"Hello Spencer. Have a seat."
She gestured to the couch across from her desk, and he sat stiffly, clutching his legal pad to his chest.
"I'm sorry this is the first chance we've had to talk," she continued, pretending not to notice his obvious discomfort as she pulled a chair in front of her desk to sit. "Things have been hectic here in the wake of my colleague's retirement."
He shrugged, his eyes darting nervously about the office.
She pushed her thin-rimmed glasses up farther on her nose, looking him in the eyes for the first time. "You don't really want to be here, do you?" She guessed, poising her pen over a fresh page in the notebook balanced precariously on her crossed legs.
Reid blinked, and then shook his head.
She smiled warmly. "Few people do. But I just want you to remember that this is all in your best interest."
Spencer looked away.
She gestured to the legal pad in his arms. "What were you writing?"
"Just some notes," he replied, looking uncomfortable.
"Can I see them?"
He clutched the notepad closer to his chest. "I-I'm sorry, but it's classified information about a case we're working on. I can't really...share it with anyone." He glanced around again. "I really should be getting back."
"Tell me about your team," she stated, appearing not to have heard his last comment.
Reid shrugged. "The, uh, the Behavioural Analysis Unit is part of the FBI. We deal with crimes all over the world. Mainly we handle crimes against children, b-bombings, serial killers, rapists, and arson investigations."
"You're awfully young to be in the FBI," she replied mildly.
He nodded. "Gideon helped me."
"Gideon?"
"Agent J-Jason Gideon. He urged me to complete my FBI academy training when I was twenty-one, and- and then recommended me to the BAU."
She raised her eyebrows. "The BAU is pretty elite from what I understand. They don't usually take agents fresh out of the academy."
"A couple of departments offered me positions after I finished my training. I- I scored one hundred percent on all of the academic components, but I almost failed the firearms qualifications. Hotch - Agent Hotchner - has been helping me with that, though," he added. "The Bureau thought I'd do well in counter-terrorism or code breaking, but Gideon was certain I'd make a good profiler."
"It sounds like Gideon has a lot of faith in you. That must feel good."
Spencer blushed lightly, his eyes darting around the room.
"What about your other teammates? What are they like?"
"My- My teammates?" Reid stammered, uncertain.
"Yes. Do you get along with them?"
Reid nodded. "We spend a lot of time together. I- I guess you could say we're pretty close. Morgan says pretty soon we'll all be borrowing each other’s clothes." He smiled uncomfortably at the joke.
"Are you and Morgan close?"
He shrugged. "Yeah. Well, he was in the BAU before I joined, so he sort of..."
"Showed you around?" she finished, appraising him. He nodded again.
"Well," she shook her head, "a genius and the youngest member of an elite profiling team. That's very impressive. It must make you feel pretty special."
Reid squirmed, his gaze darting towards the door. "I guess."
She watched him carefully, her pen tapping thoughtfully against the notebook. Their discussion went on back and forth for some time, with Reid reluctantly providing answers to her questions about his team, his mother, his life. His discomfort in the small office was still quite evident, but she did her best to put him at ease.
"I understand you had a bit of a rough patch, recently," she stated softly after a while, trying to meet his eyes.
Spencer's gaze dropped, his arms wrapping defensively around his skinny frame.
"Do you think you can talk to me about that?"
He clutched the notebook tighter, his head shaking back and forth.
"No? Are you sure?"
The young man's leg began shaking with agitation.
"No." he whispered harshly, his eyes on the floor in front of him.
She frowned, leaning forward. "You have to stop seeing me as the enemy, Spencer. I can't help you if you won't try."
He looked up, his gaze skittish.
"Are- Are we done? I really need to get back to my work."
She sighed resignedly. "Yes, Spencer. We're done."
The young man sighed in relief and stood quickly, bustling out of the office without so much as a goodbye.
Dr. Lowe watched him as he walked back into the sitting area, quietly reclaiming the chair he'd previously surrendered and scribbling on the notepad once more. The others took no notice of him, his antisocial behaviour quite routine by now.
She closed the door to her office with a sigh, moving back around to the other side of her desk. She opened the file marked 'Dr. Spencer William Reid', her eyes glossing over the words without really seeing them. She knew the file off by heart, having taken an interest in the strange, quiet young man shortly after her arrival. With another sigh, she made a few notes, pulling out her tape recorder.
"Dr. Meghan Lowe, Leavenworth Sanitarium, February 28, 2007. I have just completed my initial evaluation of long-time patient, Dr. Spencer Reid. The following are my notes from the interview."
She paused, pulling off her reading glasses. "This was my first opportunity to speak with Dr. Reid following one of his episodes. The patient was admitted to this institution by his father at the age of nineteen, following a psychotic break as a Ph.D. student at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His first psychotic break coincided with the commitment of his mother, Diana Reid, to Bennington Sanitarium in Las Vegas. At the time, the patient was acting as guardian for his mother. It's possible that the stress of this decision was a contributive factor in his first episode.
"The patient experiences frequent trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality. Notes from his previous doctors indicate that he has shown little improvement during his stay here. He suffers moments of extreme paranoia, especially around other patients and medical staff. His periods of lucidity are followed by days - and often weeks - of catatonic-like submergement into a fictional world, with very little response to outside stimuli."
She leaned back in her chair, holding the recorder closer to her mouth. "The patient continues to suffer from the delusion that he is an FBI profiler. He has created an elaborate fantasy of himself as the young prodigy of a team of virtual crime fighters. The team is comprised of brilliant 'fellow agents' to further his fantasy and serve as his friends. Going off of Dr. Dowd's notes, I'd have to agree that most of these agents also appear to serve a psychological purpose, filling the absent relationship roles in the patient's life. For example, one agent, Derek Morgan, acts as an older brother - teasing, teaching, and protecting him. In fact, many of the so-called agents fill typical familial roles, suggesting a deeper issue with his biological family that will need to be addressed before any real progress is made.
"He also continues his obsession with former BAU profiler Jason Gideon, following his meeting with him at a lecture at UNLV prior to his first psychotic break seven years ago. The patient seems unaware of Agent Gideon's retirement from the Bureau, and has transformed Agent Gideon into both a mentor and father-figure, creating a very close relationship between the two of them."
Meghan gave a small frown, turning a page of her notebook. "His fantasies appear to be growing increasingly intricate in nature. The patient now believes that the aggressive medical treatment he received just prior to Dr. Dowd's retirement was actually him being kidnapped and tortured by an 'UNSUB'- the term he uses to describe the 'unknown subjects' he and his team capture. These UNSUBs appear to be mostly comprised of medical staff and other hostile patients whom he regards as threats. It will be necessary to gain the patient's trust in order to make any sort of improvement.
"The patient is highly intelligent, but has not responded well to any of his medications thus far. His previous doctor classified him with, among other things, treatment-resistant schizophrenia, and recommended a regimen of clozapine, but I feel this may have been too hasty. It is my recommendation that the patient be put on a stronger dose of antipsychotic medication and his condition be carefully monitored for any signs of improvement."
With a final sigh, Dr. Lowe closed the file, clicking off the tape recorder. Placing it in the drawer with the others, she pressed the button on the intercom.
"I'm ready for the next one, Charles."
Maggie smiled as she heard papers shuffling on the disorganized orderly's workstation.
"Alright, Mags. I'll send in Mr. Garner."
- ~ * ~ -