Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There is no such thing as a normal day at the BAU. Well, there is but it’s a loose term around there. That’s why when something abnormal happens, people tend to notice. More specifically, the BAU team. That’s why when Spencer doesn’t show up for work on a random Thursday, the BAU knows something’s up.

Thursday Morning: 

It was a quiet, rainy day in Quantico. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Hotchner arrived at 06:55, suiting his usual black blazer, trousers and white shirt, the outfit being pulled together by a navy blue tie.

Rossi arrived not soon after, sporting a dark blue button down, black trousers with a matching waistcoat and the top button of his shirt undone displaying the lack of a neck accessory.

Next was Prentiss who got to work just before 07:30 wearing a red fitted blouse and flared dark trousers, complimenting her dark wavy hair.

Slowly the rest of the BAU continued to appear for 08:00, when they were expected to meet in the conference room for JJ to brief them on the new case she had selected.

Everyone got comfortable around the circular table in the conference room except for one person, Spencer Reid.

“Where’s Reid?”. Hotch inquired

Each of them looked around the table as though waiting for Spencer to show up out of thin air.

He did not.

Finally, Morgan answered Hotch 

“Not sure” 

“Maybe he’s just running late?” Provided JJ who was looking more concerned by the second.

“Maybe”. Hotch muttered to himself. “Let’s continue with the case briefing and when Reid arrives we’ll catch him up on what he missed.”

Hotch motioned for JJ to begin. The team began building a profile based on the information they had but something was missing. Still. Spencer Reid.

Hotch’s confusion was beginning to turn into concern and the group began to exit the conference room,there was still no sign of Reid. Luckily, their next case was in the area, saving them from getting on the jet and giving Hotch more time to search for Reid. 

Perhaps Spencer was just taking a sick day? No, that didn’t sound right, it didn’t sound like Spencer. Reid would come to work even if he was on the edge of dropping dead. 

Maybe he was visiting his mother? Again, it didn’t make sense as Spencer had plenty of vacation days and he mainly used them on his visits to see his mother. He also always got confirmation for authorized time off before preparing to go. 

Hotch was running out of ideas for why Spencer wasn’t at work.

Missed his alarm? Not likely, he has 4, each with battery back up.

Train was cancelled? No disruption on the railways has shown up on the news.

Kidnapped? Unlikely.

But unlikely doesn’t mean not possible.

Hotch's mind began to spiral into a panic before he pulled himself back together. Panicking won’t help Reid. Think. What next?

If he was going to look for Reid, he would need somebody to lead the team until he returned.

Hotch approached Rossi's office.

He knocked and after a short moment he heard a quiet “come in” from the occupant.

Rossi was hunched over his desk reading a rather large file, even for Hotch's standards.

“Hello Aaron” Rossi pulled his eyes away from his never ending file to look at Hotch and speak to him directly.

“What can I do for you?”. Questioned Rossi, curiosity dancing in his eyes.

“I need you to lead the team until I get back”. It wasn’t a detailed explanation but it was enough for Rossi’s gentle features to turn serious as he noticed a shift in the conversation.

“Is everything alright, Aaron?”

“I’m worried about Reid.”. Hotch stated bluntly. 

“He’s probably just having a sick day. After all he’s done in the past few months, the kid deserves more than just a day off.”

“Something’s just not right about this. He hasn’t contacted us to let us know and it’s really out of character for Reid, don’t you think?”.

“It does seem a bit strange but he’s only young. He might be experimenting.”. Offered Rossi, attempting to justify Reid’s absence.

“David.”.

Hotch raised an eyebrow and gave Rossi a look which said ‘are you serious?’.

Hotch continued “This is Reid. He would come to work even if he was dying. He has to have the same coffee every morning and in his free time he’s rather reading about a new topic to pursue a PhD in or watching Star Trek. Experimenting? Really? David, he doesn’t even shake hands with strangers, what makes you think he’ll be ‘experimenting?”. 

Hotch just looked at Rossi like he was crazy while Rossi attempted to think of a counter.

Rossi conceded “You’ve got a point there, Aaron.”.

Rossi looked back down at his file and gave a deep sigh.

“I’ll watch over everything here, you go check on the kid.” He informed Hotch, with a small, sympathetic smile tugging on his lips.

“Thank you, David. I won’t be long, if he’s not in the places I suspect he’ll be, I'll file a missing persons report and we’ll take the case from there.”

He left the room in a hurry as he deduced the location in which Reid was going from most probable to least.

Hotch knew where to check first, Reid’s apartment.

Chapter Text

Sorry I’ve been on hiatus for so long.

I kinda just lost my obsession with criminal minds but I’m back into writing fan fiction!

I will have the next chapter out for Saturday the 30th August.

Hopefully earlier!!!!!

See you soon ;)

Chapter Text

Spencer sat in his antique style living room, inhaling the strong fumes of tobacco as he let the smoke consume his lungs. It wasn’t much and Spencer knew it was wrong but god it felt good.

To finally have something that he could control, It wasn’t forced upon him.

Even on good days, Spencer struggled to identify how he felt but at times like these, melting into his couch as he finished another cigarette, he felt free. Free from work, societal standards and especially people. How they looked at him, how they treated him, like he was some sort of freak.

Of course not everyone viewed him this way. Spencer could tell that the BAU didn’t see him as a freak but he knew they saw him differently. Almost… fragile. After what happened with Tobias Hankel everyone in the office had been treating Spencer like a glass on the verge of shattering.

However, as he began to leave Dilaudid behind, they stopped looking at him like that. Like a broken man. Now, they believed he was ‘fixed’.

And boy they were wrong. Instead Spencer found a new coping mechanism.

But no sane person would call this coping.

They would call it an addiction. And Spencer knew it too. He just wouldn’t admit it.

As much as he believed he was in control, he couldn’t control those thoughts of yearning for relief when stripped of the numbness that came with these actions.

Suddenly, a knock at Spencer’s door pulled him out of his thoughts.

‘Who would be coming at this time?’ Spencer questioned

‘Who would come for me?’ He thought self depreciatively.

Slowly, Spencer stumbled to his front door, cigarette discarded on the coffee table as he fumbled with his keys to unlock the door.

And what a surprise it was when Spencer found himself standing in front of Aaron Hotchner. His boss.