#like i know hotch mentions it offhand to emily after they both resign/put in for transfers but still

[thegrantwater]

how the team handled reid's addiction/recovery

//tw for mentions of drug abuse, addiction, overdose, recovery; gonna be a bit of a long one//

~ reid knew that gideon, no matter how much he cared for him, would never do anything to help him. everything with frank was haunting his mind, and he was far too distracted to really notice how much reid was struggling, but gideon knew that he was using

~ after about 2 weeks from his abduction, he'd been using steadily every day, and hotch was the first member of the team to notice him slipping to the bathroom more than usual during the day.

~ that night after the rest of the team had left, hotch went to gideon and asked if reid had said anything about the abduction, to which gideon gave a noncommittal grunt of "he's stressed, he just died. cut the kid a break"

~ so hotch kept an eye out, off-handedly mentioned that he was there for reid if he ever needed anything

~ 3 weeks and 4 days after he spoke to gideon, he was woken up at 2 am to a frantic call from reid, saying hankel was in his house and was going to hurt his mom. he can't remember the last time he drove that fast, but when he got to reid's apartment he saw the other man shaking and crying on the floor of his bathroom, the tourniquet still tied around his arm and a near-empty bottle of dilaudid next to him. he immediately went into dad-hotch mode, got him a glass of water and just sat with him while he cried.

~ reid wrapped himself around hotch and sobbed, begging him not to report this to anyone because "you guys are my family, i can't lose you, you're all i have" and hotch just lets him, petting his hair and promising him that he won't say anything

~ from then on hotch became the person reid called if it ever got too bad, because he was the only one who he was certain wouldn't judge him. he knew the others would be more than willing to help, but it scared him to be so open with even hotch, let alone the entire team.

~ and hotch keeps his word, he never says anything outright to anyone else on the team. but he does mention to them, on a day reid called in sick, that he's struggling right now and they all need to be there for him. gideon knows, but he never speaks up.

~ penelope and derek were the first after hotch to step up and see what they could do. penelope was the one to finally realize he was using, and when she proposed the theory to derek it took everything in him not to go up and grip reid by the shoulders, shake some sense into him and beg for a way to help him get better, because he just couldn't stand seeing his best friend so hurt.

~ so instead of being overly dramatic about it, they decide that they'll invite him to their weekly movie night and snuggle up on penelope's couch and watch shitty comedies that derek rented from blockbuster until 1 am. spencer falls asleep between them and sleeps soundly for the first time in months, his hand still in the popcorn bowl.

~ after them was emily, who knew all too well what a drug-addled young man looked like. she saw traces of matthew in reid, and was determined to make sure that he didn't turn out the same, because this time she would do something.

~ she started to bring him coffee and danishes in the morning, knowing that he likely wasn't eating nearly as much as he should've been. it was more casual at first, only once a week or so saying "they made extra at the coffeeshop" and placing it on his desk before he could argue. but before long, they were eating breakfast together every morning, and some days even meeting up at a cafe or diner to talk about an obscure french novel they'd both read.

~ jj was the last one to notice something was off about reid, struggling with her own trauma from hankel. she was still blaming herself for him even getting taken, so despite her best efforts to look out for him she barely even noticed when he got bad. after hotch said something to them at the roundtable, she kept a closer eye out for him.

~ she wasn't even sure that she completely understood what was really going on with reid, she just knew that her friend was struggling and that she needed to help him in any way she could. so she started letting him ramble on whatever topic his brain focused on that day, and she did her best to try and understand what he was talking about. she even asked penelope to look up some of the science theories he was talking about so that she could talk about them with him too. seeing how he lit up when someone actually listened made her heart burst.

~ spencer had a feeling, deep down, that they all knew what was going on with him. he also knew that hotch never said anything, just that the people he worked with were incredibly talented profilers and no matter his best efforts to hide from them they'd always know what was going on with him.

~ in fact, hotch never said anything outright to him either, after that first night. but he'd come and stay with reid on the really bad nights, and was the one to set him up at NA meetings, to get him a sponsor. he never made a big deal out of anything, but spencer knew that he probably cared the most out of anyone else on the team

~ and once he got better, started the recovery process, he slowly repaid the team for their kindness. he started paying for breakfast with emily, and hosted movie nights at his house every few weeks. he even watched a soccer match with jj, since that was something she cared about. he never had to do anything for hotch, because he just knew that nothing would ever be enough to show his gratitude. but he'd watch jack so he and haley could go on date nights, and picked up extra paperwork at the office. and it was enough.

//god this one hurt but it needed to be done, idk why but the only way reids recovery makes sense is if the team knew but just kept it on the dl for him and helped him in small ways, ways to make sure he knew they cared//