Playing With Fire

Chapter One: Close Call

~Elizabeth's POV~

"See you next week Ms. Elizabeth." The young girl called after me as I began to exit the quaint little bakery that I had been coming to for a little over a year now. I enjoyed getting a muffin and a little tea before going back to the apartment I shared with my best friend; Tara.

I gave the perky teenager a small smile and wave before exiting the bakery. In my haze I failed to notice the man running at full speed towards me. I had stopped to reply to the message I got from Tara as I had been walking out.

I gasped as I felt a strong grasp on the back of my neck and was pulled into something hard. I stilled all movement as I felt metal pressed against my head as well as the fact that I never was comfortable around anyone. Especially if I knew they could hurt me.

"Let the girl go, Jones! Killing another innocent woman won't do you any good." I was too afraid to look and see who was yelling now. I just hoped they were going to help.

I gritted my teeth as his hold around my neck seemed to tighten and I heard a click from the gun. "If it won't matter then I might as well do it then." he said as the gun was pressed closer to my head.

I would be pissed if my last moments alive were with an idiot who I didn't know holding me hostage as the police I persumed looked on.

Everything that happened next was much more of a blur. All I remember was hearing gunshots then I was pushed aside as I fell to the ground. I was hoping that was done so that I wouldn't actually get hurt but I could never be sure. I slowly sat up and looked over to see what was going on.

There was a lot of blood and a lanky man in a black vest was standing over the man who had been holding me in a vice grip against his body. He was moving so I knew he was alive but that didn't comfort me much. It wasn't until the sirens were piercing my ears did I feel safe.

~Reid's POV~

"Reid." I perked my head up at the sound of Morgan's voice. "Go check on the girl."

"Right." I muttered as I stood up stiffly and walked over to the ambulance where Prentiss and Hotch were standing protectively it seemed.

If I wouldn't have gotten to her when I did. She probably would have died. I didn't exactly see myself as a hero, I was just doing my job. Hotch gave me a look as I approached them which I could only interpert as 'good job'. I nodded as they separated so that I could get through.

I couldn't tell what was going through Elizabeth's mind though. She was just fiddling with her hands and that could have been nervousness or that she was anxious. But somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that wasn't the case. "Are you okay?"

I coughed as I sat down next to her. It was normal for me to ask this question but this girl was very pretty.

"Fine." She muttered quietly as she looked at me.

"Can you tell me what happened? I only came when I saw that he had a gun to your head." She nodded as she stopped moving and just stared ahead before relaying the events back to me. It almost looked like she was in a far away place.

"Everyday after the end of my shift at the hospital I come here to the local bakery to eat a muffin and enjoy some tea and everything was pretty normal until I walked out the door."

"What do you do at the hospital?"

"I'm an RN." I motioned for her to continue with the replay of the events.

"I had gotten a text from my friend Tara. She lives with me and I was getting ready to reply to it before the guy grabbed me. I'm guessing the coldness I felt against my head was the gun but I was more focused on how I was going to get out of there alive. I think I heard your voice but I didn't exactly move or think that I'd make it. It's just how I think. The rest is kind of a blur."

I nodded as I turned to see Hotch staring at me. He wanted to tell me something, so I excused myself and walked over to him. He told me that they were going back to BAU and that I was to make sure that Elizabeth got home safely before joining the rest of the team there. After he began walking away I turned back to see Elizabeth looking at something off to the side.

It was nothing there really, just a recycle bin. I shook off the thought that ran through my head at that thought before approaching her again.

"You don't live far from here do you?"

"No, just right around the corner. Why?" She asked as she hopped down off the back of the ambulance with one of the paramedics help.

"I'm going to walk you home."

She tilted her head to the side as she stared up at me. I was much taller than her. She had to be at least five feet. "You don't have to. It's only around the corner."

"Agent Hotchner-my boss told me I must, he wants be sure nothing else happens to you so, I have to."

She just nodded as she wrung her fingers before she began walking down the sidewalk. I quickly jogged up next to her. I didn't think I was that bad of a person that she had to seem like she was in a rush. As we turned the corner though she slowed down to a much slower pace. "You're bleeding." She said as I noticed a concerned expression stretch across her face.

She reached out to touch my face but I flinched away. I reached up to my head and felt the warm liquid there. It didn't really hurt, I guess that's why I didn't notice it at all.

"I'll clean it for you as a way of thanks for saving me." She said turning away from me as we stopped in front of an apartment building.

"You don't have to do that, I can do it myself when I go home." I stuffed my hands in my pockets as I shuffled from one side to the next.

"No, no. It's the least I could do. It could get infected." I couldn't help but smile as I realized that this was the nurse in her. Or it could have just been her true nature of being nice. I was still trying to figure her out exactly. She was kind of hard to read.

I sighed in defeat. "Okay."

We took some stairs up to the fourth floor and kept walking up until we got to a door painted an olive green and had golden number-letter combination 4C . She pulled out her keys and began to unlock only for a redhaired woman to pull it open and then quickly grab her in her arms. I watched as Elizabeth stiffened for a moment before relaxing. This was probably the friend she mentioned before.

"I was so worried! You hadn't answered my calls or text messages then I heard about the incident near the bakery. Are you okay, Liz?" She backed away only to look right at me. "Who's this?" She gave me a smile.

"I'm fine, you really shouldn't worry so much. This is Agent, Dr. Spencer Reid. He um...saved me from a lunatic I guess." She shrugged as she pushed back her friend so they she could walk through the door.

"Oh. Thank god you were there. What should I call you? Spencer, Reid, Dr. Spencer, Spence..." I stopped her by cutting her off. "Reid is fine." I coughed.

"Everything is fine, Reid was just walking me home now you can go back to your stories. I know you must have recorded them."

"Yes, thanks!" She jumped and she ran away towards the back of the apartment.

"She's interesting." I muttered as Elizabeth motioned for me to sit down at the dining room table. I looked around a little bit as I waited for her to come back with the first aid kit.

Elizabeth was only gone for a little over a minute so I didn't really look around too much. The odds of me coming back here again were pretty slim. She opened the kit and began to clean up my wound. Originally the wound hadn't hurt me at all but as she cleaned it with alcohol and anticeptic spray I found myself gritting my teeth.

"Sorry. I should have warned you that it was going to sting a little."

"It's alright." I sighed as she bandaged me up and then stepped back.

"There all done. I would probably wash my hair if I were you. You have a lot of dried blood in it." She kind of didn't really pay too much attention to me after that as she began to clean up the bloody cotton balls and alcohol wipes.

"I'll do that. Thanks." I gave her a smile as I began to get up. She followed me to the door where I bid her a goodbye and headed back down the street to get into one of the SUV's that was still there for me to get into.

A/N: Hi. So this is my first ever Criminal Mind fan fiction. I'm hoping that won't be too bad but please bare with me. I actually have so much in store for this story so I hope you like it.

Comments and criticism is always welcomed. In fact it'll help me not give up on this story so easily. So please review.

~daisherz365