Hey, everyone! I wrote this all out of the blue, but, I kind of like it. I was watching the fantastic episode "Epiloque" when the idea of this story came to me. I think it's different than my other stories, with a lot of switches between POV's. But, I hope you all enjoy it. This story takes place between season 7 and season 8. I guess you could call this pre-slash.

Disclaimer: I do not, nor probably will ever own Criminal Minds.

Reviews are not required, only appreciated and adored.

Enjoy!

"Yeah, I know, Morgan," Reid said as he tried his best to stay focused on the old dirt road that seemed to be abandoned. He was on his way to question one of the parents of a victim killed by their UnSub, a man who killed his young, female by asphyxiation.

"I'm just makin' sure you knew your way there, Pretty Boy," his colleague chuckled on the other end of the line. "It's kinda in the middle of nowhere."

Reid nodded to himself; Morgan had just stated the obvious. "It's actually a normal reaction to want to be isolated and detached from the world after the loss of a child."

Reid heard Morgan sigh on the other end of the phone. He knew that these cases, the ones that involved children, were hard on the older man; they were hard on each member of the team.

The genius squinted a bit; the road was getting harder to see because of the snowstorm. He really shouldn't have been driving in this kind of weather but a case needed to be finished and Reid knew that the families needed peace. Catching the maniac was worth the long drive.

"Morgan, I'm‒" Reid trailed off as he saw a pair of bright headlights coming from the other direction very quickly. He'd thought that this road was empty, especially considering the weather. "Going to have to let you go…" The headlights were coming quicker and closer now. "I'm almost there any‒" Suddenly, all Reid could hear was a huge crashing noise, all he could see was black, and all he could feel was pain which slowly drifted into nothingness.

Morgan was standing in the room given to the team from the local police station. He smiled as Reid told him a statistic; he'd never admit it to the team, but he loved them. He was looking through what they already had on the UnSub and trying to see if there were any more patterns that they'd yet to figure out.

Really, he just wanted to call Reid so that he could simply talk to the man, but he was also worried about him. Driving in a snowstorm was seriously dangerous (he figured that Reid must have a statistic on that, too).

"Morgan, I'm‒" Reid began to say on the other end of the line, and Morgan frowned as his colleague trailed off. "Going to have to let you go…" Morgan hoped to God that nothing had happened; the worried tone of Reid's voice immediately made him protective. He was about to ask if he was alright when the younger man continued, "I'm almost there any‒"

Morgan's heart stopped as he heard a deafening crash over the other end of the phone, and then the line went dead.

"Reid!" He yelled, knowing that the line was already disconnected. "Pretty Boy! Spencer!"

Immediately, he dialled someone he knew could get him help and starting heading out the door.

"He who seeks the Queen of All Knowledge, speak and me recognized."

"Garcia," Morgan cut right to the chase. "I need locations. Reid and were talking and something happened. Please, can you track his cell location?"

After the initial shocked gasp, he could feel Garcia's determination all the way from Quantico, and he heard her furiously clicking the keys on her keyboard. "He's about in the middle of Glendale Road. Go make sure our baby boy is okay."

Morgan was already in the SUV and pulling out of the parking lot. "I will," he said sincerely. "Call Hotch and get ambulances and backup there, ASAP." The agent hoped that he hadn't sounded too harsh when giving the instruction.

"On it, my liege. Go get him," Garcia said and Morgan heard her hung up.

He pushed his foot on the gas pedal. He'd be damned if he'd let anything happen to Reid.

Reid blinked open his eyes very slowly. He had no idea where he was.

He furrowed his brow and winced in pain as he turned his neck to look around. He saw white, everywhere. He also saw that he was still in the SUV, which was hardly recognizable. The entire front was smashed in, and glass was everywhere; when Reid looked to his left, it appeared as though the driver's side door was also gone somewhere. God, how injured was he?

Reid saw an unfamiliar truck laying on its side a few meters away that also was in terrible condition. Oh, right, Reid thought. The incoming headlights.

He looked down at himself and saw glass all over him, as well as his blood. Reid could feel pieces of glass stuck into his face, but he knew that he didn't have the energy to retrieve them.

The genius knew that he needed to get out of car sooner rather than later. But, first, he needed to get his seatbelt undone.

Reid was eternally glad that he'd worn his seatbelt; it most-likely saved his life. That was, of course, if he got out of here at all.

Lifting his arm toward the seatbelt even a little caused Reid to suck in a sharp breath of pain. He tried to ignore the fact that his arm was broken as he pushed his fingers to undo the seatbelt.

After getting across that barrier, Reid started moving his legs in the direction of the door. It hurt horribly, but the agent knew that he needed to get out.

As he lifted his body up a bit, to get out, he found himself falling forward with a cry of pain, and, before he knew it, he was lying on his side on the cold, hard ground.

Reid tried to move, at least, to a different position but found that he had no strength to do the action.

He'd been talking to Morgan; there was no doubt that Morgan would've called for help. He'd probably have called Garcia. Reid smiled. Maybe, once this was over, he'd get some of Garcia's famous cupcakes.

Reid looked up to the sky. It was dark, because of the evening, but the night was hardly visible because of all of the snow. Reid found it peaceful, the white, fluffy snowflakes, falling down from the sky, hitting his sore face, and the cold numbing away the pain in his body. Maybe, dying here wouldn't be that bad.

The thought was pushed away as Reid heard the distant but nearing sounds of sirens. Reid closed his eyes, wanting the peace to last. But, he found that he didn't have the strength to open them again. It didn't matter that much, though, did it? The team would get him to the hospital all the same.

Reid heard the sound of a car door slamming and someone yell "Reid!" The voice told him that it was Morgan he could hear running toward him at the moment.

"Reid," He could hear Morgan yelling. "Reid!" He could feel Morgan's fingers feeling his neck for a pulse.

The younger man managed a small groan in reply. "Reid‒ Spencer," he heard Morgan say almost as a second thought. It was weird to hear his best friend call him by his first name, but, at the same time, it was rather comforting. The only people who called him by his first name were his mother and, when he had been a part of his life, Gideon. "Help is on the way. You're going to be okay."

Reid wasn't sure whether or not he believed him. He suddenly felt very sad. He was supposed to have done so much more with his life. He remembered talking to Emily about his life while they were on the case in the San Francisco Bay area.

"I need you to be okay," he heard Morgan say compassionately and gently grip his shoulders and turn him onto his back.

Reid found himself not being able to stay awake any longer just as the sound of more sirens approached them.

Morgan felt his heart stop for a moment when he saw the scene in front of him. There was an unknown truck, and near it was the SUV‒ the SUV that Reid had been driving‒ was on the side of the road, its side and front smashed in, the driver's side door completely gone.

The agent's eyes scanned downward a bit more, and his eyes opened wide in shock.

"Reid!" He yelled, already running toward his injured friend. Please, be okay. God, please be okay. "Reid!"

Morgan knelt beside his best friend, his eyes scanning over his face, his closed eyes. He felt for a pause and gasped in relief when he felt a weak one. The ambulance would be here soon.

"Reid‒ Spencer," Morgan decided, "help is on the way. You're going to be okay." The older man had left his jacket back at the station in his haste to get to his friend; he didn't care about the freezing cold weather at the moment, the snow falling onto his body.

Morgan felt a tear fall down his face and blend in with the melted snowflakes already there. He turned Reid onto his back as gently as he possibly could. Reid seemed even more fragile and breakable than usual. "I need you to be okay."

The agent let a sigh of relief leave his body as he heard the sounds of nearing sirens. Help was almost there. "I don't know if you can hear me right now, Spencer, but I need you. You have to pull through. You can't do this on me. I… I love you."

"Morgan!" Morgan turned and saw Hotch running toward him with paramedics.

Morgan didn't know what was happening as he was pulled away from his best friend; his whole world was in a rush.

By the time, he went back to normal, he found himself sitting in the SUV passenger seat with Hotch beside him, apparently trying to gain his attention.

"Morgan! What happened?"

God, the kid just had to be okay.

Reid furrowed his brow as he woke up. His head hurt. God, everything hurt.

He lifted his left arm to rub at his sleep-incrusted eye. He frowned when something hard scratched beside his eye. What the...?

The young man slowly opened his eyes and looked around the white room. The whiteness of the hospital room reminded him of when he'd been looking at the sky as he'd laid on the ground.

He saw Morgan sitting in an uncomfortable-looking chair; he was asleep.

"Morgan," Reid tried to speak the man's name, but it came out as only a whisper, and speaking hurt like Hell. "Morgan," he said louder, stronger.

The older man quickly blinked awake and looked at his best friend.

"Reid," he said as he immediately stood up and pressed the call button.

"Hey," Reid tried to smile; even that hurt. Hotch had obviously, as he'd wished, refused to give him morphine. Reid knew that he couldn't risk it.

"How are you feeling?" Morgan asked as he stood beside the white bed, looking down at Reid with concerned eyes.

"Not good," Reid admitted. "But, Jello will do me better than morphine."

"Reid" and review, please!