Autistic Spencer Reid

Chapter 9

"Look, sorry I mentioned it. It's not my place and I'm not the one who'll be treating him when he's at the hospital," he said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. The paramedic's smile was still smug but his eyes showed he was a bit terrified about what would happen if he carried on mocking Spencer to Rossi.

"That's what I thought. It's not your place and I don't believe you should be ridiculing your patients. Am I clear?" Rossi's tone was authoritative and scolding towards the paramedic.

"Yes, sir." The paramedic averted his eyes and went back to his paperwork, shifting uncomfortably every now and then.

They arrived at the hospital and Spencer was taken inside, Rossi following close behind. He carried Spencer's bag and kept a close eye on Spencer's reactions to his surroundings.

JJ jogged into the ER and started asking any nurses and doctors within her vicinity where Spencer was. She quickly spotted Rossi who was waving her over, and relief flooded her expression.

"Is he okay? What's going on?" JJ was still looking around for Spencer, who was being blocked from her view by the paramedic and nurse who were tending to him.

"He'll be okay. Take a breath, relax," Rossi placed a hand on JJ's shoulder and patted his fingers slightly.

"What happened?"

"The unsub hit his throat, bruised his windpipe by the sounds of it, but he couldn't breath properly and it shouldn't have been so severe for a bruised windpipe so they brought him here. He's not talking though, do you know how to help with that? It won't be ideal if he can't talk to the doctor and explain how he feels," Rossi explained this as if he were listing the events, moving his hand up and down on every event. Concern was clear when he asked about Spencer not speaking, he hadn't had to deal with that himself before.

"I assume he goes non-verbal or semi-verbal sometimes, probably due to stress or sensory issues. He knows sign language, but I don't know any myself. He was non-verbal yesterday, Hotch translated; I'll see if he can video call and translate again." JJ walked off to call Hotch.

Rossi went back to stand next to Spencer. He was shaking and edging away from the doctors and nurses, there were 3 around him. They were looking for an arm to pierce, a chest to put stickies onto, and a finger to put an oximeter onto. Spencer wasn't having it, none of them had asked for those body parts, instead just assuming they were okay to do whatever they wanted to him.

One of the nurses put the side of the bed down and came towards him with his hands out, trying to look reassuring. But the hands coming towards Spencer made him panic even more, he jumped up immediately and backed towards the wall.

His heart rate increased and hammered in his head. He still had his headphones on but they weren't playing any music so he could hear all of his body's noises loud and clear.

His breathing was getting heavier and quickening by the second. His head felt heavy and he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open. His vision became blurry and his body swayed. Luckily, he was leaning against the wall now, but that only helped him for a couple of seconds.

He could feel he was going to faint, so he robotically lowered himself to the ground, falling harder than he'd anticipated because his strength was weakening.

He slumped to the side, hoping he wouldn't hit his head when he passed out.

Rossi quickened his pace to get to Spencer, having just witnessed the whole scene. JJ followed swiftly after, as soon as she saw Rossi's sudden rush to reach Spencer.

Spencer was now passed out on the floor, looking pale except for his burning cheeks. Rossi lowered him to the floor and turned around to see the doctor and nurses who were supposed to be treating Spencer instead just standing there dumbfounded.

"Get over here and help, dimwits. You're the ones that are supposed to know how to help, why aren't you doing anything?" Rossi had a hand under Spencer's head and one knee on the floor, the other in a bent, crouched position.

One of the nurses rushed over with a pillow and placed it behind Spencer's head, next moving to raise Spencer's legs so his knees were in the air.
"I'm sorry, we didn't know what to do. He wasn't speaking to us and wouldn't let us touch him."

"Did any of you ask to touch him, or did you just assume you could?" JJ asked, she used he belittling voice that showed her disappointment towards the hospital staff.

"Uh, no, I guess not." The nurse replied, looking towards the doctor who was standing with his arms crossed, an inpatient expression on his face.

"How do you expect us to treat him when he won't let us touch him, huh?" The doctor raised his eyebrows and turned to walk away, muttering "moronic freak."

"Excuse me?! What did you just say?" JJ stood up from beside Spencer and strode towards the doctor. "You, you ableist ass can shove it where the sun doesn't shine, leave and don't come back."

JJ had the right mind to punch him there and then, but she didn't want to be kicked out when she wanted to be there for Spencer. She turned towards the other nurse and asked him to get a different doctor; he scuttled off rather quickly.

JJ turned back to Spencer and knelt down next to him. He had begun to return to his usual colour, still pale, but not as concerningly so.

She had done a quick Google search on PoTS on her way over to the hospital, she knew that the heart rate was the main physical symptom that could be witnessed by others and was ultimately the way to get diagnosed.

She reached over to the machinery and grabbed the oximeter, placing it on Spencer finger. He was still passed out, but his eyelids had begun to flutter slightly so maybe he was semi conscious.

The monitor beeped to his heart rate, attracting the attention of the nurse.

"140 beats per minute? But he's lying down. It shouldn't be that high, especially as he's been lying down for so long." She had a slightly confused look on her face and looked at JJ.

"What should've been told to you earlier by the paramedics, he may have PoTS. That may have been why he was struggling to breath so much when his injury first occured, he was likely already out of breath a bit, and the injury added extra strain. He's also autistic, so you coming at him from all angles with different demands that all require strangers, touching him without his consent, is obviously going to freak him out. I know that you didn't know that, but please just be more mindful that you don't know how anyone's going to react when they come into the ER." JJ had to take her frustration from the day out on someone, unfortunately it was in the form of a rant at the one nurse who was feebly attempting to help.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll keep that in mind. And thank you for telling me, I'll let his doctor know when he arrives."

Spencer started to rouse a bit, his fingers twitching and his legs squirming away from the contact of the nurse's hands.
Everyone let out a relieved breath and backed away to give Spencer space.

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