Chapter Text
The team knew Spencer wasn't okay. No one would be okay after what happened. Some psycho kidnapped his only lover, then killed herself and Maeve right in front of him. He'd witnessed two murders, one of the people involved taking a piece of Spencer with him. Spencer was given time off to cope, but they knew it probably wasn't doing anything good for him. Everyone was still in the bullpen, but there wasn't any work to do, so they took it as an opportunity to talk. "How do you think Reid is doing right now?" Emily asked the group. "Not great. He still won't answer my calls." Morgan answered, gesturing to the phone on his desk. "He won't be fine for a while. Moving on isn't something that happens overnight." Hotch stated. Everyone knew he'd have the most experience in the topic, mourning a loved one. He was a bit of a mess after Haley, nearly beating a man to death and almost losing his job. "I left him baskets outside his door, but he hasn't taken any of them." "I know, Penelope, but he might not even know they're there. He could've been sleeping or in another room when you dropped them off." JJ knew she was lying. Spencer almost never slept, and he seems to hear everything or nothing, not in between. But seeing Garcia upset, she figured it would at least help to know there was a chance he actually didn't know she was there.
"Maybe we should go see him. Being alone can't be good for him at this point." "Garcia, people need space after something like this." "You know he's never been one for self-preservation, Hotch. I don't want to be rude, but you know he's probably not taking care of himself." "That's common during the grieving process." "But he doesn't have to be part of the normal. He doesn't have to suffer alone, and he won't come to us for anything." He knew she had a point, several actually. There were multiple occasions where they would have to remind him to get checked out after a case when he got hurt. There were multiple occasions where he'd put himself in immediate danger without thinking. There were multiple times where he'd forget basic human needs, like eating, drinking water, or not overdosing on coffee. To be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault. His brain was different. A routine was an absolute must have for Spencer, but actually sticking to it was hard. He couldn't just work on autopilot with routines like the others could. For him, he had to use an excessive amount of energy to just get through each part.
"If he doesn't return any of Morgan's calls by tomorrow, we'll check on him. Okay, Garcia?" "Yeah. Yeah, that works." They agreed on waiting, considering they'd only have to for a few hours, and left the office. No one was going to sleep, they knew that. They wanted to check on Reid so badly, but now there was only a chance that they would be able to. To no one's surprise, everyone was in the bullpen super early the next day. Morgan was the last to come in, sighing as he put his phone in his pocket. "Anything?" Garcia asked hopefully. "Two more calls, two more voicemails. Looks like we're going to Reid's." As sad as it was, the team was glad they could check on him. "No one has much work to do. We can leave at any point." Hotch offered, looking at the lack of empty files on his desk. Sure enough, everyone had already grabbed their bags are we speeding out the door. Finally, they could check on Reid