Shelter From the Storm

".........short oneshot that wouldn't leave me alone. i know my house sounds a bit out of character, but i had 2 for it 2 fit in my story....sorry!!! please r&r!"

SSA Dr. Spencer Reid exhaled as he rubbed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to sleep. The BAU's latest case had taken them to New Jersey, where they suspected a serial killer whose victims were authority figures. They had found the UnSub in a fairly short amount of time. They found out that his name was Alex Charles, whose MO was when his brother was shot and killed by a neighborhood cop. When the team had came to the UnSub's house, Alex surprised them by shooting a round of shots at them, two of which had hit Reid. Fortunately, they had only hit his arm, and right leg, and he would survive. The team was warily of leaving Reid alone at the Princeton Plasboro Hospital, but he insisted them leave. He wanted to be left alone, because he wasn't sure how strong he was. He was glad he had to them to leave, because in a matter of minutes after their departure, he found himself crying.

Although he was in excruciating pain, he was crying for other reasons. He was crying for all the times his father had left him down; for having to raise himself and his mother. For every day of school when a bully had picked on his because he was young and brilliant. For being tied to a post naked by said bullies. For Gideon leaving him when he needed him the most. For the drugs he craved everyday of his life, and the pain Charles and Raphael put him through. For having to kill the only person who saved him from them, and screaming at himself everyday since Georgia for Tobias. For the people he couldn't save, and the ones he had let down. For every time he had been held hostage, beaten, taken advantaged of, had a gun held in his face. For being poisoned with Anthrax to save innocent lives,and all the other horrible things that had happened to him.

Reid was disgusted with himself. So many people in the world had suffered through worse than him, and he was crying in his own self-pity! He was pathetic! Everyday he had hated himself, and wallowed in the bad. All his happy thoughts had gone, and he hadn't believed in happy endings for a while. He had to drag himself out of bed everyday, and pray for a reason to live. But nothing had worked, and his hope was gone. His life would always be this way, and he would have to live with it.

He hadn't realized he wasn't alone in that room until the man standing next to him spoke up.

"You know, self-loathing doesn't help the healing process." Dr. House said. He looked over Reid, his pale body almost ghost-like underneath the thin sheet. Reid sniffled, and glared at the doctor.

"You hate people, and its obvious you don't give a damn about them. Why the hell did you become a doctor? So you could make fun of the vulnerable? Hurt the injured? Make fun of others to make yourself feel good about yourself?" he snapped. House had been teasing and mocking him all day, and Reid, with his ability to profile, had caught the moments when House would stare at the window, with a look of concern in his eyes, and then he would turn around, and act like an ass. "Are you afraid that people will make fun of you if they think you have a heart? That you actually care?" he pressed on.

Now, he was making House angry. "How about you mind your business before-" he was cut off.

"Before what? You hit me? Do you honestly think I'm afraid of you? What's the worse you can do to me that hasn't already been done to me!" he shouted. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop himself until after he had said the latter.

"What do you mean, 'hasn't already been done to mean?' Did daddy hit you? Did mommy not love you?" House pressed, with a tone of sarcasm.

"Daddy left me after he abused me every night since I was four to take care of my schizophrenic mother. And when I was 12 and graduating high school the kids there made sure the abuse never stopped for a day! And after high school, I was raped by a priest who I thought I could trust when I was 16 and studying for my first BA!'' he shouted at him even louder. Once again, he had shocked himself. 'I just revealed secrets I haven't even told my friends to a complete stranger who will most likely blab it to the world, and make fun of me for it!' he thought.

He braced himself for what he thoguht would be endless criticism, but he was far from right.

"Since you were four? Why....why didn't you tell anyone?" House asked, sounding genuinely concerned and shocked.

Reid sighed. "Because, I was embarrassed. I thought I was suppose to be strong- I was suppose to take it." he whispered. "I thought it would stop........but it never did." he started to cry again.

"A...a priest? You know, I have a colleague that I think of more than a colleague.... he's just like the son I never had. Something similar had happened to him. He had showed up to work in tears, and wouldn't tell any one but me what had happened. I...I didn't know what to say. But, eventually, I found something." House whispered, tears gently and silently rolling down his eyes.

"Wha-what did you tell him?" Reid asked as tucked a strand of his hair away.

House sat on Reid's bed, and wiped a tear from Reid's eyes. He stroked Reid's cheek, and closed his eyes. "I....." he sighed. "I told him I was here for him. And that I would do anything possible to help him."

House wrapped his arms around Reid, and he curled up on House's lap. "I'm here for you." House whispered. "It's okay."

"......... lol i only mentioned the priest cause i wanted 2 make an excuse 4 reid not going to church other than his mother, and knowing reids luck and angst, i came up that! that was kinda a mix off all my stories for cm, so if youve read any of my other stories, this may have sounded a bit familiar. it was like all my stories combined, but at the same time totally different!! lol i hope it didnt suck!! please r&r!! and did u guess who house was refering to? and sorry that house was ooc-but in the imaginary world of fanfic, anything can happen!!!"