Thanks again for your nice (what a feeble word!) comments. If you can spare a few seconds I'd be really grateful for feedback on how well - or probably not - I did with the Americanised dialogue and terminology as it's something I was rather conscious of trying to get as correct as possible. See my profile for an explanation of the British English spellings, btw.

The medical stuff and locations were Googled – so if it's all wrong blame them (ha!)…

"Where are we going?" asked Reid, staring at a row of brightly coloured Victorian buildings through the passenger side window of the black SUV. "I thought we were going to the third crime scene?"

Rossi swung the steering wheel to the right. "We are."

Reid turned to face him and scowled. "Bernal Heights is to the south; we're heading north."

"I know, I know… just making a small detour," replied Rossi, his tone nonchalant as the SUV glided to a halt outside Starbucks.

"Here?" exclaimed Reid, staring up and down the colourful tree-lined street. "We're six miles north of where we should be."

Rossi shook his head as he jumped down on to the sidewalk. "Stay put, I'll be back soon."

True to his word Rossi soon reappeared, a paper bag now wedged under his arm and holding two large coffee cups. "Hold these," he instructed, Reid now being too confused to even consider questioning Rossi's motives.

Five minutes later the SUV pulled into the parking lot at East Beach and made its way to the far end, away from the few vehicles parked near the exit.

Rossi looked across at Reid. "I figured we could use some time out. It's been a pretty terrible case."

Reid nodded as he stared through the lightly tinted windshield. "We know why, we now need to know who," he said quietly, as if talking to himself.

"Care to join me for some fresh air?" asked Rossi, pointing to a bench a few paces away from the SUV.

"I guess so," replied Reid with a shrug as he placed their drinks into the cup holders before climbing down from the vehicle and picking up the insulated cups once again.

The two men sat down, watching the waves break against the shoreline whilst the tips of the Golden Gate Bridge hid behind their shroud of low grey cloud. Eventually Rossi broke the silence. "What a magnificent view," he commented as he passed a slice of raspberry swirl pound cake to Reid, who shook his head.

"I'm not hungry," he replied, pulling his jacket around him despite the mild weather.

"I thought it was your favourite?" Rossi paused as he took one of the coffee cups from Reid.

"Maybe… look, I'm sorry," whispered Reid, momentarily feeling dizzy.

Rossi met his eye. "Spencer, look at me. What the hell is going on?"

"I'm fine." Surely that wasn't too much of a lie; the lightheaded feeling seemed to be passing.

"That's crap and you know it."

"What the hell do you want me to say?" Reid almost spat out the words.

"Tell me the truth," Rossi replied calmly, watching Reid blink rapidly. "This case seems to have hit you harder than it has the others, judging by how short-tempered you've been; plus there was the food poisoning which meant you had to take a commercial flight to join us a day later…"

There was no response.

"It wasn't food poisoning, right?"

Reid wiped his eyes then looked towards the ground, watching grains of sand dance around his feet before being carried away by the light breeze.

"There's nothing we can do to help you, unless you let us in. You can't keep shutting us out like this; we all deserve better and that includes you."

"I was around his age," said Reid, nodding in the direction of a small dark haired boy running along the beach in pursuit of a soccer ball.

"What happened?" asked Rossi, sensing Reid was finally going to let the barricades fall.

Reid's attention turned to the white trail made by a departing plane as it crossed the Bay. "I was born on my Uncle Daniel's 25th birthday; he used to joke about me being his reward for making it to a quarter century, said I was the best birthday present a guy could've ever received. He… was my Dad's younger brother, his only brother."

Rossi nodded as he sipped his drink. "You said Daniel was his younger brother."

"He died," replied Reid, his eyes still following the increasingly distant line in the sky as it headed north, probably towards Canada. "Three weeks after my fourth birthday."

"That would have made him twenty nine…" Rossi paused as the ramifications of what Reid had divulged so far now hit home. "You turned twenty nine earlier this month."

Reid nodded, unable to speak due to the fear of finally breaking down.

Rossi briefly placed his hand on Reid's arm. "You can tell me," he said softly, watching the scared younger man compose himself.

"He had gastric cancer, an adenocarcinoma. It was the diffuse type of tumour which has a much worse prognosis than those with the intestinal type and is far more common in younger sufferers. By the time they'd caught it, it had spread. I read there's a seven-fold increase in risk in relatives of patients who have a diffuse tumour."

"Reid, this doesn't mean you'll be affected."

"My paternal grandfather didn't make it to his fortieth birthday," whispered Reid, scrutinising the bitten nails on his right hand.

"Have you had any symptoms?"

Reid looked at Rossi and nodded.

"Is that why you've taken some days off recently?"

"Yeah, but it's because I've been going to the hospital. I had an appointment last week on the day you flew out; I had to get my results, otherwise I was going to lose it."

Rossi took a deep breath. "Did you get the all clear?"

"Yeah," he replied, rubbing his eyes again. "Dave… I'm so sorry I didn't tell you…"

"You're sorry? How are the team going to feel about you going through this alone?"

Reid stared pointedly at Rossi. "You never noticed."

"The hell we didn't notice, maybe we should have said something to you after we'd discussed things with JJ at the birthday meal you declined to attend." Rossi's tone was sharper than he'd intended.

"JJ was there?" Reid's eyes widened.

"Yeah, she's as worried as we are if not more so, especially as she hasn't seen you in over a month."

Reid shook his head. "Shit, I've really messed things up."

"So, what made you think you… could be developing this disease?"

"It's always preyed on my mind, but towards the end of summer I started getting real bad indigestion whenever I ate. Coffee made it worse, more than two cups and I'd be throwing up. When it started getting noticeable at work I didn't know what else to do, so I made myself an appointment with a private oncologist in DC." He stopped and watched the smiling boy pick up the ball before continuing.

"Taking into account my genetic past, as she referred to it, she arranged for me to come in for tests immediately. I'd only had a biopsy the day before you were trying to make me eat Indian food, I couldn't endure another bout of what I went through on the jet after only eating a few mouthfuls at that Mexican place."

Rossi raised his dark brows in lieu of the obvious spoken question.

"Peptic ulcer," Reid clarified. "Late nights, too little sleep, too much caffeine, irregular meals…"

"Hellish cases," continued Rossi, noticing Reid's mouth creep into the faintest smile. "So what's next?

Reid shuddered then stood up and stretched. "If the treatment regimen I'm on doesn't get rid of the ulcer, I may eventually need to have surgery as a last resort. That's why I'm avoiding all the foods I like, and coffee. You know, I can't even take an aspirin for the withdrawal headaches; thankfully they've nearly gone away now."

As the two men reached the SUV Rossi nodded to Reid across its roof. "You do realise what'll happen to you when Garcia finds out?"

Reid's face broke into a full smile for the first time in weeks. "Yeah, she'll probably kill me and then bring me back to life so she can mother me to death…"

Hmmm, not so sure about the ending, but I felt if I carried on I'd be dragging it out for the sake of it. I'll leave it for you to imagine Garcia's reaction!

Thanks once again for reading & reviewing… x x x