A/N – I figure not many people read this type of thing, and I tend to write long ones, so thanks to those who are stayin' with me through this little blurb. Most of my fics will have little to no romance, though I tend to focus heavily on developing platonic relationships, so shippers can really interpret these how they like. I'm not usually a fan of Garcia, that being said, I do sometimes become touched by little scenes between her and other characters, particularly Emily. So, clearly, I've decided to expand upon that. I hope my relative indifference toward Garcia hasn't corrupted my ability of capturing her character.
Please feel free to let me know if I've strayed from either of the characters as that is one of the most important parts of fanfiction to me. Constructive criticism is welcome, if not encouraged. Hate reviews are not. I'm going to school for writing, but creative writing remains to be one of my weaker areas, so I'm using this as practice. I'm looking for a beta too, so hit me up ;) - Again, I hope you all enjoy.
I don't own Criminal Minds.
"And if you make it past the shotguns in the hall, dial the combination, open the priesthole, and if I'm in I'll tell you what's behind the wall"
-Pink Floyd, The Final Cut
"Nothing. Nada. Zilch." Garcia's head goes straight to her hands. "This guy's a total ghost," She mumbles. Emily's pacing - she's got this look on her face like she's got all the pieces together, but the last one just doesn't fit. Morgan is sitting next to Garcia, shaking his head.
"He's out for revenge on authority figures - you'd think he'd at least try taunting us by now," He sighs.
"Maybe he doesn't want to waste his time. Maybe he has something bigger planned," She brainstormed mildly.
"Like what?" Morgan looks perplexed. She just shakes her head
"I dunno" she sighed. The three of them are holed up in Sheriff Wagner's home - in this small town, there isn't much room or resources for an extra team. In light of that, the sheriff graciously offered his own home as a spot for Garcia o set up her gear. They had all set up in the kitchen and that's where they all remained, stuck in an ideological rut.
Emily stops her pacing when Morgan's stomach lets loose a very audible and quite comedic growl. SHe looks at him with a raised brow, the slightest smirk etched on her face. Garcia actually chuckles.
"Trying to tell us something, Morgan?" She's holding in more laughter.
"What?" He asks defensively. "I haven't eaten anything today, babygirl. What did you think would happen when Derek Morgan starts runnin' on empty?" He raises his brows, returning the mischeivous smile. Emily responds with a good natured roll of her eyes, and an amused grin as she leans back on the counter.
"Maybe some food would be a good idea," she suggests, looking pointedly at Morgan. Garcia casts the same glance his way and he realizes where this is going. He scowls.
"Come on," he says in protest as emily tosses him the keys to the SUV
"It's your turn" She reminds him. He catches them with a good natured sigh.
"Text me your orders, we're getting Chinese." Emily shrugs
"Fine with me" She smile cheekily as he sends hem a hearted wave before disappearing through the front door. Emily props herself on the counter, the slightly dejected look returning to her face. "Anything new?" She stares at he computer screen, little hope in her eyes. The tech sighs.
"Honey, trust me, if there was, you'd know" She leans back in her seat. Emily shakes her head.
"I can't believe he's taking so long to make contact with us. He wouldn't just go off grid, he wants our attention… It doesn't fit the profile…" she muses aloud. Garcia opens her mouth to respond when the lights suddenly go out. She lets out a small startled yelp, and Emily hears the feverish taping of fingers on keyboards before Garcia's voice erupts through the darkness once more. "No, no, no!" she's frustrated with her equipment. Only her laptop remains operable.
"The hell?" Prentiss finally speaks before the room finally lights up again. They booth share a perplexed look, but Emily's eyes flicker with slight suspicion. "It's not even storming, why would the power for the entire house go out?" She asked, almost to herself.
"Em?" Garcia sounds nervous. Emily picks up the vest she'd worn earlier in the day when they'd barged into Barry Brooks' abandoned home, and strapped it on. She un-holsters her gun.
"Stay here" She said quietly to Garcia. When she saw the tech's fearful expression, she added, "It's probably nothing. I'm just checking things out." With that Emily disappeared into the next room.
Garcia is a bit tense as Emily disappears, and it's only getting worse. She wonders nervously if the lights will go out again - but this time they'd be separated.
"Em?" She calls nervously. The only thing she hears are the muffled footsteps of her friend as she slowly examines the empty house.
Garcia nearly jumps out of her seat when she hears the glass of the living room window shatter, but that scare is nothing compared to the sounds that follow. A muffled sort of hitting sound, a low pained grunt that was definitely Emily's, and the unceremonious thud of a body hitting the ground.
"Emily?!" Garcia shoots up and runs toward the living room, her voice high pitched with worry. She is surprised when she hears the strained reply –
"Down, get down" Emily's voice is pained and a little breathless, but strong. Garcia drops to her knees just before entering the living room. She crawls in further and a gasp escaps her lips when she sees Prentiss on her back in the middle of the floor. Her eyes are closed and her brows knit as though fighting away the pain. She finally opens them and glances toward Garcia as she hears the tech scrambling toward her…
"Oh my god, are you hit?" She asks, looking for any signs of blood.
"Vest" Emily breathed. Garcia could have cried in relief as she finally laid eyes on the Kevlar, but there is still a shooter out there and the only agent in the house is still hurt - even though the only emotion she let show was deep annoyance. Garcia helps her up to a sitting position and Emily winces, holding her ribs. The profiler looks at her somewhat apologetically and that makes her nervous.
"Garcia, I need you to find some place to hide and call Morgan. Now. Go." Her voice is urgent, both unaware of the shooter's whereabouts.
"Emily, I'm not going to leave you." Garcia says, fear putting a quiver in her voice. Emily's look is almost pleading.
"I'll be fine, but if someone comes in here and finds the both of us, there will be nothing you can do. Do you understand that? The best thing you can do for me right now is stay hidden and get Morgan." The tech looks like she's about to object, frightened tears only pricking at her eyes, but Prentiss speaks before she can.
Garcia please trust me." Garcia nods finally.
"Please be careful" worry makes the tears grow thicker. Emily merely nods, shifting so that she's on her knees, gun in her hands in preparation as Garcia goes off to hide. Emily finds she is able to stand with minimal issues once she moves from the window and out of the line of fire. It's dark out, and probably a terrible idea to chase the UnSub outside, injured with no back up. Not to mention he probably has a good view of the front of the house, and would be sure to compensate for the hit to the Kevlar with a bullet in the head. No, she would wait for him to come to her.
She stands hunched beside the front door, either waiting for the UnSub to try and come in, or for signs that Morgan has returned. The more time passes, the more tense she becomes and the more she begins to feel that throbbing ache in her ribs. The vest is absolutely suffocating. At the same time, she begins to feel hopeful as the likelihood the shooter had run away increases, but it is immediately smothered when she turns around to see him standing just down the hall in the back doorway.
She doesn't have time to raise her gun before he pulls the trigger. Twice.
This is not necessarily my first attempt at Criminal Minds fanfiction, but it's the first story I'm going to post. Mostly because it's short, quick, and I'd really like to gauge your responses to my writing style before I go all out with a really long fic (I have a couple in the works but none of them are even close to ready for posting – I'm a terrible procrastinator). Chapters will be relatively short, so I won't wait an entire week before updating. Most likely it'll take me two to three days. If you like to see your favorite characters put through the ringer, you might like this story
