Wish You Were Here
I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change: - Jim Rohn
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.
When your mind has been torn apart it sometimes takes longer to heal than the body does.
They sat together in their own separate worlds.
Rosa was bored and flicking through a book she had read a hundred times before.
Aaron was sitting with his head back and shades on staring at the blue sky.
Spencer was sitting on the floor with his knees up tight and his arms wrapped around his legs.
Floyd was sitting muttering to himself about how he managed to find the most miserable bunch on the planet to go on his holidays with.
He sat with the fishing rod in his hand and his feet dangling over the side of the boat. No point in actually trying to catch anything. Rosa was on a chocolate only diet. Aaron would only eat fruit and vegetables. Spencer – well Spence wouldn't eat anything and his weight was dropping again. Like it did every time he got stressed up about nothing.
Maybe it wasn't quite nothing. Maybe he had reason to get stressed. Uncle Iolanda had been eating him after all - but just the one rib. One sodding rib – that's all. Not like it would have been missed anyway. Spencer had on a pair of shades. It sort of covered over the patch he was still having to wear but Floyd rather liked it. He liked the new look Reid. The ponytail and scar and the eye-patch. It made him look piratical. It made him look mischievous and more than a bit cute.
Aaron had a good reason not to want to eat meat. He could go with that. Being force fed a slip of Reid wouldn't have bothered Floyd, but he could see how it would bother good old stoic Hotchner.
Floyd looked over at Reid again. Actually he would rather enjoy being force fed Reid.
(Mental note to self. Will play that game with Reid later.)
Rosa was sulking. She wanted to go swimming but they were out in the middle of nowhere. No land to be seen and it would be his luck that this would be shark HQ and for once he wanted something to be nice.
Floyd wanted nice.
Not so much to ask for was it.
"Put your damned clothes back on."
Rosa jumped and pulled the big Tshirt dress back on over her steadily browning body.
"I want to go swimming. Uncle Aaron – take me swimming – pleeeeease." A very annoying wining child's voice.
He tore his eyes off the blue sky and looked at the child. "No. It is not safe here. Later. When it is shallow we can." And his head tipped back and his eyes looked at the sky again.
"Spence?" She prodded him with her toe but nothing happened. "Daddy – how can he sleep all the time? He looks awake but is always asleep."
"Leave him alone poppet. He is healing. Some people like to sleep when they don't feel well." A sly smile. "I will wake him up later. Don't worry."
He glanced over at his shipmates and sighed.
Boring fuckers.
Reid sat on the boards of the small boat until it was dark. Aaron ate an apple and Rosa sat and coloured in pictures.
"Are we going to stay out here all night? I wanted to go back and do stuff. It's so bleeding boring here with you lot." She threw a pencil down on the small table.
"You could have sat with me and fished."
"I could have gotten in the water and caught them with my hands – but noooo – daddy wouldn't let me! You never let me have any fun. I hate you. I wish I was back in the cave. At least they let me do fun stuff."
Aaron looked over at Rosa and muttered something around a mouthful of green apple. "Don't talk to your father like that."
"Oh piss on you Agent FBI man. At least I'm with my dad! Can't see your Jack here anywhere. Helloooo Jack – are you here under the table? NO! Cos you don't see your boy so don't you tell me what to….."
A slap around the face stopped her diatribe. She stood looking at Floyd with burning anger in her eyes. "That's enough. Go to your cabin. I will be there soon." Floyd dropped the rod on the deck next to Spencer and looked over to Aaron who was watching the retreating back of Rosa.
"You shouldn't hit your daughter."
"Big words from father of the year." Floyd hissed back.
"Why can't you two talk without sniping." The first and last words out of Spencer's mouth that day.
Aaron and Floyd both raised eyebrows at Reid. Hotch got up and sat on the deck next to him. "Hey I thought you were sleeping." He slipped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in close. "Let me get you something. A drink? Something to eat.?"
Reid turned his face away from Aaron and looked out over the dark sea leaning tentatively on him.
He felt the comforting arms hold him tighter – but it was of little comfort really. He was still having a problem understanding that it wasn't him who mashed his face in when he was in the tub.
Spencer could remember it so clearly. He could see in his mind's eye the look of disgust on Hotch's face as he swung the bat. Hotch and Floyd could tell him until their voices dried up that it was Iolanda, but that wasn't the face haunting Spencer's nightmares. He needed to trust that the two of them weren't trying to fool him in some way. Reid didn't think Floyd would. He trusted Floyd with his life. He knew he wouldn't let anything happen to him. He knew Floyd was his protector, he wasn't so sure of Aaron.
He leaned back a bit further into him in an attempt to regain some of the old feeling of security he had there but as he did and as the arms tightened it made him more afraid. He felt constricted and bound.
Spencer could feel this breaths getting shallower and his heart beating faster as the panic started to set in. As with Floyd and now with Aaron he knew there was no point in physically fighting back. Not now he knew what this man was capable of.
Aaron felt the way Spencer's breaths got short and shallow and he could feel the thumping of his heart under his hand. "It's alright Spencer. No one is going to hurt you here. We are isolated and we are all friends. You are one hundred percent safe." He kissed Reid gently on the top of his head and took the opportunity to take in the sweet smell of his shampoo.
-o-o-o-
She was a ninety five foot flybridge motor yacht. She was beautiful. She was far too big for what Floyd wanted or needed, but the galley was what had sold it to him. Black granite work tops. (easy to clean) Five – yes five separate cabins. The biggest he had claimed for himself – but honestly they were all fegging huge. A galley and a dining room and a lounge. Actually it was bigger than the bungalow they had left behind for dear Mrs Smith to clean for them while they were away. Floyd had made sure his work shop was free of bits of media liaison.
The cost. Well yes it had been costly but finding money had never been a problem. Be it in other people's pockets or bank accounts he seemed to be able to just take what he wanted when he wanted it. One day – yes one day he would get caught. Someone would ask the wrong question at the right time and he would be caught – they would lock him in security room and maybe put cuffs on him. Oh my - what a problem that would be. Until then he would take and he would provide for his family. On the odd occasion he needed money and there were no pockets he was always willing to give something in return for quick cash. Floyd had never been shy to prostitute him self. Just don't ever let him hear it be said he did.
Anyway – the cabin was big. It held a massive double bed and right now his snivelling daughter was sitting in the middle of it.
"You would really rather be back with the others than here?" Floyd started to remove his shirt.
"No – but I am sooo bored daddy."
"I thought we all needed time away – just to relax and maybe get to know each other a bit better." He started to undo his belt.
"I know that – but Spence just sits and does nothing all day. He wont talk or anything. I wanted him to show me card tricks and that thing he can do with the penny."
"He is ill sweetheart. Give him time. He nearly died. He did die. That's why I bonded with him. You can see that now?" pulling off his jeans.
"I sorta kind of see it. But I still think you were nuts for doing it." She dragged off her big Tshirt.
-o-o-o-
Aaron curled up on his side in his cabin. The bed was stupidly big. He wondered if Floyd had an ulterior motive behind this but so far he had spent every night in his cabin with Rosa. At first the thought it odd. He had pulled confused faces at the Flanders duo over that but them remembered that if Jack was here he would want him in the same room – he needed to stop being so suspicious of Floyd. Look what he had provided for them. A few weeks away in a luxury yacht in the still clear blue sea. There didn't seem to be any reason for it other than Floyd liked to provide for Spencer. He liked to see Reid in comfort – or pain. No middle ground. He pulled a pillow down from the bank of them along by the head board and pulled it in close. Hotch closed his eyes and snuggled in for what he hoped was an easy sleep rocking gently on the ocean.
-o-o-o-
He wanted them to think everything was alright. He thought he had been hiding it quite well. Obviously his lack of eating hadn't gone un-noticed but it was something both of them knew he did when stressed. Spencer stripped down to his boxers and then pulled on pyjamas over the top and then his blue robe and then another couple of socks. He stood and looked in the mirror on the cabin wall. His cheekbones stuck out too far. It made his eyes look huge. Well the eye he showed in public anyway. The protected one didn't look any different. He pulled off the patch and stared at his enormous hazel eyes in the mirror. What had they really seen that day in the motel room? Why didn't he trust what they saw anymore?
Reid sighed and lay on the bed and looked at the rippling light bouncing on the ceiling.
He wrapped his arms around him and pulled his knees up and lay there for a while listening to the water slapping gently on the side of the boat.
-o-o-o-
Floyd heard Reid call out. A nightmare. He used to go running to see if he could help, but it was pointless. Reid would swipe out at him and get in a greater panic if someone tried to restrain him and so now he knew to just leave it. It wouldn't last long. He ran a hand over Rosa's back and pulled her in closer listening to the sounds of the man he thought maybe if it was possible – if that is what this churning feeling in his stomach was – he loved – in distress. He buried his head into his daughter's hair and listened to his screams for help.
-o-o-o-
Aaron heard Reid call out. It woke him from his own dream – but he couldn't remember what it was now. Every night Reid woke up screaming and calling out for help and every night the two men who should be able to help him ignored it. He pulled the pillow closer and pushed his face into the fabric taking in the scent of the soap powder.
Reid's shouts ended suddenly. Usually they ended with a whimper and sobbing, but tonight it was sudden. Aaron sat up and pushed the pillow to the side. Maybe something was wrong. Maybe he had fallen and hurt himself. He got up off the bed and stood still listening.
Footsteps.
Floyd maybe?
Rosa?
Reid?
Hotch pulled on his robe over the top of his pyjamas and left his cabin to investigate.
-o-o-o-
He screamed for help – but he was ignored. He howled in pain as they hit him with the iron bar. He tried to scrabble away off the bed, but something hit him on the side of the head and the screaming stopped.
-o-o-o-
He stood and looked at Reid's door. It was open and so he walked quickly to the door and pushed it open. He didn't even see the person in the alcove and never really felt the fire extinguisher catch him just behind the ear. Someone caught him and dragged him out in the same direction they had taken Spencer.
-o-o-o-
The cabin door flew open and Floyd sat up expecting it to be Reid. It wasn't. He pushed Rosa away and to behind him.
"Who the hell are you? What do you want?"
Three men stood and looked at what they had found but didn't give an answer. Guns pointed at the child stopped Floyd from leaping in with his teeth.
"Get off the bed and put this on." They threw a length of cloth at him which he tied around his waist. The lead guy looked at his subordinate. "Take the child out and put her in the boat with the others. This one needs special treatment."
Floyd watched Rosa walk from the room and then he turned to the man. "You my friend have made a big mistake if you think you can get away with this."
The dark skinned man approached Floyd. "Turn around you dirty pervert or I will see that your little bum chums start feeling your pain."
Floyd turned around. His hands were grabbed and tied with what felt like fishing wire.
More joined them in Floyd's room. They tied wire around his neck and pulled until small trickles of blood oozed out and then pushed him out to meet the rest of the crew.
The leader talked. "I'm sorry – I don't know who you are and I don't give a damn but this yacht is now mine and that little rubber boat with your whore and your buddies is your new home."
"My daughter." Floyd flashed dark eyes at them. Couldn't even be in the middle of no bleeding where and not have something happen. This was the most insane thing ever. This couldn't be happening.
"Your whore."
They pushed him to the edge of the yacht and let him see down at the pathetic thing Hotch, Spencer and Rosa were sitting in.
"Say goodbye to them."
Floyd started to turn. Say goodbye? He wasn't going with them? He had to go with them.
He stood and looked at them suddenly realising what they meant. "No – no .." He felt it enter his head between his eyes and somewhere he heard a scream and a howl but he didn't think is was him. He could feel his legs giving way under him and then he felt he was falling backwards off the yacht.
Floyd sunk like a rock. His hands still restrained and his brains coming to rest over the three people in the life raft.
A/N: Setting up chapters are always slow (with me)…. I hope it will pick up pace as my mouth heals and the story gets going :cD Reviews are love.
