AN: I still need prompts so I continue this story by having a prompt for each chapter. Any Requests?
Prompt: Comes from an episode title of Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night
Morgan made one more check of the hotel room, to make sure he wasn't leaving anything behind. The case was over, though definitely not with the outcome that any of them had hoped for. The UnSub was dead along with Evan Abby, who had set off the fire that had killed them both. You could argue that Abby had sacrificed himself for the greater good by keeping the lot from unknowingly being transferred over to an elementary school lot without anyone knowing about the contamination that lay beneath.
~Still, there were other ways to go about it, ~ Morgan silently argued, the fact that Abby's way had cost two more lives not settling well with him.
Satisfied that he had gotten everything, Morgan picked up his go-bag and slung the strap over one shoulder as he headed for the door. The team was meeting in the lobby, then going to get breakfast at a local restaurant before heading to the airport and home. As the hotel room door shut behind him, Morgan walked down the hall to the next room, which Reid had been staying in. He had caught Reid's look when he had compared an arsonist setting fires to an addict getting a fix. ~"It would be almost impossible for him to quit without help."~ Morgan had heard those words replay in his head as they had worked on the case. He had caught their meaning. Had heard once again one of the silent cries for help in the battle Reid was currently fighting alone. Unfortunately, he hadn't had the opportunity to talk to Reid about the subject. Morgan planned on changing that before they joined the team this morning.
Morgan reached Reid's room and rapped on the door. He waited for a response to the knock. When one wasn't forthcoming, Morgan knocked again. Just as he was about to head down to the lobby figuring Reid had already headed down himself, the door finally opened.
"Hey, Kid. I was starting to think you had already gone down," Morgan commented, as he looked at Reid who was standing in the doorway. Reid didn't respond to his greeting. He wasn't sure what compelled him to do so, but Morgan let his gaze drift downward, and caught the partially rolled up left sleeve of the younger agent's shirt. He knew what that meant. Knew what had taken Reid so long to answer his knock. The feeling that arose within him, took Morgan by surprise. Instead of the anger he would expect to feel, he felt sadness and desperation.
~Kid, I'm here for you. I want to help you through this. You don't have to do this alone. There's no way you can do this alone, ~ Morgan thought, thinking about what his doctor friend, Eric, had told him about what Reid would be facing if he was indeed using Dilaudid. He had asked general questions about drug addiction of Eric, as well as specific questions of the drug that had been Hankle's choice. It was a guess at this point, Reid not having admitted anything to him. Morgan's gut told him he was right though.
He looked back up at Reid, catching his friend's gaze briefly before the younger agent broke eye contact. Reid glanced down at his sleeve briefly, but he made no attempt to fix it. It was as if he was saying he was done hiding what he was doing by his lack of action. Instead, he lifted his head again, but his gaze looked past Morgan at some point on the wall behind him.
Uncomfortable with the silence that had settled between them, Morgan decided to break it.
"Kid . . ."
"Not now, Morgan," Reid replied, not letting him get any further. The words weren't a command but a plea.
"He's got to be ready to quit. Until he's ready to admit that he has a problem and that he wants to overcome it there isn't anything you or anyone else can do," Eric had told him.
"So I just leave him alone until he decides he's through trying to destroy his career and friendships? His life?"
"No, I'm not saying that. Keep offering help. Keep trying to get him to talk about it. It's okay to push but don't push so much that all you end up doing is destroying the friendship that you have."
Though he didn't want to push too much, Morgan couldn't just let it go that easily. He needed to know. "Then that wasn't a plea for help back at the police station?" Morgan asked, keeping his eyes on Reid's face, searching for things that may not be conveyed with his friend's words.
"We have a plane to catch," was Reid's response, neither admitting nor denying the question.
"Will you let me drive you home when we get back so we can talk about this then?" Morgan asked, clinging to the slight hope he saw in the fact that Reid didn't outright deny he had been asking for help. He saw Reid give a slight nod. Knowing that was the best answer he was going to get for right now, when Morgan spoke, it was with another question. "Are you packed?" Morgan asked, letting the subject of what was bothering the younger agent go for now.
Reid nodded again before turning and going back into the room. The younger agent picked up his messenger bag, and lifted it over his head letting the strap rest on his left shoulder, the bag resting against the right side of his body. He then picked up the black go-bag on the bed and turned toward the door again. Not another word passed between the two of them as they headed down to the lobby.
Prentiss and JJ were already there when Morgan and Reid stepped off the elevator but there was no sign of Hotch or Gideon yet. Morgan walked over to wear Prentiss was leaning against the wall, her bag at her feet. JJ was sitting in a chair not far away from her. Instead of joining his teammates, Reid went and sat down on a couch on the other side of the lobby. As Morgan and Prentiss started discussing a recent movie they had both seen, JJ got up and crossed the lobby sitting on the couch next to Reid.
Trying to ignore JJ's presence, Reid started counting the circles in the pattern on the lobby's rug. JJ reached out to ruffle Reid's hair, but he moved away from the gesture.
"Are you okay, Spence?" JJ finally asked quietly.
"Fine," Reid replied, brusquely.
JJ was taken back by the harshness in her friend's voice, not accustomed to hearing him use a tone like that, especially when talking with her. Hurt by the response but not wanting to leave him, she remained where she was. Without really thinking about it, JJ reached out to button the left sleeve of his shirt that he had never bothered to fix.
"Quit it!" Reid said, pulling his shirt out of her grip. "I'm not some little kid! I can dress myself!" he told her, getting to his feet and stalking toward the front entrance leaving behind a visibly upset JJ.
Morgan and Prentiss had ended their conversation at the sound of Reid's outburst. They both looked from the sight of Reid storming out of the hotel entrance to the crushed look on JJ's face. Knowing that he wouldn't be any good at consoling JJ right now, Morgan headed for the front entrance of the hotel himself, leaving Prentiss to go to the team's media liaison. The ding of the elevator, caused Morgan to glance over his shoulder. The doors of the elevator parted to reveal Hotch and Gideon arriving in the lobby.
~One other thing that checking on Reid helps me avoid is explaining to those two what just happened, ~ Morgan thought, as Hotch and Gideon stepped into the lobby, perplexed looks already on their faces. He continued for the door, leaving the explanations to the girls.
Stepping through the door into the sunny San Francisco morning, Morgan glanced to his right and then to his left. He spotted Reid about fifteen feet down the sidewalk, leaning against the building. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his head rested back against the building. Morgan took a few steps in his direction, more to stop blocking the door than to actually get any closer to Reid.
Though the younger agent looked troubled, it didn't look as if he had any plans on going any further than he had right then. Taking into consideration his earlier talk with Reid, and his reaction to JJ's gestures of friendship that would normally have not bothered him, Morgan decided that going to Reid right then might be a bad idea. He had separated himself from the group when he had come into the lobby. Chances are that he wanted that distance even more now. That any attempt to talk to or comfort him would be met with resistence if not hostility.
~The best thing to do is just to give him a bit of space for now, ~ Morgan told himself, though he didn't move to head back into the hotel. He couldn't bring himself to let his friend out of his sight, worried that he might disappear if he did so. Given the fact that Reid had ignored calls while they had been down in New Orleans, there was no reason to believe he wouldn't do so again in the right circumstances. Morgan was so focused on Reid that he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Gideon standing close behind him.
"JJ?" Morgan asked.
"Hotch and Prentiss are with her. She's pretty upset. What happened?"
"I'm not really sure. Prentiss and I were talking and then the next thing we knew Reid was storming out saying something about he wasn't a little kid. You know what those two are like. JJ was probably just doing something she normally does but the state of mind Reid has been in lately . . ."
Morgan let his voice trail off, not wanting to give away too much. He knew Gideon had suspicions of his own but whether they were on the same track as his, Morgan wasn't sure. If they weren't, he wasn't about to get the older profiler thinking along those lines.
"Why don't you go grab your bag and Reid's bag as well," Gideon said, nodding his head in the direction of the hotel entrance. "As soon as JJ's ready, we'll head for the restaurant. I'll keep an eye on Reid."
Morgan nodded, relieved that he wasn't the only one who didn't like the idea of letting the kid out of their sight right now. Heading back toward the entrance, Morgan opened the door, held it for a woman carrying a toddler, and holding a young boy by the hand, and then stepped back into the hotel. He looked over in the direction of the couch where JJ was still sitting, Prentiss and Hotch on either side of her. The blonde media liaison was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue that one of her co-workers had produced.
Somehow, the sight of JJ crying because of something Reid had said to her, hurt worse than when the genius had slapped him.
~There are wrongs darker than death or night, ~ Morgan thought, as he walked toward his bag which still sat against the lobby wall, next to Prentiss' bag.