Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Author's Note(s): A big thanks to RavennaNightwind, sid, tearbos, didi2909, smokeylove, Dr. Cameron (Hehe you are perhaps right about the game thing…I never thought of that. Charlie will be back in the next chapter. Not Reid/JJ romance I'm afraid, just friendship.) and SLITH. You guys made my day :) Also, thank you to all who are still reading!

Easier to Lie
Chapter 11

There was a very tentative knock on JJ's door. There was only one person who would knock like that.

"Come in, Spence," she said loudly, putting the case file down on the bed in front of her.

Cautiously, the door was pushed open and there stood Reid, a rather nervous expression on his face. He quietly closed the door behind him and came and sat down on the bed opposite JJ with his legs crossed.

"Hey, JJ," he said quietly.

JJ offered him a weak smile. Since he had told her about his drug problem, she hadn't been quite sure what to think. Of course, she wanted to try and help him as best as she could. She just wasn't sure if she'd be able to or whether she should tell the rest of the team. He seemed pretty adamant about keeping it between the two of them, so for now she would do as he wished.

"How are you feeling?" she said.

Seeming to deliberate his answer first he replied, "I've felt better. I haven't taken any…you know…yet."

"What do you mean 'yet'?" said JJ, folding her arms in obvious disapproval.

Reid looked alarmed, "You don't expect me to just quit straight away do you?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I expect," JJ told him under no uncertain terms.

"But… The withdrawal symptoms… I can't carry on with this case with them," said a horrified Reid. He looked so upset by the prospect that JJ took pity on him and used a kinder tone to speak to him with.

"Well what are you going to do then, Spence? Because now that I know, I can't let you carry on the way you have been doing," she said, leaning back against her headboard.

"I know," Reid said sadly, allowing his head to drop forward so she couldn't see his face. JJ fought off the overwhelming urge to pull him into a tight hug and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

Instead she merely said, "Spence?"

He looked up again, his eyes glassy with unshed tears, "I was going to keep taking a normal dose until the end of this case."

"And then what?" she didn't want to upset him, but JJ needed answers if she was going to help him.

"Then I'll start lowering my dose," he said definitively.

"What if we get another case?" JJ wanted to know.

Reid faltered, "Then I…I don't know. I could just keep doing what I'm doing…maybe…"

"Or you could take some time off," she pointed out, "Nobody would think any less of you if you took sick leave."

"But they would want to know why," Reid whined.

Sighing, JJ nodded her head in agreement, "We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it then."

Reid made a thoughtful noise and looked down to study his hands. JJ took this time to study the man himself. They had slept very little the night before in that barn and the strain was showing on Reid's face. There were big dark circles around his eyes and his hair hung lank around his face. If just looking at him wasn't incentive to not do drugs then JJ didn't know what was. She shuddered as she remembered exactly what had started his drug problem in the first place. That barn that they had been in last night…it had just been so similar to the one attached to Tobias' house…and where she had been attacked by those dogs.

Fear gripped her heart at the thought of what had happened, and coupled with the memories of what had happened last time she had been in a hotel room JJ suspected she was going to get no sleep at all tonight.

At this point, Reid began to rise to his feet, "I should let you get some rest JJ," he said softly.

"Wait!" she said quickly, and then mentally cursed herself for seeming so desperate, "Why don't you stay here for a bit?"

A momentary look of surprise crossed Reid's face, but he quickly complied with her request and sat back down.

"Sure, JJ. Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

No, there was absolutely nothing JJ wanted to talk about. She just didn't want to be alone again.

"Why don't we just watch TV for a bit?" said JJ, uncomfortably aware of how vulnerable her voice sounded.

Silently, Reid nodded. He then moved across the bed to sit next to her, his long legs stretched out in front of him. JJ was intensely grateful that he didn't ask her any questions, especially after she had just given him the third degree on what was obviously a very painful subject for him.

She picked up the remote control from the bedside table and turned on the TV. JJ leaned back and tried to make herself more comfortable as she flicked through the channels. She very rarely had time to watch TV recently, so JJ didn't really recognise any of the programmes that were on. But she practically felt Reid perk up beside her as they landed on a channel with a programme she did recognise – Star Trek.

"No, Spence. Just no," JJ said, amusement plain in her tone.

Letting out a dramatic sigh, Reid nodded and allowed her to continue looking. The next programme they turned to was CSI: Miami, but JJ dealt with so much pain and death every single day that she couldn't bare the thought of watching a television show about it for kicks. They finally settled on a light comedy that probably wouldn't require much thinking on their parts.

After a while, she felt Reid start to shift uncomfortably.

"You can leave if you want to, Spence," said JJ, trying to sound unconcerned and as though she wasn't terrified by the prospect of being left alone in this room.

Reid glanced at her for only a second before saying, "Not yet, I think I'd like to stay here a little longer if that's okay with you?"

JJ felt a lump rise in her throat. Even after all Reid was going through, he was still trying to protect her feelings by pretending that he wanted to stay with her. She tentatively reached out and clasped his hand in her own.

"I'd like that," she said so quietly that it was almost a whisper.

Moving closer to her, Reid squeezed her hand and smiled kindly. JJ let out a deep breath.

"I wonder how Emily is doing," she mused, trying to deflect attention from herself.

"Well last time I saw her she looked pretty angry," said Reid with a slight shrug.

"What? When was that?" asked JJ, casting her mind back to the rest of the day. As far as she was aware Emily had not been mad last time they had spoken.

"Just before I came in here. I saw her stalk off holding the keys to one of the cars."

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Author's Note(s): Well, that was a bit shorter than I was going for…but hey ho what can you do?

Next chapter from Prentiss' point of view and then after that a case related breakthrough :)

On a random note, for anyone having Criminal Minds withdrawal symptoms, I recently started watching Bones and it's awesome. So I would recommend it to anyone looking for a programme similarly styled to Criminal Minds to fill the void CM has left :p

Anywho, as always, thank you for reading!