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Time	By : cr8zymommy Category: 1 through F > Criminal Minds Views: 4586 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story

Chapter List
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With a firm hand, Aaron slowly steered Ethan out of the dining room. The sound of sobbing seemed to follow after them. Occasionally there was a gasping sound, almost like a scream that was trying to rip free. As much as Aaron wanted to go and comfort the boy in there, he knew that he couldn’t. Not right now. He wasn’t who Spencer needed. The young man would be in good hands with Garcia and Morgan.
Ethan didn’t even resist being moved. He walked like he was in a daze; his eyes distant and slightly glassy. Aaron recognized the signs of shock in the other man. He continued moving Ethan until they were outside and on the front porch. There he led the man to the front step and helped him to sit down. Once he was seated, Aaron sat down beside him and waited, knowing that Ethan needed a moment.
After a long moment, Ethan shuddered slightly and dropped his head down into his hands so that he was cradling his head. “God.” He whispered raggedly. “What the hell did I do? I didn’t mean to terrify him like that!”
“We don’t always know what’s going to set Reid off.” Aaron told him in a firm yet gentle voice. “We don’t know what all of his triggers are. When I visited him the other day, the vibrations of my cell phone sent him into a panic attack.” That still made him feel a little sick to his stomach. “Apparently Vincent used a cattle prod on him. The vibrations of the phone reminded him of the sound it made. So, make sure your phone is on sound while you’re here. The more we learn, the more we can be cautious.”
His words had Ethan jerking his head up. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open in a little O of surprise. “A cattle prod? He used a damn cattle prod on him? Jesus! What the hell happened to him?”
Though he’d known that this was what would happen when he brought Ethan outside, it didn’t make it any easier for Aaron to talk about. His hands clenched together tightly while he rested his elbows on his knees and stared off at the road, not really seeing it at all. “It’s like Morgan explained in there. For almost two years, Spencer was held down in the basement of Vincent’s house. He was trained to become the man’s Boy. He was trained to recognize Vincent as Master. The man beat him, daily. Sexually assaulted him. And he videotaped the entire thing.” That had Aaron pausing to control his emotions. “We saw a few of the videos. The things he did…” He couldn’t finish that thought. It hurt too much.
“How the hell did he survive that?” There was a tremble of emotion in Ethan’s voice.
Aaron shook his head. “I have no idea. The things that were done to him would have broken a lesser person. But Spencer, he has this strength to him that he doesn’t even see. Apparently at some point his brain, striving to protect itself, took all the memories of his life and locked them away. Walled them off so he forgot who he was. He forgot everything but being Boy. I think it might have been what saved him.”
“So he had no recollection of being Spencer? But…he seems to now. He remembers all of you.” There was a slightly bitter edge to the words.
He couldn’t blame Ethan for feeling that way. Aaron remembered, clearly, the way it had felt when they’d realized that Spencer didn’t know any of them. Or when he’d remembered Garcia, but none of the rest of them. Though they’d known Spencer couldn’t help it, they couldn’t stop themselves from being hurt by it a little.
“When he first came back, when we saw him at the station, he didn’t even know his own name. When Agent Prentiss asked him what his name was, he answered with Boy. He had absolutely no memory of a life before his Master.”
“Wait, at the station? How…how was he found?”
So, for the next ten minutes, Aaron slowly explained about how Spencer had been found. He told Ethan about the women Vincent had taken and the cops raiding his house and finding Spencer. He told him about going to the station and their first glimpse of their lost friend. Then he told him about how Spencer’s memory slowly started to come back and how it was jogged by going to his apartment. He also told him about Cindy.
When he was done, Aaron sat quietly, knowing that it was a lot for a person to process. He gave Ethan the silence that was needed to take it all in. It was quite a story to tell. Normally, Aaron wouldn’t have just shared Spencer’s story with anyone. But before Spencer had panicked at the table, he’d basically given open permission to Morgan to help make Ethan understand. Since Morgan wasn’t here to do it, Aaron felt that the job fell to him.
After a while, Ethan finally spoke. “I can’t believe he lived through so much. He looked so, so small in there. Just a shadow of himself. You can see in his eyes how broken he is. Those eyes have always given him away.”
“He is. But we’re helping him heal. Morgan’s helping him heal.”
“I’m surprised he’s staying here with Morgan. To live through that and then to stay with a big guy like Morgan? How does that work without sending Spencer into a panic every time Morgan moves?”
A small smile curved Aaron’s lips. It did his heart good to see the way that Spencer and Morgan were with one another. Seeing their interaction helped Aaron hold faith that things would end up ok for the young man. Though neither may have seen it, Aaron was good at observing people. He was a damn good profiler. He saw the way that Spencer tended to gravitate toward Morgan even when he didn’t seem to notice it. He saw how, when something stressful started, Spencer would look to Morgan for reassurance, even if it was just a meeting of eyes.
He knew that Morgan was worrying about transference. In a normal situation, Aaron would worry about that as well. There were plenty of documented cases where a victim who had been beaten into a blind devotion to another person would transfer that devotion to a rescuer or someone else. But what he saw between them wasn’t like that. Spencer didn’t look to Morgan for permission or validation. He looked to him for comfort and reassurance. He looked to him with trust and, though Aaron knew the two definitely didn’t see this, with love.
Realizing that Ethan was still waiting for a response, Aaron cleared his throat. He couldn’t wipe away the little smile, though. “Morgan is kind of a special case for Spencer. He trusts him in ways he trusts no one else. The women, he’s pretty comfortable around. In the world he lived in, women didn’t pose a threat. Garcia is one he’s close to as well. But, out of all of us on the team, he and Morgan shared a bond of trust before he was taken that was very strong. Even at his lowest, Spencer knows he can trust him and count on him to be there for him and help him.” He didn’t mention the feelings between the two; that was definitely not his business to say.
Ethan ran a hand over his face before dropping his hands down. “So a part of his brain remembers that trust and relies on it?”
“Pretty much. If you plan on staying around, I feel it’s only fair to warn you of that and what it means.” Turning, Aaron looked at the other man, wanting to impress the importance of this on him. “Spencer does not take well to touches he doesn’t initiate. Unless he tells you to or gives you permission, don’t touch him. When he’s panicking, back off and give him breathing space. Don’t crowd him. All the usual protective urges you have about him, don’t give in to.” Pausing, Aaron made sure those words had sunk in before he continued. “Now, how that relates to Morgan and the trust is this. Those rules right there? They don’t apply to Morgan.”
“What?”
“Morgan is the only one that can bring Spencer down from a panic attack. He’s the only one, aside from the women, that can touch Spencer freely. Sometimes Spencer doesn’t even like the women touching him. But Morgan can. When he’s scared, he goes to Morgan. He doesn’t feel crowded by Morgan’s presence.”
That seemed to throw Ethan. “Wow.”
“One other thing.” And this one was important too. Aaron was going to do for Ethan what Morgan had done for him. “Spencer was kept naked where he was held. He was forbidden clothes. So he’s not fond of wearing them anymore. They itch his skin and make him feel confined. Seeing him dressed as he was today is not going to commonly happen unless he’s leaving the house. He and Morgan made a deal that he had to dress in public, but at home he can dress as comfortably as he wants.”
That, of course, prompted another round of explanation. To Ethan’s questions, Aaron had to explain how Spencer viewed his body now and why he wasn’t bothered by being naked in front of anyone. His cheeks flushed slightly as he explained how Spencer had come out naked that morning from his shower and had seen nothing wrong with it. “I wanted to warn you so that, when you see him, you don’t panic too hard. He’s still pretty beat up right now. His body, it’s a mess, peppered in with old scars. I’m trying to give you the heads up on this so you can try and prepare yourself for it. It’s hard to see.”
“Jesus.” Once again Ethan ran his hand over his face. “This kid’s life has been one hell after another. Doesn’t he ever get to get a break?”
Wasn’t that just the truth?
Aaron was saved from having to say anything by Garcia coming out the front door. One look at her face had the unit chief rising. Then he did something that he rarely did; even rarer where other people could see. He walked over and embraced the silently crying woman. For a long minute he simply held her there in his arms and let her cry. He wouldn’t ask what Spencer had said; that was personal and private. Not to mention that he would never dream of putting her through the hell of telling whatever it was that had made her cry like that.
Eventually she pulled back from him, taking a handkerchief out of her pocket to dab at her eyes. When she finally had herself under control she lifted watery eyes to her boss. “Thanks.”
Aaron smiled down at her. No matter that he and Garcia were polar opposites—her so bright and sparkly and bubbly and him so calm and serious—she had always been one of his favorite people. A little ray of sunshine in all of their lives at the BAU. “You know I’m here any time you need it, Garcia.”
“Yes, sir.” Sniffling, she wiped her eyes again. “He, he’s asleep now. He kind of passed out on us after talking.”
“Do you think he’ll be ok?”
She nodded softly. “I think so. Morgan and Clooney are with him. They’ll both stay there until he wakes up. He won’t wake up alone, not after something like that.”
“Good.” Aaron gave a firm nod. “Morgan will take care of him.” It wasn’t a question, it was a certainty. He knew that Spencer was in good hands in there with Morgan. Taking a deep breath, Aaron sized up the people around him as well as the situation. He turned to Ethan, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you go ahead and settle in at your hotel, Ethan? Go lay down a while, take some time to process this. It’s a lot to take in. I promise, Spencer will still be here when you come back. But he’s probably not going to be up for company for the rest of today.”
“Yeah.” Ethan slowly rose, his legs looking a little unsteady at first. He smoothed back his hair and looked to Aaron with a slightly grateful expression. “Thanks, Agent Hotchner. I appreciate you taking the time to tell me all of this. Will you tell them I’ll drop by tomorrow?”
“I’m sure they’d like that. And, Ethan? It’s just Hotch here. I’m off the clock.”
Ethan gave him a weak smile. “Thanks, Hotch.” Turning, he nodded politely to Garcia before he headed toward his car. The two agents stood, watching as the man pulled his car out and drove away. Once he was out of sight, Garcia sighed. “Well, that just went well, didn’t it?” she said.
Chuckling, Aaron stepped over to her and put his hand on the small of her back, leading her back into the house. “You sound like you need a smile, Garcia. Let me tell you how our hospital trip went…”
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