Okay, I have just recently started to watch Criminal Minds (is it weird to read fanfiction first and then start watching a show?) and it has inspired me to this story. It is set about 2 months after Gideon leaving the BAU and centers around Reid's struggle to come to terms with that. There will be multiple chapters to this story but I might not update as quickly as you are used to since I am only about 2-3 chapters ahead with writing.

If you haven't read my other stories, please be aware that I am not a native English speaker. I do my best but there are usually some errors left.

I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.

Last warning: This story will contain disciplinary spankings of a young adult. If that is not your thing please don't read.

xxx

"Hotch? It's Morgan."

"Morgan, everything alright?" Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief and Supervisory Special Agent at the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, answered his phone with a concerned voice. It was Saturday evening and the younger man was supposed to be with his family in Chicago. During his last trip out there the team had been called in because Morgan had been framed for murdering young boys. The Unit Chief really hoped that this trip would not end in another disaster.

But Derek Morgan, Supervisory Special Agent at the BAU himself, quickly assured him "I am fine…," but then added with a strained voice, "it's about Reid..."

The older agent briefly closed his eyes. Dr. Spencer Reid, the youngest agent of his team and their resident "genius", had been a constant reason to worry lately. It all began with Jason Gideon's abrupt and unexpected retirement from the BAU two months before. Gideon had been a mentor and surrogate father to Reid whose own father left his son to care for a schizophrenic mother when he was very young. Even though Hotch truly understood Gideon's reasons for leaving he cursed the man not for the first time for essentially repeating the trauma of abandonment for the young man.

Turning his attention back to the phone he asked, "What's going on?"

"Do you remember Captain Williams from Metro PD? We met him on that strangler case last year. He just called me. Apparently Reid has been arrested yesterday …"

"Yesterday? Are you telling me he's been in custody for 24 hours and has not gotten processed yet? What happened?" The unit chief interrupted his agent.

"No, no he has been processed. He's been picked up during a drug raid acting suspiciously. They think he might have been trying to buy drugs but there is no proof. The arresting officer was willing to let him go but he didn't have any identification with him and would not even tell them his name or let them call anyone … and well you know how it is with Reid. They weren't even sure if he was of age so they wanted to wait until he was more cooperative. Captain Williams recognized him just now when he brought in a suspect on another case and then called me … ." Morgan trailed of not really sure what else to say.

The older agent felt a bit dizzy with all this information. This was wrong on so many levels. His main concern though was the drug suspicion. Reid had been kidnapped during a case a few months earlier. The unsub had injected him multiple times with Dilaudid a highly addictive substance. It had taken the strong support of Gideon and the team to help their youngest through the weeks of fighting the addiction that followed. Hotch wasn't sure if they could be successful a second time … especially in Reid's current state of mind. But first things first. "I'll go pick him up." He simply stated.

"Hotch, do you want me to come back?" Morgan asked somewhat insecure. The unit chief would have loved to have the younger agent's help with their "trouble child" but the reality was that he needed to find a way to help Reid himself. So he just said, "Thank you, but no. You enjoy your time with your family. They deserve it. We'll see you in a couple days."

"Ok, will you keep me posted?" the younger agent conceded.

"Of course. I'll call you later tonight." The unit chief allowed himself a little smile. Morgan had taken on the role of "big brother" to Reid long ago and was obviously worried. Their relationship had probably suffered the least from Gideon's absence and Reid's subsequent behavior. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about Hotch's and Reid's relationship. Quite to the contrary …

"Thanks. And Hotch…" Morgan paused.

"Yes?"

"… don't kill him please. I have some things to say to him when I get back."

Now Aaron Hotchner actually chuckled despite the bleakness of the situation. "I won't." he promised before they hung up.

On his way to the police station the older agent was deep in though. He had no idea how to handle this. Right after Gideon left Reid had been very detached, acting as if nothing had happened. However, over time the young man had started to 'act out' for the lack of a better term. He snapped at anyone who disagreed with his opinions, acted arrogant towards local law enforcement officers they worked with, sulked if things didn't go his way and worst of all ignored orders to the point of endangering himself.

Hotch didn't need to be a profiler to know that they were essentially dealing with the five stages of grief. Reid had moved through denial and was now stuck in anger. Unfortunately, most of that anger was directed at Hotch. The older agent assumed that since he was now the main male authority figure in Reid's life it was only natural that he took his frustrations about being left again out on his boss. But it wasn't pleasant to be at the receiving end and Hotch didn't really know how to deal with it. Whenever Reid misbehaved in the past it had usually been fairly easy to rein him in.

When Reid first started at the BAU he was so young and in need of guidance that Gideon and Hotch agreed with him on a set of rules – most of them common sense and applicable to all agents but also some that took his age and lack of experience in consideration. If Reid broke these rules he was fully aware there'd be consequences … typically a spanking from Gideon sometimes combined with being grounded did the trick.

It was an unusual method of discipline but it worked. Despite protests Reid usually understood why he was being punished and moreover valued the security of knowing that even if he messed up Gideon was there to take care of it. And the two older agents preferred a quick punishment over tainting the brilliant young man's record before he really had a chance to 'grow up'. Hotch knew from experience with his own mentor David Rossi that it was the best way to deal with the digressions of an inexperienced 'kid' and in the past that was true for Reid as well.

But the last few weeks were a different story. In the beginning after Gideon's leaving Hotch had tried to be patient with Reid, understanding that the pain of loosing another 'father' was bound to have some side effects. But the young agent's behavior had deteriorated so bad that it was impossible to ignore. So after countless lectures and threads he had taken Reid home with him two weeks ago, given him a spanking and tried to provide some comfort and a shoulder to cry on. The team lead had hoped that it would help the kid to snap out of his funk. But Reid had just taken the spanking surprisingly stoically and refused any sort of comfort or conversation. And apart from the next two days his behavior had not improved. Hotch was surprised because the handful of times he had spanked the boy in the past instead of letting Gideon handle it had made enough of an impression on the young man to be on his best behavior for a while.

But not so this time. Last week they'd been on a case in Boston and Reid managed to not only disobey Hotch multiple times, he also snapped at Garcia to a point where the sensitive analyst actually cried. At the end of his wits the unit chief had promised him another spanking when they got back which had been the previous morning. But Reid had managed to slip away after finishing his paper work before Hotch had a chance to say anything to him. Not wanting to blow this out of proportion the Unit Chief decided to just let him stew over the weekend and deal with it on Monday. Now he felt guilty for not tracking him down - maybe that would have avoided whatever led to Reid's arrest.

Hotch sighed and felt rotten. He did not like to dole out punishments at all… in fact he hated it. He barely managed with Morgan who on rare occasions allowed his reckless streak to run wild but with Reid it was even worse. The kid would give him this puppy dog look that made Hotch feel like a monster. And when Reid not even accepted being held after Hotch spanked him two weeks prior he wondered if he had punished him too harshly. The fact that Reid didn't call after being arrested seemed to confirm his suspicions. And a nagging little voice in his head kept saying that maybe Reid went out to buy Dilaudid yesterday because he was afraid of the punishment Hotch told him to expect.

The unit chief was glad that there was little traffic on this rainy Saturday evening. Despite a short stop at the office to grab Reid's go bag it only took him only 30 minutes to get to the police station …