LAUGHTER LINES, spencer reid.

chapter thirteen.

LAUGHTER LINES.
chapter thirteen.

"Hey, kid," Morgan spoke from his desk. He had been watching Reid for the past few minutes, and though it was normal for the youngest BAU member to be silent for a decent hour or two, his silence seemed different today. It made Morgan feel slightly uneasy, and he wondered what was on the geniuses mind.

Reid looked up from his paperwork and blinked to clear his blurry vision. He had finished the work an hour ago, but his mind had gone off to a different place. He closed the folder and pushed it to the side before letting out a tired sigh. "Sorry," he apologized quietly. "I was thinking about something."

"You don't need to apologize. I know how that mind of yours works," Morgan smiled. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. "Do you want to share?"

"I gave to go back home for a bit," Reid said. The entire team knew about his mom at this point, so he didn't really feel the need to elaborate on the matter.

"Is everything all right?" Morgan asked. He wondered what was going on with Reid's mother, and more importantly, how long would Reid be gone? Reid rarely went to Vegas, but when he did, things weren't always going too well for the Reid family.

"I'm due for another visit with my mom, and her doctor recommended that I come sooner rather than later," Reid answered. "I've been asked to guest lecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, too."

"That's great," Morgan smiled. "I'm sure your mother will like to hear that."

Reid nodded absently. He hadn't been given too many details over the phone regarding his mother, but it was clear that Spencer would have to use some of his vacation time to check in on Diana Reid. He hoped that he could help his mom with whatever had decided to weave its way into her life this time.

"Are you going to see your dad?" Morgan asked knowing that Reid and his father had yet to fix their relationship completely. He knew that they talked once every couple of months, and never for very long. For Reid, there was still a lot of hurt despite getting his answers three years ago.

"I don't know," Reid answered as he started on another report. He had a lot of work to get done and his current family distractions had greatly slowed down his work. It still got done before the day was done, but Reid preferred to have all case reports done before lunch, and it looked like today he would be scrambling to finish them before he left the academy and went home.

Morgan studied Reid carefully. Obviously, he didn't wish to discuss his parent, so he needed to find something else to talk about. Sports were out of the question, but only because Morgan didn't care to know about the statistics involved in throwing a ball eighty yards down the field. He smirked when he came up with a suitable topic. At least for him. "How's Gwen?"

Reid looked up at Morgan. "She's getting Lizzie and Greg ready for the new school year that starts in a couple weeks," Reid stated. He would talk to her briefly in the morning as he made his way to the BAU. He would pick up his coffee, they would have a five minute conversation, and then he would be on his way. They had been hard pressed to find time to get dinner, or even lunch. "She's been spending a lot of time in the capital working on a big article for the upcoming senate elections. It's not satire, but more of a 'What Do You Really Know'. She told me that it's meant to inform all voters, but more importantly the younger uninformed voters."