AN: Alright alright, I know this is a crappy and anticlimactic ending. I've been feeling like shit the past two days and I haven't been able to come up with a good ending for y'all. But, I'm going to post the first chapter to my new fic (the sequel to this one) right after this goes up as a Christmas present and an apology. Again, I'm really sorry about this ending. I hope you don't hate it too much, I know it doesn't do the story justice. I might come back and update it if I'm feeling better.


The hardest part was not convincing Shawn to let the paramedics touch him, as they thought it would be. The hardest part was convincing Reid to let anyone except the girls and Hotch within three feet of Shawn. While eventually the psychic calmed down, pressing his hand over the cloth on his eyes and curling up under the blanket while Jules stroked his hair, Reid seemed only to get more riled up, and these two things combined managed to concern every person in the room. It was like the boys had switched personalities, and now Reid wouldn't stop yelling and bouncing off the walls while Shawn just seemed to want to be left alone.

And then there were the paramedics, and boy was that a mess.

Not only was Reid adamantly proclaiming he wouldn't under any circumstances let them touch him or Shawn, he physically blocked them from getting to Shawn, who, for his part, didn't seem to care, with Emily's hands pressed over his ears to block out the noise. Hotch, for his part, was alarmed at the behavior his younger coworker was displaying, and he could tell Morgan was as well - past the hurt that was displayed on the man's face when he realized Reid flinched whenever he got near. It was understandable, but still hurt.

It was Shawn himself who managed to calm Spencer down. JJ saw him sigh, and then he lifted the cloth off his eyes, slowly detangling himself from Emily and Jules, calling quietly "Spencer. Spence, it's over. Man, we gotta let it go so we can start getting better."

And they both broke down.

Hotch held Reid while the paramedics tended to a thoroughly embarrassed Shawn, who couldn't seem to get his tears to stop, and absolutely did not want to drop the blanket from around his shoulders, and literally couldn't stop flinching whenever one moved too fast, and it didn't help that they were both guys, because of course they had to be, after the day - was it really only a day? - he'd had. Reid sobbed and apologized and Hotch, for the life of him, couldn't understand why. Logically, of course, he knew it had to be something like survivor's guilt, he'd seen it before in victims, but logic just didn't seem to be working right now, and instead he was petrified, confused, and trying to keep up the facade that he was the leader the rest of the team needed, because right now they looked about near tears too.

JJ and Emily, to give Reid some space he supposed, focused their attentions on Shawn, soothing him and his father, who still wouldn't get within three feet of the boy (for a good reason, Hotch thought, as the boy looked like he could be made of glue and glass). Juliet O'Hara, a wonderful detective in Hotch's eyes and clearly loving towards Shawn, forced back her tears with harsh swallows and soft laughs as Shawn tried to joke, but his voice was sharp and broken and it was hard to see humor in a situation like this when there was a man being processed for kidnap and rape and another dead at the top of the stairs. But whenever Juliet forced on a smile Shawn looked a little better and Hotch saw it for what it was - coping. And he didn't doubt that Shawn would be alright. No, he wouldn't be the same, but he would be alright nonetheless.

Reid was different. Especially after the last time something like this happened.

He didn't know if he would be alright. Not only did he look like shit from being beaten, it was clear it pained him to witness what had happened and been able to do nothing about it. And maybe that was the worst part, because Hotch hadn't even witnessed it, but he knew he should've stopped it. They should've been able to stop it somehow. Reid shouldn't've had to save himself... again.

So he really wondered if Reid would be alright. But when Shawn called to him quietly and soothed him, Hotch knew it was different. Reid wasn't worried about himself, he was worried about this man who was seemingly his complete opposite that had inexplicably become his friend.

The hospital was terrible, but that was mostly because neither man could take the lights, the sounds. Their pupils were dilated so wide it was a serious conclusion that their eyes had been black all along and their friends simply hadn't noticed. The worst part was the doctors wouldn't do anything - the dose wasn't lethal, they wanted it to leave the system naturally.

It was Henry Spencer who took over then, buying earplugs and getting cloths for their eyes and grabbing heavy blankets from his truck that soothed with their weight. And then he settled in for the long haul, holding his son's hand tightly, and for the first time since she'd known him Juliet was afraid he would cry. They didn't need the doctors to tell them what happened, they didn't need the rape kit to confirm their fears. It was clear in the way both boys acted, and it was terrifying.

It was unexpected, but not unwelcome, then, when the team returned to the hospital a week later to retrieve Reid, to find him sat up next to Shawn's bed, both of them playing poker and laughing like they had nothing to care about in the world, while Juliet held Shawn's shoulder and his father and Gus bantered back and forth with the two geniuses.

And sure, it was scary, but then they knew that everything was going to be okay.