Alone?
Summery: Spencer helps a stranger through a panic attack.
Charactors Ried, reader, brief mentions of other team members.
A/N: This is the first fic I’ve written, so all the critisism is appreciated! My main goal with this fic is to describe the way a panic attack feels ina new and relatable way.
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Oh god no, its happening again.
(y/n) could feel it in the pit of her stomach, bubbling up towards her chest where it spread through her veins into the rest of her body.
Somebody please help me, god no I can’t do this alone again.i
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“Can you hear something?” asked Ried. The team had just finished working a case in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and were all celebrating in the bar across from the hotel.
“I don’t hear anything accept you trying to distract us from the fact that you still haven’t finished your first drink prety boy.”Teased Morgan.
It was true that Spencer was barely halfway through his first beer whereas everyone else was already at lest three deep.
“Oh leave him alone.” Chided JJ, giving Reid a smile.Reid smiled gratefully back at her. He’d always been a bit of a lightweight and a plane ride all the way back to D.C. with a hangover didn’t seem like fun.
Two hours and at least four more beers (against Ried’s protests) later, the rest of the team allowed Spencer to excuse himself and make his way back towards the hotel.
The bar was across the street from the hotel, and right next to a convienience store. This is where Spencer found himself directing his slightly inebriated feet, searching out something sweet to munch on.
Ten minutes later Spencer was exiting the small store with a bottle of coke and a container of puppy chow they made in store. That’s when he heard it. A wail that sounded almost inhuman. It was filled with anguish and an increasing note of hysteria. Spencer turned in a circle looking for a source.
The convienience store was on the corner of two cross streets. Across one was the hotel, across the other was a grassy hill with a stump next to an empty parking lot. Spencer could just make out a figure crumpled on the ground next to the stump.
Spencer hurried across the deserted street towards the hill, climbing it clumsily in the dark.
As he approached the figure he could see it was a younger woman, maybe twenty-two at the oldest. She was curled in a ball on the ground, one hand wound tightly into her hair while the other was ripping fistfuls of grass out of the ground around her. She was clenching her teeth but small whines and moans where still escaping her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Spencer knelt down dbeside her and reached out to touch her shoulder. She locked eyes with him.
“Please don’t leave me.”
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“Please don’t leave me.” (y/n) begged of the stranger standing over her. She could feel it pouring into her, hysteria, delirium, panic. A dangerous and unwarented coctail of drenaline blending seemlessly with emotions that weren’t hers and pushing her over the precipice of madness.
It had been building all day, and now it was finally here. Oh god, (y/n) was terrified. What of? Everything, anything, it all washed over her, wave after wave of terror. Her stomach had been filling with the toiling emotions and now it was overflowing, gushing up and out, into her lungs rendering them useless, flooding her throat and crashing out her moth as another anamalistic wail was vomited into the nigh air.
(Y/N) Felt a strong hand grip her small one and pull her up into a sitting posistion, a chest pressed against her back, an arm wrapped firmly around her tummy, the other hand gently prying her fingers from her hair, and then stroking it softly, whispering against her neck.
(Y/N) wasn’t sure how long the panic attack lasted, she never could tell if it had been hours or minutes. As it began to subside, she became aware of the man behind her whispering soothing words.
“Shh, you aren’t alone, shh it’ll pass, its okay,I know it doesn’t feel like it, it’s okay, shh” Suddenly feeling exhausted, (Y/N) leaned back into the stranger, turning her head and resting it against hhis chest. He rested his chin on top of her head and wrapped both arms around her.
They stayed like that for what felt like forever before the stranger broke the silence.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“(Y/N), what’s yours?”
“Spencer.” They sat in silence for a while longer.
“You know panic attacks aren’t something you should go through alone.” Spencer blurted out, “Most studies show that being alone is dangerous and tends to prolong them.”
“I know.” (Y/N) whispered softly. They fell back into silence until the sky started to lighten.
“I should go,” said (Y/N), the reluctance dripping from her voice, “My roommmate will be wondering why I haven’t come home.” Spencer slowly retracted his arms from around (Y/N)’s waist and helped her stand up.
“Will you be alright?” He asked doubtfully, “I could pr-uh, probably dr-drive you home. I’ve got a car over at the ho-” 9Y/N0 stepped forward and gently pressed her lips to his.
“No one has ever done what you did for me tonight, thank-you.” Spencer watched silently as she scooped up a blue backpack and picked her way down the hill.
