Chapter Text
At 10:16 in the morning everyone's phones went off simultaneously. "Round Table Room now. H." The profilers looked at each other, picked up their coffee cups and headed off to see their unit chief.
Spencer arrived first and caused an accidental traffic jam by stopping dead in the doorway. Morgan poked him in the back and Spencer nearly dropped his coffee. Turning to Morgan, Spencer grabbed his friend by the shoulder and with grave concern asked, "Do you see him? Is there someone in here with Hotch?"
Morgan nodded and Spencer turned back. "What's going on?"
"Come sit down and I'll … explain," Hotch said, confused by Spencer's reaction. The new person, though, was grinning like the Cheshire Cat and went to lean against the wall facing Spencer.
Hotch looked warily between the two and started speaking. "I spent most of the morning in a meeting with the Assistant Director. There is a new position on our team. Profiler Liaison. This position is privately funded and the person filling the role, Dr. Ethan Hunt, reports directly to the Assistant Director. His job is to help us work more effectively as a team and to ensure that team members are as safe as possible in the field." Hotch turned then to directly face Spencer. "There are to be no more kidnappings."
Spencer stood up and started gently banging his head against the wall. Ethan went over and simply stuck his hand between Spencer's head and the wall. "You had to know this was coming, buddy."
Spencer banged his head harder and Ethan used his other hand to poke Spencer. "Play nice. We're at work."
Spencer sighed and turned back to Hotch. "I can fix this."
"Really?" Ethan asked, raising his eyebrows and snorting. "Because last I checked, Clause 61c means that you agreed to this."
"I didn't think the two of you were serious!" Spencer spluttered.
Ethan's face darkened. "Oh, we were and we are. You may not care, but there are some of us who are still stupidly invested in your continued survival, Dr. Reid."
Spencer reached over and initiated a hug. "I'm sorry. And I do care about surviving. You know that, right?"
Ethan pulled back and looked into his friend's eyes. "Obviously, genius. We do know you never intend to be taken by unsubs or locked with Hotch in a room with an armed serial killer. The unsubs are the ones to blame here, not you. But given that you job literally requires you to be in their presence, someone has to step up and make sure that the psychotic dads with bombs strapped to their chests because they think you're a knight don't take you out with them. Okay?"
Spencer nodded. "What about your music, though? You love it. That's a huge part of why you left the FBI in the first place. You would so much rather make people happy with your music than try to profile serial killers."
Ethan grinned. "I may have cut a deal with John."
Spencer's eyes widened then narrowed. "E. What did you do?".
"I come protect you and once a month he comes to karaoke with us."
"No. Just no. Not happening. No," Spencer said, starting to panic.
"Calm down, Spence. We're not going to make you sing unless you want to. You do have to come out with us, though."
Spencer sighed and took a deep breath. "Okay. That I can do."
"Um, Piccolo?" Rossi asked gently. "Not to interrupt, but what's happening here?"
Spencer and Ethan looked at each other, nodded, and Spencer sat. Ethan stood behind him with a hand on Spencer's shoulder for support.
"Well, um, the Assistant Director and I are friends. He met Ethan through me. And he was … very unhappy about the way the last case played out. A year or so ago, the three of us were at my apartment and the Assistant Director asked me to agree to something called Clause 61c. And that is a stupid name because there aren't any other clauses, just this one. Basically, if I got kidnapped again or if he thought that I were in too great a risk on a regular basis, he'd hire a handler for me. Evidently this last case did it and now we have Ethan. He was my best, well, really, my only friend growing up. We went to CalTech together and joined the FBI at the same time. He left pretty early on to go to New Orleans and become a jazz musician."
"Wait, you're that Ethan?" Morgan asked in surprise. "The one he was hanging out with when he missed the plane?"
"Morgan!" Spencer snapped. "That was my choice. And it worked out. You can't blame him for that."
Ethan patted Spencer's shoulder. "Let it be, padawan. That was a really difficult time for the whole team. They don't know what you and I were actually doing or what you'd have done had you gotten on that plane. They're allowed to have their own feelings."
"You're four years older than me with six fewer IQ points," Spencer pointed out. "I haven't really been anyone's padawan in a really long time."
"So you're also a genius?" JJ asked curiously.
Ethan bowed. "Pleasure to meet you, JJ. I'm the better-looking genius, yes. Though, less so than your tech genius, of course."
Garcia giggled. "We can probably keep you around."
Rossi snorted. "So, I'm guessing that the 501c3 Gideon helped the AD start was to ensure funding when he brought you on?"
Ethan nodded seriously. "I mean, I have family money, so I don't really need a salary, but the AD wanted this all to look good on paper and the AD figured Gideon owed Spencer that, at least. I already had the clearances but I have absolutely no interest in the fitness part of FBI training. I'm technically a consultant. I'm just not fireable by anyone other than the AD if the FBI isn't paying for me and none of the other organizations which keep headhunting Spence can try to use me against him if I'm not technically FBI anyway. I'm not listed as his handler in part so that no one gets any ideas."
Spencer snorted again. "That and Hotch can't fire you when he figures out you're not just MY handler."
Hotch raised his eyebrows again. "Do tell."
Spencer fidgeted. "The last year has been difficult for everyone. I'm not the only one with PTSD. There were some questionable choices several of us made and the AD wants us all to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. Ethan's here to help us all work together as a family."
Ethan nodded. "I double majored in Music and Psychology and my doctorate focused on family therapy. I had planned to open a practice providing therapy to at-risk kids and their families, but this is just as important."
"I don't know about that, E" Spencer murmured. "There aren't practices which aren't governmental which will work with those kids for free. They need you more."
Ethan smacked the back of Spencer's head gently. "After Georgia, I'll have to disagree with you. I left you to your own devices for two whole years and look what happened. You've always been a danger magnet. Now the bullies have guns. We kept each other alive growing up. This is me continuing the mission."
"You did that in New Orleans," Spencer agreed with a sigh.
"Big Ears," Ethan warned gently.
Spencer looked up and flushed. "Sorry," he said to his team. "Sometimes when Ethan and I get started talking I forget other people are listening."
Hotch and Dave shared a look. "We'd like to hear this, if you're both comfortable sharing."
Ethan and Spencer had another silent conversation while the team watched. Ethan finally nodded.
"Okay. So, we've never discussed the fact that Hankel drugged me for two straight days. He's the only person who ever drugged me with intent to help, which added all kinds of additional chaos for me to sort out. We've also never discussed that I took the vials of the drug off his body after I shot him and kept using. The whole team knew I was using and that I couldn't stop on my own. I asked Gideon in New Orleans for help, actually, and he basically told me to handle it myself. That wasn't really a good thing to say to me, given where my mind was at. There are a lot of ways to get serial killers to kill you during takedown and, since the people I was being so blatantly high in front of in a request for help just ignored everything, I figured if the overdoses weren't killing me, I could get one of our unsubs to do it. It would make everyone happier if I were gone, right? Well, I originally went to see Ethan to say goodbye and I was high enough that I told him my plan without even thinking through the fact that Ethan would, of course, disagree. He is the reason I'm still here today. He got me set up with help here at home and he calmed me down enough to get home in the first place."
"That was a really horrible visit," Ethan agreed. "But we got through all of it. And I'm here, now, to make sure we don't have any more failures to communicate. The team knew you were in trouble but didn't see how bad it really was. You're my main focus, of course, but I'm also here to make sure none of the other team members get forgotten, either."
The family sat stunned for a few moments. Finally, Hotch cleared his throat. "Thank you for sharing that. I'm so very sorry that we didn't see how much pain you were in. We should have done something, anything, to let you know you weren't alone. And Dr. Hunt, thank you for being there for him. We all owe you a great deal."
The family nodded. They couldn't even imagine what would have happened if Ethan hadn't stopped Spencer. The thought was too horrible.
Morgan suddenly sat straight up. "Kid, you said Hankel was the first to drug you to try to help. This has happened before?"
Spencer hid behind his hair. "That's not something I'm ready to talk about right now. There are parts of my story that none of you are ready to hear, either. This is one of them."
Ethan shot Hotch a warning look. "Alright," Hotch agreed. "You don't have to share that. Is there anything we should know, though? Ethan, do you have any allergies, for example?"
Ethan shook his head and laughed. "No, thanks. No allergies. I don't really drink, though. I'll happily go to bars with you, but I'm always the designated driver. And I don't sleep well in the dark, either. I think that's about it."
Spencer looked up at him. "You should also probably not volunteer to get tied up," he reminded Ethan.
Ethan flushed. "True. I'm not great with restraints. So, try not to handcuff me, please."
JJ's phone pinged. "Sorry, everyone. We have a case."
Spencer looked up at Ethan. "You have a go-bag?"
Ethan snorted. "Obviously. I've heard too many stories to walk in here without one," he answered with a smile.