Rossi finished washing the table from breakfast when the phone rang. "Hello?"

"I'm looking for Spencer Reid." She said.

"Let me see if he is awake."

Rossi walked into the bedroom and saw Reid sitting up in the bed. "Phone's for you." He handed over the phone.

"Hello?"

"Spencer, it's Mom."

"Hi, Mom."

Rossi saw that he knew the person and walked back out to give him some privacy.

***

"Mom, why are you calling me?"

"Oh, Spencer. They want to lock me up. Don't let them. Please. I want to come stay with you."

Spencer sighed. They had this conversation at least once a month. "You know I can't do that. The doctors know best."

"But I miss you. You take better care of me."

"Please, Mom, don't do this." He was not up for this now.

"I hate you. You just don't love me!" She cried.

"That's not true, Mom. Please don't do this now. I have to go."

"Don't you hang up on me. You're no better than your father."

Spencer hung up the phone and threw it on the floor. He laid over and buried his head in the pillow, trying to muffle his cries.

***

Dave heard the thud and walked back to the bedroom. He heard the quiet cries and decided to give the young man some privacy. The Italian-American went to the bathroom and began cleaning, now that he had finished with the kitchen. He knew that Emily had dusted the living room two days ago. The bedroom had been assigned to him, but he wasn't sure when he could go in there and he didn't want to waste time watching soap operas, at least not until "Young and the Restless" came on.

An hour later, he walked into the bedroom and picked up the phone from the floor. The skinny young man was hunched over the pillow on his right. Dave reached over and straightened the sweater that was all bunched up. Reid stirred a little at the contact.

"Hey, kid. Why don't you roll over here and get more comfortable." Spencer didn't really wake up, but allowed the older agent to help him straighten out and untangle the covers. Rossi brushed the hair out of Spencer's face and fixed the oxygen.

"Rough call from your mother?"

Spencer nodded his head, then rolled over to face the wall.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed the kid's arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Spencer grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to his chin.

"Okay, well, I'll be in the living room if you change your mind."

He walked back out of the room and pulled the door up, but didn't close it all the way. The coffee table had the open file that he was working on. He went back to it, determined to get some of the tedious paperwork out of the way. Rossi contemplated writing a new book with Reid's help. It would be something to occupy the kid's mind and he would probably be really good at it. A new book to cover the new BAU and co-authored--just like how the team works now.

***

Around five thirty Morgan walked through the door. "Hi, Dave."

"You're home early."

"I cut out a little early so I could beat the traffic. It is amazing what ten minutes can do." He placed a bulky bag over by the bank of computers in the corner.

"What's that?"

"Some stuff Garcia said she needs. How did things go?"

"Not so good. Is Garcia coming tomorrow? He could really use her."

"What happened?"

Rossi ran a hand over his beard. "His mom called, I don't know what she said, but he threw the phone on the floor and cried for over twenty minutes. I couldn't get him to talk to me, and he wouldn't do his afternoon breathing treatment or eat lunch. He's been in bed since eleven this morning."

"Damn. I knew he was starting to get depressed. He didn't need to talk to her right now. I probably should have said something to you about not letting her talk to him if she called."

Rossi squeezed the younger man's shoulder. "If he had been out here with me I couldn't have lied to him about her calling."

"You could have made something up."

"I take it you are experienced at that?"

"Uh, yeah. I've had to field her calls before. Sometimes he tells me to tell her he's not available. Other times, if we've had a bad case and I'm hanging out over here . . . well, I'll just answer the phone for him and tell him it's a wrong number. I think he really knows but feels that it is easier to pretend than to actually talk to her. It's one of the reasons he writes to her everyday and doesn't visit very often."

Morgan headed towards the kitchen. "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

Rossi began picking up his things. "No. I think you two should talk, and you need to get him out of his room to eat. He won't do that if I'm still here." The senior agent grabbed the rest of his things. "I'll see you in the office tomorrow."

Morgan walked to the door and locked it behind the other man.

He proceeded into the kitchen and pulled out a casserole JJ had brought over. He read the directions she had taped to the top and turned the oven on to pre-heat. While waiting on the oven, he fixed a glass of juice and took a long drink. He washed his hands again and then took the foil off of the casserole. After placing it in the oven and setting the timer, he grabbed a bottle of Ensure and went to the bedroom.

***

Spencer woke to someone rubbing at his face. "Your nose was bleeding again; lay still and let me finish cleaning it off." He opened his eyes to see Morgan sitting beside him.

"Thanks." He croaked because his throat was so dry. When the black man finished, Spencer sat up in bed and pulled the other pillow into his lap.

"Here." Morgan handed him the bottle of liquid supplement. Reid looked over at the other man questioningly.

"Heard you didn't eat lunch." Morgan accused.

"Didn't feel like it." Reid whispered.

"Did she beg to come live with you?"

Spencer nodded his head and leaned forward into the waiting arms.

Morgan sat the bottle on the nightstand and wrapped his friend in a tight hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to intercept."

"It's okay. You have to work"

"But you weren't up to dealing with that today. I figured she would be calling soon."

"She doesn't mean it. It's her illness."

Derek let go of Spencer when he sat back. "I know, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt you just the same."