Criminal Minds One Shots

Mr. Tough Guy

Chocolate whined and stood in front of the door.

"I'll be right back, boy.  I just need to go get the food," Charlie said, nudging him out of the way.  They had been gone on a case for a week that ended with Reid in the hospital for another four days, and Chocolate had missed them.

"Come here, Chocolate," Spencer called from the couch.

The German Shepherd reluctantly went over by him so Charlie could get out the door, jumping up on Spencer's lap.

"Ow," he winced, pushing the dog down so he was laying next to him instead of on top of him.  Chocolate raised his head and sniffed at Spencer's side, giving him a look.

"I'm fine, bud.  Just a few broken ribs and a stab wound, the doctor's said I'll live," he told the dog half-sarcastically.

Chocolate whined and nudged his nose at Spencer's side again, but he pushed his snout away when they heard the door open.

"I come bearing sustenance," Charlie called as the dog gave Spencer one last look before jumping down and running over to sniff at the plastic to-go bag in her hand from the Chinese they'd ordered.

Spencer smiled at her comment and pushed himself up from the couch, wincing and pressing his other hand to his side as he did so as if it could hold back the twinge of pain shooting through his abdomen at even the slightest movement.  Chocolate spotted him and walked over, barking once and pointing his nose towards Spencer's side before looking back to see if Charlie had noticed.

"What is it, boy?" she asked but didn't glance at them as she finished taking boxes out of the bag.

Chocolate barked again, thrusting his snout at the bandages under Spencer's shirt as Charlie turned around and glanced at them.

She gave Spencer a look and accused, "I thought you took painkillers after we got off the plane."

"I did," he responded a little too quickly and a little too innocently.

"You're lying, Spence," she said flatly.

He looked away.

She sighed and went and dug through their bags abandoned on the armchair, finding the bottle of painkillers the doctor had given them, rattling it authoritatively before handing it to him.  He looked at it but didn't make any move to take any.

"What?" Charlie asked, a soft tone to the usual edge of her voice.

"I hate those things," Spencer muttered.

"Why?" she asked, absent-mindedly reaching a hand down to pet Chocolate who was standing between them like an ally to both sides.

"They make it hard to focus.  Everything gets fuzzy around the edges and I can't always think straight."  He paused.  "It scares me," he said as he met her gaze.

"What's there to be scared of?  I'm right here.  Besides, Hotch says we're on leave for the rest of the week so you don't even have to leave the apartment until Monday," she tried to reassure him.

He sighed, again eyeing the bottle of pills in his hand.

"You can just take one for right now instead of the full dose.  I know your side is killing you even if you don't want to admit it, Mr. Tough Guy," she teased lightly.

A small smile crossed his face and he reluctantly opened the bottle, shaking one pill into his hand and dry-swallowing it.  He grimaced as it went down.

"Thank you," Charlie said, taking the bottle back from him and going into the kitchen.  Spencer followed, Chocolate darting between them so he was in the kitchen in case either of them happened to drop any food for him.