A/N: I am taking some dramatic license with the medical info by not having Morgan wearing a gown or gloves to protect against the contaminate. As I recall, at the hospital when Reid was interviewing the girl they did not wear protective gear either but they weren't touching her. This is fiction so please suspend a little disbelief.

***

Two hours later Derek tossed another bloody rag into a dirty linen bag the nurse had provided him and walked back to the bed to finish washing down Spencer's face and arms. He fixed the nasal cannula for about the twentieth time because Reid kept trying to tuck his hair under it behind his ears. The blood pressure cuff on the right arm inflated and Spencer scrunched up his face in pain. Derek rubbed up and down the left arm, "It'll be over in a minute. Just hang in there."

Just after the cuff had finished deflating, Spencer started choking and coughing and Derek slid his arms around the young agent's back and lifted him to lean against his shoulder. Before either could react, he coughed blood all over Derek's shirt.

"Can shoot blue. Can page shoe." Reid struggled to make himself understood.

"It's okay, kid. It's no big deal. It's just a shirt. Come on, you need to calm down."

"My look gram." He weakly tried to grip Derek's arm.

"Easy, let's lay you back for a minute so I can take this off." Derek stripped off his shirt and pulled Spencer back up to lean against his shoulder. He began a gentle back and forth rocking motion and rubbed large circles over Spencer's shivering back.

Derek turned to see Nurse Brenda walk in carrying a blue scrub shirt, "Thought you might like to put this on."

"Thanks. We had a little accident. He's really starting to wheeze. Is there anything you can give him?"

"I'll give it fifteen minutes and if he has stopped coughing up blood, he can be put on an oxygen mask instead. It should give him more oxygen and help with the wheezing until we know if he is responding to the antidote. He may need some breathing treatments to get him over this." She made a note in the chart and hung it back on the end of the bed.

Derek slipped on the shirt while he watched her add the note to the computer outside of Reid's room. He then poured a little more water in the cup sitting on the table and placed a new straw in it. He placed the straw to Reid's lips but the younger man just turned his head away.

"Come on, Pretty Boy. You need to drink some. I promise it will help."

After a couple of sips, Spencer let the straw go and tried to push himself up in the bed but he was too weak and literally flopped back on the bed when his arms gave out. The wheezing intensified but didn't bring on a round of coughing. "Here, let me help you." Derek placed his hands under Spencer's armpits and slowly pulled him up in the bed. While his hands were there, he smoothed out the hospital gown so his friend wouldn't be laying on wrinkles. Then he got off the bed and started straightening the blankets out. "Why don't you try to rest? You can barely keep your eyes open."

He saw the panicked look in the younger man's eyes. "Hey now, Reid, I'm not going anywhere." Derek brushed the hair out of the kid's eyes and tried to tuck it behind Reid's ears. Then he noticed how blood shot his eyes were. "Did anyone take your contacts out?"

"Noon cow."

"Shit, let me get someone."

Just then Dr. Kimura entered. "Good news, your last blood work showed that the antidote is starting to work."

"Did anyone take out his contacts?"

"Yes, we had him take them out when we washed him down."

Derek hesitated, "Then why are his eyes so blood shot?"

The doctor pulled out a pen light and began flashing it across Reid's eyes. He flinched and tried turning his head away. "I'm sorry Dr. Reid but I have to see what is going on." She quickly finished and slipped the light back in her pocket. "I'll have some drops sent up to help flush out your eyes there may have been some contamination or they could just be irritated by the washing down you received. You should see some improvement in your other symptoms in the next hour."

The older man wet a wash cloth and then folded it lengthwise before placing it over Spencer's eyes. He then took hold of the kid's hand and squeezed reassuringly.

***

"Hi, I'm Dr. Nessen." She shook Derek's hand and patted Spencer's leg. "Dr. Kimura is off for the next six hours and wanted me to check on you." The dark skinned doctor listened to his chest and then asked him to sit forward.

Derek sat down on the side of the bed and pulled Spencer forward to lean against his chest. "He's too weak to even lift his head but the coughing has almost stopped."

She listened intently for several minutes. "I'm going to order some chest x-rays and see how things are progressing."

"Is something wrong?"

"He's wheezing pretty bad and pretty deep in the lung tissue. I'm going to put him back on an oxygen mask and up the concentration. Someone will be up shortly to take him to radiology."

"Is he going to be okay?" Derek asked.

"I just want to get a better look at things before I make any conclusions." She quickly walked out of the room.

Derek didn't like the way the doctor avoided his question and he didn't like the way it seemed to take every ounce of energy Spencer had to simply take one breath after the other.