Dr.Spencer Reid - Forgotten

Forgotten

*JJ POV*

Oh god, this can't be happening. I slowly stepped back from the bed, hoping this was just some sick joke Morgan and Reid came up with. Except, everything in Spence's body language showed a terrified man surrounded by people he didn't know. I looked at Derek to make sure he wasn't smiling, but he was just as worried as the rest of us. Hotch stalked out of the room and over to the nearest nurse, telling her that needed to see the doctor right away. He came back into the room and everyone's attention went straight back to the patient.

"Reid do you remember anything? Anything at all?" Rossi asked him. "No, um, not really." He said once he realized the question was directed at him. "You called me Reid, is that my name? Is my name Reid?" He had such an innocent expression, it was heart breaking. Garcia, tears already streaming down her cheeks, covered her mouth so that a gasp wouldn't escape. Looking to my right I saw Emily and I grabbed her hand, needing something to hold onto. She looked at me with her face matching my expression, sadness and fear of what was to come. The surgeon we previously spoke to walked into the room, a look of confusion clouding his features.

"Hello again, I heard there were some problems. What can I do to help?" Morgan, already on edge, stomped over, "Damn right we have a problem! Our genius doesn't remember a thing! What the hell did you do?" Derek was red faced, all the stress and anger coming out in one big burst. "Morgan." Hotch said sternly. He backed off, retreating back to Spencer's side. The doctor looked at Reid with interest, "He has amnesia? The bleed was in the middle of the medial temporal lobe, where memories are stored. I was hoping to avoid this complication, considering his intelligence level. Well, there are several things we can try to get his memory back but-" Rossi cut him off with a strong voice, "What do we have to do?" "There are several things we can try," the doctor continued, "but I'm warning you now, it may not work. The damage might be permanent." "We don't care. Just tell us what to do and we'll do it." Hotch answered. We all looked at him with determination, we'd do anything. I looked back at Reid to see what he thought, but he had fallen back asleep.

"Okay, well the first thing that I could do is give him a head CT and check for residual damage, but he won't have any. I operated on him and I don't make mistakes." Ugh, surgeons. The definition of narcissistic. "One simple thing you can do is just sit and talk to him, remind him of his life and all his happy memories. You could also read him books that he has read in the past." Prentiss chuckled quietly, "Well I guess I'll have to read it to him, I'm the only one who can speak Russian." We all looked at her with a faint smile before turning our attention back to the doctor. "He reads in Russian...? Never mind, I don't want to know. If those two things don't work, bring in pictures. Start with the most recent, then ones from his childhood."

Was that is it? Was that all we could for him? As the doctor left the room we grouped up, deciding on shifts and who would stay with Spence when. We had almost finished with the schedule when we heard a hesitant, "Um, excuse me...guys?" Reid was sitting up in bed, he must have woken up while we were talking. "Is there any chance I could get something to eat, I'm kind of hungry." Garcia immediately volunteered to get something and I decided to go with her. I couldn't stand looking at Reid and not seeing a caring smile or a thoughtful look on his face.

*Garcia POV*

As we walked down the hall I tried to keep the conversation more upbeat. "Well, at least he's alive and not paralyzed. Do you know how dangerous brain surgery is? Extremely! I looked it up on the flight over and there were about a million and a half complications!" So much for keeping it upbeat. JJ smiled at me, she knew I was just worried and when I get worried I drink coffee and I type questions into google. As we continued on our way we passed the dermatology department, and I whispered to JJ, "Do you think they could give me a recipient for a facial? They're the skin people, right?" She just laughed and kept walking. "Yes Garcia, they are the skin people, and no they won't give you a facial recipie." We walked into the cafeteria and stood in the back of a long line for the 'make your own plate' bar. I looked around and saw families, some with red, puffy eyes and I realized something. As bad as he was, Reid was still alive. Some of these people were just here to wait while they watched their loved ones die, and Spencer wasn't dying. True, he doesn't remember much of anything and he may not be himself, but we had a chance to get him back. I decided then and there that I would do anything and everything in my power to get him back. Even if the recovery time took years.

When we reached the front of the line we filled the tray with a mix of healthy and good tasting food and started the walk back to the room. The tray held grilled cheese, Apple slices, milk, and jello. Man did that kid love jello! We walked into the room to find only Morgan in there with him, the rest of the team must have gone home. "I come bearing gifts of food!" I say dramatically as I walk up to the bed and place the tray on his lap. "For the young sir we have grilled cheese, apples, milk, or..." I picked up the cup and spoon from the back of the tray and placed it in the front. "Jello! It's strawberry, your favorite!" He reached forward and peeled off the lid, pushing the spoon into the red dessert. He had some trouble keeping a piece on the spoon, but eventually he got a piece lifted into his mouth, it was pretty funny to watch. When he swallowed, a big smile spread across his face, lighting up all his features and showing off the smile lines around his eyes. "This is really good!" As he dug back in, JJ, Morgan and I smiled at each other, then took our respective seats. Derek and I shared the two person couch and JJ took the chair.

Suddenly I got an idea, a way to test how strong his memory still is. I reached into my bag and pulled out my laptop. After connecting to a wireless server I went online and found a passage from a science textbook that was several sentences long. It had plenty of obnoxiously long words, obviously it was for college students. I brought my laptop over to him, taking away the food tray and putting the computer there in its place. "Hey, I wasn't done with that!" He complained in a whiney tone. "I'll give it back in a sec, just try something for me. Read this paragraph once in your head, and let me know when you're done.

He looked at my computer for only a second when he said "Okay done, now what?" I looked up and smiled, it would have taken a normal person at least thirty seconds to read that. I took my laptop off his lap and closed the lid. "Can you tell me what you just read? All of it, not just a summary." He complied, reciting the passage word for word and ending with, "Was that okay?" I squealed with delight, "Yes it was perfect!" He looked pleased and I returned the food tray before sitting back down on the couch. I re-opened my laptop and sent a video conference request to the computer on the jet. When it was accepted the screen came up and I saw the other three team members huddled around their usual table. "Great news! He can still read at the speed of sound and remember it all word for word!"

"That's great!" Prentiss exclaimed. The three were obviously very happy, even Hotch was smiling. "So the damage was only done to his past memories, not his memorizing abilities. Okay." We were all so happy that the mood was infectious, even Reid was smiling, even if he didn't exactly know why. Things were going great so far, and all we need to do now is help him remember the rest of his life. Not too hard. Right?