"Seven months ago, I made a decision that affected this team. As you all know, Emily had lost a lot of blood after her fight with Doyle. But the doctors were able to stabilize her, and she was airlifted from Boston to Bethesda under covert exfiltration. Her identity was strictly need to know. And she stayed there until she was well enough to travel. She was reassigned to Paris, where she was given several identities, none of which we had access to, for her security."

Reid stared at Hotch uncomprehendingly and began panicking. Everyone was too dumbfounded to notice – except for Hotch, that is.

"Noo!" Reid screamed. "Shut up!"

And he ran out of the doorway, and only just managed to avoid Prentiss. In the security of an empty office, he dialed a number he had memorized.

"Dr. Norman? It's wrong. I am seeing dead people."

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Hotch had given Reid a few minutes before pursuing him. However, he couldn't find Reid. He did find a letter on his desk.

"Hotch,

Dr. Norman requested my presence at Bennington Sanitarium. I don't know when I'll be back. I'm taking the next flight out.

Dr. Spencer Reid"

Hotch wondered what this was about, and he really hoped Reid was alright. He hit the emergency speed dial that connected to Reid, but there was no answer.

Reid was probably driving to an airport, Hotch mused. He would call again in an hour. For now, he had to get back to his team.

As it turned out, Hotch didn't hear from Reid for over a week, and Reid didn't respond to Hotch's calls either. Hotch had gone as far as to check death records, but Diana Reid hadn't died. Nor had Spencer, luckily.

Then Hotch got a call from Nevada.

"Is this Aaron Hotchner?" An unfamiliar voice asked. The voice was kind – gentle, even.

"Yes, whom am I speaking to?"

"Dr. Norman, Bennington Sanitarium. Before we continue, I need to know that I am speaking to you as Spencer Reid's friend, and not as his boss."

"Okay," Hotch agreed in a guarded tone.

"A few years ago, Reid and I made an agreement. He was worried about becoming schizophrenic, and I told him to call me should he have symptoms. A week ago, he called me. From what I understand, he was seeing his dead friend."

Hotch brought his hand to his mouth, an extremely uncharacteristic gesture for him. "Oh no.."

Dr. Norman apparently thought Hotch was horrified because Reid was hallucinating. "Hallucinations can be caused by extreme emotional distress or a lack of sleep. Because he has not hallucinated since, we hope this is the case. Right now he's heavily sedated, because whenever he is aware, he gets panic attacks."

"Shit," Hotch breathed. "Dr. Norman, Spencer wasn't hallucinating. He was told she was dead while she was flown out of the country under an alternate identity. Knowledge of her survival was on a strictly need-to-know basis."

Dr. Norman cut in a little harshly. "You're telling me you just showed Spencer his dead friend and expected him to give her a hug? A patient who, I might add, has been doubting his own sanity for all of his life?" Dr. Norman was seriously angry.

"Yes," Hotch breathed almost meekly. He was doing a lot of uncharacteristically things today. "What can I do to help?"

Dr. Norman sighed. "Who were present when you told them their death friend wasn't alive?"

"My team," Hotch said automatically. "David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Penelope Garcia. Spencer Reid and myself. Emily Prentiss."

Dr. Norman sighed. "I am not sure how to handle this. Is he close to anyone outside of those people? Someone he sees every week, at least?"

Hotch thought for a moment. "The only person I can think of is his NA sponsor, but I don't know how often they see one another."

There was a moment's pause on the other side of the line. "Either one of your team members comes here to convince him he was not, in fact, hallucinating, or his sponsor should come, but I'm not sure about that last option. Usually, only hallucinations follow someone across the country, if you understand what I mean."

Hotch did. It was likely Reid only knew his sponsor from the NA meetings in D.C, meaning they never met in a hospital in Nevada.

"I'll come," Hotch replied without hesitation.

The doctor on the other side of the line hesitated. "Agent Hotchner.. That might not be the best idea. The reason why Spencer was so sure he was hallucinating was because he had heard from your mouth that his friend wasn't dead after all. He does not believe you would ever lie to him like that. Is there anyone else Spencer is close to who can come? Someone who was not in on this plan of yours." The disdain was evident in his voice.

Hotch thought for a moment. "I'll ask David Rossi. He can be discreet or subtle when he wants to."

Dr. Norman made an acquiescing noise. "Call me when you know who is coming, and when."

Hotch sighed and let his head fall into his hands. There were tears in his eyes. "Aaron? Hell, what's wrong?"

Dave. Great. Just who he needed.

Hotch looked up, surreptitiously wiping his eyes. Not that that stopped Dave from noticing, of course. "Close the door. I need a favor."

Dave did so and sat down. "Let's hear it, then."

Hotch gathered his thoughts. "What do you know about Diana Reid?"

Dave looked a little puzzled. "Paranoid schizophrenic, admitted by Reid in a sanitarium when he was eighteen, Reid writes her daily."

Hotch nodded. "Reid has always been afraid he'll turn schizophrenic himself, because it's genetical."

"So?" Dave asked.

"So right now Reid is convinced he's schizophrenic. He called his mother's doctor immediately after he saw Emily. Reid is in the same sanitarium as his mother now, being heavily sedated because he is constantly panicking when he's not. Up until an hour ago, Dr. Norman thought the hallucination was a single occurrence, because Emily didn't follow him cross-country, so to speak. I spoke with him just before you came in. Now they know there is nothing wrong with Reid, not really, but Reid doesn't know that." Hotch let out a harsh laugh that almost sounded like a sob. "He's convinced I would never lie to him like that, so of course when I told him Emily was alive, I had to be a hallucination, right?"

Dave's mouth had fallen wide open. He stood and punched Hotch in the face. "You really didn't think about the repercussions of your plan, did you?"

Hotch was shocked when Dave made to punch him, but didn't duck. He deserved it. "I'm not allowed to go to him, because then you get a situation similar to the "I swear I'm lying" situation: I have to tell him not to trust what I say."

Dave nodded in understanding. "You want me to go to Nevada." Hotch nodded. "You arrange time off and tell the team. I'm on my way to the airport."

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Things were not going all that well. Rossi was calling Hotch three times a day. After Rossi had been in Vegas for three days, Reid had finally started to accept that Rossi was real. Dave had proved this through various exercises Reid had him do. Most of them consisted of Rossi writing something on a piece of paper, giving it to Reid, and then telling Reid what it was before Reid read it. In Quantico, things were a little better, although JJ and Prentiss were both ridden with guilt about Reid's situation. So was Hotch, although he didn't show it. Morgan and Garcia were – unstable. Both were glad that Prentiss was back, of course, but overall confused. Prentiss being back also meant having their team lying to them, Reid being hospitalized, and similar things.

Hotch's phone rang. "Dave, how are things?" Hotch said after seeing the caller ID.

"Better," Dave's tired voice spoke. "He agreed today there is a tiny possibility he is not schizophrenic. He's not as heavily sedated. Norman thinks you should tell him the news of Prentiss' aliveness yourself in a couple of days. But first Reid needs to have a completely fool-proof method of determining your substance, which he hasn't so far."

Hotch sighed. "Let me know when to come."