Work Text:
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"Morning." Emily walks into the office and lets her eyes fall upon JJ, she then greets her. JJ, who looks up from her computer, gives her a soft smile as a response.
Emily's eyes wandered around the office for a few quick seconds, looking to see who was already at work. Her eyebrows raise when she spots a certain curly-haired brunette. She speedwalks to JJ's desk and crouches down beside her. Emily nudges the blonde girl beside her and she furrows her eyebrows at her. "Why didn't you say anything to him?"
"Wha- Who?" JJ turns to the taller of the two, clearly confused about who she is referring to. Emily groans at the blonde's obliviousness. "Spencer."
"Wait, Spencer's here... shouldn't he be at home?" JJ questioned and Emily nodded in response. "Maybe I should say something to him, he might listen to me," Emily mentions, knowing deep down he probably won't listen either way. JJ just shrugged her shoulders, unsure if he would listen to the brunette.
She stood up and looked over at Spencer, he was still sitting there doing some paperwork. She decided to speak to Hotch about him being there and made her way to his office. Emily pushed the door open without looking inside and she saw Derek sitting across from Hotch, it didn't look like they were doing anything serious.
"Care to knock, Prentiss?" Hotch asked, knowing she still won't knock. "No." She simply replies. "Why's Reid out there doing work? Did you seriously make him come in today?" Emily stood there with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised at the sitting man.
"What do you mean Reid's here?" Derek's head snapped back towards Emily at the mention of his boyfriend. "I mean, he's out there doing work." She states, again. "I told him to stay home for as long as he needed." Hotch groans, hating Spencer's stubbornness. "Should I say anything to him?" Emily questions and Derek slowly nods.
She nods at the two men and walks out of the room, back towards Spencer. She approaches him and coughs to let him know that she's there. "Hey, Reid..." Emily greets him but she's met with no answer. Instead, he glances at her for a split second and returns to doing his work. Emily's heart dropped, he looked so tired. His eyebags were worse than usual and his eyes were bloodshot red, probably from crying. "Spencer?" She repeats his name, hoping to get another look at him. This time he ignores her, picks up his pen, and continues with his work. Emily looked down at his hands, visible cuts and scratches were covering his hands. There were even nail marks that looked engraved into his hands, she wasn't sure if the kidnapper had done it to him or whether he had done it to himself. She soon realises she's not going to get any response out of him and walks over to JJ, hoping she can try.
"He won't talk to me, he might talk to you since he's known you longer. Can you at least try?" Emily prodded at JJ, who knew she had no choice. The blonde stepped away from her computer and towards the brunette male, he didn't look up from his desk. "Hey Spence, it's me JJ. Why don't you go home soon, hm? You shouldn't be working today." JJ rubbed his back, reassuringly, thinking it would help to calm him. Instead, Spencer flinched at her touch and he started to breathe heavily. JJ took a hint and stepped away, walking away from him and back to Emily. Emily kissed her on her cheek and whispered, "Thanks for trying,"
Emily stormed back to Hotch's office and busted in yet again, both men jumped to their feet and looked at her. She shook her head, "he's not listening to any of us." Hotch looked at Emily and took a step forward, "I'll try speaking to him." Derek put a hand in front of him, "No, it's fine. I'll speak to him, you just stay here, I'll see if he'll come up here." Hotch opened his mouth to argue back but he knew Derek was probably right.
Emily walked out of the office first and walked back to JJ, Derek closed the office door behind him and looked down at his curly-haired boy. Derek leaned against his desk and waited to see if Spencer would say anything. Spencer ignored the figure who leaned near him and instead continued to read over the paperwork that seemed to interest him so much.
Morgan had quickly gotten fed up with Reid ignoring him and he placed a finger under the brunette's chin and turned his face to face him. "Where's my beautiful boy gone?"
Reid blinked at him softly and tried to push his fingers away but Morgan kept his grip strong but not in a way that it would hurt him. "Please, baby," Morgan whispered to him, hoping to get any sort of reaction out of him. He let go of his chin, grabbed a hold of his soft, slender hands and looked over each cut and forming bruise. "My poor baby boy," he sympathised with him. Reid was on the edge of tears, which is what Morgan wanted.
Just one more trace over a cut sent him overboard and Spencer began to bawl, he didn't know why he came to work but at the same time he knew he didn't want to be at home, alone. He didn't want to get hurt, again. Derek's arms instantly wrapped around the younger boy's body and he tried to soothe him to get him to stop crying. "C'mon, let me pick you up." He whispered to him and Spencer weakly lifted his legs.
Derek brought him into Hotch's office and placed him down on the chair, where he hugged his knees and cried into them. Hotch was in disbelief, he had never seen Spencer so upset. Even when he had been rescued, he wasn't crying, he just looked shaken. "I... take him home, Morgan," Hotch ordered, staring at the crying boy in his office.
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The ride home was a silent one, Derek tried to make conversation but Spencer just continued crying. He was crying in his hands but Derek had noticed blood in both palms of his hands and pulled them away from his face, the blood was from when he was digging his nails into his skin. Once he pulled into the driveway, he stepped out of the car, walked to the other side and picked the thin man up. Derek locked the car, walked to the front door and opened it despite struggling to open it one-handed.
He walked through the house and gently placed Spencer on their shared bed, Spencer turned onto his side and cried into his pillow. Derek sat next to him, brushing his fingers through his hair. Derek laid down beside him and turned him to face him, he wiped Spencer's eyes and held him close. "I hate seeing you like this, it's killing me, baby."
Spencer sniffled into Derek's chest, listening to his heartbeat. "When you wake up, promise me that you're going to be the happy and pretty boy that I know and love." Spencer hummed so quietly that it was barely heard and Derek continued, "I promise I'm going to be right here when you wake up. I don't want to have to ask 'Where's my beautiful boy gone?' again. I know he's here, he just needs to be himself again."
There was a few seconds of silence and Derek thought Spencer had gone back to ignoring him but he was wrong. Spencer moved his face out of Derek's now-wet shirt and whispered groggily, "Your beautiful boy's right here..." and he snuggled into Derek's side yet again. Derek smiled at his words and moved Spencer's face away from his face, his face was just wet with tears. "Go to sleep, baby. I'll be right here when you wake up and I won't leave unless you want me to."
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