Hey everyone, here is a one shot for Autumnamberleaves, she requested a story where Reid needs an appendectomy. As you can tell by the title, Reid needs one after getting ill. I'm also doing another a two shot on this subject that I also promised but I've had to delay that. For my readers, I'm posting updates as normal on Sunday.

Enjoy and please review

All mistakes are my own

Waking up, a wash of nausea rushed over Reid's body, he put his hand over his stomach as a horrible pain hit it. He rushed to the bathroom and fell to his knees near the toilet, he threw up the lid and vomited into the toilet. He coughed as he finished and put the lid down. Leaning against his wall, he hit the flush handle and listened as it drained away. Reid raised himself up and went to his kitchen, he grabbed some water and some Tylenol. He couldn't be sick, the BAU had been incredibly busy and the team couldn't afford for him to take a few days off work, especially since Blake had left. The phone began to ring near him but he decided to let it go the answer machine.

"Reid, it's Garcia. Where are you? It's half past nine and you're late," Garcia said as her voice came through his speaker. He looked at his kitchen clock and realised that she was right.

Dizziness rushed through him as he tried to rush to his bedroom, he shook it off and took a deep breath. "Suck it up," he said to himself.

Reid gulped down half his bottle of water as the elevator came to his level, he wiped his flushed and sweaty face with a tissue before leaving the elevator and stepping onto his floor, every step he took made the pain in his side flare up and cause him more pain. He was hot, even rolling up his sleeves to try to cool himself down.

"There you are," Garcia smiled as she walked up to him. "You're over an hour and a half late."

"My alarm didn't go off," he lied knowing that he had slept straight through because of how tired he felt.

"Oh, honey," she frowned. "Are you okay? You don't look very well."

"I'm fine, just really thirsty today."

She tried to touch his forehead but he dodged her hand, gently grabbing it with his free hand. "Garcia, I'm fine. I better get to work and catch up before Hotch gives me hell."

"You're never late," she giggled. "I'm sure he'll be nice to you about it. Go and get your day started, I'll be checking on you later in the day."

Before he could walk to his desk or away from Garcia, Hotch came over. "Nice to see you finally come in, Reid."

"One late day in years, give him a break," Garcia said as she stared at Hotch. "I'll make cupcakes for Jack's birthday party if you go easy on him."

Hotch couldn't help but smile, he looked to Reid. "Be glad she's such a good baker. We have a case so I need everyone in the BAU room. It's local so don't pack a go bag."

Reid made sure he was the first into the BAU room, he winced as he lowered himself into his chair but quickly hid his pain. The pain was getting worse but he dealt with it. He couldn't let the others see, they would only make a big fuss over nothing.

The rest of the team joined him in the BAU room. "Pretty boy finally decided to join us," Morgan smirked as he sat down.

"Like you've never been late before," Reid replied. "Plus, most of those times you were wearing the same clothes from the day before."

"Boys, don't make me put you on the naughty step," JJ said to them causing Rossi to let out a small chuckle.

"Let's begin," Hotch said as he turned on the plasma screen to display three different dead bodies. "In the last three weeks, there have been three different robberies around Virginia. At first, local law enforcement thought there wasn't a connection and that they were just robberies gone wrong but after three deaths all the same way, they believe the same group is committing the robberies and murders. The connection wasn't made sooner as different masks are used in each robbery."

Reid blinked his eyes rapidly as the paper in front of him blurred violently, he closed his eyes and then opened them to see his vision had cleared. His memory was his savior at this time. "Why kill them? Unless the money isn't their main goal, the murder is. We should look and see if the victims have any connections to each other."

"I agree," Rossi nodded. "We need to see if the same unsub killed each person. Four unsubs in total but I think one is doing this for more than money. It's personal."

"Each received a shot to the back of the head, execution style."

Hotch turned to face them all. "Garcia, I want you to go through all the victims records and history, search for any connection they might have or if they overlapped at some point recently. Rossi, I want you to go to the morgue and see if the bodies have any other signs of abuse. JJ and Morgan, I want you to go and speak with the lead detective on this case and see what they have. Reid, stay here and begin a geographical profile."

Reid raised himself up from the desk but felt the world spin around him, he tried to take a step but couldn't focus on anything. His side radiated pain as he moved, his eyes fluttered and within seconds, he found himself falling.

Hotch had picked up his tablet when he saw Reid's eyes flutter. "Reid, are you okay?"

Reid closed his eyes and his knees began to buckle. "Reid!"

The team rushed back in time to see Hotch catch Reid and lower him to the floor, Garcia rushed to his side and put her hand on his forehead. "I knew he was sick, he's burning up."

"JJ, call an ambulance," Hotch shouted.

Rossi rushed back in with two cloths full of ice, he handed one to Morgan who proceeded to put it behind Reid's neck. Rossi applied his ice pack to Reid's face and moved it around. Hotch began to check him over for signs of injuries, as he pressed on the left side of his stomach, a yelp escaped Reid's lips. "I think it's his appendix."

Garcia gently tapped Reid's face. "Baby boy, wake up. You're making us all worry."

The ambulance will be here in five minutes, they had someone nearby," JJ said as she came back into the room with another ice pack in her hand, she pressed it to the side of his neck. "We need to keep his temperature down."

JJ walked with the EMT to the ambulance, holding Reid's hand the entire way.

"JJ," a small moan came from Reid. JJ looked to him but the EMT spoke before she could.

"Spencer, my name is Annie, I'm an EMT. We suspect you have appendicitis, how long have you had this pain?"

"I can't leave work," Reid moaned before trying to get up. JJ and Annie pushed him back down. "No, I have to go back to work."

"Spence, stop it," JJ said gently. "Hotch is ordering you to go hospital and you don't argue against the boss, do you?"

Reid didn't answer, his eyes fluttered shut and his body relaxed back into the bed.

"His fever could be causing trouble, he probably isn't able to think straight," Annie explained before looking to the other EMT. "He's going to need immediate appendectomy, radio ahead when we get to the rig."

The surgeon finished making the incision and shook his head as he came to the appendix. "How has this not burst yet? We got this just in time. How are his vitals?"

"Holding steady," the nurse informed him.

As he began to wake up, he heard the familiar sound of fingers tapping away at keys on a laptop, he felt awful but didn't feel so hot anymore. He opened his eyes to see Garcia staring intently at her screen, her glasses perched on her nose and a Starbucks coffee cup on the table next to her.

"You type loudly," he smiled at her. Garcia placed her laptop on the table and came over to his bed where she took a seat on the edge of it.

"Hey," she sighed gently. "You've had us all so worried."

"What happened? All I remember is falling and feeling sick."

"Hotch caught you before you hit the floor, you fell unconscious and you wouldn't wake up before the ambulance arrived, we kept your temperature down with three cloths full of ice. JJ said that you woke up briefly as she was going with you to the hospital but that you couldn't stay awake. They removed your appendix and you'll make a full recovery. Why did you lie about being sick?"

"I didn't want to put you all out at work by having to take time off. We've been really busy and I just wanted to try to make everything easier."

"Sweetie, you collapsed and scared the hell out of us, that didn't make things easier on us. What would have made things easy is if you had told us about being sick, you silly goose. Did you throw up at all before?"

"Once in my apartment and twice on the way to work, I was dizzy and had a temperature too. I'm really sorry I scared you all. Where is JJ?"

"She had to go and help with the case but she'll be back soon. For now, you have my lovely self keeping you company."

He yawned and felt the urge to go back to sleep. "Why am I so drowsy?"

"It's probably the anesthetic and medicine they gave you. Go back to sleep, I'm not going anywhere."

"You don't have to stay," he said gently.

"I just watched my junior g-man collapse, you're crazy if you think I'm going to leave you alone."

"Thank you," he yawned before closing his eyes and going back sleep, his brown hair sprawling against the pillow.

Garcia stroked her hand through his short hair, she leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

After two weeks, he felt well enough to come into work and looked forward to working again after being in his apartment. The team had solved the robbery case without him. He now had a scar on his left side but it was healing well. As he walked into the bullpen, Garcia walked over to him quickly.

"Morning, Garcia," he smiled.

"Welcome back, Reid," she grinned. "I just have to do one thing before I can let you pass."

Before he could react, she placed an ear thermometer in his ear for a few seconds till it went beep, she brought it down and nodded. "Perfect temperature."

"Is this going to happen every morning?" Reid chuckled.

"You'll have to wait and see," she said before pinching his cheek. "It's nice having you back at work. Go forth, my genius, you've got a huge pile of paperwork to get through, ten percent of it being files Morgan has sneaked in."

Stepping forward, he gave her a small hug. "Thanks for looking after me at the hospital."

"Anytime, sweetie, anytime."

Please review