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Spencer had been having seizures since he was a child. He knew he had epilepsy, he had the diagnosis and the medication to prove it. Logically, he knew. He just didn’t like using the label because it was one more thing that made him different, that could be used against him. He wasn’t sure how anyone could use his epilepsy against him, but he’d learned the hard way not to underestimate bullies. So he kept it to himself
With it being as well controlled as it was, nobody aside from Hotch knew at the BAU. Gideon had known once upon a time too. It had made sense for them to know, being Spencer’s superiors in the department. He could only imagine the problems it would cause if he had a seizure in the field and no one knew why. Spencer took his medication and avoided his triggers and luckily, that had never happened.
The only time he’d ever had a seizure on the job was in Tobias Hankel’s cabin during those awful days stuck there. The team had thankfully assumed that he had simply reached the peak of what his abused body could tolerate, and they hadn’t thought twice about it. Spencer had been more than happy to let them think that. He was lucky enough that his other seizures had happened in the privacy of his own home, away from prying eyes and overbearing friends.
Usually, Spencer’s seizures came with plenty of warning. He would get auras, visual disturbances, and stomach discomfort most commonly. He usually had plenty of time to get somewhere safe away from anything (or anyone) that could hurt him while he was vulnerable. While it was rare these days for Spencer to have a seizure, it was even more rare for him to have a seizure with no preceding symptoms. Today, unfortunately, was a very rare day.
It was a nice, easy-going day at the BAU. That in itself was rare. They had returned home from a case yesterday, so today was spent catching up on paperwork and filling out case reports. To everyone’s surprise, Derek and Emily were even working diligently, although that may have been because Hotch had caught them throwing missiles at each other and given them his signature stern look. That look had them immediately looking sheepish and cleaning up their mess.
Later, Spencer wouldn’t be able to tell you what had happened. All he knew was that one minute, he was writing the report relating to the firing of his gun and the next, a wave of blackness rolled over him and he was gone.
Derek sat at his desk opposite Spencer, determinedly avoiding eye contact with Emily. He knew that the second he looked at her, he would have no choice but to restart their missile fight before she did. He didn’t know what it was about her that brought out his inner child, but he knew she was to blame.
He was absent-mindedly twirling a pen between his fingers as he tried to remember the sequence of events he was writing about when he saw a strange movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head towards it, but it took him a moment to process what he was looking at. Once he did, he jumped straight to his feet, cursing. Spencer had gone limp at his desk.
“Spencer? Kid?” Derek said, panic clear in his voice as he shook Reid’s shoulder
He got no response. A second later, Spencer’s whole body began jerking uncontrollably, and odd strangling sounds were forcing themselves from his mouth. Derek heard a much more aggressive curse than his come from behind him as Emily noticed what was happening. The commotion also pulled the attention of Hotch, JJ, and Rossi from their offices as they hurried down to the bullpen.
By this point, Spencer’s head was bouncing off his desk and Derek was starting to worry that he was going to give himself a concussion. Deciding it would be safer to get Spencer onto the floor, Derek wrapped his arms around his chest and began to manoeuvre him out of the chair. As skinny as Spencer was, moving his seizing body from the chair to the floor was a lot harder than it looked. He briefly noted a sharp pain to the bridge of his nose but was too distracted to think twice about it.
By the time the rest of the team had gathered, Derek had Spencer in a mimic of the recovery position on the floor and the seizure was slowing. It had lasted less than three minutes but Derek felt like he had about ten years of his life taken off. Once Spencer had come to a complete still and Hotch had confirmed that yes, he was still alive and breathing, Derek dropped to his ass on the floor and took a deep breath.
He simultaneously noticed three things. Number one, the bridge of his nose was throbbing and his upper lip felt wet. Number two, Emily and JJ were openly staring and smirking at him. Number three, the knuckles on Spencer’s right hand were lightly grazed. Derek dragged the back of his hand across his upper lip and was surprised to find blood there.
“Son of a bitch, did that scrawny ass kid just bust my nose?” he asked in disbelief
That was all it took for some of the tension in the bullpen to be relieved. Emily and JJ started openly laughing at him, Rossi joining in. Even Hotch was smiling when he looked up from where he was monitoring Spencer’s pulse and breathing. The sound of the laughter seemed to drag Spencer back to awareness, and he started to groan and flutter his eyes. He pulled a hand up to his forehead.
“Ow” he said slowly, “What happened? Why are we on the floor?”
“You had a seizure. Just under three minutes. You hit your head.” Hotch informed him
“Yeah, that’s not the only thing you hit!” Emily snorted
Spencer looked confused at Emily’s comment and closed his eyes again. Derek took the opportunity to remove his credentials from his pocket and throw them at her while Hotch was distracted. They hit her right in the forehead. Bullseye, Derek thought with satisfaction. JJ came over with a glass of water for Spencer, and Hotch and Rossi began to help him sit up, leaning his back against a desk.
“What was that, Spencer? Why did you have a seizure? Has it happened before? Are you hurt?” JJ asked, her motherly side kicking in.
Spencer stared at her for a moment, still feeling foggy. Noticing that he was overwhelmed by the barrage of questions, Hotch took pity on him and addressed the whole team while Spencer sagged against the desk, almost falling asleep.
“Spencer has epilepsy, but he rarely has seizures anymore. He’ll answer whatever questions he feels comfortable answering later, when he’s feeling more like himself” he said firmly. Turning to Spencer, he added “But we do need to know if you’re hurt.”
Spencer slowly opened his eyes again. He seemed to think about his answer for a minute.
“Headache," he mumbled, “knuckles are sore.”
That set Emily off into another gale of laughter at Derek’s expense. Derek got to his feet and looked to Hotch expectantly, waiting for a plan of action.
“Right, Derek, help me bring Spencer to my office. He can sleep this off on my couch and I’ll drive him home later” Hotch decided.
They each took one of Spencer’s arms over their shoulder and pulled him to his feet. He was unsteady, but easily stabilised between the two stronger men. He opened his eyes for a moment to look at who was holding him up, and looked horrified at the state of Derek’s face.
“What happened to you?” he demanded, suddenly sounding much stronger.
“You did, kid. You’ve got a solid right hook on you” Derek replied, with a small laugh so that Spencer would know he wasn’t mad about it.
Spencer looked mortified. He couldn’t even find the words to apologise. Luckily, Derek knew him well enough that he didn’t need words to know he was sorry.
“Don’t worry,” Derek added cheerfully as they started to walk, “Now that I know what kind of a swing you’ve got on you, I’m going to train you up until you can do it on purpose!”