Desiderium: longing for something that has been lost

chapter 11

life is easy to chronicle, but is bewildering to practice. -- e. m. forester

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Safe Room

February 18, 2008

3:45 a.m.

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Rossi was put in charge of transporting the kid. He shifted in the leather seat and rubbed at his tired eyes. Where on earth was he anyway? He opened the SUV's door and yawned, walking forward as he noticed a figure struggling towards him.

"Need any help?" The nurse was struggling to hold on to a few bags and push the unconscious Spencer Reid in a wheelchair along uneven ground.

"Uh, yeah, actually. If you could take these. I'll get him into the car." He pushed him closer and worked him into the car. Breathing loudly, he climbed in after him and pulled him into a upright position. "Work with me here." He muttered as Spencer flopped back down. He finally leaned him up against the door and got him buckled in, cursing softly under his breath. 

Rossi slid in and started the car up. "Ready?"

"Yeah." The exhaustion was clear in his voice. "Let's go." 

It was long and quiet drive to the hotel that the agents had set up as their safe room. Rossi made sure the parking lot was clear before wrestling the limp Spencer out of the car and getting him up to the room. The nurse cleared his throat and Rossi glanced over at him. 

"Something wrong?"

"No, just tired." 

Rossi eyed the body in the wheelchair that was giving them so much trouble. The kid was pale, skinny and even unconscious, he had a slightly furrowed brow. Rossi hefted the bags he was carrying. He almost felt bad for the kid. Almost. The elevator dinged open and he led the way to the room. 

Garcia was inside, her eyes focused on the bank of computers she had set up. "Sir, Ryan is quite the character. He had multiple accounts..." She trailed off, noticing the extra people. "Oh is that him?" Her voice softened, and she clasped her hands together. 

Rossi sighed, still not understanding where the fascination for Spencer Reid had come from. "Yes, yes it is, but he's out of it, so leave him alone." 

Garcia nodded and reluctantly turned back to her screens, whatever she was going to say lost to the whispers of Rossi and the nurse. 

They laid him out on a bed and the nurse plopped down in a chair. "He'll wake up in a hour or so. When he does, let me know and I'll give him his morning medications."

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The rest of the team remained at the crime scene, overseeing the clean-up and forensic procedure. 

"Did he leave anything this time?" Morgan pushed himself off the wall where he had been leaning. 

"Nothing in the forensic sense, but more so in the psychological sense; we know these cuts were quick and deep. He didn't hesitate at all with him, but with the Petyr's he did. That means he's either comfortable mutilating his victims, or he knew Ryan on a personal level and wanted him dead." Prentiss scuffed her shoe on the ground and wondered if she would be able to a few hours of sleep that night. 

Morgan nodded. "And if they knew each other, it could have been a pre-arranged meeting, Ryan was going to talk to our Unsub, our Unsub is even more unstable and kills him quick. Something Ryan never saw coming, this definitely plays into our devolving theory." 

"What will he do now that Reid's with us? Are we trying to force his hand?" JJ stood by, with a phone in one hand. "We can draw him out, I can tell media sources to leak his whereabouts and we can catch this guy."