A/N: I know, sorry, sorry. It's been ages. Summer's been rough. But I promise this story will not become another Liar that lasts over 6 months. I tried to make this chapter into a bit of a reward for those who actually are bearing with me on this :) Big thank you to LT who beta read despite her busy schedule at work!
-o-o-o-
"Stop eating my Jell-O, Morgan!"
Morgan snickered shortly and put the small plate back on the tray. "Alright, alright. Chill." He raised his hands in surrender and demonstratively pushed his chair slightly backwards. He didn't mind giving up the Jell-O, even though it was the cherry flavored red one – his favorite. Reid needed every bit of nutrients he could get, even though Jell-O was basically just gelatin and water.
Reid reached strenuously towards the little plate and got a hold of the wobbly goodness. "You always eat my Jell-O", he said with a smile. "You wait until I fall asleep and then you scarf it down before I wake up."
Morgan laughed. "Don't you think you're getting a little old for Jell-O, kid?"
With a breathy laugh, Reid sucked in the remainder of the red, jiggly square into his mouth and devoured it. "Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" he said between chewing and swallowing.
"Hey, I'm a man in my prime." Morgan straightened his back and pretended to brush dirt off a make believe dress shirt.
"Who still eats Jell-O", Reid filled in with a smile. He handed the empty plate to Morgan who placed it on the tray.
"And you didn't even save me a bite", Morgan said as he eyed the plate.
"You ate half of it while I slept!"
"Picky." Morgan gave Reid a huge brotherly grin. He was happy to see his young colleague awake and coherent again after his ordeal.
It had been five days since the team had arrived at the Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville and found their missing team member lying on a hospital bed in very poor condition. After having talked to the doctor and questioning Jacob Hall, the profilers had decided to get a good night's sleep before continuing their work. Morgan had refused to leave the hospital and demanded to stay in Reid's room over night until the rest of the team returned. Despite the doctor's reassurance that Reid's condition would not rapidly deteriorate during the night, Morgan had been adamant and eventually had gotten his way. He had spent the night in a very hard chair next to Reid's bed.
During the following days, the BAU had worked on a profile for whoever had kidnapped and possibly tortured their youngest member. Garcia had been glued to her screen, trying to find a shred of evidence or a trail to go on, but had not unexpectedly come up empty handed.
For the first two days, Reid had not been in any condition to communicate properly due to his severe dehydration and sunburn, but by the third day after the team had arrived, the young doctor had been able to sit up and eat on his own, as well as talking clearly. By now, he had even been up and walking himself to the bathroom and taking short walks up and down the hallway outside his room. Every step hurt as the young agent forced his legs to move, and his skin would feel like it had been tumble dried when the label clearly said 'dry clean only'.
But today was the day. Reid was getting discharged from the hospital and would be allowed to go back home to Virginia together with his team. He wouldn't be back on the clock for at least two more weeks, but at least he would be in his own apartment with his own things and not wrapped in stinky hospital linen and lying on that plywood board they called a mattress. He was finally going home.
"You feeling good about getting out of here, kid?" It was as if Morgan had read his mind.
Reid nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I feel like an animal in a cage here. Every half an hour someone comes in here and wants to check something, be it blood pressure or oxygen level or god knows what. I can't wait to come home and have a full night's sleep without someone sneaking in to change my catheter bag. Uhm…" As he uttered the last words, his face turned a bright red and he averted his eyes. That wasn't really the information he had planned to pass on to his older colleague.
Morgan laughed. "Yeah, I can see how that's annoying."
They got no further in their discussion before there was a tap on the door, and before they could answer it, it was opened. Hotch and Prentiss walked into the room.
"Hey, Reid", Prentiss said with a smile as she approached the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Better", Reid said and nodded. "Thank you."
"Looks like we're taking you home today", Hotch said, cracking a ghost of a smile. He was relieved that his youngest subordinate was in working condition again.
"Yeah, I can't wait." Reid shifted on the bed with a wince. "This bed is beginning to wear on my last nerve."
"Well, hospital beds aren't designed to be comfortable", Prentice said, leaning on the bottom frame of the bed.
"So I've noticed."
"I'll go talk to the doctor and see when we can get you out of here", Morgan said, rising from his seat. "You hang tight there, kid – we'll have you out of that bed in no time."
"Sounds good." Reid smiled up at his colleague who had barely left his side during his stay at the hospital. He watched the older man walk out the door and heard it slam shut behind him, and then turned to his other colleagues. "Did you find anything?"
Hotch shook his head dejectedly. "Nothing." He took a few steps towards the bed and sat down on the chair next to his subordinate. "You still don't remember anything?"
Reid silently cursed his own brilliant mind for not being able to recall the events of the four days he had been missing.
For a genius, you're not very smart, he thought to himself.
"No", Reid said tiredly with a frown. "I don't understand why I can't remember." He was getting frustrated. He had spent every waken moment since he came back to his senses, trying to remember what had happened. He had come up empty handed every time. Nothing would jog his memory.
"Don't kick yourself about it, Reid", Prentiss said caringly. "It's not your fault. It will come to you."
"When?" he questioned, looking pleadingly at Prentiss. "When will it come to me? I can't go around knowing that something happened, but now knowing what. I need to know."
"I understand, Reid", Hotch said, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. Gently, not to hurt the still remaining sunburn. It was healing, but not painless.
"Maybe…" Reid mused, slightly excited. "I've been thinking. Hypnosis helped me remember once; maybe it can help me again?" He had been pondering visiting a hypnotist ever since he realized that four days were missing from his memory. Not too long ago, it had helped him remember disturbing events from his childhood. It shouldn't be considered impossible that it would help again.
"We could try", Hotch said, also remembering the occurrence in Las Vegas. "But those were repressed memories. We don't know if this is a chemically induced amnesia or not, and if it is, the hypnosis might not work."
"I'm willing to take that chance." Reid nodded at his superior.
"We'll take care of it when we get back to Virginia." Prentiss took a magazine from the cart beside the bed and eyed it. "Uh, Reid..?"
"Yeah?"
Prentiss held up the magazine. "Modern Bride?"
Reid blushed. "It was all that was left!" he blurted. "I read all the other magazines they had on the morning cart and that was…that…"
Prentiss snickered. "Sure…"
Suddenly, there was a light tap on the door, and a pretty face peeked in. "Sorry to disturb you guys, but it's time for Spencer's bath." The nurse smiled and waved at the young man in the bed.
"Just give us a couple of minutes, Alex. Okay?" Reid smiled back.
"Sure." The door closed with a click.
"Sponge baths, my goodness…" Prentiss, hitched her eyebrows and blinked at her young co-worker, who once again blushed.
"It's, uh…yeah." Reid pressed his lips together in a tight smile. "One of the few good things about being confined to a hospital."
Hotch and Prentiss looked at each other briefly and smiled. Hotch rose from the chair and walked towards the door. "We'll be waiting out here until we can take you home." Opening the door, he stepped out and Prentiss followed, but she stopped half way through the door.
"No need to rush the bath, though", she said, grinning. "Take your time."
Reid blushed for the 40th time that day. "Thanks."
"I'll send Alex in. Enjoy…" With a wink, she slid the door shut, waved a 'go ahead' to Alex the nurse and then joined Hotch and Morgan outside. "We should go have some coffee, this is gonna be a while."
"How long can a sponge bath take?" Hotch wondered.
"Did you see the nurse?" Prentiss questioned. "This could take a very long time."
"You can't be serious." Morgan crossed his arms over his chest, a partially shocked look on his face. "Reid?"
Prentiss shook his head. "Morgan, Morgan, Morgan…" She placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him towards the corridor leading to the cafeteria. "There are things concerning Spencer Reid that you just don't know about."
"That I don't need to know about", Morgan corrected.
"Let's just have coffee and leave Reid out of the conversation for now", Hotch suggested. But he couldn't help smirking when none of his subordinates saw it.
-o-o-o-
Reid sat on the small stool in the shower. Luke warm water streamed down his back and a soft towel was rubbed over his skin with extreme care. It wasn't a traditional sponge bath since he was able to get into the shower, but it was very soothing nevertheless. The towel was gently circled over his back, neck and arms, and Reid couldn't help himself. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling. It was the only time he could let his mind wander away from the situation, and he was able to relax.
The slow circling of the wet towel continued over his shoulders and down his chest. The water was cooler now, but as it flowed down his naked skin, he felt relieved. His skin didn't feel as tight as it did when it was dry.
A drop of water ran from his brow and down his face, dripping off his chin.
The circling of the towel slowed down as it reached the bottom edge of his stomach. Slow, careful strokes with the cloth sent pleasant shivers down the young agent's spine, and a small smile formed on his lips. "Mmm…"
"Is that nice?"
"Yes."
Reid couldn't comprehend how his body could respond in this manner at a time like this. But it did.
The wet towel continued its journey down both his thighs and legs and before Reid knew it, the water was shut off and he was thrown back into the real world. He suddenly felt very exposed.
It was as if Nurse Alex had read his mind, and wrapped a warm towel around his wet body. "Come on, Spencer. Let's go back to the bed and I'll dry you off, and then I can put some cooling balm on you. Would you like that?"
Reid nodded, making his wet bangs bounce. "Yeah, I'd like that."
He let Alex help him back to the bed and sat still as the young nurse patted him dry with the towel. With some extra assistance, he was able to step into a pair of boxers and then sat back down on the bed.
The cooling balm was a gift sent from heaven. He didn't really need it as badly now as he had when he first woke up and his skin was in turmoil, but it was still a very satisfying feeling having it rubbed all over his aching body. Usually, Reid would be partially opposed to physical touch of this kind, or any kind, but right now he really needed the attention. At least his skin needed it.
"I'm not gonna put the IV back in", Alex said, rubbing the balm over Reid's back. "I heard you're going home today."
"Yeah." Reid smiled at the thought of finally returning to his own apartment.
"I'll miss you." Alex smiled behind Reid's back. "You're one of the nicest patients I've ever cared for."
And Reid blushed. "Thank you."
Alex continued rubbing the lotion over Reid's body in silence.
The young agent once again let his mind wander, and naturally it wandered straight back to the Nashville plain he had woke up in five days earlier. He still couldn't figure out how he had ended up there. The last thing he remembered was checking the apartment for burglars but coming up empty handed. After that he drew a complete four day blank.
Why had he been taken from his home, and by who? What had happened? The questions spun around in Reid's confused mind and he tried to straighten out everything – and failed. With a sigh, he felt the covers being drawn over his legs.
"All done. I'll send your friends in now."
"Thank you." As the young nurse opened the door to leave, Reid's head snapped up. "Alex?"
"Yeah?"
"I'll miss you too."
Alex smiled and closed the door. Reid was alone again. Alone with his thoughts.
He couldn't wait to get home. Not only to crawl into his own bed, but also to get a hold of a hypnotist, who could possibly help him remember what happened during his kidnapping. And also find a good lock smith to change the locks on his door and install a burglar alarm. He didn't want any more uninvited visitors.
Reid could hear Hotch's and Morgan's voices outside the door, and he was drawn back into reality.
He would be home again soon.
Home sweet home.
