Riley and Spencer sat inside their black SUV on surveillance. Riley watched the block, waiting for any sign of their unsub.
"Anything?" She asked Reid, who was holding a pair of binoculars.
"Nothing." He shook his head.
"How you doing down there?" Mick asked through the radio in Riley's ear.
"Bored out of my mind." she laughed.
"Same here." Prophet joined their conversation.
"Are we sure we're in the right place?" Beth asked over the radio
"Yeah, this is inside the comfort zone. It's one of the only spots he hasn't targeted yet." Spencer responded.
"Oh shit!" Riley was already out of the car when Spencer turned to look.
She was running full speed down the block.
"Where the fuck are you going?" Mick yelled into her ear.
"I've got him! He's at the house with the big black gate! He's cutting the screen of the upstairs window." Riley responded.
"In route!" Morgan said.
Riley climbed up the brick fence and landed on the other side. The unsub turned hearing her. She grabbed his leg as he gripped the trellis. Riley yanked as hard as she could. He kicked trying to break free of her grasp.
"Mother fucker! Let go!" Riley yelled.
With one more yank he lost his balance and fell with a loud thud. Riley slammed his down as he tried to get up. He reached for his knife and stabbed it into her shoulder. She screamed in pain, but only became more angry. Grabbing his hand, she grasped the knife and hurled it aside.
"No, you don't get to hurt anyone else!" she growled.
She slammed her fist into his jaw as hard as she could. And again. And again. Each time there was a sicken crack. She wasn't sure if it was his bones or hers that were broken.
"You will not hurt another little girl! The little girl inside is not going to be your next victim!" She screamed.
Suddenly the lights outside the house came on and the front door open. Riley didn't notice, she was now grasping his collar slamming him into the ground.
"You can't hurt her or anyone else anymore!"
"What's going on?" A man asked.
He walked closer and saw her FBI vest "Oh God."
"Sir, open the gate!" Morgan yelled, banging on the black metal.
The man rushed to the gate and unlatched it. Morgan, Hotch, Prophet, Beth, Spencer and Gina came running into the yard.
"RILEY!" Morgan yelled.
He reached down and pulled her off of the unsub. She fought momentarily, before collapsing into Morgan's grasp.
"Never again!" She said, panting and gasping.
"He'll never hurt anyone again." Morgan said, holding her close.
They watched as Hotch and the others picked him up and led him away. Riley realized she had been crying. Her face was wet and her hair plastered to it.
"Riley, come here." Spencer said softly.
"Let's get you looked at baby doll." Morgan said gently.
She let them lead her to an body was numb with adrenaline, but she felt like she was crashing down with exhaustion. One medic began to inspect her upper arm while another tended to her hand.
"How did you manage to keep hitting him with a broken wrist?" One laughed.
She shrugged, seeing Sam and Hotch walking closer.
"Good work Riley. You saves that little girl." Sam said, touching her cheek.
"I couldn't let him do that again...not to her." Riley shook her head. "11 was 11 to many. He couldn't have a 12th."
"You were very brave, good work." Hotch agreed.
She flinched, feeling a burning sensation on her arm. The medic was cleaning the stab wound.
"It's pretty deep, darlin'" The medic said, dabbing it with a towel. "I'll stop the bleeding them stitch it up and dress it."
Riley nodded, still slightly numb.
"How bout that hand?" Sam asked.
"Broke her wrist for sure, she's going to need x-rays and maybe even surgery to fix this. She did herself in pretty good. Her knuckles are so far out of whack." the other medic responded.
"Great." She mumbled.
"Um, Sorry to interrupt, but there's someone who wants to meet you." Beth said, stepping forward.
Riley's eyes moved to three people standing beside Beth.
"Thank you..." a women dressed in a blue bathrobe said.
"Excuse me?" Riley raised an eyebrow.
"You saved our daughter before he could get to her." the women said.
"Oh..." Riley nodded. "Of course."
The little girl walked closer and hugged Riley. She hugged the little girl back and smiled at her family.
That night Riley went into surgery to correct the damage to her hand and wrist. She awoke to find Spencer sitting beside the bed, book in hand. He looked up, hearing her move.
"Careful." He said, standing up.
She stared at her arm and hand for a moment, studying it.
"They put a pin in your arm and then realigned your fingers and put pins in then as well. It'll be awhile before you'll be able to hold a gun again." He explained.
"Great, desk work!" She groaned.
"I don't think you can do much with your hand like that." Spencer smiled.
"True..."Riley nodded. "So, where's the rest of my team?"
"Oh, they're back at home. Another case came up. But I'll fly back with you, as soon as you're cleared to fly."
"Or we could road trip back...it'll take like 3 days but whatever."
"Actually closer to two days."
Riley smiled, "Only you would know that."
Spencer didn't know if she meant it in a good or bad way, so he just nodded. The doctor entered the room moments later. He smiled at the two agents.
"Well Agent Parker, you're awake! Are you feeling alright?"
"A little sore, headache...other than that, I'm fine." She nodded.
"Great, we'll get you something to ease your pains, then I'll have your discharge paper brought to you. I've taken the liberty of finding you a doctor closer to home, if you wouldn't mind seeing him when you get home? He'll continue your treatment and therapy."
Riley nodded, happy to be going home. She and Spencer flew home a few hours later. She slept most of the way because of her medications. Her head rested on his shoulder. Spencer watched her sleep, looking so peaceful. He was used to seeing the business, professional side of her. Now he was seeing a softer, more vulnerable side. He woke her as soon as they landed in Virginia. They grabbed a cab and though his apartment was closer, he knew she couldn't carry her luggage in herself. He carried her bags into her apartment after opening the door for her. She sat down gently on the couch and looked up at Spencer.
"You didn't have to do this, you know." She said.
"Well, I Couldn't let you drag this up here with that arm." Spencer shrugged.
"You're sweet." Riley smiled. "Thank you."
"Anytime." Spencer nodded. "Anything else before I go?"
"No, not really. I'll be fine."
"Okay, well, lock the door behind me..."
Riley laughed, standing and following him to the door. Spencer stepped outside and waved goodbye. Riley waved back with her good hand, then closed the door behind him, locking it. She collapsed on her bed and couldn't bring herself to undress. It was to painful, so she just lay there until she fell asleep.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Riley's eyes opened, hearing the noise. She did what she could to get up off the bed. Through the peephole she found Garcia. Riley opened the door. Garcia smiled.
"I see his fears were correct." She said.
"Who's?" Riley raised an eyebrow, letting her in.
"Reid. He called me to check on you, he was afraid you wouldn't be able to...well, with your arm being the way it is, he didn't think you would be able to dress and undress, shower, those sorts of things."
"Um...well he's right..." 'Riley shrugged.
"Well, I'm here. I'm also supposed to make sure you take you pills."
Riley laughed, "Penelope, you don't have to do this."
"Oh but I want to. I want to make sure you're taken care of."
There was no arguing, she was going to do it either way. Riley relented and allowed Penelope to help her undress so she could shower, then help her redress after. She felt much better afterward. Penelope pulled her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She than gave Riley her pills, which made her extremely tired.
"I'll be back by later to check on you, so rest up." Garcia said.
"You know I will." Riley smiled.
Riley was once again roused by knocking. Spencer stood with a bag of food.
"Well, what's all this?" She laughed.
"I figured you needed sustenance, so I brought Chinese...I hope you like Chinese."
"I love Chinese." Riley nodded. "But you're going to have to feed me if you brought chopsticks."
Spencer laughed, "Uh, no. I'm no good with chopsticks. But I brought forks!"
Riley smiled, sitting on the couch. Spencer spread the food out in front of them. Everything looked amazing. Riley picked out what she wanted and Spencer put it on her plate.
"So, what's my team working on?" Riley asked.
"Uh, I believe it's an LDS...Cooper didn't say much, but he said you're sitting out until your doctor clears you for work. He said you can assist because they need your brain, but no actual field work until your healed and have your pins removed."
"Well, that's better than desk work I suppose." Riley said, poking at her food with her fork. "So why do they think this is an LDS case?"
"You really want to talk about work?" Spencer asked.
Riley thought for a moment, "No, but...I don't know what else to talk about."
"Well, in that case we could talk about...you seem to have a large amount of books."
Riley looked over at her two massive oak bookshelves her father had built her.
"Yeah, I read...a lot."
"You have a large variety. Poetry, mystery, romance, biography...history."
"Mostly on Kennedy...you'd think working for the FBI I would have access to that kind of stuff, but no luck. So I read what I can get my hands on."
"I know someone who could probably get her hands on some classified information." Spencer said.
"I know someone to, but I don't want her to get in any trouble for me." Riley responded.
"You haven't eaten any of your food." Spencer observed.
Riley nodded, "It's not that I don't want to, I just can't...broken bones on one hand and the other is kind of spastic since I got stabbed..."
Spencer quickly dropped his for and grabbed Riley's, "Sorry, I wasn't thinking..."
"No, don't worry about it." Riley smirked. "Noodles, please."
Spencer twirled her fork in the noodles and lifted it to her lips. She giggled, eating them.
"Oh my god! It's so good!" She said.
"I know, best in town!"
They continued laughing as he fed her, then returned to feed himself. Riley grabbed a chunk of broccoli with her fingers and chewed on it, listening to Reid tell a story about how he got shot and hand to be on crutches.
"That sounds much better than this. You could at least change your own clothes...thanks form sending Garcia by the way..."
"I figured you'd want a girl around for that kind of thing." Spencer nodded.
He was ready with another fork full of food. Riley leaned forward as someone knocked at the door.
"It's open!" She laughed, taking the food into her mouth.
The door opened and Garcia entered.
"Well what do we have here?" she smiled.
"Uh, eating." Spencer said.
"I can see that." Garcia grinned widely.
"Hi, Penelope." Riley smiled back.
"You seem to be enjoying yourselves."
"Yeah, Reid is entertaining me with his stories of being shot."
"Oh, I got shot once, it wasn't fun." Garcia shook her head.
"She's right, it really isn't." Spencer agreed.
They finished eating and Penelope cleaned off the table in front of them.
"This was fun, you should come by and entertain me more often." Riley smiled.
"I can do that, I mean if your serious." Spencer responded.
"Yeah, I'm serious." Riley nodded.
"Okay...well then I will come by tomorrow night."
"I'll be here."
With that Spencer said goodbye to both girls and closed the door as he left. Penelope stood in the doorway of the kitchen smiling at Riley.
"What?" Riley raised an eyebrow.
"You like him!" She smiled.
"Huh! What?"
"You like Reid! I walk in and he's feeding you, you tell him he should come over more often! You like him!" Penelope beamed.
"No, no, that's not...Uh..." Riley searched for the words.
"Maybe I should let him take over the changing clothes department."
"NO!"
"It was a joke, calm down! Now let's get you dressed for bed!"