The First Promise Pt. 3
Penelope
Carrie was unconcious, and I had no idea what to do to stop the her bleeding.
"Carrie, please wake up! Please please please wake up!" I shook her again. Her eyelids fluttered and closed. I knew it was up to me to find a way out of here and get help. I laid her gently on the floor and crawled until I reached the remaining lamp. Using it as a guide, I found my way to the wall and slowly walked around the room until I found a door.
"Penny..." Carrie gurgled, and I could hear her trying to slide across the floor.
"Stay right there honeybunches. Momma's going to get us out of here." I opened the latch and pushed the heavy door open to find a staircase. Carrie wouldn't be able to climb and I didn't know if I could carry her 5-foot-8 frame up the steep stairwell. I left the lamp at the doorway, facing the light towards Carrie.
"Care-Bear, do you think you can hold on to my back so I can carry you up the stairs?" I brushed the sticky hair out of her face as she nodded yes. I had to help her sit upright, which didn't reassure me.
"Wait," she struggled to breathe, and each inward breath sounded like someone trying to suck the last drops of milkshake through a straw. She wouldn't have long. We had to get out of there fast. I knelt down and held onto her arms when she wrapped them around my shoulders. She stood, mostly on her own, holding onto me.
"Hold on tight, we just have to make it up these stairs." I slowly led her across the room and up the stairs, one step at a time, holding tightly to her arms and trying to support her with my shoulders. Once we were at the top I could get a better grip on her.
"Here chicky, let me get an arm around your waist and once we're outside you can rest." She gingerly stepped to my side, keeping her left arm around my shoulder. I wrapped my right arm around her waist and we continued, slowly, out the front door of what seemed to be some kind of hunting lodge or something.
Once we were in the grass outside, Carrie fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around her own shoulders. She vomitted blood all over her legs and started sobbing.
"I can't go any farther," She cried. I dropped to my knees beside her, and offered her my sweater to wipe her face with.
"Carrie we have to try to get help, and I'm not leaving you alone." I tried to keep the tears out of my own voice, since now was my turn to be strong for her.
"Go, I'll slow you down. Go try to find the main road and wave someone down. Help me take off my hoodie first," She coughed more blood into her hands, and wiped them on my sweater.
"Shouldn't you leave it on? You're losing a lot of blood, you'll get cold." I didn't know what to do, but as she started trying to pull off the sweatshirt, I grabbed the bottom and helped her pull it over her head.
"Tie it around my shoulders, as tight as you can. If I keep my arms still, it might slow the bleeding for a little while." I had to trust her judgement. After all, she was the doctor, not me. I did as she instructed and she laid down on her back, closing her eyes.
"Penny..." she whispered.
"What sweet cheeks?" I couldn't help the way my voice shook, or the tear that fell from my eye and landed on her forehead.
"Hurry."
I kissed her forehead and looked for a road as I stood up. I spotted the gravel driveway and ran, as fast as I could, away from the house and hopefully towards a road.
Spencer
I drove in silence. Devin didn't push conversation. We had reached the mountains and branched off onto different side roads, so that the team could cover more area at once. We knew with every second we were running out of time.
I must have been going 80 down the curvy mountain road, but the only thing I could think of was my drive to find Carrie and Pen before it was too late. I was looking for something, anything. A driveway, a building. Somewhere he might have taken them. I saw movement in the trees ahead of us and slowed down, expecting another deer. I slammed on my brakes when I saw Penelope emerge from the woods, waving her arms wildly in the direction of my headlights. Devin jumped out of the vehicle and ran to Penelope. I put it in park and followed.
"Oh my god, I can't believe it's you!" Penelope sobbed, clinging to Devin and pulling me to her as well.
"Where's Carrie?" I demanded, as Devin and I helped Penelope into the front passenger's seat. Devin climbed in the back and I stood at Penelope's open door.
"Back there," She pointed in the direction she had come from. "There's a gravel driveway. Some kind of hunting lodge or something back there."
I ran around the front of the vehicle and got back in. Not bothering with my seatbelt I threw it in drive and whipped into the gravel driveway. I didn't take my foot off the accelerator as we approached the lodge. Not until I saw Carrie lying in the grass, her blue Titans hoodie tied around her shoulders, blood all over her t-shirt.
"Call Hotch." I ordered, slamming into park and flinging my door open. I ran to Carrie, fell to my knees beside her and pulled her into my arms.
"Carrie, I'm here. You're going to be ok now," I cried, rocking back and forth on my knees. The motion woke her. Her eyelids fluttered and she focused on my face.
"Spencer, where am I?" I could hear the blood in her lungs, and hushed her by gently placing my finger over her lips.
"We're still in the woods. Devin and I just found Penelope on the road. The team is on their way." I held her tightly and it occurred to me that I'd never had such a strong urge to pray. Devin approached us.
"They're almost here, I sent them the GPS coordinates," She said softly, kneeling in the grass above Carrie's head. "Is she going to be ok?"
"Yes, she's going to be fine!" I snapped, and instantly regretted it. I could hear gravel flying behind us as another vehicle flew into the driveway.
"Baby!" Morgan shouted, jumping from his open door before Hotch had even come to a complete stop. I watched as he ran to Penelope, throwing his arms around her and pulling her as close as he could while planting kiss after kiss all over her face. I held Carrie tighter, silently willing her to hold on.
Hotch came over to us as Emily and Veronica pulled in.
"I've called for medics and backup. Do we know where the UNSUB is?" Hotch kneeled down and appraised Carrie's condition as he spoke.
"I k-" Carrie's voice broke with a violent cough, blood pouring from her mouth as she did. "I killed him."
Hotch placed his hand on her knee and looked into her face. "You didn't do anything wrong Carrie, you were defending yourself and Garcia. Where is the weapon you killed him with?"
Carrie raised her hands.
Carrie
I drifted in and out of conciousness, and couldn't keep up with what was going on. I knew the SWAT team had shown up, and some of the team went inside with them. I knew Devin and Penelope were sitting beside me. I knew an Air Evac chopper was coming for me. Everything else was a blur. All I could concentrate on were his arms around me. I tried to focus all my awareness on that, and away from the pain.
"...don't know when he got her..."
"...gun and badge were on the floor..."
"...hazard lights on..."
I caught bits and pieces of what Spencer and Penelope said to each other, but I couldn't focus enough to follow what they were saying. Random thoughts came and went from my mind in waves. I guessed that was what people meant when they said their life flashed before their eyes. I saw myself as a child, in my ballet recital costume. I saw myself as a spunky ten year old, sitting in a college classroom. I saw my dad teaching me to drive in his old Chevy pickup. I saw myself in my tiara and sash when I was Miss Tennessee.
Lastly, I saw myself running straight into Spencer on my first day at the BAU, and his lopsided grin as we had our first awkward meeting. I don't know why I felt the need to do what I did next, but I blame it on the blood loss.
"Spencer," I choked out, reaching into my pocket. I pulled out his watch and placed it into his hand. He hugged me closer. "When you left this morning..." I couldn't finish, i started coughing again and had to turn over and vomit another half quart of blood into the grass. I was still puking when I heard Devin's voice raise.
"What the fuck does she mean, 'when you left this morning'?" I turned in time to see her standing up, stepping away from us. I couldn't speak, and I immediately wished I hadn't been able to about thirty seconds earlier.
"Devin, this isn't the time or the place," Spencer sighed.
"WHAT THE FUCK DOES SHE MEAN, SPENCER?" Devin was screaming now. Penelope stood up as Morgan approached us. Morgan took Devin by the arms and tried to pull her away.
"Can we talk about this later, when she's not dying in my arms?" Hearing Spencer raise his voice shocked me, and apparently the others as well, because Devin allowed a stunned Morgan to escort her to the vehicle. As they walked away, I heard the helicopter blades getting near, and felt the wind as they circled, looking for a clear place to land.
Spencer
I stood in the doorway of the hospital room where Carrie laid, finally stable but still unconcious. A thousand thoughts were running through my mind, but the only one that mattered was how happy I was to see Carrie's steady heartbeat registering on the machine.
Penelope came up behind me. "How's she doing kiddo?"
"Still unconcious, but making a good recovery." We entered the room as I spoke. Penelope took the chair, and I sat on the edge of the bed, taking Carrie's hand gently in my own.
"I know you don't want to talk about it," Penelope started, propping her foot on the bed next to me, "but Devin is heartbroken. I think you owe her an explanation."
"But that's just the thing. I can't explain it. At least not in any way that's not going to just hurt Devin more." I traced circles on the back of Carrie's hand with my fingertip.
"What do you mean you can't explain?" Penelope raised an eyebrow at me, an expression she'd picked up from spending so much time with Morgan.
"I just can't. I can't describe with words how I feel when I'm with Carrie. I can't explain why when I'm with her, I feel like a whole person for the first time in my life. Or why when she speaks to me it's like I've been deaf all my life and her voice is the first thing I can hear." I shook my head. I sounded like an idiot, which is exactly why I didn't try to talk to anyone about this in the first place.
"Boy genius..." Penelope grinned like the Cheshire Cat.
"What?"
"Youuuu're in love!" I blushed and shook my head at her.
"I've known Carrie for less than a week, I would hardly say that's enough time to fall in love."
"Trust me kiddo, when you find your true love, it doesn't matter if it's been a year or a minute of knowing them, you'll know when you're in love." She winked.
"I thought that whole 'finding your one true love' thing was just a fairy tale." I laughed, dismissing her comment.
"You're talking to Rose Red here. Sometimes fairy tales come true in bad ways. This time they're coming true in a good way!" I don't know if I was more shocked at the fact that she insisted I was in love with Carrie, or the fact that she wasn't lecturing me about hurting Devin.
"So then if this is a fairy tale, will she wake up if I kiss her?" I challenged. Penelope shrugged.
"Worth a try sweet cheeks."
I thought about all the times in the past few days that my lips had burned to touch Carrie's. I thought about how terrible it would have been to lose her when I hadn't really even had her to begin with. I resolved not to let the first really good thing in my life slip out of my hands.
I gently brushed Carrie's hair from her forehead with my fingertips. Even after what she had just been through, she looked stunningly beautiful. I took a deep breath, leaned forward, and pressed my lips gently to hers.
As I sat back and reached for her hand again, her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. As she focused on me, her warm, incredibly soft lips turned up into a smile.