Coming Together

Disclaimer: I do not own any of characters in this story that you recognize, the ones that you don't I'll take credit for!

Notes: So the video didn't work itself into this chapter but I promise it will be in the next. This is a surprise at the end and yet another cliffhanger. Keep reviewing, they keep me motivated to write!

Warning: Slight slash. Reid reminds me so much of a friend of mine who is gay that I can't ever see him as straight, even though the show has had him stumbling around two or three girls.

Summary: SLASH Reid had always felt that public speaking was bad for his health, he just didn't know how much. Now he finds himself being held hostage, his team his only hope.

Quick side note: Reid and Morgan are not together yet. They just have feelings for each other. It is something that will develop around the end of the story.

Morgan stood by the map watching Rossi dial the number, his headset was tightly fastened around his ears, and there was uncertainty in his eyes. As he looked back at the map he wondered why Reid always seemed to be the one who was in trouble. He would never be able to get the haunting image of Reid leaning over Tobias' body, distraught with the thought that he killed someone who truly did not believe it.

He knew where Reid was, he knew who the bad guy was, and yet he could do nothing. He could only remember feeling this distraught once before and ironically it was not during the Henkel case. At that time he knew who the enemy was but not where he was, he could not physically get to Reid until he knew where he was. Nor was it when he watched Reid slowly succumb to the anthrax virus. At that time he knew exactly where Reid was but he had no enemy that he could fight to help him.

No, it was when Reid was stuck in that compound with that religious fanatic Benjamin Cyrus. Reid was so close and in so much danger but Morgan had to sit back and watch and listen. He had promised himself that Reid would never feel any of that ever again; not the pain, the fear, or even his own the feeling of hopelessness.

He couldn't help but think he failed and it tore at his heart in a way he never felt before.

** Strayer University ** Woodbridge Campus ** Lecture Hall 1 ** 2:30pm **

Lizzy's eyes were beginning to droop so Jamie added extra pressure to rouse her; her eyes snapped open and Reid felt slightly relieved, even if it was only because her body was experiencing extreme pain, at least it let them know that she was still alive and with them. She had stopped talking to them and her breathing was becoming shallow. Reid knew he had to try and end this now; he didn't want to watch her die, he couldn't watch anymore innocent people die today. If only he could put everything together, he felt like he was missing something that would be the key to getting this boy to lay down his weapon and go quietly. He needed to know why he was doing this, who he was trying to get back at. Once he identified that, he would be able to try and use his words to talk him down.

"Lizzy is your sister?" Reid asked, trying to get all the puzzle pieces in place in his head in order to figure out what his next move should be.

"Younger by three years. I promised mom I'd take care of her, and now she's hurt," Mike says, his hold faltering on the weapon but not enough for Reid to think about taking it from him. Reid thought about the comment he made about his mother, she could have recently died which triggered a depressive episode, she might have even died on campus which would have caused this kind of break forcing him to blame everyone because no one could help her. Or maybe something happened to Lizzy causing this whole thing, he kept proclaiming her innocence and how she was not at fault for what happened. If something happened to her on his watch and the school was responsible it might be the reason he was taking students and teachers out. Reid knew he was narrowing down his options but it wasn't enough, he couldn't be guessing when he made his final move, he needed to know.

Whatever Reid was about to say was interrupted by Jamie calling out to Lizzy. "You have to stay awake and talk to me. I know you're tired and just want to sleep but you have lost too much blood to take a nap," she called. Lizzy seemed to nod and attempt a conversation with Jamie but her words were slurred. Looking at how much blood was on the floor, on Lizzy and Jamie's clothes, and how soaked his sweater was, Reid calculated that she had already lost more than the recommended donation amount for a girl her size. He had less than an hour to end this.

"You hear that? Your little sister needs help and only you can get it for her. We can carry her out together, no one else needs to get hurt," Reid said.

"NO! Everyone else needs to get hurt. They are all guilty and need to pay, each and every one of them!" Mike said shaking his head back and forth. "Guilt," that word stuck out to Reid, he believed that the school was directly responsible for something. That brought him back to this two options, something happened on campus to someone he loved and since he only showed affection for his sister and mother Reid was guessing it was one of them. Reid began to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, something really bad happened here.

"Pay for what? What did they do?" Reid asked, not sure if he wanted the answer but at the same time knew he needed it.

Mike opened his mouth as if about to answer his questions when the classroom phone went off, the shrilling noise piercing the classroom. Half the students jumped, a few even let out a small yell of fright at the sudden noise.

Someone from the front of the room moved to answer it and before Reid could call out a warning or tell him not to move, Mike had turned his gun on the boy and shot him. His blood splattered on the chalkboard behind him and students screamed and tried to move away as quick as possible. Reid felt sick and closed his eyes trying to compose himself. He couldn't let the students see that he was afraid, but he was. He was afraid he wasn't going to see his mother ever again, that he would never see the team, he would never see Morgan again. So many thoughts were running through his head faster than he could compartmentalize them. The phone continued to ring, no one moved to answer it now.

** Outside with the B.A.U. team **

As Rossi listened to the ringing of the phone, silently praying that someone answers, gunshots were heard coming from campus. Fear gripped every member of the BAU as they turned towards where the shots were fired from.

"Please tell me that your phone call did not just start the shooters up on round two," McVane said looking pointedly at Rossi as he kept a tight grip on the phone waiting for an answer.

"They were probably just re-instating control. If people are afraid to answer the phone the shooters feel that they have complete control and thus feel more confident. As long as that was it and no more shots are fired we are still in good shape." Rossi assured as he hung up and redialed the phone. They knew someone could hear it and that was incentive enough to keep trying.

Meanwhile Morgan was charting out the best way to enter the school and get to where Reid and the shooter were. There were three doors going into the classroom but no windows. That left no option for sharp shooters unless they got the shooter out of the classroom and into an open area. Looking at the blueprint of the classroom it became apparent that coming in at the top would be a bad idea. Unless the shooter had his back to the door whoever came in would be an automatic target. Their best bet would be to enter on both sides on the bottom. He didn't care what anyone had to say, he was going to be one of the first people into that room. "Just stay alive in there kid, we're coming for you, I'm coming for you," he said to no one in particular.

** Back in the Lecture Hall **

The ringing stopped momentarily before starting up again. Reid looked at Mike; he was sweating, his eyes darting back and forth. Reid knew he had to get him to answer the phone, they had to get Lizzy help and now there was another injured, most likely dead, student.

"She needs help, they can give it to you," Reid said, making the decision to directly address him again.

"No, I'm not done here. They will shoot me. They know what we've done," Mike said shaking his head angrily as he glanced back to where Jim laid.

"Can I at least check on the other student down there?" Reid asked, looking to Jamie to make sure she was alright here with Lizzy. She gave him a slight nod and went back to focusing on keeping pressure on the wound and keeping Lizzy talking.

"NO!" Mike exclaimed, "Let him die. Let him bleed all over the floor." Reid noted that he wanted to see the person suffer; there was some satisfaction that he had in seeing this person die.

"You don't want that. No one else has to die," Reid tried to plead with him, Mike was unsure in the beginning but now it seemed he was just resigned. Resigned to finish what him and Jim had started, resigned to die when he was done. This was not the way Reid wanted this to go, if Mike made up his mind on this factor it would mean a long round of bullets and death for every person in the room, himself included.

"They all have to die. You have to die. You know what they did," Mike said.

"No, no I don't. What did they do? What could they possibly have done to cause this much pain that would make you want to do this?" Reid asked, having a pretty good idea what might have happened.

"You know, you saw," Mike said bitterly, looking Reid square in the eye.

"No I didn't. I'm only visiting this campus. I don't go to school here regularly." Reid said, hoping it wouldn't lead to Mike shooting him point blank. He wasn't lying to him, but he wasn't disclosing the full truth either.

"Ask one of them. They all know. They all saw. They all watched," Mikey said, spitting out the word "they" every time he spoke it.

Reid looked to Jamie, hoping that she could clear things up for him but she just lowered her eyes, a clear act of shame and remorse. He scanned the room and most students seemed to do the same, eyes cast downwards and heads hung in shame. Reid felt dread sink into his body, something very bad had happened here. Reid was snapped out of his thoughts by the phone ringing.

"Let me answer the phone, please." Reid said looking back towards Lizzy, "She doesn't have much more time, if you love her you will either answer the phone or let me answer it," he tried, hoping that he could play off Mike's guilt of shooting his little sister.

"Arrrg," Mike said, running his hands through his hair. "Fine, you answer it. Tell them they need to send help and that's it. I swear if you say anything to them, tip them off, I'll kill you," he threatened. Mike grabbed Reid up by the collar and shoved the gun into his back causing Reid to wince. Mike marched Reid over to the phone before pushing him down to his knees and holding the gun to his temple. "Answer it," he commanded. Swallowing and praying Reid answered the phone.

"Hello?" Reid questioned as he answered the phone, praying that it was someone who would understand his cues and hints.

"Hello, my name is David Rossi; I'm with the FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit. May I ask who I am speaking to?" was the reply and Reid was so happy he thought he just might start crying.

"Tell him that they need to send medical help. Tell them now!" Mike said, his eyes darting nervously to Lizzy and then back down to Reid.

"Um, my name is Spencer. We are in need of help here. There is a young girl. She was, um shot in the leg, she lost a lot of blood," Reid stuttered, thinking on how he was going to relay messages to his team without the shooter knowing yet feeling extreme relief knowing that his team was here, that Morgan was here.

"Reid, are you alright?" Rossi said, knowing there were few Spencer's in the world. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that Reid was alive.

"There is only one injured person," Reid replied, letting Rossi know he was unharmed but not letting the shooter know what question he was answering.

"Are they sending help?" Mike asked, hitting Reid with the gun and causing him to let out a yelp of pain. When Reid didn't answer him right away Mike took the phone and slammed it down.

"What did you tell them? Why aren't they sending help?" He asked frantically, looking up and seeing Jamie shaking Lizzy in an attempt to wake her.

"I didn't get an answer, he was talking to someone else in the background and you hung up before he could answer." Reid replied, righting himself and touching the side of his head tenderly. His fingers felt warm and sticky, Reid opted to wipe his hand off on his pants, not looking to confirm what he already knew.

Mike paced away from Reid for a moment, thinking. He was interrupted by the shrill ring of the classroom phone. Motioning with his gun, Reid moved to answer the phone.

**With the rest of the BAU**

Rossi felt someone drop in the pit of his stomach at the sound of Reid's pain filled cry. He turned to the rest of the team, seeing desperation and fear in their eyes. For profilers they weren't hiding it very well.

"Reid confirmed that he was unharmed when first we spoke," Rossi started. Most seemed relieved, all except Morgan who seemed to be waiting for the ball to drop. "When the call cut off I head someone getting hit. I don't know for sure who it was but it sounded like Reid. We just have to believe that he can get out of this in one piece."

"He's not okay Rossi; he's stuck in there with a mad-man. There is nothing okay about that," he stated anger clearly in his voice. Rossi knew it wasn't directed at him, but the whole situation. Hotch gave him a warning glare and he shrunk back immediately. "Sorry," was all he said.

"We're all pissed about this happening to him, but he's alive and that means something. He's strong and smart, hell he's a genius. If anyone can survive this, he can," Prentiss said, placing a hand on Morgan's shoulder to calm him as Rossi dialed the number once more, praying in every which way that Reid answered the phone once more.

Meanwhile Morgan began to pace, looking from the map, to Rossi, to the building which held Reid; Reid's own personal hell. He wasn't much for religion but at that moment he prayed for Reid's safely.

**In the classroom**

"Answer it and find out if help is coming," Mike demanded.

"Hello," Reid said, hoping it was still Rossi.

"Reid, thank god you're alright," Rossi said, earning him some strange looks from his team who didn't know why Rossi would say something like that.

"We need help," Reid replied, looking at Mike for confirmation that he was doing what he wanted.

"Reid, I need to know how many shooters there are and if anyone is dead," Rossi asked, picking up on a hint of fear in Reid's voice which broke his heart.

"Yes, the girl has sustained four injuries," Reid replied, a headache starting to form from where he was hit. He hoped that Mike did not notice the extra number of injuries that he mentioned but he needed to let Rossi and the team know how many casualties there were already.

At this information Rossi turned back towards the team, "There are at least four casualties where Reid is and there is only one shooter that he knows of. The shooter is asking for medical help of some kind so clearly someone was shot that wasn't supposed to be. Could be the other shooter or it could be a friend of the shooter."

"We need to move in if people are hurt," McVane said, as if on cue S.W.A.T. arrived.

Rossi turned his attention back to Reid, "Listen Reid, you know I can't send in medical help while the shooter is armed. S.W.A.T. is here and the Sheriff is itching to get in there and put an end to this guy. If they do that, we both know how that is going to end."

"They won't send help as long as you're armed," Reid told Mike. This seemed to set him off; he used the butt of the gun to knock Reid down once more and grabbed the phone.

"Get medical help in here now!" he yelled into the receiver.

"Who am I talking to now? What happened to Reid?" Rossi asked, he heard a bit of a scuffle but no shots were fired so he hoped Reid was alright.

"Who cares about that, we need he…wait a minutes, how did you know his last name? He didn't tell you that? Who the fuck are you?" Mike exclaimed, directing that last question to Reid who was getting up from where he had been knocked down.

"I told you that I wasn't a student here, I didn't lie to you," Reid said, not lying but not disclosing the full truth once more.

"You did, you're just like them! LIAR!" Mike exclaimed.

Another shot was fired.

Next chapter reveals who just got shot and what was on the video. Let me know if you liked it and want to read more. Thanks.