Chapter 5

Reid woke up the next morning sucking his thumb, he pulled it out of his mouth and opened his eyes expecting to see the fluffy lambs hanging above him but as he looked around he realised he was in his own bed in his apartment.

"So it was all a dream" he said to the empty room. Feeling a strange sort of emptiness he got up and then remembered that it was Monday and he had to go to work. Looking at the clock he was surprised to find that he had overslept and was going to be late if he didn't hurry up.

He quickly went about his morning routine and left for work. When he arrived at the BAU he went straight to the kitchenette for a cup of coffee. As he entered he almost ran straight into Emily and Hotch, "Good morning Reid" Hotch greeted him. Reid turned bright red as the memories of the dream came flooding back to him and lowered his gaze to the floor

"Morning Hotch, morning Prentiss" he said quietly as he made his coffee and rushed off to his desk.

"What's wrong with him?" Prentiss asked as they watched him go to his desk and immediately start working on his stack of files.

"I don't know but maybe you could try talking to him, make sure he's ok?" Hotch replied.

"Sure, I'll try" She replied

Emily made herself a cup of coffee and went and sat on the edge of Reid's desk, "So what's up Reid? Are you ok?" she asked

"Yeah I'm fine why?" he answered never taking his eyes off his work.

"You just seemed a bit freaked out when you saw Hotch and I in the kitchen and you practically ran away from us" Emily said taking a sip of her coffee

"Oh I just knew that I would have a lot of work to do and I wanted to get started" Reid replied hoping that she would drop the subject.

"Ok then. Well if you want to talk to me about anything I'm right here"

"Thanks Emily"

A few hours later Morgan interrupted him by throwing a scrunched up piece of paper at his head.

"Come on pretty boy, time for lunch" He said

"Thanks but I'm not hungry, I want to get all of this done" Reid replied.

"You need to eat Reid" Hotch said coming up behind him. "Come on we are all going"

"Yes sir" Reid answered meekly getting up and following the rest of the team out of the office.

Hotch watched Reid during lunch and he could tell that there was something bothering him, he was a lot quieter than normal and was having trouble making eye contact with any of them, as though he was embarrassed about something.

Hotch decided to find out what was wrong with him, "Reid my office" he said as he passed Reid's desk.

"Take a seat" he instructed as Reid walked into his office.

"Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?" he asked getting to the point straight away.

"What do you mean Hotch?" Reid stammered looking at his hands

"You have been quiet and withdrawn all day"

"I'm fine" Reid replied

"Really? You don't seem fine, and it's my job to help you with anything that might impact your work"

Hotch said calmly

"It's nothing that will impact my work, ok?" Reid said starting to feel like a little kid that was lying to his dad; he had his eyes still fixed firmly on his hands

"No, not ok, I know that there is something wrong and talking about it just might make you feel better" Hotch said

"Fine I'll tell you but its stupid really" Reid started "I had a really weird dream last night that I just can't get out of my head, that's all"

"What happened in this dream that has you so distracted?" Hotch asked

"I'd rather not discuss it Hotch" Reid said feeling his face turning bright red.

"Anything you tell me will stay between us and talking about it might just clear your head" Hotch said

Reid knew that Hotch wouldn't let the matter drop and maybe talking about it might make him feel better, "It's stupid really and you'll laugh at me when you hear about it"

"I promise that I will not laugh at you" Hotch said

"Well..." Reid started nervously"In my dream, you and Emily were married" he glanced up at Hotch to see how he was reacting

"Ok, that's a bit weird" said Hotch "Go on" he encouraged

"Well you guys also had a baby in my dream...a son..." Reid looked down at his hands as he continued "I was the baby Hotch" he couldn't even look at his boss to see his reaction. "I know it's stupid but it all felt so real, like I was really living through it"

"Well sometimes dreams can seem very real" Hotch said "so this is why you can hardly look at any of us? Are you embarrassed by whatever happened in the dream?"

"yes" Reid softly replied.

"Reid it was only a dream, there is nothing to be embarrassed about, you are the only one who knows the details of this dream" said Hotch

"I know but it also stirred up a lot of feelings for me, I never had a real family before. My mother loved me but couldn't take care of me like a mother should. It felt nice to have a family with a father and a mother that loved me and could take care of me and a brother to look out for me and... now that I'm back to reality... I just feel kind of alone again I guess." Reid said sadly.

"I hope that you know even though I'm not actually your father, you can come and talk to me about anything, and if you ever need anything I'll be there for you. I'm sure the others would all feel the same way as well."

"Thanks Hotch, I really appreciate that" Reid said

"You're welcome, now go get back to work and try to put the dream out of your head" Hotch said

"Yes sir" Reid replied. As he walked back to his desk he realised that he did feel better after talking to Hotch about how he was feeling.

By the end of the day Reid has started to feel better about the dream but he felt a migraine coming on. He took his completed files to Hotch and was then headed straight home to bed before he started feeling sick.

"Thanks Reid" Hotch said taking the files from him, "Are you ok, you look a bit pale?"

"Yeah I'm ok, just a migraine coming on but I'm leaving now anyway and it will hopefully be gone by tomorrow after a good night's sleep"

"Ok well I'm leaving now too so I can give you a ride home if you like?" Hotch offered

"Yeah that would be good, if you're sure you don't mind?" Reid replied

"I'm sure Reid, let's go" Hotch said walking out the door with Reid following him

During the short ride to his apartment Reid started to feel nauseous and as soon as Hotch stopped the car he jumped out and started vomiting on the grass. Hotch jumped out of the car and rubbed Reid's back until he stopped vomiting.

"Thanks Hotch" he said shakily turning back to the car to get his bag.

"Come on let's get you upstairs" Hotch said softly locking the car and following Reid into the building.

"I'm fine now Hotch, go home to Jack, I can take care of myself" he said

"I'm sure you can but I'll feel better knowing that you made it up the stairs without passing out" Hotch replied walking behind him

They had nearly reached the top of the stairs when Reid all of a sudden passed out and fell onto Hotch who caught him before he could hit the ground. Hotch hoisted Reid up over his shoulder and was surprised that he could easily carry him because he hardly weighed anything at all. When he reached Reid's front door he had to find the keys without dropping Reid which he somehow managed to do. As he unlocked the door and Spencer started to stir slightly, "its ok Spencer I've got you" Hotch said softly and Reid instantly relaxed.

Hotch carried him into the bedroom and laid him on the bed and he was taking off Reid's shoes when he woke up "Sorry Hotch" he mumbled as he realised what had happened.

"Its ok, now do you have anything you can take for that migraine?" Hotch asked

"There are some pills in the kitchen" he replied as he pulled the blankets over himself.

By the time Hotch had gotten the pills and a glass of water and returned to the bedroom, Reid was asleep. "Reid wake up, I have your tablets" he said as he gently shook him awake. "Take these and then you can go back to sleep"

Reid sat up and took the medication and then laid back down and was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Hotch took a look at the young genius before leaving and couldn't help thinking how young he looked when he was asleep.

The next morning Reid woke up and found himself looking at the fluffy lambs hanging above him again. He started crying and Hotch was there immediately picking him up and holding him to his shoulder patting his back.

"It's ok Spencer" he said in a quiet voice "daddy's here" And instantly Spencer felt safe and loved and he wasn't sure he wanted to wake up.

The end