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So friends, the Raconteur has come to an end. I hoped you enjoyed this story and will stick around for the next one too!
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Please forgive my mistakes!
Enjoy!
The second the boat arrived at the police dock Reid was swarmed with people trying to help him. There were way too many hands for him to handle and all of them were trying to do something different. One set of hands had grabbed onto the length of chain, another was inspecting the manacles around his hands, some were trying to help him stand up, and a large man was reaching for his leg.
Unable to contain his panic Reid yelled out, "No, don't touch me! Leave me alone!"
Everyone froze and stared at the young man. They hadn't been prepared for this type of a reaction. It seemed as if the agent was terrified of human contact. Reid was pushing himself back against the side of the boat in a desperate attempt to get away from all the hands. It took Hotch stepping in and telling everyone to back off for the workers to realize that their presence was crushing the boy.
"Back up! Give him some air," Hotch directed to the officers and EMTs that were encircling the genius. "Here, hand me the bolt cutters."
The officer that was wielding the cutters handed over the tool and stepped back. Hotch crouched down next to Reid and said, "Reid, I'm going to cut those chains off of you now. Stay still so I don't hurt you. Okay?"
Reid nodded his head in recognition.
It took a few tries on Hotch's part to cut through the collar. Regrettably, he ended up nicking Reid's neck a little on the final cut. But moments later it swung open and released Reid's neck from its suffocating grasp.
Immediately the boy's hands went to his neck to massage the portion that had been captured in the metallic contraption. Someone let out a small gasp at the sight of the bruising and red marks that were left behind. There was even a deep loop that traveled the full circumference of his neck, a leftover from when he was kidnapped by the snare days ago.
"Reid, give me your hands," Hotch instructed.
Having gotten used to using the bolt cutters Hotch was able to make short work of the manacles. Those too fell away and revealed more irritated and scabbed skin. The genius was quick to stretch out his hands as far as they would reach relishing in the freedom he hadn't known in days.
"Let's get you up and to the ambulance," Hotch said after he handed the tool back to the waiting officer.
With Morgan's help Hotch was able to get Reid up the ladder and onto the dock. Both men noticed how the genius seemed very nervous when accepting their help but chalked it up to his usual quirk against human contact.
Once he was on the dock Reid was able to walk on his own to the waiting ambulance regardless of the disorientation he was experience due to his fever. Once he got there he was sat on a gurney and was approached by an EMT.
Reid shrank back from the outreaching hands again but scolded himself moments later. He had to act natural and let these people take care of him or else the team would start getting suspicious. It took all the self-control he had to keep his face neutral as the male EMT started inspecting his wounds.
"I'm going to have you lay down now and we're going to put you in the back of the bus," the man explained.
Reid had a momentary panic attack when they started pulling the straps across his body to keep him in place during transport. Briefly he transported back to John's filthy bed and remembered how he had struggled to get up. His hand went to the straps to try to pull them off but he upset his fingers and let out a whimper in pain.
"Don't worry. Those are there to keep you from fall off the gurney. You're going to be fine," the EMT said when he noticed his patient's panicked breathing.
The voice pulled Reid out of his flashback. Realizing that he wasn't in any danger he let his hands fall lifelessly to his sides and waited for the vehicle to start moving.
Out of nowhere he heard Morgan saying, "I'm riding along."
"No," Reid croaked out quickly.
"What? Reid…man…I'm not leaving you alone again. Someone's got to keep you out of trouble," Morgan said trying to make light of the situation.
"No," Reid repeated. "I'll be fine. I'll see you at the hospital."
"Are you sure? I don't like this. You need a friendly face by your side. If not me at least let someone else ride along with you," Morgan prodded as he was a little bit hurt that his best friend was pushing him away.
"No! I don't need a babysitter," Reid said through clenched teeth.
Morgan, temporarily stunned by the genius's reaction stood there looking into the ambulance in a stupor.
"Um…it's going to be crowded in here anyways with us two working on him. You should probably just meet us at the hospital," the EMT said gesturing to his coworker. Without giving Morgan a chance to respond the second EMT hopped into the bed of the truck and closed the doors with a resounding crash. Morgan was left standing there with an open mouth wondering why his friend was so desperate to go it alone.
Once the doors shut on the EMT Reid allowed the workers to tend to him. He really didn't like them touching him though and had to focus on his breathing to prevent another panic attack. He had to get through this without raising any alarms. He also needed to stay competent enough to make sure they didn't try to give him any narcotics, which didn't go over well with the two aides.
"You sure? It looks like you're in a lot of pain?" the man asked.
"I'll be fine. No narcotics," Reid said as he winced in obvious pain, a reaction of his injuries being jostled when the ambulance hit a pothole in the road.
"Okay, I'll have to make a note of that in your file," he said.
"Go ahead," Reid said snippily.
The ride to the hospital took forty minutes. In that time the attendants were able to splint his fingers and wrap them tightly to prevent any movement. They flushed out his alligator bite and applied new gauze to the wound saying that the doctors would have to look at it more closely when he got to the ER. The next thing they did was treat his neck and wrist abrasions. Finally, they rolled Reid onto his side and analyzed his back.
"It looks like burns on top of some welts and lesions," the male EMT stated.
"We need to treat the burns first and then clean out the abrasions," the female responded.
"Hey, um…kid," the man called out to Reid.
"It's Dr. Reid," he interrupted.
"Oh, Dr. Reid…sorry. How did you get these welts on your back?" the man questioned.
"It…those marks…um…can't I just wait and discuss that with the doctor?" Reid asked.
"Uh…yeah. I just wanted to make sure that whatever did it wasn't putting you at risk for infection. We'll just patch them up anyways and you can talk to your doctor about what caused them," the man said.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" the woman asked after they treated all the welts and burns on Reid's back.
"Um…yeah. On my stomach," Reid said nervously. He really didn't want anyone to see the hideous brand that was etched into his skin, but he knew it needed to be treated before it too caused an infection if it hadn't already.
"Okay, we're going to have you lay on your back again so we can get a look at it," the female instructed when the vehicle came to a sudden halt.
"Looks like we're here," the man said. "We'll tell the ER doctors about your stomach and they'll take care of it."
Reid didn't even respond as he felt the gurney move taking him along with it.
His time in the ER took forever. There were x-rays ordered, burn treatments to undergo, hard casts put on his index fingers because the breaks in them were too sever to leave splinted, and antibiotic treatments administered to combat the infection he was already fighting. None of his injuries required him being put under, and for that Reid was thankful.
Reid was also happy because the whole time he was being treated he was able to keep his rape a secret. Every grimace and gasp that accidentally slipped out was easily blamed on his other injuries and as long as he didn't move around too much the pain in his backside was tolerable. By the end of his examination and caretaking Reid was patting himself on the back for he successfully fooled the medical professionals into believing that there was nothing else wrong with him. In addition he was silently thanking God for the opportunity he had earlier that morning to wash off the evidence that may have alerted the doctors to his assault and destroyed his whole cover-up.
The one problem he had was keeping his paranoia and panic in check whenever a strange man entered his room. It was probably one of the most difficult things he had ever had to deal with. Of course, Reid had dealt with rape victims before, but he finally understood what they went through after the fact. He knew that none of the men that worked on him were there to hurt him, but every time they touched him would flashback to his night of terror with John. His mind really struggled to keep his fear inside. It took everything he had to stop his body from yelling out or fighting against their ministrations but he did it.
They finally transferred him up to his own room after hours of being poked and prodded. Luckily the fever never got up too high to make him delusional or confused so he was lucid enough to make his wishes known to his doctor when he was settled into his room.
"You have friends out in the waiting room wanting to come in and see you," Dr. Etchinson said as he walked in the room to see how his patient was doing.
"You didn't speak to them yet did you?"
"No, I was just on my way to talk to them and let them know they could come back and visit with you," the doctor responded.
"Good. I wanted to make sure that you only give them status updates on my burns, fingers, and alligator bite. Everything else is to remain between you, the nurses, me and my medical files. I do not want them to know about my welts or the bran….burn on my stomach," Reid demanded.
"Um…okay. I can do that. But if they ask me how you are doing I am going to answer honestly. I am going to give them a realistic recovery time based on all your injuries," the doctor countered.
"That's fine. Just don't go into detail. I'll tell them about the rest of it when I'm ready," the genius responded knowing good and well that he was never going to disclose that information to any of them.
"Alright. Oh…are you sure you don't want anything for the pain. I know that your burn must be excruciating and those broken fingers can't be a walk in the park," Doctor Etchinson asked.
"No…I'll be fine," Reid said with determination. In reality every part of his body felt like it was on fire, especially his backside. John was not gentle last night and Reid could still feel the fiery pain coming from that area.
"Okay. I'll send them in soon," the doctor said as he walked away.
Reid breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he pulled off his cover-up.
"Dr. Spencer Reid," a man in a white medical coat called out into the waiting room.
All of the agents stood up and approached the man. They had been waiting for hours with no update and every time they asked the nurses just brushed them off.
"We're here for Dr. Reid," Hotch answered for them all. "How is he doing?"
"I'm Dr. Etchinson and I was in charge of Dr. Reid's care. First of all, I can tell that you aren't family, but I have permission from your friend to inform you of his injuries," the doctor started. "Dr. Reid is suffering from some burns on his back due to the explosion. They aren't severe enough to scar and just need to be treated daily with some burn cream. His fingers were brutally mangled and because of that each needed to be casted. The broken digits on his left hand were all casted together, and his right finger is casted singularly. Finally, he has a fever as a result of his alligator bite. It is very common for alligators to transfer bacteria from their teeth into their victim. This is what happened in Dr. Reid's case, especially since he didn't get the wound treated right after it occurred. We have administered antibiotics and we should see their results within the next two days."
"Is there anything else?" Morgan asked.
"Well…," the doctor really wanted to discuss the rest of the injuries but knew it would violate his client's wishes, but he could discuss his mental state without fear of infringement. "I think Dr. Reid should think about seeing a therapist after he gets released from the hospital. He seems to be hiding away his true feelings and I think he is going to have a hard time coming to terms with what happened to him out there. It would be in your best interest to get him to talk to someone about his experiences."
The team nodded in agreement knowing that their favorite genius would rather die than share all his secrets with a stranger.
"We'll make sure he does," Rossi said knowing it was going to be a fight.
"Good. He is right down the hall from here, room 408. He needs his rest so please go easy on him. The nurses will inform you of the visiting hours. Please don't hesitate to call me to ask any questions," Dr. Etchinson said as he left the profilers.
The team hovered around their battered friend for the rest of the day. It was when the windows finally signaled that night had arrived that they decided to give Reid a break. After a bit of arguing between Morgan and JJ it was finally decided that the muscular man was going to keep the kid company over night.
Reid was put out at the prospect of having a babysitter there with him all night but he tried not to show it. Deep down he was just worried about having nightmares in front of his fellow agent and what he might say during the throes of one.
"You really don't have to stay Morgan," Reid said after the team had left.
"No man. You're not going to pull that on me again. I let you ride off without me in the ambulance against my will. I'm not leaving you in the hospital all by yourself after everything you went through," Morgan said shutting his friend down instantaneously.
"I'll be fine," Reid countered using his well-known excuse that meant he would be anything but fine.
"Look, I'm staying. Deal with it kid," Morgan responded with a finality.
With a huff Reid hugged his arms around his body and laid back into the bed.
"Good. I see your finally getting some sense in you," Morgan said after seeing his friend concede defeat.
The two sat quietly watching a horrible sitcom on T.V. Reid, after having enough of the canned laughter for a night shut off the devise after a particularly horrible attempt at a joke.
"I think I'll try to get some sleep," Reid explained when silence enveloped the room.
"No problem. Get all the rest you can. But Reid, before you do I just want you to know that I'm here whenever you need to talk. I mean it. If you wake up at three in the morning and need to get something out, wake me up," Morgan encouraged.
Reid gave Morgan a half smile in thanks and closed his eyes feeling safe in the darkness for the first time in days.
Morgan must have been a psychic because right around 3 a.m. Reid jolted out of a nightmare and was gasping for breath.
He looked around the room ready to defend himself if necessary and realized that he was in his hospital room and Morgan was across from him stretched out over two chairs. The snoring of his best friend gave his mind something to grab onto and helped him calm down.
Morgan must have sensed his friend's distress and peeled his eyes open moments later.
"Hey man, you alright?"
"Yeah…it was just a…" Reid trailed off not wanting to share.
"A nightmare?"
"Yeah."
"You want to talk about it? Get it off your chest?" Morgan asked hoping that his friend would finally open up about what happened. The whole time the team was there no one mentioned Reid's ordeal not wanting to upset the kid, but Morgan knew his friend needed to pour out his encounter to someone.
"Um…no. It's alright," Reid said licking his lips and reaching for a glass of water.
"Well, do you want to hear about how we found you?" Morgan asked hoping his story act as a doorway to get his friend to start talking.
"Sure," Reid whispered because he was kind of interested in finding out what they were up to the whole time he was stranded on that island.
Morgan relived the last four days since Spencer was taken. He discussed the panic they all felt when they realized their colleague was missing and how they searched the bayou nonstop for any trace of him.
"It wasn't until yesterday that JJ stumbled upon a lead. She was at the same grocery store counter that you two went to the first night we were here. She saw a man buy two types of crackers and recognized him as the same man that listened to your story. He was buying tons of medical supplies too and started acting squirrely after he made eye contact with her. Long story short, we found out the man she recognized was John Brookins, the same man that made the map of the bayou for us to search. We thought it was too much of a coincidence that he made the map that we were using to look for you. So this morning we took to the boats and set out searching the places he neglected to mark. Luckily you lit that fire and your genius explosion brought us to you. We would have found you eventually by going from the map though…you just helped to speed the rescue along. I'm so proud of you for essentially rescuing yourself pretty boy," Morgan explained hoping his friend would now tell him something about his time with John.
"Did you just say that you guys knew how to find my yesterday?" Reid asked with a hint of anger in his voice.
Morgan furrowed his brow at the question, not liking where it was leading. "Well yeah. By the time we figured out what was going on with John it was too late to go out on the boats again. The search parties had been running all day and they were too tired to continue in the dark."
"You guys could have found me last night?! You gave up on me till the morning!?"
"Reid…man…I just said that we wouldn't have been able to search for you without the light," Morgan said realizing just how upset Reid was getting.
"No! You could have stopped it…you could have saved me earlier! I can't believe you all just gave up! I would have never done that if it was one of you. I would have demanded they call in new people to continue the search. I…I…I don't even know what to say to you. Get out of my room! Leave me alone just like you did last night," Reid screeched at his best friend.
"Come on! We searched for you day and night Reid. We didn't give up on you. We just couldn't get out there last night. We all wanted too, but we were ordered to get some sleep," Morgan said trying to placate his friend.
"Sleep? Sleep! You were sleeping while I was living in hell! Get out! Don't come back. I don't want to see any of you. Leave me alone! I'll find my own way back to Virginia," Reid yelled with tears coming out of his eyes.
"We're not going to do that man. Look, listen to me. None of us wanted to stop looking for you for a moment, but we just couldn't commandeer a boat and go out on our own. There was no way we could get out there last night. I swear!" Morgan stated as he reached his hand to Reid's face to wipe away his tears.
Reid slapped Morgan's hand away and said ferociously, "I said get out!" He then reached over and buzzed the call button to summon the nurse.
Moments later a burly young man appeared in the doorway and asked, "Is there anything you need?"
"No," Morgan answered but was quickly negated by his friend.
"Yes! Can you please get him out of my room. He's disturbing my sleep and refuses to get out."
"Sir. I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the nurse said adhering to his patient's wishes.
"I'm not going anywhere. Reid, you need to start talking. I can tell you're bottling things up inside. You need to let them out," Morgan said to him trying to appeal to his senses.
Reid turned his back to Morgan as a sign that he was through listening to the man's arguments. "Get out!"
"Sir, I will call security if you don't leave now. You are upsetting my patient," the nurse called to the angry agent.
"Fine. I'm leaving Reid. But I'll be back in the morning with the others and we're going to talk," Morgan declared as he made his way to the door. He looked back to see if there was any response from his friend, but saw no indication that he was listening.
Reid heard the door close and clenched his eyes shut in anger. How could his friends wait like that? They could have prevented some if not all of the assault from occurring but instead they went to sleep. The realization that they were all snoozing in their beds while he was undergoing the worst night of his life made him boil with rage. Perhaps it was time to cut ties with them all. He had grown to close to them over the past few years, and he had even allowed himself to trust them. But like always his trust was abused and stomped into the ground.
What made him even angrier was that he felt so betrayed and there was no way he would ever be able to tell his friends why. He realized then that keeping this all inside was going to be harder than he thought. Unfortunately, bottling up the pain and humiliation was a better alternative than revealing it to the others. He knew he could do this. He had experience with keeping dark secrets locked in the inner recesses of his brain; this time wouldn't be any different. He just needed to ride out this storm and keep his so-called friends at a distance.
Reid eventually fell back into a deep sleep. He had flipped around on the bed to face the door after Morgan left. John stood there in the doorway admiring the boy as he lay with his legs pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. He loved how the kid looked so young and vulnerable in the hospital bed all curled up.
John crept into the room not wanting to wake the boy. He marveled at how easy it was to get access to a patient's room this late at night. One would think the staff would be on alert and walking around to check on their patients, but they were just gathered at the nurses' station gossiping.
The large man walked over to his victim and gazed at his slumbering form. He could tell the boy was troubled because his jaw was clenched even in his sleep. He saw how both of his hands had casts to help his fingers heal. The rest of the injuries were covered up by the hospital gown and blanket. John was tempted to lift the boy's gown to get a look at the brand but controlled his urges. He had come here for one reason only, to leave the boy a gift.
He took the package and wedged it between the boy's back and the mattress. This way, when the boy flipped over to lie on his back the gift would poke him. There was no way it would go unnoticed.
The man took one last look at the object of his desire and backed out of the room. Regrettably, He wasn't ready to take back what was his. There were too many things he needed to do before they could play again. Anyways, he wanted the boy to heal a bit before the next round of fun.
As he plodded down the stairwell he wondered at how he became obsessed with the young man. This whole thing really did start out with him just needing some company and entertainment to get through the long lonely nights. Of course, when he took the girls the sex was an added bonus that he couldn't pass up. But he never fathomed when he took the boy that sex would become a factor. He knew it was the kid's feminine looks that started to attract him. Then, the man started to become enthralled with the expressions that painted the kid's face throughout every situation he endured. Those big brown eyes of his were so expressive and emotional that one couldn't help but become lost in their depths. Once John was irrecoverably enchanted he knew that he must possess the boy body and soul.
Of course, John hadn't forgotten about how the boy damaged his sanctuary. The man planned on making the boy pay once he was back in his grasp. Unfortunately, all of that would have to wait until John had a working plan and a new place to call home. And if he had to follow the young man back to wherever he came from in order to execute his plans, then so be it.
Reid woke up early the next morning. He was still curled up in a ball on the edge of his bed and needed to stretch his muscles after being scrunched up all night.
He heard a noise in the hallway and shot his jittery glance toward the door to see a hospital worker coming through it with his breakfast tray. Reid lay back in the bed and allowed the worker to wheel the tray over to him. He politely thanked the woman for his food and started to get ready to pick at the unappetizing meal of runny eggs and burnt soggy toast. Eating with two hands partially casted was more difficult than Reid anticipated. He was lucky though that the majority of the broken fingers were on his left hand because he ate with his right. Once he figured out how to handle the fork without using his index finger he took a stab at the food.
It was when he went to put the first taste of food in his mouth that he realized something was digging into his back. He set the fork down and pushed the tray out of the way. He scooted over to his right and looked down at the mattress and there under where his back was once located was a flat brown package.
A chill went through his body at the thought that someone had been in his room while he was out cold. He suddenly regretted sending Morgan away for the night and wished the larger man had been there to protect him. Cursing himself for his stupidity earlier, Reid reached for the package and began to open it.
He found himself staring at a children's book. With trembling fingers he traced over the images on the front cover that showed a large green alligator with rows of sharp teeth. The title of the book was "See You Later Alligator." Reid took a shaky breath and opened the book. There scrawled on the first page was a little message that said, "Don't think that this is over. I'll be seeing you soon."
Sequel? Of course! Keep a look out for "Speechless." BTW I promise that in the next story John won't get away unscathed and that Reid will have to learn how to open up and trust his family again.