Hotch sits with Reid through the entire examination. He holds on to the younger agents hand as an offering of comfort. When Reid would wince, Hotch squeezes his hand harder. The nurse, who quickly warmed up to Hotch, tries her best to make conversation to help lighten the mood. They talked about Jack and the possibility of a puppy in the future. When the nurse attempts to include Reid in the conversation, Spencer never replies. He stares at the walls with blank eyes, vaguely listening to the conversations taking place around him.
Throughout the process, the doctor, Dr. Burton, explains every step. She tries to keep her tone as soothing as possible, but the amount of blood is disturbing to her. Still, she tries to stay positive as she collects evidence from Reid's body. "Hopefully you will get a match from some of this."
Hotch looks at Reid. He has the urge to apologize for letting the unsub get away, but instead squeezes Reid's hand again.
"You're going to be sore down here for a awhile," Dr. Burton says as she finishes up. "Maybe even a week. I'm sure I don't have to tell your boss this, but I'm going to recommend that you take quite a bit of time off. You shouldn't be doing much, okay?"
Reid nods absent mindedly. He couldn't think about the upcoming let alone the next few minutes. There is far too much to think about. He still hasn't told his mother yet. If he would ever tell her.
After the rape kit had been collected, Reid is taken into another room where he is told that he would need to be interviewed by a psychiatrist. Before leaving, Dr. Burton gave him some Valium to help ease the pain. "I don't see why I have to do this," he says to Hotch.
"They're painkillers," Hotch replies.
"No. I know. I mean the whole talking thing." Reid keeps his eyes on the floor to help shield his embarrassment. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You're going to have to."
Reid shakes his head.
"Spencer," Hotch says, softly, "they need to get your story for evidence."
"I don't see why I have to talk about it. I already lived through it once. You guys have the video. Isn't that enough?"
"Was there more that went on?"
"Can we not talk about this?" Reid asks. "I can't do this now. Not with you… No offense."
"It's okay."
"I-I just don't want to think about it, and I don't want you to have to think about it either. Can we pretend it never happened?"
"That's not going to help anything, Spencer."
"I know," Reid says as he bites what's left of his freshly clipped nails. "But just for now."
"Yes, of course. Whatever you need."
Garcia rushes in to the waiting room as a blur of bright colours. "Where is he?" she demands. "Where is my baby?"
"Somewhere back there," Emily says. "We're still waiting to hear from Hotch. Did you bring clothes?"
"Yes!" Garcia exclaims as she raises a plastic bag filled with clothing. "Several. I wasn't sure what he would want. It was weird going through Spencer's closet."
"Did you find anything interesting?" Morgan asks.
"No. Not that I had the chance to snoop. Strauss has the entire area swarmed. I can't believe he was still in the building the whole time."
"We were just a few feet away from the start."
"I think I may have talked to the unsub," JJ says.
The group turns to her, shocked.
"But he didn't say his name was Leon Habben. It was something like Alex or Alec Clark. He worked late nights. I was right there. I was talking to him. I should have known something was up and Spencer-."
"Oh, no honey," Garcia interrupts. "That guy isn't even Leon Habben. Leon Habben is dead."
"What?" Emily says.
"Yup, been dead for a year now. He was killed in a car accident two states away. Whoever got the apartment was using his identity."
"Do we have any idea who this guy is then?" Morgan asks.
"No," Garcia says, sadly. "At least not yet. She wants me to take the night off and let Kevin do some work, but you know me, no creeps can hide from me! Especially not creeps who hurt my poor, precious babies!"
Morgan smirks. "God help that bastard."
"So, is Strauss still letting you work the case?" Emily asks.
"Yeah, not that she has a choice. I'm sorry about you guys though."
"I'm sure Hotch will get us back in," JJ says. "There's no way they can finish this without us."
Garcia looks at Rossi. He has yet to say anything since she's arrived. It worries her. Before she can say anything, Rossi's phone goes off. The team anxiously watches as he reads the message. "Is it Hotch?" Emily asks.
"He says they're done," Rossi says, still looking at the screen. "We can go in if we want."
"All of us?" JJ asks. "Will that be too overwhelming?"
Garcia pushes past everyone and heads out of the waiting room. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but nothing is going to keep me away from seeing my little baby genius. I'll see you later."
The interview process was long and grading, and by the end of it the only thing Reid wanted to do was go to bed. He had relived every moment, filling in details when the officer asked. For the most of the time Reid felt like he was repeating himself. It was almost like an interrogation, and he started to wonder how much of his story did the office doubt. When he became confused he would look to Hotch for guidance, who would try to smooth out the questions as best as he could.
The photographs of his injuries were just added humiliation for Reid. Hotch asked if he wanted him to leave, but Reid shook his head. The thought of some man he didn't know taking pictures of him on his own, barely clothed, was more frightening than being embarrassed by Hotch witnessing it. In the least Hotch would be there to put an end to it if it became too difficult.
But as of now it's over, and Reid can finally get some rest. He lies down in hospital bed they put him in with Hotch sitting beside him in a chair. "Do you want me to turn the TV on?" he asks.
Reid shakes his head. "No. You can if you want."
Hotch glances at his phone. He has yet another text from Rossi, this one being the third, asking for an update. "How opposed would you be to having some company?"
"Who?" Reid asks after a moment of hesitation.
"The team. Everyone is anxious to see you."
"Everyone?" The words of his captor came back to him. He spoke so harshly of how no one cared about him, how they would be better off without him, but here they all are. It is a relief, but still those words linger in his mind.
"It's okay if you say no," Hotch says. "I don't want you to get overwhelmed. Your health is the main concern right now."
Reid picks at an edge of the white blanket. It smells overly clean. The whole room does. It's starting to make him feel nauseous. "I guess," he says, finally. "For a little while."
"I can always make them leave, if you want," Hotch says as he types a reply to Rossi. "It will take just one look and they'll go running."
A small smile spreads across Reid's face. Before he has a chance to reply, the door opens.
"Baby!"
Garcia rushes into the room, her arms wide open with the plastic bag still in hand, ready to embrace the young, injured agent.
"Garcia," Hotch says, sternly.
She stops in her track, not just because the tone in her boss' voice, but she has just noticed the amount of injury on Reid's face. "Oh, sweetheart," she says with tears welling up in her eyes. She walks to the bedside opposite to Hotch and kneels down next Reid. Carefully, she brushes some stray hairs across his forehead. "Oh, sweetie."
Morgan enters the room then with the rest of the team right behind him. Earlier that day, during the ride to the apartment complex, he had prepared himself for the worst, so just seeing Reid alive was more than enough to bring a smile to his face. "God damn, pretty boy," Morgan says as he joins Garcia. "You have no idea how much you had me worried."
"Sorry," Reid says, quietly.
Garcia hushes him. "Don't even say that, baby cakes. You have nothing to be sorry for. We're just so, so happy you're back."
"Yeah," Emily adds. "How are you feeling?"
Reid shrugs, but says nothing.
"I brought you some clothes if you want to change," Garcia says. "I took as much stuff as I could, but Strauss people there, so I-."
"What?" Reid cuts in. "Why is she there?"
"They're looking for evidence," Morgan says.
"B-but didn't you guys already do that?
"Yes," Hotch says. "It was one of the first places we went. We didn't find anything, though, but it won't hurt to have some fresh eyes look around. He may have left something in there to use for later."
Reid's eyes widen with fear. "Left what?"
Hotch immediately regrets his choice of words. "They're looking for anything to track him," he says, trying to keep his tone calm.
"And they haven't yet."
The rest of the team members look at each other. There is a mutual feeling of guilt between them, despite their best efforts to catch the unsub. "No," Hotch says after a long pause. "At least not that we have heard of."
"You got nothing to worry about, kid," Morgan says. "No one's going to get past us."
Reid flinches at the nick name. He feels his captor's words, "Are you ready for some fun, kiddo?". They echo in his mind, stirring up all of the painful memories that he would rather forget.
"C-can you not call me that?" he asks, softly.
"What? Kid?"
Reid nods.
"I always call you that."
"I know. But… Please don't. Anyone."
"Yeah. Sure thing, Spence," Morgan says. Although he feels a little hurt by Reid's request, but he perfectly understand where he's coming from.
An feeling of awkwardness lingers in the room. JJ is finding herself struggling to look at Reid. The severity of the bruises are too much for her to take in right now. Even finding the right words to say are coming as a struggle. Rossi has remained quiet as well. There is a lot he would like to say to Spencer, but now is not the proper time. Not with so many other people around.
"Do you know when you can leave?" Emily asks.
Reid's eyes have gone blank. He stares ahead at nothing in particular, seemingly as he had not even heard Emily's question.
"Whenever he's ready," Hotch says. "He had to get some stitches, but the doctor thought his head injury wasn't severe enough to keep him over night, thankfully. She did ask that someone check on him in the middle of the night to make sure his is still responsive."
"So who's it going to be?" Morgan asks.
They look to Reid, waiting for an answer. It takes a moment before he realizes that he's the focus of everyone's attention. "What?"
"The doctor said that someone should stay with you tonight to monitor your head injury," Hotch says.
"A-at my place?" Despite his best efforts to calm himself, Reid's lower lip begins to tremble. The thought of returning to the apartment is terrifying. That man knows where he lives; he's been in there before without Reid even knowing. Surely he will be able to get in again. "I don't want to go back."
"You don't have to," Hot says, softly.
"But where am I going to go then?"
"Where ever you want, hunny," Garcia says as she continues to stroke Reid's hair.
Reid glances up at her. He doesn't know where he wants to go. All he knows, that in this moment, he does not want to be here or anywhere else.
"You can stay with me," Emily offers. "You can take my bed, and I'll crash on the couch."
"You don't have to do that," Reid mumbles, barely coherently.
"I have more than enough room," Rossi says. "For you and anyone else who wants to tag along." Rossi and Morgan briefly exchange looks. The group waits for Reid to reply, but he appears to be lost in thought again.
"If you don't feel comfortable with staying with any of us," Hotch beings to say, "I can call Strauss to get you a room at a hotel. I'm sure she would be more than willing to."
"By myself?"
"Only if you want to."
Reid looks at each of his teammates. Everyone appears so uncomfortable, almost as much as he's feeling. They won't want to stay with him any longer. "I guess if Strauss-."
"Reid," Morgan cuts in, "there is no way in hell I'm going to let you stay anywhere on your own."
"Where ever Reid feels best is where he is going to go," Hotch says. "But, Spencer, I do agree with Morgan. I think it would be best for someone to stay with you, and not just to monitor your head injury."
"Nobody has to stay with me," Reid says, quietly. "I'll be fine."
"Spence, no offense, but you don't look fine," Emily says. "Let one of us take care of you. At least for tonight."
Reid bites his bottom lip. "Okay."
"Why don't you stay with Dave tonight," Hotch says. "And we'll figure out more tomorrow. Would you be alright with that?"
After a moment of hesitation, Reid nods. He looks at Rossi and tries to smile, but can't bring himself to do it.
I am not a fan of people not playing by the rules. But I am less of a fan of losing the game, and right now I am not doing my best. I can admit when I get out of hand. I did, and I have paid the price for it. Had I been in my right state of mind, I would have killed the doctor before they got inside. All it would have taken was a few more solid whacks to the head and they'd be slipping all over his brains. It would have been even better if I did it right in front them; just stab him in the throat or something quick like that. I would have been shot, of course, but it would be worth it.
In the least, I made it out with only a few scratches. My talk with David Rossi has yet to come. It will happen, even if it is through another route. Getting to the doctor will be much more difficult now, but there are many ways you can inflict torture on a man. There are much more fun to be had before I get to where I actually want to be. Until then I will lie low and wait for the perfect moment to make myself known.
For a team of professional criminal profilers, supposedly the best in the business, they are terrible at finding people. I have stood in their presence on multiple occasions, yet none have noticed me. Not long after they arrived, I stopped by the hospital, claiming to be checking in on my ailing mother. It was partly true. My mother is indeed there, she has been for several weeks now, but I had little interest in seeing with her. In fact, our visit lasted only a few minutes long. The amount of time I spent in the waiting room was nearly an hour.
I took a seat pointing away from the agents. I busied myself with pretending to read a random magazine that I picked up as I listened in on their conversations. They don't know what to do with the doctor now. No one knows where he should go or how they will handle him. Dave, in his usual dramatic valor, offered to take him in. I had to smile at this. Of course he would, and of course he would be too foolish to realize the flaws in his plan. No house, no matter how large or closely guarded, can keep me out. But in all of his arrogance, he would be willing to risk his young co-workers life. So be it.
The profilers were still there by the time I left. I wasn't able to get a look at the doctor, not that it would have been a good idea. After visiting my mother, I returned to her home. This would be my safe house. The location is less convenient, but such is life. I will need the quiet to rethink my plans.
This isn't over yet.
And it's not! Well, this chapter is but not the story as a whole. Thank you to those who continue to read and review! More action is in the future. Possibly revenge. Possibly death. Who knows! I do like to kill people off, I'll tell you that much. Thanks again!