"We're taking you to the hospital," Gideon stated. "You need to get checked out."
Reid nodded wordlessly, too overwhelmed to say anything. JJ helped him stumble into the back of an SUV. He sighed in relief, grateful to get his weight off his battered feet. Or was it one foot? He was too addled to be sure any more.
"By the way, Jessica's here," JJ informed him.
"What?" Reid said blankly. He looked around, but JJ was the only blonde present.
"Not here here," JJ clarified. "At Hankel's house. We had Garcia come out here after you were taken, and Jessica insisted on tagging along."
"Oh." Reid leaned back in the seat and shut his eyes. Between the drugs, the concussion, and everything else that had happened in the past two days (had it really only been two days?), he wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to feel about this news. And, frankly, he didn't have the energy to figure it out.
Morgan radioed to let Garcia know that they'd found Reid and were taking him to the hospital. Garcia looked up directions to the hospital, then she and Jessica quickly gathered up the last of their things and loaded themselves into the last SUV. Jessica stared at the darkened countryside as it sped past, hardly seeing it.
Then, her phone began vibrating incessantly. Text after text popped up, messages that Beth and Claire and Principal Goodwin had apparently sent while she was in the farmhouse.
"Hey, where are you? Are you okay?"
"Are you sick or something? Feel better!"
"This is Principal Goodwin. You have been marked absent for three periods now. Please respond."
"Mr. Goodwin just asked us if we knew where you were. What's going on?"
"Seriously, where are you?"
"If we do not get a response from you, Dr. Reid, or Miss Garcia in the next half hour, we will call the police."
"This is getting a bit scary. Where are you?"
"Oh god, they've called the police now. Have you been murdered or something?!"
"Jessica, are you alive?!"
"Beth and I just went to your apartment. No one's answering the door."
"We just tried Penelope's, too. No one's there either."
"Does the FBI know where you are? Is there a number we can text to ask?"
"Mrs. Cramer said you're okay, but you had a 'family emergency'?"
"If you're okay, why aren't you answering?"
"Whatever's going on, we're sending you lots of hugs."
"Please just say something."
"Jessica?"
Jessica winced guiltily as she read. In retrospect, she really should have let Beth and Claire know what was going on. She should have realized they would wonder about her absence, and maybe if she'd told them, they could have cleared things up with the school before they wasted the police's time. Oh well. Too late to do anything except reply now.
"Hi guys. Sorry about that, I've been in a farmhouse in middle-of-nowhere Georgia with no cell reception. Short version is, Spencer was kidnapped but they just found him."
Less than a minute later, Beth and Claire responded with identical texts. "Oh my god! Is he okay?!"
"I'm not sure yet. They said they were taking him to the hospital. They didn't seem too worried, though, so I don't think he's dying." As she typed the last word, Jessica couldn't help but think back to those horrible few minutes when he had died. She decided not to mention that.
"Give him hugs from us," Claire sent back.
"I will."
"Where is he?" Jessica immediately demanded upon entering the hospital waiting room.
"Easy there, he's getting checked out right now," Morgan replied.
"When can I see him?"
"I don't know, but let the doctors do their job." Morgan gently steered Jessica over to a chair. Garcia sat next to her. Morgan sat on Garcia's other side, holding her hand.
"Family of Spencer Reid?" the doctor said.
"That would be Jessica here," Gideon replied, indicating the teen. "But I'm his medical proxy, and you can speak to all of us." JJ took it upon herself to begin signing along for Jessica.
"All right. Well, right off the bat, he's got a concussion, two cracked ribs, some pretty severe bruising on his left foot, and mild hypothermia. Also, we did some blood work, and it appears he was repeatedly injected with a mix of Dilaudid and ecstasy."
"He was drugged?" Morgan exclaimed in surprise.
"Against his will, he was quite emphatic about that. I'd like to keep him overnight for observation, and he should keep his weight off that foot for a few days, but he should make a full recovery."
"Thank god," JJ breathed.
"Can we see him now?" Jessica asked, JJ interpreting for her.
"No more than three at a time," the doctor replied. "He needs rest."
They all shared a look. By silent agreement, Gideon and JJ accompanied Jessica to Reid's room.
Jessica stopped in the doorway, suddenly unsure of herself. Spencer certainly looked a lot better now that he'd been cleaned up and she wasn't looking at him through a grainy video feed, but he still looked like hell. He was laying down with his eyes closed.
"Spence," JJ said softly. He groaned and squinted at her, then his gaze landed on Jessica and his eyes widened. Moments later, she surged forward and threw her arms around him.
"Ow," Reid said, wincing. He looked at JJ, silently pleading for rescue. She gently pulled Jessica away.
"Cracked ribs, remember?" JJ signed.
"Sorry," Jessica replied, chastened. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"I'll live," Reid replied, moving rather gingerly.
"Good to have you back, Reid," Gideon chimed in.
Reid nodded, then looked at Jessica again. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"You told me to come back. I almost didn't."
"It's not like you meant to get kidnapped," Jessica argued.
Reid shook his head. "I gave up. I confessed."
Jessica had no idea what he was talking about, but whatever it was, she wasn't about to let him beat himself up over it. "They said you were drugged, didn't they? That was probably the drugs talking."
"Maybe." Reid winced again.
Gideon put a hand on Jessica's shoulder, and she looked back at him. "Why don't we let Reid have a rest from signing? You can talk more when he's feeling better."
Jessica nodded, then pulled up a chair. "Rest. But I'm not leaving." She reached out and took her cousin's hand. He lightly squeezed it.
Gideon and JJ left to give the others a chance to see Reid. Morgan and Garcia popped in, then Prentiss and Hotch. They kept their visits short, aware of their genius's need for rest. Then they left to begin writing up their reports. The sooner they put this case behind them, the better.
In the morning, Reid was discharged with a prescription for painkillers and a pair of crutches. The team drove him and Jessica straight to the jet, determined to get out of Georgia as fast as possible. Climbing into the jet proved to be a challenge for Reid, but with Jessica's help, he managed it. He immediately curled up on the couch, his back to the rest of the plane. Jessica sat next to him, still refusing to take her eyes off him.
After Reid had been debriefed, Morgan insisted on driving the cousins home, with a stop at a pharmacy to pick up Reid's prescription. Once Reid was settled back into the back seat with Jessica, a thought struck him. "Wait, we need to go to a video rental place too."
"What was that?" Jessica asked. Reid hadn't signed, and he'd been facing partially away from her.
"We need a James Bond movie," Reid replied.
Jessica shook her head. "No, we don't. I don't want to watch anything else with guns and bad guys and dying."
"Are you sure?"
"Very sure."
"Never mind about the video," Reid reluctantly said to Morgan. Honestly, he didn't even like the James Bond franchise, but he desperately wanted to get back to what life had been like when the notion of not coming home had been a mere statistic in the back of his mind.
And then, he realized what Jessica had just said. "What do you mean, 'anything else'? When you were in the farmhouse, did you see…"
"Not all of it," Jessica signed soberly. "Well, pretty much all of the first time. The second time, I only saw the bit where you were…on the floor…and then when he did CPR. I stopped watching after that."
Reid swallowed and looked away. He knew perfectly well what Jessica had meant by 'on the floor', and that was a topic he wasn't even close to making sense of. And right now, he really didn't want to. Almost unconsciously, he reached into his pocket and fingered the stolen vials.
After school, Beth and Claire came over to the apartment. The moment Jessica opened the door, they both enveloped her in a group hug. Then Beth pulled away. "Where's Spencer? I want to hug him too."
"He has a couple cracked ribs, so no hugs for him right now," Jessica replied.
"Cracked ribs?" Claire repeated worriedly. "What exactly happened to him?"
"I don't know most of the details, and I don't think he wants to talk about it."
At that moment, Spencer hobbled into the living room. He gave Beth and Claire a look, tried to sign something, nearly dropped his crutches and quickly grabbed them again. Looking frustrated, he hobbled over to the couch and sat down. "It's Thursday."
The three girls shared a bemused look. "Yes, it is," Jessica agreed.
"You should be in school," Spencer stated.
"School's over," Claire informed him. "We're glad you're okay, by the way."
"You missed three days of school," Spencer continued, ignoring Claire.
"I care more about you than school," Jessica replied.
Spencer turned to Beth. "Did you come to bring her her assignments?"
"No, we came to see how you were doing."
"You need to get her caught up, or she'll be lost in class," Spencer insisted.
"Okay, sure," Beth agreed, again bemused. She led the way into Jessica's room. "He was kidnapped, and all he cares about are your grades?"
Jessica swallowed, thinking back to how Elle had been after her shooting. She really hoped Spencer wasn't about to go down that same downward spiral. "He's had a rough few days. I'm not sure he's thinking straight."
"He'll get over it," Claire signed confidently. "He's like a superhero. He's too awesome not to."
Jessica did not reply, wishing she shared Claire's confidence. As much as she admired her cousin, she understood that he was only human. And humans had limits.
Around 8:00 that night, Jessica stopped by Spencer's room. "You know, I could stay home with you tomorrow. Help you out so you don't have to walk too much. Crutches can't be fun with your ribs."
"You need to go to school," he insisted.
"Tomorrow's Friday anyway. I can go back on Monday."
"You've already missed three days. You really shouldn't miss any more."
Jessica swallowed. "I thought I'd lost you, Spencer. I know my week hasn't been as bad as yours, but I was really scared. I just…need to know you're all right."
"And I need space," Spencer replied. "If it makes you feel better, I can text you between classes." He grimaced, reached for his bottle of painkillers and took two pills.
Jessica frowned. "Didn't you just take two of those at dinner?"
"Yes, and everything still hurts," Spencer signed defensively.
"I'm pretty sure it's not healthy to take too many at once."
"Which of us is the doctor?" Spencer snapped irritably.
Jessica considered pointing out that he wasn't a medical doctor, then decided it wasn't worth it. Regardless, Spencer probably knew more than she did about pharmaceuticals. "Fine. Good night."
"Good night."
Between first and second period, Jessica checked her phone. She had a message from Spencer. "Still alive, I promise."
Jessica shuddered before replying. "That's exactly what you said on Monday, and I spent two days staring at that message and thinking it was going to be the last thing you ever said to me."
"Sorry. What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know. Anything but that."
After second period, Spencer was at least conscientious enough to change his wording. The day continued like that, Jessica checking in every chance she got. She hurried home as soon as the final bell rang, not bothering to chat with her friends. She found Spencer sitting on his bed, surrounded by a pile of books. He waved in greeting without looking up.
A few hours later, Jessica browsed through the fridge, trying to decide what to make for dinner. She saw some tilapia that was about to go bad, and took it out. She grabbed the frying pan and started up the stove.
Jessica was cutting up some potatoes when Spencer hobbled into the room, looking pale and nauseous. "No fish," he said, not even bothering to try to sign on crutches. "Anything but fish."
"Okay," Jessica agreed, baffled by his reaction. She turned off the stove and wrapped up the partially cooked fish. Then she turned back around and saw Spencer doing his best to open the living room windows, despite the cold February weather. She walked over to him. "Why are you opening the windows?"
"Got to get the smell out," he replied distractedly. "Smells become associated with memories…"
"I'll throw it away," Jessica quickly offered.
"Not in here. Down to the dumpster. Please!"
Jessica hurriedly did as he asked, slightly unnerved. When she got back upstairs, she held out a box of spaghetti for his approval. He nodded weakly, looking slightly better now. Jessica made a silent vow never to cook fish again.
The entire team dropped in to check on Reid at varying points over the course of the weekend. Garcia was the first to stop by, bringing Chocolate Thunder and a massive platter of home-baked cookies. JJ was next, insisting on playing a few games of rummy. Gideon engaged Reid in a lengthy game of chess. Prentiss showed up at dinnertime with take-out from Reid's favorite Indian place. On Sunday, Morgan came by with several bags of microwave popcorn and several Star Wars DVDs. Hotch came later with a book of logic puzzles and an offer to talk if Reid ever needed it. When Reid didn't take him up on it, he urged the young genius to at least take his Bureau-mandated therapy sessions seriously. Garcia came by with more cookies; even Reid didn't have that big a sweet tooth, so he told Jessica to take some to school the next day.
Throughout all of this, Jessica hovered constantly. Reid occasionally resorted to sleight-of-hand to keep her from noticing how many pills he was taking. Irrationally, he felt annoyed with her for calling him out on his over-use of the painkillers. Better the pills than those vials he was trying very hard not to think about. Having company had helped in that regard…but no matter how many distractions his friends provided, they just couldn't live up to the sweet release that he knew the Dilaudid could give him.
Wednesday night at dinner, Spencer upended the pill bottle and discovered that it was empty. Jessica frowned at him. "Wasn't that supposed to last you two weeks?"
Spencer quickly hid the empty bottle in his pocket. "No, it was a one-week prescription."
"Really? I could have sworn…"
"Which of us has an eidetic memory?" Spencer snapped.
"Sorry," Jessica apologized, trying not to let him see that she still wasn't convinced. He'd been acting off ever since they got home; she was certain he wasn't anywhere close to being fine, but she'd long since learned not to suggest he talk about it.
Once Spencer had started washing the dishes (a chore he insisted on resuming once he was off the crutches, despite Jessica offering to continue doing it), Jessica returned to her room and pulled out her phone to text Elle. "Did you hear that Spencer was kidnapped last week?"
"No, I didn't. Have they found him? Is he all right?"
"We got him back, after two days that were clearly hell for him. He's not okay, but he won't ADMIT he's not okay and I don't know how to help him."
It was nearly five minutes before Elle replied. "I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask, especially since I don't know exactly what he went through. But going home to my family was what helped me the most, so…be there for him, I guess?" A minute later, she sent another text. "Maybe he should visit his mother?"
"I'll suggest that. Thanks."
Jessica left her room again and nearly bumped into Spencer in the hallway. "Have you talked to your mother since we got back?" she asked.
"Yes, why?"
"I just thought, maybe you'd feel better if you saw her."
"Thanks, but I'm fine." Spencer walked into his room and shut the door in Jessica's face. He sank down onto his bed, trying to get his emotions under control. Initially, he'd desperately wanted to talk to his mother, wanted her to reassure him just like she had when he was a little boy, but she hadn't taken well to his abridged version of events. She'd started to have an episode, and then that had reminded him of the confession that nearly led to him being buried alive, and then he'd taken more pills. He'd have liked to do the same to deal with this conversation, but unfortunately, that was no longer an option. He was more painfully aware than ever of the contraband in his nightstand. And after all, he wasn't back on the job yet, was he? Surely there was nothing wrong with a little hit…