Chapter Text
PT3
Reid woke a few hours later. He certainly wasn’t back to normal, but he felt loads better than he had in quite a while. Hotch made him eat the rest of the crackers and finish his Gatorade before taking his temperature. It was now back to normal, confirming that his fever had broken. He still felt weakened, cough very much still present, however, most of his other symptoms had dissipated.
The stuffiness was slowly getting better, his headache was almost gone, the nausea and vertigo nonexistent. He told Hotch as much and was allowed to shower and dress for work.
The steam from the shower did wonders for his nose and he even managed to shake some of the phlegm from his lungs. Feeling refreshed, he redressed himself and brushed his hair. He was out of contacts, to he shoved his glasses on and stepped out of the bathroom, ready to go to the precinct.
On the way, Hotch and he discussed what he’d missed in the past 30 or so hours. They’d found another body; this one only held for two days and clearly drowned much earlier than was typical for this unsub. They already had a report of another missing male who fit the victimology and it seemed as though they might be running out of time. The unsub was clearly devolving rapidly. They had a few suspects in mind but hadn’t completely narrowed it down yet.
Reid was very quickly flipping through all the reports, taking in all of the information that had been collected. He immediately began a geographical profile in his head, having memorized a map of rural Nebraska during a previous case. All the dump sites were located within a three-mile radius of one another. They were in backwoods, suggesting the unsub was probably from the area since an outsider could get lost easily in that region.
Reid suggested to Hotch that they tell Garcia to narrow the profile to that geographical region and search for white men who were in the same age range. They had to be strong because, though their victims were not incredibly muscly, they were all fairly tall. When they got to the station, Reid immediately pinned a map to one of the boards and began drawing all over it. He quickly translated what he’d done in his head onto a place where everyone could see.
Garcia called back, announcing that she managed to narrow it down to two men who fit the profile. A Steven Harding and Roger Meriwether. Both had menial jobs, but definitely the amount of strength and intelligence that would be needed to perform these acts against other men. Neither men’s sexuality was listed anywhere and there were no other clues leading the team to decide which was their unsub.
The only option was to split into teams and try to profile the correct guy in person, hopefully catching him before it was too late for his next victim.
Reid piled in the back seat of the SUV with Derek and JJ. He pulled on his vest as tight as it would go over his slender frame. The three of them took off for Harding’s house.
“So, Spence, I take it you’re feeling better?” JJ inquired, looking back at Reid with a smile. He returned the smile.
“Much better” he nodded before continuing to adjust the vest.
It only took about ten minutes to get to Harding’s house, the town was relatively small, so nothing was too far away. His house was old and rickety. A river ran through his backyard which immediately raised flags for the three agents.
“I’m gunna check out the river, the autopsy suggested that a rare type of silt was found in the victims’ lungs and if he drowns them here this will link the murders to him.”
The two looked at him with a bit of worry in their eyes but nodded anyways. Reid took off running around the back of the house, while the other two walked up to the front door in hopes of speaking with the man. As Reid turned the corner, he drew his gun, just in case. The area was clear, no one in sight. Nervously, he put his gun back in the holster. He had a bad feeling in his stomach, but he couldn’t figure out why.
‘Must just be a little nauseated still’ he thought, brushing off the feeling. He began walking towards the river. Suddenly, he noticed something peeking out of the water.
Reid quickly drew his gun, walking slowly as he could down the riverbank.
“No one’s answering Reid, but someone's moving around inside, we’re gunna check the perimeter.” Derek informed him through his earpiece. He continued walking slowly forwards, trying not to slip on the bank, but also identify what it was coming out of the water. Slowly, he knelt down, pulling out a glove, he reached for it. Lifting, he uncovered the object.
Except it wasn’t an object.
It was a finger on the latest victim’s hand.
“Shit.” He whispered to himself. With his other hand he touched the button which allowed him to communicate with Morgan and JJ. “Guys, I got somethi-”
Suddenly, his whole body was pushed with a large amount of force, causing him to fall forward into the river. He was freezing, and his head was underwater. Surprised, he gasped, inadvertently sucking in a bunch of water to his lungs. He attempted to fight his attacker who was holding him facedown by the back of the neck, almost sitting on top of him to keep his body under the shallow water. Reid was fading quickly; no oxygen was getting to his brain and he’d inhaled too much water. Being facedown didn't help him much either, he couldn't reach to fight the unsub. The light around him seemed to amplify. His chest stopped hurting and he suddenly felt relaxed.
‘that’s probably not good’ the logical part of his brain insisted, but he was too calm to do anything about it. He moved closer towards the light, leaning into the warmth that it was bringing him. A large weight was lifted off his back, but his body didn’t move towards the air. Instead he just drifted off, letting his eyes shut.
He awoke suddenly, coughing large amounts of water from his lungs. He was laying on his side, shivering and covered in mud, on the riverbank. He retched water and the contents of his stomach for what felt like an hour before settling down. Reid felt as though someone had hit his chest with a hammer multiple times.
‘CPR’ he thought, ‘I just drowned, someone gave me CPR, that’s why my chest hurts.’ He let out a whimper, bringing an arm up to his bruised sternum, but another hand stopped him.
Reid opened his eyes to meet JJ’s, who was carding one hand through his hair, holding his arm with the other. She looked like she was saying something to him, probably something soothing, but his ears weren’t functioning right.
He lazily shifted his gaze behind her, to a wet, very pissed off looking Derek who was talking on the phone with someone while standing next to some random man.
‘oh, that must be the unsub. He must’ve tried to drown me.’ Reid gathered, his brain slowly catching up with the situation.
His lungs unexpectedly decided they hadn’t taxed him enough for one day and Reid found himself coughing once more. JJ kept him on his side as he tried to sputter the excess water and phlegm from his lungs, but to no avail. He was coughing so hard that he began to get a headache. His body was beginning to shut down from the lack of oxygen once again and he felt himself get weaker and weaker. A hand was still running through his wet hair and another joined on his back, smacking him as lightly as they could to help dislodge any fluid in his lungs.
When he finally caught his breath again, he could barely open his eyes. Luckily, though, it seemed help had finally arrived.
An oxygen mask was shoved on his face and Reid relished in the pure oxygen that was being pumped into his body. He was being rolled onto his back and lifted onto something hard, but his body was limp as a ragdoll at this point. He held onto consciousness only because something in his body was telling him he shouldn’t fall asleep. Or maybe someone was telling him that, he wasn’t sure.
A bright light was abruptly shot into each of his eyes and he groaned, shutting his lids as tightly as he could. His headache seemed to amplify tenfold from the light. Reid realized that it felt as though he were moving, which seemed illogical. Opening his eyes to slits, he saw JJ’s face and they were… in an ambulance? But why? Was someone hurt? Was JJ hurt?
He began reaching up for whatever was on his face, but hands were holding him down. He began to panic. They were holding him down like the unsub held him down underwater. A loud beeping noise began, which only agitated him further. Soon he felt a slight prick in his arm and with that he decided that maybe it was time to go to sleep. He quickly dropped into unconsciousness.
Reid awoke in a white hospital bed for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past month.
“Fuck, not again” he groaned, closing his eyes.
“Hey, watch your language there, kid.” Reid’s eyes snapped open to see Derek standing beside his bed. Since the man was still wet, it seemed as though he hadn’t been out for very long, which was probably a good sign. He realized there was something on his face and he reached up to grab it.
“Woah there, kiddo, you need to leave that on.” Derek stated, quickly stopping his hand from reaching the oxygen mask. “They’re trying to clear all the water and other shit from your lungs, so you don’t land yourself some pneumonia, okay?” Reid nodded, slightly annoyed. Didn’t he literally just get better from being sick? Why did it feel like the world was out to get him?
JJ walked in the room, looking worried, but relief immediately replaced the worry as she noticed he was awake.
“Spence! You’re up already!” she rushed to his bedside. He smiled at her, Spencer had always wanted a sister when he was younger, dreaming of someone he could always lean on and confide in, and that was certainly how he thought of JJ. “How are you feeling? We were so worried when Derek dragged you out of that water. You weren’t breathing and your pulse was so weak. He performed four rounds of compressions before you started breathing again.”
Reid’s brows shot up at this. He didn’t realize it had taken that long for him to come back. No wonder his chest felt like a truck ran him over, Derek probably did crack some of his ribs during CPR.
“I feel crappy but I’m alive” He tiredly mumbled, his voice cracking. She grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. He squeezed back as hard as he could, which wasn’t very hard, but the effort was there.
“I’ll be back” Derek stated, leaving the two alone.
JJ smiled once more at Reid, tears starting to fill her eyes. He frowned.
“What’s wrong?” JJ chuckled at this, a tear falling from her eye which she quickly wiped away.
“Spence, I thought I lost you today” she murmured, sadness lacing her voice. “When Derek dragged you out of the water you were so… still. Lifeless. I’ve never seen you like that. I mean hell when you sleep you still move around and talk to yourself. But then… I mean Spence, you almost died. You were so pale, and your lips were blue, and you were so limp. When Derek started on the third round of compressions, I started to lose hope… and then when you still didn’t rouse…” She wiped a few more tears from her face, voice catching in her throat.
Reid felt guilty for causing her this much pain. He felt a tear run down his face as well and he cleared his throat.
“JJ, I’m sor-”
“Spence, don’t. It’s not your fault.” She interrupted, smiling at him sadly. She reached out, wiping the tear from his face and he caught her other hand in his.
“It’s not yours either, I don’t blame you… or Derek. I made the decision to go check out the river, so don’t blame yourself either JJ. Please.” JJ nodded, squeezing both of his hands tightly before pulling him into an embrace.
The two of them stayed like that for a while, happy with the fact that they were both alive and in each other’s presence. She eventually let him go when the doctor walked in.
The doctor took him for a chest x-ray and she stated that he only had a small amount of liquid left in his lungs and, as long as he took it easy once they released him, he would probably cough it up within the next few hours and be good to go.
A few hours later, Spencer was released from the hospital. JJ and Morgan were with him, carrying his things for him as they made their way to the car. He was not back to 100%, but his lungs felt better and, somehow, he still felt better than he had when he’d been sick a day ago.
They met the rest of the team on the jet, everyone welcoming Reid with a smile as he’d survived yet another near-death experience.
He laughed as they joked about his knack for getting the short end of the stick and blushed when Hotch and Derek exchanged stories about their time with delusional, fever ridden Reid. He found himself slowly being lulled to sleep by his team members stories and laughs, a smile plastered on his face.
This is what family was supposed to be like, and he was going to hand onto it as tightly as he could.