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You pace outside the hospital room, repeating the events of today in your head again. You tried to get Spencer to talk to you, let you know what was going on, but he was persistent in saying it was nothing. He’d been wearing his sunglasses more again, and you knew his headaches were back. He didn’t say anything last time, but you had just joined the team then. You didn’t feel like you could say anything then, but now things were different.
It’s been a little over a year since he last had a headache, and since you joined the BAU. The two of you have gotten closer in that time, became partners in the field, and started dating. With the amount of trust between the two of you, both inside and out of the office, you couldn’t help but feel hurt that he didn't talk to you. The only reason you knew now was that the hospital called you to inform you that he was in the hospital and would need someone to drive once he was discharged. You had rushed here, beyond worried, and now had to wait patiently for the doctor to step out of his room.
When the door finally opened, you noticed the lights inside were very dim. Spencer was sitting on the bed as you stepped inside. You were surprised that he held his arms open, wanting a hug. Stepping into his hold, you loosely wrapped your arms behind his neck while he lent into you. You lightly scratched the long hair at the nape of his neck, swaying slightly.
“Are you okay?” You quietly spoke.
“Yeah,” Spencer promised, “doctors didn’t see anything on the MRIs again.”
“How long have the headaches been back?” You lightly pried.
Spencer’s long sigh was defeated, “About a month now. It’s only been really bad again these past couple of days. I didn’t want to worry you.”
“Spence,” you groaned, “I want to worry about you. How would you feel if something serious was happening and I didn’t tell you?”
“I know, I know. It’s just that, I don’t want to worry people. It’s just headaches and there’s nothing else happening. The doctor thinks it could just be chronic migraines at this point. I didn’t want to say anything until the doctors ran their final tests to determine what’s happening.”
You sighed, understanding why he hadn’t said anything. If the rest of the team found out about it, then they would all be worrying over Spencer to some degree during a case. The team needed to be as focused as possible in the field, but you still didn’t understand why he didn’t tell you.
“You could have told me, you know. I wouldn’t have told Hotch or Rossi. But Spence, when you start to see spots from your headaches you can’t ignore it. Especially when it can cause you to collapse like it did today,” you fussed over him.
Spencer nodded against you. You felt the knot of worry in your chest start to loosen. You stepped away to give him some space, looking at the papers on the bed next to him. You pick them up, skimming over the discharge paperwork. Your eyes caught on the chronic migraine diagnosis, followed by what he can take to help them. You made a note to buy a bottle of migraine relief to keep in your go bag, and folded the paper before pocketing it. Spencer carefully stood up and grabbed his messenger bag from beside his feet.
“Migraines can be caused by stress and lack of sleep, you know. With everything we just dealt with from this last unsub, it’s not surprising I had a migraine,” Spencer tried to reassure you.
You nodded, walking next to him. You knew he was right, and from everything the team worried about constantly you were surprised his migraines hadn’t been worse. You still didn’t like that they were happening and affecting him, but you were grateful he wasn’t in constant pain from them. You continued to rationalize everything to yourself as the two of you walked to your car.
You thought of how much Spencer handled during the past case. He’d finally determined where the unsub was likely taking his victims. He’d been the first to rush to the SUVs while calling Hotch, rushing to explain the details of where the unsub was. You’d all arrived moments between each other, Hotch taking the lead. As you all broke off in pairs to search the property, it was you and Spencer that found the unsub in the basement. Spencer was the first to try convincing the unsub to put the knife down. You kept your gun trained on the man, and Spencer put his own gun away. He managed to slowly approach the unsub while talking, reaching out to take the knife away as the unsub’s hold on the knife weakened. When the man was disarmed, you were relieved that Spencer got the young boy away from his captor while you swiftly began to take the unsub into custody. The adrenaline still rushing through you didn’t stop. It wasn’t until everyone was back on the jet that you began to feel the effects of what you’d put your body through the last thirty six hours.
You couldn’t imagine how the effects of everything felt for Spencer. The stress of finding the boy, lack of sleep, and pressure of getting the boy away from the unsub weighed on him. All of that building up to a migraine while he was working on reports in the bullpen. It hadn’t been until Spencer was walking outside of Quantico that it apparently became too much for him, causing him to collapse. Somebody had called an ambulance, and it wasn’t until paramedics had gotten him in the hospital that you’d been called.
“Can I stay at your apartment?” Spencer asks as you buckle.
“Yeah,” you can hear the relief in your voice.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“I understand why you didn’t. With everything we deal with, it takes its toll on everyone differently.”
Spencer reaches out and takes your hand. The warmth of his fingers between yours is reassuring. He’s here right now, and everything is out in the open now. You can’t blame him for not wanting to worry you. Dealing with everything the two of you go through is hard, and sometimes you don’t want to talk to him about how you feel after difficult cases. You don’t want to worry him with it. And you understand that he felt the same way toward you, not wanting to worry you with his migraines after dealing with an unsub.
“I promise I won’t keep it from you any more,” Spencer squeezes your hand. “Thank you for caring about me.”
“I’ll always care about you,” you lean over and kiss his cheek. “Now, let’s go home.”