Reid tried to squirm away from their hands but they refused to let go.
"Hotch, Morgan let go of me." Reid demanded
Instead of replying Hotch without removing his hand circled to the back of the wheelchair gently displacing Garcia, he then grabbed a handle and signaled Morgan to keep Reid in place. Hotch removed his hand, while Morgan increased pressure on Reid's left shoulder and Hotch wheeled him off. Gideon watched puzzled but made no move to stop him. Hotch took Reid to the far end of the room, where Morgan finally removed his hand. Hotch walked to the front of the wheelchair and knelt down in front of Reid who was glaring furiously at both of them
"Spencer I don't know what game you are playing but I will not let this continue. You don't just want to talk to Gideon you want to hurt him. Everyone on the team understands this but I won't let you throw your life away over old injuries. I don't know if you're responsible for him being here, but I can't let you be alone with him." Hotch said calmly but forcefully
Morgan released Reid's shoulder, Hotch stood and both men moved a few feet away. Reid kept his head down, and put his right hand over his knife cuts. Five minutes passed before Reid spoke
"Derek, Aaron could you come here please?"
Both men hurried over but waited for Reid to continue
"You're right Aaron I do want to hurt Jason. I knew that if we entered the replica heart there would be places I could physically hurt him and make it seem like an accident. I also knew that Jason wouldn't try anything because the rest of the team would know he was responsible." Reid sighed and studied the ground "I'm tired of feeling angry, helpless, and scared" Reid said the last word so quietly Hotch and Morgan almost didn't catch it
"I want my life back and I can't move forward without knowing who was responsible. Please find the person who orchestrated this so we can go home." Reid finished after a minute of silence
Hotch removed Reid's hand from his left arm and gripped it tight but it was Morgan who spoke
"Spencer the whole team will find out who is responsible and we will continue to take care of you and bring you home."
Reid smiled slightly and seemed on the point of crying. Morgan clapped him carefully on the shoulder. Reid yawned and shook himself slightly and carefully stretched his arms
"Spencer I would like to have the entire team go to lunch with Gideon. Before we leave if you want, Morgan and I will help you through the heart." Hotch said gently
"I would, thank you and I'm fine with eating with Gideon." Reid seemed about to say something else but stopped
Morgan wheeled him back over to their group, Rossi was talking with Gideon, while Garcia and JJ where reading exhibit signs
"Morgan and I are going to take Reid through the exhibit. Dave could you and Jason find us a place to eat?" Hotch asked
"Yes, what kind of food would you like?" Rossi asked Reid
"Anything is fine." Reid answered
"Spencer I thought you wanted me to help you?" Gideon asked
Reid's hands were resting on his legs, watching the group at Gideon's words he gripped his legs so tight the tips of his fingertips turned white
"Plans change, Morgan and I are used to assisting Reid. It will be better for him if we help him." Hotch said sparing Reid from having to reply
Hotch helped Reid to his feet and slipped an arm around his waist, Reid put his arm around his shoulders and they entered the exhibit, JJ, Garcia, and Morgan followed leaving the wheelchair with Gideon and Rossi. The two men moved over to the wall to wait. Rossi made reservations at a nearby American restaurant and called Emily to invite her to join them. The group came out ten minutes after they went in: Reid was leaning heavily on Hotch his face was pale and his expression showed he was in a lot of pain. Upon seeing Gideon who was walking over to them with Rossi he straightened his shoulders, almost pushing Hotch away trying to gain more independent movement and assumed a neutral closed expression. Rossi quickly brought the wheelchair over to Reid and Hotch helped him sit, Gideon came over to Reid
"Hey kid are you okay?" He asked
"I'm fine, let's go." Reid said
As they left Morgan turned to Hotch
"You've got something shiny on your right shoulder." Morgan said
"I must have brushed against something; I'll take of it later." He replied
They walked to the front entrance where Reid got his crutches back but relied more on Morgan for support then his crutch. They drove to an American eatery and met Emily who was waiting for them. Rossi had secured them a secluded table on the left side of the establishment. Everyone got coffee and then looked over the menu. Reid was sweating but he kept his coat on, he said very little and studied the menu like it was the most interesting thing in the world. The others spoke but it was mostly about catching Emily up and about other events of the day. Hotch who was sitting next to Reid leaned over and helped him get together his order. The waiter came back and Hotch ordered chicken breast and vegetable soup for Reid and a burger for himself. Gideon looked questioningly at Hotch and Reid but didn't say anything. After the waiter left Gideon spoke
"I would have thought you'd be sick of soup by now." Gideon said with a slight smile trying to lighten the tense atmosphere
"I'm not; soup is nourishing and easy to eat. It kept me alive for three weeks in a deserted cabin with only tree bark, roots, and squirrel for ingredients." Reid said harshly
"I know Aaron told me what happened and I saw footage of you on the mountain. I am so sorry about you endured, if there's anything I can do to help let me know."
"There's nothing I want from you except a confession."
"I'm not the person who did this, I could never do something like that to anyone especially a man I consider family."
Reid laughed bitterly at that last remark "Family I did think you once you viewed me as a son the whole BAU as a surrogate family but then you left. You walked out on us with only a letter. At least my father had the decency to tell my mother he was leaving. You are a coward unafraid to go up against murderers, sadists, terrorists, the worst humanity has to offer but unable to confront your own feelings."
"You're right Spencer I did run away. No one at the team would have stopped me from leaving everyone would have understood but I didn't want to deal with everyone's emotions, the pain of saying goodbye so I just left."
Reid didn't speak after that and neither did the rest of the team. The waiter came by and refilled everyone's drinks. After a few minutes the appetizers arrived, Reid has had become his custom poured water into his soup. Reid then ate a few spoonfuls but became increasing frustrated with how slow it was. With the bowl two thirds full Reid lifted the bowel carefully and drank it down. He put it down and studied the other plates of appetizers
"Didn't you eat breakfast?" Emily asked
"I did but I threw it up before we left the diner." Reid said staring down at his empty soup bowl to avoid looking at her
"Kid why didn't you tell me, I would have gotten you something before we went to the museum." Morgan said
"I'm used to being hungry and I didn't really want food until we came here."
"Spencer here" Gideon said handing him one of his crab cakes
Reid leaned over due to the seating arrangement Reid had to take it with his left hand. Reid leaned over even farther positioning his hand over Gideon's coffee he then crushed the cake in his hand and dropped it into the mug. Reid sat back in his chair and took a drink of his coffee and raised an eyebrow waiting for someone to speak. No one said a word, Gideon just signaled for the waiter, while JJ, Emily, and Morgan started discussing the park they had visited before the institute. The waiter came and picked up the mug, he was walking away when he suddenly turned around
"Sir, do you need a band aid?" he asked
"No why?"
"There's blood in the mug, I just thought you might have cut your finger or something."
"No, I'm fine." Gideon said dismissing the waiter
The team turned to Reid who was calmly drinking his coffee. Hotch leaned over and gently touched the underside of Reid's left arm; his hand came away with spots of blood
"Spencer has your arm been bleeding since the exhibit?" He asked
"Yes, I re-bandaged it before we left but it must not have stopped, I'll go to the bathroom and take care of it." Reid said moving to stand
"No you won't you need to see a doctor. Morgan will take you and Emily will bring your food to the hotel." Hotch said
"No, no please don't. I'm sorry about what happened but the cuts will heal by themselves there is no need to involve a doctor." Reid said desperately
"How could you be so stupid, cutting yourself is reckless, idiotic, and pointless; I thought you were smarter than that." Gideon said sounding angry and worried
Reid practically collapsed into himself it was clear that no matter how angry and hurt he was at Gideon his opinion of him still mattered a great deal.
"It was an accident; Reid was cleaning a hunting knife when his hand slipped." Garcia said coming to Reid's defense
"Morgan take Reid to a doctor, the rest of you stay here." Hotch ordered
Morgan stood put on his coat and slipped Reid's bag over his shoulder. Reid stood took his crutch, slipped his arm around Morgan and both men left. No one had much of an appetite anymore so they left and went to the FBI Field Office. Garcia went to her computers, while Rossi went to talk to the Crime Scene techs to retrieve the papers from Gilbert's apartment. Hotch, JJ, and Emily sat down to talk to Gideon.
"Jason you said that you had information about Reid's case last night." Hotch said sitting across from him
"Yes, I was in Clatter the town Spencer was taken from three months ago doing some bird watching. I met up with Derek Hale a private investigator who was trying to track down William Rhoades. Rhoades had been running extortion schemes collecting people's personal information including social security numbers, bank account information, embarrassing photos and videos. He would then threaten to sell the information and publish the photos and videos unless the victim paid a huge sum. Rhoades was also the prime suspect in the murders of five people."
"Jason where are you going with this and how does this relate to Reid?" Hotch said cutting him off
"We tracked him to the mountains and started looking for places he might have holed up. We spent several days exploring the mountains trying to find him. Along the way we encountered cabins some pretty run down including the one Reid stayed in. We didn't find any sign of Rhoades though so we parted ways five days later."
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Emily asked
"It me a while to realize why the cabin looked so familiar." Gideon said
"Thank you for the information we'll look into it." Hotch said
Rossi walked in and Gideon excused himself. Emily left to talk to Garcia about Rhoades while Rossi and Hotch started sorting through papers. After twenty minutes Garcia walked in
"Derek Hale's boss James Dewitt was being blackmailed by William Rhoades. Apparently Dewitt has a thing for prostitutes and bondage which does not mesh with his public image of clean, upstanding family man." Garcia reported
"That explains why he sends Hale, he trust him to get rid of anything embarrassing." Rossi said
"But this means that Hale and Gideon were together at the same time and both knew about the cabin, we need to bring in Derek Hale." Hotch said
A/N Things are finally starting to wrap up. Let me know how you think the Gideon, Reid meeting went, if Gideon and Hale are working together. Just let me your thoughts all the reviews I have gotten have enormously helpful or just Subscribe, Favorite.