timeless, spencer reid [ 1 ]

080. foundation

They're in Arizona on a case about a boy who went missing and another boy who a family found on the side of the road. Derek, Bedelia, and JJ are at the hospital to talk to the first victim.

"You can't examine the scars?" Derek asks.

"Can't get close enough. He has the most severe case of C.E.R. I've ever seen." Dr. Larson says. "Conditioned emotional response. I've only seen it in vets."

"That's worse than PTSD." Bedelia says.

"He had an adrenaline rush when he escaped, but coming down from that will be just as extreme." Larson says.

"And I'm sure he's sensitive to light and sound." Derek says.

"Incredibly. We're keeping it as quiet and dark as possible." Larson says.

"It's probably what he's used to." JJ says.

"He's also been somewhere cramped. His legs show signs of advanced arthritis." Larson says.

"Any idea how old he is?" JJ asks.

"It's hard to tell. His growth has been stunted. He's got major tooth and skin decay, clearly from a massive vitamin D deficiency." Larson says.

"Best guess." JJ says.

"Maybe 16." Larson says.

Derek shows his badge to the cop outside of the boy's room and he nods. The three go into the room and the lights are off, the blinds to the windows shut. The bed is empty and Bedelia looks around, spotting the boy under the table in the corner. Derek moves his shirt so it hides his gun.

They walk closer to the table and kneel down, keeping a fair distance.

"Hey." Derek cautiously greets. "My name's Derek. I'm one of the good guys. And these are my friends."

"I'm Bedelia." She softly informs.

"I'm Jennifer." JJ says. "You're safe now."

"Doctor says you haven't been eating much. Food looks pretty good." Derek says.

"You must be thirsty." JJ says, grabbing the water bottle off the tray of food. "Here you go." She holds it out, but the boy swats it out of her hand. "Okay. It's okay. It's okay."

"Guys, this is years of conditioning. Have Garcia go back to 2000 for missing kids." Derek says.

"Yeah." JJ mumbles, getting up and Bedelia follows her out.

+++

JJ and Bedelia walk into the room where Derek and the boy are sitting across from each other on the floor and rolling back a coin. Bedelia softly smiles at Derek making some progress with the kid.

They notice the two women and the boy starts to retreat.

"It's okay. It's okay." Derek promises. The two walk in and sit in the chairs that are behind Derek. "What did Garcia find out?" He asks them.

"She broadened her search, but nothing that matches his description." JJ says.

"Somebody's gotta be missing this kid." Derek says.

An alarm starts beeping outside of the room. The boy scurries back over to the table.

"No, hey, hey, no. No. No. No. That's not for us. That's not for us." Derek says as the boy retreats under the table. "It's for the doctors outside. It's for the doctors, it's not for us. It's all right. It's okay. It's not for us." He assures. The boy slowly comes out from under the table. "There you go. Come on back." The boy slowly moves back to his previous spot across from Derek.