This is my first ever Criminal Minds fanfiction. This story does have the potential to go up to an M rating and most likely will when the time is right. I really hope you enjoy my story, the first chapter is something of a summary of the general situation so not a great deal happens!

I would love it if you could R&R! I really want some interest in this story, or else my interest will disappear :( Anyway, yes! Enjoy my first chapter!

"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." - ROBERTSON DAVIES

Morgan walked into the BAU office, a smile plastered on his face. This week was something of a rest week for the whole team. A chance to catch up on paper work, which was not a particularly exciting prospect, but this also meant it would be an unsub free week. This pleased Morgan immensely.

Their last case had been nothing out of the ordinary. It had thankfully been a local case. A mentally disturbed young male, murdering prostitutes due to past associations with his mother and that "line of work". He had taken only 2 days for the BAU to home in on him, and within 12 hours he had been arrested and charged. The whole team were particularly grateful for cases such as these, they were a welcome relief. However selfish that seemed, they knew they had to give thanks for the easier cases, they were few and far between. And it was clear that Morgan understood this far too well.

"Morning Emily!" He smiled brightly as he sat down at his desk. She turned to look at him, giving him the death glare. "What?" He exclaimed, teasing.

"How can you be so happy? Have you looked at your in tray recently?" She referred to the huge pile of paperwork stacked up on his desk.

"Yeah, and I can tell you that it has never been more welcome." He smiled again at Prentiss and she couldn't help but grin back.

"Tell yourself that by the end of the week." She quipped, taking a file from her mountain of paperwork.

Morgan grinned back, he was clearly quite satisfied with his down time. He looked around the bull pen and saw other teams focusing their attentions on various cases. Glad that it was them instead of him and his team for a change.

JJ passed by, dragging her hand along Morgan's shoulders to catch his attention.

"Morning!" She said in greeting as she passed.

"Hey." Replied Morgan absent mindedly. Following her path Morgan saw her head past Rossi and Hotch who were engaged in relaxed conversation. He nodded a greeting to them, in return, Rossi nodded back. Hotch didn't, but that was just his way.

Morgan took the first file off the top of his pile and started work. After ten minutes of reading and filling out various forms, he glanced across his work space to the empty chair opposite Prentiss.

"Reid's late." He said, rather nonchalantly. "Not like him." He flicked through a few more papers as he waited for the reply.

"Nope." Emily said, her head deep in her work. "But then he's not been acting like himself the last couple of days, has he." She merely stated.

Morgan placed his work down on his desk and curiously glanced up at his female co-worker.

"How so?"

"Well you saw the whole pen thing didn't you?" Prentiss asked, also putting her work down.

"No, what pen thing?" Morgan's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, that's right, you were talking to the family." Emily reminded herself. "He did this weird thing where he said he'd lost his pen – he'd left it in the office – but he swore blind that he had it two minutes before. Just at that moment, Hotch came out and gave it to him. You should have seen his face. He was waving this piece of paper around saying 'How could I have written this if my pen is in there!' It really seemed to bother him." Morgan raised his eyebrows.

"What's this?" Rossi interjected.

"Reid and the pen." Emily replied, slightly tongue in cheek.

"Ooooh." Rossi smiled at the gossip spreader.

"He was really funny about it, wasn't he Dave?"

"Hmm," he nodded, "but you know Reid, anything to do with his mind is a touchy subject."

Morgan looked a little concerned. Prentiss gazed at him, slightly unsettled.

"What's up, Morgan?"

"I dunno, it's probably nothing, but Reid did that a couple of times with me too. He would put something down and claim that it was turning up some place else. I mean, obviously I didn't think anything of it, but-"

"Everyone has their off days, Derek." Rossi interrupted. "Even geniuses... I should know" Rossi patted Morgan on the shoulder, jokingly, sitting himself down in a spare chair. "Head's up, he's just come in."

They suddenly all went quiet, if it had been clear they had been talking about him then Reid didn't notice. He placed his satchel on the back of his chair and sat down, running his hand through his still wet hair.

His three colleagues all stared at him, laughter dancing in their eyes. Feeling their gazes burning a hole in the top of his head, he looked up, a question in his eyes.

"Been swimming?" Morgan asked, a slight grin. Prentiss and Rossi smiled at each other. TypicalMorgan.

Reid furrowed his brows in annoyance.

"No." He said curtly, looking at Morgan like he was stupid. He grabbed a file from his huge pile and started reading through at lightning speed.

Morgan flicked a quick glance up to Rossi and Prentiss as if to say 'my bad' and turned to get on with his work.

Rossi eyed Reid suspiciously. Something was going on with him, but he was damned if he knew what. Realising he was staring at the kid, he suddenly pulled his gaze away and reminded himself that he had work to do. He stood up and moved to his office.

Reid was reading through the pages of the files, trying to unconsciously soak up the information. But each time he reached the end, he found himself forgetting what he had just looked at. He was getting increasingly frustrated with his lack of concentration. These headaches were splitting his head, he was starting to find even the simplest of tasks a chore. The constant pulse of pain throbbed through the front of his head and into his eyes, making the words blurred and hazy. Rubbing his eyes, he gave them a rest for a moment.

"You alright?" Prentiss asked, not missing the movement.

Reid looked up at her, eyes slightly squinted.

"Yeah... why wouldn't I be?" He challanged her. He knew he was being abrasive, but Prentiss was the only one who really knew about the severity of his headaches. He didn't want it broadcasting to the whole office. Prentiss raised her eyebrows, taking the warning. Morgan was now looking at Reid, a concerned look in his eyes. The look that always irritated him. "What?" He snapped at Morgan, frustrated with always being so protected by everyone. It got in the way of him telling them what was really going on with him. Morgan held his hands up innocently.

"Nothin' Reid, just seein' that you're okay."

"Well there's no need." He snapped again. "I'm fine - just need some coffee." At that he stood up and walked over to the small kitchen area and started making himself a strong coffee, plenty of sugar.

Morgan and Prentiss looked to each other, exchanging unhappy glances. They were quickly coming to the same realisation as Rossi, something was not right.

As Reid stood at the coffee machine, a slightly older man approached him, putting his arm around his shoulders. The movement made him jump.

"Woah! Sorry man, you alright?" Reid turned to his new friend, Jason Turner, and gave a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a headache. You surprised me."

"Aw man, another one? That sucks." He put his arm back around Reid's shoulders – a gesture that would normally make Reid very uncomfortable – and gave him some advice. "I really don't think a coffee – or whatever you call that hot sugar drink – is going to help." He smiled.

Reid had only met Jason last week, although it didn't feel like it. He felt like he had known Jason the whole of his life. There was just something between them that brought out the best in each other. Jason had instantly taken to Reid the moment he started talking to him, he found him interesting and quirky. Reid liked the fact that Jason treated him like an adult and respected him, without taking him too seriously. He liked the fact that he could just be himself around Jason. He could also share his problems.

Whilst Reid had been working on the last case, he had a couple of incidents where he'd lost things. First it was his cell phone. After searching through his bag multiple times and dumping the contents out on the table, he later opened it to find the phone right in front of his eyes. That first incident confused him, but after half an hour or so, he didn't think anything else of it. But the next day, he arrived at work with his glasses, he was certain - he had been wearing them on the subway. But within half an hour, they had vanished. There was no sign of them whatsoever. He searched all through his bag, his desk, the round office, the kitchen... everywhere. But he couldn't find them. When Morgan finally attempted to help him an hour later, he opened Reid's top drawer in his desk to find them sitting there, plain as anything. This was when Reid started to panic and at that moment, Jason first came to talk to him in the kitchen. At first Reid held back, but within 20 minutes he had told Jason all about his mother and her schizophrenia, his fears about the illness, his concerns over his headaches and his apparent ability to have no idea what he was doing with his belongings.

Jason merely smiled. And listened. Reassured him that it was probably nothing to worry about, even joked a little bit. It made Reid feel better, like he was a little less odd.

However the next day, when he lost his pen, he went into a complete panic. His mother had bought him that pen for his 12th birthday. It had his name engraved on it in capital letters. It was one of the only belongings he actually managed to keep hold of throughout his traumatic school and college days. That made it all the more special, so when he thought he'd lost it, he was devastated. But not to mention the fact that he was only writing with it at his desk about ten minutes previously. So how it ended up in the circle office, he had no idea. This was when he first seriously questioned whether his mind was starting to go. Was his body taking him on journeys that his mind had no recollection of? The looks the other team members gave him made things even worse. They looked at him as if he was mad. This was when Jason really stepped up to the mark as a worthy friend, he had pulled Reid away from his computer and the rest of the team to give him some encouragement. This was the moment that Reid realised that Jason was a true friend, someone to be trusted. And Reid did not give trust freely.

Reid turned to Jason, a mock-hurt expression on his face.

"You know my coffee is very important to me." He joked, trying to maintain a serious tone.

"Well you ought to try putting some in there then." Jason teased back. Reid smiled. They both then leaned up against the kitchen cupboards, surveying the BAU office.

"But seriously," Jason started, "you okay?" Reid didn't look at him, just gave a small sigh.

"Yeah... yeah, I am." He paused, trying to gather up the courage to speak. "I just keep losing things. I suppose it's getting to me a bit."

Jason furrowed his brows in concern.

"You have only lost a couple of things, Spencer."

"I know." He sighed in frustration. "But in 10 years I have only ever lost one thing. To lose three things in one week just defies the laws of probability."

"Maybe you're stressed out, man. You spend all your time focusing on other people's problems. Maybe you just need a break, a bit of time to yourself, y'know."

Spencer nodded, deep in thought.

"Perhaps."

Patting Reid on the shoulder reassuringly, Jason sighed.

"I gotta get back to work buddy, but I'll tell you what -" He started walking away, turning back to point at Spencer. "You, me and a couple of alcoholic beverages tonight".Reid knew he was not going to take no for an answer. Rolling his eyes, he smiled slightly.

"Fine."