It's pushing yourself when you haven't been sleeping right.

[ He's not going to argue — Spencer won't be thrilled if he's not allowed to work. But he is going to keep an eye out. ]

Don't push yourself, Reid.

[ It's a quick text to JJ to drop copies of the papers off for Reid to look over. ]

She'll be by in about ten minutes.

It's not a question of how fast you read, pretty boy. You're not supposed to be working.

[ He nudges Spencer's shoulder. ]

I'll text JJ.

I can ask Hotch to drop them off. Or JJ, she's more likely to break that rule if I ask.

I can't say it'll be bedtime reading.

[ Derek opens the pictures on his phone and passes them over for Spencer to begin looking through. ]

I bet I can keep you awake, sweet thing. What do you need from me?

They're not working anything right now. It's a guy we picked up a couple months back — finally got access to all of his journals, and Hotch is thinking we might find clues to where he buried other bodies in his writing.

[ Derek nudges Spencer's leg lightly with one hand, glancing at him with a faint grin. ]

Unofficially, I'll let the kid look at anything you send, too, but I'll keep it off the record. Later, Hotch.

conversation with Hotch. ]

Send anything over you want me to look at and I'll give it a look.

[ Derek has taken a little bit of time to pick up anything else that might have been knocked to the floor before he'd gotten there, and he's cleaned up just a little bit — hasn't moved anything, hadn't tried to reorganize, just cleaned some. He's on his phone when Spencer comes out, seemingly mid

Sure, kid.

[ Derek watches Spencer over the rim of his cup, careful to keep his analyzing to a minimum. He doesn't try to profile Spencer, but it's easy when Spencer wears his emotions on his face.]

make you weak or bad at your job.

Yeah, I did. And not every call I made helped me get there. We all do things that we may regret after the fact.

[ Derek shrugs slightly and takes a drink from his coffee, debating what he should and shouldn't say. Ultimately, he doesn't know how much anything he says will help Spencer. ]

Doesn't

and worked out every day, I was a thirteen year old kid raised by a single mother in the south side of Chicago. And let me tell you, that kid never thought he'd be here.

[ Derek keeps a pretty tight lock on anything that might shake his image. Anything that might reveal too much. It's only been a few months since he almost went to prison for the locks he keeps shut tight. ]

Yeah? Well, before I was authorized to carry a gun and a badge, before I played football

sighs and passes the mug over, raising the second mug in both hands. ]

You know a pretty carefully crafted version of me that I put forward at work. It's not the whole story.

That's a lot of assumption about what I would and wouldn't do in a situation you've never seen me in. I know I've made choices you wouldn't make. I made a choice that almost cost me my life, and even knowing exactly how that turned out, I'd make the same choice. We're not the same, Reid.

[ Derek

pouring coffee for them both. ]

We all make choices, Reid.

I'm not talking about right and wrong. You did something to help yourself survive a bad situation, after something horrible was done to you. There's not a right or wrong, it's just what happened. A choice was made, and we're here now.

[ Derek opens the cabinet and pulls out a couple of mugs,