Saturday morning, Spencer stood staring into Jessica's empty room. Over and over, he mentally replayed every harsh or irritable word he'd said to her over the past month. It was the only way he could talk himself out of going back to his original dosage…a third time. He knew the statistics; why hadn't he realized this would be so hard?

Sitting on the jet to San Francisco, forced to spend hours under the direct scrutiny of the team, Reid came to multiple realizations. First, that Ethan had been right, and they'd all sussed him out already. He gave up even trying to hide that he'd become a bit shaky from going so long without a hit. His second realization was that he simply couldn't manage this on his own. He'd lasted the weekend, but once he'd gone back to work and done a consult involving more crime scene photos, he'd once again relapsed to a higher dose. He needed help. He just wasn't quite sure how to ask.

The whole team heard the underlying message when Reid likened their unsub to a drug addict, but they were surrounded by the SFPD and couldn't immediately do anything about it. As soon as Vega and Castro were occupied chasing Garcia's lead regarding the EDF, Hotch and Gideon sequestered themselves in an out-of-the-way office. They decided to talk in ASL to protect against local eavesdroppers.

"What are we going to do about Reid?" Hotch signed.

"Jessica told me she and Elle came up with some sort of plan, but I'm guessing that's not working when Reid is out of town," Gideon mused.

"Or maybe it's not working at all," Hotch suggested worriedly. "It sounded to me like he's been trying to kick this all on his own."

"He needs someone with him," Gideon concluded. "And he needs to take some time to do this properly. Think we can spare JJ and send them both back to the hotel?"

Hotch nodded. "We'll say he took ill. I've seen signs of withdrawal already, it shouldn't be too hard of a sell."

"I saw a pharmacy on our way here," JJ commented as they entered Reid's hotel room. "Can I get you something?"

Reid stopped rubbing his arms and stared at her. "You mean, you don't know what's going on?"

"No?" JJ replied, confused. "I noticed you've been a bit off today, but I don't know exactly what you've come down with."

Reid gave her a wry look; JJ might work with profilers, but apparently they hadn't rubbed off on her completely. Then he shut his eyes and took a deep breath, mustering every ounce of resolve he possessed. He reached into his bag, pulled out the remaining vial of Dilaudid (he'd used up the first one) and handed it to her. "Keep that away from me," he said quietly.

"You—wha—Spence?" JJ stammered, staring at the drug.

"I need to wean myself off that, but I can't trust myself to lower the dose," Reid admitted. "I…I can write you up a schedule, of what I should take. But I need you to ration it out to me. And the rest of the time, I need you to hide that from me. Put it in a safe, if you have one. Somewhere I can't get at it, no matter how desperate and irrational I become. And…and I apologize in advance, if I say anything…unpleasant, to try to talk you into giving me more."

"Okay," JJ said, breathing hard. "Okay, I can do that. Okay, I can do that…"

Reid clasped his hands together in an effort to stop himself from snatching the vial back. "Get it out of my sight before I do something I'll regret, please."

JJ started and hurried out the door, still repeating her mantra. Reid pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his bag and started writing out a dosage schedule. Then he crumpled it up and threw it in the trash, knowing he was allotting himself more of the drug than he needed. He pulled out a second piece of paper and wrote up a more accurate schedule.

At some point, JJ had returned and started watching over his shoulder. "So…what happens when the case is over? Are you going to make a copy for Jessica?"

"No!" Reid said quickly, a little louder and harsher than he intended. "No. She's staying with Garcia; I haven't seen her in two weeks."

"Oh. Does she…does she know?"

"The last time I did see her was when she found out and confronted me. I don't ever want to treat her that way again. When we got back from New Orleans, she'd left me a note saying she was staying with Garcia until I admit I have a problem, and…looking at her empty room is what's helped me most since then."

"Okay." JJ swallowed. "Maybe…maybe I should stay over in her bedroom then, until we get you off this completely?"

"I can't ask you to do that," Reid objected.

JJ gave him a hard look. "Spence, I'm offering. Let me guess, this started with Hankel, didn't it?"

Reid nodded.

"Then it could just as easily have been me in this position. I spent two days thinking you might die because I failed to have your back, and in the end, I didn't really do anything useful to rescue you. This is something I can do. Please, let me help you, Spence."

"Thanks," Reid finally said, staring at his lap. A few moments later, he snorted humorlessly. "I talked to Elle, back in Ohio. I told her Garner was dead, and she was alive, and that meant she'd won. She gave me this look, and she raised her glass and said 'Then here's to winning'. I didn't get it at the time, but now…now I do. There is a hell of a lot more to 'winning' than just surviving."

Jessica was feeding Chocolate Thunder when her phone vibrated. To her surprise, she had a message from JJ. "Hey, do you mind if I stay in your room while helping Spence with his current problem?"

"Go ahead," Jessica replied. She hesitated, then sent a second message. "How is he?"

"Struggling, but committed to seeing this through. He says that you leaving was a big help."

Jessica felt oddly heartened by this. "He said that?"

"He wants you back, but he won't let himself be your guardian until he feels worthy of it."

"Tell him I love him and I miss him. The REAL him."

"I will."

Once the team returned from the Bay Area, JJ went to her apartment to pack up a few more things and then headed over to Reid's. Although she had visited Reid's apartment several times before, she had never been in Jessica's room. Somehow, she had never expected a flowery bedspread and a positive menagerie of stuffed animals. On the other hand, the room was lacking in the sort of celebrity posters that usually adorned the bedroom walls of teenage girls. Jessica's only poster was a picture of a cat draped limply over the arm of a recliner, captioned "MOTIVATIONAL POSTERS: this isn't one of them". There was also a full bookcase and a table with an empty tank that presumably had once housed Patches. JJ found it both sad and sweet that Jessica had never gotten rid of the tank.

Saturday morning, JJ had just gotten out of the shower when the doorbell rang. She headed back into Jessica's room to get dressed, assuming Reid would get the door, but then the doorbell rang again. Sighing, she went out to the living room to answer the door.

Claire stared to see the door answered by a woman with soaking wet hair and a partially buttoned shirt. The woman stared back, blushing slightly as she realized her state of disarray. "Can I help you?" she asked. Moments later, a thought seemed to occur to her, and she started signing. "Are you looking for Jessica?"

"Yes," Claire replied, snapping out of it. "Is she awake?"

For some reason, the woman looked uncomfortable at the subject. "She's not here. She…had a sleepover last night."

Claire smirked. "So, you and Spencer had the apartment to yourselves all night?"

The woman turned even redder. "I am not his girlfriend!"

"Sure you're not," Claire replied, still smirking. "I'll text Jessica. Have fun, you two!" She turned around and headed back to the elevator.

JJ closed the door and sighed, shaking her head. She really hoped she wouldn't end up having to explain to Will why she was staying with a male coworker; she really liked the Southern detective.

Jessica groaned when she felt her phone vibrate. It was Saturday morning; what sane person was out of bed right now? Groggily, she looked at the new message from Claire. "How come you and Beth had a sleepover and didn't invite me?"

"We didn't?" Jessica responded, confused.

"Then why is there a half-dressed woman in your apartment claiming you're not there because you had a sleepover?"

Jessica froze. She hadn't told her friends what was going on, and she'd prefer to keep them in the dark. "I was with Penelope, actually."

"Even though Spencer's home?" Moments later, a second message came through. "Wait…he IS home, right? I didn't just interrupt some burglar who decided to borrow your shower?"

"He's home."

"Oh, so Penelope agreed to keep you out of the way of the tryst?"

Jessica stared in consternation at that. Try as she might, she couldn't think of any way to clear up the misunderstanding without revealing the real story. "No, I wanted to hang out with Penelope. Any trysts were planned after I left."

"More like planned BECAUSE you left ;)."

Jessica gave up.

Thankfully, the new plan seemed to be working. The Dilaudid was now stored in a safe under Jessica's bed, to which only JJ had the combination. They always traveled to work separately, so Reid would never be tempted to lift it off her during their commute. Whenever the team flew out on a case, JJ made sure there was a safe in her hotel room. Reid did occasionally try to talk JJ into giving him a higher dose, but JJ stood firm and never gave it to him. To Reid's surprise and relief, even on his worst days he still managed to avoid treating JJ as cruelly as he'd treated Jessica…though he did wonder what that said about him as a parent.

When Hotch ordered Reid to accompany Gideon, Morgan and Natalya to Baltimore, Reid instantly shot a panicked look at JJ. She responded by shrugging helplessly, then she glanced at the Chernuses and signed to Reid. "You're not going far, and you're working on a four-hour deadline anyway."

Reid swallowed and nodded; he supposed this was as good a time as any to take things a step further and go somewhere he wouldn't have the drug readily on hand for a while. He couldn't stay glued to JJ's side forever. At least for this case, there was a good chance he'd be back before his withdrawal symptoms got severe enough to be noticeable.

Nonetheless, Reid was relieved when they really did wrap up the case at lunchtime. He thought that might be a record.

"My god, you should have seen Emily at the bar last night," Garcia signed while waiting for her morning coffee to brew.

"What happened?" Jessica asked, interested.

"This guy tried to pick her up by claiming to be an FBI agent. She brought him over to us and we had fun poking holes in his story. Got to hand it to the guy, though, he didn't miss a beat until Emily pulled out her badge."

Jessica laughed. "I wish I could have seen his face."

"It was priceless," Garcia agreed. "Only seven years until we can take you with us to bars."

Jessica shifted uncomfortably at that. "I don't think I want to drink. Ever."

"Why not?" Garcia asked blankly. "It's so much fun!"

"Alcohol is a potentially addictive substance," Jessica pointed out. "And I've seen what that does to a person."

"Alcohol is perfectly fine in moderation," Garcia argued.

"Yes, I'm sure Spencer told himself the same thing about the drugs when he started," Jessica retorted sarcastically. "You have fun if you want to, but I'm not touching the stuff."

Garcia sighed. "Okay, fair enough." Her coffee maker finally finished brewing and filled up her travel mug. "We have a case, so I have to run."

"Save lives," Jessica replied.

"So…" JJ said awkwardly. "That was the last one."

"Yeah," Reid replied. By this point, the dose was far too low for him to get any sort of high; it simply helped with the shakes.

"So, now what?"

Reid took a deep breath. "Give me the vial."

JJ gave him a wary look and took a step backwards. "Spence…"

"Trust me, please," Reid begged. "I need to do this myself."

"Do what, exactly?"

"I need to get rid of it."

JJ gave him a long, hard look, then relented. She returned to Jessica's bedroom, opened the safe one last time, and brought the vial to Reid. He took it to the bathroom and dumped it out. He rinsed out the vial three times, tossed it in the trash, then tied the trash bag shut and took it down to the dumpster. JJ followed him just to be on the safe side, but he did exactly what he'd said he would do. The pair returned to the apartment, once again in awkward silence.

"I guess it's time for me to move out, then," JJ finally said. "Jessica's going to need her room back."

Reid swallowed nervously. "I…maybe you could hang around for a few more days…just to be safe…"

JJ narrowed her eyes. "I thought the agreement was, Jessica comes back when you're clean."

"Technically, I still have the drug in my system."

"That'll be gone by morning. What's really bothering you, Spence?"

Reid sank onto the couch, shutting his eyes. "The last time I saw her, I was…horrible to her. She deserves better."

JJ sat next to him. "That was the drugs talking. The fact that you feel so bad about it now proves that there's no danger of it happening again."

"There was a time when I would have thought myself incapable of treating her that way under any circumstances," Reid retorted. "I never treated any of you that badly. Though I did come close with Emily…"

"Did any of us confront you before you were ready to quit?" JJ challenged.

"…no," Reid admitted.

"There you have it, then," JJ concluded. "Come on, Spence, I know somewhere in that big brain of yours you must have information on the lengths that addicts will go to for their next fix. So you found out you were just as susceptible to that kind of behavior as anyone else, big deal. You're only human. But you realized your behavior was unacceptable and you got clean, which is more than many addicts can say. That was step one to rebuilding your relationship with Jessica. The only way to take things further now is to face her."

"What do I say when I do face her?" Reid asked, looking rather lost.

"'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' would probably both be good starts," JJ suggested.

Reid shook his head. "No. I need…something more. Something…" He trailed off, catching sight of the couch cushion that Patches had once chewed. "I know what I need."

Jessica stood still, staring at the front door of the apartment. She'd been back a few times, when she knew the team was away on cases, but never for longer than it took to grab something out of her bedroom. And she hadn't seen Spencer since that fateful day. Hadn't had any direct contact until this morning, when he texted to tell her he was finally clean and asked her to come home.

Jessica shook herself out of it, taking a deep breath. It was time to finally put the past behind them. She took out her key and opened the door.

Spencer was waiting just inside, looking incredibly nervous. "Jessica, I…I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am."

Suddenly, Jessica realized she had absolutely no idea what to say. She couldn't tell him it was okay, because it wasn't and they both knew it. As much as they both might want to, she wasn't sure they could ever truly go back to the way things used to be.

"…please say something," Spencer signed, looking for all the world like a prisoner at his sentencing.

"I guess I should have let you get that James Bond movie," Jessica finally replied, and just like that the ice was broken.

Spencer choked out a laugh. "I'm not sure that would have really made a difference. But I've been doing some thinking, and I realized that things first started going wrong even before the Super Bowl. So, I decided on a next step to recovery." He stood aside, finally allowing Jessica a clear view of the living room—and what had been added to it.

"Is that…a cat tree?" Jessica asked uncertainly.

"Not just a cat tree." Spencer rounded the couch, crouched down to open the carrier, and stood up with a little white ball of fur in his arms. He walked over to Jessica, and when the kitten did not protest, he carefully maneuvered the animal into Jessica's arms. "I decided it was time to get a pet that will live to see you graduate high school. The shelter named her B-I-A-N-C-A, but we can change the name if you want."

Jessica shook her head, cuddling her new friend. When at last the kitten seemed to grow tired of her, she put Bianca down and hugged Spencer. "Thank you," she signed after letting go. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back. And thank you, for calling me out. I needed that, even if I didn't act like it at the time."

Jessica smiled mischievously. "I believe a Star Trek marathon got interrupted."

Spencer smiled back. "I do believe it did. Shall we?"

The cousins sat down on the couch together and turned on the TV. Jessica snuggled up to Spencer again, and this time, he simply put his arm around her.

A/N: I skimmed through Ashes and Dust in preparation for writing that segment, and noticed that both Reid and JJ seem to pretty much vanish from the episode shortly after the 'impossible to quit without help' scene...so this has become my new headcanon.