A year after leaving the BAU, Spencer Reid is restless and struggling to adjust to civilian life. Not finding any fulfillment or respite in it, he decides to take a position with Homeland. On assignment he meets you, a former Master Gunnery Sergeant...
Warnings: canon typical stories, blood, stitches, a bit of shitting on the BAU's treatment of Spencer, death, grief,
Summary: After you get back to base, Spencer and the unit keep you awake since you have a concussion. Later, you think about Spencer in the soft morning light.
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Barretti carried you on his back through the base a few hours later. Spencer followed with an embarrassingly dumb smile and his hands shoved in his pockets. The doctor had told them to keep you awake, that you had a pretty nasty concussion. That prompted a round of hooahs and Peanut declaring it was what she referred to as 'bonfire time.'
Your head lolled into the side of Barretti's neck, and you kept whispering things to him that made him giggle like a child. Spencer could tell the drugs were wearing off, because you kept wincing and rubbing your face. He hoped it didn't hurt too much.
His side was beginning to ache, but something about watching you bounce on Barretti's back made the pain lessen.
They'd all been injured in the attack, with you and Spencer receiving the worst of it. His left shoulder was bruised and aching, a few stitches had been put into his eyebrow, cheekbone and ribcage, but nothing compared to yours.
Nobody fawned over him, though, and it was such a relief. If he'd been with the BAU, he had little doubt that JJ and Garcia would have forced him into a hospital bed and cried, and he would have had to comfort them about something that happened to him.
It wasn't that Spencer resented their love and care for him, but there was something about the way the unit trusted him to know his own limits that finally made him feel like part of a team... instead of the fragile little brother everyone wanted to take care of.
They approached an open section in the center of the base, with a few errant tires and sandbags set up around a cinder block fire pit. It was already burning, and Mercer was standing in front of it, sipping from a pocket flask as he stared into the fire.
Barretti set you down as they all slowed. Spencer half expected Garrett or you to decide against the bonfire, but you just walked over to Mercer and lightly elbowed him.
"Mind if we join you?" you asked quietly.
Mercer watched you for a moment before letting a small smile escape the normally grim line of his mouth, "I'd prefer it, actually."
You said nothing, just picked a sandbag and plopped down in front of it. You stretched out your legs and sighed, and when Barretti sat down next to you, you leaned against his shoulder.
You held your hand out, palm up, and he took it with a chuckle. Morello and Garrett eased down in front of a tire, and when Peanut found her own spot she immediately pulled a small radio and her little tools out, going to work on the circuitry.
She did that a lot, worked on random equipment. Spencer liked Peanut. Hell, he liked them all, and their quirks were showing more and more as he spent time with them.
