Concern
Disclaimer: Don't own, just love messing with.
A/N: This is a one-shot that takes place during the episode, 'Memoriam', this is some missing scenes and other character's reactions to what Reid appears to be going through during that episode, which I thought was a really good Reid-centric episode. Hope you enjoy--Montez
Ever since Morgan had mentioned to him about Reid's nightmares during the kidnapping case that took them to Las Vegas, Reid's childhood home, Dave Rossi felt worried for the younger man. Reid had seemed different during that case, almost from the very start with him falling asleep on the jet while the team was discussing the case as they headed to Nevada, something the younger man never did.
When Reid relayed his dream about JJ's baby being at a crime scene the older agent noticed worry pass across the faces of his teammates, especially considering that JJ hadn't even had her baby yet. Rossi found himself watching the young genius closely, then with the revelation of the nightmare that occurred at the home of the family of the missing boy, the older profiler started to think maybe this particular case, for whatever reason, was not a good one for the young doctor to continue working on.
However, as the case can to a harrowing conclusion and they found the woman responsible, it had been Reid that had found the kidnapped child safe in one of the bedrooms of the home, that had kept Morgan from having to shot the woman as she stood in front of the large bonfire, cradling what Dave, Morgan, Hotch and Prentiss thought was the missing child, but it had only been a stuffed animal and a bundle of blankets that had belonged to her own baby that Child Protective Services had taken from her because of her mental illness.
It wasn't until everyone, minus Reid, was on the way to the airstrip to fly back to Virginia that Morgan told Rossi about the Riley Jenkins case. It was a child murder case involving a six year old who had been found murdered in his own home. Derek had said Reid seemed to remember something concerning it, even though he, himself, had only been four at the time. But it was when Spencer mentioned he had been having nightmares concerning the finding of a child's body in a basement every since he was little, that Morgan started to take the young genius serious.
Arriving at the airport Dave talked to Hotch about him and Morgan hanging back in Vegas for a few days because they were concerned about Reid, the young man's behavior not being lost on the Unit Chief, Hotch agreed to allow the two men to stay and told him to call if they needed any help. Dave pulled Morgan aside and suggested that they head back to the hotel and help Reid try and resolve the case, without hesitation Derek agreed.
Rossi had to admit talking there way into Reid's room had been kind of funny, especially when the young man returned to find the two Profilers eating snacks and watching a soap opera. But as they watched Spencer try to hide the box with the Jenkins case in it, and hearing the nervous, almost fearful voice when the younger man said he may know who killed the child, Dave knew they had done the right thing in staying back. Especially when Spencer said he believed his father, William Reid had been responsible.
A couple hours passed as the three men reviewed the files about the young boy who had been sexually assaulted then murdered in his own home. The more Rossi read the more concerned he became as he occasionally glanced at the quiet young man across from him, who was studying the files with such intensity.
"Are you sure you want to pursue this?" Dave's voice broke the silence. "I don't have to tell you that this was a need based crime, that the person that committed this crime was a pedophile." Rossi wanted Reid to say forget it, that maybe he had things confused, because Rossi knew from all his years as an FBI Profiler, people who committed these types of crimes usually had victims that they started with, but hadn't yet escalated to killing. In the back of his mind Dave prayed that Reid was wrong about his father being involved because that could end up bringing up a whole new round of nightmares if it turned out to be true.
Spencer never backed down, even when it became evident that he was scared of what he could find, the young man continued, his need to find out the truth overriding all other fears. Morgan and Dave weren't surprised by the hostility that Reid showed toward his father when they met with the man, explaining to him that he was a possible suspect. The man in question had left a ten year old kid to care for himself and his mentally ill mother, but had only been a short distance away the whole time and never once offered assistance. When William Reid refused to willingly allow them to search his computer, Rossi watched as Reid left the man's office, his anger almost visibly pouring off of him. When they reached the hotel and he heard Reid mumble something about calling Garcia, Dave knew they would find the information they needed, via their Technical Analyst back at Quantico.
The next morning as the three men met in the lobby of the hotel Reid showed them a folder that had been slipped under his hotel room door, pointing them in another direction for a suspect in the Jenkins murder, but Spencer found it hard to believe it could be anyone but his father. Once Garcia, Hotch and Emily had called them, telling them the only thing on William Reid's computer was file after file about Spencer himself, and that none of his father's finances appeared suspicious, Morgan and Rossi watched Reid storm out of the hotel.
It took the two older profilers nearly an hour to finally find Spencer sitting at a poker machine in one of the casinos near the hotel, they noticed the young woman next to him, but Reid seemed oblivious to what the woman's intention were. Once getting him away from the machine and the woman they noticed a strange look cross Reid's face after he turned and told the woman to keep the winning from the machine, over two-thousand dollars.
"You do know you just gave a hooker two-thousand dollars?" Rossi asked as the young man seemed lost in thought.
"Must have been a hell of a conversation." Morgan added, "What'd you talk about?"
A light seemed to flash in Spencer's eyes as he answered walking away, "About stopping smoking."
Rossi and Morgan exchanged confused glances, then followed the young Genius toward the doors.
A couple hours later found Spencer and Dave sitting in the office of a well respected Hypnotist, who specialized in recovering memories from victims. The woman seemed surprised when Reid mentioned it was his memories that they needed help recovering. Rossi listened as the women explained that the recovered memories could be compromised by what he already knew about the events in question, none the less Reid insisted.
The woman looked at Rossi as the older man said that he was going to sit in on the session. To be honest Dave was surprised that Reid had asked him to sit in and not Morgan, since Derek and Spencer had known each other longer.
"I don't normally allow someone to sit in on sessions." The woman replied.
Dave glanced at Reid, who was clutching his hands tightly together, then back to the woman, "As you can tell nothing about this is normal."
A few minutes later found Rossi sitting back away from the couch the Hypnotist had gotten Reid situated on. The older man watched as the young Profiler started to relax as the woman's quiet, calming voice talked to him. Dave watched as she took Spencer's hand and placed it around her wrist, instructing him that if he became frightened that he was to squeeze her arm. As the woman talked Reid through the night in question, the older man watched Spencer's breathing start to increase, fear slowly entering into his voice as he talked of hearing his parents argue, then his father coming into his room.
Rossi closed his eyes a moment, praying he wasn't going to hear what he had been fearing the most since they had starting reading through the case files. When Dave opened his eye's he noticed the Hypnotist whence as Reid's hand tightened on her arm, "I don't want to be here." the young man, fearfully whispered. Dave was almost grateful when the lady redirected Spencer to the next morning, but that too, soon, fell away as Reid's reactions intensified.
When the Hypnotist asked Spencer about his mother, the young man mentioned she was looking out a window, crying. Then she asked if he had talked to her, Reid responded no, because he wanted to see what was outside. But it was the genius's reaction to what he was apparently 'seeing' that had Rossi out of his chair, kneeling by the couch.
Reid's breathing started picking up, his body twitching on the cushions as his grip on the woman's arm became almost bone-crushing. "Wake him up!" Rossi demanded as it appeared the young man was witnessing something that had so traumatized him that Dave feared he would start hyperventilating as his breathing continued to become labored, "For Gods sake wake him up!" Dave was ready to shake the woman if she didn't bring Spencer out of this soon.
Finally she counted backwards, ordering Reid to wake; the young man's reaction was immediate. When his eye's snapped open, he quickly pulled away from any contact he had with the woman, fear and confusion played in his face, to Dave the young man's eyes seemed to reflect the fear of what his four-year old self had just witnessed.
Dave placed a hand on Reid's shoulder, "its okay Reid, its okay." For a moment when Reid's eyes met Rossi's Dave did not see recognition in them, like Spencer was still lost in the memory, he didn't seem to know who Dave was as he tried to pull away from him as well. Finally gripping the young man's shoulder a little tighter Dave gave another "It's okay", it was then that it seemed Spencer finally realized where he was and who was with him.
"Dave?" Reid whispered, the anguish in his voice nearly took Dave's breath, he had never heard the young man before sound so lost and afraid.
The Hypnotist moved as Spencer sat up, Dave took the woman's seat, putting him right in front of Reid. "Take a couple deep breaths, its okay now, it's over." Rossi found himself not only trying to reassure Reid, but himself as well. He still didn't know what the young man had seen, but Spencer's reaction to it had rattled the older man.
Reid took a few deep breaths as he ran his fingers through his hair, trying desperately to get his bearings. Rossi noticed the slight shaking that Spencer's whole body was doing as the younger man continued to try and calm himself. "Are you okay?" Dave finally asked.
Rossi leaned back in the chair as Reid stood up, grabbing his shoes that were next to the couch. He watched as the younger man glanced toward the Hypnotist, "Where…" clearing his throat Spencer continued, "Where's your restroom?" He hovered at the door as he waited for an answer.
"Down the hall to the right." She replied sympathetically while they both watched Reid leave the room.
"Is that a normal reaction?" Dave finally spoke as he stood, nearing the woman's desk as she made her notes.
"It can be sometimes, it depends on how traumatic the events are the patient experienced or witnessed. But to be perfectly honest it has been a while since I had someone react so severally." She spoke as she looked back to her notes.
"Will he remember what he saw?" Rossi had dealt with people who had been hypnotized before, sometimes the people could recall the memories, other times they were to traumatic and remained repressed.
"I'm not sure, he may not want to talk to me about them, but if it something that you are working on them he may tell you, but don't push him, whatever he saw has really shaken him. It would be best to keep a close eye on him for a while, tapping into the subconscious like that can cause people to remember things that are sometimes better left hidden." The Hypnotist seemed genuinely concerned and worried about the young man who had just left her office.
"Don't worry; he's not going to be alone anytime soon. Thank you." Rossi shook her hand as she stood.
"I just hope it's helpful." She commented as Dave headed toward the door, an overwhelming need to find Spencer quickening his step.
Finding the restroom empty caused a moment of panic to settle over the normally calm, laid back agent. Heading toward the front door, Rossi noticed Morgan, who per Reid's request had remained outside with the SUV, watching a spot across the street. The Hypnotist's office was on the outskirts of Vegas, the area across the street from the office building opened up to the desert area that still surrounded the City of Lights. Dave came to a stop next to Morgan as they both watched Spencer stop about a hundred yards into the sandy landscape.
"What the hell happened in there? He just came out the door and started walking." Morgan's voice filled with worry as he watched the young man he felt was like a little brother. Derek glanced at Dave as he noted the slightly unsettled appearance of the Agent beside him. "Rossi?"
Watching the lone figure standing against the backdrop of the various shades of brown, Rossi took a deep breath. "I'm not really sure, he didn't say anything about what he recalled, but whatever it was, he had a bad reaction to it, when she woke him up, for a minute he didn't even recognize me." Derek looked disbelieving at the older man. "Something is scaring him and I'm worried about him." Dave met Morgan's look, "We need to get to the bottom of this and soon."
Morgan and Rossi turned back toward where Reid had been standing, "Shit!" Morgan shouted as he took off running, Dave right behind him. What spurred them into action was the now slumped figure of their friend, it appeared he had dropped to his knees, as they approached they notice him holding his head in his hands. "Reid?" Morgan asked, slowing down to not totally freak his best friend out by running up on him.
Glancing at Dave, Derek approached the kneeling figure, squatting next to the younger man. "Reid, man talk to me?" the silence was worrying Morgan and Rossi, as Derek touched Spencer's shoulder.
"I'm okay." The whispered reply did little to ease the concern the two men were feeling.
"You're not okay, man. What did you remember that's got you this messed up?" Morgan again asked as Dave finally approached, kneeling on the other side of the young agent.
Hollow eyes met the other agent's eyes as Reid looked up; licking his dried lips the young man spoke quietly, "She was watching him burn the clothes."
"What clothes?" Rossi asked.
"My mom," Spencer took a deep breath, "She was watching my dad burning bloody clothes." Again silence settled over the three men as it was starting to appear that William Reid knew way more than he was telling them. "I need to see my mom." Reid said quietly as he pushed himself up off the ground, his friends standing as well, following him back toward the SUV.
A/N: What do you think? This kind of come to me as I watched 'Memoriam', It started with me being intrigued as to why Rossi and not Morgan sat in on Reid's session with the Hypnotist, then watching the older man's response to Spencer's reaction to what he saw and it morphed from there. The episode picks up where I'm leaving off with Reid visiting his mother. Thank you for reading, until next time---Montez