Chapter Text
Doctor Spencer Reid was gone. He’d disappeared two days ago: four days after Gideon’s no-show for work and one day after Reid finding the letter in his abandoned cabin, addressed to him and only him. Now, their eccentric and beloved genius was gone as well and the team had no idea what to do and where to look for him.
There was no letter this time; they had all checked and double-checked. No handwritten note (“We couldn’t read his chicken scratch anyway.” – JJ had stated with a sad smile and tears running down her face), no e-mail (“Sweet Cheeks doesn’t use e-mails” – Penelope had reminded them) not even a messenger pigeon for Pete’s sake! His neighbors had no idea Spencer was even residing in their building and the girl at his favorite coffee shop had just shrugged her shoulders at the question, stating she couldn’t be expected to remember all the costumers, could she?
It was as if their youngest team member had never even existed.
“Where could he be!?” – Morgan exploded, sending the papers flying onto the floor creating an even greater mess than they originally had in the conference room. – “Why would he just leave like that, without talking to any of us first? Doesn’t he care that we’re worried!?”
Normally, Reid would be the first to notice someone in distress and he would never ever do anything to cause this kind of alarm. ‘Normally’ being the key word here. Because after Hankel and now with Gideon gone, undoubtedly nothing was normal anymore. They had all failed at helping him get over his problems after the cruel kidnapping and torture he’d endured and, in turn, now he had failed putting their minds at ease. If they at least knew he was all right!
“I’ve called all the hospitals in the area and even checked out the John Does… We’d know if he were injured, right?” – Garcia looked around with so much hope in her eyes that nobody had the heart to tell her the truth: that they just couldn’t be sure. Reid could have forbidden the doctors to give out information about him, or he could even be outside the area their technical analyst had looked. It would be impossible to check all the hospitals in the United States and then what about the chance of him having left the country? Or using an alias? The possibilities were endless and their time limited.
“You don’t think he would… ahm… you know…?” – JJ couldn’t bring herself the say the words, so Emily, who as the newest team member was not as much affected as the rest of them and could as such keep a clearer head, patted her arm comfortingly.
“If he had done anything to himself we’d most probably have heard about it by now.” – She assured. – “Besides, he doesn’t strike me as the suicidal type…”
Morgan shook his head sadly.
“You don’t really know him, do you?”
“Why? Do you think he’s suicidal?”
“I don’t even know what to think anymore. After Hankel… He’s a different Kid. Before that he was bubbly, happy and wouldn’t shut up for hours on end. He’d talk about chess, Star Trek, Halloween… whatever. Half the time I had no clue. But we adored him like that.” – Morgan reminisced with a fond smile.
Emily listened with interest; she’d never really witnessed this side of Spencer. She had joined not long before his kidnapping and hadn’t had time to get to know the real him. The Reid that wasn’t lashing out at everyone within his vicinity and wasn’t brooding all the time. The Reid they, so obviously, all knew and loved. The Reid she so desperately wanted to meet.
Garcia chuckled.
“I believe Gideon was the only one who could really keep up with him.”
At that, everyone sobered again, remembering that Gideon was gone; not there anymore to help interpret their youngest member’s moods and needs. And it was not easy with Reid, everyone had to admit that: he had some trouble with social interactions so most of the time the senior profiler kept the boy close, deliberately avoiding leaving him alone with strangers – especially police officers who could bully him. Sometimes the kid needed help expressing what he wanted to say because his brain was working quicker than his mouth could follow and would end up saying gibberish; these times, Gideon was quick to translate because he somehow always just knew what his prodigy was thinking. He made sure the boy was always in a safe and calm environment, since sensory overload could be an issue sometimes. He always just sensed when to get him out of a situation and when to stand back and let the boy handle things for himself. When things got too overwhelming, Reid would become quiet and withdrawn and they all knew by now to just leave him to his thoughts when this happens – he’s not sad or angry at these times, he just needs to rest his overworked brain, especially after long and exhausting cases. It was as if he could put himself on standby mode or something. At times like that Gideon would give him about an hour or so and then gently coax him out of his shell, usually by offering a game of chess and starting to talk about a new book he had read.
Lately, as he matured, Reid had started demanding more freedom and to be allowed to work with them more in the field and Gideon seemed to have an easier time letting him do that than any of them – especially Hotch, who had expressed concerns over and over again that it might be too early to ‘throw the kid in at the deep end’. The case with Doctor Bryar being a good example: both Hotch and Morgan had vehemently expressed their disagreement with the entire plan of sending Reid into the train alone. And yet, Gideon – who always made the final decisions concerning their youngest regardless of who was unit chief – had ultimately gone along with the idea. To this day, nobody understood why and upon asking, the only explanation they’d received was: ‘he needs us to have trust in him so that he can trust himself’. Whatever that meant.
So, now that they had to take over the ex-senior profiler’s role, they really needed to try to figure Reid out better than ever before and it was not going to be easy.
Especially considering that they’d have to find him first.
They just didn’t know what to do and Hotch, their boss and anchor, seemed to be sulking in his office the entire morning. At least that’s what it looked like every time someone peeked in through the transparent wall: he was just sitting at his desk, deep in thoughts with an expression on his face that clearly betrayed how much pain he was in. First, his oldest friend and mentor had left without even a goodbye to him; for while Gideon had at least written a note to Spencer, there had been nothing for Hotch. Then, just mere days after that cruel abandonment, their youngest member, the one that Hotch had sworn to protect especially after the last ordeal, was gone as well. It was apparently starting to get too much for the unit chief and nobody could blame him.
“Do you think he’s going to be all right?” – Penelope asked with concern heavy in her voice, not clarifying whom exactly she meant with the question. It didn’t matter though, none of them had an answer anyway, so they just shrugged and looked helplessly at the papers JJ had gathered up after Morgan’s little outburst and laid out on the table again.
“So, we last saw him yesterday…” – Morgan stated unnecessarily, reading through their notes. – “Did someone notice anything unusual about him?” – Three pairs of incredulous eyes met his stare and he sighed. – “Stupid question, sorry.” – The day before Spencer had found a letter that could be, for all intents and purposes, read as a suicide note from Gideon. Of course everyone noticed something unusual about him: the boy had been devastated and terrified. Morgan snorted in disgust with himself. – “I shouldn’t have let him go home alone. He wasn’t in any shape to be left to his own devices…”
“There’s no point in second-guessing or blaming ourselves.” – Emily reminded, addressing them all. – “We need to figure out what to do. Has anyone talked to his family yet? Does he even have family?”
The three looked at each other as if trying to decide who should share the sad facts about their friend with the newest team member. In the end, JJ took it upon herself to explain.
“His Dad left them when Spence was very little and he hasn’t heard from him ever since. His Mom… she’s very sick. She’s in a mental hospital and I don’t think she even remembers most of the time that she has a son… We could ask her but I doubt we’d get much.”
“Oh… I’m… so sorry. Any siblings?”
“No. No siblings.”
“Grandparents?” – More headshakes. – “Cousins, uncles, aunts… cats?”, Again, everyone negated and Emily couldn’t even believe what she’d just learnt. – “So, that means sweet, innocent Spencer is completely alone in the world?”
Garcia sighed.
“Well… He had Gideon. They were like father and son.”
“Oh, my…”
“Yeah.”
At that moment Hotch stormed into the room and looked around.
“But he still has us. And we won’t let him down. I made a few phone calls and contacted Bennington and also his old college professor, the one who introduced him to Jason. Before Spencer came here, they used to be working closely together on projects and he might know things we don’t. Reid also had friends there; fellow students, especially one boy named Ethan. We met him in New Orleans, that’s where he lives now. We’re going to visit these people, we’ll talk to them and everyone else who knew Spencer before he became an FBI agent. We’re going to dive deep into that boy’s life so that we can find out where he might have gone, what his motivations are and most importantly: how we can help him find his way back to us.” – He declared sternly. – “It’s my fault that I let Jason completely take the lead when it came to him and I’m sad to say I didn’t bother to do my part. At least, not enough.”
“We’re all guilty of that.” – Morgan admitted. – “We love the Kid and we’d do anything for him but… we’ve never really done anything, have we? It was always Gideon.”
“It’s not like he let us.” – JJ pointed out. – “He just naturally cared for Spence and never even shared it much with us. It was as if he were protecting him even from us.”
“But he’s not here anymore. So, wheels up in twenty. Garcia: you’re coming with us.”
All five of them silently left the conference room to embark on a journey that would – hopefully – give them some answers as to where their genius was.