A/N: I'm back! With the FINAL episode of Criminal Minds airing tonight, I knew I had to update this story. It is also the 8-year anniversary of my membership on this site. 8 YEARS! I plan to write more, but please, read the Author's Note at the bottom!

Note: Italic text (thoughts) should not be confused with 'italic text with single quote marks'.

Word count: 1,278

Chapter 17

"Hey. Pretty Boy."

"Hrrmm?"

"Rise and shine, man."

Reid lifted his head to see Derek Morgan staring back at him from the doorway. While there was a smile on the older man's face, his eyes told a different story. Fatigue, stress, annoyance. They were all too easy to read. And yet, Morgan attempted a false grin anyway.

"Are you on your way to work?" Reid mumbled, fighting through his sleepy haze.

"Yeah, I need to head out a little earlier than usual." Morgan fastened his jacket, taking a few steps forward. "Sorry to wake you. I know you haven't been sleeping much these days. I just wanted to let you know before I left."

"I understand." Reid slid up into a sitting position, unconsciously folding his arms in front of his stomach as he did so. If Morgan noticed, he gave no indication.

"Which means…" The grin planted on the agent's face began to fade. "We won't be able to eat breakfast together this morning." Morgan studied Reid's face. Apart from a twitch of his eyebrow, Reid showed no reaction to the news. "So, I'm going to have to trust you, all right? In the kitchen, I put together a little meal for you. I am trusting you to actually eat it before I get back."

Morgan made steady eye contact with Reid, waiting for a response. The young genius resisted the urge to swallow and casually replied, "Yeah. I understand."

Morgan maintained eye contact for another long moment before blinking and forcing another fake smile. "I'll see you tonight." With a curt nod of his head, Morgan turned away and exited the bedroom.

"Yeah…" Reid mumbled after him. It wasn't until Reid heard a door close and lock several seconds later that he breathed a long sigh of relief. He slumped against the headboard of the bed and replayed the recent conversation in his mind. For the first time in weeks, a small yet genuine smile crept across his lips.

We won't be able to eat breakfast together this morning.

Reid was almost proud of himself for being able to maintain a neutral face as those words were spoken.

Three weeks. Three weeks of being monitored. Three weeks of being forced to eat. Three weeks of being cooped up in Morgan's house like a child who can't be trusted.

'They don't trust you.' That little voice was back, but it was different now. It wasn't a loud angry voice that boomed over Reid's other thoughts. It was a small whisper tickling the back of his mind. It existed alongside his thoughts, never guiding them here nor there. In this cold, friendless, jobless world Reid current found himself in, that small whisper was the only source of comfort. Of truth.

Reid carefully slid out of bed—Morgan's bed. He tenderly rubbed the backs of his thighs and his shins, places where he had recently noticed bruises caused simply by getting in and out of bed.

Have I always bruised this easily?

'Paper skin.'

Reid tentatively began to stretch, preparing himself for the lightheadedness that had become customary. Surprisingly, his vision only blurred twice, and he only briefly stumbled once. As Reid turned at the midsection, he froze.

No, it… It can't be.

He gently repeated the action, panic rising within him when It yielded the same result. Without a second thought, the young agent raced to the bathroom, nearly tripping along the way. He panted in front of the mirror, hands gripped at either side of the sink, waiting for the threat of unconsciousness to fade. With trembling fingers, he raised his shirt. Slowly, he opened his eyes. Despite wanting to immediately shut them again, he horror forced them open even wider.

"No," Reid whispered. "No, no, no, no, no."

'You knew this would happen.'

"I… I didn't think it'd… How did I get this way so soon?"

'Paper skin, paper skin. Eat too much, and you'll burst. You'll burst.'

"I, I tried not to. I…I did!" Reid clenched the sink harder as tears shot to his eyes. "But… MORGAN! He kept…!"

Reid took a shaky breath, running his trembling hands down his face. Then back up.

"My cheeks."

'Chipmunk.'

He navigated one hand to his side. "My stomach."

'Pig.'

"My…" Hands roamed along his flesh, unsure where to focus.

'Walrus.'

Reid quickly shot a glance at the toilet. He stared into the water, swallowing thickly several times.

I can't. Morgan would know.

Reluctantly, Reid lowered his shirt and used the porcelain toilet for its intended purpose. He ignored the miniscule part of his brain telling him it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Over 50% of calories are absorbed the moment—

'Shut up.'

Stats memorized from so long ago. He knows them well. He could never forget them. But for the sake of his goal, for the sake of becoming better and thinner and worthier, he could and would ignore them.

It's not logical.

'Shhh.'

After washing his hands, the young agent wrapped his arms around himself, contemplating what to do next. He should probably bathe. Looking toward the black curtains hiding a lavish tub and shower, every fiber of Reid's body was in rejection. There was once a time when the man would almost never willingly neglect to clean himself. It was a common joke, wasn't it? Spencer Reid, the germophobe. And yet, here he stood, layered in his own bacteria, sweat, and dead skin cells. Somehow, in that very moment, a shower seemed even more repulsive.

He left the restroom.

Feeling cold—always absurdly cold; Morgan's thermostat must be wrong—he went back into the bedroom—Morgan's bedroom—to seek out a blanket under the dark blue duvet. Weeks later, it still upset Reid that had Morgan provided him two extra blankets without prompt. Even so, Reid is too thankful for the extra warmth and too upset with himself for needing it that he had not said anything about it.

As he wrapped the plush blanket around himself, Reid's hand instinctively reached for his glasses. He stopped himself. There was no point in wearing them. Thanks to his own stupidity, he was essentially under house arrest in a home that was not his own—not that he had a home. Besides, the world was kinder blurred. Duller edges, blurry people, faded reflections. Indeed, no point in wearing them at all.

Shivering under the blanket, Reid headed directly to the thermostat in the hall. 74 degrees.

That can't be true.

It didn't feel a degree over 40. Despite the twitch in his fingers urging Reid to tamper with the device, he left it alone. Morgan likes it cold. It would be exceedingly rare to enter the man's house and see anything above 65 degrees on the thermostat. The only exception might be if he were expecting a certain kind of company that night. Knowing this, realizing that the older agent is sacrificing his own comfort for Reid's sake, the genius couldn't bring himself to raise the temperature any higher. With a pool of guilt swirling inside of him, Reid gently pressed a button twice. 72 degrees.

Clutching at the blanket, Reid finally shuffled toward the place he had been avoiding all morning. The aroma had been assaulting him since he gained consciousness. While Morgan may not be as skilled in the kitchen as Rossi, there is no doubt that when the younger agent cooks, the scent is sure to fill more than just one room.

Placed on a dark marble countertop was a plate. Reid stared down at it. It stared at him twice as hard. In the next room, a clock ticked softly.

'What will you do?'

A/N: It's finally finished! I actually wrote the first fourth of this chapter 2 years ago, but then I did something I regret. I took a creative writing class, hoping it would get me motivated to write regularly again. It did the opposite.

Thank you to everyone who has stayed patient with me and stayed interested with this story. With trying to work as much as possible to scrape together some sort of an income, I can't make any promises as to when I'll next upload. However, I would really like to be more active with my readers. I believe maintaining a line of communication with you beyond chapter update and review will give me some accountability and remind me that people are waiting for me to continue writing. So with that said, here are a few options.

I have a YouTube channel under the name SophieFilo16. I definitely want to do fandom videos and maybe writing advice videos there, but it depends on what people subscribe for. I'd also like to do "teasers" for upcoming story ideas so I can get a sense of what people are interested in (which will help motivate me to actually write the ideas).

I have a Twitch channel under the same name. This one I'm really hoping can work out. What I'd like to do for this is stream live writings. I could take live suggestions/prompts, I could read other people's fics and give real-time feedback, and I could even write a story alongside viewers (this would be especially interesting).

I don't use social media, but I do have a Facebook account I made years ago if I ever wanted to communicate more directly with readers. Let me know if you're interested in that, though I likely won't use it much.

And finally, I have a blog that I would like to use as a giant place for fanfiction. I already have a list of "All FFs I've Read" that is being updated constantly. The blog is currently on Weebly (link on profile page), but I am in the process of moving it to Tumblr. If people aren't keen on Facebook (as I'm not), I'd be happy to do updates there.

Okay, that should be all the self-promotion out of the way. I genuinely mean it when I say having an active line of communication will motivate me to provide more content. A follow or a favorite is great and all, but it gets forgotten in the madness of everyday life. Knowing, "Hey, I need to stream tonight" or "Hey, I promised I would have this story up by Monday" would have a much more impactful impression.

Okay, okay, enough of that. Onto the review responses. These responses are in chronological order, so the oldest review will be on top.

REVIEW RESPONSES:

tinaandersen150: Sorry for making you wait two and a half years for this update. Hopefully, it brings another smile to your face.

MW3addict: Indeed, but that doesn't mean the end is near yet!

Guest: Took a while, but here it is!

JohnLockSher: There's a lot of us scattered around the Internet. Oh, and I got into Sherlock (BBC) two summers ago. I think I have a short Sherlock fic up on AO3. It's surprising how many SuperWhoLock fans there are, and even more so when they also like Criminal Minds and/or the Batfamily. It's like getting all my fandoms in one place. :)

pallyndrome: Yes, unless I die first, this story will be finished.

Guest: Sorry for the wait!

rebeccacherub: The beauty of fanfiction is being able to explore these possibilities that likely wouldn't happen in canon. Though, speaking canonically, Reid is not confirmed to be Autistic. Also, anorexia isn't a matter of a person's likelihood to think they are fat. It's a disease that leads to irrational thoughts, which is why I'm particularly interested in focusing on Reid's deteriorating thought process. My aim is to provide a more realistic look at anorexia using the character of Reid to highlight what the disease can do to a person who would otherwise seem unlikely to fall victim to it.

SumRandomDude555: Thank you very much!

JohnLockSher: Yes, Reid normally wouldn't say such a thing about his mother. But I have two reasons for doing this. One, to indicate that Reid…really isn't Reid right now. He crossed a line he normally never would. Two, a spoiler that is actually related to what you said. A few things from Reid's past will be revealed in the upcoming episodes, one of which will show that Reid wasn't entirely lying.

Guest: Wish granted!

crotia: Unfortunately, things won't getting better yet. This is going to be a long, painful story filled with up and a LOT of downs. What you said about Reid staying with Morgan and getting help (to be revealed next chapter) are already in motion, though. The road to recovery is still a LONG way off, but it definitely will happen one day.

m-j98: Continue, I shall!

Caroliny Hotchner: By the end of the story, every member of the team should have a role in helping Reid get back to himself. I am a sucker for Reid/Hotch father/son moments, so there'll be a few of those throughout.

TobiasHankel: Thank you. Reid's inner thoughts are definitely the most challenging part of this story. Not only do they need to be the thoughts of Reid, but they also must be the thoughts of someone spiraling out of control while suffering from this disease and other dark thoughts/temptations.