"...Im starting a new CM writing contest...And its going to hopefully be epic :) I'll post stuff about it A-sap, but in the meantime, review if ur interested!..."

Pain-Chapter 14

Road Trip

Spencer Reid finished packing for his trip in less than half an hour. He quickly threw whatever he thought he might need into his suitcase, not really caring at this point. He was too upset about what had happened with Morgan. When they were in his bed, he had seemed so understanding and caring, but in a moment's notice, he became extremely angry. He sighed, wishing he could just forget that the whole thing ever happened, but at the same time, he wished that Morgan was here to talk about it with him.

Once he finished packing, he picked up his cell phone. Garcia has instructed him to call when he was ready, reassuring him that he had bought them their tickets.

"Hey Reid!" Garcia greeted.

"Hi Garcia, I just finished packing."

"Alright, I'll be over shortly. I'm just going to say goodbye to Kevin really quick and then I will be on my way."

"Thanks Garcia."

"No problem, Reid." With that, she hung up.

Reid sat down on his bed, trying to think of how he was going to tell Garcia about what had happened. All he had told her so far was that Morgan and himself had had an argument, and he wanted to leave town for a little while. He hadn't told her the extent of their argument, and he was now regretting that. 'What's done is done.' he thought. 'At least I can see my mom again.'

Reid's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. He jumped, the sudden sound scaring him. After recovering, he stood up and opened the door.

"Oh my god! What happened to you?" Garcia immediately asked.

"Um, Morgan and I had a bit of a misunderstanding. He-he hit hit. It looks a lot worse than it is, and he really didn't mean to do it." Reid stammered, hoping she wouldn't have caught on that quickly.

"A bit of a misunderstanding? Reid, he hit you! Did he do anything else to you?" She pushed Reid back into his apartment and onto his couch.

"Garcia, can we talk about this later? We're going to miss our flight-" Reid started, but the look on Garcia's face stopped him. "What is it?"

"I...I didn't buy ticket to Vegas." she finally admitted.

"Why?"

"Because I called your mother's sanitarium before I bought them. I asked how she was doing, and they said she hasn't been very lucid the past few weeks."

"What?"

"As you know, they changed her medication, and it takes a few weeks to get used to them again. Well, it's been more than a few weeks, and they were about to call you, actually, when I told them I would tell you myself. Her doctor said that the symptoms are dying down some, and next week she should be fine." Reid just looked down at his lap. He expected it as much, knowing that his mother always took adjusting to medications harder than the doctors expected. If he wasn't still upset about Morgan, he guessed that the news would have hit him a little harder than it currently was. "I'm sorry Reid."

Reid looked up at Garcia, his still red cheek raising a little in a horrible attempt to smile. "I guess I understand; I mean, my mom always takes to a change in a medication pretty bad at first." Then, looking a bit less serious, he continued. "Where exactly are you taking me, anyways?"

Garcia smiled at Reid, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "I guess you'll just have to wait to find out." Garcia then forcefully pulled Reid up by his hand, ready to begin their road trip...

"So Derek, how's life with Spencer going?" Desiree asked.

"It's going really good, actually. He's just so perfect for me, ya know?" Morgan lied.

"Right, now tell us the truth." Fran challenged.

"It's going like any other relationship- ups and downs, a fight here and there, but it's nice. We really...like each other."

"Like each other?" Desiree smirked. "You haven't even got past 'like'?"

"Your sister's right, Derek. I see the way you two look at each other. You love him, and I'm pretty sure he loves you." Fran interjected.

"I know Ma, but we're...taking things slow." Morgan sighed.

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?"Desiree mumbled.

"Hey, little miss, you don't know Spencer like your brother does. If they think it's best to take things slow, then so do I." Fran interjected. "And besides, it's none of our business what Morgan does...romantically."

"Hey, wait a second! You don't think we've..." Morgan started.

"Well, not anymore, I don't." Desiree smiled. "What, don't tell me you'll be his first!"

"Alright, I won't." Morgan smirked.

"Hmm...Doesn't surprise me." Fran admitted.

"Hey, hey,hey! Can we get off the topic of my love life?"

"Aren't we defensive?" Desiree joked.

"Alright, alright. Leave your brother alone now."

"Desiree, what have you been up to?"

The breakfast went well after that. Morgan successfully avoided talking about Reid for the rest of the conversation, but all he could think about was his pretty boy. He wanted so bad to hold him and stop his crying, reassuring him that it would never happen again and beg him for forgiveness. But he knew things weren't that simple, and he knew that he had to clean up his mess- one way or another..

"Garcia, we've been driving for at least two hours now. Where are we going?" Reid asked, finally losing his patience.

"Oh, sorry sweetie, but the traffic's worse than I expected. I have some snacks in that green back in the back. Could you reach back and grab it?"

"Of course." Reid sighed, still wanting to know where they were going. He passed the heavy bag up to Garcia, who smiled as she dug through it like a child opening a Christmas present.

"What is that?" Reid asked as she out a 'mystery bag.'

"Homemade trail mix, silly! Come on, try some!" Reluctantly, Reid reached inside the bag and pulled out half a handful of the mixture. In his hand was now a variety of different nuts, chocolate chips, marshmallows, raisins and craisins, and graham crackers. He pushed the food in his mouth and chewed, finding that it really didn't taste that bad. "What, you've never made trail mix before?"

"No, actually, and although I've heard of it, I've never tried it until now." Reid admitted.

"Oh, I have so much to fix." Garcia cooed.

"I don't want to be fixed." Reid mumbled in response.

Garcia peered over at him, an evil smile crossing her face. "Yeah, well, we'll see about that." Garcia looked to her right, seeing an old-fashioned diner in its place. "Hey, are you hungry?"

"No, not really."

"Did you eat breakfast?"

"No."

"Alright, that's it! We're going to put some food in your belly. I'm not going to let my junior-genius starve because he's upset about his boyfriend. And trust me, when I see Morgan again, he'll be getting an earful...and a little somethin' else!"

"Garcia, don't hurt him. He didn't mean to do this." Reid said, motioning to his face and stomach. He immediately stopped though, realizing he hadn't told her about the kicks yet.

"Whoa, what was that about your stomach?"

"Nothing, Garcia, it was a mistake-"

"Did my dark chocolate hurt my favorite little junior g-man stomach?" Reid didn't answer that time. "When we pull up into that parking lot and get into the diner, I want to know everything. Every last excruciating detail about what happened- like, most importantly, what the hell started this all?"

"Look, I'm sorry that I've been lying to you, but I-I..." But what? Reid couldn't finish the sentence. Why was he protecting Morgan? He had hurt him both physically and emotionally.

"I know what you mean. What you're feeling right now- that inner terminal caused by Derek hurting you, that's love. Despite what he did to you, you still love him." Garcia explained with a frown, reaching over to pet Reid's hair down. "Come on, we can talk more when we get inside." Reid nodded and allowed Garcia to guide him into the diner, ready to share the whole story of what had happened for the first time...

"...I think I'll have 1-3 chaps with Garcia and Spencey on their road trip, but of course you'll be seeing more of Hotch and Morgan :) For those of you who are interested in participating in my CM Ladies Writing Contest, check out my profile. And I may be a little slower with updates this week because I accidentally ripped off some of my nail and have a band aid over it and it gets in my way! R&R...?"