When they arrived at the restaurant, Spencer sat down, avoiding eye contact with everyone and opting to focus on his menu.
Garcia nudged Emily, motioning toward him and whispering. "Is he okay?"
She nodded slightly. "He's lost in his own mind right now. Unfortunately, it happens a lot these days." She turned back to him. "Right, Reid?"
He paused and turned to her. "Hm?"
She shook her head. "Nevermind." When she was sure he'd zoned out again, she turned to Hotch. "Can I talk to you?"
He looked confused, but nodded, getting up from the table and following her outside.
She sighed, crossing her arms. "Strauss wants his evaluation tomorrow?"
"I tried everything I could to get her to change her mind. It wasn't enough and she says since it's been nearly a week, he needs to talk about it and pass by her standards."
She gasped, disgusted. "Her standards? God, she already hates Reid. She hates our entire team because we don't conform to her rules. You're really going to let her fail him and make him sit around, thinking about his failure? He's never failed anything in his life, and this is a shitty thing to start with."
"If there was anything I could do, I would. She's already upset that we spent the last week on a personal case-"
She rolled her eyes, scoffing. "Yes, because he was the only person attacked, right?"
"She doesn't see that. She just sees that we were too wrapped up in a case involving one of our own."
She sighed. "What are we going to do if he fails?"
"I can honestly say I have no idea."
Derek nudged Spencer's arm. "How are you feeling, kid?"
"A little bit sore. There's a lot of shrugging when Emily tries to make up words on the Scrabble board, and it hurts."
Emily ruffled his hair, taking her seat. "You beat me every time. I could've made up those words and you'd still be fine."
"…But it wouldn't have been honest."
"Oh, please." She sat down, looking at her menu.
After they ordered, he cleared his throat, sighing. "Can I just say something?"
Garcia smiled. "Of course, honey."
"I um, I can't thank you all enough, for making this case a priority. I know, 'we're a family' and I know 'they attacked all of us', but it really means a lot that you were pulling late hours to do this for me. You even gave up this weekend so you could work this case. I promise, if the tables are ever turned, which I sincerely hope they never are, I'll do the same for you."
JJ reached a hand over, grabbing his and squeezing it. "Anytime."
He smirked, squeezing her hand back.
"Do you maybe want to come spend the night at my place? I'm sure Henry could use the cheer-up of seeing his Uncle Spence, and I think seeing him might do you some good."
He winced. "I-I don't know, JJ. I mean, my face hasn't quite healed yet and I can't exactly walk in looking like Frankenstein's monster and expect him to warm up to me."
She shook her head. "He loves you regardless."
"Except that time he swung Pretty Boy's cane at his bad leg," Derek said.
She rolled her eyes. "He was just over a year, and being able to do that was impressive."
"It actually is," Spencer defended, "considering his age and how heavy it was. I was more impressed than upset."
Rossi shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?"
Spencer shrugged, hissing. "God damnit I can't wait for this to be over."
Garcia bit down on her lip to keep from laughing and put up her hand. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but hearing you cursing like a sailor is the funniest thing that's ever happened on the job."
To everyone's surprise, Spencer laughed himself. "I'm glad I could entertain you."
Most of the meal was spent quiet, mainly because nobody wanted to say something to somehow upset Spencer and ruin the nice time out they were having. Once they were finished eating, everyone said their goodbyes to each other, all of them excited to have Spencer working again in the morning. For how long, however, was a mystery. Emily walked over with his bag, holding it out. Before Spencer could grab it, JJ snatched it, putting it over her shoulder.
"Are you going to let me carry my own bag?"
She thought for a second and quickly shook her head. "Not a chance."
He turned to Emily. "Thank you for everything. I appreciate it."
She rubbed his back. "Anytime."
Garcia walked over, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him. "Sleep tight, my sweets."
He winced slightly, hugging her back and resting his head on her shoulder. "I'll try. I'll see you tomorrow?"
She patted his back. "You bet, Boy Wonder."
He sighed, turning to JJ. "You're sure about this?"
"Positive. Henry's not going to care what you look like. Just seeing your face makes him happy."
"Let's hope so," he mumbled, following her out to the car.
Walking into the house, JJ went straight to the guest room, setting down his bag before he could grab it.
"You really don't need to do that-"
"Considering just moving your shoulder hurts? I'm not going to have you lifting anything on my watch."
He rolled his eyes, walking to the living room and sitting on the couch. Meanwhile, JJ walked to the nursery, sitting beside Will and kissing his cheek.
"How was he today?"
He smiled. "Think he's going to take off on us soon, the way he's walkin' round."
JJ smirked. "Let's see if he'll keep that up for his uncle." She reached over, picking him up and getting up, walking out to the living room.
"JJ, are you sure about this? I don't know if it's a good idea."
"Spence, for the love of God, shut up."
"You know you're the second person on the team to tell me that?"
"Then maybe you should start listening?" she suggested, sitting on the floor and setting Henry in front of her. "Come on down."
To avoid being snapped at again, he sat beside her. "What if he gets upset?"
"He won't, but if you don't stop feeling all paranoid, he will be."
Spencer sighed. "Fine."
She reached over, grabbing one of Henry's toys and shaking it, gasping when his ears perked up. "If you want it, you have to come get it."
He raised an eyebrow. "How do you suppose he does that?"
"Just watch." She shook it again and tossed it in Spencer's lap.
He looked at her, confused, but caught on when Henry pulled himself up, toddling toward him. He couldn't stop himself from smiling when Henry made it to him, grabbing the toy from his lap. "How long has he been at this?"
"A few weeks now. He's just perfected it this week."
"That's impressive. You know, most children-"
She shook her head, reaching over and cupping a hand over his mouth. "You are not comparing my son and your godson against statistics, or so help me God, Spencer Reid-"
"Nevermind."
Later that night, Spencer was sitting up in the guest room, reading.
JJ walked in, setting an ice pack on his knee. "Can I get you anything else?"
He shook his head, looking up from his book. "I'm fine."
"…Are you sure?"
"At this very second? Yes. With the current living arrangement, having to hop between my coworkers' homes because I can't stand to step into my own apartment? Not really."
She reached over, rubbing his back. "Spence, you're not being a burden on anybody. We don't mind taking you in, because we know if the tables were turned and one of us needed to stay somewhere, you'd offer up your couch in a heartbeat. No, scratch that, you'd offer your bed and sleep on the couch yourself."
"I would not-" she gave him a look and he sighed, "you're right, I would."
"Exactly." She sat beside him. "If you need anything, and I mean anything, my bedroom is two doors down. Will knows the situation and he won't get upset, I promise. Whether it's some ice or your pills or if you just need to talk. We're here for you and don't want you to feel guilty if you need something."
He raised an eyebrow. "…Thank you."
She smirked, shaking her head. "No need to thank me, we're family. Now," she started, getting up. "Get some sleep." She grabbed the book from his hands, putting in a bookmark and setting it on his go-bag across the room.
He gasped. "That's not fair. I can't exactly get out of bed to go get my book-"
"That's the point." She turned off the light before walking out, leaving the door open a crack.
JJ was woken up several times that night by whimpering, but not from Henry's room. Instead, it was pained whines and whimpers coming from the guest room. At one point, she contemplated getting up, but Will shook his head, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her back down.
"He doesn't need you to check on him. It'll be a hit to his masculinity. He needs to let it happen."
She sighed, resting her head on the pillow. "Fine, but one more bad one and I'm going in there."
As she predicted, she needed to get up and make sure he was okay. She walked into the room, grabbing his good shoulder and shaking lightly. "Spence," she whispered. "Spence, it's JJ. Wake up, it's just a bad dream."
With one final wince and whimper, he blinked, looking up at her. "I'm sorry," he whispered tiredly.
She shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry for." She ran a hand through his hair soothingly, trying to calm him down. "We all have bad dreams once in a while. It happens. Do you need to talk about it?"
To her surprise, he nodded, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. He swallowed and chewed on his lip. "I… I know he's away and he can't hurt me anymore, none of them can, but I can't help but think about, with what we do, how much danger is really out there for me. Add in the fact that I'm extremely accident prone on my own and I'm not-"
She put up a hand, stopping him. "You're worried about your ability to still do this job?"
"Well, yeah." He sniffed, swallowing. "I know it's ridiculous, but… if I let this get to me, what's to say I won't let anything else?"
She reached for his hand, squeezing it. "Because I know you, Spencer Reid. And I have seen you at the lowest point of your career. I saw you going through hell. I saw you die, for crying out loud. But that never stopped you. You came back, you played along with his delusions, and you shot him. You came back to work right after that and, despite going through drug withdrawals, you still excelled at your job. Not to mention you were legitimately poisoned, and instead of going to a hospital like you should've, you decided to keep working to help other people." She reached up, running a hand through his hair. "I know you, Spence, and I know that you're going to overcome this."
He sighed. "But… but Tobias Hankel didn't specifically target me for weeks. Neither did Chad Brown. These guys did. How am I supposed to keep doing my job knowing that somebody actually wanted to put me through that?"
"That's simple."
He raised an eyebrow, looking up at her. "Oh?"
"You use it to fuel your fire. Anytime the job has you down, you remember this happened to you, you got over it, you helped find them, you scared the daylights out of the most threatening one, and you got him locked up for good. Your biggest concern in life right now is work in the morning. His is protecting his ass in prison."
He bit down on his lip with a slight smile. "Really?"
She leaned over, kissing the top of his head. "Really. Now, get some sleep. Early morning tomorrow."
He gave her a nod before lying back down. Before returning to her room, she tucked him in, silently praying that everything would go well.