Three Little Words Chapter 1: Daydreaming, a criminal minds fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. It is the property of Mark R. Gordon and CBS.

Note: This is Part Two of the Michelle Stratford series. Although it is not necessarily required to have read "Something to Fight For" (part one) there will be references to it. I forewarn that this is a little more angsty/darker than part one. Hope you enjoy it anyway! And don't worry; I haven't forgotten Sarah or my crossover stories. This one just came to me faster.

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Three Little Words

Chapter One: Daydreaming

By Ann Parker

"I never thought I'd be so happy to spend the day doing paperwork," commented Emily. The team, minus Hotch, Gideon, and Garcia, were on the elevator heading up to the office. It was a Friday morning in June. They had just come back from two straight weeks of cases and Hotch promised them (well, as much as he could promise) that they wouldn't take a new case until Monday at the earliest. That gave them at least a day to catch up on paperwork, something they were all actually looking forward to. The rest smiled at Emily's comment as they exited the elevator only to be bombarded by a certain blond.

"My children!" exclaimed Garcia, pulling them into a group hug.

"Geez, mama, miss us much?" teased Morgan as she let them go. They headed to the bullpen as she continued.

"You have no idea what it's like being cooped up in this office with no one to talk to," she groaned.

"We called you," replied Reid as he set his messenger bag down by his desk.

"That's not the same, my dear boy," Garcia stated. "In fact, I think the only way to rectify the situation is that we go out to lunch." The group nodded in agreement. Well, except for Reid, who hesitated slightly. "Reid?"

He glanced up at everyone before shrugging as he sat down. "Yeah, sure."

"Good! We can get something to go and eat in the park. It's so nice out," finished Garcia before heading to her office. Everyone settled into work, which Reid was grateful for. They had apparently decided not to question him on his hesitation. It wasn't that he didn't want to have lunch with them; it was that he had thought about calling up Michelle before Garcia had said anything. He hadn't seen her in nearly three weeks and had hardly talked to her during that time. He knew she understood – they both had demanding jobs – but he still missed her. She had changed his life in so many ways.

While on the flight back from Dallas, his withdrawal symptoms kicked in full force. He half wondered if it wasn't actually withdrawal from her that made them worse. He got sick on the plane – several times actually, which left him little choice in telling at least Hotch what was going on. He knew he should probably check in somewhere for a little while to help him fully detox, which could have ended his career. Instead, Hotch simply made him take a three-week "vacation." It was the first time he had seen Hotch bend the rules like that, which meant a great deal to him and gave him more motivation to get his life back in order. He saw the concerned, questioning looks by the others when he announced he was going on vacation and promised he'd talk to them, really talk to them, when he got back. At that point in time, however, he wasn't strong enough to tell them his secret.

Rehab had been hard, particularly in the beginning. He knew beforehand what the withdrawal symptoms were, but that didn't make going through them any easier. He never thought about giving up or going back to the drugs, but he definitely had some low points the first few days. On day three it was his first visitor's day and he had expected to see Gideon there to offer him some encouragement, just like a father would. What he didn't expect was to instead see a familiar coonhound come running up and dropping a slimy ball at his feet.

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Reid bent down and picked up the slimy tennis ball, staring at it like he had just discovered a new element.

"You better throw that or he won't stop whining," her sweet, yet sassy voice with its faint southern drawl washed over him. He tossed the ball, sending Cooter bounding in her direction, and looked up, taking her in. There she stood in an AC/DC shirt and ripped jeans, her green eyes smiling, matching the one gracing her lips. Man, was she a sight for his sore eyes.

"Michelle?" he managed to croak out. "What are you doing here?" Before she could respond, Cooter appeared again and dropped the ball at her feet. He wagged his tail expectantly and Reid threw it again, giving Michelle time to take a seat next to him on the picnic bench.

"Gideon called me," she finally replied, glancing sideways to meet his eyes. "He told me what you did, checking yourself in here, and thought you might need someone to lean on. He didn't think you'd want anyone else here." Reid sighed, leaning back on the table as she threw the ball this time.

"You didn't have to come all this way," he countered, assuming she was still wrapping up the Stein case. And then she did something he didn't expect.

She took hold of one of his hands, enveloping it in both of hers. "Spencer, I was on my way back to DC anyway. And, besides, even if I wasn't, I would have dropped everything in a heartbeat to help you through this." He studied her for a minute, stunned by that omission.

"Why?" he whispered, never feeling as insecure in his own skin as he did at that moment. She pulled him to her and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

"Because I don't know how or why, but you've got a hold on me Spencer Reid, and I have no intentions of letting that slip away," she replied before kissing him once more.

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After that moment, things only picked up from him. Rehab went much smoother, partly because she convinced him to take his therapy sessions seriously. They helped him reveal the real reason he went to the drugs – his guilt over his mom. Once he was done with rehab, he asked Hotch to give him a few more days and flew out to visit her. He finally had a good conversation with her and it made him feel a lot better about things that had happened between them. That left him with his last big hurdle on his road to recovery – telling the rest of the team.

It had been hard sharing with the others about his moment – that led to moments – of weakness, but it felt good to finally tell them. Michelle and Gideon had made it as easy as they possibly could as well. He told them that he wanted to tell them in as much of a casual environment as possible, which led to dinner at his apartment. Michelle cleaned his apartment for him and helped Gideon cook. That in itself was a sight he never thought he'd see. He didn't even know Gideon liked to cook, let alone was good at it. And Michelle fluttered around making triple chocolate chip cookies and fresh whipped cream because according to her anyone could handle bad news after eating them. And so the team did. Initially, JJ and Garcia were shocked, Morgan appeared disappointed in himself for not catching it, and Emily looked saddened, but not as shocked as the others. Probably because he took his frustrations out on her the most. The main thing he remembered after telling them was Michelle coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, bending down and gently kissing his cheek as he sat in his chair, watching his team, his friends, digest the information. She made him feel safe as he was mentally preparing himself for them bolt on him. Only that didn't happen, not even close. Garcia started what happened by standing up and pulling him into a hug. Soon the others, one by one, surrounding him in a group hug, promising to take better care of their baby brother from now on.

The next day he started back at work, ready to face the demons they saw everyday. Things quickly slipped back into routine and everyone tried to act as normal as possible. It had been about two months since then and he really felt they were back to before Tobias, only closer. He still went to regular therapy sessions, and attended NA meetings when he could, both to make sure he was coping correctly and no longer tempted, which he was fine with. He also still had the occasional nightmare, but those were usually comforted by the fact that more often then not he woke up next to either Michelle or Cooter. He quickly learned when he started seeing her regularly that Cooter liked to sleep, or rather hog, the bed and would usually chose to sleep between them. He had never had a pet before, never could have one, which was his reasoning used when animals reacted poorly to him. Yet he quickly found himself becoming attached to this dog and, of course, his owner.

He was thinking about just that fact when Garcia found him with his feet propped up and leaning back in his chair, his paperwork already finished. "Time to stop daydreaming," she greeted and he glanced up to see her smiling at him.

"How'd you know?" he asked, planting his feet on the ground and standing up.

"You get this funny, peaceful look on your face when you're thinking about your southern bell," she replied as they headed to the elevator to meet the others. 'Southern bell' quickly became Garcia's nickname for Michelle after their first meeting. Reid looked down slightly, blushing. "Why don't you see if she can join us?"

"Nah," he replied as they reached the rest. Hotch and Gideon had apparently been dragged into joining them. "I'll just call her tonight."