Disclaimer: I don't own CM.

Eli groaned as he regained consciousness. There was a horn blowing somewhere close but he wasn't sure how close it was. "Fuck," he muttered as he raised a hand to his thumping head. Opening his eyes, Eli couldn't help but let out a shout of shock at what he saw. The car that he was in was currently hugging a tree. His parents were knocked out in the front seats. Ruby red blood was staining his mother's hair and his father's head was resting on the horn. A cry from beside him alerted Eli to the fact that his two-month old baby sister was awake. The smell of smoke alerted him to the fact that there wasn't a lot of time to get everybody out of the car safely.

Ignoring the pain that shot up his arm Eli reached forward and grabbed the seat-belt cutter – which had been put into the car for this very reason – and ripped his belt off. He turned around and gave a good swing to break the boot window so they could escape. After throwing out the baby's diaper bag and the First Aid kit that was in the boot he managed to navigate his way out of the wreck of the car. The first thing Eli did after catching his breath was make his way around to the door to try and get his still wailing sister out of the car. He wasn't able to pull the door open and hesitant though he was he used the belt cutter to smash the window open as there was no way Eli would have been able to get the baby out through the boot. It was harder to get the car seat untangled from the seat belt than it had been to escape from the boot but once it was Eli was able to lift the car seat out through the window.

Looking around he spotted a sheltered spot roughly ten metres from the car wreck. Eli limped over to the trees and placed the car seat gently on the ground facing away from the car. There was no need for the baby to see what was going on. He rushed back to the car and pulled his unconscious three-year old brother out of the wreck after breaking his window as well and cutting the car seat out of the belt. After leaving the boy under the trees with his sister, the First Aid kit and the diaper bag, Eli raced back to the car as fast as his injured leg would carry him. Now that his siblings were as safe as he could make them he had to get one of his parents phones and call for help because there was no way that Eli could get the two of them out of the car on his own.

He rummaged through his father's shirt pocket in the hopes of finding his phone but it wasn't there. "Damn," he swore. "Dad! Dad! Come on Dad! You have to wake up!" Eli heard no response. The same happened when he tried to rouse his mother. The only positive thing was that he found her phone. Quickly, he opened it and went to contacts. His head felt a bit fuzzy at the moment but one thing stood clear in his mind; if they wanted to get out of here, wherever here was, then there was only one person to call: Penelope Garcia.

She answered on the first ring. "Office of Unfettered Omniscience. Penelope Garcia is in. Speak, oh fortunate one." Ignoring her usual witty banter, Eli had to shout into the phone so he could be heard over both the horn that was still going off and the baby who was still wailing.

"Garcia? It's Eli. Eli LaMontagne." He tried slapping his mother's face gently to try and wake her. "We've been in an accident, Mom and Dad are trapped in the car unconscious but I got the kids out. I need you to send help!" Eli almost dropped the phone when he heard his mother groan – it seemed like she was coming 'round.

"An accident?" Eli could practically hear Garcia's heart jump from her chest to her throat but he didn't care as his mother's eyes began to flutter. "Okay, sweetheart, I'm tracking your location and sending help right now. The team will be there as soon as they can. Are both JJ and Will unconscious? What about the kids? I think I hear crying?"

"Erm…" Eli ran his hand through his hair, his adrenalin was running out. "Danielle's crying and I think I hear Henry as well but I'm not sure. Dad's not waking up but Mom seems to be. How long will it be until help gets here?" The smoke was beginning to get thicker and Eli knew that if help didn't arrive soon – no! He would not think like that. Help was going to arrive in a minute and his parents would be rescued in no time at all.

"The team have just left – you're about twenty minutes away from us sweetheart but we both know that they'll be there in ten and the EMT's are about two minutes away. Just hold on Eli, everything's going to be fine."

"Eli…" JJ's voice was breathy, barely there but Eli heard her. She lifted her hand off her lap and Eli grabbed a hold of it.

"I'm here, Mom." He said, the tears were beginning to escape. "I'm right here. The kids are fine, they're out of the car and Dad is going to be fine too."

"Eli, listen…" Garcia had gone quiet on the other end of the phone. Somewhere in the back of Eli's mind he wondered if she'd patched the conversation through to the rest of the team. "Your father and I… we love you…"

"No, Mom, cut it out!" Eli interrupted her. There was no way that he was going to listen to this. Not when there was no need for it.

"No, Eli," JJ countered. Her voice was getting a little bit stronger and her blue eyes focused a little better. "You're going to listen to me and you're going to listen well." Eli could only nod in acceptance. "Your dad and I both love the three of you." She coughed, the thick smoke obstructing her airways just like it was doing to Eli's. "We need you to take care of your brother and sister for us. I know… I know that this isn't something that you want to hear but I have to say it Eli. You are one of the best things in my life. I am so proud of you. Your dad is too. We didn't tell you that enough. Don't let Henry and Danielle forget us. Promise me. Promise me that you'll tell them how proud we were of the three of you and how much we loved you all."

Eli choked back the sob that so desperately wanted to escape. "You can tell them that yourself, Mom, when they're older."

"No, Eli." JJ had tears streaming down her face to match her sons. "I need you to promise me. Please, son."

Eli tightened his grip on his mother's hand. "Only if you promise to fight like hell so you can tell them that yourself." Eli was openly sobbing by now, the phone forgotten in one hand, his mother's hand weakening in his other.

"It's a deal then." JJ gasped. "Go take care of the kids." Her eyes began to drift shut again. "I love you, Eli." JJ's hand slipped from her sons and Eli heard the thud that it made against her leg even above the still blaring horn and his crying brother and sister.

"Mom!" Eli cried. He reached out and shook her but all that happened was that her head fell down and rested on her chest.

"Eli! Eli!" A glance down at the phone that was still in his hand reminded him that he was still connected to Garcia and probably the rest of the team.

"What?" He snapped through his tears. "I have to wake Mom up again."

"Eli, do what your mother said and go and make sure that your brother and sister are okay." Garcia's tears could be heard over the phone.

"In a minute – "

"No, Eli," Garcia interrupted him. "Now! You've just promised your mother that you would take care of your brother and sister while she fought to be well. You have to keep up your side of the bargain while she keeps up hers."

It was with broken steps that Eli made his way over to his siblings. No sooner had he lifted Danielle out of her car seat, so he could shake the glass out of it and make sure that there was no glass left on her, did he look up and see the car that housed his parents blow up in a big ball of fire. Suddenly Danielle was taken from his arms and strong arms wrapped around his body, preventing him from rushing to the car as he wanted to do.

Eli became aware of a heart wrenching scream permeating the air but it took him a moment to realise that it was him who was making the animatistic sound. He didn't remember much after that. He remembered bits and pieces – it was like his brain had fragmented into a billion little pieces. He remembered the team arriving a short while after the EMTs did. He remembered holding Henry in the ambulance because Henry didn't want to be with anybody but him. He remembered promising Henry that he wouldn't leave him alone. He remembered Henry being wheeled down to the OR so he could be knocked out while his broken leg was set. He remembered being told that his brother and sister would be fine. He remembered the way his father had been slumped over the driving wheel in the car and he remembered the face of his mother as she told him that she loved him for the last time.

This is going to be a Hotch/Emily story but that will probably be secondary to the main plot. I'll try to update soon. I appreciate reviews and any ideas readers may have which will help make this a better story.

Anon