Heyyyyyy y'all here's part 2 of the hypothermia fic!
I really like how these two turned out, though this chapter is a lil shorter, but I thought it was better to end where it seemed to naturally wrap up than to try and continue just for more quantity :)
I hope y'all enjoy this fic and have a wonderful day!
PT2
Reid peeled his eyes open, still feeling exhausted despite having just awoken. His body was no longer shivering profusely, and he actually felt relatively warm. When he began shifting onto his back, he realized someone was still holding onto him, but they relaxed their grip and allowed his movement.
He slowly sat up, undoing himself from the tight bundle of blankets and bringing a hand up to his face. Reid rubbed his eyes sleepily, glancing around the room.
Morgan sat up next to him, he must've been the one who'd been holding him. Prentiss was on his other side, still asleep, and Hotch was sitting in a chair, head tilted back awkwardly, also asleep.
Reid looked over at Morgan, who was staring back at him.
"Feeling okay?" Morgan asked, concerned.
Reid nodded, stifling a yawn. His body was sore, and his head ached, but he finally felt warm again.
"Let me take your temperature again, one second…" Morgan said, quietly standing up. He swiftly moved around the hotel room without awakening Prentiss or Hotch and grabbed the thermometer.
When he returned, Reid obediently opened his mouth, knowing better than to fight with Morgan on this.
After a minute or so of sitting uncomfortably with the thermometer in his mouth, it beeped, and Morgan removed it. He smiled in relief, turning it so Reid could see.
"96.8" Morgan read quietly, "you're almost back to normal." He smiled at Reid, ruffling his hair.
Reid gave a small smile back, simply feeling thankful that he was not shivering uncontrollably anymore.
"Can I put on some clothing?" Reid asked, voice heavy with fatigue.
Morgan smirked, chucking lightly, "of course, kid. Come here."
Morgan helped Reid stand, undoing himself from all the blankets. Reid began to shiver once he was unwrapped, not used to the room's normal temperature. The two made their way to the bathroom, Morgan grabbing his go bag on the way.
"Why don't you take a bath before you get dressed, maybe it'll help you with the final stretch and get your core back to its normal temp."
Reid nodded as Morgan deposited him on the cold toilet lid. The man began running a bath for him, making sure the water was warm enough.
Reid shivered; arms wrapped around himself as he waited for the man to leave so that he could get in the water. He didn't like being so exposed, having the man stare down at his very wiry, scrawny body was not his favorite thing. However, he knew that they only stripped him down to help stop him from freezing to death, so he was letting it slide.
When Morgan deemed the water warm enough, he left Reid in the bathroom, leaving the door cracked in case he had any problems.
Reid didn't like that, but he understood why the man did it. After what had happened when he'd taken a shower while recovering from Anthrax, he was sure Morgan didn't want a barely aware Reid locking the bathroom door.
He quickly stripped off his boxers, stepping into the tub. He let out a sigh as the warm water caressed his body. Reid very quickly sunk into the water, relief filling him as he finally felt warm again.
His aching muscles started to relax in the tub, and his pounding headache backed up to a low ache. Being in the warm bath was just what he needed; Morgan had been right about that.
The water in the tub, tragically, only stayed warm for so long. While it helped warm Reid up a lot, he was very disappointed when it started to cool off, signaling that he needed to get out.
After pulling the plug, Reid quickly stepped out of the bathtub, drying off with the small, itchy hotel towel. He went to open his go bag, only to notice that it wasn't full of his normal clothing. Instead, a pair of Derek's grey sweatpants and a navy sweatshirt that looked eerily similar to Hotch's sat in the bag, along with a pair of his own boxers and mismatched socks.
Clearly, Morgan hadn't wanted him to get any ideas about working today. While this did slightly annoy Reid, he was thankful that the two men had offered him up some soft, warm, comfortable clothing.
He pulled on the clothing, pulling the drawstrings of the pants as tight as they would go. They still hung awkwardly off his thin hips. He looked like he was drowning in their clothing, but at least he probably wouldn't be moving around a lot today.
He figured that, after a near death experience such as the one he'd just had, they probably weren't going to let him do much of anything for a while.
And Reid wasn't mad about that. All he really wanted to do was go back to sleep.
Slowly, Reid peered out of the bathroom, not wanting to wake anyone who was still asleep. However, it appeared as though they were all up now. Prentiss and Morgan were speaking on the bed, and Hotch was glancing through messages on his phone. They collectively looked up at him when he entered the room, each checking over his appearance.
Morgan was the first to speak.
"Hey pretty boy, feeling better?"
Reid nodded, giving a small smile while awkwardly crossing his arms. He didn't like being the center of attention, and he certainly was at the moment.
"Why don't Morgan and I go get you something to eat," Prentiss said, sending a look over to Hotch before pulling Morgan off the bed, "yeah, we'll be right back with some food."
The two of them scurried past him out the door, and he was left alone with Hotch.
Reid knew this talk was coming. He knew what he'd done the previous night was stupid, wandering out alone in the middle of the night, and then going up against an unsub they knew very little about, alone.
He made his way over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it, lowering his head. Hotch leaned forwards, rubbing a hand over his face.
"Spencer," he started, concern seeping through his voice, "I'm not even sure what to say to you. You know how dumb it was to go in there alone, right? I mean what were you even doing out there at two in the morning?!" Hotch said, voice raising as slight frustration appeared on his face.
Reid nodded as the man spoke, agreeing with the judgements. What he did was stupid and reckless, he knew that, but he'd do it again in a heartbeat. If it meant saving that girl, he wouldn't change a thing.
"I'm sorry, H-hotch" Reid said in a small voice, shrinking away from the man, "I know it was s-stupid, and I know you don't like when I go out for evening w-walks… but I couldn't sleep and I then when I found them I couldn't just let her d-die!" He bent forwards, burying his face in his hands.
He felt ashamed for disappointing Hotch, but that girl would've died if he'd waited for backup!
Reid heard the chair creak and suddenly the bed dipped beside him as Hotch sat down next to him. He wrapped an arm around Reid, rubbing up and down his back.
"I'm glad you did what you did, Reid, the girl may not have made it if you hadn't," Hotch took a breath, trying to collect himself, "but you need to understand that your value isn't less than anyone else's. I know that you think your life is expendable, but it's not."
Reid froze, biting his lip. Hotch had, once again, hit it right on the head. He'd rather it be him than a victim who didn't ask for a life associated with murderers, or one of his team members. If he lost any of them, he wasn't sure he could keep going. But if they lost him, well he was sure they'd be able to keep moving on eventually.
"I can see the gears turning in your head Reid, and regardless of what you think I promise you that your life is important. We almost lost you yesterday, in fact we've almost lost you a couple times, and we never stop fighting to save you because we need you." Hotch tilted Reid's chin so that he was forced to look into the man's eyes, "I need you."
Reid chewed on his lip once more, dropping his eyes to the floor. His left hand inadvertently scratched at his inner arm as he awkwardly avoided eye contact.
He cleared his throat, licking his lips before speaking; "I need you too, Hotch." His voice wavered a little, emotion seeping through his words.
Hotch pulled him in sideways for a hug, tucking his chin atop Reid's head.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Hotch holding Reid tightly, before it was broken by the man once more.
"You know, Morgan's the one who dove in the water after you. He was shaking like a leaf when he eventually surfaced again but you were so… still. Prentiss gave you CPR and even when you coughed up water, you barely showed signs of life. I don't know that I've ever seen hypothermia that bad before, but the whole team worked together to keep you from freezing to death. Even Morgan, who definitely had some form of mild hypothermia, laid with you for hours. When you finally began shivering again, it was like we'd won an award. We all love you a lot Reid, I hope you know that."
Reid nodded into the man's chest, swallowing a lump in his throat. He'd really been right on the brink of death. The fact that he hadn't been shivering at all and they couldn't get him to a hospital in time meant that he'd had severe hypothermia, which has a mortality rate of about 75%.
He was incredibly lucky to have survived.
"I love you guys too." He whispered back, closing his eyes with sudden fatigue. "Thank you for saving me." He felt himself dropping off to sleep once more, exhaustion filling his body.
Hotch tightened his grip on him, holding him closer. His voice was quiet and seemed far away when he spoke, as Reid began to drift off to sleep; "We'll always save you Spencer, even if you don't wanna be saved."
~
Reid awoke with someone's arms wrapped around him once more. Turning his head slightly, he noticed it was JJ, who was fast asleep, curled around his body. He looked around the room, no one else was there.
He shifted to sit up, letting the blankets fall off of him. He finally felt normal again, albeit still tired. While Reid still shivered slightly at the temperature of the room, it was his normal level of cold rather than hypothermic cold.
A hand appeared on his shoulder and he turned to face JJ, who'd been awoken by his movement. She immediately launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. He returned the hug quickly, burying his face in her shoulder.
When they separated, she stood quickly, walking towards the dresser. She picked up the thermometer, approaching Reid with it.
He frowned, "JJ, I think I'm back to normal, I don't think you have to – mmmph" Reid was cut off as she shoved the device in his mouth.
"Good try Spence." She said, smiling.
He sat, pouting, as the thermometer slowly took his temperature. When it finally beeped, he let out a sigh of relief. She pulled it out of his mouth, quickly reading the temperature.
She grinned even wider, turning it for him to read. "97.8 degrees, you're back to normal, finally." She stated.
Reid smiled at this. He still felt like he could sleep for a good few days but thank god his core temperature was back to normal.
The door swung open suddenly, reveling Hotch and Rossi who were carrying a pizza. They both looked surprised to see Reid was awake, but when JJ showed them the thermometer, there was a collective sigh of relief.
"You must be starving, kid" Rossi said, shoving a slice of pizza in his hand, "eat up. You have to have at least two pieces; you're looking a little worse for wear. But sorry, no coffee yet."
JJ and Hotch both chuckled at this while Reid pouted a little. He reluctantly took the slice, sad that he had to suffer without coffee in his body. However, as soon as he began eating, the thought of coffee disappeared as his appetite returned to him, and it wasn't hard for him to down a couple of slices.
The four of them sat, chatting about things which didn't pertain to work, and Reid felt whole again. He felt warmth, not just from the blanket he was wrapped in, but because of the love and affection his family was giving him in each of their glances or small gestures.
Morgan and Prentiss joined them not long after, cracking jokes and telling stories. Reid didn't speak much because he didn't feel like he had to, he just enjoyed listening and being around those who'd saved his life countless times. Who'd always have his back. Who he loved.
Those who, he knew, loved him back.
thanks so much for reading!
I am very excited to now actually get into writing season 6 stuff, there are so many amazing episodes in this season. I just rewatched Coda and oh my gOD it's so cute, MGG is so cute I simply cannot!
ALSO did y'all see his new doc he put up? it was so good! The fact that Paget was in it? The fact that he inserted Reid x Morgan fanart? the compilation of him falling? such high quality content, he's really doing the most and I appreciate it.
have an amazing day, love y'all!