Chapter 9
Reunion
Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. Marc Brown
Spencer felt a hand in his as awareness returned. His chest hurt like hell and he had an almighty headache. He forced his eyes open and stared at the pale green ceiling.
"Hey Kiddo!"...Morgan's voice!
Carefully, trying not to disturb the fragile equilibrium in his head, he turned to face him.
"Derek!" His voice was barely audible. Morgan smiled.
"Welcome back."
"What ...h-happened? Is ...the t-trial over?" Spencer lifted his hand to his mouth. "Thirsty."
Morgan poured water from a bottle into a cup, and lifted Spencer's head so he could drink. He lay his head back down.
"Thanks...why am ...I here?"
"You were shot with a .223, probably from an AR15. Outside the court house. We thought we were going to lose you, Spence."
"Because of the trial? Did I give evidence? I can't remember!" Spencer felt a painful clenching in his stomach. "Oh god! Aaron! Have you found him?" He tried to sit up. He had every intention of getting out of bed.
Morgan gently pushed Spence back down. "You can't go anywhere, Spence. You've just had a bullet removed from your chest."
Spencer looked at Morgan Fearfully. "He's dead, isn't he?" His eyes filled with tears.
Morgan put his hand on Spencer's arm. "I don't know, Kid. He was alive when we found him. Rossi, Em and JJ are with him. He's in Boston. Spence, I'll go and make a call." He could see how frightened Spencer was. "You must prepare for the worst. He might not have made it."
Spencer sucked in his bottom lip and bit down. He remembered that he had intended to tell the truth in the trial, even at the risk of Aaron being executed. But he always felt that they would find him in time. What made this so terrifying is that he couldn't remember any of it. He could only presume that he had told the truth, otherwise, why shoot him. His mind was running in circles. He wiped the tears from his eyes and cheeks and waited for Morgan to come back. As Morgan came back through the door, he watched his body language carefully, but he wasn't giving anything away.
"He's alive, Spence. But there is a lot of damage. Psychological damage."
"What did they do to him, Derek? Has he been hurt?"
Derek sat down again and took Spencer's hand again. "Spence, they put him in a coffin sized box and screwed the lid down. Then they buried the box under six feet of earth with no water or light for three days." Morgan squeezed Spencer's hand. "I'm sorry, Kid. He was seriously dehydrated. They have got his fluid balance backup, but he's suffering from catalepsy. They can't wake him. He's totally unresponsive."
Spencer was filled with horror as Morgan told him of the dreadful ordeal that Aaron had been through.
"I've got to get there, Derek. Please, Arrange for a transfer to Boston. I have to go to him. I need to look after him." He pushed Morgan's hand out of the way. "He needs me."
-0-0-0-
The lorazepam hadn't helped. Aaron had his eyes open, and he was sitting in a chair. But only because he was put there. If a cup was placed in his hand he would drink, and if food was placed in his mouth he ate it. The only time he made a sound was if the light was turned out, and he would scream and throw his arms about as he relived the terrors of being locked away again. Every so often a tear would form at the corner of his eyes and run down his face in response to an unknown relived trauma that couldn't be shared
Every half hour, a nurse came in and checked his obs, and blood was taken for U&E's and sugar. He allowed the phlebotomist to take his arm and draw blood. He stared straight ahead. He had isotonic drops put in his eyes, and blinked when he was asked.
Emily, JJ and Rossi took it in turns to sit with him, but they couldn't break through to him. It was heart breaking to watch. Emily held is hands in hers and talked to him, but there was no response, and on several occasions she had to leave him as she sought out her friend and cried on her shoulder.
-0-0-0-
Spencer was desperate to get out of the bed. After a day on his back he insisted on getting up. He asked Morgan to arrange a flight to Boston, and he threatened to discharge himself from the hospital unless they arranged a transfer to Boston General Hospital.
"It is not advisable for you to be travelling so soon after a serious and life threatening operation like you have had. If there is an emergency on the plane, for example if you have an aortic aneurism or bleed, there will be no-one to save you. You will die." The doctor hoped that he could scare Reid into staying. But he needed to go to Aaron.
"If I had an aortic aneurism here in the hospital, what would be the odds of survival?" Spencer asked as a counter argument, knowing that the prognosis was poor, and he had backed the doctor into a corner. The doctor sighed, and went outside to speak to Morgan. Maybe he could talk some sense into Reid.
While they were talking, Spencer got dressed in his cords and tee shirt, and threw the rest of his things into a hospital carrier bag.
The one concession Morgan insisted on was that Spencer borrow a wheel chair.
"I don't want you aneurimising while I'm looking after you!"
Spencer signed the transfer forms removing all responsibility for Spencer's life from the doctors until he arrived at Boston, and Morgan wheeled Spencer out to the waiting taxi.
When they got on the plane, Spencer sat by a window, watching the lights in the towns and villages slip by below him. He thought of the people who lived there, and their simple safe lives; going to work, coming home at five, going shopping, watching TV. They didn't get shot and beaten, buried in tiny boxes and sent over the edge. He tried to imagine himself and Aaron living in a little house with a garden and a dog and a job stacking shelves in Walmart.
Please would you direct me to the gravy granules – yes Sir, third aisle, second section on the right...
It wouldn't work. He and Aaron thrived on the knowledge that their job was important, and the thrill of catching an UnSub made all the heartache worth while.
Or at least, that was how they had been trained to think. But as the fear of seeing what Hudson and Scarson had done to Aaron got stronger with every mile that passed under him, he was beginning to doubt the very reason he had joined the FBI in the first place.
And if he thought it would help Aaron, he would give up his future in the FBI tomorrow.
The plane was coming in to land. He tightened the seat belt, and sat back. He realised that the anticipation of seeing Aaron again was making him shake. The last time he had seen him was near their home, with an UnSub's arm around Aaron's neck. He was afraid of what he would see, but he knew whatever it was, he would never give up on him.
I'm coming for you, Babe. I'm nearly there with you...
Morgan had rented an SUV, and it was waiting in the car hire lot at Logan International. Spencer was wheeled across the concourse and Morgan left him by the pick-up point while he went to collect the car. With Spencer strapped in the front, and the chair folded in the back, Morgan drove to the hospital.
Spencer sat with his head back on the head rest, the anticipation and nervousness making him feel a little sick. He felt his breathing becoming uneven, as if he had been crying, and he felt his heart beat too fast. He concentrated on calming down. Now was not a good time to have a panic attack. The hospital lights up ahead made Spencer sit forward on the edge of his seat, and when Morgan stopped in the 'No Parking' zone by the main doors, it was all he could do not to leap out of the car and run inside. He waited patiently as Morgan took the chair out of the back and unfold it next to Spencer's door.
They decided to take Spencer to Aaron before booking him in. Spencer needed to be with Aaron right away. They went up in the lift and Spencer noticed he had been rubbing his hands up and down the arm rests, and his fingers were getting sore. He could feel his heart banging in his chest, feelings of anxiety overwhelming him. Morgan stopped the lift.
"Reid, calm down. " He knelt in front of the chair, and took his hands. "Breathe steadily, Kid, or you will end up in Intensive Care."
Spencer knew he was right. He closed his eyes, and took some deep steadying breaths. His heart slowed, and Morgan started the lift again.
A nurse directed them to Aaron's room, after checking who they were.
"We are very glad you are here, Dr Reid." she said. "We have done everything we could for your friend. But I think it's you he needs."
She led them to Aaron's room. "He's alone right now."
"I'd like to go in on my own, if that's ok." Spencer said. Morgan nodded.
"I'll be right out here if you need me." Morgan said. "Just call."
Spencer nodded, and stood up out of the chair. The anxiety and excitement was making him shake, and he opened the door to Aaron's room quickly, before Morgan noticed and made him wait.
He closed the door behind him, and leaned on it.
Aaron was sitting on his bed. He wasn't moving, his large dark eyes blank and staring, his bandaged hands down by his side. Tears ran down his cheek as he wandered alone through his own personal hell.
Spencer Put his arms around him, and held him tight. "I don't know if you can hear me, Babe, but I'm here with you now, and I won't leave you." He kissed his cheek, and brushed his untidy hair out of his eyes. He pressed his face in Aaron's hair. "I'm going to be here and get you better, Love." He sat on the bed next to him, and pulled him against him, tilting Aaron's head to rest on his shoulder, a hand in his hair, the other around his chest.
Softly, gently, he rocked him.