A/N: So I saw promo pics for the season premiere and I'm all giddy. There actually is some blood on Morgan in them! Eeeeek! In one picture he even looks slightly in pain and dizzy, if you squint. Meanwhile, just to satisfy my need and greed for more trauma than is healthy, I keep writing this story. I'm afraid once the episode has aired I will stop writing it, especially if the epi is good. Really, I don't see PLOT in it, just some mindless whump. On the other hand, maybe the epi will give me some inspiration to go AU. Time will tell. Feel warned.

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!

Promise - chapter two

The phone in his hands trembles, fingers too numb to find the right digits. When he finally speed-dials Hotch all he gets is static. Same with Rossi. With Reid, static turns into a computer-voiced statement about the network overload.

Derek groans loudly.

"Are you there?" he hears a shriek from the other room. Sharp daggers shoot through his skull. The detective's sister, he had nearly forgotten about her!

Shakily, Derek scrambles to his feet. Strange, he can't remember how he cut the duct tape. His head is spinning. He walks back to the bedroom, one hand on the wall for support, the other still attempting to dial. Prentiss - nothing. JJ - nothing. He doesn't dial the one number he may actually get connected to because he doesn't want to frighten her.

911.

Nothing.

"Could you finally cut those! Why are you standing like this? Do something!"

Derek looks up at the woman sitting on the bed. Her face is streaked with tears, lips curved in a crying grimace, hair mussed. She's tied in an awkward position which doesn't allow her to move one way or another. Upon closer examination Derek finds she's also duct-taped to the head of the bed. He left the knife in the kitchen, damn!

Another trip down the hallway. Why is it so far away? And is the floor tilted upwards? By the time he makes it there and back he's sweating and panting. He raises the knife to cut those ties and-

"KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!"

Bright flashlights make him recoil in pain. Instinctively, he raises his hands, shielding his eyes against the encompassing flood of light. The voices become an incomprehensible blur of high pitch and clanking as someone grabs his arms and tackles him to the floor. His ribs are on fire and his head is about to explode with each thump of his terrified heart.

"Are you police? Sir, are you police?" the question is repeated several times before Morgan grasps its meaning. He's not handcuffed, he sits on the floor his back against the bed. "Have you been hurt? Gary, get the medic over here!"

"I'm fine," Derek groans. He realizes this is the back-up he and Spicer requested before embarking on a lonesome suicide mission of saving the detective's daughter and sister. The monster took the girl with him! Morgan's mind is suddenly clear once he finds his objective. Ellie. The unsub. "Did you get him?"

"No, sir. Could you show me your credentials?" The gun isn't pointed at Morgan but it's close enough to threaten him if he doesn't identify himself, right about now.

Derek leans on his side to reach to the back pocket of his pants and his ribs hurt again, as does his knee. And head, his head is pounding constantly.

"Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan," he mumbles, clenching his teeth from the pain and hoping his voice is comprehensible. If not, his badge should be enough.

"Did you get a look at the kidnapper?" another voice asks.

"Where are you hurt?" asks a third voice.

Derek doesn't know which one to answer. His brain processes the importance of the facts but Ellie still has priority over everything else. The kidnapper then. He gives a description while the other person prods and pokes around his body. He winces when it hurts and that's how they know the answer to their question.

"Can you tell us exactly what happened?" the police officer asks now and Derek says they came in with Spicer and . . . and . . .

"He had Spicer at gunpoint," he says hesitantly.

"The other witness says he had the girl," another policeman supplies and Derek has a flash of memory, 'Daddy, help, I can't breathe . . .'

"Yeah, he held Ellie." Damn it, Derek can't remember what happened next. "He took her," but that's not all, something went on in between.

"Can you recall the event?" that's the medic asking but he shouldn't; he's not interrogating him, the police officers are!

"Of course!" Derek snaps at the guy. Of course he can! A bout of anger opens some vaults in his memory. "He told Spicer to drop his gun, or he'll kill the girl but he wouldn't. Spicer wouldn't. He made me promise she would be safe. We need to find her, he took her and . . ." his voice breaks.

"We issued an APB." A heavy palm lands on his arm and Derek realizes he's on his feet, face to face with a concerned officer. "We will get him; it's just a matter of time. We have his description and a description of his van . . ."

"We don't have time!" the despair is uncontrollable.

"Please, can I complete his examination now?" the persistent medic tries to cut in and only makes Morgan angrier.

"No, I'm fine! I need to find the unsub!"

"Easy, man." The hands on Derek's arms are grounding him. "You sustained a head injury. You're in no shape to go after anyone right now. What we need from you is a detailed recollection of the facts. Can you give us that?"

Derek nods and feels like he's about to vomit. The whole world tilts back and forth and then spins around. The detective takes him to another room because they need to process this one for prints and DNA traces. On their way they pass Ellie's aunt.

"He told Matt not to drop the gun, but Matt did. Was that a mistake?" she sobs. Derek doesn't remember himself saying that but somehow he knows it happened. He would have advised that. This unsub really was a coward. And he wasn't killing or raping children . . .

'This one's just . . . special,' rings in his ears and Derek feels the urge to punch something.

t.b.c.