Summary: How far would you go to protect the ones you love?
Warnings: I have rated this T as I feel that's what it deserves. However, I would like to warn you beforehand that this is a story concerning character death and maybe be dark in places.
Author's Note: For the record, this is set around the end of season 5, after 'The Internet Is Forever' to be precise. This is my first time participating in a challenge and I extremely enjoyed writing this, as I hope you enjoy reading it too.
My submission for the CCOAC's May Challenge: Death Of A Character
Jennifer Jareau
Those You Love
Agent Jennifer Jareau drew the black SUV to a halt as they reached the end of the dirt road. JJ and her colleague Spencer Reid, had come out to inform the brother of the first victim that his sister's body had been found. Since it was a good two hour drive away from the precinct, they figured they might as well take the chance to analyse the bedroom that had once belonged to the teenage girl once more, with a fresh pair of eyes.
JJ sighed, stepping out of the car. "It just had to be the woods, didn't it."
"Did you know that there have been many debates over whether xylophobia, which is sometimes referred to as hylophobia, actually exists as a phobia. Since the fear of the woods is often complicated by other phobias that a person suppresses, others may simply have rational concerns about entering the woods, particularly-"
"It's going to be dark soon, Spence."
That was enough to shut him up for a while. JJ patted her gun, and the torch that was right next to it. If she was going to be forced into the woods then she sure as hell wasn't going in without those two items. Of course, she had Spence, but somehow she figured that she would have to be the one to hold his hand on the way back in the dark.
Reid had already set off along the vaguely marked out path, surrounded by trees at least three times his height. "Wait up, Spence!" Damn this guy for living right in the middle of nowhere.
After walking about ten minutes, the trail stopped and they could see the roof of a rather old and derelict house. This was where Clara had lived. A shiver involuntarily ran up JJ's spine and she subconsciously inched closer to Reid.
"So." Reid gulped, checking the location on his phone. "This is definitely the place Garcia gave us. I guess we better go knock."
"Are you kidding?" she whispered, incredulously, half running to catch up with Reid. "This looks like something out of The Shining!" He raised an eyebrow in question, but she just rolled her eyes, dismissing him. Sure she could understand Twilight, but Stephen King? She was going to give that boy a reading list.
Reid rapped his knuckles on the door a few times, as they both shivered in the cold. He was about to knock again when the pair heard scuffling behind the door and it jolted open with a creak. A young man, possibly in his mid to late twenties, peered at them while he pulled the rest of the door back.
"Kane O'Connelly?"
"Yes, that's me." You could still hear a strong Irish accent from the guy when he spoke.
"I'm Agent Jennifer Jareau and this is Dr. Reid, we're from the FBI." JJ flashed her badge at him, and he nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, I know who you are. You're the ones on my sister's case, right?" Kane asked, running his hands through his messy, dirty blonde hair. He clearly hadn't shaven in a week or so, judging by the stubble beginning to become more prominent. His eyes were bloodshot and were deep set into his face, the dark circles under his eyes even more noticeable than they probably would have been under different circumstances.
"May we come in?" Reid interjected, looking past the rather well built man into the dark and dreary hallway which didn't look particularly inviting. Kane removed his eyes from JJ's, which was a relief to her as they had stayed there a few seconds too long and had began to make her feel uncomfortable. I mean she had a child and was in a committed long term relationship. She smiled briefly as she thought of Will and Henry, probably kicking around a ball in the garden. Her boys.
Kane shook his head, as if clearing it from some unwanted thought, before standing aside and gesturing them through the hall. "Course, second on the left." He watched them closely as they slid past him down the narrow hallway. They didn't hear the key turn in the lock.
Kane O'Connolly followed them into the 'living room' where there was a damp old couch and an armchair across from it. "Maybe you should take a seat as well, Mr O'Connolly," JJ offered, trying to prepare him for what was coming. It would all be in vain though, nothing could make the news that your sister was dead any better.
He complied and sat forward in the chair, elbows on knees, hands in face. "Well what is it? It sounded pretty urgent on the phone?"
Reid took a breath, trying to save JJ from breaking the news. "I'm so sorry to have to tell you, but we found your sister's body-"
"What?" Kane jumped up suddenly, almost kicking back the chair with the force of his movement, running his hands through his hair once more. JJ and Reid shared a worried look. That wasn't an exclamation of shock, or sadness. It was pure rage. "How could this have happened? This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Mr O'Connelly." JJ said his name and he whipped around at once, anger written all over his face. She recoiled from him as he quickly turned away. Kane took a deep breath, calming himself. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."
JJ stiffened a little. "You didn't." She thought she caught a glint in his eye, but he turned to Reid before she could really give it any more thought.
He sat back down, and buried his face in his hands. "I tried to prepare myself. She'd been missing over a week now, I knew the chances weren't great. I just – you know, that little bit of hope that you can't let go of, whatever the…" Kane tailed off.
"I'm sorry, sir. I know it's not the best time, but could I possibly use your bathroom?" Kane looked up to meet the blonde woman's apologetic smile.
"Sure, love." He nodded to the door. "It's just across the hall."
JJ nodded her thanks, and eased her phone out of her pocket as soon as she was out of the room. With a quick look she sighed. Of course, they're in the middle of the woods. Why would they be granted the luck of reception?
She heard Kane asking Reid some questions about the body as she opened the bathroom door, and stared at her face in the mirror for a moment. There was definitely something off with the brother. He'd gone crazy for all the wrong reasons when they broke the news, then he controlled his emotions amazingly.
One thing was for sure, and that was that they had to make an excuse to get out of there right away. She was not having a repeat of Georgia, Reid could not go through that again.
JJ flushed the toilet, took a deep breath and opened the door. "Hey Reid, we got a call-"
She dropped the phone immediately and her hand went instinctively to her gun.
"Oh, I wouldn't if I were you. Or I would not like to be in his shoes."
Kane O'Connelly had Reid firmly within his grasp, with his own gun pointed right against his temple. But JJ's hand still didn't move from beside her own gun. Not even when he clicked the safety off.
One look into Reid's eyes was what did it. He was trying to be so brave, so strong. He gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head, telling her not to worry about him and to take the gun out anyway. But she could see behind the guard. He was desperate, his brain frantically thinking of ways they could both get out of this alive. She could see that he was coming up with none.
Her Spence was scared, and she'd be damned if she let anything happen to him.
"Okay, I won't touch it," JJ raised her hands up slowly, away from her gun. "Just let him go and we can talk, alright? No guns, just let him go."
Kane let out a wild laugh, finding what she said hysterical. "Talk!" he laughed again. "Take your gun out of the holster, and kick it over to me. No funny business, or the kid dies."
Reid didn't really feel it was an appropriate time to inform the man who appeared to be their unsub that he was in fact twenty nine, and not exactly a kid.
When JJ did nothing, their unsub pushed the gun further into Reid's temple, making him jerk backwards. So she reluctantly did as she was told, hoping she wouldn't regret it later.
"There's a good girl." He praised her, in a sickening voice. "You're beautiful, you know that? Just my type."
Just my type. That was it. Reid closed his eyes in dread. Jennifer Jareau was just their unsub's type. Blonde, pretty, petite. She could easily pass for early twenties. Oh god, if judging by what he did to his sister was anything to go by, JJ was in serious trouble. And he was just standing there, paralysed. Doing nothing.
"Now here's what we're going to do." Kane said in a sing song voice. "You're going to open the door to that cellar over there, and we'll follow you in."
Visbibly shaking now, JJ pushed open the door and walked down the steps, closely followed by a struggling Spencer and a stronger Kane. Reid attempted to knock the gun out of their captor's hand but O'Connelly retaliated by shoving him against the cold hard wall. Reid winced as his head collided with it, but managed to shout out a weak, "Run!" to JJ.
"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you, love." Kane said as he landed a swift kick to Reid's abdomen that had him gasping in pain. "Little Reid over here might pay the price if you do."
The unsub managed to secure one of Reid's hands in a pair of handcuffs before attaching the other one to a hook on the wall. No sooner than he had done that, JJ pounced on him from behind, desperately clawing at his face, eyes, ears, anything that would cause him enough pain to subdue him for a few seconds. With a roar of anger, he stood up and flung JJ off him into the wall. Ignoring Reid's cries for her, he pinned her against the wall, grasping her hands in one of his.
"I told you not to hurt him!" JJ struggled, desperately trying to land a decent kick, but it was all in vain.
Kane smirked and moved his mouth closer to her ear. "I lied." JJ screamed in frustration, as he moved ever closer.
"Dr Spencer Reid. Certified genius, eidetic memory, youngest agent to ever be recruited for the BAU." He spouted out facts without even sparing a glance for the man who looked close to breaking his wrist, he was trying so hard to get out of his restraints. Instead he stared into Miss Jennifer's eyes, almost lovingly. "Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau, known as JJ, Communications Liason for the BAU. Oh yes, I did my research Jennifer. Ever since I first caught a glimpse of you at the station, I was enthralled. I had to keep killing... keep practicing… I had to be perfect for you."
Reid looked on as she stopped fighting. "What do you want?" she asked, under her breath. It was so soft, he could barely hear it.
Kane lifted his other hand to stroke her hair, gently caressing her face, tugging on her bottom lip with his thumb. "Jennifer, can't you see by now. I want you."
"No! No you can't! Just let us go now, and we'll see what we can do! You won't have to do time if you just let us go now!" JJ struggled again, kicking him, trying to use his own hands against him, but he just lifted her own way above her head.
"I don't want you," JJ whispered.
"Oh but you will. That's why I have Spencer over here. A little leverage is always good, eh? Here's what's going to happen. You're going to do what I want, no resisting. This is supposed to be romantic, for God's sake. If you don't, then I shoot Mr Smarty Pants right through his rather large brain."
"Spence…" JJ searched deep into his eyes as he frantically pulled against the wall. "I'm sorry."
When Kane captured her lips the first time, she was rigid. The second he aimed his gun at Spencer's head she gave in to him, resigning herself to do whatever it took to keep Spence alive.
"Jayje! What are you doing! No please! Don't do this, you don't have to, just…" Reid shouted and screamed at them, the metal band around his wrist drawing blood.
"Oh will you just shut up, you're ruining the mood!" Kane pulled away from JJ, although not letting go of his vice like grip on her wrist, and kicked Reid hard in the head so he slammed back to the wall, defeated as the darkness came. The unsub ignored JJ shrieks of protest and resumed what he was doing.
The last thing Reid saw was the ubsub violently tearing apart the buttons of JJ's shirt, and found himself greatful for the darkness stopping him from witnessing what was sure to be the worst thing in his life.
"Spence?" That voice was possibly the only thing that kept him going. Except the voice was broken and cracked, much like the girl it belonged to. Reid opened his eyes to find her crouched next to him. Her lips were swollen and red, her eyes puffy, and a bruise was forming on her left cheek. She was wearing only her underwear and her white blouse from before which only had one remaining button. She had cuts and bruises and appeared to be in pain. All this, and she was the one worried for him.
"Oh God, Jayje," he croaked, opening the arm not restrained to the wall for her to curl up closer next to him. She complied and tears streamed down her face as Reid comforted her as best her could.
"I'm so sorry, Spence. I couldn't let him hurt you, I couldn't! I just…" she trailed off, the tears overcoming her. Reid pulled her in closer, trying to protect as much of her as he could. He had failed her, why was she apologising for him not being able to stop the guy from taking advantage of her. "Shh, shh, don't worry, Jayje. It's all going to be alright."
They sat like that for a while, taking comfort in their closeness and the fact their unsub wasn't with them. Then JJ spoke up.
"You know you're my best friend, right? And I love you more than anything. Except maybe Henry." She sank closer into him as Reid turned his head to look in her eyes, unable to bring across the words he needed to say.
"I need you to do something for me."
"Anything."
"If I don't make it-"
"Don't you dare say that!" Reid blinked away the tears. JJ removed his arm from around her and grasped it tightly as she turned to face him, eyes pouring into his.
"Reid. It's a likely possibility, we both know how his victims end up, hell we know how his own sister ended up!" She took another breath. "Spence, if I don't make it, I need you to help look after Henry. He needs his godfather, okay? I need you to tell him that his mummy loves him very much, more than he can ever imagine. That he's going to grow up to be a beautiful boy, just like his daddy, and his mummy is ever so proud of him. That I'm always with him, wherever he is and…"
She and Reid both stopped to choke back the tears that were freely falling down their faces.
"not to be scared of the monsters because daddy and his Uncle Spence are going to protect him, until one day he protect himself. Will knows what to do, just to open my letter and everything he needs to know will be there. Just, just tell him I love him Spence, and I didn't want to leave him. I love them both, I love them, I love them, I-" she stopped, breaking down again. Reid feebly pulled against the cuff, desperately wanting to hold this beautiful woman in his arms and never let go. He settled for the one arm and held her impossible tight.
"Of course, I will Jayje. He knows you love him, and I will protect Henry with my life, you know that." She sniffed and looked at him, admiring how much he'd grown, from that overwhelmed little boy who'd once asked her out on a date, to this strong man who would do anything for the people he loved. "I just wish you'd let me do the same for you.
"I'm so sorry, I failed you. I didn't protect you from him, I should have fought more! I'm just a weak coward who-"
"Spencer Reid, don't you say that. I would never let you do that, I love you to much for that!"
"Just don't leave me Jayje, what am I going to do? I love you." Their tears were mingling together when the door slammed open and a figure hurtled down the stairs. JJ wiped the tears off her face furiously. If he was going to kill her she was not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her scared.
"No!" Reid cried out as JJ was roughly pulled from him and placed on the floor, with Kane hovering over her. He looked deep into her sapphire eyes and saw nothing but defiance in them.
"You're really not scared, are you?" he asked, clearly amused. Not wanting to waste any more words on him, she spat in his face, signalling her disgust. Kane wiped it off furiously.
"You fucking bitch!" Kane grabbed her shoulders, lifted them up, before slamming them right down again, her head making a sickening crack as it hit the stone floor. But she didn't feel the pain, she didn't even black out, although things did get blurry round the edges.
Reid's cries were muffled as she saw the glint of the kitchen knife.
It took all her strength to turn her head towards Spencer Reid. One of her favourite three people in the world.
"Spence, I love-"
Then she gasped as the knife plunged into her heart.
Reid found he couldn't quite cry. On the inside he was rocking back and forth, absolutely distraught and his body wracking with sobs until there was nothing left.
He just sat there.
There was no light in those beautiful eyes anymore.
It was hard to imagine any light left in the world any more.
But then there were his hands. They were everywhere, touching her face, her body. His grimy hands were touching his JJ and there was nothing he could do but stare.
His lips hovered dangerously close to hers, which were probably still warm.
There was nothing he could do.
The crash of the door breaking down.
The bang of the gun that was shot through his heart.
The desperate calls for a paramedic.
The people pulling against his wrist.
But they were too late.
Minutes too late.
She was gone.
He had no idea how he was ever going to feel alive again.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed reading and it didn't make you too depressed. I'm pretty sure I went through an entire box of next time, my loves.