To say that I've been lackluster in inspiration is a vastly inappropriate understatement. Thnx for hanging in until the end, though. It's been a pleasure to write for you, and this will be the last chapter.
The Ghosts of UnSubs' Past- Chapter 6One Last Request
Aaron Hotchner and David Rossi ran toward Reid's hospital room as soon as they heard the scream. Hotch threw the door open and immediately placed himself at Reid's bedside. Seeing that the agent must had fallen back to sleep, he shook him awake. "Reid, Reid! Spencer!" Finally, his agent jumped up in surprise, his breath erratic as he immediately brought his legs up to his chest. He hid his head between his legs, trying his best to calm himself down. "Reid, it's okay," Hotch frowned. The younger man only nodded, obviously still shaken up from his dream. Just as he was going to offer him more words of encouragement, the doctor and Rossi entered the room.
"Was it another nightmare?" Rossi immediately guessed.
Reid searched the room, a frown on his face. Foyet, Amanda, Sarah Jean….they were all gone. 'So it was just a dream? Then wait, where am I?' He must have looked as confused as he felt, because Hotch and the doctor exchanged knowing looks before turning back to Reid. 'So they know what happened,' he sighed, glad that at least someone did know what was going on. "What….what happened?" he eventually asked.
"You don't remember?" the doctor frowned. He approached Reid, his hands clasped together as he looked down at him. "Perhaps it is time to start a check-up, anyways. We'll tell you about it afterwards." He turned to face Rossi and Hotch. "Gentlemen?"
"Right, of course." With a nod, Hotch and Rossi left the room.
~* New Years Wishes *~
After the check-up, Reid had fallen back to sleep. Fortunately, his sleep was dreamless, and when he woke up, he was greeted by his team. They were smiling down at him, and as he blinked to adjust to the lighting, he sat up, ready to talk to them. He had been explained what had happened, and he had eventually remembered for himself. The accident had been sudden, but it caused little harm to the other driver who had been released within hours of admission.
"Hey Reid," Prentiss smiled. "I'm glad to see you awake."
"Yeah kid, good to have you back," Morgan nodded.
Reid kept quiet throughout the team's stay. His mind was still replaying all the things that he had witnessed in his dreams, and he was trying his best to think of what he should do. He couldn't ignore the dreams, but at the moment, he couldn't do anything about them. At one point, he had considered talking to the team about them, but he soon pressed away the thought. They didn't know; it wouldn't mean anything to them, anyways. His mind was still frazzled from the accident and the emotional toll his dreams had taken, so he tried to best to ignore them until he was allowed home.
Suddenly, another thought occurred to Reid. Frowning, he turned up to his chatty co-workers who immediately silenced themselves.
"What is it, Pretty Boy?" Morgan immediately asked.
"What day is it?" he asked.
"Christmas Eve," Rossi replied. "Why?"
'Christmas Eve?' Reid thought. And the team was with him? Hotch should've been with Jack, Morgan with his family in Chicago, and none of them should have been at the hospital waiting for him to get better. He knew that he would never be able to get them to leave willingly, but he knew he had to make them leave somehow. There was no way he was allowing himself to keep them from their homes on Christmas Eve.
"Could I talk to my doctor?" he abruptly asked.
"Why do you want to see him?" Garcia asked. "Is something wrong with my baby boy?"
"Ah, no. I just…. I just want to ask him something," he reassured with a smile.
"Oh, of course Sweetie," she smiled. "Just let me go get him."
Reid watched as Garcia's heels clicked across the floor in search for his doctor, mumbling out a soft 'thank you' before she left.
The other team members were suspicious of Reid's reasoning, and they were all secretly fearing that Reid felt much worse than he was letting on. Knowing that their youngest colleague had a track record for doing so but all of them also knowing better than to pry into Reid's life, they just bit their lips to keep quiet. Reid had just regained his memory of why he was in the hospital in the first place, so they decided to play it cool and give him his space.
A few seconds later, Garcia walked in with the doctor, both frowning down at Reid. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked.
It was Reid's turn to bite his lip, and he nervously did so as his eyes wandered around the room. "Um, could I talk to you… in private?"
"Of course," he nodded. Taking the hint, the rest of the team left. "What seems to be the problem?"
"I want them to leave, please?" he asked without hesitation. He needed to be alone, and he needed a clear conscious, too. He wouldn't have either of those things if the team stayed, and he desperately needed them so he could think about what he had seen- in his dreams, anyways.
"Of course," he nodded with a smile. "In fact, I'm shocked you didn't ask me sooner. I'll tell them the half truth- you're tired and need to rest. How does that sound?"
"Thank you," Reid smiled back. Then, with a small wave, the doctor left the room, and immediately he took it upon himself to talk to the profilers. Reid watched as his teammate's eyes scanned over to him, so he pretended to close his eyes and sleep when they did so. A few seconds later, he heard his door open and a light chuckle fill the air.
"They're gone Reid. You can 'wake up' now, though I do suggest try to actually sleep," his doctor grinned. Reid smiled sadly before nodding his head reassuringly. "You'll be released from the hospital come morning, so you mine as well sleep the rest of your stay away," he reiterated. He knew how stubborn his patient could be, but the young agent desperately needed his sleep.
"Thanks, I'll probably do just that," Reid admitted.
"I can't blame you, kid," he smiled back. Then, as he pulled his body out of the doorway, he shouted back, "Merry Christmas, Dr. Reid!"
Reid winced as the door slammed shut. Then, deciding that sleep was in fact the best decision, he sighed and rolled over on his side. "Yeah, Merry Christmas," he scoffed.
~* NYW *~
Seven hours later, Spencer was released from the hospital. On his request, no one was allowed to visit him, so he left the next morning by himself. He had suffered from a broken left arm, minor scratches and bruises, and a series of stitches on his stomach and chest. His leg, thankfully, hadn't been affected as well. . Fortunately, he had been giving the 'okay' from his doctor to drive short distances since the pain was very dull, and he was able to go home for Christmas without assistance.
It only took Reid a few minutes to get home, and when he did, he found that the relief of peace he had been expecting never came. Instead, he felt worse. Alone on his apartment, his mind was free to wander around and swim in thoughts, and his mind kept reminding him of the things he had seen in his dreams. He understood what the ghosts had wanted from him, but he had made up his mind. He was going to quit the BAU- that was that. Groaning in frustration, he wrapped a plastic bag around his arm and abruptly decided to take a long, hot shower.
The water felt nice against his skin, but he was still distracted. He couldn't help but feel anxious, and at one point it had gotten so bad that his hands had started shaking. He forced them still again, though, and he continued on with his shower.
"Do you see all of this? I created it, because it was mine to create."
He gasped as the flashback came to his mind. He could picture Foyet's smirk with mere perfection, and as he immediately turned the water off, he tried his best to shake it out of his thoughts. Rushing out of the shower, he threw on a purple shirt and a pair of dress pants and walked out to his small living room. He turned on the television, knowing that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on reading, and ignored the phone calls wishing him a quick recovery and a Merry Christmas that came to his answering machine hour by hour. Finally, he grew so restless that he couldn't sit anymore. He started pacing his living room, his eyes wandering to the file on his desk labeled 'Notice'.
"Tell me Dr. Reid, after all the good that you've done, all the people you've saved, why do you want to quit?"
Sarah Jean's voice echoed throughout his head, and he tried to keep the voice tame and quiet despite its efforts to take over his mind. Reid continued pacing the apartment with a grim expression on his face. He had been right about what the ghosts were trying to tell him, but he still wasn't ready to listen to them.
The sound of his phone ringing loudly made him jump, but instead of letting it go to voicemail again, he picked it up to silent its horrendous voice. "He-hello?"
"Reid? Are you okay?" the man on the other end responded.
"Oh, sorry Hotch. I've been getting a lot of phone calls today. I couldn't listen to another round of rings, though," he smiled shyly.
"Yeah, I can relate," he grumbled back.
"So, what did you want?" Reid asked, trying to 'perk up' a little.
"I just wanted to make sure you got home safely. I wasn't sure when you were released, and I know that you had broke your arm…."
"I'm fine," Reid reassured. "It was a little uncomfortable driving, but I managed."
"Good, good…" Hotch mused. He allowed a silence to fill the stream, but Reid could tell that Hotch wanted to say something. After waiting a bit longer for Hotch to reply, he eventually lost his patience and cleared his throat.
"Was there something else?"
Hotch hesitated before responding, but he did eventually do so. "Have you given….it any thought?"
"Nothing's changed, Hotch. I'm still quitting," Reid sighed.
"Yeah, I figured as much," Hotch admitted. "I guess…I guess I'll see you when you come back to work. Try to get some rest, okay?"
"Yeah, I'm already planning out my next nap," Reid grinned.
"Good," Hotch laughed. With that, they both hung up.
"It's sad, isn't it," Amanda sighed, "that as many times as we stare back into the past we can't change a thing."
Throwing the phone down, Reid reached for the papers on his desk. Ignoring the third voice that had returned to his head, he reviewed its contents.
"There's only one really important question, Dr. Reid. You should know this, actually. You're the one who told me."
His fingers trembled over the pages, and as his eyes read over them so quickly that his head started spinning. 'No, I can't do this! I just can't!' he hissed to himself.
"So what's the difference, then, between good and evil?"
His fingers desperately turned the pages of the files over and over, as if seeking some hidden meaning behind their text. He was doubting himself now, but he was trying his best to hold onto the pages in the manila folder the with all the strength he could.
"You saved me, and that's all that matters now."
Slowly, Spencer was starting to lose resolve, and his doubts were growing stronger by the minute.
"Are you afraid, Spencer?"
Spencer started searching the pages for the line that would make it all official- that would take his badge and his job away forever. As much as he searched for the dotted line, though, he just couldn't seem to find it. 'Where is that line?'
"How can you know?"
"Because it's my damned job!" Spencer shouted back. He let the papers flutter from his hands unto the floor in the midst of his chaotic shuffle. "I know because it's….it's….." Slowly, Spencer calmed down from his burst, and he immediately picked up the papers again. "It's my job. I have to know," he mumbled. As soon as the papers were shuffled in a neat pile again, Reid walked over to his desk again and dropped them neatly into the shredder below it. Then, when it was done, he grabbled the bag from underneath it and tossed it in his messenger bag. Throwing on his coat, he left slammed the door shut behind him.
~* NYW *~
Reid waited for the door to open before smiling meekly at the man on the other side. He was dressed in a Christmas green shirt and a pair of jeans, and on his head laid a Santa hat.
"Daddy, who's there?" a small voice asked from behind him. Hotch smiled down at Jack and promptly picked him up.
"It's-"
"WEED!" Jack cheered. Motioning to be put down, Jack hugged Spencer's leg. The force of the infant on his still fragile knee almost sent the man flying backwards.
"Uh, sorry," Hotch grinned. He led Jack back inside and waved Reid in as well. "How about you clear the table, huh? Afterwards, we can look at the present, okay?"
"Okay!" Excitedly, Jack took off.
Hotch turned back to Reid, a slightly worried expression on his face. "What's up?" he asked.
"I, uh, I have something for you." Reid dug in his bag for the small, red bag and passed it to Hotch.
Frowning, Hotch said, "I wasn't expecting anything, Reid, you don't have to-"
"No, it's nothing like that," Reid reassured. "Just…open it."
Hotch raised his eyebrows, but he did as he was instructed to. As soon as he opened it, he realized what it was. A smile spread across his face, and he sat the bag down to extend his hand to Reid.
"Leaving the team would have been a mistake. You're not Gideon, Reid, you can't just walk away from this. I may not know you well, but I know enough about you to know that you'd never forgive yourself for that."
"You're right, Hotch; I'm just disappointed it took me so long to figure it out," Reid admitted.
"You figured it out the way you had to; I think that you needed to see them-" Seeing the confused look on Reid's face, Hotch paused.
"See them? Who are they?" Reid asked.
Hotch bit his lip as if considering his words more carefully before releasing them to smile. "No one, Reid, no one," he said. Reid just nodded, still clearly confused….or maybe it was suspicion…Hotch honestly couldn't tell. Unsure of what his younger agent was thinking, he decided to change the conversation.
"I know that you're spending Christmas on your own this year, but I think that you should stay with us."
"What?" Reid blinked. He hadn't been expecting that, and he hoped that he hadn't given his boss the impression that he wanted to. Well, of course he would stay, but he didn't want to intrude…
"Stay with us, Reid. Jack loves you, and I don't think it's right to leave you alone on Christmas. I could never do that to another human being."
"Wait, what did you just say?" Reid asked sharply.
"Um, I'm sorry….?" Hotch frowned; Reid was acting strange, and it was starting to worry him. "I just don't think it would be fair to leave you alone on Christmas. I mean, you don't have to, but…" Hotch sighed; something was off with Reid, but he just couldn't place it. He seemed more skittish and on-edge; he hoped that Jack and himself could get him to relax.
"No, I'm sorry," Reid smiled shyly. "I've been a little stressed lately," he admitted.
"We all have been," Hotch nodded. Then, he held out his hand and motioned for Reid to give him his bag. "Come on, you should get comfortable." Reid gave Hotch his bag and his coat, smiling nervously as he did so. "Just have a seat; I'll go get Jack."
"Thank you, Hotch," Reid said as Hotch made his way into the kitchen.
"No need," Hotch reassured. Then, before Reid could respond, he made his way to Jack. He told him that Reid was staying with them, and that was effective enough to get the toddler to leave. He waited for the toddler to leave screaming to the living room before turning his head away from his son. Then, he made sure that no one could see him before whipping out his cell phone. He scrolled down his contact list before hitting 'send'. "You were right," he said when he heard the greeting on the other end. "Yeah, Reid's staying in the BAU…"
~* NYW *~
Whelp, there it is everyone! I'm glad that you guys managed to hang in until the end. I know I promised more, but I just can't do it right now. Cheers and New Years Wishes to all! I hope you liked it!