his head. He took another swig of his coffee, hoping it would help clear the mess that was his muddled mind.

"Have you had anything to eat today?"

Reid debated lying, but decided it wasn't worth it. He shook his head, biting his lip awkwardly.

Hotch reached into his pocket and pulled out a granola bar. He smiled, placing it in Reid's palm, grabbing the cup of coffee out of his other hand. "I didn't think so. Eat."

The man walked away from Reid, approaching Rossi and the sheriff who had emerged with stacks of files. Reid looked down at the granola bar in slight confusion before beginning to unwrap it. He wasn't sure why Hotch had this on him, or where he'd gotten it from, but now wasn't the time to question the man's anticks.

Plus, he was feeling shitter than normal, and it was probably because of the lack of food in his body. Reid turned to walk towards the other men, simultaneously biting part of the bar off.

They were looking at photos of the mutilated animals that the deputy had mentioned a few days back. Reid began flipping through pictures and it quickly became obvious that a bear was not responsible for these attacks.

"Sheriff, we need to adjust the profile."
"What do you mean?"

"These animals weren't mutilated by a rabid bear. Someone did this."

The sheriff looked bewildered. "You mean a person?"
"An animal wouldn't have left so much." Reid stated.

"We should've seen it before. It's homicidal triad 101." Rossi tacked on.

"We said the kills were all over the map. The unsub lacks sophistication and shows immaturity in his kills because he is immature."

Rossi spoke up again. "He started with animals because that's what he was taught ever since he was a child."

"And when he got bored with animals, he moved on to more challenging prey," Hotch stated.

"People."

"Your unsub's a teenage boy." Hotch finished, seriously.

It didn't take them long to figure out who the unsub was after speaking with the teacher again. Reid had gone with Hotch and the Sheriff this time but waited in the heated car as they spoke to her. Hotch told him it wasn't necessary for him to come freeze outside with them. Any other time he might fight against this, but he was still shivering in the heat, so he stayed.

Soon they were at Owen Porter's house. After Hotch knocked, a very large man angrily opened the door. This must be the abusive father of the unsub.

"Mr. Porter is your son at home?"

"What's it to you?"

Hotch immediately forced his way in the house, clearly already fed up with the man's attitude. That was Reid's cue to go search.

He quickly followed behind Hotch, racing through the house before anyone could stop him. He didn't see any sign of Owen, but there were very obvious signs of abuse scattered around the house. Broken plates and glasses, bandages in the garbage, and they even only had one chair at the dining room table, as if Mr. Porter was the only one worthy of sitting in a seat.

Reid walked back into the room where Hotch and the sheriff were, along with Mr. and Mrs. Porter. The poor woman was clearly frightened of her husband, cowering away each time he opened his mouth.

But, luckily, she was a good person, and she wanted to help them.

When they eventually got it out of her where Owen was headed, the three of them (plus the newly arrested Mr. Porter) sped over to the harbor. Reid awkwardly pulled his FBI vest on over his many layers, then put his jacket over top.

After parking and leaving the man in the vehicle, they raced down the docks for where Owen's boat would be parked.

Luckily, he hadn't arrived yet.

The three of them hopped on the boat behind his, hiding, awaiting the kid's arrival. They weren't surprised when a few minutes later, Owen hopped down into his boat, holding a shotgun.

Hotch stepped out first, the sheriff following close behind and Reid tailed off to the side, aiming his gun at Owen.

"Owen, put the gun down."
"Drop it son!"

"Who do you wanna take your chances with, us or them?" Hotch questioned, watching the arrival of the angry townspeople. The man raised his gun at them instead, yelling "drop the weapons and back away!"

"Can't do that agents, the boy's coming with us."
"It's not happening!"

"Back down Keith, we're in control now."
"What are you going to do Steve, he's 16. Send him back to juvey so he's out in two years? He killed Brenda."
"He killed my mom." Joshua spoke up, aiming his weapon.

"He needs help and he will be held accountable for his crimes-" Hotch stated, but he was cut off by Joshua.

"Accountable? Five people are dead." Joshua was getting more and more angry, hand becoming tighter over the trigger. "Why'd you do it Owen, huh? Why'd you kill her?"
"You left me behind!" The young unsub yelled in anger.

"You killed my mom!"

"She sent you away! You left, and you didn't come back! Eight years and I never heard from you again.

Reid cleared his throat, hoping it would be loud enough for everyone to hear. He lowered his gun, looking at Joshua, pleading. "Please, just let us take him in."

"Sorry. I can't." Joshua spoke, gun still aimed at Owen. "I know what you're saying is right, But I can't do it."

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss, but please just put your guns down so no one else gets hurt." Reid stated, exhaustion beginning to bleed through his voice. He just wanted this case to be over. There was no reason for more violence.

"Are you kidding? You're outnumbered and outgunned. Who do you think has the higher ground here?"

"I'm pretty sure we do!" Rossi shouted, appearing with Morgan and Prentiss on the docks.

"I don't know. What are you- what are you doing? We can still take him!" Joshua yelled in anger as his other acquaintances put their guns down.

"It's over, Joshua." Keith said, turning to the younger man.

"He killed my mom."

"I know, And I'm sorry." Joshua raised his gun once more, aiming for Owen.

A shot fired, but it was Joshua who was hit, not Owen.

"You shot him?"

"He'll live." Rossi said, lowering his weapon.

The next hour was a blur to Reid. He remembers watching Owen get arrested and shoved in the back of a police car along with his father. He remembers the EMTs strapping Joshua to a gurney and rushing off to the hospital. And he remembers walking away from the scene silently, getting in the car, and driving back to the lodge.

But it felt like a dream.

He was dissociating again. The whole weekend had been too stressful on his body in many different ways. Physically, emotionally, mentally; he'd hit all of the big ones this time.

He knew that Hotch, and probably the rest of the team, was going to want to talk to him more about the issues he'd been dealing with for the past few months. But right now, he just wanted to sleep.

Reid was sitting in the large chair by the fireplace in the lodge. His legs were hanging over the arm of the left side of the chair, and his head was leaning against the other. He was essentially using the large chair as a bed.

He didn't quite recall how he got there, there were some missing moments from his timeline, but he didn't think much of it.

Instead he was silently staring at the dancing flames, letting the muffled voices of his coworkers wash over him.

They weren't going to be able to fly out until tomorrow because of the weather, so they were all actually enjoying themselves sitting around the dining table.

Reid wanted to join them. He wanted to hear stories about JJ's kids, or know about Morgan's most recent date, or even Garcia's newly found favorite video game. But he couldn't.

He didn't realize he'd closed his eyes until he felt something get draped over his body. It felt like a heavy blanket, and he immediately settled underneath it, not having realized how cold he was until that moment.

He then felt someone's hand brush through his hair and immediately he leaned into the touch, asking for more. The person appeased him, continuing to play with his curls and Reid melted into the touch, becoming more and more relaxed until he was barely aware.

Only when a conversation began near him did he perk up a little, but he didn't open his eyes or show that he was awake in any fashion.

"Kid's tired." Morgan stated.

There was a pause before the person who'd been petting Reid answered.

"I think he's been tired for a while." JJ said in a hushed voice. She was the one who was sitting with him. "He hasn't been himself in quite a while" she remarked, a bit of sadness slipping into the tone of her voice.

"He's got a lotta walls built up in that head of his." Morgan observed, also sounding relatively unhappy about it. "I feel like we've all tried so hard to approach him, yet somehow he's managed to slip further from our grasps."

"Hotch talked to him."
"What?" Morgan sounded incredibly surprised. He'd had no idea.

"The other night," JJ started, "it sounds like Spence kinda broke in front of Hotch the first night here. I asked him if everything was okay because of how much Hotch has been hovering around him the past few days so he told me, but I don't know the details of it. Must've been pretty bad though for Hotch to be this worked up over him."

"Wow" Morgan's voice was very soft, the news having him feeling taken aback. "I guess I just thought… well I thought that if things were too bad, he would've come to me…"

"Oh Morgan, don't feel bad. He didn't really come to anyone. I think Hotch just happened to catch Reid at a bad moment, I don't think he 'chose' him over anyone. Plus, I mean you know he thinks of the man like his father. I'm sure that has something to do with it too."

"I just wish he knew how important he was to us." Morgan stated, sounding a little angry. "Kid probably thinks he'd burden us with his problems when in reality all I want is to be able to help him."
"Maybe one day we'll make him understand. For now, though, I think we just have to be patient."
"I know… it's just… hard… to watch him keep falling apart like this when we're right here, willing and able to help him."

A silence fell over the two of them, apparently not having much else to add.

Reid heard their words but didn't process them at the moment. His body was too fatigued. However, his mind would hold onto them and, later, he'd be able to think about what the two had discussed when they'd thought he was asleep.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it wasn't as fluffy as the others have been because I wanted to go ahead and close the case, but don't worry because the rest of the fic will essentially only be fluff and breakdowns, don't worry y'all.

sidenote: I was watching S6 E4 and I thought it was so funny that when Prentiss took off her FBI vest to go and talk to the unsub Morgan was like "noooo okay" and Hotch didn't even protest but when Reid does it eveyrone's like this fucking dumbass boutta get himself killed and THAT'S on having no self-preservation