Work Text:
I was sitting at my desk in the bullpen after a case. My favourite dark grey blanket over my legs. It was mid winter and the heaters were never that strong. The blanket was also a comfort item for me. It was a gift from my father before he was sent to a mental facility. One much like the one Spencer’s mother stayed in.
This case was a rough one. Especially because there were kids involved. When I was just 10 I had a younger sister. While at school she was taken out in the playground. I couldn’t help her or save her. The guilt has lived with me since. So it was pretty reasonable that I was still jittery about everything. I was doing some paperwork now. It was a time for me to relax a little and take my mind off things for a bit. It had been 30 minutes since I started paperwork and the power went out. “Great.” I sighed as my computer shut down. I stood up and put the blanket on my desk.
I went over to the kitchenette to grab a snack when Hotch walked over. “Just letting you know generators are down so we have to wait till the power comes back.” He said in his usual tone. “Yeah alright. Do you know how wide the outage is?” I ask out of curiosity more than anything. “It’s all over town as well as the two closest towns.”
I though for a moment wait that meant-
“Wait- shit.. Where’s Reid?” I asked, realisation and panic setting into my mind. “Uh- at his desk why?” Hotch answered looking confused and a little concerned. I didn’t respond but instead rushed over to Spencer’s desk. “Spence, there’s an outage at the mental facility.” I stated in a panicked tone. “Alright, just sit and calm down ok? Is the cell service down?” He asked in his usual calm tone. I sigh and take a seat on the desk. “No.” I responded. Spencer pulled out his phone and called the facility. It was quickly responded by someone who explained that they were in lockdown due to an intruder who was seen with a weapon. That escalated quickly. He had his phone on speaker so as soon as I heard this I started panicking. I felt my heart start to pound heavily in my chest. “Oh shit- this is bad.. This is really bad.” I stood up and started to pace around. I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Hey relax. We can get the team there.” He said, sounding a little worried.
After an anxious car ride the BAU made it to the mental facility. They all went in and spoke with the staff briefly. I went with Spencer to find my father and his mother.
I was trying to take deep breaths but I was panicking. As I reached my father’s room I opened the door. He looked at me with a surprised face. “Dear what are you doing here?” He asked, walking closer. I just stared, my chest heaving as I looked at him with tear-filled eyes. I was supposed to be the one helping him. It’s not like an intruder had broken into the Bureau. But I was just so riddled with anxiety and panic that all my logic had left me. ”Oh sweetheart..” He walked over and held me close, his chin resting on the top of my head. After all he was a tall man, around 6 '2.
After a while Spencer walks in the room since I was taking awhile. I still hadn’t been able to calm down yet. My chest hurt and heaved with every attempt to breathe. He walks over and gives my Dad a quick rundown of what was happening before leading him to the place with the other residents. I was still freaking out, my thoughts had caused me to spiral. “Hey what happened?” He asked, getting me to sit down before crouching in front of me.
“Don’t k-know. E-everything was j-ust- t-to much.” I stuttered back to him, finding it hard to get words out between choked breaths. “That’s fine, um- could you try and hold my hands?” He said, holding his hands out. I shakily attempted to grab hold of his hands but they had no feeling. Completely numb, and cold… So cold. It was like trying to hold something that felt so far away. Like wearing impossibly chunky gloves. “I- I can’t..” I let out a shaky exhale. “That’s ok. Can I grab your hands or do you want to try again?” He didn't move his hands making sure to remain calm to help calm me better. He looked sure of himself, like he knew how to control this situation.
“U-um- you c-can grab them…” I answered, my voice still shaky. He nodded and gently took hold of my hands. “Now can you feel my hands? Can you feel me squeezing them?” I let out a small nod.
“There’s this breathing technique called a psychological sigh. It’s something that can happen involuntarily as a result of stress, when preformed it acts as an almost rapid relief for stress and helps slow a fast heart beat.” He began to explain, rambling as if directly quoting something from a textbook or article. “So it’s a big inhale and a second smaller inhale, then a long exhale. Here, try it with me.”
As I follow his directions I feel my heart rate returning to a steady beat. He continued demonstrating as I took breaths with him.
“You’re doing great, keep breathing.” He encouraged.
After a while of just sitting and breathing I finally calmed down. Me and Spencer walked out of the mental facility and back into an SUV with Morgan. As he drove he talked with Spencer briefly about the situation, trying to refrain from specifics for my sake. It had been about 30 minutes in the car until we were back at the office.
The rest of the day was spent giving everyone time to calm down and just do some deskwork.