The Imposter

Chapter 6

"No, Agent Prentiss, the only active tessering that was done with Dr. Reid happened six months ago, in the Nevada desert. I believe the best analogy for what I think is now happening with him is 'reverberation'. If you know anything about quantum mechanics," here Rossi and Morgan shared a rolling eyes look," you know that it involves both particles and waves. Without going into all of the detail, let me say that the vibratory process, both wave and particle, that transported Dr. Reid has, most likely, created echoes that are affecting him to this day."

Speaking directly to him, Dr. Sterling said, "Dr. Reid, you said before that Agent Jareau had brought you back from this most recent experience. What did you mean by that?"

Reid thought for a moment about how to say it. "When I was in the flashback…when I was with Tobias Henkel…I heard someone calling me. It was very faint at first, but then it penetrated more deeply, became louder. It was JJ. She was calling my name. And then I felt her hands. And her voice, and her touch," he looked at JJ, "became more real than anything else. And I came back," looking at the others, "JJ brought me back."

They were now all looking at JJ, who had brought one hand to her face, fighting back sudden tears, while her other was firmly on Spence. Hotch, Morgan and Emily could guess what she was thinking. If only I could have done that for him when it happened before. Thank you, God, for letting me do it now.

Sterling was pondering something. "I may have an idea of how to bring Dr. Reid back permanently. Please excuse me for a few moments. I need to look into something."

The team was left in the room with Harris. He took stock of the looks on their faces and followed Sterling out the door.

Morgan was the first to speak. "Hotch, do you believe this?"

"I don't have a better explanation, Morgan…and Reid seems to think it's possible."

"It's not only possible, but highly probable that what Dr. Sterling has been telling us is true." Reid was looking penetratingly at the air in front of him. "If I weren't in the middle of it, I would find it fascinating." Then, with a small smile that looked refreshingly like the old Reid, he went on, "In fact, I kind of find it fascinating anyway. I mean, think of all the possibilities…."

"Well, fascinating or not, I want him to find a way to end it for you. I don't want to ever again see you go through what happened to you in the hotel." JJ was shaking her head.

Reid squeezed the hand she was holding. "I never thanked you for bringing me back. Thank you, JJ." To which she gave him a teary-eyed smile.

Dr. Sterling reentered the room. "I found the article I was looking for. Now, this will sound far-fetched, especially to some," sending a mini-glare in the direction of Morgan and Rossi, "but please hear me out."

He sat down at the table with them. "Have you heard of a process called therapeutic touch? Many people think of it as a method of complementary or alternative medicine. Theoretically, it works through the creation of energy fields around the subject."

At their slightly uncertain nods, he continued. "In recent years, there has been more interest in studying the effectiveness of some of these modalities. Therapeutic touch has been studied on a cellular level. That is, a study was done that compared how "sick" cells did when therapeutic touch was imposed on them, versus how they did when a hand was simply held over them. The main difference between the two is in the intent of the action…And the therapeutic touch produced a significantly better result. Something in the interaction between thought and touch-maybe emotion as well-affected the outcome."

Again, he gave them time to absorb the information. "Now, I am not suggesting we can help Dr. Reid with therapeutic touch. But I am suggesting that we might be able to use touch-especially meaningful touch-to ground him more firmly in this reality. I am proposing that we arrange a controlled tesser of Dr. Reid, enough to start the vibration, but not enough for transporting him, and then use his connections with your team-it does appear that those connections are important ones for him-to bring him back-hopefully permanently."

Rossi was in Morgan's camp on this whole thing -too much like science fiction. Or fairy tales. Now it sounded like Peter Pan asking everyone to applaud Tinkerbell back to life. "Will we all be singing "Kum Ba Yah" at the same time?"

Reid laughed in spite of himself. "Actually, Rossi, there's a lot of reason to believe that much…..or even all…..of human thought and emotion can be measured in energy fields and electromagnetic resonance. This could actually work." Getting very serious, he added, "And I need something to work."

They all looked to Hotch for direction. He was worried about giving permission for another tesseract session, but upon hearing Reid's statement, he knew he had to let the young man make his own decision. "It's up to you, Reid."

"I have to do it, Hotch."

"Then let's prepare ourselves in the lab."

They heard, "Derek! Bring me!" from the phone. "Don't hang up. I can't be there in person, but I love him too."

With that, Dr. Sterling led them into the lab next door. It was unpredictably furnished with a comfortable chair in the midst of a myriad of computers and machinery. "This is one of our original testing labs, hence the large amount of equipment. But all we really need is this." And he picked up an object that looked very much like a large television remote control.

"Dr. Reid, please sit in this chair. With the vibrations, we find that a padded seat helps us avoid some of the minor bruising that might otherwise occur."

Reid sat. "'Agent Jareau, it's my guess that you would be best chosen for the direct contact with Dr. Reid…judging from what happened earlier, and from the fact that you haven't let go of him yet."

There was general nervous laughter at that. But Reid had a concern. "Dr. Sterling, is it safe for her? She said she felt the vibrations with me before. I can't let you do anything that would hurt JJ." Seeing JJ about to object, he whispered to her, " you have to think about Henry….and Will."

"Agent Jareau will be safe as long as she is not in the path of the trigger. For that reason, we will have to start your tesser with you alone in the chair. The others will be behind the wall. They will come in when I call them. We're ready to begin now."

With that, JJ reluctantly pried herself loose from Reid and followed the others behind a with a thick glass window. Dr. Sterling pointed the remote at Reid, who started slowly shaking and then increasing to visible vibrations. Reid was staring straight ahead, seemingly unseeing. The sight was disturbing to all of them.

Dr. Sterling waved the team back into the room. "Agent Jareau, take this seat in front of him and hold his hands. Agent Morgan, stand behind him and with your hands on his shoulders. Agents Prentiss and Rossi, please each place a hand on his arms. Agent Hotchner, please stabilize Agent Jareau by placing your hands on her shoulders."

After they had all assumed their positions, Sterling touched the "remote" again. "That ends the active induction. Now, you must use your connectedness to ground him, body and mind, in the present."

All of them could feel vibrations in their arms from touching him. JJ was vibrating so much that Hotch could even feel it through her. She began to call him. "Spence…..Spence! Spence, stay with me. Keep your mind here. Don't let go. Look at me. Look into my eyes." And he was drawn there, very briefly. He'd never admitted it even to himself, but he'd always been able to get lost in JJ's eyes. But then he relapsed.

"Spence…..Come back to us. We need you. We all love you. Leave where you are and come back…."

She repeated this over and over. The others took it up. Each of them named an experience they'd shared with Reid, to strengthen the connection….. the elevator with Morgan, the cult compound with Emily, the perpetrator/psychiatrist with Rossi, the LDSK in the hospital with Hotch. JJ reminded him of his godson, Henry, Garcia called to him over the phone.

Gradually, very gradually, the vibrations slowed. Eventually they stopped. JJ kept calling Reid's name, clinging tightly to his hands. He continued to stare straight ahead. Slowly, so very, very slowly, they could see some of the vacancy leave Reid's eyes. He began to take in his surroundings. Looking from teammate to teammate, he saw traces of tears on every face. Still not able to speak, he did his best to form a lopsided smile. Emily knew immediately what it meant. With a laugh that turned into a sob, she celebrated, "He's back!"

"I knew it!" came from the phone. "Saved by love, just like Charles Wallace in 'A Wrinkle in Time'**!"

Later, he would tell them that he felt more whole than he had in many, many months. Dr. Sterling was cautiously optimistic that the process had worked, but warned them to watch for more reverberations, however minor. He thought there might be a prolonged period of recovery ahead of Reid.

Long after the team returned to Quantico, DHS Agent Harris received disciplinary action for having withheld the contents of the journal he'd found-not only for obstructing an investigation, but for being complicit after the fact in what had been done to Reid. For a number of months afterwards, Reid went back and forth to Los Alamos for further observation and debriefing on anything he could remember, always accompanied by another member of the team-at their insistence.

While he gradually resumed his "presence" with the team, Reid continued to have moments of distance, either physically or mentally. But now, the rest of the team were more acutely aware, and sought him out more quickly.

Then one day, shortly after Labor Day, Morgan came to work and was greeted with, "Hey, Morgan, did you know that Hinton's hypercube, which he named the tesseract, was the basis for the idea of hyperspace in 'Star Wars'? And the whole concept is central to the idea of warp drive in 'StarTrek' and the jump gates in 'Babylon 5'. I've been discussing it with Dr. Sterling ("poor guy", Morgan thought) and then last night I read…."

Morgan was about to respond with a snide comment when he caught himself. Instead he simply smiled and walked away. As he passed by Emily, she looked up and, also smiling, said, "Strange?"

"Yeah….but normal strange." Pretty Boy was back. All the way back.

THE END

** A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Here's to loving our favorite genius back to himself for next season. And not having to see him only in the "constant reruns going on" (chapter 3) in syndication.