The Atlanta emergency room is teaming with people upon their arrival. Most of the sick or injured crowding the waiting area having obvious cuts and bruises, a few showing signs of inebriation, but nothing that seems overtly urgent. The whole room reeks of desperation, families demanding updates on their loved ones and patients demanding to be seen quicker. The noise alone is overwhelming after so many days spent in the open expanse of rural Georgia and if Morgan is feeling it he's pretty sure Reid is too. Luckily the EMT's called ahead informing the ER staff of the situation and they are quickly hustled passed all these people through a set of double doors straight into a private cubical at the far end of a much quieter corridor.
An hour later Morgan's in the same cubical, back to the drawn privacy curtain separating them from the rest of the hospital. His arms folded, feet planted a foot apart blocking the exit like a sentry guarding the gates of hell.
"Please stop staring at me like that." Reid's muffled voice sighs.
Morgan looks over the huddled figure sitting amongst crumpled sheets, knees drawn to his chest, blood mattered hair sticking out from under tightly folded arms, head down hiding his flushed and tear stained face.
"I might," he pauses, trying to keep his temper in check, something even the emotional plea has failed to douse, "when you tell me what the hell you think you're doing refusing to let the doctors treat you."
Reid flinches at his biting tone, instantly shrinking back as if expecting to be hit.
"Shit." Morgan holds both hands up, palms forward in surrender. "Kid I'm sorry."
It hurts to see real fear in the familiar wide brown eyes now staring back at him and feeling like a complete heel for shouting Derek drops the subject of treatment completely. Poor kid's been held hostage for three days, he's tired, hurt and probably still scared out of his mind so a little tantrum over his right not to be poked and prodded by strangers is to be expected he guesses. Reid drops his head back to his knees without acknowledging the apology. Taking a deep breath, running one shaky hand over his face, Morgan tries to wipe away the feeling of failure happy to blame sleep deprivation for his poor judgement and emotionally fuelled responses. He wishes he could have a time out, splash some water over his face to wake up.
"He hasn't been seen yet?"
As if the mere thought of escape had summoned him Hotch appears in the small cubical looking formidable and extremely pissed off. However his trade mark glare turns soft when he looks down at Reid and Derek almost breathes a sigh of relief, happy to pass the reins over to someone he feels is much more qualified to take care of him.
"Reid, you doing okay?" The tiny shivers running through the skinny body increase slightly, but the kid remains in hiding and Hotch turns his steely eyed gaze back to Morgan demanding answers.
"There's been a hitch." He says calmly, gaze flicking from Hotch to Reid.
"A hitch?"
Eyeing Reid with wary concern Hotch takes a step toward the bed, but Morgan quickly lays a hand flat against his chest, shaking his head. Letting his disappointment show that simply hearing Hotch's voice isn't enough to gain a positive reaction from the kid Derek nods towards the exit, indicating they needed to talk outside and smoothly leads the way.
Standing in the corridor he opens his mouth to explain the situation, but comes up strangely empty on words. Feeling unusually pensive, unsure how to begin describing what's transpired since leaving the cemetery in the ambulance Morgan closes pain filled dark eyes to regroup, but the sounds of the hospital, of other people in distress distract him. Pinching his nose and opening his eyes again Morgan looks over at his boss in defeat.
"Tell me," Hotch instructs almost pleadingly, making it impossible for Morgan to ignore the hint of desperation he hears in his voice.
The painfully bright hospital lights emphasise every crease and frown line, the effect adding credence to the poorly concealed worry which has been lining Hotch's face ever since Reid went missing. Morgan knows he doesn't look much better and chuckles to himself at the state of them. They're seasoned FBI agents trained to keep calm under pressure; they face down terrorists, rapists and serial murderers on a weekly basis yet right now they're collectively functioning with all the focus of a distraught parent who's lost their kid in a shopping mall. Only unlike one of those kids Reid's world hasn't snapped back to normal the second he was found and reunited with his family.
The reminder that this isn't over sobers him and taking a deep reenergising breath Derek pushes aside his own anxiety and looks his normally stoic unit chief in the eye to deliver the bad news.
"He was doing okay until a nurse came by and asked him to change into a gown." Morgan shrugs, leaning back against the wall taking a moment to compose himself before continuing. "Not sure what else to tell ya, Kid flipped out, started shouting, wanting everyone to leave him alone. Including Gideon and me. I didn't know what to do man, I've never seen him react that way before, I got him to stop but…"
"But?" Hotch prompts tersely, folding his arms tightly across his chest as if that's all that's holding him together right now.
Derek takes another deep breath gaze to the floor, the tension between them rising tenfold. "He hit out at the nurse when one tried to approach him."
"Reid?" Hotch confirms in disbelief.
Morgan knows how he feels. "He lost it so bad the doctor wanted him in restraints, I convinced her to hold off but if he doesn't stay calm-"
"The doctor will have no choice." Hotch nods in his usual nonplussed fashion that gives away nothing of what he's really thinking. "Did they manage to get any blood work done?"
"Nothing. He kicked over the tray and won't even let them within feet of him now." Morgan snaps, inwardly seething at what he believes may be the cause. He paces the floor, only just resisting punching a hole in the wall. "Hotch I swear if Hankel touched him, I'll…" his voice drifts again, knowing Hankel's dead and there really isn't anything he can do now, but from the look on his face Derek knows Hotch gets the message.
"Morgan he's been beaten, you know that victims-"
"This wasn't like that," He shouts, loudly, but then reins in his anger after looking around and seeing the attention he's drawing, "this was different okay, this was more than a reaction to being physically hurt. He completely freaked out… and I… I didn't know how else to-"
"You lost your temper," Hotch finishes for him without judgement.
"I shouted to get his attention and he's barely spoken since," Morgan admits, guilt bleeding through his words.
Hotch visibly swallows, "Where's Gideon?"
At the mention of the name Morgan's face darkens. Though he's thankful Hotch doesn't try and tell him Reid refusing to talk to them isn't his fault, he knew Gideon's conspicuous absence from Reid's side was hardly going to go unnoticed for long, had said as much to the man when he stormed off down the corridor right after Reid kicked the doctor's sterile tray over screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs, cursing them out for bringing him to the hospital in the first place.
"Morgan?" Hotch presses, drawing him out of his thoughts back to the present conversation.
The worried frown deepens and Morgan takes pity on him. Last thing he wants is to cause the team anymore more stress and tension, the atmosphere's already heavy with enough doubt and self-loathing to last them a lifetime.
"He left." Morgan forces out a sigh, giving up on his anger in one, long, drawn out breath as he tells the terrible truth.
The answer doesn't sit well with Hotch though, if his newly revived pissed off glare is anything to go by. "He what?"
Morgan doesn't need to be told Hotch isn't mad at him and can't help but smile proudly at the papa bear protectiveness that radiates off their drill sergeant of a unit chief in waves. If there is ever a person to universally bring out pathological protectiveness in men and women, Agents and unsub's alike it's Spencer Reid. Something about him has anyone who crosses paths with the kid wanting to keep him safe, even the Tobias Hankel's of the world apparently, whom Reid had mentioned briefly in the ambulance as wanting to save him from his father. While Morgan tries again to understand the logic behind that Hotch's gaze travels over his shoulder, sneaking a glimpse of Reid between the gap in the curtain and knowing that he's seeing the same scared huddled form he's been staring at for the last half hour, knowing it's partially his fault he's like that, Derek prepares for the reprimand.
"You really believe something happened? Something more than what we saw on the video feed?" Hotch surprises him by not asking anything more about Gideon.
"I don't know," Morgan whispers squeezing his eyes shut to block out everything he doesn't want to imagine right now. "He's definitely hiding something, but…"
They all have a pretty good idea what went down in that shed, it's not only burned into their retinas, but on tape for those of them without an eidetic memory, you know should they dare forget any second of it, but what happened to Reid when the camera went off is a question Morgan isn't sure he even wants answering.
"Okay," Hotch concedes, "go wait with others, fill them in and keep calm."
Morgan feels the hollow pat on his shoulder and it makes him open his eyes in complete bewilderment.
"Keep Calm?" He snaps. "You're kidding right?"
Hotch's glare turns stern again, strong hands pulling him even further away from the cubical where Reid is hold up in a huddled ball of protection so tight no one, not even his friends' can break through the self-imposed barrier to offer him comfort right now.
"You know as well as I do that victims of abuse will interpret their family's grief and anger as disappointment in them." Hotch stares at him, talking in clipped harsh tones making sure he's getting the message loud and clear, "and whether we like it or not Reid is our victim and we…" Hotch falters, swallows and Derek swears he hears his voice crack "We are his family."
Surprised by the rare visible display of emotion and more than a little sorry for losing his temper again Morgan nods in understanding before joining the others as ordered- he gets it.