What Happens Next

IX. Surprise

"Okay?" JJ questioned, recoiling and sipping her drink quickly.

"Yeah. Yeah," Reid fumbled slightly over his words, marveling in the situation that he had just found himself in. He wrapped his fingers around the thumb of his other hand and reminded himself that it was just too complicated. 

"Shouldn't you be sleeping by now?" Reid began, looking up from his hands, "don't you work in like six hours?"

JJ's eyes flashed a sign of hurt, before her mouth masked it with a smile, "yeah, Spence. I do."

She collected her phone, and her drink and she stood up slowly. She paused, considering if her move was appropriate, before placing her hand on his head and shoving it gently to the side. She smiled and reminded the man that he didn't have to sleep on the couch.

"I know," he assured, "It just makes me uncomfortable to sleep in her bed. Even if she's not sleeping in it you know?"

"Okay," she smiled, turning to leave the room. 

"JJ," Reid began, causing the blonde's features to light up in excitement and mild confusion as she whipped around to face him, "can you turn off the light?"

Reid missed JJ's reaction before turning around and the disappointment she displayed after he asked his question; as he was too focused arranging the couch in a way that was conducive to his sleeping comfortably.

She exited the room quickly and shut off the light, wondering to herself if the man was planning on sleeping in his jeans, or taking off his pants to sleep. She hoped for the former despite how uncomfortable the act of sleeping in jeans was to her. He slept in his Jeans. 

Before drifting off into his jean-clad sleep, Reid's mind brought him back to his going away party. It resembled Garcia's in the way that the whole team was there, but it was more intimate than that. He did not leave the BAU by choice. He left because one night Max had come home early to surprise him and she was stopped with a gun in her face because he felt the need to clear each room before settling down into their apartment. He left because when he was asked to return to Millburn Correctional Facility to question a suspect in connection with a string of drug related murders he had a panic attack so bad he was on the floor of Emily's office because he was so dizzy he couldn't make it to the chair. He left because he couldn't handle himself anymore. He tried to stay out of the field by any means necessary because he had become terrified of being taken. He didn't feel safe. His job performance was destroyed by the trauma he had sustained and Emily had to ask him to leave for his own health and safety. 

"Reid, can I see you for a second?" Emily asked, calling him into her office. He was halfway across the bullpen when she noticed that he was leaving, so he had to quietly skip across the room to reach her quickly.

"We need to talk," she sighed.

He slipped past her, as she was holding the door open for him and while he found his seat, she closed the blinds. Both profilers felt the weight of the situation in their stomachs and Emily's hands shook almost as much as Reids. 

"I don't want to leave," he pleaded, already aware of the nature of their meeting. 

"I know," Emily frowned, staring at the floor. She looked down at the younger man and sighed, clasping her hands together and then pulling them apart.

"I want you here. Don't you think for a second that that isn't true, but you can't stay here like this and you know it. I have arranged a year long sabbatical for you. I know that that seems like a long time but this way you can continue to teach, and you can keep going to therapy. Then, if you're able to, you can come back with no consequences."