Hotch was surprised when Reid called him two days after the cooking lesson at Rossi's. "Hotch, can I come over? I need to talk to someone. Pick your brains. As a friend."

It was about the last thing Hotch had expected, because even though Reid had been at the dinner party, he'd avoided JJ like the plague and it hadn't been much better with Hotch.

"Of course," Hotch agreed immediately. "I'm at my apartment."

"I'll be there in thirty," Reid said.

Thirty-five minutes after that, both were sitting in the living room of Hotch's apartment, each with a cup of coffee. Hotch waited for Reid to speak, which he did.

"You know why I'm not angry at you about this mess?" Reid started.

"No," Hotch admitted.

"You very clearly separated your position as my friend from your position as my boss," Reid said slowly. "As my friend, it's your.. duty to be truthful. As my boss, it's your duty to follow the orders from your boss. As my boss, it's entirely within your rights to lie. There's no personal trust there. I trust you, as my friend, to tell me the truth.. or at least, not to lie when the lie will hurt. As my Unit Chief, I trust your competency and your judgment, and I trust you to work within your orders to enable your subordinates to do the job to the best of their abilities. Do you see the difference?"

Hotch thought for a moment. "I do."

"I can't be angry with my boss for following orders," Reid said. "Because the supervisor was following orders and if you lied to a subordinate in the process, that doesn't really matter, because the.. relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate isn't based on emotion or trust in someone's personality. It's based on superiority, seniority and trust in one's competency and judgment."

Reid was silent for a minute or so, sipping from his coffee. "But when Miss Jareau from the Department of Defense stormed into a hospital room, told us Agent Prentiss from the FBI was dead, and then hugged SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, she lied to me as a friend. Because she didn't hug SSA Reid.. that would be inappropriate. She hugged Spencer, her friend, and at that time, she wasn't Miss Jareau.. she was JJ, my friend, my godson's father. She lied to me as a friend. You didn't do that."

"I think I see where you're coming from," Hotch said. He hadn't looked at it that way.

Reid nodded. "I thought you might. Now when we're out on the streets, just doing our jobs, and I'm not chatting with her.. because in that moment eight months ago, she proved she wasn't my friend, that she was just a coworker, she becomes angry that I'm not treating her as a friend. Then we're in the middle of a police station, where I'm again just doing my job.. she starts airing dirty laundry that has no relevancy to the case. And then my coworkers are angry at me because I'm treating a coworker as a coworker, and during work hours, which I was getting paid for, mind you, she starts trying to clear up a personal problem."

Hotch blinked. "We were not fair," he stated. It wasn't a question, either.. it was more of an admission, a confession.

"You were not," Reid nodded, agreeing. "Then on the plane back home, Prentiss all but accuses me of causing her first ulcer.. I didn't even know she was alive by then.. she tells me she mourned six friends so I have no right to complain because I only mourned one.. and then asks me not to cause her another ulcer. She had no right to do that."

"I agree," Hotch said. "Although she's going through a difficult time."

"I know she is," Reid said. "But that doesn't really change anything, does it? I was also going through a difficult time when my dead friend suddenly turned out to be alive after all. Do you know I actually feared I might be delusional for a moment? So then I decided to go to the cooking lesson, because if I didn't, everyone would be angry at me and it would be my fault.. again. I'm a bit tired of that."

Hotch nodded. "What are you going to do now? You sound as though you're.. finished."

Reid inclined his head. "I'm not sure. Right now, I'm debating whether or not staying with the BAU is really worth it. To be honest, I can't find a reason."

Hotch was a little shocked. He had not expected that. "I don't want to lose you," he said.

"Hotch, what do you want me to do? The team expects me to treat colleagues that are not my friends as friends during work hours. And I'm sick of a lot of things."

"Such as?" Hotch was curious.

Reid shrugged. "Morgan always calls me 'kid', even though I'm almost thirty. I'm deliberately introduced as though I'm not an Agent."

"What do you mean?" Hotch said, not understanding.

"'These are Agent Morgan, Agent Prentiss and Dr. Reid.' 'These are Agents Morgan, Prentiss and Dr. Reid.' It's inaccurate. Because when I'm being introduced to local police, I'm there as Agent Reid, not as Dr. Reid. When I'm guest lecturing at Georgetown, I'm introduced as Dr. Reid, because I'm there as an academic."

Hotch inclined his head. "I hadn't thought about it that way. I'll remedy that immediately."

"I'd be grateful," Reid said. "Did you know that Seaver started counting on me to do her paperwork even before she graduated from the Academy?"

"What?" Hotch asked, angrily.

Reid shrugged. "I didn't really mind when Elle was dumping her files on my desk, because she was honest about it. The others all do it behind my back. Garcia and you are the only ones who don't, actually. I never said anything about it because I didn't want to cause friction, but everyone just assumes I don't have a life, so I may just as well do their paperwork. And it didn't matter if I was recovering from anthrax, recovering from knee surgery, recovering from the Hankel thing.. it always continued. I wouldn't mind doing it if they asked, but they don't ask, they exploit. Quite frankly, I'm tired of it."

"I understand," Hotch said slowly, softly.

Reid nodded. "I figured you would. But Hotch – Aaron – as my friend, can you give me one reason to stay with the BAU?"

Hotch thought about the question for a long time. "As far as I know, you do enjoy the work," he offered.

"I do, but there are other things I enjoy at least as much," Reid said.

Hotch nodded. "You're saving lives."

"Again, I can do that in other positions."

Hotch thought again. "You obviously don't enjoy the work environment, so that's not a good reason. You see a lot of the country. The job is never the same. You see a lot of interesting things."

Reid was silent for a while. "I consult with the NSA sometimes," he said quietly. "When I enter the building, I'm practically waited on hand and foot. There, it's nearly annoying. But in here, I'm the joke of the Bureau. I appreciate that even less."

He sighed. "Hotch, I'll be handing in my resignation within two months. I know someone who can take my place. She'd be an asset to your team."

Hotch closed his eyes. "I can't convince you to stay?"

"I asked you for a reason, and you couldn't give me one," Reid said quietly. "And if I stay, nothing will change. You would try, of course, but in the end, it would still be the same. Walking over Dr. Spencer Reid is so common, people don't even think about it anymore."

Hotch nodded. "Give me six weeks," he said with a pained expression. "Then consider again."

Reid inclined his head. "Six weeks to find or create a reason. Good luck."

INSERT LINE

"Agent Jareau? My office, please," Hotch said two days after the conversation with Reid.

JJ looked puzzled, but went into Hotch's office.

"Sit down," Hotch directed.

"What's it?" she asked, frowning.

"I don't want to give you an official reprimand, especially not so soon after this latest mess," Hotch started carefully. "But you need to behave more professional."

"What do you mean?" JJ said, a little defensive.

Hotch stared at her. "If a coworker and you have a problem in your personal relationship, you should not bring that to work. More than that, you should not try to solve it during work time, especially not if said coworker indicates he does not wish to do so."

"This is about Reid, isn't it?" JJ said, annoyed.

"I didn't notice any trouble between you and Reid in your professional relationship," Hotch said. "Until you approached him to talk about your friendship, that is. I don't mind if you seek him out in your own time, but do not do so when you're working."

Jareau clearly didn't agree, but didn't argue. "Was that all?" she said, her face carefully neutral.

"It was."

INSERT LINE

The next morning, Reid had a lecture at Georgetown, so Hotch called all team members to the conference room. Except for Garcia, that is.

"I know all of you have been slipping Reid your paperwork. I want this to stop now." Hotch spoke forcefully. "If you need help with something, ask. But there is no reason why he should do your jobs."

Morgan blinked. "Why is this a problem now?"

"I wasn't aware it was happening," Hotch glared. "However, I am now, and I want it to stop. Do you realize that one of the biggest mysteries in my career was why Reid usually arrived earlier and went home later than every other member of the team? He's often here before I arrive. What gives you the right to do that?"

Most members looked down guiltily.

"I want all of you to go to Reid's pile of files and remove everything you've slipped him. I will divide what's left between you. If you think it's okay to have someone do another's job, it should go both ways."

The punishment was infinitely childish, but Hotch hoped it would work.

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Prentiss frowned.

Hotch raised his eyebrows. "If you think so, then why are you doing the same thing to him?"

Prentiss didn't have a reply for that.

INSERT LINE

The Dr. Agent thing was a bit harder to solve. Over the next three cases, Hotch tried to make sure he'd be the one to make introductions every time, and mostly, he succeeded.

Morgan was the first to catch up on it. "Hey, Hotch? Why are we back to introducing Reid as 'Agent'?

Hotch raised an eyebrow and set his file on the table between them. They were on the plane, coming back from a case. "Why didn't we do so to begin with?"

Morgan blinked. "Because it would tell people he's not a high school kid if he's being introduced as Dr."

Hotch nodded. "Does he look like a high school kid to you?" Now, everyone on the plane was listening.

Morgan looked. "Not really," he admitted.

"So people won't perceive him as such. I was thinking, and I realized that on cases, Reid is there in his capacity as an SSA, not as a PhD. Therefore it makes much more sense to introduce him as SSA. Technically, it should be SSA Dr. Reid, I suppose, but that's a bit of a mouthful."

Morgan nodded thoughtfully. Over the plane, Prentiss looked thoughtful, Rossi raised his eyebrows at Hotch, and Reid gave him a quick smile.

INSERT LINE

Hotch went over to Reid's apartment this time. "How am I doing?" he asked as he was sipping his coffee.

Reid smiled slightly. "Well enough. You do know that technically it's SSA Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Reid MA BA?"

Hotch blinked. "When did you graduate?" He extended his hand. Reid shook it with a smirk. "Congratulations."

"A little while ago. I now have a PhD in Psychology, a Master's degree in Sociology and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy. I'm not sure what to pursue next. A PhD in Sociology, perhaps. Or a degree in Physics."

Hotch nodded. "Next time you're graduating, let me know. I'll be in the audience applauding."

Reid clearly hadn't expected that and looked startled. "I'll consider it."

"Has anything changed?" Hotch asked after a few minutes.

"I'm now being introduced as Agent by everyone except Jareau. Jareau doesn't bother me nearly as much during work hours. My file pile is so small I'm nearly bored sometimes." Reid paused, then continued. "It's definitely better. I don't know if it's enough."

Hotch nodded, not responding. He waited for Reid to continue.

"One reason you didn't mention is that I like being in the field, and that this job is about the perfect mixture of field and desk." Reid shrugged. "I can lecture at Harvard or Princeton, or just at Georgetown if I want to stay close, but then I wouldn't leave the building. NSA and the DOD wouldn't put me in the field, either. The CIA might, but that would likely be very sporadically. Interpol would probably be my best bet if I want to continue this type of work."

Hotch blinked. "You think you can get into those agencies?"

Reid raised his eyebrows. "Hotch, I get more job offers than bills, and I mean literally. Yes, I can. You seem to forget that I'm among the top regarding education."

"True," Hotch admitted.