Criminal Minds Confronting the Past

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing. I do not own anything you recognize.

This story takes place right after Prentiss' funereal.

AN- I was searching for a Reid centric story to read and stumbled across a Gideon comes back story. I was thrilled to find it! Unfortunately, there was precious little Reid in it. The majority of it (3/4 or more) was all about Hotch's reaction to Gideon and people talking to him about his reactions.

Since I now wanted to read a story about Reid's reactions to Gideon coming back, I searched for it and I managed to find a few good ones. But by then my mind was already whirling with possibilities. So I decided to write this. 

CM 

The team silently filed into Rossi's living room and dropped onto the various pieces of furniture scattered around the spacious room.

"I'm going to make coffee." Rossi announced as he strode through the room. "Would anyone like something to eat while I'm going? There's still a ton of food left."

No thank yous rang out across the room.

"Okay" Dave said. "Be right back."

"Uncle Dave!" Jack called, racing up to the well-dressed man. "Can me and Henry play the video games you've got downstairs?"

Dave smiled down at the boy. "It's Henry and I and yes you can." He replied, tousling Jack's hair. "If it's okay with your parents, that is."

Grinning from ear to ear, Jack turned and ran over to his father. "Dad! Dad!" he excitedly hollered. "Can me and, I mean, can Henry and I go downstairs and play video games?! Please? Uncle Dave said it was okay!"

"Not this time Jack" Aaron replied. "You don't need to be downstairs by yourselves."

"I'll go with them." Will volunteered, wanting to give the team time to really grieve; something they wouldn't do in front of the two little boys. He gave JJ a quick peck on the cheek and then stood and held out his hands. "Come on boys. Let's go play."

"Yea!" Henry and Jack cheered as they grabbed Will's hands and started pulling him across the room.

"Make sure you try out that new Disney Infinity game I bought last week." Rossi instructed them, chuckling as the overexcited boys doubled their pace. Making a mental note to send an extra-large cup of coffee down to the Cajun, the senior profiler walked into his kitchen. After filling up the coffee pot and turning on the machine, he leaned back on the counter and looked out at his devastated team. Dave ran a critical eye over each person in turn. Aaron and JJ seemed to be dealing fairly well. He imagined their families had a lot to do with that. It might have been a long time since he'd had a wife to come home to but he still remembered just how much it helped to have someone to confide in.

Dave switched his gaze to the rest of the team. Those three weren't fairing even half as well from what he'd learned. Morgan had channeled his grief into anger. He was spending every free moment at the gym beating the crap out of every punching bag in the place. And Garcia, his kitten, had thrown herself into her grief counseling group and her theatrical troupe; doing anything to keep her mind occupied and off the loss of her friend. She had also gone on a shopping binge, filling her office and probably her home with enough plushies to start her own store. Morgan had taken one look at the stuffed menagerie and become concerned. Since that happened two days ago, he had taken it upon himself to spend extra time with his Baby Girl as Derek called her. Rossi smiled. That was just what both of them needed.

Dave then turned his gaze to the youngest member of their team. Reid was a different story. Where the others had found ways to deal with their grief, he hadn't. In fact he wasn't dealing at all. The kid was drawing further into himself every day. And while Rossi knew part of that was that this was the first time Reid had had to deal with someone close to him dying, he also knew it was more than that. The boy wasn't just pulling into himself he was distancing himself from the rest of the team. It was almost like he…Dave frowned as the light bulb went off. Now it all made sense. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it earlier. Reid was afraid. The kid had lost one person after another; his father, Gideon, Elle, and to a large extent JJ. Spencer had lost his mother too in a way due to her illness. The boy wasn't just mourning Prentiss' loss. He was bracing himself for losing the next member of his family. No wonder Reid was attempting to distance himself from the rest of them. Dave couldn't let him do that. He was going to have to do something about that and soon.

But first…Rossi turned around and opened the cupboard above his coffee maker. He picked up mugs and set them on the counter, pausing as the doorbell rang. Setting down the cup in his hand, he quickly strode out of the kitchen, through the living room, and to the entryway. He took a deep breath before opening the heavy wooden door. He was in no way prepared for the sight that greeted him. "J-Jason?" Dave gasped.

Gideon smiled. "Hello Dave" he greeted. "Mind if I come in?"

"What? Oh, yes of course" Rossi replied, stepping aside to let his old friend enter. He looked Gideon over surprised at how relaxed and happy the ex-profiler appeared. "What brings you to my door after all these years of being incognito?"

"When I heard about Agent Prentiss' death, I knew I couldn't stay away any longer. I had to come." Jason answered.

"Really?" Dave inquired as he walked his former colleague into the living room. Shaking his head, he turned to his grieving family. "Look who decided to pay us a visit." he announced.

The seated agents glanced up, mouths dropping open in shock at the sight of their long lost friend. Silence reigned as the men and women struggled to handle the sudden appearance of a man that hadn't heard a peep from in years.

It was Hotch who finally broke the silence. "Gideon, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"As I told Dave I heard about Agent Prentiss' death and knew I had to come." Gideon explained. "I couldn't stay away when I knew you'd need me."

"Bullshit"

"Excuse me" Gideon said, looking at the speaker in confusion.

"You heard me." Reid icily replied as he stood. "You couldn't care less about one of us needing you. You made that abundantly clear when you left without a word to any of us."

"I didn't leave without a word." Gideon corrected. "I told you what was happening and why I had to leave."

"Right, you left us a nice little note." Spencer huffed. "Well, doesn't that make everything hunky dory?"

"Spencer, you know…"

"Don't you Spencer me!" Reid shouted. "You lost that right when you left!"

"Spencer" Gideon warned. "I taught you better…"

"Taught me?! Taught me?!" Reid scoffed. He stormed over to his former mentor, going toe to toe with the man. "Let me tell you what you taught me! You taught me that you were just like everyone else! You used me for my mind and then threw me away when you were done! Actually, scratch that. You were worse than the rest because you pretended to care about me! You pretended to want to get to know me for me! You acted like a father figure to get me to do your bidding! And then you left me high and dry when you were done just like everybody else! But you know what?! That turned out to be a good thing! Because I learned an important lesson from your disappearance! I learned that I can't truly trust anyone! That I can't believe what even the people closest to me say because they are more than likely lying to me!" In his anger Spencer missed JJ and Hotch's wince.

"Reid man" Morgan called.

"No! He needs to hear this!" Spencer hollered.

"Reid, I know you're angry." Gideon calmly said. "But you know I care about you. You're like a son to me; always have been."

"Oh please!" Spencer growled, rolling his eyes. "Quit lying! You don't care about me! If you did, you wouldn't have left!"

"You're wrong, Spencer. I do love you." Jason told the enraged young man.

"Really?! Then where were you, huh?!" Reid countered as he began to pace. "Where were you when I was struggling to overcome my dr…" he glanced at his family before continuing. "My problem after the case in Georgia! Or how about when I thought my biological father had murdered a child when I was four! Or when I contracted Anthrax! And then there was the time I was shot in the knee! Where were you then, huh?! Cause it sure as Hell wasn't with me!"

"Spencer…"

"NO!" Reid hollered, jerking his arm out of the older man's reach. "You know what?! I'm done with this conversation and with you!" He gave his former mentor a look that had even Hotch taking a step back. "Goodbye Gideon. I'm leaving you this time." Spencer then turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.

Gideon gazed sadly at the others. "I'm sorry this…" A resounding slap knocked his head to one side. Holding his smarting cheek, he looked at his attacker in surprise. "Garcia?"

"How dare you come and upset my Junior G-man!" Penelope growled. "Do you know how much you hurt him when you left?! Do you even care?!" The furious woman suddenly deflated, her expression becoming sad. "He waited all night for you, you know. JJ found him asleep in your office the next morning. He trusted you so much that he fell asleep waiting for you to come and play your scheduled game of chess. It never dawned on him you weren't coming, not even after hours of waiting. You should think about that." She glanced at her silent friends. "I've gotta go check on my Junior G-man. Do me a favor and get Gideon out of here before we come back up. Reid has enough to deal with without a ghost from his past making it worse."

"You've got it kitten." Rossi softly said. He waited for Garcia to get out of the room before rounding on his former colleague and friend. "It's time for you to leave, Jason."

Gideon nodded. "Alright" He resignedly stated, looking at the remaining members of the BAU. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause any problems. I just wanted to make sure all of you were alright."

"We know." Hotch told him.

Jason allowed Rossi to take his arm and start leading him towards the front door. "I meant what I said, Dave. Spencer really is like a son to me."

"Yeah, I can tell. You've treated him the same way you did Stephen." Rossi groused, stopping a few feet from the door. "You spent time with him, made him feel safe and loved, and then took off and made excuses to yourself for why you couldn't so much as call him."

"I don't…"

"You do and you know it." Dave angrily countered. "You left this team and that boy when they needed you the most. You left them high and dry and never looked back. And you left me to deal with the fall out." Rossi paused. He glanced back towards the living room and smiled. "That team in there; those men and women are my family now. They're my kids and nobody's going to hurt them; not if I can help it."

"I didn't mean…"

"You never mean to, Jason but you do. That's the problem." Dave told the former profiler. "You need to leave now, Jason. Leave and don't bother coming back. My family has someone to take care of them. They have a father figure who's never going to bail on them. They don't need you."

Gideon nodded. "Goodbye Dave, tell them I'm sorry." Jason glanced towards the room where he knew his friends were before turning and walking dejectedly down the porch stairs.

Resisting the urge to slam the door, Rossi slowly closed it and then leaned against it. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Today had been one rough day. He just hoped there wouldn't be any more unwelcomed surprises. He didn't think his family could take much more. And speaking of his family…Dave straightened up and started for the other room. He had a kid that needed comforting. Everything else would just have to wait.


End file.

Criminal Minds, Family, Hurt-Comfort