Speechless | Spencer Reid FanFiction ✔️

Chapter 2: Recovery

     I walk into the CCU the next day at lunch time to check in on my hero patient. I'm abnormally excited to see him and check in on him. I brush it off and walk up to the nurses station, knowing I'm in full view of my patient's room. I pick up his chart and pretend to be  reading it as I try to listen in to what they're saying. I hear the voices quickly become hushed.
      "Ooh you were absolutely right, Morgan, she is really pretty," I hear a woman's voice say. I instantly panic, thinking I'm hearing the voice of Dr. Reid's wife or girlfriend. I quickly check his chart to see if he's married, but I find he's not. It looks like his emergency contacts are his mother, SSA Morgan, and a man named Aaron Hotchner. I assume Aaron Hotchner is the stern man I met briefly yesterday. I then hear Morgan's familiar voice say "Right!? Wouldn't she be the perfect match for pretty boy, here?" I finally hear Spencer's voice, which I make a mental note that it is considerably less gravelly today and he's already sounding a lot better. Spencer says in a whisper yell "Morgan shut up, she's working I can't just ask her for her number when she has her fingers in my mouth!" I then hear the woman's voice again saying "ooh kinky, I like it," making Morgan laugh. I hear Spencer groan in exasperation and decide I'll save him now.
      As I turn around, I hear rustling and movement from the room, which I assume is everybody pretending they weren't just talking about me. It gives me PTSD from middle school, if I'm being honest. I walk in with a smile and reintroduce myself to everybody and shake hands with the woman I haven't met yet, "Hi I'm Anneliese Winters, Dr. Reid's speech language pathologist." The dark haired woman smiles and says "Hi I'm SSA Emily Prentiss, but you can just call me Emily!" I smile and nod, the professional in me internally screaming at me to not be so casual in work situations.
      Emily continues to say "I hear you're taking good care of Reid, we can't thank you enough for that." I smile and say "Just doing my job! Now, Dr. Reid, are you ready to try solid foods again?" Dr. Reid emphatically nods his head and I giggle at his enthusiasm. "The soft food from the hospital cafeteria is that bad huh?" I ask him to which I again receive emphatic nodding, making me laugh again. I tell him first I need to check the swelling and inflammation then we can try to eat solid food. He closes his eyes and nods in response, telling me he's not excited for me to do a physical exam again. Dr. Reid's colleagues leave the room to try to make the experience less unpleasant as I go to get ready for the physical exam.
     I wash my hands and glove up. I pull out a grape flavored tongue depressor, they're typically used for kids, because I thought Dr. Reid would be happily surprised by it. I instruct him to open his mouth and I use the tongue depressor to perform an oral mechanism exam. I see his eyes widen in surprise when he finds that the tongue depressor actually tastes good. Upon my examination, I find that the swelling and inflammation is going down, but it still has a ways to go. The anthrax must be inhibiting the healing process, otherwise being intubated for such a short period of time shouldn't take this long to heal.
     I take the tongue depressor out of his mouth and he tells me in his less gravelly voice than yesterday "that actually tasted good!" I laugh and say "yeah it's not a fun experience to have somebody digging in your mouth on a good day, so I thought I'd try to add a small bit of fun in there for you." He smiles and thanks me telling me it worked. I now have to tell him the bad news. "I hate to tell you this, but I think your recovery from anthrax is making recovering from being intubated much more difficult than I expected. At this point, after only being briefly intubated, you should be healing a lot faster than this. You may be in here a bit longer than I thought" I say with remorse. Spencer looks disappointed. God, I hate being the bearer of bad news.
     In an effort to cheer him up I say "let's try to eat some solid food now, sound good?" He smiles briefly and sits up a bit, preparing. I look at him and say "I don't know how well you are feeling now or how much energy you have at the moment. You can try to feed yourself, but if you show me signs of struggle then I have to intervene and help feed you or you stop eating all together." He acknowledges my statement with a serious nod. I look at the plate the kitchen sent for him per my recommendations. It consists of mashed potatoes, Mac and cheese, grilled chicken, and a roll. I don't have high hopes for the chicken, but we will try it. I let him feed himself for now and we talk to pass the time. While he eats, I observe and mentally take note of his eating.
     Between bites of mashed potatoes he looks at me and says "you said 'y'all' yesterday, are you from the south?" I look at him in shock, not even remembering having said "y'all." I chuckle a bit and nod. He nods in response and further asks "where in the south?" I shake my head, lightly laughing, and say "I'm from Tennessee." He nods and smiles like he just got a question right while watching jeopardy. I'm not currently liking how focused this conversation is on me, and I ask him where he is from, even though I know from his chart. He raises an eyebrow at me with a curious expression and says "I'm from Las Vegas." I nod and tell him I've never been there. "Did you like it there?" I ask. He says "Yes and no. Not the best town to grow up in as a genius." I laugh and say "oh yeah I could believe that. I wasn't a genius and growing up in Tennessee wasn't really a piece of cake either." He chuckles a bit and starts on the mac and cheese.
     After a comfortable silence I ask him if he's having any discomfort, pain, or difficulty while eating. He tells me no, but I know it's mainly because he wishes he could be eating the chicken and the roll right now. After a shorter comfortable silence I ask him what his doctorate is in, and he responds with "I have 3 PhDs actually in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry and 2 BAs in psychology and sociology." I look at him with an expression of shock and awe. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I ask "And you're only 27?!" He chuckles and tells me he's actually working on a third BA now in philosophy. I just congratulate him because I don't know what else to say.
     He then looks at me and says "What about you? I notice you didn't introduce yourself as Dr. Winters." I roll my eyes and respond saying "well the only reason I would get a doctorate in my field is to teach it or do research and neither of those interest me in the slightest at the moment. Plus being a woman with a doctorate makes dating harder, or at least that's what I've heard from my female colleagues who are MDs." He pauses briefly but nods in understanding. Now it's time to try the roll. I watch him take a bite of it then slowly chew and swallow the bite he took. I smile and tell him that what he did just then was the perfect way to ease back into solid foods. He gives me a closed mouth smile and continues to chew his roll. I can see the sheer delight painted on his face. Carbs make me do that, too.
     After he finishes the roll he makes eye contact with me, and goes to start on the chicken. I had already previously cut the chicken because he's still fairly weak. In addition, I know how small the pieces should be to make this easier on him while also still testing his ability to handle solid food. I watch him eat the chicken. He coughs slightly, clearing his throat after every swallow, but he doesn't choke. I let him eat half the chicken before stopping him. He looks at me disappointed, with puppy dog eyes. Damn good puppy dog eyes that I might would have given into in less serious circumstances.
     I tell him "You did great trying solid food again, but I don't want you to over do it. Don't think I didn't notice the coughing and throat clearing. We can try solid food again tomorrow at lunch, but until then you need stick to soft foods again." He looks disappointed yet hopeful at my words. I hate disappointing patients, but I'd rather be the hard ass who keeps them safe and healthy rather than their friend while they're under my care.
     I smile and ask him if he needs anything or has any questions before I leave. He looks at me and stutters a bit - he didn't have a stutter before when I walked in which tells me he's just nervous and doesn't need more therapy than I originally thought. He says "ye- I uh yes I was just um wuh-wondering if I could have your number? Y-you know for medical emergencies?" He looks at me blushing. I chuckle and smile at him and say "is this you asking or your friend Morgan?" I watch his face fall as he says "oh I can give you Morgan's number if you really want it" not making eye contact with me. I giggle and say "oh, I don't want his number." He snaps his head up with wide hopeful eyes and I tell him "but I can't give you my number either." His face falls again before I add "yet." He looks hopeful again. "I can't date patients. So, until you get discharged from my care, there will not be a phone number exchange."
     He nods with an expression of concentration and asks "if I can't get your number until after I'm discharged from your care, then how will I ask you out on a date?" I blush in response and try to suppress it while crossing my arms saying "I have a feeling with 3 PhDs and 2 BAs you can figure something out. Have a good night, rest up, and I'll see you tomorrow, Dr. Reid!" He says "please call me Spencer!" I chuckle and shake my head as I drop off his chart at the nursing station. I then turn to leave the CCU to check on my other patients throughout the hospital.