A/N Hey guys. So I'm sorry if a favorite or completely exclude a few characters from House. I play favorites with them, it's true. (P.S. Thirteen and House are my faves!) Plus, from Criminal Minds I have one character I love more then all the others (Reid!) WARNING: This fic shows a soft side of House that we have never seen before. Okay, Enjoy my Criminal Minds/House crossover.
~MAXIMUM
When Reid asked for a week off, Hotch thought that something must be wrong. Reid never asked for vacation time. When Hotch asked where Reid was going he simply answered "New Jersey" As far as Hotch knew, Reid had no family there. The young agent had been so wound up lately… maybe he just needed to clear his head, and thought that it would be fun to party with the cast of Jersey Shore. Whatever the case, he granted Reid the time off.
Reid walked through the doors of Princeton-Plainsboro teaching hospital. He walked calmly up to the front desk. "Can I help you?" asked the perky receptionist.
"Does a Dr. House work here?" he asked.
"Yes." She said.
Reid sighed. He still couldn't decide whether or not he really wanted to ask House for help. When he met the man years ago he been… a jerk. Reid had found unable to tell Dr. House the truth of why he was there. That he found out that Dr. House was his biological father. But, House was Reid's best chance and finding out the truth about his headaches. When he had coughed up blood, he knew something medically serious was definitely wrong. However, he wasn't sure he could face his father.
"Could I see him?" he asked.
"Sure, his office is right up there. But uh... good luck." She replied.
"Thank you." He said, heading up toward where the receptionist had pointed.
He hesitated in front of the glass door. Could he really do this?
"Well don't just stand there! What do you want?" he said from inside.
Reid opened the door. "Dr. House? I'm not sure if you'll remember me, I'm Spencer Reid. I uh…"
House cut him off. "What do you want, I'm not got let some freak of nature kid waste my time."
"I've been having these headaches, and coughing up blood…"
"So?" He said, facing away from him
"I need your help."
"What makes you think I'll give it to you? Kid, I get hundreds of cases a day."
"I'm your son." Reid blurted.
House whipped around. "What?" he asked.
"Do you remember Diana Reid? It was a one night stand, but it was enough."
"Oh." Said House. He sighed, and there was a long silence. "Fine. I'll help you. Come with me."
He brought Reid into a room where other doctors were waiting, it reminded me of the round table room. This must be where they discuss their cases. Reid thought.
"Everybody, this is my son… I'm sorry, what's your name again?" House said sarcastically.
"Dr. Spencer Reid." Funny that his dad didn't know his name, though he hid it with sarcasm, Reid could see the truth, he really had no idea.
"You're a doctor?" said a woman with long brown hair and large bright eyes.
"Not a medical one…" he said.
"Whatever." Said House coldly. "Spencer has a problem. He's been having headaches and coughing up blood."
"Any other symptoms?" said a large black man that reminded me of Morgan.
"Uh… sometimes my chest hurts." Reid says.
"Okay, well tell us about yourself. What do you do, what do you like to eat…" said the woman.
"Uh, I'm an FBI agent. I work for the BAU, we profile serial killers."
"Have you ever been hurt?" asked a short, balding man.
"I've been kidnapped, tortured, shot, poisoned, and I was forcibly drugged. Yes, I became addicted to it. It was called Dilauadid. I've been clean for a long time."
"Where were you shot?" asked an asian looking man. "I'm Dr. Kutner, by the way."
"My knee."
"Oh, and I'm Dr. Hadley." Said the woman. "What were you poisoned with?"
"That's sensitive information." He said.
"Oh come, were the doctors. We won't tell." House chimed in.
"Anthrax." He said.
"Okay… what else?" said the last doctor. "And I'm Dr. Taub."
"I have an IQ of one-eighty seven, can read twenty-thousand words per-minute, and have an eidetic memory. My mom is schizophrenic…."
"Wait… House did it with a schizophrenic?" said Dr. Kunter.
"Apparently." Said House, shocked, but seemingly brushing off the information like it was nothing. "Continue."
"Well, I guess that's it."
"Okay, well let's get you a hospital room!" said House with fake enthusiasm.
"I don't really need one…" he said.
"But you are sick." Said Dr. Taub.
Reid was feeling strange, his chest pains were intense and his head felt like it was going to spilt down the middle. But he didn't want to stay at the hospital.
"But nothing has made me incapable of staying somewhere else."
"Well, when you cough up blood, we call that a reason to be in the hospital." Said Dr. Hadley.
"I don't need to stay in the hospital." He said, but no sooner did the words leave his mouth then did he feel himself be lifted up into the air and into a fuzzy blackness, the last thing he noticed being a loud crash. His last thought being 'Was that me hitting the ground?'
Hotch's cell phone rang loudly, breaking his train of thought. He picked it up.
"Hello? Mr. Hotchner?" said a light female voice through the phone.
"Yes?" he said.
"This is Dr. Hadley, at Princeton-Plainsboro teaching hospital. We have you listed as Dr. Reid's next of kin, is that right?"
"Yes, why is he okay?" Why in would Reid be the hospital, and more importantly, why was the hospital calling him?
"I'm afraid not, he collapsed."
Hotch froze. His mind erupting with worry and fear for Reid.
"What? Do you know what was wrong with him?"
"When he came to the hospital, he told us about his symptoms. He said it had been a week so we think that it must have progressed enough…"
"What symptoms?"
"The blood of course." She sounded confused.
"What blood?" he demanded.
"He was coughing it up, that's why he came to see his father."
"His father? His father works in an office in Las Vegas."
"No… he said he found out three months ago that Dr. House was his biological father."
"Whatever, I'm coming down there." He said.
"Um… okay." The doctor said.
Hotch hung up and went down to the bull-pen. He would have to tell the team…
Morgan looked up to see Hotch coming down with the strangest look on his face. A mix of anger, worry, fear, sadness, and resentment. Something was up.
"Hotch? What's the matter?" he questioned.
"We have to go to New Jersey."
"Is there a case?" Emily asked.
"No, Reid's in a hospital there, he collapsed."
"What?" Morgan exclaimed, shock making his blood run cold.
"He went there to see his father, who is apparently actually a doctor named House, because he was coughing up blood."
"He was sick? Why didn't he tell us?" Emily asked. Disbelief and fear spreading though her body like poison.
"I don't know, but we have to be there for him, Morgan, go get Garcia, Emily, JJ. I'll find Rossi. Wheels up in thirty."
Reid woke up to a horrible ringing in his ears. 'Where am I?' he thought. He remembered going to New Jersey… and then he went to see his dad. Oh right, he was sick. He must be in the hospital. He felt nauseous and the ringing was giving him a headache, but he waited and they slowly faded away. The headache, however stayed. Not to mention his chest was killing him.
"Glad to see your awake," Dr. Kutner said, coming into his room. "How are you feeling?"
"Like there's an elephant sitting on my chest."
"Alright, were trying to figure out what's wrong with you. Have you had any nausea or other symptoms?"
"Yeah, I was feeling nauseous earlier."
"Okay, well your team should be here soon…"
"You called them?" Reid interrupted.
"Yeah, Agent Hotchner was your next of kin and in case you needed emergency surgery."
"Oh…" Great. Reid didn't want the team to see him sick. He probably looked horrible and weak.
House looked around the room, waiting for an actual idea to pop up.
"He could have tuberculosis." Thirteen suggested.
"He's still eating fine." Taub pointed out. "bronchitis?"
"His ankles aren't swollen." Kutner said.
"Pneumonia?" Thirteen asked.
"Like you said, he's still eating fine. Plus he hasn't been hyperventilating."
"Dr. House?" the receptionist poked her head in nervously. Almost like House was a rabid dog who would bite her head off. "Dr. Reid's team is here, they would like to speak with you."
House usually didn't do this thing, but even though he would never really admit it, he wanted to have a chance to get to know his kid before died. Maybe he could learn more about him if he saw this team.
"I'll go meet them." He said.
Thirteen, Taub and Kutner's mouths all dropped to the floor.
"What?" he asked irritably, before leaving the room.
"Hello Dr. House, are you Reid's father?" said a tall stern looking man in a well fitting black suit.
"Yes." He said.
"I'm Agent Hotchner, these are Agents Prentiss, Morgan, Jareau, and Rossi. This is our technical analyst Penelope Garcia." He stated.
"Okay. Well to get to the point, Dr. Reid is awake now. We still don't know what exactly is wrong but we are working on diagnosing it. His symptoms are headache, nausea, and of course he's been coughing up blood. You can go and stay with him, but I should really return to my team. I need to finish with this diagnosis. Oh, and if anyone asks, I'm a huge jerk." House replied
"Okay, thank you." Agent Hotchner replied.
Morgan and the rest of the team headed down the hall towards Reid's door. He was not exactly sure what he would find behind it... but Reid looked horrible. His skin was white as paper and the ever present circles under his eyes were so dark it looked like he had black eyes. His eyes were filled with a strange sense of determination. Morgan knew Reid was strong, but he got into so much trouble, it felt he had to break sometime. Somehow, Morgan knew Reid would try as hard as humanly possible to outlast whatever it was he had.
"Hey Pretty Boy." Morgan said.
"Hey guys." He said. "Don't you have work to do?"
"We have a sick family member." Garcia told him. "We get vacation time to be with him."
"It's not that bad. I'll be fine." He says.
"Come on pretty boy, you're not looking so hot."
"I'll be…" but before he could finish his sentence he erupted in a coughing fit. A female doctor entered the room and helped him sit up, she put a hanker chief to his mouth. We all knew she didn't want us to see the blood, but it leaked through the rag.
"Dr. Reid… you have a fever." She said.
"Is that bad Dr. Hadley?" he asked.
"You can just call me Thirteen, but I'm not sure yet. I'll go talk to House."
He made an effort to smile. "Thank you."
Thirteen walked into the room where the others were waiting. "He has a fever."
"Okay, that opens up possibilities to other diseases we discussed earlier…"
JJ looked down at Reid. "Are you cold?" she asked noticing his shivers.
"Yeah… I must have the chills." He said. "Could you please get the water for me?"
JJ looked over at the water, which was right next to him on the bed. "It's right next to you." She said.
"Are your limbs sore?" asked Emily.
"N-no." he replied shakily.
"What's wrong Pretty Boy?" said Morgan.
"I can't really see it."
"What do you mean, can't see?" Hotch asked.
"Everything is kind of… fuzzy." He said.
"JJ, go tell the doctor."
House sighed, they were getting nowhere. That was until a hot blond named Agent Jareau burst through the door.
"What is it?" he said irritably rubbing his leg.
"Reid's having vision problems and he's got the chills." Jareau announced.
"Thank you, Miss Hot-ass… I mean Jareau. You can leave now." He retorted.
After she left, House wrote the symptoms down on the white board. "And what do these all lead up to… drum roll please,"
"It's aspergillosis." said Taub.
"But what about the blood in the urine?" asked Kutner
"I don't know, there wasn't any when we took the urine sample but there might be some now if he's just getting a fever." Thirteen replied
"Thirteen, get another sample. And tell him not to freak out if there is blood." House ordered.
"I'm on it." She replied.
Thirty minutes later Thirteen walked back into the room, "His sample had blood in it." She said.
"Alright, do a CT scan and bring me the results."
Emily had to admit that Reid had looked horrible when they first got there but it seemed he was getting worse and worse by the minute. He couldn't stop coughing now. The female Doctor, Thirteen or some number like that came in.
"We think it's aspergillosis, which is caused by a fungus that is commonly found in dead leaves, compost piles, and other rotting vegetation. Dr. Reid, have you been exposed to any of this?" she asked.
"Yes." He said his voice barely audible.
"Okay, were going to have do a CT scan to determine if this is what we think it is. Is that okay?"
"Yes…" Reid said breaking into a coughing fit again.
"What happens if he does have it?" JJ questioned.
"Well, it depends on whether or not there is bleeding in the lung tissue or not, if there is, then he will need surgery, but if not, then he just needs to take medication for a while."
Late that night, after Reid had fallen into an uneasy sleep and Hotch had ordered the rest of the team back to the hotel, Dr. House entered Reid's room.
"Can I help you?" Hotch asked.
"Agent Hotchner," House began.
"Hotch, please."
"When my son was describing some of things that had happened to him… I'm not so sure I like knowing close to nothing about my son."
"You want me tell you about him." Hotch said.
"Yes."
"Reid is one of the best young agents I have ever worked with. Though he seems to have a knack for getting in to trouble. But he's endured a lot, he's very strong. You're lucky to have him as son. Over the years the BAU has become kind of like a family, and I guess you could say that I'm his father figure. And if anyone is a good son, It's Reid. You know he writes his mom a letter every day." Hotch chuckled. "But somehow, even that got him into trouble once."
House smiled for what seemed like the first time in years. "He seems like a good kid."
"He is."
The results of the CT scan said that Reid need surgery, so they took him for it. The surgeon, whose name was Dr. Chase, said he was fairly confident that this could be resolved.
Two hours in a sterile white waiting room later, the team received the news.
"The surgery was successful, and Dr. Reid should be fine."
It felt to the team that a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders.
"There's a good chance he could relapse and need repeat treatment, but he should be completely healthy within a couple of weeks." Dr. Chase said.
"Thank you." Said Morgan.
The BAU'S resident genius was going to be absolutely fine. Things were looking up, at the moment.
A/N So I'm going to write a sequel to this, I'm almost positive. It might take a while because if you haven't noticed, I like to write things more as one big chapter. Anyway, I write pretty fast so just be a teensy bit patient. Look on my profile for it.
~MAXIMUM