"Ow!" Emily hissed, trying to pull away from Reid but he was too quick for her and easily kept a hold of her.

"Sorry," he said sympathetically. "But you know that these need to be cleaned."

Emily grumbled and held still. Stupid burns. Stupid skin. Why did it have to go all raw and shiny and blistery on her? Oh, sure, she had literally dodged out of the way of flames (or not in this case) but still, it had only been for a few seconds! Her skin did not need to have this dramatic a reaction! At least her foot had a reason to still be sore, it basically got stabbed by a freaking arrow! Her skin was just being a baby. It barely got touched by the flames.

Unfortunately, this thought process did not make her skin toughen up and stop hurting. In fact, and Emily was sure that this was just to spite her, it managed to hurt even more. See? Her skin was just dramatic.

Which meant that, unfortunately, she needed the burns tended to. And, because of where they were on her arm, she couldn't do it by herself. She was no contortionist. Which meant that she had to ask someone for help. And that involved admitting that she'd been hurt. Which sucked.

Reid had actually realised that she was injured before she said anything. Something about the way she was holding her arm. Reid was sometimes scary about what he noticed about everyone. She thought that she had been hiding it pretty well, Hotch hadn't noticed anything.

The problem was with Reid noticing it and being the one to clean her injuries was that he was a bit too meticulous. Oh, she appreciated him helping her and all that, of course she did, but the level of attention he was directing at some simple burns was a bit much.

"Do you have really have to clean them that much?"

Reid didn't even deign that with a response. Which was quite rude of him, by the way. Hmpf. Yeah, yeah, of course she knew that her burns had to be thoroughly cleaned. Did she look like the type of person who would enjoy having an infection? Because she wasn't. It was just that that was taking so long.

"I didn't do it on purpose, you know," she said with a pout as he tsked at another burn.

"I know but surely you could have moved in a way that the flames didn't hit quite so much of your skin?"

"Do I look like a ninja to you?" Reid opened his mouth to reply but Emily cut him off. "Don't answer that. And it's not that many burns."

Reid wordlessly pulled the bin he was using to dispose of the cotton swabs so that it was between them. There was a thick layer of them in there, completely blocking whatever else had been in the bin before.

"You know, you should probably go to the hospital to get these checked out," he told her, dropping the cotton swab into the bin next to him.

It was already fully of other discarded cotton swabs. He was being very diligent over her injuries. She really expected nothing else of him, let's be honest here.

Emily made a scoffing noise and waved her hand dismissively.

"I know how to take care of a burn."

"Burns," he corrected.

She rolled her eyes. "Burns. And I'm sure anything I don't know, you know."

She raised an eyebrow expectantly at him and he slowly nodded with a frown.

"See? I'm good then. No need to go to the hospital."

"Unless you get an infection."

"Does it look like I'm getting an infection?"

"Well, no bu-"

"Then I'm fine and I know what to do."

Reid shook his head and rolled his eyes at her, thankfully deciding not to rebuke her any further.

"Ow!"

He did, however, press down harder than was strictly necessary in her opinion.

He didn't even have the decency to look at her guiltily as her eyes met his.

"You're mean," she pouted.

It was taking all of her concentration to not pull her arm away and rub at it furiously. That would just make anything worse and she really did not want to go to the hospital.

"Do they look that bad?" Emily broke the silence between the two of them, trying to twist herself in a way so she could see all of her burns.

Something Reid wasn't going to let happen because he made sure that she didn't twist her injured arm too much. Which meant she couldn't see it properly.

"Yes. They're raw red and starting to peel in places. Of course, they look bad. Now stay still."

It wasn't often that Reid used that tone, especially with her, so she did as she was told. Maybe it would make everything go faster.

"There! All done," he said, finally letting go of her.

"Yes!" She said, raising her arms in triumph and then immediately regretting it as the action pulled at her injured skin.

"Don't ruin all my work!" Reid chided, pulling her arm back down.

"Bad idea, bad idea," she moaned, giving her arm a shake.

Not as good as giving it a rub but this kind of worked. The light breeze the movement generated felt so good against her skin.

"It probably should be covered for a day or so," Reid said, drowning slightly.

Emily shook her head vigorously.

"They aren't that bad."

And, like she said, the cold air felt so good against her still warm skin. She didn't want block that with bandages.

"Emily."

"I'll be fine."

"Emily."

"Look, surely them being exposed to air is a good thing?"

Reid paused for a moment and then begrudgingly started nodding. Ha! See? Even she knew a little bit of medical knowledge. He put the bandages away again.

"Put them on if the burns become more irritated," he told her and she quickly agreed, tugging her shirt sleeve down.

"Thanks, by the way, " she said quietly.

Had she said that yet? She felt like she hadn't said that yet.

Reid gave her a confused look. "Thanks for what?"

She gestured at her arm, which was now looking much better, just a little shiny from all the cream.

"For helping me out."