Emily kept one arm around Serena and held Derek's hand while he carried Caleb in his other arm, up the steps and into Jacob's house. Jacob was carrying Fran. He walked down a hallway and they stood in the doorway and watched him gently lay Fran's body on a bed. He turned to face them. "I'm very sorry. We can bury her when it's daylight."

Derek set Caleb down and walked towards the bed. He bent over and kissed Fran's forehead. "Goodbye, Mom. I love you. Thank you," he said softly. He stood and Emily saw him take a deep breath, getting himself together. Serena had calmed down, Caleb was still hiccuping between coughs, and Emily was trying to gather herself, but she really felt so awful at that point that she was surprised her legs were still carrying her.

Derek turned to look at Jacob and stuck out his hand. "Thank you, Jacob. For my children, and for all of our lives."

Jacob cleared his throat, shook Derek's hand and said, "I'm glad I was able to help."

Emily had many questions about where Jacob had been and how he'd managed to be the one ordering the lock down at FBI headquarters, and keep the team out of Georgia the Friday before, but it wasn't the time. They were still running for their lives, and running out of time with this virus. A cough shook her body and she felt Serena squeeze her around her waist. "I can help you with that," her sweet girl said.

"Come on, let's join the others," said Jacob. And he placed a hand on Emily's shoulder, giving it a squeeze, before leading them back through the house and down a flight of stairs that led to an open, thick steel door.

Emily took in the scene before her. A man, the helicopter pilot she assumed, had ripped the sleeve off JJ's shirt, and was cleaning her wound. "Through and through, not much muscle damage. We'll get you stitched up and you'll be as good as new pretty soon," he said. Penelope was sitting at a bank of computers, looking at the view of security cameras that showed different areas of Jacob's property. Hotch was sitting on the floor, his arm around Jack, and Will was doing the same with Henry. Rossi and Reid were staring at a computer screen that showed a very scary looking world-wide map. Georgia was covered in red, as was most of the surrounding states. The rest of the US and the world for that matter did not look good. There were red dots everywhere.

Serena stared at it and stepped closer. "The spread of the virus?" she asked Jacob.

"The best I can estimate, yes. That's as of this moment, based on statistics of who flew in and out of Atlanta last week and where they were from, assuming someone is contagious twenty-four hours before they show symptoms."

"It's forty-eight hours," said Serena quietly.

Jacob took a deep breath and let it out, "Then that just got a whole lot worse. We need to figure out what we're going to do. But first, we need to buy us a little time here, so we can rest and plan. Mr. Rossi, is there anything in your vehicle you need?"

Rossi shook his head. "Dave is fine. Or Rossi."

Jacob continued. "OK, Dave. Good. I'm going to need someone to drive my car. We're going to take your car and the helicopter and make it look like both crashed. I have no idea how many people are involved with this, what they know, or how many of them are already sick, but having that helicopter and your car in my driveway or the vicinity of this house is not a good idea. The people chasing you likely didn't die in that crash. I'd like to cover our bases. Them thinking we might all be dead, even for a little while until they investigate, will give us a small head start."

"Would it be better if they found a body?" asked Derek softly.

Emily felt the sympathetic gazes of everyone in the room fall on Derek, and she felt tears pricking her own eyes again.

Jacob placed a hand on Derek's shoulder. "No. One body won't deter them for long. We won't be staying here, but I think it will give you some peace in the future to know where your mother is buried."

Derek nodded sadly.

"I'll drive," Rossi said.

The pilot turned to face JJ again. "I'm going to wrap this up tight. I'll take care of the stitches when we get back." Then he looked at Jacob before glancing at the rest of them. "I'm Adam, and it looks like we're all in this together from here on out."

Emily saw Jacob give Adam a small half smile.

Jacob went to a door and punched in a code, opening a large closet full of guns, grenades and so many other weapons and supplies Emily couldn't even take it all in from where she was standing. "Should anyone show up while we're gone," Jacob said seriously. "There's a bathroom," he pointed. "And in that closet is food and water, some clothing and blankets. Use whatever you need. We'll be back in about thirty minutes."

People murmured thank yous, but Emily could see that everyone was shell-shocked and scared. Caleb was shaking between her and Derek, and Derek bent to pick him up again, gently holding his son in his arms. Then she watched Serena gather herself even more. She stood up straighter and went to the bathroom. Emily followed and saw Serena scrubbing her hands, washing off Fran's blood. When she was done and turned to face Emily, she didn't look like her little girl. She looked serious and far older than her years, even for her. She smiled at Emily though. "Let's get you feeling better," she said.


Serena went on autopilot again, pushing down her emotions. She addressed the group in the room as she went to the refrigeration unit and pulled out fourteen syringes and fourteen vials. "What I have is going to kill the virus in your system, but only for about five days. After that you'll be susceptible to getting infected and I'll need to inject you again. I have enough for each of us to have three rounds of the antiviral. Penelope, I need you to get the email addresses or any contact information for any lab that can produce vaccines, world-wide. We need to get the information about how to create this out to as many people as possible."

Everyone just stared at her in disbelief that all of this was really happening. Serena still had a hard time believing it herself. Penelope finally nodded and got to work on the computer. "Henry, Jack and Caleb, let's do you first and get those ports out of your arm."

Serena felt the eyes of the room on her as she injected the three boys. Her voice sounded robotic to her own ears, "I convinced the people who took us that I needed as many blood samples as possible so I could get ports in their arms. Then I gave the antiviral to Nana and they saw that it was working. Then I gave three of the guards lethal injections instead of the antiviral. That's how we got out of there. I didn't make the antiviral. Dr. Lamont did, but he was too sick at the end to realize it."

She stopped talking. All she could see in her mind was the look on her guard's face right before he died. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn't meet anyone's eyes as she went around the room, giving her family what they needed in order to make them well again, at least for now. Nobody asked questions, maybe sensing she wasn't up for answering them yet.

She gave her dad the antiviral last, and finally raised her head. Her dad had tears in his eyes. He reached his hand out to touch her cheek, and Serena blinked back tears. She wanted to sob and crawl in his arms and cry about killing people, cry about her Nana, tell them about the look on Jacie's face as the helicopter pulled away. But she didn't have time for that now.

"What about you?" asked her dad.

"Adam can give me my injection when he gets back."

She stood and went to the computers. She pulled up a window and started typing quickly, writing detailed instructions that would help whomever was still capable re-create the antiviral, giving them information they needed that might lead to a vaccine that would be more permanent.

"How long will it take to make more, Serena?" asked Spencer.

"For a well-equipped, modern lab? About ten days. They need to grow some cultures first. If people were smart, some labs have probably already started that process. If that's the case, four days. But then they have to mass produce it and get it out."

Spencer cleared his throat and looked back at Jacob's map. Serena knew what he was thinking. She realized it herself: much of the world would be sick or dead by then. Or crazy.

They let her finish typing. "Send it out," she said to Penelope, and Penelope squeezed her hand. Everyone was keeping it together exceptionally well at that point, and Serena was thankful. She was feeding off their strength.

"How long will the infrastructure hold up?" Emily asked Spencer. "How long will we have power, the internet, fresh water...?"

"It really depends on how long people can hang in there and keep things running. A week? I wouldn't count on it for longer than that."

Jacob, Adam and Rossi returned then. Serena injected them, explaining again about how the antiviral worked, and then Adam gave her her dose. He went to work stitching up JJ after that.

Serena faced the group, finding her mom's eyes. She was sitting on the floor and Caleb was in her lap. Her dad's arm was around her mom. "Do you know what happens with this virus after three days?" Serena asked hopefully, hoping she didn't have to explain.

But everyone in the room besides Jacob and Adam shook their heads. Serena went to sit next to her dad. She felt his arm come around her and she allowed herself to feel some comfort. She was brief and matter-of-fact. "Twenty percent live without their fevers getting too high, but they can be infected again. The other eighty percent reach very high temperatures, the virus mutates and then goes into the brain. The virus dies when the temperature reaches 107 degrees. Half the people die from the high fever. The other half are left with multiple, large lesions on their ventromedial frontal lobe."

She met Spencer's eyes. He understood. "Leaving us with highly aggressive people that largely only know a rage response?" His tone was uncertain, like he was almost wishing Serena would tell him he was wrong.

"Yes," she said.

The room was quiet, interrupted only by the lingering coughs of a few of the group. It would probably take a day before the coughing subsided. Serena felt her dad's arm tighten around her and he kissed her forehead. "Serena..." he whispered. But she looked at him and shook her head.

"Don't, Daddy. Not now. I don't want to talk about it all yet."

"Let's say it takes two weeks for someone to produce more of the antiviral and get it out to people. How much of the population will even be left by then?" asked Hotch.

Jacob's response was quiet, "In the United States? Maybe fifteen percent. In other areas of the world, probably closer to twenty-five or thirty percent."

"It's coming up on winter, and some places are already pretty cold. It might not be quite that bad," said Serena. "We need to go someplace very cold. The virus can't live on surfaces or in the air below ten degrees, and it doesn't live as long on surfaces between eleven and thirty-two degrees. The colder it is, the fewer infected people we'll find. I need a lab though. I can make more of the antiviral and I can work on a vaccine with the right equipment."

The group watched Jacob and Adam share a glance. "Ah shit," said Adam. "Not that frozen tundra."

"It's our best option. I'm going to go with the worst-case-scenario here. Anybody left who started all of this probably knows Serena has the only treatment. They're going to be looking for her, and they're desperate. As long as they are alive, they are going to be hunting her down because it's really their only chance, until someone makes more, and that's going to take a little time. Besides that, this place is going to be crawling with lunatics that outnumber healthy people in about three days and we need to get out of here. Hannah will help us, Adam. She owes me one."

"Who's Hannah?" asked Hotch.

Adam answered, "We used to work with her, a long time ago. She owes Jacob because Jacob took a bullet for her one time. After that, Hannah got out of the game, went back to her native roots, trying to bring some independent, modernized sustainability to the Anaktuvuk Pass in Alaska. We visited her once, about four years ago, and it took me a month after returning home before I felt warm again." Adam paused and looked at the group, changing his negative tone after taking in their faces. "But it wasn't so bad. She's done some amazing work. They've got a barn and goats, green houses. We'll adapt." he said with a smile.


Jacob got pillows and blankets and the kids fell asleep on the floor. Emily and JJ, who had been the sickest, slept along with them. Emily had Caleb next to her, her arm reaching over him and holding onto Serena's hand. Aurora was curled up at their feet. JJ was clinging to Henry's hand in her sleep.

Derek planned with the remainder of them, staying singularly focused on the task at hand so he didn't think about his mom, or the fact that his beautiful, loving daughter had had to murder people in order to survive. He'd tried using a land line to contact his sisters, they'd all tried using Jacob's land line to contact other members of their family and their other close friends, but even when they'd gotten through, no one answered.

Jack stayed awake and told them his side of exactly what happened in the mansion. His voice cracked when he said that he shot Senator Pritchard, but Hotch put his arm around his son and said, "I'm proud of you, Jack." Jack smiled. It was the first time Derek had seen Jack smile in months, and it gave him some comfort.

Jacob had used a Ham radio and gotten in touch with someone in Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska who said they'd track down Hannah.

They laid out a paper map on a large table. "Planes are out for right now. All commercial and private planes have been grounded, at least in the continental United States and Canada. I don't know about elsewhere. Even if we got in the air, we'd be ordered to land or likely be shot down. Military planes are still up in the air, and I do know people, but I can't say I trust anyone anymore. If anyone finds out what Serena is holding, well...desperation can turn even good people insane."

Reid looked at the map. "We'll need to stick to smaller roads, ones that will be less congested with stopped cars hopefully. It will probably take us five days to get to Fairbanks on those kinds of roads, if we don't stop to sleep and just rotate drivers through."

"How do we get past the border in Canada? It's not like we have passports on us, and not all of us have badges that might help." said Derek.

"We don't want you using your ID's anyway," responded Adam. "I'm not sure border patrol will even be there in a couple of days. It's all chaos out there. But in case they are, I know a way in. I've used it before. We'll need to cross over in North Dakota."

"Gas?" asked Hotch.

"We'll figure that out. Regular gas pumps should work. If not, Adam and I have siphoned gas before and we can do that again if we have to. I have some here, enough to get us some distance. We'll take my SUV and Adam's. They're both here and we'll all fit. We'll need a lot of winter gear. We'll take what I have here, and wing it with the rest as we go," said Jacob.

"And how do we get to the Anaktuvuk Pass from Fairbanks?" asked Penelope.

"We're going to have to trust Hannah with that one. Planes are the only way. But I'm thinking in five days, there won't be much of anyone who will put up a fuss about us flying," replied Jacob sadly.

Everyone looked at Jacob and Adam, uncertain and worried. Adam smiled, "Hannah, Jacob and I once got right into the middle of Moscow, and got into the private residences of some heavily guarded people to set up surveillance. We're still alive. This should be a cakewalk compared to that."

The Ham radio crackled and a warm voice said sarcastically, "Jacob Hawthorne, you son of a bitch, I knew you'd be calling me someday when things inevitably went to absolute shit in the lower forty-eight."

Jacob smiled and picked up the radio. "That pretty much sums things up. How are things there?"

"Almost as shitty. No sick people on my Pass, or in Point Hope from what I've heard. But our population is a little less than half of what it was yesterday. Barrow and the other places around us lost an even larger percentage of their population. The National Guard sent in planes and choppers to evacuate people to Fairbanks and Anchorage. People were scared they were going to be cut off from supplies up here and they panicked and took off. I told my community to stay, that we'd be okay here, but most of them didn't listen. Now I'm up here scrambling to keep things going with fewer bodies. But we can make it, as long as the people in Barrow keep the power going. They will."

"I can offer you up fourteen able-bodied people to help," said Jacob.

There was silence for a few seconds. "Are you going to sprout wings and fly in from Fairbanks? In case you haven't heard, I can't take a large plane up in the air."

"Hannah, I don't think that's going to be a problem in five days, which is about how long it's going to take us to get to Fairbanks."

"This virus is that bad?" asked Hannah.

"That bad. We're not sick, though."

"And if I get into Fairbanks to get you and I get sick?" asked Hannah.

"Have a little more faith in me than that," said Jacob.

"I can take a few guesses as to what that means. OK. Five days?"

Jacob looked at his watch. It was 4:00am. "We need to get a little rest before we start driving." He glanced at Derek, "And we have a couple of things to attend to. We'll leave in about eight hours."

"Jake, I've got to make a run into Barrow tomorrow. I'll have Internet access there. Email me the approximate sizes of the people coming. I'll try and gather some supplies. Also housing needs. We've got a lot of vacancies up here now, so that shouldn't be a problem. "

Jacob glanced at Serena where she was sleeping. "We're going to need some other supplies, too."

"Let me know what and I'll do my best. I'll see you in Fairbanks on Monday afternoon. Let's say 2:00 my time. Same airplane hangar I met you at when you came to visit me. I'll figure out the plane logistics. Is Adam with you?"

"Yes."

"Good. I need another pilot. I'll see you soon. Be careful out there."

Jacob disconnected and turned to face the group. "You can trust Hannah. She's eccentric and sometimes overly-enthusiastic about things, but she'll be there. We should all get some sleep."

They nodded and Derek grabbed a pillow, curling up on the ground behind Emily. She turned when she felt him settle beside her. She placed on hand on his cheek and whispered, "I'm so sorry. I love you."

He didn't want to start crying again, and he couldn't really find words to express himself without breaking down. He brushed his lips gently against hers and pulled her tighter against him. He heard her whisper in his ear, "The Arctic in winter. We'll see the northern lights for days on end."


They buried Fran under a tree in Jacob's expansive backyard at noon on Wednesday. It was more than just a funeral for Fran - they were all mourning the loss of family and friends they had to accept that they'd never see again. They were saying goodbye to their homes, and the memories they contained, to the lives they once knew that were ripped away from them by truly evil people who had let a heinous plan get out of control.

They held hands and cried, each working through a loss that seemed larger than anything they could really comprehend. When they'd each said their goodbyes, either out loud or silently, Jacob spoke up. "In the spring, this tree will bloom with white flowers."

Serena closed her eyes and tried to visualize it. Fran would have liked that. She knelt on the ground and placed her hand on the fresh dirt. "I'll stay strong, Nana. We'll stay together and we'll find happiness somehow. We'll all make it, for each other and for you."

The cars were packed with clothes, food, water, gasoline, guns and the small refrigeration unit that contained the antiviral. Before they left, Serena asked Jacob for a few more things. He nodded and ran back into the house. He brought back a stack of white paper and a plastic bag full of colored pencils.

Serena settled in the back row of Jacob's SUV between Caleb and her mom. She started drawing, planning to recreate the pictures she remembered in her mind, not just of her immediate family, but of everyone, of people she didn't know, but the pictures of them she'd seen in the team's houses over the years, to replace all the pictures they were leaving behind.

She started with the picture she'd seen at Hotch's house so many times, of Haley and Hotch and Jack, when Jack was just a baby. She felt her mom's hand on her head. "I love you, my sweet girl," she whispered.

Serena managed a small smile. Her heart was heavy with loss and she was scared they might not make it. But she was still hopeful. She was still her parent's sweet girl, despite what she'd done in the past twenty-four hours, and for now, that was enough.