Misunderstandings

Reid was walking down the hall to the restroom when he heard voices. He had seen Morgan and Garcia come inside a few minutes ago, and didn't think anything of it, but as he passed the 'library' on his way to the bathroom, he heard Morgan say, "I built this house for us." In that moment, his world fell apart. It felt like there was a vice around his heart, constricting it, and not allowing him to breathe. He hurried into the bathroom and emptied the content of his stomach, trying to stop the tears from coming. He just needed to get out of here. Once he was home, he could break down in peace.

After flushing the toilet and rinsing is mouth out, he stumbled into the kitchen. JJ was grabbing a juice box out if the refrigerator, when she saw him come in.

"Spence, what's wrong?"

Apparently he looked worse than he thought. He used that to is advantage. "I'm not feeling well," he said, rubbing his stomach. "I'm going to head out. Please say my goodbyes for me?" He asked, looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

She pulled him into a hug, and it took everything he had not to break down right there in the kitchen. "Of course, Spence. You just take care of yourself. Will you be ok to drive? I can drive you? We can leave your car and you can get it tomorrow?"

"No," he said, almost too forcefully. JJ frowned. "No, I don't want to cause any problems. I can make it home myself."

"If you're sure." She said, still not convinced.

"I am. I promise, I'll be fine. Please tell Henry I said goodbye and I love him, okay?"

"I will." She said, he hand on is shoulder, walking him to the door. She hugged him again, before letting him out the door. He usually wasn't much on affection, but he welcomed it tonight. "Please text me and let me know you made it home. I worry." She called to him, as he was getting in his car.

Even with his heart in a million pieces, that simple statement caused I'm to smile. "Yes mom." He replied, and laughed when she flipped him off.

He held it together through the drive home, and was able to text JJ a simple 'I'm home' before the flood gates opened. He had enough thought to close and lock the front door, before sliding down it, and wrapping his arms around his legs, knees pulled up. At first, it was just tears, then it morphed into silent crying, before giving away to sobbing.

He knew it was coming. He knew Morgan well enough to know there was someone, and he was sort of prepared for that, but Garcia? How could he have missed that? Sure they flirted all the time. That was the nature of their relationship. But he had no idea Morgan had those kind of feeling for her. It made sense, though. They were closer than anyone else on the team, save him and Morgan.

Oh God! What about work? It would be hard enough to work with Morgan, knowing he was in love with someone else, but how was he going to be able to work with them both? His heart would shatter every time he saw them together. Thank goodness he had a three day weekend to come to terms with this. Allow it to sink in, and figure out how he could face them on Monday.

What if he couldn't handle it? Right now, in this moment, it felt like his insides were being ripped out and stomped on. What of three days wasn't enough? His only option would be to transfer. He almost did after Emily 'died' because he was so sad about losing a friend. Now, he felt broken. This is why he always kept his emotions at bay. He never let envy one get too close. They all left in the end. Maybe now it was his turn to leave.

Reid spent the next three days in bed. He didn't realize it was possible to cry that much. It was exhausting. He was ignoring everyone, only texting JJ to pass along a message that he had a stomach bug and was contagious, so the would stay away. He received a text from Emily saying she hoped he felt better soon, and one from Garcia saying she would bring him over her special chicken soup, to which he replied a quick no. Hotch texted saying if he needed some extra time off, to let him know. He promptly responded yes, he would take an extra few days off to recover.

It was Morgan that was making it almost unbearable. He called over and over, leaving messages every time. And, when those went unanswered, he tried texting...non-stop. The young agent finally had to turn off his phone, just to get some peace. How could he get over his best friend and co-worker, if he was reminded of his presence every 5 minutes!

Earlier...

Morgan came out of the 'library' with a bounce in his step. He was going to ask Reid to help him clean up, so he would be the last one to leave, then he would tell the young genius how he felt about him. Garcia had convinced him to take him on a private tour of the house after everyone left, taking great care to point out the 'Spencer specific' details of each room.

He felt a little more confident that his feeling might be reciprocated after his heart to heart with his baby girl. She was quite observant, and told him Reid had been watching Morgan all night, and that when he walked in the house for the first time, she saw him catch his breath. He was a profiler too, so maybe he picked up on the subtle ways Morgan had incorporated Reid into the house. If not, Derek was going to have fun showing him.

He entered the kitchen, immediately began scanning the deck to find his pretty boy. Not seeing him, he continued outside. Still no Spencer. He looked over at Henry, who was smiling at his mom, and thought back to earlier. His reaction to Spencer and Henry watching the fireworks was surprising, but not unwelcome. He could not take his eyes off of his best friends face. It was drawn up in a smile and was illuminated with each firework that went off, giving his skin an angelic glow. He could swear he stopped breathing for a short time.

Now, he couldn't locate the object of his desire and was getting a little frustrated. He had a plan, and couldn't wait to follow it through, but he needed to find Reid. He approached Henry and bent down to his level. "Hey little man, you having a good time?"

Henry beamed, shaking his head yes.

"Hey, do you know where your Uncle Spencer is? I can't find him and I have to ask him a question."

"Unca Pence frew up." Henry said, squishing up his face.

Derek's good mood suddenly plummeted. He opened his mouth to ask another question, when Will interrupted. "JJ said Spencer wasn't feeling well. He took off 'bout 10 minutes ago. He said to say g'bye."

"T-thanks," he replied, turning around and heading back inside to hide. He found himself in the library, without realizing how he had gotten there. He sat, again, in the wing back chair, gently stroking the leather with his fingertips. He was silent for a moment, before pulling out his cell phone to call Reid.

His first call went straight to voice mail. "Hey man, Will said you were feeling sick. Hope it wasn't anything you ate. Give me a call so I know how your doing?"

Ten minutes later..."Hey, Pretty Boy, just calling to make sure you got home ok. You didn't return my first call, and I'm worried. Just call me, k?"

Garcia found him a few minutes later, and scolded him for being a bad host. "I'm sorry your evening didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, but you still have guests."

"I know, mama. I'm just worried about Spencer." He felt comfortable calling him that in Garcia's presence.

"JJ got a text from him saying he made it home. He probably is going straight to bed, so put your happy face on and let's go finish your party. I'll give you a minute to text Reid, but then I expect your fine ass outside on that beautiful porch making a killer fire in your new fire pit. I'm craving me some s'mores!"

Despite a sinking feeling something was up with Reid, he smiled at Garcia, and promised to be out in a second. He then sent a quick text to Reid asking how he was doing before returning to his guests.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone was enjoying s'mores around Morgan's hand crafted fire pit, laughing. Morgan was starting to relax again when Emily spoke up. "It too bad Reid's not here. I'll bet he'd have some great ghost stories to tell."

Morgan's smile faded and he again pulled out his phone, this time taking a picture of the fire and sending it to Spencer. He sent a simple message with it. 'Only thing this fire is missing are your scary stories, genius. Feel better soon.'

Derek enjoyed the rest of the evening, but was missing Spencer's presence. It wasn't the same without him. He continued to discreetly text the young genius throughout the remainder of the night, wondering why he wasn't getting any response.

After everyone left, Morgan sat out by the fire, drinking beer after beer, feeling sorry for himself. He had texted Reid at least 20 times and not gotten a response. He tried calling, too, but it was going straight to voice mail, which meant he had turned off his phone. The kid must have been really sick. Morgan wondered of he should stop by tomorrow and bring Reid some jello. He knew it was the genius's favorite when he was sick.

The weekend was slow going for Morgan. He got a text from JJ telling him not to visit Reid. He didn't understand why, but she explained Spence had a stomach flu and was contagious, and he didn't want anyone else on the team to get it. So, he continued to text his best friend, and worried more and more that something else was wrong when he continued to get radio silence in return.