Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

          Despite his need to use his wheelchair Spencer decides against using it during the case in New York. Instead, he settles for just dealing with his cane and knee pain. The team keep looking at him oddly and offering him seats whenever they have to stand for long times. Spencer doesn’t even snap at them for treating him like a kid because he was in too much pain to properly refuse the seats or help. By the time the case was over and the team had managed to take the UNSUB in with no casualties, Spencer was exhausted and severely questioning his decision to not use his wheelchair.

          When he climbs onto the plane Spencer makes a beeline for the couch, flopping down on it quickly and falling asleep almost instantly. The team on the other hand gather together into a small group. Emily and Garcia share a seat, Emily with her legs placed over the arm of the chair and Garcia with her arms around Emily’s waist. Rossi and Hotch decide to stay standing while Derek takes the other seat. JJ moves over from the small kitchen area as Derek starts speaking.

          “So, something's up with Reid right? I’m not the only one that’s noticed?” He looks to the rest of the group who are all nodding along with him.

          “Yeah, it seems like he’s been in more pain than usual. He’s walking with his cane more and stuff, using it to make coffee at the bull pen when a few months ago he could do that without needing it.” Emily chimes in, twisting around to look at Garcia.

          “He leans on it heavier too, putting more of his weight on it whenever he has to stand still.”

          Rossi and Hotch both have solemn looks on their faces as they all turn to look at their youngest member.

          “You don’t think he’d start using again?” JJ asks, stirring her tea with a concerned look on her face. Garcia shakes her head confidently but Derek’s face causes her to pause in her action.

          “I mean, maybe. I want to have faith in him but I know how hard it can be to kick an addiction, let alone something as chemically physical as drugs.” Derek’s hand rubs his thigh as he speaks with a sad look in his eyes.

          “I think we need to have more faith in Reid. I trust him to come to us if he struggles with anything, although I don’t know if I made it clear to him. He does struggle on picking up on subtle things between us anyway.” Hotch finally says, crossing his arms before taking a deep breath. “Either way, I don’t think he’d appreciate us talking about him like this when he’s right there. So, let’s just sit down and relax after that hard case.”

          Garcia and Emily share a look that says they don’t believe Hotch has ever relaxed a day in his life but shrug, turning towards each other and getting stuck in a conversation about the newest book they both read.

          Hotch, Rossi, and JJ all move towards the set of four seats opposite Spencer near the back of the plane while Derek takes out his headphones and starts listening to his music after closing his eyes.

          A few days after they finished that case and Spencer got to go home, he finally had a day off. Waking up late on that day, the first thing he did was sit down in his wheelchair and rolled himself into his bathroom to brush his teeth. After completing his normal morning routine, he rolls out and over to his kitchen to prepare himself a coffee. While he waits for the kettle to boil he rolls over to his desk and pulls under it. Spencer had removed the chair before leaving for the case and was grateful he had the foresight as it made it much easier to move his wheelchair under his desk.

          Before he can do much more than turn his laptop on, however, he hears a knock at the door. Unclicking his breaks, he moves towards his door and opens it. Since he was unable to see out the peephole anymore Spencer just opens the door for everyone now. Standing in his doorway is Garcia, dressed in her usual bright fashion. Spencer considers just closing the door on her before she looks down at notices him. He can see the cogs turning in her head as she registers his wheelchair and opens her mouth to say something before thinking better and holding her arms out. It’s then that Spencer notices the gift basket in her arms.

          Spencer moves backwards to let her in and she moves in. Spencer pushes himself back into his kitchen and moves one of the mugs he had placed on the counter closer to him. He can sense Garcia watching him and sighs.

          “You can ask, you know.”

          “What happened?” Garcia blurts out before slapping a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to ask it like that.”

          Spencer laughs gently before shaking his head.

          “It’s okay, Garcia I know what you mean.” Spencer finishes making his coffee before pausing, realising he doesn’t know how to move from the kitchen back to his desk. In the end he decides to alternate hands with holding his mug and pushing, managing to make it to his desk. Garcia sits down opposite him and places her basket by her feet.

          “So, is everything okay?”

          “I mean, not really. Clearly.” Spencer gestures to his wheelchair and Garcia looks mortified, causing Spencer to laugh again. “It’s fine though. My knee just became too painful to walk on it anymore. I should’ve been using this on our last case to be honest, I just was too nervous about judgement from the New York cops.”

          Garcia narrows her eyes at Spencer. He shifts in his seat and looks away quickly, suddenly finding the wood on his desk much more interesting than her gaze.

          “Spencer Walter Reid.” He looks back at her with surprise in his eyes. “Yeah I know your middle name. You will use your wheelchair at work tomorrow or so help me God I will tell the others and then you’ll have to use it anyway.” Spencer feels himself swallow forcefully at her threats. He knew she’d follow through with it if need be. He nods quickly. Suddenly Garcia’s normal cheerful face was back on and no trace was left of the woman that managed to successfully threaten Spencer into doing something.

          “Brilliant! I’ll pick you up tomorrow as well so there’s no getting out of it, okay?” After Spencer nods at her again she claps her hands. “Now, the reason I’m here. I brought you some chocolate, some nuts, and a DVD of a new movie that recently came out that I wanted to watch with you.”

          “Well, what are we waiting for then? Let’s go watch it.” Spencer replies, pushing himself away from his desk and moving into his living room, standing up temporarily to move onto the sofa after locking his wheelchair brakes.

          They end up cuddled together by the end of the movie and Spencer finds himself incredibly thankful for Garcia and her stubbornness. He likely would’ve never used his wheelchair at work until he had no other choice if she hadn’t threatened him with the rest of the team. They’ll find out anyway, but at least this way Spencer will be able to sort of control the conversations a bit more anyway.

          By the time the credits have rolled, both Spencer and Garcia were asleep. They’d both eaten so much chocolate and nuts that they had experienced a sugar crash by the end of the movie. Both of their backs would hate them when they wake up but for now they sleep, comfortable and unplagued by nightmares for the first time in a long time for either of them.

Chapter Text

          After Spencer and Garcia had both woken up and complained about sleeping on the sofa, Garcia said goodbye and left Spencer to himself. Since it was now evening, and Spencer was still feeling tired, he decided to finally make himself some food before getting ready for bed. He had a feeling he’d be seeing that balloon guy in his nightmares but until then, Spencer just pushes himself around his apartment.

          He decided against cooking anything and instead just places one of his box meals into the microwave and warming it up per the instructions. Once it had been heated up and Spencer had eaten it, he decided to move back into his bedroom and sit down on his bed. Pushing the wheelchair further away from him Spencer pulls his legs up on the bed and reaches over his bed to pull his book onto his lap. He only manages to complete two chapters before he starts to nod off. Placing the bookmark back, Spencer moves down in his bed and turns his lamp off before closing his eyes.

          Spencer wakes up the next morning to loud bangs on his front door. He pulls himself slowly out of bed and takes a second before deciding to use his cane. While he should be using his wheelchair he still moves faster on his cane. Although, not by much and even then he’s still quite slow getting to the door. He opens it to reveal Garcia standing in front of his door once again.

          “Boy wonder! Why are you standing right now?” Garcia moves forward to hug him before registering his upright position and stopping, putting her hands on her hips. Spencer winces but smiles at her.

          “I wanted to get here quick, you were banging like your life depended on it Garcia.” He explains, moving further back to make his way back to his bedroom and wheelchair. Garcia follows behind and closes the door behind her, placing her bag down by the door before following Spencer the rest of the way to his bedroom. By the time she gets there he’s already moved into the bathroom and started brushing his teeth, using his wheelchair this time however. Garcia sits down on his bed while he finishes his morning routine of brushing his teeth, shaving, and finally washing his face. He moves back out again and pushes himself to his dresser. Spencer pulls out an outfit for him to get changed into but turns around to Garcia who takes the hint and leaves his room, leaving him to get changed.

          While Spencer gets changed, Garcia moves into the kitchen and moves about while making two cups of coffee for the two of them to take with them to work. They could make coffee while at work but Garcia needed something to do while Spencer got dressed.  Soon enough, he rolled himself out of the bedroom with his go-bag and regular bag on his lap.

          “I normally put my shoes on at the door but since I don’t really use them anymore I don’t bother with that” Spencer gestures to his feet on the footplate with a small laugh and Garcia laughed as well.

          “I was just making us some coffee, figured we’d want some for the trip.” Spencer nods his head and stops moving when he reaches the counter where Garcia is standing. He watches as she finishes off adding milk to the two coffee’s before moving towards the door. She paused as she seemed to realise her mistake but Spencer leans down and picks up her bag and puts it on his lap with his. There’s barely enough room for both go-bags plus his shoulder bag but manages to place them in a comfortable enough position that they won't fall down.

          The two of them made their way into the lift in the corner of the floor before moving down to the ground floor. When the doors open, Garcia is confused at where they were since it didn’t look like the building entrance she had walked in before. Spencer, on the other hand, moves out confidently and pushes himself in one direction. Garcia follows behind, still confused.

          “The landlord had to put the elevator in a hidden sort of space, he apparently didn’t have room anywhere else.” Spencer explains at seeing her confused face. Garcia nods but is still rather confused as she’d seen space before, but what did she know about putting elevators in buildings, she was a technical analyst not an elevator builder. Soon enough, Spencer leads the way back into the part of the building that Garcia did recognise and she took over to lead the way to her car.

          Once they get there, Garcia hands one of the coffee mugs to Spencer so she can get her keys out and unlocks the car, opening one of the door to put her coffee mug down before taking back the other one from Spencer and doing the same. Then she moves to the boot and opens it so Spencer can put the bags in. Then comes the question of how do they put Spencer’s wheelchair in the car.

          “I know how to do this, I’ll just need your help moving the parts of it if that’s okay? Putting some of the pieces in the boot the frame will have to go on the back I think, it doesn’t look like it’ll fit in the boot, sorry.”

          Garcia waves her hand, dismissing his concerns and just watches. First, Spencer moves into the seat before removing the wheels from the frame as well as the cushion. He moves the cushion onto his lap while Garcia takes the wheels to the boot and places them in by the bags. Once Spencer had moved the cushion to his lap and Garcia had moved back to his side, he lifts the frame up and Garcia helps guide it onto the back seat for him, taking care to not scratch anything on her car. Finally, Garcia sits down in the driver’s seat and turns the car on.

          They both pass the time with idle talk, partially successful at distracting Spencer from his spiralling thoughts of anxiety about using his wheelchair at work. He’s less worried about the teams individual thoughts and more about whether they’ll think he can still do his job. Even he himself was questioning his ability to do some aspects of the job, since he’ll no longer be able to chase people down if they run, so he could be seen as a liability in the field. He'll definitely have to talk to Hotch about his now-limited abilities. Then he realises. He hasn’t been able to do these things for a while due to his pain. If anything, using the wheelchair will allow him to be more physical, able to move more places. So long as they’re accessible of course.

          Before Spencer was ready, Garcia pulls into a parking spot and turns her car off. Turning to him, she takes her seatbelt off.

          “Do you want me to get your wheels from the boot before the frame or frame first?”

          “I think wheels first, then frame. Then you can go and get the bags while I put the wheels back on the frame.” Garcia nods and gets out, opening the boot and grabbing his wheels and bringing them both to the front. She then helps Spencer lift the frame to the front of him and checks to make sure the frame is okay where it is before moving to the back to gather their bags. This time she’ll be able to carry her bag since there wasn’t any cups she had to carry this time. Moving back to the front, Spencer had finished putting the wheels on his wheelchair and put the cushion back in place as well. He sat down in it and checks the brakes before moving towards Garcia. She holds his bags out for him and he places them in his lap before the two of them make their way towards the elevator.

          Spencer feels himself start to panic again as the elevator starts rising, taking them closer to their desks and the inevitable reactions of the rest of the team. Garcia started rambling about a TV show she had started recently. She goes deep into her analysis of one of the characters and how the writers somehow wrote him, according to Garcia,

          “…so bisexual Reid! Like honestly, I don’t know how they did it. The man is so bisexual and I will not hear any arguments otherwise!”

          The doors open to the bull pen and it turns out Garcia’s distractions were successful as Spencer pushed himself into the room and towards his desk without realising he’d made it the whole way. At this realisation, however, he notices people staring at him. Spencer makes the conscious decision to ignore them and finishes his conversation with Garcia during the rest of the walk to his desk.

          “I have to go talk to Hotch about this,” Spencer taps his right hand on his wheel and Garcia nods her understanding, “I’ll talk to you later. I expect you to explain to me why you think the angel is gay.” Garcia nods sincerely before making her way to her own bat-cave. Spencer makes his way to Hotch’s office and knocks, waiting for Hotch to verbally respond.

          “Hi Hotch. I feel like this is a very overdue conversation.” Hotch looks up from his paperwork and notices Spencer still sitting in the doorway. Then he registers the wheelchair and his eyes widen slightly in surprise but nods, closing the file and putting it to the side. Spencer moves himself in the rest of the way and let the door close behind him, pushing himself to Hotch’s desk. He considers sitting in one of Hotch’s chair but decides better and stays in his own seat.

          “So, how best can we accommodate you at work?” Hotch starts when Spencer just sits in silence, struggling to find the best way to start the conversation. Spencer startles, not expecting that to be the first question Hotch asked. Hotch seems to register Spencer’s confusion and smiles gently. “I don’t need to know why you’re using a wheelchair or anything else, just how work can be better for you now.” Spencer smiles in gratitude and settles himself, shaking the nerves out of his hands.

          “Honestly, I can’t think of anything at the moment. Everything seems accessible. The main thing is just that I’m going to get rid of my desk chair so I can just sit in my wheelchair instead. It’s much more comfortable as I’ve found.” Spencer finishes with a slight laugh and Hotch smiles as well, nodding his head and taking a note on a piece of paper near him.

          “If you ever think of anything don’t be afraid to tell me, Reid. I’m not sure what we’ll do for the plane but I will figure something out for our next case. Worst comes to it, would you want one of us to carry you up the stairs or can you still do that safely?”

          Spencer winces a little at the thought of someone having to carry him upstairs. He shakes his head softly.

          “I can still walk up stairs, as long as I use my cane and lead with my right leg.” Hotch nods his understanding. “So, I’ll go last up the stairs if that’s okay? I’ll slow everyone down otherwise.” Hotch smiles but nods anyway.

          “You won’t, Reid, but alright. What are you going to tell the others?”

          “I don’t know to be honest. I hadn’t thought this far ahead.” Spencer shrugs. They both turn to the door when they hear a knock and JJ pokes her head in, smiling at Spencer before pausing on his wheelchair. She shakes herself out of it before speaking,

          “We have a case I’m afraid. Las Vegas, three women gone missing in two weeks each one disappearing sooner than the last.” Hotch settles his mouth into a grim line and stands up, grabbing a file from JJ on his way out the door. Spencer follows behind and JJ moves behind Spencer once he’d left the room. Hotch calls out to the rest of the team on his way to their usual room and the others make their way into the room behind the trio, saying their various hellos and sharing confused looks about Spencer and his wheelchair.

          They focus on JJ and Garcia as the two women start presenting the case. Three women, all blonde and athletic, had gone missing in two weeks. The second woman had gone missing five days after the first, but there was only a three day gap between her and the third woman being missing. Fortunately, the latest woman had only been reported missing yesterday so hopefully the team had at least one day before the next woman goes missing.

          The team quickly gather their papers up and Spencer places his in his bag to ensure they stay on him while he moves but otherwise he follows right behind the team. Derek drops back to talk to him and Spencer steels himself for the conversation that he’s sure is about to happen.

          “Anything I can do for you kid? Not just right now but any time you just let me know.” Spencer rolls his eyes mentally.

          “Yeah thanks Derek, but I’m not completely helpless now just because I use a wheelchair, okay?”

          Derek sputters for a second before laughing.

          “I know, Reid. You’re more capable than most of us at a lot of things. Well, apart from kicking down doors but that’s no different than before anyway. I’m not saying it because you're in a wheelchair. Not entirely at least. The wheelchair just kind of showed me we don’t really talk much outside of work and I wanted you to know that I am your friend, you can talk to me about things.”

          Spencer mulls over Derek’s words for the rest of the distance to the cars that they’ll use to get to the plane. Spencer pauses as he realises he’ll need someone’s help and he moves towards Emily. Since she’s Garcia’s girlfriend, Spencer felt the most comfortable asking her to help him put his wheelchair in the car. She notices him when she puts her bag in the car and looks at his wheelchair, somehow understanding exactly what he was asking for without him even needing to say a word. She nods her head and Spencer moves himself to a seat in the back. Once he’d gotten into the seat Emily reaches towards his wheelchair but pauses.

          “Do you want to dismantle it or do you want me to?”

          Spencer was surprised that she knew what to do and smiles.

          “I’d like to do it if that’s okay, but you can take the pieces as I’m done?” Emily nods her head and stands upright again. Spencer removes one of the wheels and passes it to her, but she waits until he hands her the second wheel before moving to the back and putting them in the boot next to their bags. She heads back to Spencer and picks up the frame after she’d checked he was done and places that in the back as well.

          Spencer sits back in his seat and notices Rossi watching him from the front seat. Staring back at him Rossi stops staring and instead starts talking.

          “Sorry. I was just watching what you were doing, I’d never realised those wheels could come off.”

          “That’s alright, I didn’t think you’d be weird about it. At least not logically.” Rossi moves his head in agreement.

          “I definitely wouldn’t be, I know I’m old but I’ve been around as times change and I like to think I changed as well.” Spencer laughs gently at his words but nods as well. Hotch climbs into the front seat then and Emily climbs in beside him. “Wait, did someone grab my bag? I just realised I didn’t.”

          “Yeah, Derek got it for you when he noticed you move past it. It’s in his car.” Emily answers him quickly pausing Spencer’s panic. He relaxes at that and smiles at Emily. Hotch turns the car on and starts driving them towards the airport for their flight. Spencer ends up zoning out of the window as they move.

          They manage to make it to the plane and get on without any incident, Spencer going last and using his cane to help him get up. They’d decided to put his wheelchair with them in the main area but Spencer couldn’t get himself and his wheelchair up the stairs together so he let Derek carry it up with him. When Spencer gets to the top of the stairs, his wheelchair is alone right near the door which he is immensely grateful for, that the team didn’t feel the need to wait for him.

          He sits down and pushes himself towards the rest of the team. It’s probably unnecessary for him to use his wheelchair on the plane since he needs to move into one of their seats anyway for take-off and landing for the seatbelt but having it nearby just makes him feel so much more comfortable. Once Spencer had moved into one of the seats with a seatbelt the team get stuck into their discussion of the aspects of the profile that they could create from the little information they had in the case files.

Chapter Text

          The team, minus Rossi and Emily while they talked to the victims’ families, walked, or rolled in Spencer’s case, into the police department in Las Vegas. Spencer was used to the stares from cops when he travelled with the team due to his young age but this time the stares felt worse, more disbelieving in his ability to do his job. Spencer quickly made the decision to stay in his wheelchair as much as possible. Even though he knew it was nonsense, he felt like the police would judge him less, or at least be somewhat more understanding, if he pretended to be more disabled.

          “Hi, captain James Pyg? My names Jennifer Jareau, we spoke over the phone before,” JJ shakes hand with the captain before gesturing to the rest of the team “and this is Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, and Dr. Spencer Reid. David Rossi and Emily Prentiss are currently at the latest victims house interviewing the family.” Hotch and Rossi both moved forwards to shake the man’s hand while Spencer waved from his seat. James barely spared him a glance before focusing on Hotch to explain the situation. Spencer stays silent until the captain points out the area where they’ll be working before he pushes himself over.

          The first thing Spencer notices is that the whiteboard is too high for him to be able to reach the top of. He can only reach to about the middle with his arm stretched. He frowns at the board before looking for anything that could adjust the height of it. He finds nothing, however, and just sighs and prepares himself to work only on the bottom half of the board. He starts by pining up a map of the local area and marking the area where the victims went missing, and then where their bodies were found. Soon, Emily and Rossi join them and the team get to bounce ideas off of each other with the added information the familial visits offered.

          The first day went well and the team found themselves all exhausted by the time they get to the hotel they were staying at. As it turns out, they were doubling up again. Derek with Spencer, Hotch and Rossi, and then JJ and Emily sharing. Spencer laughs at the implications of having the men and women room separately but shakes his head, knowing it was unintentional by Hotch. Spencer and Derek both get to their room first, since it was the room closest to the elevator. What Spencer wasn’t expecting, however, was for the room to be an accessible room.

          The room had extra space between the beds and between the beds and the wall, as well as extra space in general around the room. The closet also had lowered hanging racks for clothes, not that Spencer would be using them. Finally, glancing into the bathroom it had grab rails by the toilet and shower, as well as a shower chair folded up in the shower itself. Spencer cursed himself for not thinking of a shower chair for himself, he’d just been sitting in his bathtub every time he needed to shower. A shower chair would make everything a lot easier for him and he makes a mental note to look at some for himself once the case was over.

          “Damn, Hotch really gave us the best room huh.” Derek says, whistling as he takes in the sheer size of the room.

          “No, he gave us the accessible room, Derek. The bare minimum for me now.” Derek winces at Spencer’s comment before nodding and raising his hands in surrender.

          “You’re right, Reid. Sorry.”

          “Apology accepted. Now, I’m going to get changed in the bathroom and then brush my teeth so you do whatever out here.”

          Spencer picks up his bag and puts it on his lap before pushing into the bathroom. He shuts and locks the door behind him and gets out his pyjamas, toothbrush and toothpaste. He takes his time getting changed, using the grab rails to steady himself when he stands and changed his trousers. After getting into his comfortable pyjamas, Spencer brushes and flosses his teeth and runs his tongue over his teeth to feel whether they were cleaned well enough. By the time he finishes and pushes himself out of the bathroom, Derek was lounging on one of the beds and had already changed into his own pyjamas.

          “Bathroom’s free,” Spencer notes as he moves to his own bed. He hears Derek thank him but focuses on testing out how he’s going to move onto the bed. It was too high for him to transfer on so he’d need to stand up, although that will undeniably be a struggle. Spencer sighs and just accepts that he’ll be in more pain for a short while before Derek comes back out of the bathroom. They accidentally make eye contact before Spencer looks away quickly.

          “Do you want a hand or are you okay?”

          Normally, Spencer would frown at anyone for suggesting that, however he pauses and thinks for a second before nodding. Derek moves over quickly but waits for Spencer’s guidance.

          “I just need to hold onto you to keep weight off my left side if that’s okay.”

          Derek nods his head and Spencer braces himself, standing up and gripping tightly to Derek’s shoulder as he does so. Then he sits down on the bed and smiles up at Derek, now slightly closer to eye level. Not that that’s important to Spencer since being lower down gives him more reason to avoid eye contact with people, but it’s nice to be higher up sometimes. He already misses his height sometimes. The silence between the two men is comfortable while they look at each other for a small second before Derek turns away and moves back to his own bed, pulling the covers back and lying down.

          Spencer does the same, moving the blankets down and pulling them back over himself after he lies down fully. He falls into a fitful sleep, his head racing with thoughts of the UNSUB and more women going missing before the team can catch him.

          Unfortunately, by the time the team manage to figure out who the UNSUB is, another woman had gone missing and they’d found the third woman’s body. Her body had come with DNA evidence left behind which lead the team to a Michael ‘Mike’ Jones that had been convicted of arson when he was a teenager. With that knowledge the team, minus Spencer, managed to track him down and arrest him. While the others were arresting Mike, Spencer started to clear up the files and pictures the team had. He also wiped down some of the board that he could reach since the others had ended up using the top half of the board as well.

          “How the fuck did you get into the FBI?”

          Spencer wheels around at the sound of a voice coming from behind him. It was a local policeman by the name of Josh according to the badge on his uniform, one who apparently hadn’t gone on the arrest with his co-workers.

          “Excuse me?”

          The man scoffs, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Spencer takes in the notes of his behaviour and worries that the confrontation could turn worse soon if he wasn’t careful.

          “You heard me, how the fuck did a cripple get into the FBI?”

          At the slur that drops so casually from the cops mouth, Spencer feels his own mouth drop open in surprise. He’d heard of stories of people having less than favourable experiences with police when they were disabled, and had experienced his own occasionally when he wasn’t at work back when he was still using his cane, but none of those cops had ever confronted him at work or called him a slur before.

          “Not that it's any of your business but I was injured on a case a few years back. I had already proven myself to be beneficial enough to the team and the Bureau that they decided to keep me even after.”

          “Yeah but you can’t even go on arrests so, what use are you?”

          As much as Spencer wanted to deny it, those words hit close to him. He’d been questioning the same thing for a short while after his doctor first told him about the need for a wheelchair, but he had worked through those negative beliefs. Or so he had thought. Apparently, hearing it from someone else hurts even worse than from himself. However, while Spencer was unable to stand up for himself when he first joined the Bureau, he had grown a lot as an adult and was now able to believe in himself. Or at least pretend so.

          “Again, it’s not any of your business. Believe me I have had many conversations with my supervisors and others to justify my position, I am not justifying it to some cop who’s opinion doesn’t matter to me nor the Bureau. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish cleaning so that we can leave when my team comes back” and hopefully never have to deal with you again goes unsaid in Spencer’s mind. He watches as the cops face darkens before his captain walks in, planting a hand on his shoulder and smiling between the two men.

          “Everything okay in here?”

          Before Josh could open his mouth Spencer shakes his head.

          “Actually captain, no. This officer here just called me a slur and questioned my position on the team based off of my disability. Normally, I would be able to just ignore this, however I worry about him potentially saying worse to other people who might not be able to defend themselves. I will be filing an official complaint I hope you understand.”

          Captain Pyg looks between the two of them and nods his head, taking a step back from Josh.

          “I understand completely, Dr. Reid. Even before you do that I will certainly be having a talk with Josh, but please do file that complaint. Even as captain there’s still only so much I can do sadly.” Spencer looks at the captain with a little surprise in his expression. He hadn’t expected the captain to be so understanding or supportive of him, let alone outright recommend he file a complaint. Spencer wasn’t one to question kindness however, and just nods in appreciation.

          He hears the officer splutter in an attempt to defend himself but his captain just levels him with a glare that Spencer was very grateful wasn’t directed towards him. The officer wilts a little before walking out of the room with his shoulders slumped. Spencer and captain James share a look of matched exasperation before the captain also left the room after a wave goodbye.

          It is only then that Spencer remembered that the captain had gone with his team to arrest Mike, and him being back means that the rest of his team most likely is as well. He starts looking around to see if he can spot the rest of the team while pushing himself to the doorframe to attempt to get a better view. Spencer spots the rest of his team soon enough, Hotch having a conversation with the captain who gestures towards Spencer. Hotch gets a scary look on his face, similar to the look that the captain had and Spencer felt himself shiver in his seat.

          Emily and JJ notice him in the doorway with his bag packed on his lap and wave him over. Spencer pushes himself towards them, narrowly avoiding hitting someone’s ankles as they stood near the rest of his team.

          “Hey! How’d it go?”

          “We got him, Reid. He confessed before Derek even handcuffed him.”

          Spencer lets out a breath he wasn’t even aware he’d been holding and looks down at his lap. Derek notices him and moves himself over, clapping a hand on his shoulder with a smile bright on his face. Spencer feels himself flush at the attention but smiles back.

          Hotch finishes his conversation with the captain and shakes his hand before making his way over to the rest of the team, Rossi following closely behind.

          “Plane’s ready for us whenever we are. Did you finish cleaning the space Reid?”

          “Yeah, I managed to get it all clean except for the top half of the board, but I think that’s fine to leave. Considering what that cop said to me I’d rather just leave.” Hotch nods his understanding while the others look at each other confused.

          “What cop, Reid? What did he say to you?” Derek asks, concern splashed across his face. Spencer just shakes his head.

          “I’ll tell you guys later, on the plane.” Derek doesn’t look particularly happy at that answer but accepts it anyway. The team all make their way to the doors and prepare to head back to the hotel for a change of clothes before heading to the plane to fly back home.  “Actually,” Spencer says as the team pause outside to all put their sunglasses on, “I might visit my mom if that’s okay Hotch. I haven’t seen her in a while and I think she’s in a good mood today, I spoke to her nurse earlier.”

          “Of course, Reid. Take as long as you need. We’ll see you when you get back.” Spencer nods his thanks before pulling his phone out to call an Uber.

          “Why don’t we take you Reid?” JJ offers as she notices Spencer looking for a nearby wheelchair-accessible driver. He looks up at her and hums thoughtfully.

          “Yeah, that’ll probably be best JJ, thanks.” She waves his thanks away and they make their way to one of the SUV’s alongside Derek and Emily. This time they managed to fit Spencer’s wheelchair in the boot without needing to dismantle it, just simply putting the brakes on to prevent it from rolling around in the back while they drive. Once they’re all inside and buckled up, Derek driving, he starts a conversation.

          “So Reid. What did the cop say to you?”

          Spencer sighs but shrugs his shoulders.

          “He just didn’t believe that I could be in the FBI while disabled so he questioned my position with you guys. It was nothing, really.”

          “I don’t believe that, pretty boy. Hotch looked downright murderous when the captain was talking to him, plus you looked really shaken up afterwards.” Spencer cursed the profiling abilities in his friend but nods anyway.

          “Yeah, he called me a cripple and said I basically had no use on the team, it's fine. I'm just glad the captain got involved when he did otherwise I feel like it could’ve ended much worse than it did.”

          Spencer looks pointedly out the window, ending the conversation and avoiding the pitying looks from JJ and Emily. Derek was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles had paled in colour.

          The rest of the ride was silent from the occupants, just the sound of the radio and the occasional humming from someone when a song they liked played. They pull up outside Bennington Sanitarium and Spencer waits until Emily got his wheelchair out the back before thanking her and sitting down in it.  He waits until the others have driven off while waving at them before making the rest of his way inside. He greet some of the nurses as he moves past them and appreciates their lack of concern for him and his wheelchair.

          He makes it to the floor that his mom stays at smoothly. Apparently, medical buildings and facilities are much easier to navigate in a wheelchair than anywhere else. It's understandable, since wheelchair users would be more likely to use those sort of buildings more often than other people, however it is still weird how no other places are as accessible as the hospitals are.

          When he arrives at the nurses station, Spencer checks in and greets more of the nurses. One of them lets him know his mother was sitting on the sofa in the common area and he thanks them before finally pushing himself the rest of the way. He spots his mom and she spots him soon after, smiling at him and standing up to greet him.

          “Spencer, my boy. How are you?” Diane asks him, not ignoring but also not paying attention only to his wheelchair. Spencer thanks his mom silently for knowing the perfect thing to say and the best way to act.

          The rest of his afternoon is spent just talking to his mom, pausing only for her medications and food, about anything and everything. From the books he’d read recently, to the asshole cop he’d dealt with before, and the music he’d been listening to more and more recently. By the time he had run out of things to talk about apart from the wheelchair, it was late and he was feeling rather tired. Diane seemed to pick up on it and placed her hand on his.

          “You should go get some rest, sweetheart. You could always visit again tomorrow.” Spencer shares a smile but shakes his head.

          “I’m going to visit some old friends in the morning tomorrow, mom, and then I have to fly back in the afternoon. Diane looks sad but understanding. She smiles at him anyway and opens her arms for a hug. Spencer obliges her and leans in, wrapping his arms around her like he did when he was younger.

          Saying goodbye officially, Spencer leaves Bennington and calls an Uber to take him to the hotel that the team were staying at before. He’d managed to pay for an extra night on his own for the room he was using before and lets himself in. After completing his night-time routine, Spencer gets himself onto the bed with more difficulty since Derek wasn’t there to help him, but he manages and soon falls asleep.