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Morgan put the SUV in park in the lot at 2974 Westfall and the team trooped into the building. The receptionist directed them to the conference room that had been set up for them. "Pretteeee boy," Morgan said as he entered the room, seeing Reid at the coffee pot, "can you not stay out of trouble for five minutes?"
"Hi guys," Reid said as he turned to meet them.
"You look terrific," Rossi said sarcastically as he took in Reid's rather disheveled appearance coupled with his blood shot eyes that he was managing to keep open by sheer will.
"Thanks," he said politely, the sarcasm seemingly lost on him. Two men entered the room behind the team. "Guys, this is Captain Jim Brass," Reid gestured to the shorter older man, "and Detective Luis Vartann. They caught the two cases. This is Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner," Reid gestured to Hotch while the men shook hands, "and SSAs Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, Derek Morgan and Jennifer Jareau."
"JJ," JJ said as she shook hands with the men and a blond woman entered the room.
"Head CSI night shift, Catherine Willows," Reid said. "I'll let you guys introduce yourselves."
Jim Brass did his own profiling as the team that had just arrived talked with Catherine and Luis.
The head honcho, Hotchner, seemed to be a stern individual that gave little away and one that did not suffer fools gladly. The women both seemed friendly and approachable. His eyes shifted to the muscle bound black guy in a tee shirt and jeans. The team must obviously rely on him for the heavy lifting, Jim thought. The oldest man seemed more laid back, a sports jacket over jeans; pretty sure of himself and not out to impress anyone. He wondered where Dr. Reid fit into this group.
"Okay," Hotch said when introductions were concluded. "We need to get out and talk to people. Morgan, Prentiss, I want you to go talk to the Dinsdales again, talk to the other foster children. Also talk to the neighbors. Rossi, the coroner, find out about Miss McDaniel's injuries and William Reid's."
"I know all about my dad's," Reid said. "I can fill you in."
"No," Hotch said, abruptly cutting Reid off. "JJ, I want you to talk to someone about William Reid-"
"I can do that," Reid interjected. "I've got a card from Ralph Kennedy; he's a good friend of my dad's and his power of attorney." He pulled the card from his pocket and Hotch took it from him and handed it to JJ.
"Talk to the man JJ; perhaps either Captain Brass or Detective Vartann could accompany you."
They left the room to carry out their assigned tasks while Reid looked strangely at Hotch.
"So what do you want me to do, victimology? I've pretty much done that in my presentation." Reid said.
"I don't want you to do anything. You're too close to this. This is personally motivated on your part and I am taking you off the case."
"Taking me off the case," Reid echoed in disbelief. "But I'm the one who…"
Hotch stepped over and closed the door to the conference room. "You can't be involved in a case where you're personally motivated."
Reid nodded for a moment. "Didn't stop you with Foyet, did it? It didn't stop Emily with Father Silvano. It didn't stop you from letting Morgan take down Billy Flynn. It didn't stop Rossi from heading off to Indianapolis to deal with the Galens' killer. It didn't stop us from going under the radar to catch Garcia's attacker. Yet, suddenly, because it's me, I can't be on the case because you've deemed that it's personally motivated." Reid's voice had risen several octaves from start to finish. "Or is it that you just don't trust me anymore, like when Emily supposedly 'died?'" He made quotation marks with his fingers. "You'd prefer to watch me suffer than trust me, is that it?"
The others could hear the yelling all the way down the hallway. "Are they like that all the time?" Brass asked the group in general.
"No, normally Reid is the easiest person in the world to get along with," Prentiss replied.
"That's how he seemed to us," Catherine told them.
Hotch's eyes had gotten more steely with every word Reid spoke and his glower more pronounced. "If I didn't trust you, you wouldn't be on this team. Now, I'm going to put what you just said down to stress and the fact that you haven't gotten any sleep. Go to your hotel and get some sleep. That's an order."
Reid slammed the mug he'd been drinking coffee from onto the table so hard the brown liquid splashed over the edges onto the table, picked up his messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Fine," he said before storming out of the room and down the hallway past his own teammates and the LVPD personnel who seemed glued to their spots in shock.
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Hotch was staring at the pictures on the board when a voice interrupted him. "He was right, you know." Rossi said as he leant against the door jamb.
"What do you mean?"
"Reid, what he said about all of us working on cases where we had personal motives. We all did it, just the way he said."
"So you heard all that?" He turned and looked at Rossi.
"You know how Reid can get when he's angry," Dave replied.
"Yes, well, Reid had his personal motivation with the Riley Jenkins thing." Hotch reminded him.
"No, no he didn't. He said he was staying behind to visit with his mother. He never asked for the team's help. Morgan was the one that knew something was up with him and asked if he and I could stay. Reid never asked us to be there. That's on us, not him."
"You think so," Hotch said as Rossi sauntered into the room.
"You really want to know what I think?" Dave said.
Hotch's eyebrows lifted and his lips turned slightly at the edges. "Do I have a choice?"
"Morgan's told me about when Reid first came to the BAU, how awkward he was around people, babbling way more than he does now. He was a kid, 22 years old and, as I understand it, still growing. Think about it. A profiler in the BAU and he's not even fully grown. He's come a long way in seven years. You always pick the cases with JJ, she goes through them, finds the ones she deems most important and you bring them to us. Morgan chose cases when he was acting UC. I've chosen a couple of times. This time Reid chose a case. He saw something, two attacks that were linked by this little girl and now she's missing. How could he not choose to make this a federal case? I don't know if your nose is out of joint because he went ahead and offered our services without checking." Rossi raised his hand before Hotch could speak, "Okay, maybe he should have. He's trying to tell you something Hotch. He's trying to tell you that he's not the little baby brother in this weird little family we've got going on here. He's doing what every kid that grows into a man eventually does one day. He's challenging his father!"