Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing. I do not own anything you recognize.
Previously on Criminal Minds- Emily nodded. "Take good care of our genius." she whispered as the tech analyst walked by.
"I will." Penelope promised. Giving the team a wave, she walked out the door.
CM
The clicking of keys drew Reid out of a sound sleep. Wondering what Garcia was doing in his bedroom, the profiler blinked open his eyes. He looked around the unfamiliar room in confusion. How had he ended up…memories of their case suddenly slammed into him causing the toddler to shoot straight up in bed. "Gawcia, what awe we doing in a hotel?" Spencer asked, gazing around their latest home away from home. "We should be at the peace station!"
"Relax, Pumpkin" Penelope soothed. She met the little boy's eyes for a moment before returning her focus to the laptop in front of her. "Hotch sent us here so you could rest without any of the cops at the station bothering you."
"West? I don't have time to west. I've got to figwe out the ge'o, ge'ogic, the map." Reid huffed as he sleepily fisted his eyes.
Shaking her head at the youngster's statement, Garcia sighed. For all his genius Dr. Reid was clueless about some things. The kid definitely had a lot to learn about taking care of himself starting with what his tiny body needed. Resigning herself to the fight she knew her next announcement would make, the tech analyst squared her shoulders and turned around to face her soon to be rival. "You can work on the geological profile after you eat your lunch." She instructed. "There's a sandwich, apple slices, and juice in the mini fridge for you."
"I'll eat latew." Reid declared, struggling to kick the mass of blankets off himself.
"You'll eat now." Penelope countered, giving the toddler her best "angry mom" glare.
"But Gawcia, I, I" Spencer stammered. His eyes widened as a very pressing need suddenly made itself known. "I gotta go!" he hollered. Forgetting his current predicament, the BAU's youngest agent pushed at the covers with all his might and leapt off the bed.
CM
"Morgan, JJ go talk to the Pierce's neighbors. Maybe one of them noticed something or someone out of the ordinary in the days before the kidnapping." Hotch ordered. "Rossi, you talk to the groundskeeper at the cemetery. See if he saw an unfamiliar person or vehicle before he found the bodies. Prentiss and I will stay and comb through all the evidence again. There has to be something we're missing."
"You got it, Hotch" Morgan agreed as he stood and headed for the door. Hearing his cell phone ring, he pulled it out of the holster on his belt. He checked the caller ID before flipping it open and putting it to his ear. "Hey Mama, is the little rugrat already giving you a…whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down sweetness, what's wrong? Garcia? Hey slow it down Baby Girl and tell me what's wrong. What? Okay, take a deep breath and calm down for me. It's gonna be okay, alright? That a girl. Now here's what I want you to do. I'm gonna hang up and I want you to call 911. Can you do that for me? Yes, you do. It's the only option you have. You don't have a vehicle and you're not about to take the bus or a cab. It's too dangerous for you two to be out alone with some psycho targeting kids Reid's age on the loose. You're calling 911, got it? Good. Now go get his insurance card. It's in the pocket on the front of his bag. That's right. I'm gonna hang up now. Call the ambulance okay? I'll meet you at the hospital. I'm leaving right now. Hang in there for me, Sweetness" Flipping his phone closed, Derek glanced at the team, who had gathered around him. "Reid's hurt." He announced.
"How bad?" Aaron questioned, picking up his suit jacket and sliding it on.
"I don't know. Garcia was too shook up for me to get much information. About the only thing I caught clearly was that he fell off the bed and he's bleeding badly." Morgan informed the others. "I'll know more when I meet them at the hospital. Vegas General's the closest one to the hotel, right?"
"It is but you're not going. I am. You need to go with JJ." Hotch ordered, shaking his head to prevent the younger agent's protest. "I have to go. I'm listed as his father on the insurance card."
"I'll go with you then." Derek offered.
"Absolutely not" the BAU leader replied.
"Aaron's right, Morgan" Rossi chimed in as he came over to stand between the two agents. "The kid has a guilt complex a mile wide. He's probably already feeling guilty about taking himself and Garcia away from the case. That guilt will double if Reid sees you and Hotch walk into the hospital."
"And what if the unsub takes another child while you're there? Can you imagine what that would do to him?" Prentiss added.
"Okay, okay, I get it. I won't go to the hospital." Morgan conceded. "But you better call me as soon as you find out anything."
"I will." Aaron agreed with a nod. He swapped SUV keys with the younger man and then hurried out the door.
CM
A short time later Hotch rushed through Vegas General's sliding glass doors. Taking his ID out of his pocket, he strode over to the nurse's station and rapped on the desk to get the two ladies' attention. "Excuse me, I'm Special Agent Aaron Hotchner." He said, flashing his badge. "My sister in law called to inform me my son had been hurt and was being brought here by ambulance. Have they arrived yet?"
"What's your son's name, sir?" an older, no nonsense looking woman asked.
"Spencer Hotchner" Aaron stated.
The fifty something woman turned and slowly typed the boy's name into the computer. "Hotchner, Hotchner, here it is. He was brought in a couple of minutes ago. He's in exam room four. Sheila here will take you to him."
"Thank you" Hotch gratefully replied. He went around the circular desk and over to the petite blond.
"This way" Sheila curtly said, gesturing to the closed double doors. Pushing them aside, she led the profiler down a long, narrow hallway, stopping at a wooden door about halfway down. She gently knocked on the door before opening it. "Oh, ahh, Dr. Samuels, Spencer's father is here." She announced.
Hearing Reid frantically calling his name, Hotch quickly brushed past the nurse and into the small room. Seeing Garcia holding the clearly terrified toddler while a too young male doctor stood a few feet away, the profiler quietly cursed. 'It would be.' he thought as he hurried across the room. Aaron took the little boy from his protector and gently embraced him. "It's alright, Spencer" he soothed.
"H-Hotch, I'm, I'm otay" Reid whispered. "Tell him to go away. Peas?"
"Shhh, it's going to be alright, Spencer." Aaron promised, shaking his head as the doctor started to approach. "I want you to sit with Garcia while I talk with the doctor, okay?" Feeling the toddler's hands tighten their grip on his shirt, he sighed. "Spencer, you have to let go. I'm not leaving you, buddy. I'm just going to walk over there and talk with the doctor." A shake of the head was his only answer. "Alright, kiddo, you win. You can go with daddy." Hotch softly said, stressing the word "daddy" to remind the boy of his role. Getting a nod, the surrogate father headed over to the doctor.
Dr. Samuels fumed as he watched the boy's father coddling him. When he'd seen the man come in, he'd hoped the stern looking man would straighten the kid out so he could examine him. Unfortunately, it looked like the kid's dad was as big a pushover as his fat a$$ aunt. Well, he'd just have to set them straight. He didn't have all day to molly-coddle some snot nosed brat. Seeing the father coming his way, he smiled. This was going to be fun.
Aaron walked up to the young doctor, frowning at the word "intern" on the man's ID. "Dr. Samuels…"
"Finally" the intern huffed. "Now if you'll just put your son on the exam table, I'll get that cut on his head taken care of."
Raising an eyebrow at the intern's words and gruff tone, Hotch tightened his hold on Reid. "Dr. Samuels, I'm afraid I'm going to have to request a different doctor. My son was attacked by a pedophile last week. He cannot handle having a male doctor examine him."
"Well he'll just have to deal with it." Dr. Samuels snapped back. "Now put him on the table so I can do my job. I have other patients to see about. I don't have all day."
Hotch's eyes narrowed. "I don't think you understand." he growled.
"Oh, I understand, alright." the arrogant intern spat. "You're the one that doesn't get it. This is an emergency room, not a spa. You don't get your pick of doctors. I'm his doctor. Period. Now would you please stop babying the little brat and put him on the table before…"
"Dr. Samuels, that is enough!" a stern voice called from the doorway.
Hotch turned to see an older woman in a white lab coat glaring at the smart mouthed intern.
"Dr. Hoffman, I was just…"
"I heard." the female doctor broke in. "I'm relieving you of duty effective immediately. Go wait in the doctor's lounge for me. I'll be there shortly."
Dr. Samuels opened his mouth to protest, closing it at the look on his superior's face. Huffing, the young man stomped out of the room.
Dr. Hoffman watched the intern leave and then turned to the small family. "I'm sorry about Dr. Samuels." she apologized. "As an intern, he still has a lot to learn about dealing with the public."
"I understand." Hotch replied, swiftly sizing the woman up. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful but may I ask what brought you to the room?
"Nurse Johnson paged me after the paramedics explained your son's fear of unfamiliar men. I had her flag his chart so the residents on duty would know to steer clear and headed down here." The doctor explained. "Dr. Samuels never should have come into the room and he mostly certainly had no right speaking to you that way. Rest assured, I will be having a lengthy discussion with him about his behavior once I finish my rounds." Glancing down at the still trembling toddler snuggled into his father's side, Dr. Hoffman smiled. "Now that that's settled, how about we get this little guy patched up so he can go home? What do you say, Sweetie? Will you let me take a look at you?" Seeing the toddler flinch and tighten his hold on his father's shirt, she added, "Why don't we have daddy sit on the exam table and you can sit in his lap? How does that sound?"
"It's alright, Spencer. I'm not going anywhere." Aaron assured the little boy. "Let the doctor check you out, okay?" Getting a hesitant nod, the profiler frowned. The intern had obviously done more damage than he thought. Making a mental note to talk with Reid about the incident later, Hotch stepped over to the table and took a seat. He carefully settled the toddler in his lap before motioning the doctor over.
"That's a pretty impressive boo boo you've got there." Dr. Hoffman commented as she took in the still trickling gash on the right side of the boy's forehead. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"I, I f-f-fell off the b-bed." Spencer stammered, resisting the urge to burrow into Hotch's side as the doctor came closer.
"He had to go to the bathroom and he jumped off the bed before I could get over there. His feet got tangled in the blankets and he fell and his head hit the side of the nightstand." Garcia recounted.
"So I'm dealing with a little monkey, huh?" the doctor teased, smiling at the wide eyed toddler. She held up her hands to show the nervous child she didn't have anything in them. "I'm going to take a look at your boo boo now, okay? I'll be really gentle. Promise" Dr. Hoffman carefully examined the two inch gash before stepping back with a sigh. "I'm afraid he's going to need a few stitches." She announced.
"Alright" Hotch agreed, running a hand up and down Spencer's back in comfort. Glancing over at Garcia and observing her pale features and trembling hands, he decided to spare her the stitching experience. "Garcia, why don't you go to the gift shop and see what you can find?" he instructed. "I think a certain somebody could use a new friend after this." Hearing a soft mumble, the profiler looked down at his charge. "What was that buddy?"
"Tan she get some tooties? I'm hungwy." Reid quietly stated.
"Cookies and a treat. Got it. Be right back." Garcia said before hurrying out of the room.
Dr. Hoffman returned to the exam table and set down her supplies. "I'm going to put some ointment on first to numb the area, okay?" she informed the two. Getting twin nods, she gently spread the numbing agent on and around the gash. "Alright, now we're going to give that a little time to work and then we'll get you all fixed up."
Dr. Hoffman and Hotch talked about the different attractions in Vegas while they waited for the medicine to do its job. After about fifteen minutes, the doctor got a stool and wheeled it over to the table. She put on a clean pair of gloves, opened a small package that was sitting beside Hotch, and carefully removed the contents. "Alright, kiddo let's take care of that boo boo of yours." She said.
AN- Getting bored?