It has only been a week since Spencer spent two long days with his kidnapper, Tobias Hankel. Only a week since he had been tortured, drugged, killed then resuscitated, a week since he experienced a trauma that he should never have had to experience. And yet here he is, back at work like nothing had happened. You always did praise him for his determination and drive to work, but this is ridiculous.

You watch him carefully all day, taking note of his every expression, every word. And yeah. Something's off. It's in the way he stares at the crime scene pictures a second too long before looking away and taking a shaky breath, and in the way his usual rambles about the details of a case are hushed and curt, getting to the point instead of going on and on until Hotch has to stop him. It's in the way he keeps inexplicably slipping away from the conference room and disappears for minutes on end.

The case went by smoothly, without too many interruptions, but your mind is more on Spencer and his well-being than on celebrating the victory. On the jet ride home, you claim the seat opposite of Spencer, who is reading, in the hope that you'll be able to talk to him about this.

"Hey, you okay?" You ask, but he doesn't even look up. Like he didn't hear you. "Spence?" You urge again and he blinks a few times, snapping himself out of his own mind and looks up at you. It takes him a second to process your question before he furrows his brows.

"I'm fine," he insists, another lie. You watch him as he looks around, looking a bit uncomfortable, before looking at you again. "Thanks for broadcasting it," he says, with a fake smile, before looking down at his book, and you sigh a bit, leaning forward on your elbows.

"Come on, I know that's not true, okay?" You say gently, and his small smile falters a bit, but he doesn't look up at you. "And that's okay, no one expects you to be okay, I just want to talk to you about this-"

"I can still do my job, alright? I'm not gonna freak out," he says a bit sharper, looking up at you again.