Thank you so much for all of the lovely reviews. Really glad you're enjoying the story. With reference to the question about the M rating, it is in relation to Reid whump, NOT slash. I don't mind slash, but I don't write slash. So there will be some serious whumpage!

Anyway, Reid is a bit out of character in this chapter, but that's kind of the point :) Hope you enjoy and can't guess where this is going ;) x

Reid had propped himself up against a filing cabinet, his arms were wrapped tightly around his midsection. His hair fell forwards into his eyes and blood dripped down onto his clothing.

Hotch knelt down beside him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You alright?" He asked kindly.

Reid looked up at him, Hotch could see his hands were still shaking slightly. The pain in Reid's eyes was evident.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He looked down, embarrassed.

Hotch knew why, Reid should have had his gun. But now wasn't the time for that discussion. First and foremost he needed medical help.

"Oh my god, Reid. Are you okay?" JJ rushed up to his other side, brushing the hair out of his face.

"I'm fine, JJ. I'm fine." He reassured her.

"Can you stand?" Hotch asked, moving to help him up.

"Yeah. I think so." Reid's voice was tight, his breath hadn't quite yet recovered.

JJ took one arm and Hotch the other, they slowly helped him to his feet. Reid hissed in pain as he straightened up. Most of the pain was coming from his head, his headache had not been helped by the numerous blows to his skull.

"Alright?" Morgan approached, looking for some way he could help. Hotch nodded in response. "I'll call an ambulance." He said, decisively.

"No, Morgan, no. Don't do that. I'll be fine." Reid spoke breathlessly.

"You don't look it, kid." Morgan argued.

"I just need a sit down, nothing's broken. I know that much." Reid moved to the nearest chair, with the help of Hotch and JJ. "I'll be okay." He sat down.

"Reid, I think you should at least be checked out." Hotch ordered.

"We have medics in the building." Reid pointed out. "Send one of them. I really don't want to waste an E.R.'s time."

Morgan looked to Hotch, hoping he would talk some sense into Reid. But Hotch merely nodded.

"Get a medic." He directed to Morgan.

"I'm not happy about this." Morgan stated, standing for a few moments more, awaiting a reponse. When he received none, he reluctantly left.

"Can I get you anything, Reid?" Prentiss questioned.

"Cup of coffee would be nice." Reid quipped.

"Was that a joke?" Smiled Prentiss to JJ and Hotch.

"No." Reid replied, quite seriously.

"Oh." Prentiss looked to JJ, slightly confused. "Cup of coffee it is then, Dr Reid."

Seeing that Reid's appearance was marginally improving, Hotch left his side to speak to SSA Lewis regarding the whole situation. Lewis was quite evidently stressed by the experience, and clearly felt very guilty about Reid's involvement in the whole thing.

Seeing an open space, Jason made a move next to Reid.

"Spencer! Are you alright?" He raced up to Reid's side and put a hand on his shoulder. Reid simply nodded, sick of telling people that he was 'fine'. "I've never seen anything like that." He spoke, sounding slightly disturbed. "I can't believe how nasty people can be... Are you sure you're alright?" This time he waited for a verbal response.

"Yeah." Replied Spencer. "Are you?"

Taken aback by the question, Jason looked quite touched.

"Yeah, Spence. I'm fine thank you." JJ glanced up at Jason, surprised to hear him using her term of endearment. "I'm so glad you're okay. I almost thought they were gonna kill you at one point." Jason appeared genuinely concerned, Reid suddenly felt very glad that Jason was a good friend now. He smiled, mostly to himself and Jason squeezed his shoulder supportively.

JJ couldn't help but feel slightly put out. Although she was pleased that Reid had finally found a good friend, sharing him with someone else was not something she, or the rest of the team, were used to. Pushing the selfish thoughts aside, she moved out of the way as the medics swept in to deal with Reid's injuries. She watched Reid flinch and pull faces as they poked and prodded at him, checking for any serious injuries. Finding none, they cleaned up the cuts on his face, lectured him about staying out of any physical activity for a few days and then let him be.

Hotch moved in as he saw them leaving, Rossi and Morgan listened in.

"How is he?" He asked, clearly concerned.

"He's fine." Replied the older medic. "He is very bruised and will be sore for a couple of days, particularly on his right cheekbone, but there are no serious injuries. Nothing that requires further medical attention. We have cleaned up his wounds. Our biggest concern was concussion, but his pupils seems to be responding appropriately to stimuli and he doesn't mention any headaches, so it's just a case of doing nothing strenuous for the next few days. We've done all we can."

"Thank you." Hotch nodded. He moved straight over to where Reid was sitting. "Can you stand?"

Reid looked up at him, his brows furrowed.

"Yeah. I feel much better now I've got my breath back." Reid smiled, it didn't reach his eyes.

"Good... come with me please." Hotch asked gently, although it was an order. He reached his hand out to help Reid up, but he dismissed it.

"I'm okay." Slight irritation came through in Reid's voice and he automatically looked sheepish. Standing up to full height suddenly made his head spin and a pain shot right across the front of his eyes.

Morgan stepped forwards grabbing Reid's arm. Suddenly Jason's voice cut in.

"He's okay Agent Morgan. He can manage." Morgan turned to give Jason a dirty look, but the man's gaze was completely fixed on Reid. He was obviously deeply concerned about him. Morgan then felt slightly bad, it wasn't Jason's fault in the end. He was just doing what he thought was best. He could relate to that.

"Thanks, Jay." Reid said once he had gathered his thoughts together. Then he proceeded to follow Hotch into his office for the second time that day. As he walked, he felt his head clearing slightly. It felt a bit better.

Before he knew it, he was in Hotch's office and the door was closed.

"Sit down, Reid." Hotch's tone was serious.

Reid shifted nervously.

"Mmm... okay." He winced slightly as he did so.

"What happened in there?" Hotch asked plainly.

Reid looked at him, genuinely confused.

"Mmm... I- I don't really... know what you mean." He shook his head.

Hotch leaned towards him, slightly across his desk. Reid then knew this was serious. He reflexively leaned further back into his chair, increasing the distance between them.

"Your gun, Reid. What were you doing without your gun?"

Reid looked at him shocked, suddenly having a flashback to when he reached down to find his holster empty. He found himself stuttering.

"I... I-I don't, I don't know." Panic was laced in his voice and was quickly reaching his eyes. He was desperately searching his mind for the answer to the question.

"You don't know?" Hotch asked, dryly.

Reid's mouth hung open in disbelief, it just didn't make sense. Where was his gun?

"I- I had it! I had it, Hotch. I had it! I know I had it." He rambled on like a man obsessed. At this Hotch looked fairly worried. "It just doesn't make sense. I definitely had it."

"Well, Reid. You've got to understand, something like this... it doesn't look good."

Reid was shaking his head, clearly blocking out what his boss was saying to him. He talked over him.

"I never take it off, not at work. Never!"

Hotch tried to continue.

"You have to understand that as FBI agents we have a certain level of security that we have to maintain-"

"I don't understand where it's gone." Reid cut in rudely.

"- and being in such a state where you are capable of losing your gun is compromising that security."

"It doesn't make sense at all!" Reid was getting more frustrated and loud. "It was right here!" He desperately pulled his holster off and threw it down on Hotch's desk.

"Reid." Hotch warned him, sternly.

"You don't believe me." Reid stared wide eyed at Hotch, confrontationally. Hotch was feeling slight anger now.

"I don't know what to believe, Reid. You come into work at the moment and you might as well not be here. You're moody, you're not focused, you're losing things. Quite honestly, you are becoming a liability." Reid shook his head in shock. "I don't know what's going on with you, but you cannot continue-"

"It. Was. Right. Here. Hotch!" He stood up grabbing the holster again, waving it in Hotch's face. "Right here!" In the spur of the moment, he threw it in Hotch's face and headed straight for the doorway.

"REID!" Hotch shouted, seriously annoyed now.

Reid defiantly kept on walking, by now the whole office was watching. He quickly went up to his desk and desperately started looking through his belongings as he had done earlier. He tipped out his entire bag, pulled out drawers from his desk, some of which he emptied onto the floor. He moved all of the items around on his desk, desperately looking for his gun.

"Reid!" Hotch tried to get through to him.

"I had it Hotch!" He shouted, not looking at his boss.

The rest of the team looked on, horrified.

"What the hell's goin' on now?" Asked Morgan, glancing to Hotch.

Emily moved to grab Reid's arm.

"Reid! Calm down." She had him by the forearm. He froze and stared her directly in the eye. She spoke calmly. "I will help you find whatever it is you're looking for."

Reid stared deep into her eyes for a few moments. Then realisation dawned on him.

"Of course. Yeah, course you will." She furrowed her brows at this. Pulling her away from her desk, he charged past her and started frantically opening all of her desk drawers. "Where have you put it, Emily? Where is it?"

Prentiss stared in shock, looking desperately to Morgan and Hotch who moved in to take Reid by the arms.

"Reid, you gotta calm down, man!" Morgan pleaded.

"Reid. Let go." He was clinging on to Emily's desk.

He suddenly released his grip and held his hands up in surrender.

"Fine!" He said panting. "Fine. You win." His breath was coming heavily.

"What was that, kid?" Morgan asked, deeply worried about the younger man. The man he treated like a brother.

He and Hotch let go of Reid's arms. Satisfied that he was calmer.

Reid automatically moved away from them. The two men were surprised at how unconcerned Reid seemed to be about the attention he was drawing.

"I- It was nothing... Just a prank." Hotch rolled his eyes, angry. He knew Reid wasn't telling the truth.

"A prank? Reid, what the hell?" Morgan said frustrated.

"Well, yeah. Yeah, a prank. Those things you like so much. You know... a mischievous trick or joke, or at least that's it's official definition. But I think, Morgan-" He was speaking like he was building up to a big revelation. "I think you, like to practise in deceit from time to time too." Reid's eyes were wild. "I think you can't take it when somebody gets their own back on you, so you have to go that step further and make someone think that they are going a little crazy!" Morgan stared at Reid in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Prentiss and Rossi exchanged confused and worried glances.

"Reid, that's enough" Hotch ordered.

Reid looked to Hotch, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his eyes for a moment before the madness was back.

He stared at Hotch for a few moments longer and then turned suddenly, towards Morgan's desk and started pulling it apart. He tried the top two drawers, throwing pictures of Morgan's family all over the place. The next two had files and stationery.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Morgan ploughed up behind Reid, trying to pull him back by the shoulders, but Reid seemed to have an inexplicable strength. Must have been from the sheer panic. Desperate, Morgan wrapped his arm around Reid's neck and captured his left arm in the lock behind his back. Reid let out a yelp as his already punished body was forced into the uncomfortable position. As Morgan pulled him back, there were gasps around the room. Confused Morgan looked to Rossi who had a look of pure shock on his face.

"Er, Morgan." Was all he said. He motioned towards Reid's right hand.

Releasing the younger man, he looked to where everyone's gaze seemed to be focused. Reid's right hand – complete with his pistol, seemingly retrieved from Morgan's bottom drawer.

All he could do was stare in disbelief.