It came out of nowhere.
The hit that knocked her down and blurred her vision. It was a sudden, intense kind of pain that JJ couldn't compare to anything she had known. The unsub was trying to tell his friend to kill her. The friend had a mental illness, and apparently, a taste for blood.
On the ground, JJ's phone vibrated. Her pain intensified to the point where she would have screamed, had it not put her life in danger. Instead, JJ vowed to kill whichever member of her team insisted on calling her right now.
It took entirely too long for JJ to even locate her gun. When she had it, she struggled to her feet. It was just in time too, as the psycho had just armed the poor girl with some pointy blue thing.
He turned, expecting to see her on the ground.
And that's when JJ struck. She hit him with her gun and watched him fall, but cursed herself for making him bleed. Now the girl was all drawn in, like an addict with her drug of choice, throwing ice at JJ to keep her back, and touching the blood on the guy gently.
"JJ!"
Her team was here. Thank God.
She was doubled over, but managed to keep the gun trained on the suspect. "In the back!" she called, never more relieved than when she felt Emily get a hold on her and lead her away from the chaos.
On the jet, for the first time in years, JJ got the couch. She held ice to the back of her head. Emily gave her a bottle of water. Hotch threw her some aspirin and Reid hobbled over and spread a blanket to cover her.
She tried to convince them she would be fine. That the doctor said it would be sore, but she would be okay. She didn't add that she had the worst headache of her life, saw two of everything, was dizzy and still felt queasy. Though JJ was pretty sure that the last symptom was due to being around someone who drank blood, and had probably planned to drive spike through JJ's head.
"You okay?" Derek whispered, hours later, as JJ winced, trying to get comfortable. Everyone else was asleep, and JJ wished she could be.
"No," she said, because it was Derek, and she knew she could. "Hurts like hell. What happened to me?"
"You got hit in the head with a shovel. Remember? At Gina's?"
JJ shook her head, confused and a little afraid.
"Here," he said, sitting down, and motioning to her.
"What?" she asked irritably.
"Lay your head down here," Derek motioned to his lap, using a tone that left no room for argument.
"I'm not gonna be comfortable looking at you, you know..." she grumbled, finally giving in.
"Face away from me then...There, how's this?" Derek asked, holding the ice against the back of her head. "Need anything else?"
"No, actually..." JJ trailed off, surprised.
"Good. Get some rest. I'll be here," he promised.