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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey there! Sorry for the long wait, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It was pretty difficult for me to write. Please read and review, let me know what you think!

PS- I made a few changes to chapter one so please go back and reread it if you've been following this story. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

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Chapter 2: Off the Table

Morgan opened the back door and leapt out of the car before it was even stopped. Prentiss half-hazardly parked the SUV outside the hospital and ran toward the emergency entrance with Gideon close behind her.

They stopped when they reached Morgan, who was buzzing around the ambulance with wide eyes; watching the paramedics lower the gurney that held their young genius to the ground.

In the short distance from the ambulance to the hall, a young female doctor climbed on the gurney with Reid, hovering over him with gloved hands.

The medics passed on vital information and she took in every word before shouting orders to her colleagues. Then, just as suddenly as they arrived, they disappeared through swinging doors, taking their young friend away with them.

Morgan felt panic grip his heart. What if this was the last time he saw his brother alive? He hurried forward but Prentiss stopped him from forcing his way past the simple barrier.

The three exchanged worried glances and stood there in shocked silence until a grey haired nurse came over to them a few minutes later. She took in the shaking hands and bloodied clothes with a worried grimace. "You're with the FBI agent yes?", she asked. "Yes, that's correct.", Gideon nodded in response. "Come with me and I'll show you where you can get cleaned up."

The woman lead them down a hallway and into a small waiting room. "I'll close this room off for your use." She tried to offer a warm smile but couldn't quite manage it. "I hear you have others coming to wait with you; I'll make sure they get to the right place." "Thank you, Nurse..." Gideon inquired. "Cleman.", she answered.

"Help yourself to the coffee and if you need something to eat I'll be glad to point you in the right direction. There's a bathroom right through there and I'll be right back with some towels. Do you have any clothes you can change into?" The question was directed mainly at Morgan, who looked down at his shirt and hands, seeming to just now notice how much blood was on him.

"Yes, I can call and have our clothes brought to us. Thank you." Prentiss said. Nurse Cleman nodded and left the room, clicking it closed behind her.

Morgan suddenly rushed into the bathroom. And slammed the door. Prentiss sighed.

"I'm going to wait outside for Hotch and JJ to arrive." Gideon said. And he left without another word.

Only after he'd left did Prentiss sit down and allow herself to cry. She took several deep breaths to keep herself from loosing complete control. The minutes ticked by in silence. By the time Morgan had finished washing the blood from his hands and arms, Prentiss was back to her calm cool self.

Morgan stepped out of the bathroom wearing only his undershirt and blood speckled jeans. "I put my shirt in the waste basket." Morgan said numbly, setting his Kevlar vest on the floor against the wall. Prentiss just nodded. "Where's Gideon?", he asked.

Prentiss cleared her throat before speaking. "He went to find Hotch and JJ."

This time Morgan nodded. "I need to call Garcia… she's probably worried out of her mind wondering what happened." "Okay." Prentiss stood up from the uncomfortable chair and walked past Morgan to the bathroom. "I'm gonna have someone bring our go bags so we can change." Morgan nodded and stepped away from the bathroom to make his call.

Minutes later Prentiss came out of the bathroom to see Hotch and Gideon standing in the doorway talking quietly. They had already washed up and Hotch was now wearing dark jeans and a scrub top. She could just see a peek of the white bandages taped to his upper chest.

"Thank goodness for Kevlar, right?", she said setting her vest with Morgan's.

"Yeah… I'm fine." Hotch answered. "Just some bruising."

Emily stepped forward and sat down near the doorway. "Where is everyone else?", she asked.

"Morgan went to wait for Garcia at the front entrance and JJ is resting." Gideon answered.

Before Prentiss had the chance to ask anything else, Hotch explained. "They had to sedate her. They moved her out of the E.R. so by now she should be in a room somewhere on the first floor. She's exhausted and in shock but she'll be okay."

"I'll go sit with her once we regroup." She offered.

Hotch nodded. "Thank you."

The trio sat together quietly, none of them having anything to say. The silence was interrupted when the door opened so forcefully it almost hit the wall. Suddenly, a sobbing Penelope Garcia was standing in the middle of the room demanding answers. "Where is he?! Is he okay? Have we heard anything? Anything at all?"

Morgan closed the door behind them and guided Garcia to sit down next to Emily, where he then perched himself on the arm of the chair. "Slow down Baby Girl." He said rubbing her shoulder and telling her to breathe. "Garcia's caught up on everything up until we reached the hospital. Has anything happened while I was gone?"

"No. He's still in surgery. We haven't heard any word on how he's doing yet." Gideon answered.

"Where's JJ?", Garcia asked.

"She was sedated and is now resting in another room." Hotch explained. "She had a panic attack of some sort and started hyperventilating. All of her vitals are good and there's nothing physical to worry about. We just need to let her rest a while."

"I can't believe this. This case, it could've destroyed us. JJ with the dogs and Hotch getting shot. And Reid.. Oh God, Reid." More tears fell down Garcia's face and onto her lap. "We could've lost all of you… and this is just one case.."

Prentiss reached over and took Garcia's hand. She tried to focus on comforting Garcia so she wouldn't break down herself.

"If Reid dies… I'm quitting." Garcia declared through her tears.

Morgan stood up and groaned. "Don't talk like that, Garcia!" He shouted. "He's gonna be fine!"

Gideon got up and reached out to him. "Morgan, calm down. Here, have a seat."

Morgan melted into a chair across from the others, while Gideon kept a firm hand on his shoulder; grounding him. "He's 24… he's just a kid." Morgan shook his head and sighed. "He's gone through too much shit in his life to die now."

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Drowsy eyes opened with a sigh. JJ looked over herself to see that she was now wearing a hospital gown. Her hands were clean and fresh bandages covered her arm where she had been bitten by one of Hankel's wild dogs.

To her right she saw Prentiss sitting back in a chair with her legs crossed. It was clear that she had changed clothes and now her hair was settled into a messy bun. "Emily." JJ called, with tears in her throat.

"Hey." Prentiss came up to the bed and sat on the edge. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." JJ sat up in the bed and looked down at her lap with tear filled eyes. "Is Reid… how is he?"

"We still don't know." Prentiss took one of her hands. "He's been in surgery for three hours. The rest of the team is in a private waiting room upstairs." JJ nodded. "Let's go wait with them."

Prentiss didn't protest. "I'll go let the nurse know that we're headed up there. Be right back." When the door closed, JJ got out of bed, grabbed her go bag and changed into fresh clothes. The dirt and bloodstained clothes she had been wearing before were nowhere to be seen.

A few minutes later, Emily returned and lead the way to the waiting room. Anxious and eager eyes fell on the two women when the entered the room.

"JJ!" Garcia sprung up and hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay."

JJ smiled the best she could. "Have we heard anything?"

"Not yet." Hotch answered. "It's good to have you back.

For the next two hours the team sat in silence. Every ten minutes or so someone would shift in their seat or get up and pace around the room. Nurse Cleman brought a fresh pot of coffee to the waiting room table and as bitter as it was they were all grateful.

At long last the door opened to reveal a young female doctor. Morgan immediately recognized her as the doctor that had climbed onto Reid's gurney at the E.R entrance.

He stepped toward her searching with desperate eyes, trying to determine if the news would be good or bad.

"You're all here for Spencer Reid?" the young woman asked.

"Yes." Hotch stepped forward. "How is he."

"Are you his father?" she asked confused.

"No, I'm Agent Hotchner. I'm his medical contact and power of attorney. We're with the FBI and Spencer is part of our team. We're the only family he has."

"Oh, my apologies, I've be in the OR and haven't received much information on him. Kaitlyn Dove." She held out her hand. "I performed the surgery on Spencer. Why don't we all have a seat?"

Everyone nervously took a seat. When a doctor asks you to have a seat, it feels like they're warning you that the news is not good.

"First off I'd like to say that Spencer survived his surgeries." There was an audible sigh of relief in the room and Garcia burst into silent tears once again.

"It was a rough few hours and his heart can't take much more stress. His heart stopped beating and we lost him for a few minutes. His vitals still aren't where they should be, so we'll be keeping a very close eye on him until further notice. He's alive, but he next 48hours are critical. If he can hold on for that long, he has a good chance. But he's not out of the woods yet.", the doctor explained.

"What do you mean." Garcia asked. "I thought he was okay…"

"Spencer was pretty severely beaten. His right arm and wrist are broken, he has several broken ribs and we are concerned about the trauma to his head and face. We are monitoring his concussion and doing everything we can to control the swelling in his brain. He has hypothermia and he also lost a lot of blood which caused him to go into hypovolemic shock. He's had several transfusions and we're still giving him fluids now to get his levels back up." Dr. Dove looked around the room to make sure she wasn't overwhelming the agents with information. As she expected, she had their full attention and while many eyes were full of emotion and fear, there was no doubt they were taking in her every word.

So she continued. "The trauma from the stab wounds is very severe. He was stabbed twice in the abdomen which was the case of most of his bleeding. We repaired the damage to his stomach and removed a small portion of his large intestine. He was also stabbed twice in the chest. One went all the way through his left lung and cased a great deal of damage. This took us the longest to repair and he's in for a very difficult recovery."

"The last one went through his sternum and came dangerously close to his heart. A few centimeters further and he would've died on the spot. We used some pins in his chest to make sure the bone heals properly. He's on a ventilator because breathing on his own right now is out of the question. Like I mentioned before, his heart can't take much more stress, so we'll be keeping him sedated until we see significant improvement. The rest is all up to him."

"Oh my God." JJ stood up and breathed deep. Morgan got up and stood next to her to support her. Garcia shook her head and excused herself before going to the bathroom.

They sat in silence for a short while until Dr. Dove spoke up again. "I'm so sorry. I know this is a lot to take in. But please know that we're doing everything we can for him. I am hopeful that he will recover from this. It's going to take a lot, but he's strong. He proved that on the table."

Hotch tried to smile but it surely seemed more like a grimace. "Thank you.", he said with a thick voice. "Thank you for saving his life." The doctor offered her most encouraging smile.

Garcia reemerged with a large wad of tissue to share with JJ.

"When can we see him?" Morgan asked.

"It should be about another hour. He's in recovery right now and once we're sure he's stable he'll be moved to the ICU. I'll make sure to have someone come and let you know once he's settled.", she answered. Just then her buzzer went off and she frowned. "I'm sorry I have another patient to see to now. If you have anymore questions please don't hesitate to ask."

With that the doctor disappeared, leaving six worried faces behind her.