AN: Hopefully the chapters will keep coming as quickly as this last one did. I'm also still in the process of deciding what to write next as this story is ending soon… Decisions, decisions…
They all had watched him drop.
Morgan was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital along with all the other team members. He sat replaying that scene in his head, feeling guilty for reasons he didn't quite know. He could hear the conversation in his head he and Reid had had in the bathroom. He couldn't take his eyes off of Reid after that.
The look on Reid's face as soon as he stood up from his chair should have given Morgan a clear indication of what was to happen next. Is that why he felt guilty? All he was able to do was stare at Reid as he collapsed. Morgan had found his feet unable to move until after all was said and done.
They hadn't been able to wake him up. Reid was lying there on the floor of the conference room, and no matter how hard they tried, he wouldn't come back around. The paramedics showed up not long after that, and here they all were now, in the waiting room.
"Spencer Reid?"
The team looked up to see the doctor looking for his family. They all stood and Hotch stepped forward. They were all anxious even though they had a pretty good idea of what was to come even before the doctor spoke. When they had gotten there, Morgan felt obligated to fill the doctor in on the previous drug use and current issues – he knew it was relevant to what had happened to Reid.
"I'm Doctor Walker, I'll be the head doctor in the care of Dr. Reid. It's evident that he was suffering from serious exhaustion and severe stress, as well as some early signs of pneumonia. It seems as though he hasn't slept or eaten sufficiently any time recently and it's taken quite the toll on his body. I've been informed of the current situation with his sister… As well as other extenuating circumstances…"
The doctor glanced in Morgan's direction. "He should be just fine, but he needs his rest. The pneumonia isn't surprising seeing as his immune system was already compromised by the stress and exhaustion. I've put him on IVs to help with the dehydration and also to help get some nutrients into his bloodstream as quickly as possible. I've also put him on antibiotics for the pneumonia and diclofenac, a non-narcotic painkiller," he made sure to emphasize, "as well as a mild sedative. My goal is to make him as comfortable as possible because that's the only way he's going to improve. His body needs to rest because it hasn't been properly taken care of. You can visit him, but he probably won't wake up for a little while longer."
"Thank you, Doctor," Hotch said, shaking the man's hand. The team walked into Reid's hospital room –the only sound being the quiet beeping of the one of the monitors. They all took a moment to take in the scene. Reid was lying on the bed, the head of it slightly elevated, with an IV taped to his right hand and a pulse oximeter on his index finger. He also had a blood pressure monitor cuff around his upper arm and an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.
Morgan took some time looking his friend up and down and oddly enough, felt a sigh of relief. Reid was finally getting help – at least physically - and he looked so relaxed in that bed as he slept peacefully for the first time in weeks. Morgan knew it was thanks to the medications he was on, but Reid had color in his face that Morgan hadn't seen for some time now.
But now they were down a profiler and the clock was ticking. He took a minute and reminded himself that this is what Reid needs, and it would make the rest of the team try that much harder to find their Unsub.
The team stood there for a few minutes when Hotch finally spoke up, "I know we all want to be here for him, but we have a case to solve. If we really want to help Reid, then we should get back to work and find his sister. I know the last thing we want to do is leave him by himself, so Garcia – why don't you stay here with Reid? The rest of us can head back to the station and start cracking down on this Unsub."
Morgan wanted more than anything to stay with Reid, but he understood why Hotch had decided that Garcia should be the one to stay. Morgan needed to be with the rest of the team, with the evidence laid out in front of him. Besides, Garcia could probably take care of Reid better than he could anyways. And with that, they all departed from the hospital and headed their respective ways.
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A low beeping. Someone typing on a computer. Someone breathing loudly. No… Wait. That's you. That's you breathing. Why? What's happening? Where am I? Reid was slowly drifting into consciousness, these questions slowly flowing through his mind but he was too tired to try to look for an answer to any of them. With all of the energy he possessed, he forced his eyes open a crack. It took some time because he couldn't muster up more energy to actually focus on anything. His eyes closed again.
"Reid? Are you awake?"
He knew that voice. Come on, you can do this. Reid tried a little harder to open his eyes this time. He was looking back at Garcia, who was sitting by his bedside.
His bedside. Why was he in bed?
"Hey Reid," Garcia said softly, a smile tugging at her mouth. She put her hand on top of his and held it, stroking her thumb over his hand in a way that made Reid feel safe and calm. But he needed to know where he was. His next step was to talk, but it involved so much energy – energy he didn't have yet. He didn't want to, but he allowed his eyes to close again and he slipped back into the comfort of the darkness of unconsciousness.
A little while later, he awoke again. Unlike the last time, Reid found it much easier to open his eyes. Sitting exactly where she had been the first time he woke up, Garcia was typing away on her laptop by Reid's bed. He tried to say something but nothing came out. His throat was so dry.
She hadn't noticed that he was awake yet. "Garcia," Reid managed to whisper.
"Reid!" she popped up in her seat. "Hey Sweetums, how are you feeling?" It was then that Reid became acutely aware of the oxygen mask on his face and he made the move to push it off.
"Nuh uh, Boy Genius. That stays on," she scolded.
"I can breathe just fine, Garcia. Just give me one minute," he said, still quietly. He slowly pulled the mask off over his head and pushed it to the side of his bed. She must have noticed his discomfort because she got up from her seat and poured a cup of water from the pitcher that was sitting on the tray at the end of the bed. She put a straw in and held it to his mouth, which he gratefully took. The cold water felt so good, but before he was ready to stop, Garcia pulled the straw away which was greeted by a slight whimper from Reid.
"Not so fast, Reid. I'll give you more in a minute," she said softly. "Tell me how you're feeling."
"Tired. Really, really tired." He said, settling his head back down on his pillow.
"As expected. You should really go back to sleep."
"I'm in a hospital. Why am I in a hospital? Where is everybody else? How long have I been out for?" Reid was starting to become agitated at the realizations he was coming to. He started to try to sit up in bed. "What happened? I don't remember coming here. Oh God, Liv. Tell me you found–"
"Woah, Reid," Garcia cut him off. She put her hands on his shoulders and forced him back down onto the bed. "You need to relax. The doctors said you can't get agitated like that, it's not healthy."
"Please tell me what's happening," Reid's mind still wasn't working up to speed, he was still exhausted and it was an effort to take in what Garcia was trying to say to him.
"Reid, we were working on the case and you stood up from your seat and you just collapsed. We couldn't wake you up so you were brought here. The doctor said you were way too stressed and you weren't eating or sleeping or taking care of yourself. They put you on some medication and you have to rest because you're really sick. Everybody else is working on finding Olivia – they still haven't found a connection. You've been out of it for about six hours now," Garcia said carefully.
"…Medication? What kind of medication?" Reid questioned, looking down at his IV, panic rising in his throat. It was then that he realized that he wasn't feeling any pain – the headache he had been plagued with for weeks was mysteriously gone.
"Okay Reid, seriously, you need to relax." He hadn't realized he had started to sit up in bed again until Garcia pushed him back down for a second time, holding both of his hands, afraid that he might try to pull out an IV. "They put you on a non-narcotic painkiller, thanks to Morgan, and a mild sedative to help with the stress but from the looks of you now, I think they should bump that up a bit."
A mild sedative… Well that explains a lot. His mind felt like it was underwater. Reid originally thought that the exhaustion was what was slowing his mind down, but whatever they doped him up with turned out to be the real culprit.
"I shouldn't be in bed. My sister is out there with a serial killer and I need to help find her." He tried again to sit up but thanks to Garcia, was unsuccessful.
"Spencer Reid, if you do not lay back down in that bed, you will be very sorry," Garcia pointed her finger at him. Just then, the doctor made his way into the room. He introduced himself to Reid and began to check his vitals. He adjusted the IV bags hanging from the stand, then let Garcia give Reid a few more sips of water.
"Listen, Doctor, I appreciate all this, but I really, really need to get going. I can't stay here," Reid began to try to talk his way out of being in the hospital.
"The hell you can't stay here," Garcia snapped at him.
"She's right, Dr. Reid. You really need to be here – you're not stable enough to leave yet."
"My sister is going to die because I'm sitting here in this bed instead of being out there and looking for her," Reid's agitation was in full force now and both Garcia and the doctor were gently pushing his shoulders down back against the hospital bed. Reid was starting to panic the more he thought about the circumstances and his breathing quickened. He needed to be out of this hospital room – he'd already wasted six whole hours. He was running out of time. He fought to sit up but the room started to tip a little and Reid's heart rate picked up. He squeezed his eyes shut.
"Alright Dr. Reid, I need you to take a few deep breaths and relax now. You're okay, everything is going to be just fine but I really need you to calm down. I can't have you stressing out, it's not good for you," Doctor Walker tried unsuccessfully to make Reid calm down again. Reid could see out of the corner of his eye that the doctor was now adjusting one of his IVs again.
Almost instantly, a calmness rushed over Reid and he couldn't remember what had had him so agitated in the first place. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Reid connected the feeling with the increased dose of sedative the doctor had just pushed through his IV. His eyes could no longer focus and he was vaguely aware of someone putting the oxygen mask back over his nose and mouth. Blissfully, he closed his eyes and succumbed once again to the darkness.
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The next time Reid opened his eyes, someone new was sitting beside him.
"John?" he asked groggily.
"Hey bud, how are you feeling?" his brother-in-law questioned.
After a moment of thought, Reid slowly answers, "I feel like I'm on some serious drugs right now…" John laughed. Reid wasn't necessarily wrong – the doctor had significantly increased the amount of sedative after Reid's initial agitation. Just looking at his brother-in-law, he could see just how the drugs were affecting him – Reid's eyes were glazed over and every time he blinked, it was a slow, effortful closing of the eyes that lasted just a tad too long before he willed them to open again.
"Did you find Liv?" Reid asked nonchalantly. "No buddy, not yet. We will," he assured Reid.
"Oh… Okay" Reid said quietly.
John looked at Reid, and could see that Reid was not really all there still, and he was probably too tired and too drugged up to actually be worried about his sister at the moment.
"I need to get out of here." Reid said quietly.
"Not yet Spence," John said with a light pat on Reid's shoulder. "Soon. But for now, why don't you get some more rest? I'll be here when you wake up."
And with that, his exhaustion back in full force, Reid closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep.