Idle

She was stumbling, set on making her way through the park to that bench that she coveted more than any one place that she had ever been at before. It wasn't like it was extremely important but it was the safest place she could think of when she was under duress as she was. They had stopped following her thankfully, the park was a public place and when you wanted to leave someone for dead Rex supposed it was the best place to be discovered later. Which might have been her exact train of thought when she tossed herself onto it, clutching her shoulder bag as if it was going to be the thing that saved her.

Her sketches were inside. The one true and honest possession that she had. She wouldn't leave them even when she was gasping for air and fighting to stay conscious. She cursed her lack of skills when it came to first aid, or more importantly her lack of money to get the insurance that could probably help her not completely die right now. She had used her scarf to tie the wad of tissue that she had shoved at her side after she had made it as far away from the people she had been running from for years now.

She was as safe as she could be right now and it had never truly occurred to her that he would end up finding her in the hours to come. He - not being the one true person she loved, hated, and had been trying to escape from for years now. He was someone troubled, yet he always seemed to pop up as of late when she had been losing hope about every little thing.

Rex had been sitting there for about four hours after all the chasing between her and the man she abhorred more than anything, when Dr. Spencer Reid came about. He wasn't the only one who had stumbled across her of course. Not everyone was so observant she had to admit though. She didn't look at them, she didn't even move. She sat completely still with the loose grip on her things and on what little piece of the world she could hold on to while she was still breathing.

Dr. Reid sat beside her, immediately talking. He sounded solemn at first. He was talking about a woman, he respected her from what he could tell but there was also resentment wedged along the seams. "She was truly my boss in a sense but she didn't deserve to die, especially not in the way she did. It was hard for us, the team and I when we found out. My boss - the one that's living was the one who found her. He probably handled it better than I did, honestly. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Death. Losing people that I have some sort of attachment to. Because of the woman I lost." He stopped and Rex shut her eyes slowly. She could feel his hand as he reached out and felt for her wrist which was closer to him than any other part of her body.

She could hear him asking her questions:

'Are you alright?'

'Rex?'

Rex didn't respond. She was drifting out and Reid soon realized that something was amiss. He stood up leaning over her and taking her face in his hands. Her head slid to the side and she looked to be falling over. He inspected her for any sign that could help him figure out what has happened. The sound of dripping made him crouch down and peer under the bench which was made entirely out of wood. He cursed silently, as he pulled out his phone. She had lost a lot of blood.

He couldn't tell if she had been shot or stabbed but his instinct only was to get her help. "Hang on, Rex." He told her even though he knew she couldn't hear him. He could be too late.

"I need an ambulance. A friend of mine has been severely injured. My name is Dr. Spencer Reid." He continued to rattle off information about their location as he tried to find where her entry wound was. She had on a few layers. It was as he was ending the call that he found the scarf covering her right side (his left).

Stabbed. She was pale, he didn't know why he hadn't noticed it immediately. It felt bad for feeling so self-important when he could have helped her sooner. He hadn't been there more than ten minutes but regardless, he felt guilty about the predicament. Even when he had no idea how it happened.

Once the paramedics had gotten there and he was sure that she would be taken care of, he headed towards the exit. He would have to go to the hospital to make sure she would survive. It was the least he could do when he had been so careless. He had a lot of questions as well. Many of which centered around what kind of trouble had she gotten in that she had been stabbed and lost so much blood? Also, what had made her come to the park of all places, she could have probably gotten help herself. Why wait hours to see if anyone would notice? He almost didn't even come to the park that day.
Morgan had tried to rope him into going to work out with him again. That wouldn't have boded well. He decided that spending a few hours talking about some of the things that had been bothering him with Rex was better than putting himself through that. If anything he was grateful that the idea had slipped into his constantly chaotic thoughts. He had been troubled by so much and now there was this added to it. He didn't feel any relief from the distraction, if anything it was more confusing than helpful.

When Reid arrived at the hospital he checked in with one of the nurses to see if they had gotten any word about Rex even though she was just admitted into the OR. Not much, really. They had just begun to help her. He imagined she would need a blood transfusion. There had been too much blood back there. He thought about asking whether or not they would need a donor to give blood. It did cross his mind that they probably had a stock but not everyone's body accepted the O blood type, there were rare cases of other types needed a special kind of blood. He hoped that wasn't the case.

He had run through the statistics and for the majority it would look good. It just depended on how much was needed.

It was in such a dire situation that Reid realized just how little he new about his listener who he came to on occasion in the park. She was always there, waiting and eager to help even when he imagined she was feeling horrible. The thing was that she never let on about anything. It was something that he never concerned himself with. It had been a relatively nice arrangement even though they never set anything in stone. She had made an offer to him and he took it reluctantly.

He understood now more than ever that it wasn't beneficial to both of them. He decided he would have to remedied once this was fixed. His mother had taught him better than that, plus it was just common for people to try to have a conversation with people even if the cause for the communication was exactly organic.

His phone started ringing and his pocket and it quickly slid it out, silencing it as he pulled up the text.

HOTCH

We have a case. Wheels up in 30. You'll be briefed on the plane.

Reid sighed, moving over to the nurse's station once again and asking one of them for a favor. He wanted updates on Rex's status. They weren't supposed to because he wasn't family but after looking up her file and discovering that she had no next of kin or even a spouse of some sort they were a little more lenient towards him. They only promised to tell him if something extremely distressing were to take place, or something good. That was all they could do. He quickly thanked them giving them a smile before dashing off. He knew he needed to grab his to go bag from home from meeting everyone at the plane.

He managed to make it just short of three minutes before liftoff. Morgan immediately attempted to try to inquire about his whereabouts. "Kid, you almost missed the plane...where were you?"

"I had a late start...on my day off." He replied but turned when Hotch came over and asked Garcia to begin the briefing. She had gotten the details before everyone else.

Reid focused on the case for two days then he listened to the voicemail that was left when they were deep into a cellar after discovering another body. There was zero reception down there.

He grew distressed when he listened to it.

"Dr. Reid, this is one of the nurses at the hospital. You asked to be informed if something big came up. Your friend vanished from her room. She had apparently woken up but no one had been in to check on her for a couple of hours. The good news is that she appeared to be responding well to the procedure before waking up, she would have probably been out of here in a day. Not sure what will be done now that she disappeared however. If you find out anything, the doctors would like to help in any way that they can."

"Is something the matter, Spence?" Jennifer asked as she caught the look on his face as he tucked his phone in his pocket.

He didn't know what to tell her at first. He would have to explain the entire thing and he didn't know if now was a good time for it. They were still on a case. Any personal issues needed to be left alone until they were done. It wasn't interfering with the work at present but he didn't know what to think about what he knew, or what he didn't now in reality.

"It can wait." He told her, before going back to the maps that they put up on the wall. He had nearly triangulated a pattern, he just needed to look at the other crime scenes to be absolutely sure. In the back of his mind he was wondering what was going on with his companion back home. What had made her leave so suddenly?

It took the team three more days to close the case and when he did he was the first to get off the plane. He had another investigation to try to work his way through. His friends had noticed how unbalanced he seemed this time around however, for he found several missed calls later in the night when he finally made it home and had no luck on the whereabouts of Rex.

"Hey Boy Genius, what are you up to? You left in an hurry. We're going to grab some grub and watch the game from the other if you were interested. Alright, let me know if you're coming. Bye."

"Spence, I specifically remember you saying how you needed someone to talk to the last time something bad happened. I'm here if you need me, you know that right? Okay. See you tomorrow, Bye."

"Boy Wonder! Why aren't you answering your phone? JJ and Derek have already tried calling you a few hundred times already. Hit me back. I don't want to have to cyber-stalk you in order to find out where you've been hiding away. I know how much you hate when I do that. We're just worried about you, I don't need to remind you about the last time do I? *sigh* Okay. We'll see you tomorrow. Don't be late."

Then there was the last one. It wasn't from a number that he knew. It was silent for a full minute before he heard anything. A lot heavy breathing. It was highly disconcerting, then he could hear her talking. "Hey, um...Reid. It's Rex. Don't ask me how I got your number. I don't have it saved anywhere if it makes you feel better. Don't have a phone actually. Uh, anyways don't worry. I'm good. Thanks for getting me some help though. I don't want to imagine the psychological pain that would have put you through knowing that I died while you sat next to me trying to seek help from me. I know you don't know me but...thanks." Then there was dial tone and that was it.

He didn't delete the message. He went back and jotted down the number. He contemplated having Garcia run it but he'd probably have to explain why and just like with JJ, he didn't think it was too important right now.

He did feel comforted by the fact that Rex hadn't just dropped off the face of the earth as he seemed to do to her every couple of weeks. She had found him when he thought she was hiding. It was ironic in this weird way that he couldn't explain. She sought him out when she thought he needed help and now she was seeking him out again to give a little solace when he was worried about her of all people.

Rex had been right about something when in regards to him, he realized. It would have bothered him for a long time if she had died there. He couldn't put on his finger on why exactly. They weren't exactly friend but he appreciated every little moment they had shared in the past six months. He didn't know when it would happen again. She probably wanted to stay low for a little while with an injury still hindering her but he found an answer in something else.

The next time he saw her it would be different. He would ask questions and he would listen to her too.

It was the best thing he could offer her in apology for what had happened and what didn't.