Coming Together

Disclaimer: I do not own any of characters in this story that you recognize, the ones that you don't I'll take credit for!

Notes: Aright, this is my first CM fanfiction. I totally blame my best friend for this. He invited me over one night and had me watch one episode "Minimal Loss." From that point on he got me hooked. My OCD then forced me to go out and buy the other seasons so I could catch up before season six started. So I have been watching faithfully. Then I started to get my own ideas and here it is!

Warning: Slight slash. Reid reminds me so much of a friend of mine who is gay that I can't ever see him as straight, even though the show has had him stumbling around two or three girls.

Summary: Reid had always felt that public speaking was bad for his health, he just didn't know how much. Now he finds himself being held hostage, his team his only hope.

Dr. Spencer Reid groaned as he stood outside the lecture hall, replaying in his head exactly what he was going to say, word for word. He had been invited by the Strayer University's head of psychology department to guest lecture to the psychology majors.

When he had first received the invitation he immediately decided to gracefully turn them down, he was not a great speaker and he was not going to pretend that he was going to become one anytime soon. He had innocently left the invitation on his desk while he went to get a cup of coffee from the break room, when he came back Morgan was reading it with Prentiss looking over his shoulder. After that everyone in the unit somehow knew and next thing he knew he was being called into Hotch's office. Long story short, Hotch thought that it would be a good experience for him to go and talk to students on his own so he was gently forced to accept the invitation.

And that was the reason that he was standing outside of lecture hall 1 on the Woodbridge campus trying to convince himself that he could still leave if he wanted to. He could call and tell them that the public transportation lines were late and he wouldn't be able to make it, he could say that he was sick, he could say his cat died (even though he didn't have a cat). He was ready to try anything to not have to talk to the students.

Reid looked at his watch; he was expected to walk through that door within the next eight minutes for the 1:00pm lecture. Thinking back to the last time he spoke at this college, when his existentialist joke flopped, he groaned. This time there would be no joke; the plan was to go in, discuss why he chose to get a bachelors in psychology, tell them what they can do with their degree when they graduate, answer any questions, and get out.

Taking a deep breath he opened the door and walked through. It was like every lecture hall he had ever been in: amphitheater seating, desk up front, projector screen, blackboards; at least it was familiar. He saw Professor Jones sitting at the desk and quickly made his was over to him.

"Dr. Reid, I'm so glad you could make it! The students are certainly lucky to be able to hear you speak." Jones said while standing and reaching out to shake his hand.

"Thank you for the invitation," was all Reid could say, after all he wasn't really excited or happy to be there and didn't want to lie.

Professor Jones looked down to his watch and smiled, "time to get the ball rolling. I'll quiet them down and introduce you and then they are all yours." Reid just smiled so show that he understood and stepped back to let the professor have the floor. "Settle down students. Today we are very lucky to have an FBI agent with us. He is a member of the Behavior Analysis Unit, or B.A.U., as they are often called. He holds three doctorates in Mathematics, Engineering, and Chemistry as well as two bachelors in Psychology and Sociology. I would like you to welcome Dr. Spencer Reid." Professor Jones smiled and motioned for Reid to step forward, which he did, slowly. Jones took a seat in the front and nodded to let Reid know he had the floor.

"Um, hello everyone. As Professor Jones said my name is Dr. Spencer Reid. I work right here in Quantico as part of the BAU. My team focuses on getting inside the criminal's mind and using our knowledge of the way their minds work to find them, catch them, and bring them in. My degree in psychology has really helped me with that." Reid paused at this point to look out at his audience, they all seemed engaged and interested in what he was saying. This put him as ease and he felt more relaxed as he continued.

** QUANTICO, VA ** B.A.U. Headquarters** 2:15 pm **

Morgan leaned back as he finished a report that probably should have been done two days ago. The B.A.U. had been a little slow lately, allowing everyone to catch up on their backed up paperwork. He looked over to Reid's desk and smiled as he thought about how he was probably stuttering through his presentation. Of course the desk was clean and void of papers because the kid had finished them the day before, knowing he wouldn't be in to work today.

Nearby Prentiss sighed and pushed her chair away from her desk groaning fairly loudly.

"Can't Reid come back so we can slip him a couple of these? This is a never ending pile," she complained.

"I slipped two in last night and he still managed to finish long before me," Morgan said also pushed back from his desk.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Prentiss exclaimed throwing her hands in the air.

"I slipped four folders in his pile last night," Rossi said as he walked past the complaining duo and up to his office, "and I still have four more to go before I can leave today."

"Let's just face it; our paperwork would never get done without him. How did we ever manage before we had the great Dr. Reid to push our work off onto?" Morgan questioned sitting back up and looking towards his pile of folders.

"Why did you rat him out to Hotch which forced him to be over at some college today instead of here helping us with our paperwork?" Prentiss stated, making her point by throwing a pen at Morgan.

"It'll be a good experience for him. The kids there are around his age and he has no socialization skills. If anything else it can't hurt him," Hotch said stepping out of his office, hearing his team's complaints. "It's also a good experience for you to learn to do your own paperwork," he said, pausing to look at each member of his team.

Prentiss and Morgan smiled sheepishly but didn't say anything; they just turned back to their paperwork and continued to slowly work through it. Hotch shock his head slightly as he made his way to JJ's office to see what cases they might be looking at in the not so distant future.

As he passed the break room he couldn't help but stop when he heard shots being fired from the speakers of the TV. Turning his full attention to the TV he turned up the volume to see what was going on.

"…dents are being evacuated from the campus but there will be no way to know if everyone is safely evacuated. I spoke to the Dean of the college earlier and there is no count of how many students would have been on campus at the time of the first shots fired. At this time all that is know is that at least one student, armed with at least one automatic weapon has opened fire on one lecture hall and is mostly likely on the move. Students who are exiting the building have no knowledge of the shooter's identity which leaves this report to believe that the shooter is leaving no living witnesses to his carnage. Injured students and faculty will be rushed to Stafford Hospital due to their recent edition of a trauma ward, they are asking for volunteers to find a nearby clinic or donation center to donate blood and platelets. We will keep you posted as the story unfolds. This is James Stonage reporting from Strayer University." As soon as the name of the university was mentioned Hotch was briskly moving out of the break room to the bullpen.

"Prentiss, Morgan, get Rossi, JJ, and Garcia and meet me in the meeting room," Hotch said, keeping his face straight as a million thoughts ran through his head.

"We have a case? Are we going to call Reid back?"Morgan asked standing. He noticed his boss's posture was a bit off but he brushed it off and credited it to the case being a bad one.

"I'm calling him now, you just gather everyone and I will explain when we're all together," Hotch said and moved towards the break room. He got the TV on and tuned into the news channel as he dialed Reid's number and prayed his agent would answer.

The rest of the team filed in and took their usual seats as Hotch listened to the phone ring and ring. When he head, "You've reached the voicemail of SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, please leave your name, number, and a short detailed message I will get back to you as soon as possible."

"Damn," he cursed quietly before turning and facing his team.

"So what's the case?" Morgan said looking from Hotch to JJ and then back again.

JJ just shrugged her shoulders, "don't look at me, I don't have a case for us right now," she said. "Hotch?"

"I…" Hotch started but stopped abruptly when the news reporter came back on the TV, in the background of the scene was the university sign from Strayer and the message reading, "School Shooter still at large."

Alright, there is chapter one. Let me know if you want more or not. If I see a positive response then I promise a second chapter tomorrow or maybe even later tonight.