Title: You Broke My Bones
Rating: T
Summary: The BAU becomes too much for Reid to handle. But his old and current jobs are bound to collide.
Previously: Reid left the BAU, a victim brings the BAU to the hospital, Reid meets his new teacher, Hotch is shot, Reid discovers he's dating his replacement and Reid is attacked
This Chapter: Reid is found and the team try to cope
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds but I own the plot for this story and any OCs
Status: In-Progress
Chapter: 11. Comfort and Revelations
Note: Thanks for the reviews.
A low moan came from Reid's swollen lips. His head was throbbing, as was every other bit of his body. He felt like his chest was on fire every time he breathed, and he knew he'd broken a rib, possibly more than one.
When he'd awaken he'd tried to call out to the passing people, and had consequently become aware it was morning, and that he'd spent the entire night laying there, unable to move. His swollen eyes didn't allow for much sight, so this revelation came as a shock. Every time his swollen lips parted and he tried to call out he became more and more painfully aware of the fact no one could see him or even hear him from his position.
He was going to die here.
He would've cried at this revelation, but his swollen eyes didn't allow him that luxury. He had to deal with lying there quietly waiting to die, every now and then an involuntary moan leaving his slightly parted lips.
Another one passed through his lips as he became aware of nearby footsteps. There was a gasp and he heard a female voice yell out. "Oh my god." He knew the voice was close, but he was fading out of consciousness. Just before he lost consciousness, he heard a familiar voice.
"Hang in there, Dr. Reid."
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The nurse didn't even become aware of Reid until she was almost parallel to him. Even then, she wouldn't have noticed him if it hadn't of been for the groan. She glanced around at the noise, looking up from her feet. She gasped at the sight of the bloody body, hidden somewhat from view behind the abandoned building. She yelled out at a doctor walking into the hospital, alerting him of the man's bloodied body. He rushed inside, alerting the reach of the staff of the beaten man. She rushed over to him and couldn't help but let "Oh my god," out. In her fifteen years of being a nurse, she had never seen someone beaten so badly. He was shivering in the cold, and the realisation he might've spent all night here shocked her.
A group of nurses and doctors rushed over, a gurney being wheeled between them. Daniels gasped, worry creasing his face. He bent down, preparing to lift him onto the gurney.
"Hang in there, Dr. Reid."
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Morgan glanced behind him from the front passenger seat of the SUV at Estelle.
Today she'd left her black leather jacket at home, instead wearing a three-quarter sleeve grey top with a V neckline. She wore her knee length black leather boots from the day before, which were hidden by her grey jeans, which had both real and fake rips in it.
He still wasn't sure what he thought of her and Reid's relationship. Sure, he liked her alright, but it didn't mean he liked her dating the man he considered his best friend and younger brother.
She licked her lips nervously, once again hitting the disconnect button on her phone. A worried look occupied her face.
"Estelle, we're five minutes away from the hospital," Morgan laughed and he saw Rossi glance sideways at him, obviously knowing his laughter was forced. "Besides, he's probably busy. He does work at a hospital." His eyes met with JJ who sat to Estelle's left, in the middle place of the back of the SUV. She glanced at Prentiss, who sat to her left, who looked like she housed her own worries.
"Yeah," Estelle said. "It's just," She looked up at the three agents watching her, grateful Rossi's attention was on the road. "He was supposed to come over last night and he didn't. And he hasn't called or anything. Or texted," She glanced down at her phone, which she was twirling around in her fingers in her lap, missing the other agent's concerned glances. "I suppose we'll find out now." She added as the SUV pulled to a stop outside the hospital.
Morgan frowned as his cell vibrated. He exchanged glances with Rossi as he unclipped it from his belt and flipped it open. "Morgan." He answered.
"Agent Morgan, it's Nurse Jamie."
"Hey Jamie," Morgan said, shrugging at Rossi's confused face. "What's up?"
"You need to come to the hospital. Right away." She replied, unsuccessfully hiding her worry.
"We're right outside," he said. "Why? What's wrong?" He asked.
"Just come inside." She replied, hanging up, which did nothing to help the bad feeling growing in Morgan's stomach.
"What did she say?" Rossi asked as Morgan clipped his phone back onto his belt. He quickly opened his door and climbed out of the SUV, before breaking into a jog in the direction of the hospital doors. The confused team followed, also breaking into a jog to catch up with Morgan, who was now a few metres ahead of them. As they reached the hospital doors, Morgan reached the nurse's station looking around for Nurse Jamie.
"Where's Nurse Jamie?" He asked loudly, not even bothering to be polite. "Where is she?" He asked again, nearly shouting as no one moved to answer his question. A nurse Morgan vaguely recognised from earlier walked up to them.
"Sir, I'm going to have to get you to calm down and take a seat." She said.
"We're with the FBI," Rossi said, stepping forward, holding his credentials out for the nurse to see. "We need to speak to Nurse Jamie immediately." The rest of the team stepped forward, credentials in hand, side by side with Rossi and Morgan.
"Agents." Morgan spun to his right, before striding up to Nurse Jamie, whose scrubs and gloved hands were covered in blood
"Jamie," Morgan said, taking in her bloodied scrubs. "What's happened?" He asked, taking to keep his breaths even.
"Is it Hotch?" JJ asked, from Morgan's right side. Jamie shook her head.
"Come with me," she instructed, waving them to follow her as she turned and started walking toward a room with doctors and nurses streaming in and out. "We'll have to stay outside though." She added. Morgan felt the blood drain from his face as JJ stood on her tiptoes to see into the crowded room a metre away.
"Oh god." She cried, putting her hand to her mouth as she finally spotted the person occupying the gurney.
Reid's normally pale face was no longer, now a mass of red blotches, his eyes swollen shut, his lips bloodied and also swollen. Blood covered the right side of his face, a wound the size of a walnut on the top right hand side of his forehead. His nose was clearly broken, blood streaming from it, and it was swollen and red much like the rest of his face, though clearly crooked. His bare chest was also covered in red blotches, which they knew would develop soon into ugly bruises, some already with hints of purple. His chest heaved with every breath and they could tell from his face that every breath meant pain. The doctors and nurses blocked their view from his waist down but they were sure they'd find the same not fully formed bruises covering his thin legs.
"What happened?" Morgan asked, unable to keep the distress from out of his voice or off his face.
"A nurse found behind the abandoned building just out there," Jamie replied. "He's been badly beaten. Right now our biggest worry is internal bleeding. We're waiting on the ultrasound to arrive. Though it shouldn't take more than a few minutes," she added hastily at their looks of anger of the thought of their friend having to wait to be treated. "If there's any sign of internal bleeding we'll take him straight to the OR for surgery to stop the bleeding," Morgan nodded, his hand rubbing the back of his bald head. "You'll have to wait in the waiting room, I'm sorry," she added at the sound of someone calling her name. "I promise I'll come straight away and tell you as soon as anything happens." They watched as she ran back to join the doctors and nurses in the trauma room working on Reid.
Morgan felt a hand be placed on his shoulder and squeeze. "Come on Morgan." Rossi said softly. Morgan had the urge to tear away from them and run to be at Reid's side and he knew Rossi sensed this. After a few seconds of indecision he finally turned and followed Rossi and Prentiss, the others already walking back to the waiting room. He sighed heavily as he sunk into one of the plastic blue hospital chairs. He leant forward, his elbows propped up on his knees, his head in his hands. He felt a sympathetic hand placed on his upper back. He glanced up briefly at JJ, who sat to his right, a troubled look on her face. He knew he had to be strong for his team- since Hotch was out of action, it was defiantly his team- but he felt the urge to just crawl to a corner and sit there and rock himself to sleep. He knew this wasn't possible though. JJ removed her hand from his back as her leant back again.
"I'll call Garcia." JJ whispered, already pulling her phone from her pocket. He put a hand over her own.
"I'll do it." He whispered back, not wanting the blonde to have the same burden twice. He stood, unclipping his own phone from his belt. He wandered to the entrance- past Estelle, who was currently pacing in the other aisle of seats- not wanting to go outside in case news came. Instead, he opted to stand just to the right of the door.
"Oracle of Quantico, speak and be heard mortal." He felt his chest tighten at her cheerful mood, which he was just about to end.
"Hey baby girl." He said, sure his mood was reflected by his tone of voice. Apparently not so.
"Hey my chocolate thunder god. How's Hotch?" She asked.
"Garcia, something happened." He replied, looking down at his shoes. He was sure Rossi was watching him from where he sat a few metres away, Prentiss on his left side.
"Is Hotch okay?" She asked. "What happened?" Her cheerful tone was gone, a more worried one replacing it.
"It's not Hotch," He replied, and he could almost picture the confused expression on her face. "Reid was found, beaten, outside the hospital." He finally said. He heard her gasp.
"What? No, no, no. That's not possible." She said, clearly refusing to believe it.
"Unfortunately it is." He said, weary.
"I'll be right there," Garcia said. "No arguments." She added. After a few seconds pause he replied.
"None here." Before he could add anything, the dial tone reached his ears and he sighed, clipping his phone back onto his belt. He wandered back to his earlier seat, sitting across from Rossi, who was still watching him intently.
"Garcia?" Prentiss asked, watching him.
"She'll be here soon." He said. He was torn between going outside and hitting something and staying in case news came. After a few minutes of irresolution, he eventually decided on the former. He stood, citing fresh air as his reason to leave. He could feel Rossi's eyes on him as he left.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he stepped outside, the cold air biting at his skin. The thought of Reid laying outside in this climate sickened him, as did the knowledge that the UnSub had probably ambushed him when he left for work, which meant he'd spent all night out here. A few minutes to the right of the hospital doors, Morgan stopped short near the wall of the hospital. He didn't want to go any further, in fear of finding blood soaked snow.
He closed his eyes and the picture of Reid's beaten form filled his mind. Angrily, Morgan lashed out, raining hit after hit on the wall, preferring the psychical pain in his hands to the emotional pain of the thought of losing his best friend, his surrogate brother. Suddenly, arms were wrapped around his chest, constricting his arms, but still he fought. He struggled against the arms, trying to hit anything he came into contact with.
"Morgan! Morgan!" He heard a male voice yell. "Calm down!" He sunk to his knees in the snow, resisting the urge to cry. He choked back a sob as the person whose arms wrapped around his chest sunk to his knees also. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. His chest heaved as he glanced up at Rossi, who removed his arms from around Morgan when he saw Morgan had calmed down.
The two remained there in the snow for a few minutes, both breathing heavily. Finally, Morgan turned to Rossi.
"Sorry." He said. Rossi just nodded.
"Come on," Rossi said, standing. He held out a hand and Morgan took it gratefully, pulling himself up. The two walked for half a metre before Rossi stopped, turning to Morgan. Morgan stopped also, turning to him. "I know it's hard. He's your little brother, your best friend," Morgan nodded, resisting the urge to stare at his shoes. "But you need to stay strong. He needs you. He needs you to be strong for him, because when he wakes up he'll need you by his side. Breaking down now won't help him." Morgan nodded, gulping.
"I know he needs me. But the thought that he might not wake up, that he might not ever need me again-"
"That's why you can't think like that. That's why we think of the best-case scenario. So we're strong enough that we can deal with any scenario," Morgan nodded, grateful the older agent was here to help. "Come on." He added, and he turned and started walking back to the hospital doors. After a pause Morgan followed.
"Oh my god," JJ gasped as Morgan and Rossi stepped into the hospital again. "What happened?" She asked, as Prentiss and Estelle, pausing in her pacing, glanced up also. Morgan glanced down and realised his hands were bloody and swollen, covered in scraps and he began of a throbbing pain in both hands. He glanced up at Rossi, and realised for the first time his fist must've connected with something other than the wall, for Rossi's lip was slightly swollen and had a large red cut through it.
"Nothing." Came Rossi's reply. The three female agents looked sceptical, and Morgan was grateful Rossi had hidden his meltdown from them. As the three gradually glanced away from them again Morgan mouthed Rossi a thank you and a sorry. Rossi shrugged.
As Jamie walked into the waiting room, peeling the bloodied gloves from her hands and dumping them into a nearby bin, the team stood and rushed over to her, eager for any news on their friend. She frowned at Morgan's bloodied hands and Rossi's spilt lip.
"I'll get someone to look at that for you." She said, gesturing to the two of them. Morgan immediately shook his head.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm sure they can treat you here," She said and Morgan nodded gratefully. "We gave him an ultrasound and there is some internal bleeding," JJ gasped again from Morgan's right, and Morgan instinctively put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. She seemed grateful for the embrace. "But he's gone to the OR, where they'll hopefully be able to repair the damage," Morgan noted her use of the word "hopefully," but didn't voice his concern. "He's incredibly lucky to have survived up to this point. The injuries we're aware of include internal bleeding, a broken nose, several broken ribs, a broken wrist, sprained ankle and several bruises and lacerations." JJ couldn't help but whimper at the long list of injuries their friend had sustained.
"Thank you." Rossi eventually said, and Jamie nodded, before turning and walking back to the nurse's station. The team sighed, and JJ sunk into her chair, Morgan following her lead and sitting next to her. Rossi and Prentiss regained their seats from the previous minutes, sitting across from Morgan and JJ respectively. Finally, Estelle tired of pacing and decided to get coffees. After informing the group she'd return soon she left.
"This team must have the worst luck ever," JJ finally spoke, desperate to fill the silence. "In the same waiting room twice in two days." The three nodded, slight smiles on their faces despite the circumstances.
"Reid has the worst luck ever," Morgan finally said, he glanced at JJ. "He's like a magnet for trouble." Prentiss nodded, a grin on her face.
"I bet if you chained him to a bed he'd still find ways of attracting trouble." She laughed. The four looked up as a nurse approached them, a box of hospital supplies in her hand.
"Agents Morgan and Rossi?" She asked. Morgan and Rossi glanced at each other.
"That's us." Morgan replied, gesturing at Ross and himself. The nurse held up the box and sat in the unoccupied seat beside him.
"Nurse Jamie sent me to treat you two." She explained, pulling Morgan's hands toward her. She placed them on the armrest, before pulling some medical supplies from the box. JJ, Prentiss and Rossi watched as the nurse cleaned the wounds- drawing winces from Morgan- before bandaging his hands. When she finished she moved over to Rossi, who promptly argued over the medical attention. After a minute of arguing Rossi finally, grudgingly, agreed to let the nurse treat his spilt lip. She carefully cleaned it, before applying butterfly clips to it. Rossi thanked the nurse as she stood and gathered her supplies. She smiled and wished them luck before leaving the waiting room just as the hospital doors opened.
The group looked up as Garcia rushed up to them, Kevin hot on her heels. "How is he?" She asked immediately, and Morgan stood, embracing her in a hug.
"He's in surgery," JJ replied, standing also, as did Rossi and Prentiss. "Nurse Jamie's going to come and tell us when there's any news." She added, as she pulled Garcia into a hug of her own as Rossi shook hands with Kevin, Morgan unable to due to his bandaged hands.
When the greetings were finished, the group sat down, Garcia sitting to the left of Morgan, Kevin across from her. A few seconds after they were seated, Garcia finally noticed Morgan's bandaged hands.
"Baby, what happened?" She asked, taking his hands in her own.
"Got into a fight with a wall," he replied, not looking up at the others. "Needless to say I didn't win." He added, and she smiled tiredly.
"And you?" She asked, turning to Rossi. "What's your excuse?" Rossi glanced sideways at Prentiss, who shrugged.
"I was on the wall's side." He shrugged. The group chuckled. A comfortable silence settled over the group. Morgan wrapped his left arm around Garcia's shoulder, pulling her close.
"I'm worried about my baby boy." She whispered. Morgan nodded.
"He'll be okay," he whispered back. "He's a strong guy." He added, resting his lips on the top of her head.