Hello everyone! Thank you all very much for the faves and follows, I'm flattered! :)
So here's the second chapter to my Criminal Minds fic. The rest of the team makes a bit more of an appearance than before.
Please review/fave/follow and enjoy reading this chapter! :) Xx
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Criminal Minds characters.
This couldn't be real. Morgan stared at Reid's back for what felt like an eternity, demanding his eyes to stop playing tricks on him. Reid's back was bloody and the skin was painfully red and swollen. However, the reason for Reid's back to be bloody had Morgan stunned silent, because there, from his shoulder blades, protruded a pair of wings.
They were no more than a foot and a half long, resting limply against his back. The feathers were a bloody mess and the skin around the wings seemed even more inflamed than the rest of the agent's back.
Morgan suddenly registered the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and he realised that he had been too shocked to call anything in. Fortunately, the SWAT team members had been there with him and had requested paramedics as well as called in their findings. Morgan jumped slightly when Rossi called out his name, looking at him questioningly.
''Are you alright?'' Rossi asked while he holstered his gun and took the few steps into the agent's direction. Morgan tried to find the words to voice his feelings, but nothing came out. Rossi was about to ask Morgan again when his attention got drawn back to one of the members of the SWAT team.
''Holy-!'' The man gasped. Rossi turned his head and for the first time noticed what they had been staring at.
''That's new.'' He commented dryly, masking his own surprise at seeing the new appendages on the youngest member of their team. Now he knew why Morgan had looked like he'd just seen a ghost. He noticed the SWAT team member that was working on getting Reid down was nearly finished with the shackles.
''Come on,'' He said calmly to Morgan, placing a gentle hand on the man's arm and waiting for him to look him in the eye. ''Let's get him down. ''
Morgan nodded, taking a deep breath to compose himself before he moved to one side of Reid. Rossi walked around him and carefully placed a hand on Reid's hip, another on his right arm. Morgan did the same on Reid's left side, and they gently lowered him to the ground once his arms became free.
They carefully placed him on his side, trying not to aggravate the pain in Reid's back, although the only reaction they got from their friend was a soft gasp. They placed Reid's head to rest on Morgan's lap, after which Rossi asked about the paramedics ETA.
''They're coming down now, sir.'' Jackson Barry, one of the members of the SWAT team, announced as he worked to free Reid's ankles. He instructed one of his team members to go upstairs and meet the paramedics. Meanwhile, Rossi had taken off his jacket and carefully draped it over Reid's torso, effectively hiding the wings. Morgan looked up at him and Rossi gave a small smile.
''It might be best if we keep those covered for the time being.'' He explained softly, referring to the wings. Morgan gave a weak smile in return.
The paramedics arrived downstairs and Rossi stood up to speak to them. He explained the situation and requested them to be discreet. Though the younger paramedic seemed a bit skeptical at first, but that quickly got replaced with a look of utter shock once they lifted Rossi's jacket to assess Reid's injuries. The more seasoned paramedic remained calm and objective, for which both Morgan and Rossi were grateful. They placed him onto a gurney once the shackles on his ankles had been removed and carried him upstairs and out the door where the ambulance was waiting.
Morgan was too focused on Reid to notice Miles screaming from the back of the police car. Rossi watched him from the corner of his eye as Miles kicked the seats in front of him in frustration, screaming for them to let him finish his research. Enraged by the man's actions, Rossi forced himself to focus on getting his friend treated.
''You go with Reid,'' He instructed Morgan, who was already climbing into the ambulance without Rossi's say so. ''I'll wait here for Hotch and JJ, we'll follow you as soon as we're done here.''
Rossi watched as the ambulance drove away from the scene and noticed another SUV pulling up to the crime scene. JJ and Hotch climbed out of the car, glancing back at the ambulance that just left before walking up to Rossi.
''How is he?'' Hotch asked, assuming that the ambulance had carried their missing agent.
''He ehm-'' Rossi paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain their situation. ''He had a bad fever and the skin on his back appeared rather inflamed.'' He began, deciding that he'd first explain what they would be familiar with. ''He wasn't conscious when we found him.''
Hotch nodded his understanding. He hesitated momentarily before he decided to ask what he and JJ had been wondering about before.
''Do we know what he was trying to achieve?'' He asked, remembering how their profile suggested that he considered his victims to be no more than lab rats. Hotch didn't want to let his mind reel over the possible experiments Miles could have been performing.
''Yeah… We have a pretty good idea.'' Rossi answered slowly, the expression on his face leaving Hotch and JJ puzzled.
-oOo-
Morgan was sitting in the waiting room at the ER, his head lowered and his elbows resting on his knees. Reid had been taken into a room for examination and the nurse had stood her ground when she didn't allow Morgan into the room with him. They had been informed of the unusual case and a select group of staff had been chosen to deal with Reid's injuries in an attempt to keep things quiet.
Rossi had called Morgan for an update after they had finished at the crime scene. The small group of CSU and SWAT members had been ordered to keep anything they discovered a secret. They had found countless logs and video recordings of the experiment in the large examination room in which they had found Miles working on his records. It became apparent that Miles had been going at it for much longer than they had suspected, having found records that dated back as far as six years ago.
Another thing that was painstakingly evident in the room was the amount of drawings of biblical figures: angels in particular. Miles seemed to be obsessed with theories of human evolution. Rossi suspected that the man had been raised in a strongly religious family and had become conflicted between his beliefs and his scientific interests.
Rossi told Morgan that they were currently on their way to the hospital, despite the fact that there was no update from Morgan's side. Rossi had briefed Hotch and JJ on what had happened, but none of them knew exactly how bad it was. They didn't know what kind of complications would have been caused by the experiments Miler had performed.
Hotch, Rossi and JJ had joined Morgan in the waiting room, and for another three hours they received no word whatsoever on Reid's status. Finally, a doctor walked into the room along with the nurse who had ordered agent Morgan to take a seat in the waiting room.
''Are you here for Dr. Reid?'' The doctor, who appeared to be in his early fifties, asked them politely. He scanned around the room with hazel eyes that stood out against his short, dark brown hair.
''How is he?'' Hotch repeated the question he'd asked Rossi before, being the first person to get up from his seat.
''We have started him on antibiotics to help him fight off the infection.'' Doctor Lorenzo began calmly, looking at all the agents standing in front of him. ''The tissue around his spine is quite badly inflamed, but so far he has avoided any permanent damage to it or the nerves around it as far as we can tell.''
A sigh of relief could be heard throughout the room. Reid would live, they were almost entirely certain now.
''What about the, ehm…'' JJ let the sentence trail off, knowing that everyone in the room would understand what she was referring to.
''We have taken some X-rays, and it appears that the wings are in fact attached to his scapulae. It is almost as if they have always been there.'' Doctor Lorenzo continued. ''I truly haven't seen anything like it, whoever did this had to know what they were doing.''
''Can they be removed?'' Rossi asked next, ignoring the doctor's faint admiration for the 'work' that had been done to their colleague.
''At the moment, no. The skin around the wings is far too inflamed and the risk of complications would be too great.'' The man explained matter-of-factly. ''We'd have to wait for at least a couple of weeks before we consider it.''
Hotch nodded his thank you before Morgan spoke up for the first time in over three hours.
''Can we see him?'' He inquired, making the others look at the doctor expectantly. The man sighed, turning to the nurse who had been standing next to him quietly.
''Could you guide them to Dr. Reid's room?'' The nurse nodded in response. ''However, I will not allow you to stay for too long. He needs his rest.''
They all nodded in agreement and then continued to follow the nurse down the hallway. The nurse brought them to a private room which had been arranged for Reid to keep anyone else from seeing the wings. They stood in silence at the sight in front of them.
Reid was resting on his side, his back turned away from them. Although they were glad that they couldn't yet see the extra appendages from here, seeing Reid lying motionlessly and attached to machinery was just as bad. His chest was rising and falling slowly, a nasal cannula helping him breathe. His cheeks were slightly flushed from the fever, the pink shade standing out against his otherwise pale skin. An IV with antibiotics and NSAIDs was attached to the back of his hand.
Hotch was the first one to walk into the room. Once he reached the end of the bed, he couldn't help but look at the wings on Reid's back. The feathers were a light brown, some almost a creamy white. They were resting limply from his shoulder blades and were no bigger than a barn owl's wings would be. Hotch felt the strange urge to touch them, to confirm that they were actually there and that they were in fact attached to the youngest member of his team, but he fought the temptation.
JJ and Rossi had been the next to join Hotchner at the bed . JJ, also seeing the wings for the first time, gasped softly, her eyes glassy with tears. She whispered a soft 'oh Spence' and settled in the seat next to the bed, gently taking his hand into hers to hold.
Although he had been the one to find his best friend, Morgan struggled internally to move closer to the bed. He felt as if he had failed Reid. He knew Reid would scold him if he ever voiced his guilt, but he couldn't help it. Reid was the youngest one on their team, and he had made a silent promise to himself that he would always protect his friend from harm after they'd gotten him back from Tobias Hankle. He had failed to do so on more than one occasion, and each time Morgan had beaten himself up about it, wondering what it was about the genius that made him a magnet for trouble.
The last time Reid had given them a scare like this was when he had been shot in the neck saving Blake, which had been little over six months ago. The small scar on his neck was a daily reminder for all of them that their jobs could one day cost them their lives, but how were they supposed to deal with this? This was beyond their training, beyond anything any one of them deemed possible.
Morgan felt oddly relieved when his phone buzzed in his trousers and excused himself, quickly walking to the end of the corridor and out of the door. He pulled his still buzzing phone out of his pocket and realised that his relief had been short lived. He closed his eyes and huffed wearily, fully aware that he couldn't deny the call.
''Hey baby girl.'' He said half-heartedly, wincing and pulling the phone slightly away from his ear when he heard Garcia's frantic reply.
''Don't 'baby girl' me, hot stuff,'' She scolded, bringing a small smile to Morgan's face as she still used a nickname for him. ''I provide you and Rossi with an address where this twisted man might be holding our Reid and then I don't hear from any of you for four hours! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?!''
Morgan put the phone back to his ear once he thought Garcia was finished her rant.
''I'm sorry, I should have called you.'' Morgan apologized, pinching the bridge of his nose. ''It's been a long day for all of us. We got Miles.''
''Did you find Reid? How is my junior G-man? Is he ok?'' Garcia rambled nervously, having been kept in the dark for longer than she would have liked.
''We found Reid. He's alive.'' Morgan began, hearing Garcia's sigh of relief. He swallowed nervously. He knew he had to tell her what had happened, but how on earth did you go about explaining that one of your friends had grown wings in the ten days he had been missing?
''Morgan?'' He heard the anxiety in her voice as she awaited an update. Morgan sat down on a nearby bench and ran a hand over his face.
''It's a long story, baby girl…''
There ya go, all but Garcia have seen the wings! I will upload the next chapter as soon as possible, so please keep an eye out for it :) Thanks for reading my fanfic Xxx