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Ashley bit her lip as she looked over at where Spencer was standing. There was something wrong with him, she could tell. But what it was she had no idea. Part of her wanted to go ask him. She knew he wouldn’t tell her, though. She was too new to the team. Someone that he didn’t know and didn’t quite trust yet. She wasn’t overly fond of him either, to be honest. Sometimes the man reminded her of a walking computer. He also had no real ability to talk to people. It made her wonder why he was in the BAU of all places. They had to deal with victims and police and press; how did he manage it without making a fool of himself or stuttering so hard he couldn’t even talk? Watching him, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was on drugs. The way he looked was typical of someone using or coming off of using. Wow, knock one down for Dr. Reid. I can’t believe it!
On the other side of the room, Dave had just noticed Spencer’s problem as well. He looked at it not only with a profiler’s eye, but a friend’s as well. It only took him a minute to figure out what was going on. All the signs were right out there in the open. He didn’t even think about Spencer using, despite knowing the boy’s history with drugs. No, what he saw was something else entirely. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed the one number he knew would lead him to someone who could help. When there was an answer, all he said was “Conference room, now. It’s Reid.” And then he hung up. Moving slowly, Dave pushed away from the wall.
Spencer was sitting in his chair at the table, sunglasses covering his eyes, rocking slightly. He was chewing his lip almost constantly. What really gave him away to Dave was the hand that Spencer brought up. Elbow on the table, Spencer’s one hand was cupped over his ear. His other hand was on the table, clenching into a fist. Every sound that went off around him seemed to make him flinch. The rumble of voices from the main part of the station, mixed in with the sounds of phones going off, was just usual hustle and bustle to them all. But Spencer would flinch or his clenching would pick up or his rocking would increase with each random sound.
Instead of heading to Spencer, the senior profiler moved over and shut one of the doors. The other he left open for a moment. Then he walked to the windows and dropped the blinds down. He looked over at Ashley, who was watching him with confusion. “Go close the other windows. Drop the blinds and close them off.” He told her. It looked like she was going to say something so he shook his head to tell her to wait. After a long pause, she rolled her eyes and moved off. He made a mental note to talk to her later.
Just as Dave and Ashley finished closing the blinds, Derek came strolling straight into the room. He took one single look at Spencer and he was moving into action. He shut the door behind him, cutting down the sound in the room. Then he strode over to where Spencer was. He didn’t talk to him, though. He squatted down beside him and grabbed the black bag that sat there. From inside the bag he pulled out a bulky pair of black headphones.
In a low murmur, Derek called out “Pretty boy?” He waited for Spencer to look over at him, even though it only lasted for a split second. That was enough for Derek. He lifted the headphones and slid them on Spencer’s head, covering his ears. Some of Spencer’s tension seemed to drain. Then Derek took Spencer’s hand, drawing him to his feet. The younger man was still twitchy, still not quite able to hold himself still, but he followed Derek over to the couch that was against the wall. After seating him there, Derek grabbed the evidence board that was beside them, scooting it just slightly sideways so that it blocked Spencer off from the room. He bent behind the board, doing something that the others couldn’t see, before straightening back up and moving to the table. Grabbing a massive stack of folders, he brought them over to Spencer.
A minute later he was back by the table, looking over to Dave. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem.” Dave assured him.
The door to the conference room opened and Aaron and Emily walked in. While Emily looked around in surprise, her eyes taking in everything, Aaron gave a single sweep before shutting the door. His hawk-like gaze locked on Derek. “Is he ok?”
“Not yet.” Derek told him honestly. “Just caught it. But soon.”
Ashley stepped forward, her arms crossing over her chest. “Ok, can someone tell me what’s going on here?” She at least had the decency to look around and double check that they were alone before she continued to speak. “Reid was rocking and tapping and acting all weird. What were those headphone things you put on his head and what is going on? He looked, well, he looked like he was…”
“He wasn’t.” Aaron cut in sternly. They all caught the implications of what she was trying to say there.
The look on Derek’s face was both shocked and angry. “You thought he was on drugs?” He demanded furiously. When she looked around, trying to silently remind him where they were, he shook his head at her. “I don’t care, Seaver. There’s nothing to hide. He’s not on drugs and he’s not coming down off of drugs!”
“Well, what was that then?” She was defensive now, trying not to be intimidated by Derek.
Dave held a hand out to Derek to stop him from talking. He moved toward the table, staring across it at the newest member of their team. “To be a profiler, you have to be able to understand and read people well. Not make snap judgments based off of what you think you see. You and I both saw the same thing and yet I recognized it for what it was in a much shorter time than it took you to make your judgment of Dr. Reid. What you saw was not a high or a withdrawal, Seaver. It was something known as Sensory Overload. Too many of his senses were being triggered and his brain was overloading so that it was unable to process any one thing at a time. The headphones Derek put on him would be, at my guess, noise canceling headphones. The reason he was put over there behind a board was to help relieve the visual stimuli as well.”
“Sitting back there, he’ll be able to focus all his energy on one thing; the files.” Derek added in. “It allows him time to mellow down.”
Surprise had Ashley’s eyebrows going up. “He suffers from something like this and he’s allowed in the field?” She asked without thinking. “What happens if he gets hit by that when we’re out in the field?” She paused, looking confused for a second. “Isn’t Sensory Overload something that tends to happen to autistic…ohhh.” The look on her face clearly stated ‘that explains a lot’.
The hard stare Aaron wore grew even harder. “Reid is a perfectly capable agent. How he is when he’s in the field is something for me to worry about, not you. Never once have we had a problem with him on the field because of this. I don’t ever expect that we will.”
“And as for your comment about autism, that’s not your business either.” Emily piped up. She didn’t look too pleased with the woman. “He’s a valuable member of our team and a great friend. One of the best. I’d trust him to have my back on the field any day of the week.”