A/N: Working on the next chapters of my other two stories. One of them is almost over so I thought I would start another project because who doesn't enjoy a sick!Reid story? Please review.
Sickness shows us what we are.
-Latin Proverb
"What's the matter with you?" asked Morgan starring at Reid who had his head down and his eyes closed. Underneath him was his book bag which he was currently using as a pillow.
"Nothing." He mumbled turning his head the other direction so Derek couldn't see him. Unfortunately for Reid moving away from Morgan only made him face someone else.
"What's wrong Spence?" JJ asked in an angelic voice. He soon realized the only way he could escape the questioning was if he lifted his head up and stopped trying to take a quick nap before Hotch showed up and gave out orders.
"Nothing's wrong." He mumbled as he went over and poured some coffee a few feet away. He could feel his hand shaking from the weight of the cup but he shielded it easily with his other on. When he got back to his desk Reid moaned as he sat down not realizing that everyone could hear him. They all exchanged a quick worried look before Morgan took the initiative and went to talk to him.
"Reid, talk to me kid. What's up?" Reid stared down at his coffee.
"I'm just tired, that's all." Morgan knew that "just tired" was a lie but he didn't want to pry so he let the subject drop and decided to go and visit with Garcia. Reid held his head in his hands and gently made circular motions in an attempt to dull the throb he had begun to experience. Suddenly something else began to ache; it was something that would be harder to hide from everyone. In attempt to ignore it and to convince himself that he was wrong Reid cautiously took a sip of his coffee. The sugar – which usually pleased him – was so sweet he could feel his mouth salivate as the grains touched his tongue. Not wanting to even look at its contents anymore Reid casually pushed the mug away. He allowed one of his hands to move towards his stomach where he rotated it in small circles trying to calm it.
"Reid?" he looked up to see JJ standing outside the conference room. "I've been calling your name for a minute, we're about to discuss a new case."
He slowly stood up and made an uneasy journey to the round table. Without talking he took a seat as far away from everyone as possible. Lucky for him it was close to the door if he needed to make a quick escape. He shivered uncomfortably as a blast of cold air hit him. Instantly he wished that he had chosen a seat that wasn't under the air vent. The freezing breeze only caused him to feel clammier than before.
"Can you tell anything about the UnSub from that?" Hotch asked the boy, his boss' voice brought him back into reality. Reid looked lost and he could tell Aaron was annoyed.
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Reid asked clearing his throat.
"Pay attention. This case is already hard enough; I need the team's full attention. We can't afford for anyone to be slacking." His face wrinkled and Reid sunk low in his chair as he felt bad for letting Hotch down, "Now, look up at the screen and tell me what you see."
"It's a chess board. Where was this found?" Asked Reid examining the picture on the screen.
"Have you just not been listening this entire time?" Reid didn't answer, "This chess board belongs to Gary Klein, and we have reason to believe that he might be our UnSub. Is there anything on this board that can tell you if that is a viable theory?" Reid nodded and felt his head throb.
"The way he uses the King, it's..." Reid swallowed hard trying to not vomit, "Excuse me."
Everyone watched as Reid's face visibly paled and he shot up from the table. Morgan exchanged a look with Hotch and nodded standing up. He followed the path Reid had taken and walked casually into the men's bathroom.
"Hey Morgan." Reid greeted as he applied soap to his wet hands.
"What was that?" Morgan asked raising an eyebrow and pointing a thumb behind him in the general direction of the conference room.
"What was what?" asked Reid mimicking the eyebrow raise and washing off the soap. "I just had to use the restroom." After a few seconds of rubbing he reached out and used his elbow to turn off the faucet. He let his hands drip into the sink before reaching out for a paper towel. "Did you know that you should wash your hands with hot water for…"
"Stop Reid." Spencer gave him a questioning look, as if Morgan was the one acting weird and not him, "Are you trying to tell me that you just had to go to the bathroom and that you aren't hiding the fact your sick?"
Reid looked up at the ceiling and thought about it for a second, "Uh…yeah."
"Kid…" Morgan began to say.
"Seriously, I'm fine. Let's get back to the team. The guy who y'all think is the UnSub isn't our UnSub. He's too reckless, he'd never be able to dispose of the body the way our actual UnSub did." Reid walked out the door and Morgan quickly followed. When they got back to the room Reid started quickly spurting out his thoughts about the suspect. Everyone looked over at Morgan who just shrugged indicating that nothing had happened in the bathroom. Reid, who quickly noticed turned around to face him.
"What?" he asked as Morgan stared at him.
"Nothing, it's just…" he didn't know what to say so he looked around at everyone else to help him.
"We're worried about you Reid." Emily finally spoke up, "You looked a little ill when you ran out the door."
"I'm fine. I just had too much coffee this morning." JJ could feel her heart sink at the lie. She and Morgan had seen him when he pushed away his drink earlier that morning.
"Reid?" He snapped his head around to look at Hotch, "I want you to go home."
"No." Everyone stared shocked at his argumentative state.
"Excuse me?" asked Aaron leaning forward and frowning.
"I don't need to go, I feel fine and this case needs our team." Reid said sitting down.
"That wasn't a question that was a direct order. Go home Agent Reid." But Reid ignored him and started to talk again.
"The UnSub we're looking for is incredibly intelligent but graduated bottom of their class because of home issues. Where is this case located?" No one answered him. They were unable to speak after what had just happened. Reid was deliberately disobeying Aaron Hotchner.
"Washington state." Aaron spoke after a few minutes, as if watching a tennis match everyone's head flew to Aaron and then back to Reid when he started to talk again – they followed the action as the two FBI agents talked to each other.
"What part?"
"Seattle."
"How many murders?" No one commented that every question Reid was asking had been previously discussed.
"Nine in the last three months. Every ten days, next one will be in three days."
"When are we leaving?"
"An hour." Reid nodded and got up to pack his Go-bag. Everyone stayed still until Aaron looked at them, "Are you guys coming to Washington too? Or are you just going to sit here with those stunned expressions?"
Everyone quickly pushed away from the table and walked swiftly out of the room. Emily looked at Morgan and mumbled "Weird."
"Seriously." Morgan said as he nodded in agreement.
"What's weird?" asked Penelope Garcia walking up to them.
"Reid just disobeyed Hotch, but then Hotch didn't do anything about it." Morgan said informing her of everything that had just happened.
"That is weird. Poor Reid, I hope isn't feeling too bad." She said sympathetically, "Being sick is no fun at all. Do you know where he is?"
"Who, Reid?" asked Prentiss, Garcia nodded. "No, sorry."
"Well if you see him tell him I hope he feels better." Garcia smiled.
"He'll just want to know why he should be feeling better because 'he feels fine.' He's like a child when he gets sick." Said Morgan clearly annoyed.
"Can you blame him? Do you really like when people fuss over you when you get sick?" asked Derek.
"Yeah." Said Garcia, "You get like everything you want. People wait at your beck and call, it's terrific. My mother used to give me something special whenever I got sick. I would beg kids to sneeze on me."
Emily gave her an odd look, her mother had never taken care of her when she got sick. What else had she missed out on? "Well I for one hate it."
"What do you hate?" asked Reid walking up the trio. He slid his bag off of his shoulder and let it collide gently with the ground.
"Mushrooms." Emily answered quickly thinking on her feet.
"Ugh, me too." Reid said making a disgusted face. Everyone looked down as the boy placed one arm across his stomach as if protecting it. Garcia looked at the boy concerned; she swore she could see him shaking.
"You feeling okay Reid?" she asked unable to resist asking the question.
"Yeah." He mumbled as he looked down at his feet and leaned back against his desk,
"You can tell me if you're not hun, you just look so pale and awful."
"Thanks Garcia." He said sarcastically and snatched his bag off the ground, Reid stalked away with his Go-bag swung over one shoulder.
"He looks like shit." Morgan said as they all watched Reid go into the boy's bathroom clutching his stomach. The two others nodded agreeing.
"Come on," Morgan said placing a hand on Emily's shoulder, "We have to get ready to go." She nodded knowingly and the two walked away, glancing at the men's restroom curiously as they passed it. Even if he didn't want them to, they all worried about Reid's health.
A/N: I wanted to make this a one-shot but I didn't want to rush it into one chapter. If there seems to be enough interest I think I will make this a ten plus chapter story. Let me know what you all think please. : )