Apologies

!!I support the 2007 WGA STRIKE!!

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.

Morgan spent the rest of the night sitting on the floor in Reid's hallway watching Reid sleeping through the open doorway. How was he going to explain this to Hotch? As the light crept its way around the heavy dark blue drapes in Reid's lounge Derek got up and stretched and walked quickly to Spencer's small hardly used kitchen. He turned on the coffee machine and opened cupboards to locate mugs. All of Reid's china was white. All of his cutlery was neat and organised. The contents of his fridge were tidy and ordered. It crossed Morgan's mind that Spencer was a bit obsessive maybe or was it just that he hardly ever used this room so it was easy to keep like this?

He was pouring himself a drink when he heard soft footsteps behind him. Derek turned around to see a hardly awake Reid. "You alright there?" The look on Derek's face told Reid that something had happened last night.

Spencer sighed. "I was a bad one wasn't it? I can still feel it."

Morgan nodded. "It was pretty bad. You need to talk to someone about this. Someone who can help you. I don't know enough about dreams and nightmares and stuff Reid – but last night? – I have never seen something as intense as that before. You scared the shit out of me."

"I smell coffee." Was his reply.

…………….

After a shower – Reid avoided using the bath – and a change of clothes – Morgan noted the extreme time it took Reid to choose something to wear. What he ended up in made Derek raise an eyebrow.

"Reid man, you can't leave the building dressed like that."

"What? Why not?" He looked down at himself.

"I can understand what you are thinking, but this won't help. Just get dressed in clothes that aren't hanging off you."

Reid sighed and turned around again. "I just wanted to – you know – not look like those bodies."

"I know, but maybe get your hair cut?"

"Derek, now you are being silly." And he walked into the bedroom shutting the door behind him. Morgan stood where he had been sitting all night and watched the closed door. An enigma. He didn't think he would ever fully understand this person. How can you ever understand a man whose brain works in such a peculiar way?

When he re-emerged he was in light brown trousers and an off white short sleeved shirt and a brown tie which again he had too long. He has tried to do something with his hair too - flattening the curls a bit, but it was just popping back into its own odd manner with each step he took. How could he have so much hair? Morgan wondered. Why does he let it get so long? He looked so much more clean cut and – he supposed – innocent with his hair short.

"So you want to get the hair cut?" He tried again.

"No."

…………….

Morgan drove them to the office. It was probably the first time Derek had ever been to work on time. In fact early.

Reid went straight to the coffee with Morgan following closely behind. "You don't have to follow me now we are here."

"I still want you to agree to see someone about last night. If that happens often – well you need to sort it Reid." He could see Reid pause in his coffee making and swallow.

"This was different. I can still feel it. I can still see the images. That's not happened before. This wasn't a typical result of the trauma in Georgia. This was something altogether different. I need to try to work out what it was."

He walked back to his desk. It was going to be another day of trying to work out how all this could have happened in one night. Fingerprints and other results should be back from the labs soon. He dropped his bag to the floor and sat fiddling with his collar looking at an envelope in front of him. He carefully picked it up and looked at the writing on the front. 'Spence.' He sat and looked at the writing. Cursive and written with a flourish, but light – right handed, and casual.

He turned it over again and slipped his finger under the flap at the back. He pulled out a pit of lined paper. 'Spence, I am sorry. I didn't mean to seem pushy, I just really want to see you again. Tonight? Call me. F" Again the fancy cursive writing. Reid smiled down at it and was about to put it back in the envelope when it was snatched from his hands. He looked up to see Morgan holding it, but not reading.

Reid frowned at him "That is personal. Please give it back."

An eyebrow raised. "Is it now? Do I want to read it? Is this from who called you last night?" He was waving the bit of paper above his head.

"Morgan this is not funny – please give that back." Reid stood up to try to retrieve his letter from the mysterious F and knocked over his coffee onto the floor and all over his messenger bag. "Wonderful! Thank you Morgan." And in that brief period of time where Derek was distracted by the mess, Reid extracted the bit of paper from his hand and stuffed it in his pocket. He picked up his bad and swung it over his shoulder showering everyone nearby with sweet dark coffee.

"Hey, calm down. I was playing with you." Morgan was stepping forward to trying to placitate Spencer who was beginning to look more and more alarmed. "Where is Hotch?" Reid turned from Derek and ran up the short flight of stairs tripping up the last one and falling to his knees. Morgan watched Reid's panicked run. What on earth was written on that bit of paper to alarm him like that?

He followed the stumbling Reid towards Aaron's office. The door was slightly open so he ran in and slammed the door behind him. Derek stood and looked at the door slamming in his face. He still hadn't talked to Hotch about the nightmare and the other odd happenings at Reid's last night. Did the note have something to do with it?

…………………

Hotch looked up at Reid. He noted the liquid dripping from his bag and then the dark circles under his eyes. "Reid? What happened?"

"Hotch I am sorry, I don't think I can work this case. I didn't think it was bothering me yesterday." Hotch stood up and walked over to Spencer who was leaning on the door. He flicked the lock and then put an arm around Spencer.

"I understand Spencer." He guided Reid away from the door and over to a couch. "Sit. What happened to your bag?"

"My b b bag? Oh it's coffee. Aaron – what's going on? Those men had been re-dressed. They were posed. Why the letters to you? I can't do this. I can't keep looking at the crime scene photos."

"I understand but I need you close." And the arm around his shoulder tightened. "I can't let you go home."

"There is a marked car outside." Hotch could feel Reid relax slightly.

"You know as well as I do that the car won't stop someone if they really want to do something. I am sorry Reid but you need to stay here. I can't afford to send you home with someone."

"I can look after myself. I don't need a baby sitter." He was resting his head on Aaron's shoulder.

"Evidently. I need you close. I need to know you are safe. I want you to stay with me until this unsub is caught." Hotch felt Reid sigh. "Is that a problem?"

"Haley."

"I will explain. It will be alright. You are one of my agents, she wouldn't object to Emily staying over. She won't object to you." A hand on Reid's thigh. "Don't worry. I will sort it."

Reid pulled back from Hotch. "I don't know. I don't want to upset things. She doesn't like me. I don't feel comfortable around her. She knows."

Aaron watched the suddenly nervous Reid now standing twisting his hands and looking at the floor. "She knows what exactly?"

"That I don't feel comfortable around her. She makes me nervous. I drop things and fall over your rugs when she is around."

Hotch laughed. "That is all part of your charm though Spencer."

"I don't think she sees it that way. I can't stay with you. I need to go home."

"Then I will come back with you. Tonight. For now you stay here." He patted the space next to him. "Please Spencer."

Reid had started pacing the room. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the bit of paper and looked at it. Hotch sat watching his hands running over the paper and looking at the words. Reid looked at the couch and returned to sit. He handed Aaron the bit of paper. "I got this. So you see. I really want to go home."

Hotch read the tumble of words on the paper. "This is out of the question." Hotch passed the note back, "Who is this? Have we met?"

Reid shook his head. "I met him on the train. Hotch, I keep putting this off. Not very professional I realise that, but I need my private life and I can't have that at your house or with Derek hanging around."

"So with all that is going on, a case you don't feel you can handle because of the way they victims are re-dressed you still want to go on a date with a stranger."

Reid was shaking his head again. "Maybe just a telephone conversation I know wasn't being recorded and analysed by Garcia would be nice. Some privacy. A drink with a friend. That's all."

"You will have to put it off until we know what is going on. I am sorry Spencer."

Reid looked down at his hands and sighed. "So any news from the lab yet?" He looked sideways at Aaron.

"Er – yes, no fingerprints except from what we would expect. They all died of heroin overdoses, but the site the needles were found were not the injection sites. The needles were part of the scene setting. The clothing appears to have come from a Goodwill store." Aaron smirked.

And in the back of Reid's mind he could still hear the howling and screaming from his nightmare.

…………..