Title: Ask
By: zequin-stars
Pairing: Morgan/Reid
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Prompt: 009. All I Ask of You
Word Count: 1,056
Rating: PG-13
Warnings/Spoilers: Mention of rape and torture.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately Criminal Minds and all of the characters within do not belong to me. I make no money from them. I just play with them.
Summary: A little drabble, set after my story using the prompt 008. Pitiful - Close To Home.
My Beta! My lovely wovely beta, she deserves everyone's praise for putting up with my run on sentences and annoying questions! ztivokreb

***

There were geometric patterns on the ceiling made from light filtering through the blinds in the hospital window. Variegated leaves and spindled sticks making a cross hatch of gently swaying patterns of shadow and light that gave him something to concentrate on. His room was dim because the light had been turned off by one of the nurses earlier and Reid hadn't cared to ask for it to be turned back on. He was trying to turn his mind off. Make everything go away so that he could live in the blissful ignorance of figures and facts, the smartest person in the room with little experience to put behind his knowledge. It could be considered ironic that now he could put a practical spin on all the facts and figures he was constantly spouting but those same figures gave him no comfort, nor an escape from his mental torture.

Turning his head away from the window when he heard the door open softly, Reid watched silently as Morgan walked quietly towards his bed and settled into the chair, which had taken up permanent residence by his bed. One of the perks of working for the government was getting his own room, at least, that was supposed to be a perk. Reid couldn't get over the fat that he was in a hospital and needed a private room at all; he wasn't supposed to get hurt. Of course he knew that wasn't rational thinking, anyone could get hurt and he wasn't a special exception simply because he worked for the BAU.

"Hey. I brought you a couple of books. I didn't know what you would want, so I just grabbed one of everything."

Reid didn't say anything as Morgan placed a large sack of books on the table next to a vase of warm orange tinged roses Garcia had sent him. Orange roses meant the person who sent them had pride in the person intended to receive the flowers. Reid didn't understand how someone could have pride in him being raped and tortured for three days, but he understood the gesture. Elle had sent him an allspice plant, he was almost impressed at her card which told him what the plant meant; Compassion. He had known it, but to know that Elle had researched it and sent it to him made him feel special, and the gift all the more thoughtful. JJ had sent him Clematis, a nice lavender in hue, and it had taken him a little while to remember what those kinds of flowers meant. Reid was sure the drugs his doctors were keeping him on were affecting his mental processes, not that he was complaining. Clematis meant mental beauty, and coming from someone who had said he was weird and was constantly annoyed by his random facts and figures, it meant a lot to him to receive such a gift from the blonde.

Morgan was speaking to him, a constant monologue of what he did that day and how much everyone missed him. Reid never had to participate in these conversations, he was growing to believe they were for Morgan's comfort more than his own. It had been odd at first when Morgan came every day and visited him, sitting by his bedside and chatting away like they were women at a quilting bee. He was used to the attention from the darker man now, it was something he looked forward to every day, seeing that face smiling nervously at him from the ever present chair by his bed.

Reid looked towards the window once more, sitting on the sill were the flowers Hotch had sent. The card read from Hayley and Aaron, but Reid knew it was only from Hotch and the other man had simply signed his wife's name to try and make Reid feel like he had the older man's entire family's sympathy. It was a vase of mixed wild flowers, probably signifying the older man's difficulty in dealing with what happened to Reid. The younger man didn't take it personally, if he had been in the same place it would have been hard for him to deal with a person on the team being hurt. Although, it was hard for him to handle the fact that after the first day, Hotch had never come to visit, not even while he was asleep.

Turning back to Morgan when the older man fell silent, Reid smiled wryly with his lips compressed more into a line than a smile. Sometimes Morgan would simply sit and stare at him, especially if he thought the youngest man was asleep. It had made his skin crawl at first, reminding him of the unsub who had committed the horrible acts against his body that kept him confined in the hospital. Now it was like Morgan was simply watching over him, Reid felt safer if he fell asleep with the older man there or woke up to those dark eyes watching him closely.

Sometimes he wondered why Morgan never brought him flowers, not because he wanted more flowers, but because it intrigued him. The older man brought him books, crosswords, movies, and even video games. He enjoyed having something else to think about instead of what had happened to him, the books took his mind away and the games kept him occupied when he couldn't sleep. All the flowers did was make his allergies act up and cause him to constantly wonder the exact meaning behind the blooms chosen by each person.

Blinking and yawning, his body starting to ache as his pain meds wore off, Reid pressed the morphine button to give his aching body some relief before he turned his face into the hospital issue pillow. He hated how hospitals smelled, so sterile and white as if white could smell and the scent was hospital. Knowing that Morgan would stay even while he slept Reid closed his eyes and sighed as he tried to relax his body into sleep. His breath evening out to the steady rhythm, Reid didn't allow the darkness of sweet oblivion offered by a dreamless sleep until he felt Morgan's large hand cradle his own gently. Feeling safe and secure, hand held by the older man who had become his security in the white of the hospital, Reid slipped into slumber softly.



No more talk of darkness,
forget these wide-eyed fears;
I'm here, nothing can harm you,
my words will warm
and calm you.
Let me be your freedom,
let daylight dry
your tears;
I'm here, with you, beside you,
to
guard you and to guide you.

Christine:
Say
you'll love me ev'ry waking moment;
turn my head
with talk of summertime.
Say you need me with you now and
always;
promise me that all you say is true,
that's all I ask of you.

Raoul:
Let me be
your shelter,
let me be your light;
you're safe,
no one will find you,
your fears are far behind you.

Christine:
All I want is freedom,
a world with
no more night;
and you, always beside me,
to hold me
and to hide me.

Raoul:
Then say you'll share
with me one love, one lifetime;
let me lead you from you
solitude.
Say you need me with you, here beside you,
anywhere you go, let me go too,
that's all I ask of
you.

Christine:
Say you'll share with me one
love, one lifetime.
Say the word and I will follow you.

Together:
Share each day with me, each night, each
morning.

Christine:
Say you love me...

Raoul:
You know I do.

Together:
Love me,
that's all I ask of you.

Anywhere you go let me
go too

Love me...
that's all I ask of
you.

***