Kid Doctor ~ Spencer Reid

Overwhelming Sensations

The BCU had gotten very, very lucky recently. A stroke of luck from Doctor Spencer Reid managed to get the serial killer caught. He remembered seeing someone a few days prior with a very certain shoe and writing, and he happened to match them up. The killer was caught, Hatcha River Killer, and he was finally caught. The problem was, now the BCU had a lot, and it really was a lot, of press coverage.

That didn't go over too well with Reid and his many problems.

"Mr. Reid, how did you figure it out?"
"Doctor, did you know what you were doing?"
"Agent Spencer Reid, are you sure you have the right guy?"
"Dr. Reid, how did you know?"
Agent, did you figure it out on your own or did you have help?"
"Agent?"
"Doctor?"
"Reid?"

Spencer was doing his damndest to cover his eyes, not look up, look at the ground. The flashing lights was too much. The voices was too much. The touching was too much. He felt like he was drowning. He was drowning. He was going insane. People were everywhere. They were there.

"Reid, hey, take a breath. C'mon, we're almost there."

Morgan finally got to the poor man who didn't notice he had frozen in place, shaking, with his eyes closed. Tears were welled behind his glued shut lids, slowly opening them to look at Morgan.

"No no no, keep your eyes closed. No seizures in the middle of a crowd. No breakdowns, either, gotta keep a reputation."

Reid just nodded along and flinched hard when Morgan touched him, but after a little bit of reassurance and some gentler touches, he managed to lead Spencer into the building where, the moment he was inside, he stripped off his jacket and just dropped it, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the first few on his shirt, his breathing getting worse.

"Hey, hey, Spencer, take a breath. You're inside. You're away from the lights and the people."
"I-I-I-I- hhhhh."

Spencer paced, moving his hands up and down to help calm himself down. It was too much, it was all too much. The noise, the voices, the people, the lights, the sound, everything. Reid tugged at his hair, his breathing quickening. Morgan wasn't sure how to deal with this, he hadn't actually seen Reid have problems before. Yea, he's washed his hands about ten times after any time he touches something that his senses don't agree with, he sanitizes everything on his desk at least three times a week, he wears the same things every day, he's made happy gestures when he gets to talk about something he likes, but no one's really ever seen him have genuine, visible problems before, or at least he's hid them very well.

"Spencer, hey, Reid, look at me. Look at me, take a breath. It's okay. Look at me, dude, c'mon."

Spencer made shaky eye contact, quickly breaking it to cover his ears and shake his head. Morgan panicked and pulled up a chair, gesturing to it for the doctor. Spencer glanced between him and the chair about five times in less then a second before taking it, rocking in place now. He didn't remove his hands from his ears, though, continuing the rocking and the shaking of his head. Morgan squatted down to better see Spencer, concern covering his face. Hotch and JJ started to walk in, but Morgan very quickly waved for him to go away, JJ asking a few questions.

"What's going on?"
"He's having some sort of panic attack, the people outside fucked with him hard. The less people here, the better."
"Oh."
"Yea, just be glad it's not a seizure this time."
"I'll talk to the press tomorrow about being more careful."

JJ hurried off, and Morgan went back to helping the scared man in front of him. He didn't notice Hotch remaining.

"Spencer, hey, need you to listen to me. Don't gotta take your hands off your ears, but you gotta listen. Can you breathe with me?"

Morgan waited until Spencer looked at him, then started taking large, exaggerated breaths to get Reid to just try to take a breath. Slowly, it began to work.

"There we go, there we go. Keep on going, Reid."

Spencer continued to slowly calm down, his rocking slowing and the tears stopping. It took a long, long time for Morgan to manage to calm Spencer down enough to make coherent words.

"Morg-Morgan- I-I-"
"Hey, don't need to talk. It's all good. Just need you to breathe and manage to look at me."
"I-"
"Stop, Reid, just breathe with me."

Spencer followed instructions and continued to breathe with Morgan, slowly removing his hands from his head and wrapping his arms around his middle instead. He wiped his face roughly, practically digging his fingers into his eyes to try and dry them as quickly as possible.

"I-I'm-I'm sorry, Morgan."

Spencer finally whispered, looking up at Morgan properly. He didn't keep eye contact for long, but just enough time for the other agent to understand what he was saying.

"It's all good, Spencer. You've got some stuff going on up there, you're not going to get out of every situation just fine."
"It's still unprofessional of me to have problems in a public setting."
"Can't control a panic attack, Reid, or your senses shit. That's not something that you can just shove down."
"Sensory issues, but I suppose so. I took my medication this morning, I promise."
"Medication doesn't get rid of everything, man. I know that and so do you."

He was quiet for a bit, frowning a little.

"I do know that. I've had depressive episodes while I was taking my medication every day.."
"I've had panic attacks while taking my meds too, man. It's not something you can control. Meds help, they don't get rid of the problem."

Spencer nodded again, finally standing up.

"Thank you, Morgan, again. Thank you for getting me out of there before it worsened. I could have had a full breakdown out there if you didn't bring me inside."
"I wasn't going to let you make a spectacle of yourself."
"You could have."
"I wouldn't."
"You touched me."
"Had to get you out. Even if it freaks you out in the moment, gotta get you out of the crowd."
"That's.. Thank you. You've already done more for me then most people in my life have."
"There haven't been much people in your life, Reid."

Morgan teased the other lightly, which caused a small smile on Spencer's face.

"I'm going to go back to my desk and hope my face isn't plastered everywhere saying 'FBI agent breaks down' tomorrow morning."
"I guess we'll have to see."

Morgan laughed and Spencer smiled more, standing up. He was alright again, at least for now. His panic took a long time to leave, but his shaking hands were trapped under his legs or typing on his computer. He was fine.