A/N: Disclaimer: 1) nope, don't own Criminal minds. 2) I made up the roads except for the one on the gulf coast. 3)the medical stuff in this chapter is fairly accurate. thanks for reading. enjoy!

Chapter 7

"Reid give me something about the statistics here," Rossi called from the front seat as their SUV continued its assault down the road.

"Well according to the preliminary 2009 Automobile Accident Association, the most accidents occur along Interstate 10 but that runs along the Gulf Coast. That is followed by Highway 29 out in California and then actually the highway we took across Indiana, Highway 47 takes third."

"So your saying that 47 is our best guess at where they went off the radar if they were in some type of accident," Hotch glanced in his rearview mirror for confirmation.

"I mean it is possible and that's where I would focus a search, all the other roads we have taken have been nothing but straight stretches through corn fields," Reid confirmed with little hesitation.

"I'm going to call ahead to the Indiana Highway Patrol, tell them to start searching for a black SUV that ran off their road," Rossi was already dialing when Hotch stopped him.

"They are going to laugh in your face Dave and you know it. We don't have any evidence of what you are suggesting," Hotch told him.

"I don't give a damn, Hotch, and you can't tell me you don't think that is exactly what happened," Rossi shot back

"Look, Dave, I agree with you," he kept his voice calm, "but you know until we have some solid proof of what really happened, we are on our own."

Rossi shook his head, "Let's just hope that proof doesn't come at too high a price."

His words left an awkward silence hanging in the air. What if they were too late?

Determined not to find out, Hotch sped even faster down the still straight stretch of road as Reid sat silently in the back calculating the distance and time it would take them to reach Indiana. Cross referencing those with the statistics of finding the SUV along the 115 highway, Reid slumped down further in his seat. The odds were definitely against them.

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A sudden jerk and the sound of JJ gasping for air, pulled Emily abruptly from her light sleep.

"Christ JJ! baby what's wrong?!" she asked frantically still hazy from her short nap.

JJ didn't respond. Instead she continued to gasp for air as her chest heaved uncontrollably at its quest for oxygen.

Quickly easing her wife to the ground, Emily tilted JJ's head and gave her two breaths of air. It seemed to work as JJ's breathing appeared to return to normal, but as Emily allowed herself to relax a little, JJ began gasping for air again.

Leaning down again swiftly, Emily repeated the two breaths as she heard hurried footsteps approaching.

"Cupcake, what is it? What's wrong," Penelope asked trying to catch her breath.

"I don't know!" Emily cried before breathing for JJ again.

Morgan skidded onto the other side of JJ and bent down so his ear was close to his friend's heaving chest. He didn't need a stethoscope to hear what was happening to her right lung.

"Her right lung collapsed," he said meeting Emily's panic filled eyes.

"What do we do for that," Penelope asked from where she was now pacing before Emily had time to respond.

"We need to relieve the pressure," Derek told them bolting upright as JJ's gasping quieted for the moment.

"How are we going to do that out here," Emily questioned frantically.

"I don't, I don't know," he said running his hands down his face, "we need something, a tube or something to allow the pressure to escape so her lung can reinflate."

His words were interrupted as JJ's body begged for air. Emily swung quickly into action to relieve her wife's plight.

"We can't keep doing this forever," Emily whispered desperately as JJ quieted once again.

"I know, I know," Derek shot back more from worry than anger, " I just, I don't… WAIT!" his sudden exclamation made Garcia jump, "Just keep her breathing," he commanded as he sprinted off in the direction of the lake.

"Derek what, wait!" Emily tried to call after him.

Garcia knelt down opposite the brunette and put her hand over the one Emily clutched JJ's hand in. "Trust him Em, he won't let anything happen to her."

Derek didn't slow as he reached the lake's bank. Taking a deep breath, he dove under the merky water. His eyes adjusted slowly to the little light provided from the evening's sun as he swam towards his destination.

Finally his fingers grazed the door handle of the sunken SUV. Yanking open the door, he quickly glided his body over the back seat to the trunk where he hoped the pocket of air would still be. His wish was granted as he came up for air in the tiny pocket at the rear of the vehicle.

Gathering his thoughts, he went under again in search of what he had come for, praying it was still where he remembered. He slid back over the back seat and over the passenger seat, his hands searching frantically for the elusive object. Reaching down to the floorboard he caught hold of what he had come for. Got it! he said to himself before turning his body and swimming back through the open door.

Inhaling deeply on the surface, Derek didn't waste any time as he stumbled from the lake, object in hand.

The girl's both turned as a drenched Derek Morgan, ran to rejoin them.

"Derek, what the hell?!" Penelope stopped, growing momentarily speechless at what her fiancé had gone running like a mad man after, "is, is that my purse?!"

"Yeah baby girl," he said dropping to his knees and dumping out the contents of her Mary Poppins bag.

Locating what he was searching for, he quickly disassembled the ink pen leaving only the hollowed out center.

His eyes shot to Emily as he continued to ignore his fiancee's rants about what the hell he was doing.

The brunette hesitated before realizing just exactly what Derek was suggesting. They didn't have much of a choice. They needed to relieve the pressure building in JJ's chest cavity or her wife would stop breathing altogether.

"Ok," she said removing Garcia's jacket that was draped over her wife. Unbuttoning JJ's blouse, Emily opened it to reveal the massive bruising to the right side.

Derek shifted down to JJ's right side as Garcia knelt by her best friend's head seeming to finally grasp the situation.

"It's not as big as I would like," he said holding up the pen and reaching to remove his pocket knife from his back pocket, "but it's the only thing I could think of to work as a proper tube."

He stopped before making a cut into JJ's exposed skin and his eyes met Emily's. She gave him a reassuring nod to tell him she trusted him. He nodded back as Emily placed her hands on JJ's shoulders to keep her lover form moving during the painful procedure. Garcia began to lightly stroke JJ's hair, sending up a silent prayer to let their desperate plan work.

Derek steadied his hand before bringing down the knife to make an incision just under JJ's ribs.

JJ's eyes shot open at the explosion of pain in her side, and Emily had to press harder to keep her from moving.

"Shh, sweetheart, it ok, this will help. Focus on me baby, just on me,"

The tears in JJ's eyes broke Emily's heart as Derek made the incision deeper.

"Almost there Jayj," Derek told her as Garcia finished rubbing the pen with hand sanitizer to try and get it as clean as possible.

Handing it to him, Derek locked eyes with JJ. "I am going to push it through now." The pain filled look in her eyes is something he would never forget.

JJ did her best to give him a reassuring nod before turning her face to look at Emily.

"You know what we are going to do when we get out of this," Emil asked softly running a hand down JJ's tear filled cheek, "we are going to Greece, baby, like you always wanted." The tears began to trickle from her own eyes as she tried to keep JJ focused on her voice.

The sharp cry that escaped JJ's lips told Emily, Morgan had inserted the pen. "You are doing so good baby." The pain JJ had to endure tore open Emily's heart.

Morgan quickly wiped away the blood from the incision, before Garcia handed him the duck tape she had also carried in her bag to close the rest of the wound. He let out a sigh of relief as he undid the cap he had fashioned for the pen and the pressure from JJ's chest was released.

"That better baby girl?" Morgan asked wiping a tear from his friend's pale cheek.

"You've been watching McGyver with Hotch haven't you," she joked hoarsely giving him a feeble smile.

They all gave a laugh in reply as Emily placed a gentle kiss on JJ's lips, "I love you so much JJ."

JJ weakly reached up to wipe a tear from Emily's face. "I love you too Em, and I am holding you to that promise of a vacation." They both smiled.

Once the pressure was completely released from JJ's chest cavity and the lung had re-inflated, Morgan covered the opening of the pen once again. "The pressure will build up about every 15 minutes, so it will have to be re-released."

"Stud Muffin, how do you know all this," Pen asked scooting to his side.

Wrapping an arm around her, he smiled wryly, "Ah come on Mama, isn't it way more sexy for it to be a mystery?"

She couldn't argue with that.

As the sun sank over the horizon, the two couples settled in for the long night.

Derek glanced over to where Emily lay snuggled to JJ's uninjured side, a protective arm wrapped gently around her wife's waist. Her eyes carefully watching for any signs of distress as she moved to release the pressure from JJ's chest again.

He then looked down at the blonde in his arms and set a kiss on her temple. We are going to get out of here, he promised them all silently.

He then glanced to the steep embankment that had stranded them since the accident. He knew tomorrow they were going to have to try and get back up it, they needed to find a way out.

He knew they were running out of time.

A/N: drop me a line and let me know what you think