DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS OR ANY RELATED CHARACTERS

A/N: Thanks again everyone for reviewing/adding! Sorry for the delay! Got called up for Jury Duty! I'm a peer : ) KittyFiction2008, you read my mind about the ties! And yes, in all my stories, Reid is wearing a purple shirt. What can I say? I love purple. Hope you all enjoy...

LABYRINTH - Chapter Four

Morgan couldn't remember a time when he had felt so cold.

The room he and Reid were now in was small, seven feet by seven feet at the most. There were metal doors on three of the four walls, including the one he and Reid had come through. The other two doors were, or course, locked. They reminded Morgan of the kind of doors they had in banks near the safe, thick and heavy. On the remaining wall, written in handwriting that Morgan recognised from the notes in the case files, and still written in red, was the word 'WAIT'. The pair were sat on the floor, leaning against the wall with the writing, knees drawn up to their chests to try and keep warm.

Morgan felt Reid shift next to him. If he was cold, he couldn't imagine how Reid was feeling. "You ok?" He asked, as the younger man leant forward.

"I need you to help me." Reid said, looking at Morgan. "I need to take my sweater off, and I can't." He lifted his hands slightly, giving Morgan a glimpse of the angry burns.

Morgan raised an eyebrow, but didn't speak. Nor did he make a move to help him.

"It'll take longer to dry than my shirt." Reid explained, his voice still shaking from the cold he felt. He hadn't got the energy to explain further.

Morgan nodded, understanding. The sweater would stay wetter, longer, and therefore so would Reid. "Ok." He said, moving forward into a position to help. He carefully pulled the sweater vest over Reid's head, taking extra care when helping the younger man to pull his arms and hands out. Reid groaned a little at the movement, but said nothing.

Morgan watched him as he leant back against the wall, now clad in his trousers, shirt and tie, and closed his eyes. The once dark purple shirt was now almost black in colour due to being soaked. Morgan placed the sweater vest between him and Reid and looked down at his own cloths, which were in a similar state. He smiled a little to himself, glad that he had chosen the wear cargo pants that day, as he could feel dry spots already forming on them.

"What's funny?" Reid asked, now looking at the older agent. Morgan chuckled, and bowed his head, but said nothing. "You're shivering." Reid said, closing his eyes again, taking a deep breath.

"So are you." Morgan replied, matter of fact. "How are your hands?" He asked. Reid hadn't complained about being in any pain, and Morgan wasn't sure if Reid was simply trying to put on a brave face, or if he actually couldn't feel any pain. The latter option worried him. If Reid was either too cold to feel the burns on his hands, or the burns were too deep into the tissue, then Morgan knew things would only get worse.

Reid coughed a little. "Where do you think Hotch and Prentiss are?" He asked, changing the subject. "We've been waiting here for ages." He could hear his own voice shaking and knew he was far past the stage of hypothermia setting in. "They should be here." He said, eyes still closed.

Morgan looked around the small room. "If that's what we're waiting for." He said. They had been no indication of how long they were to remain in the room. He turned to look at Reid again. The kid was pale, and constantly shivering as his body tried to regain the warmth it had lost. "How are your hands?" Morgan asked again, aware that Reid had changed the subject.

Reid shrugged slowly, opening his eyes to look at the damage. Each palm had been burnt from just above his thumb, diagonally across downwards towards his wrists. It worried Reid that they looked a lot more painful than they felt. "Ok." He said, trying to move his fingers on each hand. His fingers on both hands would move slightly. "Don't really hurt." He said, still moving his fingers back and fourth. "Can't move thumbs though." He added, discovering that they wouldn't move. It wasn't that it hurt to try and move them, they just wouldn't move.

Morgan watched Reid's hands as he tried to move his fingers. It hadn't escaped his attention that Reid had been missing out words when he spoke. If it had been anyone else, he probably wouldn't have picked up on it. But this was Reid.

Before he had a chance to act upon this thought or dwell on it longer, the door opposite where they sat opened. Slowly at first, as if the person behind it was struggling. There was a loud grunt – two voices distinguishable – and the door opened further. Morgan was so shocked by the door actually opening that he failed to notice for a few seconds that Hotch and Prentiss were the people on the other side.

"Oh thank God." Prentiss said, entering the small room and seeing her two team mates alive. "What the hell happened to you guys?" She asked. They were both soaked, sitting on the floor next to each other and shivering. Reid held his hands in his lap at a somewhat awkward looking angle.

"We could ask you the same." Reid said, his voice wavering slightly from the cold, his eyes not leaving the sight of their bloodied fore-arms.

"We, erm..." Prentiss sighed, turning to look at Hotch.

Hotch tilted his head to the side slightly, raising his eyebrows slightly and exhaling as he did so. "We were chained together over some kind of pit." He explained. "We had to get the keys to the cuffs out of a box."

"A box full of razors!" Prentiss added her tone sarcastic. Morgan looked at them both, blood dripping off their finger tips.

"Jesus." Morgan muttered. He was unable to take his eyes away from the blood that dripped from both Hotch's and Prentiss' fingertips, leaving neat little droplets on the concrete floor where they stood.

Reid shifted next to Morgan in an attempt to pick up his discarded sweater vest. Morgan turned to look at the younger man questioningly. "Rip it in half." Reid said once Morgan had picked up the vest. "They can use..." He coughed a little. "Use it as a bandage."

Morgan nodded, ripping the sweater from the sides along the seam to make two identical halves. He stood, a little shakily at first. Hotch made his way over to help him. Morgan nodded appreciatively, a little embarrassed at his boss and team mates seeing him in a weakened state.

"I'll do it." Prentiss said, making her way forward to take the sweater off Morgan. She set to work careful wrapping it around Hotch's forearm as a makeshift bandage. It looked a little odd, but at least it would stem any further bleeding and keep the wound clean. "Your go." She said, holding out her arm and the remaining half of the sweater. Morgan took them off her and began to copy what he had seen her do with Hotch.

"Just so you guys know," Reid said from where he still sat on the floor. "You guys owe me thirty dollars." He smiled, although it wasn't as bright as it usually was.

"Reid," Prentiss said, not looking away from Morgan's work. "When we get out of here I swear I'll by you a new sweater for everyday of the year."

Reid laughed a little, shifting where he sat. He winced as he did so, letting out an involuntary groan.

"You ok?" Hotch asked, moving closer to Reid and sitting next to him. "What happened to you guys?" it hadn't gone unnoticed that both Morgan and Reid were shivering, although the latter much worse. Hotch had also noticed, that Reid had barely moved since they'd joined them in the room.

"We were dropped into a room full of water." Morgan answered, finishing up Prentiss' arm. It had taken him much longer to wrap her arm than for her to wrap Hotch's, but at least it was done. "Very, very cold water." He added.

Reid chuckled a little. "Morgan can't swim." He said, smiling as he looked at his team mates.

"Seriously?" Prentiss asked, her jaw dropping a little. "I mean," She shook her head, "How can you..."

"Please." Hotch cut her off. "Jibe later, escape now." His voice was stern, but not unkind.

Morgan shot Prentiss a look suggesting he would make her pay for any taunts she may deliver before continuing. "Reid helped me outta the water onto some kinda platform." He explained. "There was a lever that drained out the water and opened the door." He finished, indicating the door that he and Reid had come through earlier.

As he listened, something clicked in Hotch's head. The two hypothermia victims, one received severe burns to their hands. It couldn't have been Morgan. He'd just watched as he'd bandaged up Prentiss. That coupled with the revelation that he couldn't swim meant...

"Reid," Hotch said, turning to face the youngest. "Show me your hands." His voice was steady, but his eyes betrayed a look of worry.

Reid shifted his gaze down to his lap, sighing a little. He raised his hands for Hotch to see without raising his eyes.

"Oh, Reid." Hotch said, his voice surprisingly gentle. He looked away, not sure for a second or two what to do. "We need to get out of here." He stood and walked over to the remaining door. Morgan went with him, trying to open it. It wouldn't budge, but at least they felt they were doing something.

Prentiss kneeled down next to Reid. She didn't say anything, but did her best to give him a reassuring smile.

"They're not that bad." Reid said, not sure f he was trying to convince his team mates, or himself.

Prentiss raised an eyebrow. She knew that was a lie, and she knew Reid knew so too. "So Morgan can't swim, eh?" She said, trying to take his mind off of the subject for a few moments, while leaning forward a little to undo Reid's tie. "I cannot wait to share that bit of information with Garcia. And JJ. And Rossi." She smiled when Reid let out a small laugh. If she ignored the makeshift bandage on her arm, the cold concrete walls, the angry burns on her friends' hands as well as his constant shivering, she could almost – almost – pretend they were just having a conversation back in Quantico.

Reid leant forward to allow Prentiss to pull his tie off. He hadn't bothered to ask what she was doing. He trusted her, which was all that mattered.

She carefully took one of his injured hands and began to wrap the tie around the palm. Reid hissed a little as the fabric made contact with the damaged and delicate skin. Prentiss apologised but continued. She finished his one hand before turning to Hotch. "Give me your tie." She said, for a split second questioning why it hadn't been removed by the UnSub along with their jackets but saying noting.

Hotch wordlessly removed the garment and handed it over, before returning to Morgan to continue their futile attempts with the door.

Prentiss took Reid's other hand and repeated the process. "It's not great," She said, tying the crude bandage in place. "But it'll help protect them a little."

Reid nodded his thanks. He felt so tired. He wasn't sure if it was shock, exhaustion of just the hypothermia taking hold, but he wanted nothing more at that moment than to just lie down and go to sleep.

"This isn't working." Morgan said, giving up with the door and sitting back down. He was still shivering a little. His body ached, and his mind felt a little fuzzy. But he was starting to feel a little warmer, and he took that as a good thing.

Hotch sighed and turned to lean his back against the door. "Wait." He said, reading out the word from the wall. "Wait for what?" Nobody answered. Nobody knew. He made his way to sit next to Morgan. "Reid." He called out softly. He waited until he had the younger agent's attention, his lip twitching up into a small smile at the edges. He pointed to his bandaged hands. "You owe me fifteen dollars."

A loud clunk was heard echoing around the room.

The team all turned to look in the direction of the noise. The door had opened.

(((((())))))

This chapter was meant to be much longer, but between the Jury Duty and looking after the family I haven't had time to write it all. I though I'd cut it off there and post rather than leave you all waiting. Wasn't too sure as not a lot really happens this chapter, it's kinda like a fill in chapter. More action (and the rest of the team!) in the next chapter, but I'm not gonna lie. I'm not sure when that will be, but don't worry! Promise I will! And I have no idea how many dollars a sweater vest would be. I worked it out at about £20 then converted it roughly into dollars... I think :/ xx