AN: Took a little while but here it is!

Warning: I researched as much medical stuff as possible, but I know there will still be things in here that are inaccurate. My apologies!

Thanks: Thank you so very much for everyone who has reviewed! It means so much to me and keeps me going so thank you forever!!

Memory was a funny thing. For Dr. Spencer Reid, it was practically his strongest quality. With an eidetic memory and his abnormally high IQ, he was able to learn copious amounts of information and keep it all stored in his head. It was a blessing and a curse, of course. But even Reid's memory found ways of hiding itself at times, such as in the case of Riley Jenkins, a boy who was killed when Reid was a child. Of course, that had been a matter of the brain oppressing painful memories for Reid's protection as opposed to simply forgetting.

Regardless, memory meant, in most cases, safety for Reid and while, in this particular job, remembering all of the gruesome details of the cases they had worked on wasn't exactly the greatest thing in the world, his memory was overall a major advantage.

Despite the greatness of Reid's memory, he couldn't for the life of him remember what was currently causing the enormous amounts of pain in his stomach or why he couldn't seem to open his eyes. All he knew up until this point was a case with a doctor…

And then Emily left… and then the unsub came to Doctor Barton's house… and then… oh. He had been shot.

But there was something else… Something was missing. Or maybe it was someone…

Reid, through the cloud of confusion, tried to think of everyone in his team. He had definitely seen Emily, JJ, Morgan, Rossi… Hotch! Emily had said Hotch was in the hospital!

Reid forced his groggy eyes open with much difficulty and suddenly became aware of his painfully dry mouth; he had no doubt recently undergone surgery. He looked around the room, still trying to keep his eyes from shutting, and eventually saw JJ sitting in a chair beside him, her eyes focused on a magazine in her lap.

"J…" he started but was interrupted by a coughing fit.

JJ's eyes jerked up and she was suddenly standing, looking nervously at him. "Reid!"

She seemed to realize that his throat was very dry because she quickly turned to the bedside table and grabbed a tub of something. "Here," she said, reaching into the bowl. "Have a piece of ice. The nurse said you would want it."

Reid, though feeling quite embarrassed, allowed JJ to drop the ice chip into his mouth. The feeling of the cold liquid rolling down his throat was one of the most soothing feelings ever. Immediately, the burning in his throat subsided greatly.

"Thank you," he choked out.

JJ nodded and gently laid her hand on his. Reid had always liked JJ, and once as more than a friend, but he had grown to see her as his sister more than anything. She was the only person, apart from his mother, who ever called him "Spence" and he had always felt that she was the most understanding of the team. Maybe it was because she wasn't a full blown profiler but he also appreciated that fact that if he talked to her, it would truly feel as though she was just listening and not trying to read him. It was a nice change of pace when working with some of the most analytical minds in the world.

"How are you feeling?" she asked softly. "Need me to call the doctor?"

Reid slowly shook his head, trying to ignore the nausea that came with it. "How's Hotch?"

JJ's face changed and Reid knew right away that the news wasn't good. However, the look in her eyes was not one of deep sorrow that would be associated with the death of a close friend, and thus Reid was sure Hotch wasn't dead.

"He's alright," she said simply.

Reid frowned and continued to look at her. "What happened?"

JJ bit her lips. "Reid, you're still very weak and the Doctor said not to excite you. Everyone is fine though, I promise."

"You won't excite me," Reid said.

With this, Reid noticed a slight smile spread across JJ's face and wondered what had warranted it. It faded as quickly as it had come though and her face was, once again, serious.

"It was Foyet who had Hotch, but he dropped him off here at the hospital," she said wearily. "He's alright, though. He's been awake and talking and everything. He's fine Reid."

Reid knew she was leaving at least some information out, but the pain in his stomach was making it harder for him to focus. "F-foyet? Did you catch him?"

"No," JJ said. "He… we had reason to believe he was going after Hailey and Jack so… they've put them into a protection program with the Marshalls."

Reid clenched his eyes shut against the pain and this horrible news. Everyone knew what happened when people went under the Marshalls' protection; Hotch would not be seeing his family or hearing from them until he knew they were safe and dealing with Foyet, that could take a very long time. So, while he may have been physically fine, mentally he would be in much more pain than any wound could inflict.

"Reid, are you okay?" he heard JJ ask. "You don't look so good…"

Reid didn't fully comprehend what she was saying, though. All he could think about was Hotch. The man cared about only two things: his job and his family. Now, because of his job, his family was in danger. Foyet had already caused one agent to lose his mind over the sheer obsession of catching him, and if there was any way to get Hotch on that same boat, it was to go after his family.

"Reid?" he felt a hand clench tighter on his.

"Reid?! I'm calling the doctor."

The voice was far away now and Reid was okay with that. He wanted to disappear and escape from this reality which held all sorts of pain. He wanted to be there for Hotch, but had no idea how to. He wanted leave the hospital, but knew that wouldn't happen anytime soon. However, he also wanted to slip away into the peaceful darkness that was slowly engulfing him, and that was something he definitely could do.

"JJ, listen to me," Morgan said slowly, his hands grasping her shoulders. "Reid is going to be okay. You didn't do anything to him."

"I shouldn't have said anything about Hotch," she said. "He had just woken up…. I tried not to but it was the first thing he asked…"

"Hotch did the same thing to me in regards to Reid," Emily said, standing firmly beside Morgan. "They're great profilers whether they just got out of surgery or not. Even if you hadn't told him, he would've gotten worked up anyway because he knew something was wrong. He was the first person I told about Hotch being here so he knew. This wasn't your fault."

Morgan looked at Emily and was suddenly thankful she had shown up. He would've continued to try to comfort JJ but he felt like Emily could better connect. Either way, it sounded as though Reid was potentially still not doing so well and they needed to figure out what to do next.

"What did the doctors say?" he asked.

"They came in when one of the monitors started beeping," she began, Morgan already nervous as to where this was going. "They didn't seem too alarmed but it obviously wasn't a great thing. And… they said something about running tests…? It seemed like they were concerned they might have missed something during the surgery…"

Morgan listened carefully then looked at Prentiss who wore a similarly worried expression, but they were both trying to hide it.

"Well," Prentiss said slowly, "if they missed something, it's only a short walk up to surgery."

This clearly didn't do much to comfort JJ. "Another major surgery, back to back? That's a lot for the body to handle…"

"And Reid can handle it," Morgan interrupted, maintaining a calm demeanor. "You forget we're talking about Boy Wonder, here."

JJ quieted and seemed to calm down at least some. Morgan was worried too, of course, but they needed to hold it together. Morgan and Emily had both been with Hotch while JJ was with Reid; only one person was allowed to sit with Reid so they had sent JJ with the directions of keeping them updated. About an hour later, however, she had entered Hotch's room and asked Morgan to come outside where she said there was something going on with Reid. They had then went to level two where Reid was getting his tests done which had led to this point.

Still, Morgan felt as though he needed to go back and let the others know what was going on. It had been clear when JJ came into Hotch's room that something was wrong and Derek figured they had the right to know as well. And as much as he wanted to stay here until he had info about Reid, JJ needed Prentiss more right now.

"I'm going to run back downstairs and let the others know what's happening and then I'll be right back," he told them quickly. "Please let me know if anything changes but I should be back before then."

They both nodded and Morgan turned and headed towards the stairs. He found that elevators reminded him of Reid after being stuck in one with him and decided the stairs would be better until he knew Reid was okay.

When he made it down the one flight of stairs, he quickly made his way to Hotch's room and when he walked in, he immediately got the attention of both Hotch and Rossi.

"So?" Rossi asked, knowing exactly why Morgan had left and what his news was about.

"Apparently," Morgan said, wasting no time, "Reid woke up while JJ was in there, asked about you, Hotch, and when JJ told him, she said he clenched his eyes shut, looked like he was in a lot of pain and then one of his monitors started beeping."

Rossi was simply listening but Morgan hated the way Hotch's face managed to get even more serious as Morgan continued. It had been about an hour since Haley and Jack had left and so he was still very upset, even though he didn't show it.

"She said she heard them say something about maybe missing something during the surgery," Morgan continued. "They're testing him now and I guess we'll know soon whether he needs more surgery."

Rossi nodded but Hotch just stared.

"How much did she tell him?" Hotch asked.

Morgan bit his lip, wondering if Hotch was going to be upset with JJ. "She said she tried to avoid it but he wouldn't let her," he said first, trying to at least help JJ out some. "She said he knows about Foyet and… the Marshalls," Morgan said, deciding that was the easiest way of putting it.

Hotch nodded. "Go, and let me know the moment you find something out."

Morgan glanced at Rossi, who gave a silent nod, and turned away. He couldn't figure Hotch out right now. He was obviously concerned for Reid, but there was, of course, plenty more going on in his head. He had practically just lost his family for an unknown amount of time and he was still recovering from a violent attack. Still, after Hailey and Jack had left, Hotch had almost immediately returned to his stony-faced self that they all knew so well, but there was now a sense of sadness and fear in his eyes that scared Morgan more than anything.

Morgan sighed as he climbed up the stairs. Reid needed to be okay for all of their sake; Hotch was going to need them all.

EN: So, it isn't my favorite chapter but I needed it to set up for what I hope will be a better one and a bigger payoff! So definitely come back! Annnnd... I graduate from high school June 11th! So very ready. Just gotta get through the next three weeks of AP/IB exams.