German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

Soft brown eyes fluttered opened wearily. "Morgan? What are you doing here?"

Reid made a failed attempt to sit up but his friend was at his side in a matter of moments to still him. "Woah, woah, easy kid, I just need to ask you a few questions."

There was something in Morgan's hand that caught Reid's attention, "What's that?" he asked weakly.

Out of instinct, Morgan followed Reid's gaze to the folded piece of paper as he settled into the chair next to the bed. "Listen Reid, before I say anything, I want you to know that things are not as bad as they seem and that we're gonna get this all under control."

Despite his friend's attempt to ease him into the bad news, Reid already felt overwhelmed with anxiety and it showed in his eyes. But he managed to remain calm enough to nod and answer quietly, "Alright… what's up?"

Derek took a deep breath and began, "Gideon was arrested for what happened to you tonight. Now before you start screaming, just hear me out. I talked to Garcia on the way here and we're pretty much convinced that it they've got the wrong guy. We think Adrian Bale is behind this. We know he broke out of prison a few months back and is still on the loose. If what we're thinking is right, he's come after us as an act of revenge towards Gideon. And just to add insult to injury, he's made it look like Gideon's the un-sub."

For just a moment, Morgan paused to give Reid time to comprehend everything he was being told. Where Morgan had expected to see relief, Reid wore an expression of confusion and dread, "What do you mean us?"

"What?" It wasn't a question Morgan expected to hear and it was the last one he wanted to answer.

"You… you said he's come back after us." Reid repeated, "What did you mean by that? Has something else happened? Is someone else hurt?"

An uncomfortable silence followed as Morgan had a difficult time accepting the truth himself. Rather than answer, he placed the piece of paper in his hand on Reid's lap. It was the letter that he received with the package. Before Morgan had come into the room, he asked for Reid's personal items and managed to find the letter stuffed in the inside pocket of his coat.

"I need you to look at this kid. Prentiss had a hunch that the handwriting wasn't the same as the letter you got from Gideon when he left. But now since we know Bale is on the run, it seems like a no-brainer who's behind this but just in case, I need you to just give this another look over and tell me if you recognize the handwriting as Gideon's or not."

A wave of emotions paralyzed Reid momentarily before he forced himself to do as he was instructed. As his eyes studied each curve and stroke of the inscribed paper, he felt like a fool. Of course it wasn't the same handwriting. How did he not notice it before? Sure there were similarities and it was an obvious copy cat but it was clearly not from the same hand that wrote that farewell note five years ago.

"Prentiss is right," Reid said and made strong eye contact with his teammate. "I'm sorry… I… I don't know how I didn't realize it before… this isn't Gideon's handwriting at all… I…" his words diminished with his strength.

"It's alright, kid. What happened isn't your fault."

When their eyes met again, Morgan somehow knew what was coming but still wasn't ready for it, "Prentiss is dead, isn't she?"

As much as Morgan wanted to deny it, he knew there was no point. Why he even bothered trying, he wasn't sure, "Wh-what? N-no… no. I…"

"You don't have to lie, Morgan," Reid's broken voice interrupted. He couldn't get himself to look up but he went on, "The look in your face when I said her name before… I could tell," finally he forced his eyes to meet Derek's, "Is anyone else-"

"No." Morgan was sure to look Reid dead in the eyes so that he knew at least this much was true. "Everyone else is alright. And if it helps, part of that is because of you. The package you got here kept me from walking up to my house when I saw one at my door. I knew something was up and if you hadn't got that package tonight… I probably wouldn't be here."

No response came from the distressed Dr. Reid.

"Kid."

"It doesn't help."

"What?"

"It doesn't help at all," his body ached as he lifted his hand to wipe the barely noticeable tears from the corners for his eyes. "We've lost a member of our team and no matter how you look at it, it's my fault."

Morgan knew that feeling of guilt that was consuming his friend. He also knew that no matter what he said, Reid wasn't going to let go of that blame. Rather than try to change the inevitable, Morgan reached across and lightly touched his teammate's arm. "I know it's hard, Reid but I really need you here. You gotta focus. I'll only bug you for a few more minutes and then you can get back to sleep."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm going with you," determination hardened Reid's expression as well as his statement. He fought away the pain enough to sit up and start tugging at the IVs that stuck into him. "I can't just sit here knowing we've lost Prentiss and that Gideon's in trouble."

Fast as he could, Morgan snatched Reid's hand and clutched it tightly, wearing a scolding look, "What the hell are you thinking? Don't even try it. I'm not gonna let you walk out that door in this condition, man."

With just a slight struggle from Morgan's grasp, Reid grit his teeth and begged, "Morgan, please," the desperation trembling in those words nearly startled the man and he went still. Reid had a look in his eyes that his teammate had never seen. Something Morgan couldn't place. "Please… I need to be on this case with you."

Clearly, the determination Morgan had to keep Reid bedridden was fading. His eyes swept over the young doctor addressing his wounds, "There's no way you'd make it out there like this. You're just gonna kill yourself, Reid."

"No," Reid shook his head and gently slipped his wrist out of Morgan's hold. "No, I won't and… to be honest I feel… I feel like I've never been more alive than right now."

"It's just an adrenaline rush, kid. It'll wear off before we even step foot into the hallway."

The look in Reid's eyes told Morgan that there was just no winning for him on this matter. He sighed reluctantly and made no attempt to further challenge his friend.

With a distinct tone of satisfaction ringing in his voice, Morgan rose from his seat, "I'll get your clothes and bag from the doc. You know we're gonna have a hell of a time getting them to let you out of here tonight."

More pain than Reid had expected shot up his legs and to his head the moment his foot connected to the ground. He managed to disguise it well as he simply replied, "It'll be fine."

Another sigh escaped Morgan as he shook his head and started to move out the door. It struck him in the door way; seeing as Reid was hell-bent to do this, there was something the kid still needed to know.

"Reid," he paused for a moment and waited for his friend to look at him. But whatever it was he had to say didn't come at first.

Curiosity wrung Reid's expression, "Yeah? What?"

Before he could answer, Morgan had to take a breath, "It's about your mom…"

~ Author's Notes ~

Sorry for the delay. I'll tell you what; this chapter was the hardest one so far. Just because I wasn't 100% sure what direction I should go. I wanted this to be more of a Reid-centric story and thus far he had been held up in the hospital so I felt that needed to change.

Another reason why I think I had so much trouble with this one is because it's starting to get to the point where twists are about to happen and those are difficult to execute properly without giving too much away too fast. Wow, run-on sentence much?

Anyway, thank you all for being patient with me and as always, I thank all of you readers from the bottom of my heart. If I am starting to slack, I need you to tell me so I can step up my game. 3