JJ's POV

As I sat down in the waiting area of the emergency department, I meticulously ran through every detail of the events from the past hour. We had located our unsub, Tyler Levenson, as well as the five girls he had abducted over the past year, in an abandoned factory building just outside of Manassas. Garcia had sent us co-ordinates and Rossi, Spence and I had sped the thirty miles from our base, arriving twenty minutes later. Both Emily and Tara had contacted us from their whereabouts to let us know they were en route.

I dabbed at the tears that began streaming down my face as I recalled the penetrating smell of smoke as we approached the entrance to the factory. We had immediately called for back-up on our approach to the back entrance. I had been anxious and my heart had hammered violently in my chest; while fire had always been regarded as being one of the more volatile and unpredictable weapons used by criminals, since the child abduction case a couple of months earlier, it ignited a particular degree of trepidation in me.

The factory was pitch black. Smoke swam in the air around us, filling our lungs and making our eyes water. Thankfully, after searching the first part of the building, we were fortunate to find four of the girls passed out in what would have been a janitorial closet. After finding the first victim's pulse, I called an ambulance and knelt between them to administer emergency aid while Rossi and Reid split up in pursuit of Levenson and his last victim. A few minutes later, through the rapidly thickening smoke, I heard several gunshots and Rossi call out. I ran through a set of double doors to a large room, engulfed by flames.

Of all the awful scenes to which I had borne witness throughout my career, I know that what I saw in that room will remain burned into my memory. It was not Levenson laying on his back, bleeding out of a gunshot wound to his chest. It was not the last of his victims laying next to him, also bleeding from wounds to her leg and chest. It was Doctor Spencer Reid, my colleague, close friend and godfather to my children, laying on the cold tiles of the factory, bleeding from what appeared to be stab wounds to his abdomen.

Rossi was at his side, attempting to stem the blood flow with his hands. I ran to help, momentarily freezing upon discovering his already pallid complexion; all the blood had drained from his face and was now freely flowing out of two holes in his stomach. His clothes were saturated with blood. Instinctively, I reached down to apply pressure over Rossi's hands, but the blood kept coming through our fingers...I couldn't stop it...

Taking my hands, which were now laying limply in my lap, Tara and Emily brought me out of my morbid reverie. "We did everything by the book...I...I..." I tried to speak before Emily interrupted.

"There was no way we could have known, JJ. Clearly Kelly had been manipulated to such an extent that she defended Levenson. You cannot blame yourself for any part of this, Reid wouldn't want that" She attempted to reassure me.

"Emily's right, JJ, " Tara said soothingly. "We could not have predicted this, and even if there was some way we could have known Kelly would defend him, we wouldn't have been able to anticipate the shards of glass just lying on the factory floor..." She stroked my arm.

I considered their thoughtful words and saw the logic in them; I knew there was nothing more could have done - we had done everything according to protocol and in consideration of the profile. In order to maintain some semblance of sanity, I knew had to remember that. We could know nothing more until Spence gets out of surgery...if he gets out, a voice in the back of my head sadly reminded me.

At that moment, Rossi, with his arm wrapped firmly around a tearful Garcia, came to sit opposite us. "Any more news?" he asked.

"Not yet, he's still in surgery. There were a couple of nurses who wanted to know some more about what happened for his medical records but we wanted to wait for you," Tara explained. "I'll go and find them".

As she left, Garcia stood and sank into Tara's chair next to me,"I swear to God, boy wonder has been here too many times." Garcia spoke quietly, hugging my arm as she rubbed away the trails of moisture on her face. With my free hand, I took one of hers and squeezed it gently.

A few minutes of silence later, Tara returned with both a male and female nurse. Taking a seat next to Rossi, she nodded to the nurses, offering encouragement - we must look intimidating, I thought absentmindedly... Simultaneously, we all sat up straight, hoping they might also have some good news.

"I'm Lily and this is Jack," the female nurse said, smiling. "We would just like to talk through some of the particulars if that's not too much. It's just for the medical file and the doctors and next of kin might need it if any more decisions are to be made later on."

Both Rossi and I relayed our stories, which were noted down by Jack. Lily then explained how Spence's condition had deteriorated slightly between our arrival at the hospital and his going into surgery. "Can either of you tell us if there has been any developments?" I asked as she finished.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any more information at this stage. Doctor Ola is working very hard to ensure Doctor Reid has the best possible chance of coming through this." Jack smiled sincerely. We all nodded and individually thanked them for their help as they got up to leave.

"Oh, just so you know, we have contacted Doctor Reid's next of kin and she should be here as soon as she can," Lily said nonchalantly.

At that statement, we turned to each other, confused. Rossi spoke first, "I don't think that will be possible. Spencer's mother is somewhat unable to travel such distances at the moment." We were all painfully aware of Diana Reid's condition. As a mother, I could empathise with some of what she might go through when she inevitably discovered what had happened.

Lily nodded, "Yes, that's correct - there were instructions not to contact her until absolutely necessary so as not to worry her." I smiled at that, Reid thought of everything...but then? "We're talking about a - ", Lily glanced at Jack's notepad, " Doctor Amelia Greyling."

The sense of shared confusion deepened. Who on earth was Doctor Greyling? "Are you sure that's right? We don't know anybody by that name and Spencer's like family to all of us," Emily said what we were all thinking, her eyes squinting slightly as she searched her memory.

"We are quite sure Doctor Greyling was listed on his file," Lily spoke earnestly, " a-and she works right h-here at the hospital - we have paged her with instructions to come down here as soon as possible." Her voice faltered slightly as she continued, presumably a little flustered by our obvious incredulity, "w-we regret that we don't know when that might be; we don't know her personally but her schedule is likely to be pretty hectic." I almost laughed. We know that life, I thought solemnly.

"Thank you for your help, we'll just wait here for any news," Tara said kindly, shaking their hands.

As soon as the nurses departed, we all looked at Garcia. Perhaps for the first time since hearing of this awful incident, she smiled. Finding comfort in something safe and familiar, Garcia happily whipped out a small laptop from her bag. She began tapping speedily, "Doctor...Amelia...Greyling...". Though we were all clearly anxious to hear who this mystery woman was, she abruptly pulled the screen of the computer down almost as soon as she had finished typing. "Not that I'm usually reluctant to delve into the lives of random people, but do we really want to do this? If Reid wanted us to know who she is, he would tell us, right? Isn't this snooping?"

"This could lead to something personal; something we can't just ignore and pretend didn't happen if we wanted," Rossi said quietly.

I looked at Emily; her expression mirrored my inner conflict. Rossi was right - this was clearly private and our close friendship with Spencer would be better served by asking him about her in person. However, and while it was painful to think about, he was not here and we had no idea for how long that might be. It could be more beneficial for all of us, including Doctor Greyling, to face the potential outcomes of this awful situation knowing a bit more about the bigger picture, some of which we were evidently unaware of. Then another thought occurred to me, "I would like to know a little bit about the person authorised to make decisions about his care... I-I'm just struggling with trusting somebody I didn't know existed until five minutes ago, with his life. Even if she is a doctor..." I looked to my friends and colleagues.

Emily nodded in agreement, "how about we compromise with just demographics? We can ask her directly about how she knows Reid. She's a doctor so she might be treating him. Though, she's obviously important to him to be his next of kin." It felt like Emily was addressing an ever-growing elephant in the room; Doctor Greyling might be a special person in Spence's life. I frowned at the thought - why would he keep that from us?

"Ok, let's go-" Garcia interrupted by musings, "Amelia Florence Greyling, born in London - always glorious - 29 years old, lives right here in Virginia - good lord - she's girl wonder! She finished school at 15, got her first degree and PhD in psychology by the time she was 20; then she enrolled at Harvard Med and graduated top of her class. She has recently finished her residency here before being promoted to deputy head of Paediatric Surgery. So, going back to what you said Emily, unless Reid has developed a condition similar to that of Benjamin Button, I doubt she would be his doctor..." she looked up at us before continuing, "wow - she's currently enrolled as a PhD student at Oxford back in England - though for what, your guess is a good as mine... She volunteers for everything, homeless charities, children's centres, you name it. She's also really pretty, look!" Animated, Garcia turned her laptop around to reveal a photo of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman. She was classically beautiful; her eyes were big; her long, slightly wavy hair was cut to frame her face; her perfect smile practically radiated through the computer screen.

"Well, she certainly looks and sounds like a decent human being. Not my type, though." a familiar voice said from my left.

Turning, we found Derek sitting beside Emily. "When did YOU get here?!" Garcia screeched on my other side.

"Slow your roll, baby girl. Rossi dropped me text," Derek's playful expression grew more solemn, "poor kid, why is it always him, shot...twice..., drugged, also twice, now this. My god."

"Tell us about it," I agreed.

"How long has he been under?"

"A few hours now, we're just waiting. Though I suppose no news is good news," Tara explained, hopefully.

We fell silent for a few minutes before Derek chimed in again, "so who's the girl?"

"That's the question," Emily began, staring at the photo still open on Garcia's laptop, "or rather, who is she to Reid?"

At that moment, the double doors behind Derek, Emily, Garcia and I burst open. Though I turned quickly, in my periphery, I saw Rossi lean into his chair, "looks like we're about to find out".

A/N:

Hello readers :)

I'm really excited to share this story with you - I've not really done anything like this before so I hope it's ok and that you enjoy it!

Any feedback is very much appreciated. I aim to update every week, but if I have any spare time, chapters might be published more frequently!

Best,

Em