Chapter 16

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After all when a stone is dropped into a pond, the water continues quivering even after the stone has sunk to the bottom.---Arthur Golden

It had been two weeks. Two weeks and Reid still remained in his coma. The doctors had told them that they would have to expect that he would probably never wake up. 

"You really don't know Spencer." Garcia had scoffed back at them. "He'll wake up, and then, all your outcomes will be proven false." She was confident in her Spencer. Confident that he would wake up. 

That was two weeks ago. 

She had personally taken it upon herself to decorate his room. She hated hospital rooms and their lack of color. So she brought every little gadget and trinket and peppered them around his room. The nurses fully approved, commenting on the energy it brought into the room. If Garcia had to admit, she really hoped that the sheer amount of energy she brought to his room, would be enough to revitalize him and wake him up from this damn coma. But it didn't and she spent most of her days, trying not to cry.  

She must have knitted at least five scarves, each one more colorful than the last. She had hung them around the IV stand, until the nurses forbade her from doing that. 

She looked up to see Morgan standing in the doorway. "Come on in stranger." 

Morgan laughed and settling himself in one of the chairs. "Nice scarves." 

"Thank you. They're all for him, of course when he wakes up." 

Morgan glanced at Reid. He hadn't visited much, not recently any way. He felt guilty, but walking into that room was like getting punched in the stomach over and over. It hurt too much to see him like this. No, Morgan wanted to remember him as he was, full of life and full of stupid facts. 

Garcia placed a hand on him. "It was nice of the bureau to give us an extended leave." 

Morgan nodded. It was nice, Hotch had argued long and hard for those extra weeks. But he knew that if Reid didn't wake up, that they would have to go back to work, just like before, except....

Morgan stood up. "You want anything, Penelope? Water?" 

Garcia shook her head. It wasn't lost on her that Morgan wasn't comfortable staying in Reid's room. Hell, she wouldn't be either, if it wasn't, well if it wasn't Reid laying there. 

JJ came in often, sitting for hours holding Reid's hand and talking to him about Henry and Michael's antics. Sometimes she would fall asleep, her head resting on top of his blanket. 

Prentiss would pace the room for a while, then sit down propping her feet up and turn the television on. She would fix a few trinkets in the room, give a commentary on whatever show she was watching, and then beg Reid to wake up. 

Rossi took the night shift usually, claiming he was always a night owl anyway. He could be found with a book in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. Occasionally, he'd look over the book and sigh heavily. 

Hotch would come in from time to time. He would sit in silence and listen to Garcia talk about her life, her favorite books, whatever struck her fancy at the moment. Garcia noticed however that he never seemed to hear a word she said. 

Morgan came in the least. But when he did, he would pace back and forth, talking about all the good memories they had shared over the years. He never stayed long. 

Rossi looked at his watch. 3:46 A.M. Maybe he should try to get some sleep himself, he thought, closing his book. He had long ago drank all his scotch and the buzz had worn off. He pulled the armchair closer to the bed, and as best he could, curled up in it. 

It was the panicked breathing that alerted him. Groggy, he raised his head and looked over at the bed. 

Reid's eyes were open, wide open. 

Rossi sat up. Reid was breathing quickly, too quickly, and his hands clenched the blanket. A small whimper made its way in between the shallow breaths.

Rossi pressed the call button and gently called his name. "Reid, hey it's me, Rossi." 

Reid's eyes darted towards his. "R-Rossi?" He gasped. 

"That's right kid, I'm right here." He reached for his hand. 

Reid let out a yelp, when he felt Rossi's hand, and his eyes grew more panicked. Rossi realizing that his touch had not helped matters, withdrew his hand. 

A nurse ran in. "What's the prob--oh." She said noticing the now conscious patient. She rushed to his side, noticing the agitated state he was in. "Sir," she looked at Rossi, "can you please step out of the room for me?" She was already administering a mild sedative. 

Rossi nodded and stepped out, slightly overwhelmed with all that had just happened in the last five minutes.  

He looked at his watch again. 4:32. The others wouldn't care. He pulled out his phone and called Hotch. 

Hotch woke up abruptly. His phone was vibrating. Pulling it out he saw Rossi was calling him. He felt a spike of fear as he answered. 

"Rossi, what is is?" 

"Hotch everyone needs to get down here now. The kid, did it Hotch, he pulled through." 

Hotch felt the room dip. Reid had woken up? He'd be the first to admit, he was starting to lose hope, but Reid had woken up?

"Hotch?" the voice on the other side was uncertain, wondering most likely how he was taking the news. 

"Yeah," he cleared his throat. "We'll be down there as soon as possible. Thank you Rossi." 

He hung up, still stunned. He went over and shook Morgan awake. "Morgan." His voice was shaking. "Morgan, we have to get down to the hospital. Reid's awake." 

Morgan shot up. "He's awake. He made it?" When Hotch nodded, Morgan jumped out of bed and, went to wake up the others. 

He knocked on the door that the three girls shared. "JJ, Prentiss, Garcia," he hissed through the door, to impatient for them to open the door. "Reid's awake, we're going to the hospital as soon as we can." 

He heard movement from inside. JJ opened the door, tears in her eyes. "He's awake?" 

"Yeah, JJ he's awake." 

JJ closed her eyes, and tears rolled down her face. "God, Morgan I was so scared. I thought he would never wake up again, and we would have to bury him all over again." Her voice broke and Morgan hugged her. 

He pulled back, "we don't have to worry about that now. Ok?" 

Prentiss walked out, drinking coffee. "I woke Garcia up, now let's go." 

JJ laughed and wiped at her tears. "I really want to see him too." 

They were going to finally see Reid for the first time in over a year. 


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