The Hands that Heal

The first time Derek Morgan had noticed it was Day One of Spencer Reid's life in the BAU. Immediately his profiler instincts kicked in, but just as fast as the urge came he halted it. 'Not today,' Morgan had reassured himself, 'I want to get to know the kid first.'

Too Many Years Later...

Elle was gone; Reid had been kidnapped and was now dealing with a drug problem; Gideon had left; and the new girl was obviously pissing Reid off. Sighing, Morgan watched as Reid once again just awkwardly waved at her before carrying about his business. That was the day that Morgan decided to say something about it.

"Come on Pretty Boy! Give the lady a proper handshake," Morgan smirked. The look of horror that crossed Spencer's features didn't go unnoticed, and Emily Prentiss immediately smiled and shook her head. "It's okay Reid; I know I a lot of people who are pretty germophobic. It's completely natural-"

"I'm not germophobic," Reid muttered. He then stalked out of the room.

"Did I say something I shouldn't have?" Prentiss frowned at Morgan.

"Nah," Morgan reassured, "it's not you."

And then JJ walked by with six case files in her hand.

Just a Bit too Long Later...

Spencer was finally his. It had only happened after Reid accused his father of murder; after the Reaper entered their lives; after the damned pig farm case scarred them for life.

Morgan held his distressed lover close to him, and as he did he realized that his mission since Day One of Spencer's career had been long-forgotten. And then another idea struck Morgan. The older profiler reached for Spencer's hand and watched him gasp in surprise. Spencer immediately flinched away, but Morgan only grabbed it back and held its shaky but limp securely in both his hands. "It's just me, Spencer," Morgan whispered in his ear. "I won't hurt you, and you're not going to get some disease from just holding my hand.."

"I know," Spencer croaked out. "It's just…. no one's ever really touched me- or tried to, really- until I joined the BAU. In school students either avoided me like the plague or went after me to cause pain any chance they could. And my parents…" Spencer shook his head sadly. "Well, my mom was paranoid of being touched for a while, and my father never really hugged me or anything. I was just so used to not being touched that I think I forgot it was normal to be."

Morgan frowned at his lover's sad story, but as Spencer shared Morgan felt the younger man's hand grow more relaxed. Spencer smiled sadly before finally pulling closer to Morgan.

"Hand holding isn't too bad, now is it?" Morgan grinned.

"Mhhm," Spencer nodded as he kissed Morgan attentively. "I think I could get used to this."

"If I have any say in it?" Morgan started as he took Spencer's other hand. "You'll be used to it by nightfall."

"Fine," Spencer laughed, "we'll call it a date."

~End~