Revenge
Tinny once said: - Sorry it's too late to search for a quote.
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.
"Drink up." Cheerful bleeding voice. He didn't feel cheerful. He hated it here. The only thing getting in through one day to the next was the knowledge he was going to destroy Aaron as surely as he was trying to destroy him.
"Piss off with your drugs girly." He didn't look up from the bit of fluff stuck to his pyjama bottoms.
"Come on now don't be like that Floyd. It's good for you. Keeps you thinking straight." She grinned at him.
"I am thinking straight. I am thinking 'if she takes another step towards me I will break her neck.' Is that clear enough for you…" He looked up at her name written on a badge on the front of her uniform….he squinted. "Olivia. Is that clear?"
He pulled his knees up tight and wrapped his arms around them in a manner he had seen Reid use many a time, and now realised how comforting it felt. It was a barrier against everything; Including Nurse Olivia and her receptacle of poison.
"You made it very clear. Now let me make something clear to you. Out there you might have been some sort of leader of men, a 'hot shot' bully boy, but in here you are nothing. In here you are just another loon. Do you get me Floyd? Is that clear? You drink this or I get the orderlies over there to hold you down and I stick a needle in your cute little over used ass." She held the drink out in front of her for him to take. "Drink it."
Floyd pushed up from the wall. He took a deep breath. Something which was still causing pain though he refused to let anyone know he had a weakness. He leaned forwards and took the polystyrene cup from her hand and squeezed it and let it drop to the floor. "Screw you nursey. Screw you and screw your orderlies. Drug me darling but you will have to fight me. Or you can just sod off and leave me alone."
A click of the fingers and they were on him. He felt his head crack on the wall as they pulled him down then turned him over onto his front. They knelt on his back and stood on his hands and someone had a foot resting on the back of his right knee. He cursed and spat at them he tired to bite until an ' accidental' foot caught him in the mouth and shut him up for a few minutes. A foot on the side of his head and a needle in his backside had Floyd finally laying still.
"Next time just drink the damned meds." And Nurse Olivia walked off and left him drooling and twitching against the wall.
……………………
Reid was watching the words floating in front of his eyes. Today they were slow, stuttering. He sat in a chair his mouth slightly open his eyes flickering side to side. Occasionally his hands would lift and he would look at them and then his eyes returned to the flickering wide eyed oddness he had taken on.
Aaron pulled up a chair and sat looking at him for while. Weeks had gone now and no change. He put a hand out and took one of Reid's in his. No reaction. A limp warm hand just laying in his.
For a second there Aaron thought Reid was trying to say something to him. His lips moved and his eyes – for the briefest of moments – fixed on Aaron's and then it was gone again but there in that split second Aaron knew there was hope. They could pull him back again. If this was done properly.
When they tucked Dr Reid up in his bed that night making sure to leave a light on the noted how for the first time rather than lay on his back as they put him he rolled over onto his side and hugged his knees. They made a note of this small but important development. This combined with his friend's report that he was sure Reid was trying to talk to him gave the staff small hope that he would come back to them one day. Very early days yet, but yes, this was a good sign.
That night Reid had the first dream he had since he slipped his mind away.
He was running. Fast. Faster than he could. He could sense that his torso was going faster than his legs and he was falling forwards. He put his hands out to stop him but they had been secured to something and he started falling and falling. He tried to crawl away. Hands pulling at his clothing tearing at his hair as he screamed for help. The same word over and over again. One the staff made note of after the needle had pierced his skin and he was laying still on his bedroom floor, a split lip and bloodied nose from his face first fall from the bed. They wrote the name down and would make a point of contacting his friend tomorrow because this wasn't his friend's name.
They changed his night clothes and lay him back in his bed on his side, and got someone to come in quickly and attach a cot rail to stop him falling again. It looked like a step backwards, but they smiled at the sleeping doctor. He was finally pulling himself back.
………………
Spence?
What happened to you?
I had a nightmare.
Babes I am sorry.
I wasn't here. They keep drugging me.
I needed you.
I need to let Aaron know I am here.
Spence I let you down again.
It's not your fault.
You need to get better Floyd. I need you. I need to see you.
Babes?
I'm still here. I feel so tired. I need to stay awake for when Aaron gets here.
Call me when you need me.
I will be here for you.
We will do this together.
…………………
Hotch made sure that the hospital Reid was in was within easy driving distance from the offices in Quantico. In the weeks Reid had been there Aaron had been away a few times. The hospital assured him that Spencer didn't notice his absence but he wasn't so sure. He just hoped that Reid understood. Every afternoon straight after work he would make his way to the special hospital Spencer was in. Every day was the same. Each rolling into the next. None discernable from the next. The same people. The same chair and the same empty locked down expression on Reid's face.
"Agent Hotchner." A man walked out of an office on the ground floor. "I am glad I caught you before you went up to see Dr Reid. Can I have a word please?"
Hotch followed the man into the office and took a seat behind a desk. "Is there a problem?" Hotch needed to know.
"Not sure. I am hoping you could help." Leaning on the desk his fingers templed in front of him. "Something happened last night."
A look of alarm shot across Aaron's face.
"He is alright but I needed to warn you. He had a nightmare and fell from the bed. He hit his face. It looks worse than it is, but I thought I should warn you."
Hotch nodded and stood up.
"There is more." Hotch sat again. "This might sound bad Agent Hotchner, but the fact that he reacted to his dream state is a good sign. We have put a rail up on the side of his bed so he won't fall again." Hotch nodded. "He also called out a name. Repeatedly."
"A name?"
"Floyd. He was calling for someone called Floyd. Does this mean anything to you? Because if we could find this Floyd person it would go a long way to helping Dr Reid come back from where he is hiding."
Hotch stood up again. "That's not possible. He can't see Floyd."
"Is there a reason?" The doctor was looking annoyed. This was important to Reid. He wanted to see Floyd.
"Yes – he is at St Martens. And not as a member of staff. It would be impossible to bring him here. It was he who caused this problem in the first place. It won't happen."
"Well I don't need your permission Sir." The doctor was getting cross with this attitude the agent had today. "Dr Reid is under my care, and I don't believe you are even noted down as next of kin."
"Well I should be!" Hotch was shocked by this announcement. Reid and he had talked long and hard about this. He had asked Aaron if he could put his name down as next of kin. Why had he changed his mind? A look of undisguised horror passed over Hotch's face. "Who is next of kin?"
"I don't have to tell you that. I am sorry Agent Hotchner."
Hotch got up and left the room.
……………………
Reid was sitting slumped in his chair like always. Nothing changed. Nothing different until Aaron got up close and saw the bruises under his eyes where he had hit his nose and the swelling around the split lip. He pulled over a chair and picked up Spencer's hand like he always did.
"Show me you are there still Spencer. I know you must be to be calling out for Floyd. Just show me a sign that you know I am here."
And Spencer's fingers curled around Aaron's.
…………………….
See that was easy.
……………………..
Dr Osaka sat in his office looking at Reid's file. He had been through a lot. He pulled out the sheet with his personal details. 'Next of kin – Floyd Flanders Franks.' But no number to contact. Luck had it that Hotch told him where he was. All he needed to do now was to arrange a visit. Either Reid to this Franks person, or Franks to here.
……………………..
