A.N. This should have been finished a long, long time ago, I'm sorry. I was completely stuck on the last few paragraphs. It's also rather short, but I thought it ended where it needed to. I'm unsure at this point when any extra scenes might be posted, I've been focusing on other projects, but it feels good to wrap up these endings. I hope you enjoy!

A.N.2. Takes the place of the last half of Chapter 12 in the regular story.

Author: TemporaryUniverse

Character(s): Spencer Reid, Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Jack Hotchner, Jessica Brooks, Jennifer Jareau, Penelope Garcia, Tara Lewis, OC (Kai Chung)

Summary: An alternate, less ambiguous ending to my story, Of Beasts and Men.

Words: 1,219

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot, the morally questionable Unsub, and Kai Chung. All other rights belong to someone else. Shame.

Chapter 12 (Alternate Ending #2):

Chung pounded heavily on the door that he knew was a portal to the room where Hatfield and Reid were.

"FBI! Dr. Clint Hatfield open this door, right now or I will be forced to break it down." He commanded harshly, glancing at Hotch who was positioned on the other side of the door with his Glock clasped tightly in his hands. There was no answer from inside. The Unit Chief nodded to him, so he stepped back, braced himself and kicked. The door broke open with a splintering noise and instantly the BAU agents and the accompanying Rochester police officers swarmed in, guns pointed straight at Hatfield.

They had narrowed Hatfield's location down to three possibilities when the call came in reporting gunshots heard at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, four minutes away from where they were stationed at the PD offices. With the sirens on, it only took them two minutes. The hospital was included on the list of buildings they had predicted Hatfield would hole up in. It looked like they had been correct in their assumption.

"Drop the weapons, Hatfield." Lewis demanded. She was cheered to see that their canine friend was unharmed and watching them with undisguised relief. It was considerably less reassuring to see the nurse bleeding out in the corner of the room.

The doctor grit his teeth, refusing to even glance at the intruders and instead gazing intently into the cat-like slits of the fox's eyes. "Sorry, Spencer." Without any more warning, he spun and lunged at the agents. Reid cried out as three gunshots sounded, and Hatfield lifelessly crashed to the ground.

Then JJ was rushing towards him, removing the collar and muzzle, petting his fur. But, Reid's focus was locked onto the syringe that held his salvation. It had splintered on impact when Hatfield fell, the liquid leaking out over the hard, tile floor. He felt numb, not even noticing as an organized chaos raged around him, paramedics filing in, JJ lifting his shocked body and carrying him out.

He would never be human again.

Hotch took him home. Reid immediately curled up with Jack, seeking comfort as his world shattered before him. The boy seemed to sense something was wrong, but despite not knowing what that thing was, he tried to cheer the fox up as best he could. For the first time since his transformation, Reid slept in Jack's bed instead of Hotch's.

The canine was angry with his friends, his team. If it hadn't been for them, if they had come just minutes later, Hatfield would have had the time to inject him with the cure. Instead he was still a fox, and now there was no hope of ever being human again. He would be living the rest of his life as an animal. These past months, the only thing that had kept him going had been that hope. And now, even that, like the rest of his life, had been cruelly snatched away from him. He had nothing left.

Those thoughts were his last before he finally drifted to sleep.

The next morning wasn't much better. Reid went in to work with Hotch, spent the entire day typing up his report, and tried to ignore the pity-filled efforts of his team. Garcia even made him cookies that were "good for dogs!" and he didn't even have the heart to growl at her for that comment. He was a fox, thank you very much. When it was time, he and Hotch went home, and he slept with Jack again.

The days after that become a pattern of the same. Reid knew that his depressed mood was easily visible to his friends, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He still helped on cases, no one could say that his work suffered, if anything, he had thrown himself into the job with fervor. It was the only distraction he had from his condition. That was what he called it now, his condition. Of course, cases weren't a very good distraction. He was being constantly reminded that, as a fox, he couldn't do as much as he used to. Hotch wouldn't let him go out into the field, he always had to stay in the police station. When the team brainstormed, it was difficult to give his input. He couldn't even see over the edge of the damn table unless he was sitting in a chair!

One day, about a month after the hospital, Reid found himself in Hotch's office, curled up on the couch as he waited for the Unit Chief to get out of a meeting with Cruz. He heard a knock on the door, smelled Chung, and promptly ignored him as the man placed his files in Hotch's inbox.

"Hey, Reid." Chung raised an eyebrow in puzzlement when the fox didn't respond to his greeting. "You alright?" Reid finally looked at him, his expression sardonic. Seeing this, Chung's easy manner faded. The newest agent came and sat down on the couch with the fox.

"It bothers you, doesn't it?" Chung sighed, "that you can't do the things you used to. I didn't know you before all of this," he made an indicative gesture, "but from what I've heard from the team and what I've seen, you were a good man, Reid." The fox threw him a sharp look at the reminder, but Chung ignored him and continued. "Nothing about who you are has changed, at least not on the inside. You're still the same person, you just need to find a way to translate that to your new life. So you can't do a lot of the things you used to, so what? Find something else that you can do, make it your passion. Change is natural, Reid, and it doesn't always have to be a bad thing. For instance, when I met Dustin, a whole other world opened up for me. Let what Hatfield did to you do the same."

Reid felt something in Chung's speech strike a chord in him. He stared up at the man he had only known for a few months and yet was giving him the greatest advice he'd heard in years.

"Don't let it ruin your life, Spencer," Chung said, laying a gentle hand on the fox's head and stroking his ears. "You have plenty of friends here who love you and want to support you, but they can't if you don't let them. They're just as scared and unsure as you are about this whole mess. I know that Hotch is keeping you out of the field, but he just doesn't want to see you get hurt again. Talk to him about it, it will all work out." Satisfied that Reid had understood all he had to say, Chung fell silent, letting the fox think on it. He stood to leave, parting with a last piece of encouragement. "Don't give up, Reid."

When Hotch entered his office hours later, he was met with the wagging tail of a happy fox. He let his lips curve at the knowledge that Reid was feeling better. It made Reid even more pleased to see the smile, and he knew two things.

He would fight for his friends and for himself.

And everything would be okay.

A.N. There you have it. The final ending for Of Beasts and Men. Rather Chung heavy, but I thought he deserved some screen time. Plus, Reid really needed an outside perspective to get his ass in gear. I will gift virtual cookies to those who review.