Chapter Text
10% of the population are infected with some strain of influenza each year.
The BAU team, Reid reflected, must have been especially unfortunate. Morgan had had to take three days of sick leave, and Garcia had stayed home for a week. They had all felt her absence despite the brief updates she had emailed in several times a day. Morgan had felt guilty and invariably replied with ‘Get Well Soon’ messages and apologies for making her ill in the first place.
But they were both back and nobody was away. He cleared his throat slightly and glanced around the room. Most desks were unoccupied, and he scanned the room in confusion. Emily and JJ were in conversation in on corner; JJ caught his eye and smiled when she saw him looking. He smiled briefly and dropped his gaze. It was lunchtime, he realised, but he turned back to the data he was entering on a map. He was in the process of pencilling in another significant location when a sudden loud sneeze burst from his stuffy nose. He seized a tissue just in time to smother a second sneeze. A nervous glance at Prentiss and JJ confirmed that both were eyeing him concernedly. Blushing, he mumbled an apology and hurried off to the bathroom.
Once alone, Dr Spencer Reid blew his congested nose and wiped his streaming eyes, then binned the contaminated tissue and carefully washed his hands. He felt unwell. He glanced at his face, reflected in the mirror and sighed – he looked unwell. His stinging eyes were red and watery and his nose was a similar colour. Ducking his head, Reid quitted the bathroom and returned to his desk, hoping without much hope that nobody would notice.
His fears were well founded. It was a mere matter of minutes before Hotch arrived at Reid’s desk.
‘Reid.’
Spencer nodded without looking up.
‘Reid,’ Hotch queried gently, ‘Are you OK? Are you sick?’
Reid studiously avoided his gaze, swallowed nervously, and assured his boss that he was. Hotch sighed, half annoyed and half amused. His youngest agent had always been horrendous at lying.
‘Spencer. Are you sick?’ he probed, and then, as he sensed the young man formulating another falsehood, ‘Look at me.’
Reid coloured slightly, peeked timidly at the Unit Chief, and quickly nodded his assent.
Hotch raised a hand to feel his agent’s forehead, and Reid flinched away.
Hotch grabbed his shoulder and held him steady. ‘Hey, it’s OK. I won’t hurt you.’ The forehead in question was unnaturally warm to touch.
‘You’ve got a fever, Reid.’ It was not an enquiry.
Glimpsing movement in the corner of his field of vision, Reid turned to find Prentiss and JJ observing from the doorway. They had obviously been Hotch’s informants and were sticking around to witness the effects of their revelation.
‘You should go to bed,’ Hotch half-ordered, and then, more gently, ‘You shouldn’t have come to work.’
‘I’m fine,’ Reid returned, looking restless and anything but. He felt Hotch turn to the girls, silently calling for backup. Right on cue, Prentiss strode up, instantly a mother. She placed a light hand on the genius’s arm and, with soft encouragement, conducted him to Hotch’s office so that he could rest on the couch until somebody had a chance to drop him home. The Unit Chief watched with satisfaction as Emily gently guided Reid away, despite her intentions to hijack his office and transform it into a sickroom; JJ, still lurking in the doorway, smothered a smile.