Autistic Spencer Reid

Chapter 8

Garcia had gotten the results of the analysis of Michelle's crushed phone and it had revealed a phone call to an unknown number, thought to be Michelle's brother. Nothing else was suspicious on her phone though so the team left that to the side for a bit.

After calling Garcia and giving the updated parameters, she provided them with a list of possible unsubs. There were three people that fit the profile loosely, but one of them fit it almost perfectly. The team knew that the profile was only a guide so they were sent to the different addresses in pairs. Hotch and JJ went to Matty Coupe's house, Rossi and Reid to Robert Tripp's address, and Prentiss and Morgan to Charlie Niles' house; Charlie Niles seemed to fit the profile type most.

Spencer and Rossi arrived at Robert's house and knocked, shouting that they were FBI. There was a crash from inside the house and Rossi barged in through the door. They split up to go left and right around the central staircase, an officer following each of them.

A loud thwack came from Spencer's direction and then uncontrollable gasps. Rossi rushed in that direction, bumping into the unsub and pushing him to the ground. The officers restrained the unsub the best they could and put handcuffs on him.

"I didn't do anything, it's all your fault!" Robert kept repeating. The officers mumbled the unsub's rights to him and struggled to drag him out of the house.

Rossi radioed for a medic and jogged over to Spencer who was clasping his throat and struggling to breath.

"Breath kid, just breath," Rossi didn't really know what to do.

Spencer had been hit in the throat by the looks of it, so was finding it hard to breathe. He was panicking now and his lips were beginning to turn a shade of blue. His cheeks turned bright red and his eyes fluttered closed; he passed out. 

Rossi checked for his pulse, that was still there, but Spencer's breathing was very shallow and raspy so Rossi turned Spencer onto his side, making sure his breathing wasn't getting worse and that his mouth was open. 

The paramedics got there a few minutes later and gave Spencer an oxygen mask, telling Rossi that he likely has a bruised wide pipe, but this reaction was a lot more severe than they usually see. They insisted on taking him to hospital, so Rossi went with them.

Spencer regained consciousness in the ambulance, immediately looking for a familiar face and finding Rossi's.

"You likely have a bruised wide pipe Reid, but you shouldn't have passed out from that so you're being taken to the hospital. It'll be fine, I promise," Rossi gave him a reassuring smile and patted his hand.

Spencer was looking around frantically, the lights were way too bright and seemed to be flashing, the siren was screeching and he desperately wanted to rip his ears off. He tried to block his ears with his hands but something tugged at his left hand, he winced in response. There was a needle stuck in his left hand and IV fluids were being passed through it.

He began picking the skin on his arm, the whole environment was very overwhelming. Rossi noticed the picking and tried to stop him, but he couldn't stop. Spencer had to do something, the noise, the pain, the lights, they had to stop and soon.

"Would it help if I called JJ or Hotch?" Rossi asked, knowing he probably wouldn't get a coherent response, but he had never been in this situation before and didn't know how to help Spencer.

Spencer nodded and signed JJ, obviously Rossi didn't know sign language, but it was the same letter twice so he could tell that Spencer meant JJ. He got out his phone and called JJ, explaining the situation as quickly as possible.

"He has headphones and sunglasses in his bag Rossi, offer him those. Ask the paramedic if he definitely has to have the IV, if not, get them to take it out. And let them know that he probably has PoTS, he told me this morning when he fainted, but I think the doctors need to know," JJ listed the instructions to Rossi and told him she was on her way to the hospital now.

Rossi put his phone back in his pocket and reached for Spencer's bag, grabbing the headphones and sunglasses. As soon as Spencer saw them he practically snatched them out of Rossi's hands, Rossi looked slightly shocked at this. Spencer signed sorry but continued to put them on.

"Does he have to have the IV in? It makes him incredibly uncomfortable and, unless it's necessary, it needs to be taken out," Rossi was polite but stern with the paramedic, making sure he knew the severity of the question.

"I guess he doesn't need it, but the oxygen mask needs to stay on, his lips are still cyanotic because of the lack of oxygen," replied the paramedic who was treating Spencer. He removed the IV and already Spencer had begun to relax a bit. The IV in his hand felt like a deep itch inside his skin that was crawling up his arm and into his spine, if it hadn't been removed he knew it would've led to a meltdown.

"I thought it would be beneficial to mention that he may have PoTS, I'm not sure what it is but a friend of mine said that I should mention it to you and his doctor," Rossi gave a half smile to the paramedic and went back to keeping an eye on Spencer. He was glad he'd done everything that JJ had said and that she'd be there to take over soon.

The paramedic laughed, startling both Rossi and Spencer. Spencer was distracted from playing with his fingers, he turned to look at the paramedic.

"What are you laughing about?" Rossi asked, confused by the sudden outburst of emotion.

"Don't worry about it," the paramedic brushed it off and tried to stifle his laugh, but not doing a very good job at it.

"Seriously, what's funny about this?" Rossi was getting annoyed now.

"Okay, it's just that PoTS isn't a real thing. It's made up, everyone seems to have it these days and it's just an excuse for laying around all day and getting special treatment," he chuckled to himself again and went back to his paperwork.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Rossi's eyebrow raised up and a slight crimson spread over his cheeks.

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