Wrestling These Angels To The Ground

----------

Garcia being normal Garcia: 🤪

Hotch, quietly: remind me to have her drug tested

-

Reid: Kevin and Penelope sitting in a tree? JJ, that's just dangerous, do you know the statistics on-

-

"yeah I'm fine, he wrote me a letter explaining why he left, just like my father did when he left my mother and I" REID LMAO

-

Gideon and Hotch giggling happily over charlie chaplin films <3<3 work dads

-

man with multiple personalities: do I *look* like personality no.2??

Reid [staring directly into the camera]: 👁️👁️

-

Reid making mini rockets and Hotch being a grumpy proud dad about it fhevfhhevdhsgdvsh THEM

-

"If I weren't a lesbian, I would absolutely jump your bones" [aimed at Gideon]

-

psychopath who only wants to talk to Reid: 😚

Reid: why don't i ever get any normal fans :(

-

Random detective [about Reid]: where did you find this kid?

Rossi, whispering: He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI

-

Hotch: we do not have jurisdiction over this very personal set of cases

The Team: 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Hotch: ......okay just be quIET ABOUT IT

-

Rossi: My wife always said I had a flair for the dramatic

Hotch: Which one?

Rossi: ...all of them 😀

-

Morgan, Reid, Emily, Garcia [staring Hotch down]: we love and care for you

Hotch: im gonna kms

-

Rossi, interrogating a suspect: I fucked your wife (real not fake)

-

Hotch: Son, you're taking over the business

Morgan: Oh! A promotion!?

Hotch [dumping paperwork in front of him]

Morgan: Oh no! A promotion!!

-

[during Hotch's review after The Reaper incident]

Strauss, to the team: 😡😡 Hotch 😡😡

Strauss, to Hotch: 😔😔 Hotch 😔😔

-

Hotch: any word on Prentiss?

JJ: she's arguing with the doctors

Hotch, nodding: Good

-

Hotch: There are lots of ways sons defeat their fathers

Reid, cheerfully: I just keep getting PhD's!

-

[about budget cuts]

Rossi: Let's just hope they don't take the coffee

Reid, very seriously: I'd quit

Rossi: well yeah, that'd save them about 50 bucks a week

-

[looking at a machine gun]

Reid: I don't think I have the qualifications to use that

Hotch & Morgan, in unison: You don't.

-

[the most suspicious man alive, saying something extremely suspicious]

Emily Prentiss: yes sir I will follow you to this dark secluded secondary location

-

Every member of the BAU: ily

Prentiss, with an arsenal of guns: BACK! BACK, STRANGE CREATURES!

-

Strauss holding back the entire BAU by the scruffs of their necks like feral cats: I Wish I Had Dogs

-

Morgan, sending all the press to Reid: 😀

Reid: No more FBI I'm becoming a criminal just to kill you

-

Strauss: Please hire someone normal

Hotch: Here's Doctor Reid, a child who has never passed a field test

Strauss: I'm literally begging you

-

Victim: what are you doing????

Unsub: well this is a *gun*, and inside of it are what we call *bullets*

-

"a member of the team is in jeopardy"

me: is it Reid? I really hope it's Reid.

-

Garcia: altruism is sexy

Hotch, very seriously: yes it is

-

The BAU team's nosiness

VS

Reid's secrecy over a girl

- FIGHT -

-

Random teen: Get fucked old man

Rossi: Gamer on gamer violence. This is so sad.

-

Blake: I don't have any children...except Reid

Reid: I'm not your child though?

Blake: EXCEPT REID

-

Anyone: I love you

Reid, just not like other girls: ....Thomas Merton?

-

Blake: People just need to say what they mean

Reid: Life would be so much easier without chit-chat

[A Tale as Old as Time - Autism Bros™]

-

Reid: I don't like technology

Garcia: Technology doesn't like you, genius

-

Rossi: All of my marriages have failed, I'm not exactly what you would call a family man

Hotch: We literally have 5 kids together

-

[on first meeting]

Hotch: I'm offering you a job hunting psychopaths

Garcia, caught trying to stop animal testing: I *am* a psychopath

-

Rossi, joining the BAU: I have gotten a first husband, fourth wife, and multiple children just by entering this office. I'm the real family speedrunner

-

Reid: My dad leaves and suddenly I've got new contenders lining up like it's the bachelor

Hotch: You're not even that great a son

Reid: You were literally first in line

-

Bomb Squad: You called??

Morgan: Early bird gets the explosive worm, bitch

-

Hotch: How long do you need to do this impossibly long task that no one else could complete?

Reid: Like 30 minutes

Hotch: Awesome. Do it faster

-

Reid: I'm arresting you for murder

Cat: ...are we about to kiss?

-

Cat: You have mommy issues

Reid: L + Ratio. You have daddy issues *worse*

-

Morgan: It's my turn to be kidnapped and tortured

Reid and JJ: nnOOO MY BRAAAANDD

-

Alvez: Why won't you be nice to me

Garcia: I'm always nice. Look, this is my nice face 😒

-

Prentiss: This guy is probably a loner, definitely has commitment issues...

Alvez, just made a full-course meal for his dog: 😤

-

UnSub: I NEED A DOCTOR

Tara, cocking a gun: I'm not taking appointments

-

Reid: I need to take some time off to look after my mom

[is arrested for drug posession and murder in Mexico]

Reid: ........so how's my mom?

-

The Team: We're so worried about Spencer in prison

Reid: I made friend :]

-

Prentiss: Luke is snarky. You are snarky. Please just try to get along

Garcia: You don't understand. We cancel each other out

-

Reid, entering prison: I am going to make So Many enemies

-

Mr Scratch, doing anything: 😏

The Team: It's a trap. Let's go!

-

Alvez: I can tell, you're a cat person

Prentiss: Got the nine lives to go with it, bitch

-

Cat: I'm pregnant. It's yours

Reid, shocked: You mean you're not a virgin?!

Cat:

Cat: I wish I killed you the first time round coME HERE-

-

Prentiss: I need a person I love and trust to relax with

Reid: ....are you gaslighting me into resting?

Prentiss: Yes. And it'll fuckin work.

-

Barnes: Don't you want to be unit chief? Don't you have....ambitions?

JJ: I'm ambitious about killing you. Wanna see?

-

Garcia: I hate newbie. He's terrible and stupid and has a dumb face and dumb thoughts-

Alvez: We literally just took a selfie together

-

Alvez:

Tara: ur mom

Alvez: I DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING SAY ANYTHING?

-

JJ, married with 2 kids: I'm a little bit in love with you

Reid, who took her on one date 15 years ago: 😯

-

Rossi: You can't ground me! I'm your dad!!

Prentiss: AND I'M YOUR FUCKING BOSS. GROUNDED!

-

[Luke and Matt go missing]

Prentiss: The boys! They took our boys!!

HAHA HEY GUYS REMEMBER THIS PICTURE….

Too many nightmares waiting for him at night, too many thoughts keeping his mind busy, unable to get the rest he needs.

However, that changes when he starts seeing Aaron.

Maybe it's because he knows that Aaron always has at least one gun on him, maybe it's because he's strong and re-assuring, his presence always calming Spencer down immediately.

Point being, with Aaron, Spencer is finally able to truly, deeply sleep.

Aaron discovers that to be the case when he's woken up one night by what sounds like a lumberjack cutting down a tree in his bedroom.

It is too his horror that he finds that the source of the noise is the BAUs youngest and lankiest team member, and he's snoring loud enough to wake up the entire neighborhood.

Still, Aaron smiles, brushing a stubborn curl out of Spencer's forehead and giving him a kiss before closing his eyes again.

A little idea I had for Bruno and little Mirabel and Camilo! ✨💕

-

Prentiss says the view of a pretty woman will slash Reid's IQ of 187 down to 60. She may be right, but there's something else that holds the same power, something else that makes Reid into the kind of person who forgets to plan ahead, who makes careless mistakes, who forgets to weigh the consequences.

He wishes it were a beautiful lady that had led him to his spot, on his back on the germ-infested floor of a police station bathroom in rural California, glass vial rolling out of his grip, but when all is said and done here, there's nothing to blame but the Dilaudid. That and the choice to take it in the first place.

Hotch hears the thump from the bathroom as he walks by, just as Rossi wonders aloud in the conference room where Reid is. The rest of the team admits that they don't know where he's disappeared to, while Hotch decides to investigate the sound, and that's how he finds his youngest agent completely by accident, sprawled out on the floor of the men's room. His eyes are closed - peaceful, even - and an empty glass vial rests next to his hand, Hydromorphone inscribed across the label.

"I need help in here!" Hotch calls out, pushing the door open with his foot, refusing to leave Spencer's side.

A LEO pokes her head in to see what the trouble is.

"Do you have Narcan here?" Hotch asks sharply. "Naloxone?"

The officer nods quickly.

"I need that, and I need an ambulance. Now!" She scurries off, and he doesn't have time to feel bad for yelling at her - he's too focused on Spencer.

The pulse is there, but it's weak, like most everything about Reid in this moment - thin bones, sunken eyes, skin almost translucent. Hotch tries to remember if he seemed so frail this morning, or yesterday. He tries to think when this might have started, if Reid's been using again for awhile, or if this is new. The memory of Reid's headache in Miami punches him in the gut. He should have followed up. Bad enough pain would drive anyone to desperate measures, and Reid has been an addict for how many years now?

A medic darts in, administering the Narcan, and moments later Spencer is being strapped to a gurney, attached to machines, stuck with needles. The whole team is watching from the doorway of the conference room, and Hotch follows Reid into the ambulance without a word.

As they drive, he pictures a large scale, Reid hanging in the balance. Life or death. Recovery or addiction. Career or rehab.

He is the one who stayed late to help Garcia clean her office because Gideon destroyed it, who bought her a gift to let her know Gideon (and he) appreciated her. He is the one who cleaned the blood off Elle’s wall so she wouldn’t have to see it. He is the one who Gideon called when he needed to buy flowers for Sarah. He is the one who came in guns blazing when Morgan was arrested, when Emily and Reid were held hostage. He is the one who was going to walk into an anthrax infested lab so Reid wouldn’t have to go through it alone. He is the one who comforted JJ when she was struggling with a case, reminding her that it was okay to lose it. He is the one who said the team would take on a case because JJ thought it was important. He came back because Morgan said the team needed him and respected him.

When the team needed comfort, they went to him first, and he was the one to offer it. While he was stern with Reid after Owen Savage, he reminded Reid identifying with him was normal and that he knew Reid was struggling. He was the one to first talk to Reid about the nightmares in Season 1, the one who comforted him when he was going onto that train. He is the one Reid trusted to save him from a serial killer who had killed him, the first person Reid went to when he was rescued. He stayed with Garcia when she was in Witsec.