AN: Okay, so I wanted to get this up before season 7 starts. I have been trying my best to avoid spoilers for the upcoming season so this is entirely my take on the situation. I don't expect this to follow canon and most likely contradicts the info that has been released, so if that isn't something that you're going to like then please, just don't read, you have been warned. With that being said, I hope all who do choose to read enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or it's characters nor the characters from Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior which appear in this story.

It was late. Being August the night was warm, though from SSA Mick Rawson's position on top of a building high above the streets of Augusta, Maine, there was a cool breeze blowing. Although, gazing through the scope of his sniper rifle, Rawson only had a limited view of the situation unfolding in front of the warehouse below. Flashing lights glimmered on the edges of his view, while his target and the agent he held hostage were dead-center.

Ian Doyle had been located in the capital city of Maine, as he searched for the location of his son Declan, who he previously thought dead. Rawson's team had been given the go ahead to deal with Doyle by Fickler. Still reeling from the loss of Senior SSA Beth Griffin, the team had headed North with the determination of catching the man responsible for the death of SSA Emily Prentiss. Or more correctly, the presumed death of Prentiss. Rawson was one of the few people who knew the death of the raven-haired FBI and former Interpol agent was a ruse to protect her. Right about now, the British sniper would love nothing more than to make it possible for the ruse to end. Beth might be gone for good, but being able to bring Prentiss back to her team would make Mick feel like some sort of injustice had been righted.

Rawson would love nothing better than to put a bullet through Doyle's heart right now and if it wasn't for the hostage being in the way, he would do just that and deal with the consequences of not waiting for the order. However, Doyle was doing a good job at using his hostage, SSA Spencer Reid, as a human shield. Lurking in the corner of the loading dock of the warehouse, none of the agents or local police that were on the ground could get a clear shot on the man anymore than Rawson could. The fact that Doyle had the gun he was holding pointed directly at Reid's head kept them from trying to move in and apparently negotiation wasn't getting them anywhere.

~And it probably won't. Doyle isn't the type of person who can be reasoned with, ~ Mick thought, still looking through the sight of the rifle. ~He's going to do whatever he thinks is necessary to get himself out of this situation and if he thinks he isn't going to make it out, he's going to take as many of us with him as he can.~

"Rawson, do you have a shot?" Senior SSA David Rossi asked. Due to his greater experience in negotiation tactics, Rossi had been put in charge of the scene by Agent Hotchner.

Rawson was on a private channel with Rossi, as it had been arranged before the sniper had headed up to the rooftops. When Rawson had questioned the private channel, the senior agent had confided in him that he didn't see negotiations working. "If it comes down to making a hard choice, then I don't need JJ or Morgan arguing with me while this is going on. I'll deal with them afterwards," Rossi had told him.

"Negative," Rawson replied, reaching up with his non-trigger finger to key the radio. "Doyle is too skilled at using his hostage as a shield. The only way I'm going to get a shot is by creating the opportunity for one," the sniper informed the other agent.

"What's the risk to Reid?" Rossi asked, telling Rawson that the older agent had understood the implications of what he was saying.

Rawson could hear other voices in the background. He knew it was probably Agent Hotchner and his own unit chief, Sam Cooper. Though he couldn't make out what was being said, he had a feeling someone wasn't happy with how this discussion was proceeding. Rawson had a feeling that someone was Agent Hotchner.

"If I take a shoulder shot, it should startle Doyle enough for me to get a clear shot at him. There will be some recovery time, but all our people would get out of this alive," Rawson told him, still looking at his target through the sight.

There was silence on the radio. Mick Rawson waited patiently, his breaths coming in calm, slow intervals. He knew that Rossi would be checking in with the others on the ground making sure that no one had a clear shot. From his vantage point, Rawson knew that they wouldn't. Prophet and Gina were on the wrong side of the loading dock. They probably didn't even have a visual on Doyle. Cooper, Hotchner, Rossi and the local cops, who were using the vehicles as cover, were directly in front of the loading dock. From their vantage point, Rawson knew they would end up hitting Reid if they took the shot. Morgan and Detective Banks were on the side of the loading dock opposite of Prophet and Gina. The only way either of them were getting a clear shot was by putting themselves at risk by coming out from behind the crates they were covering behind.

Rawson had come to the warehouse with Morgan, Reid, and Dectective Banks after a report of someone matching Doyle's description going inside. The four of them had conducted a thorough search of the warehouse without finding any sign of the criminal. They had called the building clear, and had been leaving the warehouse via the loading dock when Doyle had appeared suddenly and grabbed Reid, who was the last to leave the warehouse.

"Rawson," Rossi said, getting back onto the radio. "You've got the okay to take the shots. It's our only option at this point."

"Understood," Raswson said.

Mick Rawson took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he took careful aim. He needed to be sure that the bullet entered at an angle that wouldn't allow it to ricochet into the chest cavity. The British sniper also knew that he needed to be ready to take the second shot quickly. It wouldn't take Doyle long to get over his surprise and when he did, Rawson knew Reid would be his first target. Then, Doyle would probably shoot as many officers as he could until someone took him down; Rawson didn't plan on giving the criminal that chance.

With the shot lined up, Rawson squeezed the trigger, sending the bullet flying through the air to its target below.

SSA Derek Morgan had taken up position behind some crates at the bottom of the steps leading up to the loading dock. He had his gun drawn, but it wasn't going to do him any good since any shot he attempted to make would hit his teammate. Behind him, Detective Banks had his gun out and pointed to the ground.

"You're not going to get out of here alive," Reid told Doyle, as the criminal held him against his body with one hand, while the other held the gun to the agent's head.

~Don't antagonize him, Reid, ~ Morgan said silently, waiting for Rossi's next orders. He didn't like not knowing what was going on, but givien his location near the loading dock he could only hear what Rossi said over the radio and what he said when addressing Doyle.

The sound of a gunshot kept Morgan from hearing Doyle's reply, and Morgan saw Reid's body jerk as a bullet hit his left shoulder. Even as Morgan cursed under his breath, assuming that Rawson had missed his intended target, and Doyle glanced quickly around for the source of the shot. Reid went limp in the criminal's arms as Doyle struggled to keep hold of the agent one-handed while shielding himself from further fire. When the criminal turned to try to get a better grip on his hostage, a second bullet sank into his chest, causing both men to crumple to the ground.

Morgan rushed forward, gun trained on the still body of Doyle. Footsteps behind him told him that Detective Banks was following him. Partially underneath the prone body of Doyle, Morgan saw Reid move slightly and relief immediately flowed through him; Reid was still alive.

At the top of the steps leading up the loading dock, Morgan cautiously moved forward.

"I've got you covered, Morgan," SSA Jonathan Sims said.

Morgan glanced briefly to his left to see the balding federal agent standing near the loading dock, gun drawn and pointed toward Doyle.

"So do I," Detective Banks said from behind him.

Morgan holstered his gun as he kept moving forward. Approaching Doyle and Reid, the federal agent kicked Doyle's gun out of the criminal's grasp before reaching down and moving him off Reid. Knowing he had to make sure Doyle was no longer a threat Morgan pressed two fingers against the side of the criminal's neck, searching for a pulse while studiously ignoring a groan from his co-worker.

"It's clear! Doyle's dead," Morgan called out.

Listening to Sims call the all clear over the radio and requesting the paramedics, Morgan turned his attention to Reid. The younger agent had turned over onto his back, his right hand pressing against his left shoulder.

"Reid, just hang on man, the medics will be here soon," Morgan told his fellow teammate reassuringly as he knelt down beside him. An ambulance had been dispatched to the scene and kept on call a short distance away since the start of the standoff. Reid's right hand was covered in blood already. "Is it just the shoulder?"

"Yeah," Reid said in a clipped voice.

"Let me see."

As Reid moved his hand away, Morgan could see the bullet hole. The metal projectile had entered just below the collar bone. It was bleeding excessively, and Morgan immediately pressed his own hand against it to apply pressure, eliciting another groan of pain from the younger agent. Morgan slipped his other hand behind Reid's shoulder, checking for an exit wound and not finding one.

~It's finally over,~ Morgan thought in relief with a quick glance at the unmoving body of Doyle. He didn't feel even a sliver of remorse. After all the people he had killed, Emily among them, Doyle deserved no less. There would be no lawyers trying to get him off on some kind of legal technicality and there would be no escape from the grave.

"How is he?" Hotch asked as he and Rossi converged on the loading dock.

"He took the shot in the shoulder and there's no exit wound," Morgan replied, his hand still pressed firmly against the wound on Reid's shoulder.

"At least I won't have to worry about being on crutches this time around," Reid quipped, his voice laced with pain.

Morgan smiled, slightly shaking his head. It wasn't long before two paramedics and their equipment were crowding around them.

"What about him?" one of the paramedics asked, nodding his head in Doyle's direction.

"There wasn't a pulse," Morgan told him, as he removed his hand from the bullet wound, allowing the other medic to press a dressing to the wound.

Morgan got to his feet, taking a step backwards. He stared at the scene before him as the two paramedics started working on his friend.

~He's going to be okay, ~ Morgan told himself as the medics hurriedly put Reid on a stretcher. The dark-skinned agent had been unable to follow their conversation but they seemed to be in a rush, which he wasn't sure was a good sign.

Morgan felt a hand come to rest on his right shoulder. Turning, he saw Hotch with the concern he felt mirrored on his supervisor's face.

"Go with them to the hospital," Hotch told him. "We'll meet you there when we get through here."

Morgan nodded, as the two medics lifted the stretcher and started heading toward the ambulance with their patient.

Morgan stood at the window of the waiting room a nurse had shown him. He stared out over the city of Augusta. In the darkness of the night, pinpoints of lights broke up the void. Even now, people were going on about their normal routines, unaware and unconcerned about what had gone down at the warehouse.

Footsteps behind him caused him to whirl around. He felt a wave of disappointment wash over him as he saw Hotch, Rossi, and JJ followed by Sam Cooper and his team walking into the waiting room; he had been hoping to see a doctor with word on Reid.

"How's Reid?" Hotch said, asking the question that was on everyone's mind.

"He's in surgery to remove the bullet. That's all I've been told so far."

"He'll be fine. He'll have some healing to do but he's going to fine," Rawson said calmly, moving to the side of the room and leaning back against the wall. The British sniper crossed his arms and bent his knee to place his right foot flat against the wall. Not looking at Morgan he had no idea the effect his words were having on the dark-skinned agent.

"You're the one who shot him!"

"Yes, I did. I took the shot that would injure Reid the least, while still creating an opening for me to take down Doyle."

"You shot him on purpose!"

Morgan's voice had risen to a shout by now and he was seeing red. It was bad enough when he thought Rawson had shot Reid by accident. That his shot at Doyle had missed its target. The idea that he had shot Reid on purpose was incredulous. They were supposed to have one another's back out in the field.

"Would you have preferred that we let Doyle shoot him? I'm sure his shot would have been in a much more vital area," Rawson replied, his voice still calm and composed. Though he was now looking in Morgan's direction, he hadn't moved from the position he had taken up moments ago.

"You smug son-of-a-bitch," Morgan said, only slightly lowering his voice, as he started in Mick Rawson's direction.

Seeing the other agent coming at him, Mick straightened up, instinctively going into a defensive position. He didn't want to fight but he wasn't going to let someone just take a swing at him either.

Hotch, Rossi and Cooper all moved to put themselves between the two agents. Cooper and Rossi each looped an arm through one of Morgan's, while Hotch got in front of his subordinate.

"Morgan, calm down," Hotch said firmly.

"Calm down! You want me to just calm down. Reid is in surgery because of friendly fire and now I find out it was done on purpose. The last time a member of this team was in surgery they didn't make it off the table, Hotch!"

"You think I wanted to shoot one of our own guys," Rawson fired back at him. "I know what it it's like to lose a teammate, man! You don't think we're still trying to get over Beth's death? We were running out of options!"

"And if that bullet had gone somewhere other than his shoulder or ricocheted into his heart? Did you even consider that?" Morgan shot back, struggling against the three agents holding him back.

"Yes, I did. I took that and a lot of other things into consideration when I lined up that shot," Rawson replied, looking over the shoulder of Sims, who had stepped in front of his friend just in case. "I did everything in my power to make sure that the bullet would enter the shoulder and not ricochet. Yes I shot him, but I did it because I thought that was the only chance we had to save him and whoever else Doyle may have decided to take out. I'm not shirking that responsibility but don't you dare accuse me of not caring about the outcome."

Morgan was unsure what to say to that. However, he was still seeing red. "Let me go," he said, trying to shake off Rossi and Cooper.

The senior agents let go of Morgan's arms but didn't move away from him. Hotch still held his ground in front of the impetuous agent, ready for anything. He could see that Morgan was still angry, and the last thing he needed tonight was to break up a fight between two agents.

Morgan looked around at his co-workers. Rossi, Cooper, Hotch, and Sims had not dropped their guard, all of them eyeing either himself or Rawson. Rawson still stood in a defensive posture, his eyes focused on Morgan. Though he seemed calm on the outside, Morgan could now see the swirl of emotions in his eyes, the foremost being anger. JJ and Agent LaSalle, stood side-by-side just inside the doorway, watching the scene with concern. Morgan realized that there was one thing that was missing on each of their faces - surprise. None of them seemed surprised at the revelation that Rawson's shot at Reid had been on purpose.

"Am I the only one who didn't know that shot was on purpose?" Morgan asked, his eyes focusing on his own unit chief still standing in front of him.

No one answered right away, which answered Morgan's question for him.

"And you're all okay with that?"

"Morgan, Doyle had to be taken out," JJ replied calmly. "This was our opportunity to do just that. To finally bring an end to his reign of terror. To give closure to all the deaths that he was responsible for. No, this isn't the ideal resolution but given the situation it was the best we could ask for."

"And if Reid dies?"

"Reid's strong. He's going to be fine," JJ said.

There was such conviction in her voice that Morgan couldn't help wanting to believe those words. Still, he wasn't ready to concede that there hadn't been another way to resolve the situation.

"There had to have been another way."

"There wasn't," Rossi said. "The simple fact is, sometimes you need to shoot a hostage in order to end the stand off. Doyle wasn't going to give himself up. Either he was going to get his way and escape, with Reid and kill him later, or he was going to go down in a hail of bullets while taking out as many people as he could. Doyle dead with only one injured agent is a victory in my book; that's why I gave Rawson the okay to take the shot."

"You gave the order?" Morgan said, turning on Rossi.

Hotch took a quick step forward in order to place himself between Morgan and Rossi. He wasn't sure which was worse; Morgan's anger being focused on Rawson or Rossi.

"Yes I did and if put in the same situation, I would give it again."

What Morgan really wanted to send his fist into Rossi's self-righteous face, and he might have if Hotch wasn't standing between them. Instead, Morgan turned and took a few steps away from his co-workers, kicking at a chair and sending it tumbling a few feet across the room. Still frustrated though, Morgan punched the white drywall with enough force to put a dent in it.

Absently shaking his hand since his knuckles stinging from the impact, Morgan rested his left arm on the wall, his forehead coming forward to rest on it. His anger was still boiling as he struggled to understand how Rossi could be so calm about putting one of their own in danger. The dark-skinned profiler could excuse Rawson's detached view of the situation, as he wasn't part of their team, but not Rossi's. They had worked closely with one another for three years now and had thought the elder profiler had considered himself part of their family but a family didn't purposely put one of their own at risk. If Reid didn't make . . .

Morgan let that thought drift off, not wanting to dwell on it. He had lost Emily five months ago, despite having given it his all to rescue her; he had been just a few minutes too late. There were still nights that he woke up in a cold sweat from seeing Emily with the stake driven into her stomach in his dreams. He hadn't been able to save her, and as Doyle had held the gun against Reid's head tonight all he could think about was that he couldn't fail another teammate, Reid in particular.

Morgan fought back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. He wasn't going to cry in front of his co-workers. Feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder, he stiffened - ready to tell whoever it was to get lost.

"Morgan, I can understand why you're upset but beating up inanimate objects is not going to help anything," JJ said softly.

Morgan turned to face his blonde teammate. "No, JJ. I don't think you understand why I'm so upset at all. Apparently, I'm the only one who cares at all that we used one of our team, one of our family, to achieve a goal. Whatever happen to being there for one another? When did this all just start becoming just a job to all of you?"

Though Morgan's gaze was focused on JJ, both Hotch and Rossi knew that the words were directed at them too. Morgan saw JJ glanced over at her shoulder to the unit chief.

"Did any of you actually consider what this is going to do Reid beyond the physical aspects? The doubts he might have about any of us actually having his back after being shot by friendly fire. What the pain is going to do to him mentally and emotionally because you all know he won't take anything for it? This doesn't end here for him."

"We know that Morgan," Rossi said, speaking up before Hotch or JJ had a chance to. "However, first we had to save his life or all that wouldn't matter."

"It's all just black and white to you, isn't it Man?" Morgan said, his gaze focusing on Rossi for a moment before looking at Hotch and then back at JJ. "To all of you?"

"No, it isn't that simple, but sometimes you've got to do things you don't want to do in order to accomplish your goals in this job," JJ said calmly as she tried to make Morgan see what the rest of them already could. "You deal with the consequences after the situation is resolved."

Morgan felt defeated. He couldn't think of a way to argue with the media liaison's words. Walking the short distance to the chair he had kicked, he righted it and sat down. Sinking into in, he rested his elbows on his knees, letting his hands dangle between them and hung his head.

"I shouldn't have let him come out last but we thought the place was clear, Jayje," Morgan said quietly.

"This wasn't your fault, Morgan," she said, crossing over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder again.

"Wasn't it? I couldn't protect Emily and now I couldn't protect Reid, from our own people no less."

"You did your best, Morgan," JJ said, feeling a pang of guilt at the mention of Emily. The blonde media liaison longed to tell him that he had protected her. She wanted to tell him what Emily had said to her about Morgan's words being the one thing that had kept her holding on during that ordeal. That if he hadn't come when he had, and begged her to stay with him, that she would have let go.

"No, I didn't. If I had, Emily would still be with us, and Reid wouldn't be in surgery right now," Morgan told her.

Morgan got to his feet and ignoring the eyes of everyone else in the room which were on him, strode over to the window. Once again, he stood looking out over the city, waiting for news on the man he looked upon as a brother.