JJ's feet pounded on the ground in tandem with the frenetic beating of her heart.

"Lucy Wright, stop where you are," Morgan shouted, close behind JJ.

"You don't want to do this," JJ called, but the woman they were chasing never slowed.

The trees around them were getting thinner, and there was space up ahead.

JJ had a sudden sinking feeling as she remembered, from Spence's maps, what was up ahead.

"Lucy, don't do this," she begged, forcing herself to go even faster. Her legs were tiring but she forced herself to remember a line from her trainer; that usually when your body first started to tire, you actually had 60% of your energy to go.

With that thought she put on one more burst of speed. Behind her, Morgan was falling behind.

In front of her, Lucy was out of the woods.

No.

There was only water in front of her.

No. JJ was not going to lose Lucy. Not like this.

There was a telltale splash. Damn it. This was a freaking river. There were white currents and JJ could already tell that Lucy wasn't a swimmer.

"JJ, don't do it," Morgan called behind her.

"I can't let her go," she countered, threw her gun away and dived in.

It was deep almost immediately. She never had any footing and struggled through the water.

Lucy was halfway across but JJ could tell that she was tiring and didn't have much left in her.

With smooth strokes, JJ was already catching up to her.

"JJ, come back, it's too dangerous, please, JJ!" Morgan called.

JJ knew that her voice wouldn't be heard above the pounding water so she kept silent, concentrating on Lucy.

Just two more lengths.

She grabbed ahold of the sinking woman, but Lucy still had a fight in her.

"No," she spat, struggling against JJ. "Let me go."

"You'll drown," JJ shouted. "I'm not going to let that happen."

Lucy was soaked, angry and fighting. JJ took a punch in the face before letting Lucy go, falling back into the water. The icy depths choked her; she was freezing and wet, and she couldn't breathe. She made the mistake of opening her mouth and it was like ice in her veins, everywhere. She was losing all sense of self.

"JJ!" Morgan shouted.

She thrashed in the white waters, feeling a lightness in her head, before hearing telltale splashes and the sound of Morgan swearing.

In moments, she was grabbed by strong arms.

She clung to Morgan, her arms suddenly shaking.

Lucy had reached the opposite bank.

"Are Reid and Kate waiting for her on the opposite side?" She managed to ask, teeth chattering.

"No, they didn't get here in time, but don't worry about it, JJ. We'll get her. Right now, you need to worry about you, okay?" He was mad at her; she could feel it. He towed them back to shore with strong strokes and finally they lay on the ground, breathless and cold.

"That was stupid, JJ," Morgan finally said.

"I didn't want to lose her," JJ said. "And I didn't think...it didn't look like she was that strong a swimmer."

"You'll be lucky to not get hypothermia for this," Morgan sighed, finally giving in and patting her on the shoulder. "It sucks, doesn't it?"

She buried her face in her knees, brought up by her face. "Yes."

"Wait, JJ, did you take your phone from your pocket?" Morgan asked, a touch of dread in his voice.

"No, I was going too fast," JJ said. "Did you?"

"No," Morgan said. "We need to get back to the car, ASAP."

The two of them stumbled back through the woods, cold and frustrated. JJ held her arms around herself, shivering in the cold air.

"We need to hurry before Hotch sends out a rescue party for us," Morgan realized, quickening his pace.

They were losing daylight and JJ couldn't stop shivering.

Morgan walked nearer to her, as if recognizing that they both were in desperate need of warmth.

He was shaking his cell phone, as if hoping to jar it back into working, but the water pressure had utterly decimated either phone to the point that they were completely unrecoverable.

JJ couldn't believe that she'd done jumped in the water with her phone in her pocket. She could believe that Morgan had; he was chasing after her, he couldn't let one moment be wasted.

They were finally nearing the car. Morgan was even closer, his body heat fairly shimmering off of him in waves. She felt his exhale as they crested one final hill and the SUV was in their line of sight.

Once safely in the car, Morgan used the radios there to contact Hotch.

JJ heard his words, the explanations, how he was shielding JJ from reprobation from their Unit Chief. She listened dully as he told Hotch that they were heading to the hospital as a safety precaution, and then as the sirens flipped on.

All she could see was the water rising above her head. All she could feel was the pressure of it, buffeting her up and down...up and down...She was drowning.

"JJ?"

"Jennifer, listen to me."

"We need to do a scan."

"JJ, are you okay?"

"Why isn't she responding to anyone?"

"JJ."

She finally looked up, at the sound of the voice, so close to her face.

"What happened back there at the river?" Hotch asked, and she faded back into her surroundings. She was in a hospital bed. Oh no.

"I lost all sense of...self," JJ said. "I was in the river and the water was just buffeting me around like I was a rag doll."

She licked her lips, clinging to her blankets. "Lucy got away," she stated. "I don't want to be in here. I want to be out catching her again."

"We can take care of that," Hotch said firmly. "You need to focus on getting well."

"I'm fine," JJ said, and threw the blankets away. Her legs seemed to swim before her; for a moment it was like she was back in the water, for a moment she lost her bearings.

And then Hotch was in front of her, eyes piercing her. "JJ..."

"I'm fine," she whispered, hoping that if she repeated the words enough they'd become true.