A/N: I'm sorry this took so long guys, I've had writer's block like you wouldn't believe! But don't worry, it had finally lifted and here's chapter 11, with Reid back at work! This chapter contains slight spoilers for Fear and Loathing and Distress. Oh, and for those of you who are reading A Secret Love, I hope to have the next chapter posted within the next 24 hours, school permitting! Anyway, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Reid had waited for this day for the past two weeks. He'd spent the last two weeks staying at JJ's house, the last week there by himself. He was feeling more bored than he ever had in his life, and was itching to get back into it.

Reid walked into the bullpen and looked around. Hotch was in his office, and Gideon- back from his personal leave- was in there talking with him. Garcia was nowhere to be seen, so Reid assumed she must be in her office. JJ had driven Reid into work, and had walked past him to go to her own office- she knew he'd want to walk back in there on his own. Both Morgan and Prentiss were sitting in the bullpen talking, so that was where Reid headed.

They had their backs to him, so they didn't see him walking up. They were talking about something they had heard on the news that morning, on their way into work- a woman had died, and someone in her family had killed her.

"I still think it's much more likely that the father did it," Morgan said.

"And I still think it was the fiancé," Prentiss countered.

"Actually, it's much more likely that the girl's brother killed her," Reid interjected.

Both Morgan and Prentiss whipped around, and grinned when they saw Reid. "Reid!" Prentiss cried. "What are you doing here?"

"My mandatory medical leave is over," Reid replied. "Which means I'm allowed to come back to work."

"And of course you'd come back to work the first day you could," said Prentiss, giving Reid a quick hug. "It's good to see you back, Reid. We missed you round here."

"She's right, kid," Morgan added, speaking for the first time since he'd seen Reid. "It's not the same without you rambling on with your facts and figures." Morgan wasn't one for hugging another guy, so he held out his hand and gripped Reid's tightly. "Does JJ know you're here?"

"She brought me in," Reid replied, but was stopped from adding any more by a brightly coloured blonde woman hugging him from behind.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back today, boy wonder?" she asked him accusingly as he turned to face her.

"Garcia, this is Reid we're talking about," Morgan pointed out. "You should've known that he would come back as soon as his mandatory leave was over."

"You still should've told me!" Garcia said.

Reid gave a small smile. "I thought you of all people would've known I was coming back, Garcia. I didn't see a need to tell you."

Garcia chuckled. "I missed you. We all did." She reached behind her, and brought out a metal tin. "I made these for you." Reid opened the tin curiously, and inside were Garcia's famous homemade cookies.

"Thank you, Garcia," Reid said, taking out a cookie and biting into it. "Yummy." The others were too happy to see Reid to notice that his smile did not quite reach his eyes.

It was only a moment more before Hotch and Gideon emerged from Hotch's office and headed for the bullpen. "Have we got a case?" Reid asked.

Hotch nodded. "We do." He turned to look at Reid. "Are you sure you're ready to be back?" he asked.

"Of course I am," Reid snapped, startling the others. "Why wouldn't I be?" The team stared at him; they had never seen him get mad like this. Of course, he'd never had to go on mandatory medical leave, either. Maybe he was just itching to get back to work. "Don't we have a case file to look over?" Reid said when he realised the others were staring at him.

Hotch nodded and led the team to the break room, where JJ was setting folders on the table in front of each chair. She looked up and smiled when the team entered. "It's all ready for you," she said. As the team filed past her and to their seats, she held back until Reid was beside her. "Are you sure you're okay?" she whispered into his ear, so nobody else could hear her.

"I wish people would stop asking me that," Reid whispered back, but not in a mean way like he had been to the others. He said in such a way that JJ would know that he needed to be back here.

All through the briefing though, while Reid appeared to be paying attention- even chiming in with a fact or two- in reality his mind was far from the round table room. Just looking at the crime scene photos, seeing the state of the victim's bodies, took him back to the basement on Scarlet Ash Drive. He remembered the knife slicing into him, the altered cattle prod pressing into his leg, his own gun beating him over the head…

"Wheels up in ten minutes," Hotch said, snapping Reid out of his flashback as he gathered up his files. Reid looked around the room. None of the others were looking at him- no one except for JJ. Reid looked back at her, but her expression wasn't one of concern. It was one of love.

Reid moved over to her, on the pretence of asking her a question about the case. The others filed out of the room one by one, until it was just the two of them left. He leant in closer, taking in the smell of her hair. "Sit next to me on the plane?" he asked.

JJ looked up at him, startled but pleased. "Of course," she said. "What brought this on?"

Reid looked down at the case files, being sure not to look at the photos but at the information instead. "I may be ready to be back here, ready to be back at work, but it doesn't make it any easier." He looked JJ in the eye. "You do."

JJ put a hand on top of Reid's, where it rested on the table. For Reid to admit this was even a little bit hard for him took a lot. It showed how much she meant to him. JJ knew it wouldn't do Reid any good to send him home and make him wait a little longer before he returned to work. She knew that he would just dwell on what Richard Connors had done to him, and that he wasn't truly happy unless he was at work. Sitting at home, he was just bored. This did help him. "Wouldn't that make the team a little suspicious?"

"It would, but we do sit together all the time, JJ," Reid pointed out. "As long as we don't do anything too…"

"Couple-y?" JJ suggested.

"I'm almost one hundred percent sure that isn't a word, but yes, that is what I meant," Reid said. "As long as we don't do anything that shows that we're a couple, then they won't suspect a thing. We've always been best friends. There's nothing wrong with us sitting together on the plane."

JJ smiled. "Are they around now?" she asked.

"No," Reid replied. "But there are cameras in the room. Garcia could see us."

JJ sighed. "Sometimes, I hate how good she is at her job," she said, walking out of the room with Reid close on her tail.

When the team boarded the jet, JJ and Reid made sure that they were, in fact, sitting next to each other. The team would not have been that suspicious of this; they were all sitting in a group, discussing the facts of the case and bouncing ideas off each other. The three victims that had been discovered so far had been found at three different parks, in three different areas of town several miles apart.

"I can do the geographical profile," Reid suggested, as he examined the printout of the dumpsites. Morgan and Gideon were already heading to the dumpsites, and JJ and Hotch were going to talk to the victim's families.

"I can help you with that," Prentiss offered, not having her own assignment already.

Reid looked up at her. "I can handle it," he snapped. The rest of the team was shocked, as they had been when Reid had snapped back in the bullpen.

Prentiss especially was taken aback. "I wasn't saying you couldn't," she said cautiously.

"Well, isn't that what 'I'll help you with it' means?" Reid asked.

Prentiss had no idea what to say. "Reid," said Hotch. Reid turned to look at his unit chief. "Prentiss will help you with the geographical profile."

"Fine," said Reid shortly, looking back down at the case file and tapping his fingers on the side of his face.

JJ was worried. The Reid she knew had never, ever snapped at anyone like this before. He would never have gotten angry with someone, especially a fellow team member, just for offering to help. Maybe there was another reason why he had wanted her to sit next to him on the plane, other than needing help to ease back into work. Something was seriously wrong.

JJ chanced a sidelong glance at Reid. He was still looking down at the case file, not paying attention to anyone else on the team. There was something in Reid's eyes, something JJ couldn't quite place. It wasn't anything she had seen there before, because it was a strange mixture of emotions. Something was definitely wrong, and JJ knew that she had to find out what it was. She knew Reid wouldn't want her to, but whether he needed her to was another point entirely.

You'll be okay, Spencer, JJ said in her mind. I'm going to help you, no matter what it takes.

A/N: Man, I totally love JJ. I wonder how she'll react when she finds out what is wrong with Reid, though... And those of you who know the chronology of season 2 of our favourite show know that a certain character will make his first appearance soon... how is he going to complicate/help things? As always, read and review, I love to hear what you guys think! And I'll try and post quicker next time!