Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story.


At the hospital…

JJ's father stepped up from behind the men, he too not able to wait until visiting hours had started before arriving at the hospital. "But you must have escaped."

Hotch gulped guiltily and nodded. "We did escape." He mumured.

"How?" Will asked in a choked sob, not bothering to look back at the men who had endured hell itself alongside the mother of his child.

"We did what we had to do." Rossi shrugged, brushing aside his own feelings of guilt.

Maybe if they hadn't been so damn impatient.

Maybe if they had listened to her.

Maybe if they all hadn't been so desperate to be the hero.

Maybe they would have gotten her out without almost killing her.

Earlier...

They smelt the smoke before anything else. Thick dense burning seeped through the thick panelling seconds before a door appeared, allowing the smoke to billow into the room.

A tall lanky man stood in the doorway. "You've got to get out of here." He insisted, his voice easily recognizable as their hidden captor.

"Where is she?" Derek coughed, his visibility lessening as smoke filled the room.

"It doesn't matter. You've got to get out of here. You have a purpose- -"

Hotch ran from the room, seemingly unbothered by the betrayed looks given by his colleagues as he stopped just in front of their tormentor. "Where is she?"

"In a room down the hall." The man admitted, pushing Hotch slightly as he guided him out of the room they had been held in. "But there's no time."

The man, relieved that one of his 'charges' had listened, didn't notice Hotch's elbow coming up quickly, the stronger man easily knocking him out. "Come on, we've got to find her and get out of here." Hotch caughed, pushing his way through the growing smoke in the hallway.

At the hospital...

The doctors stepped out of her room, and for one moment Hotch felt his heart stop at the thought of what horrible information the doctors could add to their already taxed shoulders. When JJ's doctor offered a small grim smile, the profiler almost felt he could breathe again.

"How is she?" Will asked the question that weighed on all of their minds.

The doctor smiled reassuringly, "We are still cautiously optomistic." His face grew serious. "Her lungs are still a major concern, but we are hopeful."

Dave closed his eyes in quiet relief, unable to listen to anymore of the doctor's information.

She was going to be okay.

Despite the fact they had royally fucked up everything, she was going to be okay.

At least, that's what he could hope for.

Earlier...

It took them only minutes to find her. Precious minutes that ticked against the clock as they fought to find their colleague.

They couldn't leave her behind.

Not ever.

"Right here!" Derek cried, throwing his weight behind a large thick door as he attempted to force it to open. He coughed as he willed the door to open.

"What makes you think it's here?" Hotch asked, moving down the hall slightly and ripping another door open.

"This is the only one that's locked." Morgan reasoned.

That was good enough for the rest of them. All three men pried the door open, unwilling to be detered by the smoke that was beginning to grow more and more dense. Feeling the door creak open slightly, each man felt a surge of exhilliration, pushing them forward.

Entering the room, it didn't take a second for all three men to be at JJ's side.

"Come on Jayje, we've got to get out of here." Derek insisted, sliping his arms under the broken woman and lifting her easily.

He glanced at both Hotch and Rossi, feeling their worry grow as JJ didn't even stir.

Rossi coughed lightly, reminding the men of the growing need to evacuate as quickly as possible.

"Come on!" Hotch led the way, turning left outside the room, away from the direction the other men had come.

JJ stirred slightly, jostled by Derek's hurried urgency. "Mmm," She moaned, creaking one eye open just enough to catch a glimpse of her surroundings.

"It's going to be okay Jayje." Derek coughed, following Hotch with Rossi bringing up the rear. "We're going to get you out of here."

"Not this way." JJ murmured. "Don't- -" She croaked, the effort draining any reserve of strength she may have had.

And that was the moment that would haunt all three profilers.

That was the moment where if everything was bad before, the world had gone straight to hell.

Because that was the moment they ignored her.

"I think it's this way." Hotch pointed, gesturing to a door in front of them.

"Let's go." Derek agreed, his spirits soaring as he saws the door surrounded by two large windows that clearly led outside.

"What are you waiting for?" Dave asked impatiently, "Get us the hell out of here."

If any of them knew the consequences, they would take it back in a second.

Pushing the door open, Hotch coughed as the pure clean air filled his lungs, feeling a surge of gratitude that they were safe.

It was over.

As Derek stepped over the threshold, all three men sighed with relief, allowing the fresh air to expunge the awful tar from their systems.

JJ coughed, clutching at the awful thick metal ring around her neck as if it were a weight holding her down.

Then everything went to hell as JJ began to seize.