A/N: Here we go another chapter for you! We have one left after this and then it's on to the sequel! I worked on getting a little more story on that one to balance out the whump! I tend to be a whumpage addict. Reviews are always wanted!
Chapter 9
It was strange the things that went through his head in this situation. Even now as bubbles burst through his vision, deeply submerged, lungs flooding with water, and all he could think of was how glad he was that the water was warm against his icy skin. Breathing or drowning he was too lethargic to really distinguish either. His lungs burned and his head throbbed. His vision was darkened and distorted the indistinct shapes. The bathtub drowning had become his favorite torment when he wasn't using the taser. He didn't focus on the details much but this time he noticed the man was wearing a rubber suit and gloves and it would worry him if he had the energy. He had no warning when the taser was dipped into the water his body flying into spasm. He never got a chance to recover from each jolt before the next followed. There was a vague recollection of being resuscitated a few times but he couldn't be sure. His world had lost reality.
Discovering himself slumped against a wall suddenly startled him. He wanted to open his eyes and figure out which was real, water or wall, but his eyes were sticky like glue and he couldn't remember leaving or arriving. He couldn't breathe normally no matter how he tried his chest was so tight. There was a flopping feeling like a fish struggling inside it. He tried to squirm away from the sensation but he wasn't sure if he succeeded to move and he certainly didn't manage to relieve the pain. He still felt half frozen. His first sight when he didn't manage to open his eyes was the filthy carpet. It took him a long time before he could shift his gaze to anything else and he found the window above Morgan the bright sun burning his eyes eliciting a whimper of pain. He buried his head between his arms desperate to escape the torturous light. Even the smallest movements made his chest clench harder and the spasms through his chest worsening.
"Reid, Reid!" his head twitched in the direction of the voice. "Spencer, wake up! Spencer!" this time when he opened his eyes it was dark this time. It still hurt but it was bearable. He heard the person call for him again. He blinked sluggishly trying to muster the drive to find his friend and even when he did he was barely discernable. He tried to focus, eyes rolling, but failed. "Spencer, you gotta breathe man, slow it down." He hadn't even noticed the rapid staccato breaths he was taking as the pressure in his chest building. Across the room Morgan was on the verge of panic. Even in the night light he could see something was seriously wrong with the kid and rapidly getting worse. He'd never really recovered from the night in the cold remaining mostly unresponsive and shivering all day until he'd been dragged into the bathroom again. This time taking the taser. They'd been in there over an hour this time and when they came out Spencer was insensible and heavily favoring his left side, especially the arm. Now hours later he was only getting worse, hyperventilating, left arm crushed to his chest. "Spencer, look at me, c'mon kid."
"M-Morgan?" he licked his lips thickly sounding unsure of what he was seeing.
"Tell me what's going on? Left side of your chest hurting? Getting hard to breathe?"
"Hey! You two keep quiet!" the front door slammed shut neither hostage having heard him arrive.
"You need to let him go. He needs medical attention" Derek argued.
"Shut up." he set down the bag of groceries.
"How much trouble do you think you'll be in if a member of the FBI dies, huh?"
"I don't care!" Chaplin snarled snatching up the taser and jamming it into Reid's chest so hard they could hear the plastic casing cracking. All the shouting in the world didn't get him to stop until a full minute later when he left Reid seizing violently and walked away with a smirk. He sucked in shallow breaths desperately but could get enough, couldn't exhale, gripping his left elbow so tight he drew blood.
"Reid! Reid, listen to me! You're having a heart attack, you gotta cough, cough as hard and long as you can. Reid, Reid, do it!" He couldn't tell if the kid could even hear him until after an eternity he did the over long cough like he was told albeit weakly. "That's good keep coughing just like that Reid" he kept coaching him through the attack. It took over an hour before he was slumped calmly against the wall again, breathing almost normally. Morgan kept watching him ignoring the burning in his own gut and the sweat dripping down his back. He wanted to sleep but he forced himself awake to watch over Reid. He hoped the team was close because they were in trouble.
"Okay my lovelies I've been digging into Chaplin's family history and he's got a great grandfather that lived in South Dakota. I've only got stories passed down but apparently the great grandfather was the ultimate in masculinity. Rumor had it he had two or three girls in every state and children by the dozen, his nickname was…ew, Johnny Appleseed."
"Sounds like someone Chaplin would idolize while he's going through a psychotic break over masculinity. Do we have any information about land or property he might have owned?"
"I'm working on it and will get back to you when my goddess powers get results." she hung up on the conference. JJ's phone rang. The conversation was short and abrupt, immediately after she called up Garcia again.
"Hey Garcia, try running your search in the Fall River's area of South Dakota."
"Righty O just give me a moment for the magic to work."
"What's going on in Fall River?"
"Three men have disappeared, signs of a struggle but no evidence yet, the only connection so far is they're all considered strong alpha male types."
"They would make prime targets for Chaplin to reassert his masculinity."
"JJ you were right, I've got a small house that was built by the great grandfather and passed down through the family straight down to Chaplin. I'm sending you the address." Their phones all beeped.
"Thanks Garcia, that's where they must be now, it's the only other place Chaplin would have to go."
"Bring my babies back safe and sound."
"Don't worry Garcia, we'll get them back."
It was a two hour drive out to the house. The air got cold and quiet the farther up the mountain roadside a sense of remoteness overwhelmed them. The trees got so thick that you couldn't see the sky as they pulled up to the house. There was no noise coming from inside the house as they approached silently, JJ and Gideon at the back door and Hotchner at the front. They busted down the doors and charged the house with practiced ease clearing rooms quickly.
"FBI surrender now!" Chaplin moved fast whipping out the gun and ducking against the wall gripping Reid by the hair lifting his head back and around to face them as he pressed the gun to his temple.
"Back off or he's dead!" he kept shifting his grip on the gun.
"Think it through Chaplin, you're surrounded, and outgunned. You've killed a lot of people, you really think we're going to let you go?" Hotch spared a quick glance at Morgan against the other wall unresponsive, dripping with sweat and clearly bloody. Gideon stepped in front of him protectively while JJ moved around to the center sealing the last tiniest hole he could escape through.
"You will if you want him alive!"
"Think it through, three FBI agents against you. Even if you tried you wouldn't make it out of here." He pulled out a cuff key undoing Reid cautious to keep the gun dangerously ready then dragging him up by his neck to be a better shield. He borderline conscious but he still whimpered face pinched with pain, breathing erratically. Hotchner didn't blink keeping a solid cold glare on Chaplin.
"Do you want me to kill him?" He jabbed Reid with the gun a few times getting another groan. Hotchner pushed him taking a large step forward.
"You've lost, there's no way out for you except surrender."
"Stop it! Stop it! I will kill him!" he squeezed the trigger a little harder threateningly.
"It won't matter. You kill him you're at best captured and at worst dead. You can't win here." That took Chaplin back a moment. In the small distraction, his arm tired, he let Spencer slide lower. JJ took the shot. Hotch caught Reid before he could fall and dragged him from Chaplin while JJ kicked away the gun and checked he really was dead then called in two ambulances. Gideon checked Morgan finding he had a very high fever with a bad gunshot wound to his abdomen that wasn't currently bleeding but had been recently given the blood stain on the floor but he seemed stable for now. Gideon got him laid down with his legs propped up to keep him stable. Across the room was anything but stability.
"Reid, Reid." Hotch had him lying flat a blanket thrown over him and his legs propped partway on the bed trying to combat the shock. He was a sickly ashen grey and cold to the touch. His right side shook violently but the left side was tensed to immobility and curling up to his chest despite their efforts to keep him still and flat. His eyes drifted open and closed again heavily. "Reid you have to stay awake." He obeyed this time but it was clearly a struggle.
"H-Ho..." He coughed and whimpered gaze slipping for a second before finding Hotch again.
"Good, that's good Reid." A coughing fit hit Reid hard, his lips going a bit blue. JJ slid in beside them on the phone again checking his pulse, leaning in to listen to his breathing and reporting it to the other person on the phone.
"That was the paramedics they say it's at least 3 hours for them to get out here and to drive him in ourselves. They say keep them as still as we can and keep them warm. They'll have a chopper waiting for us at the first available site it can land by the roadside."
"Pull the car up to the door I don't want to carry them farther than we have to."
"We need to find aspirin the medics say think Reid's been having heart attacks or is having one now." Gideon jumped up and began searching. Hotch got ahold of some water bottles and sat Reid up giving him small sips. At first he coughed and spluttered then he surged forward gulping it back as fast as he could only to turn roll to his side and vomit the second Hotch got it away from him. Hotch waited until he was done to admonish him unsure whether his slower pace the second time was because of obedience or exhaustion. In minutes they had Reid sprawled in the backseat, covered with multiple blankets that barely kept him warm and Morgan in the front passenger with the seat laid back while Gideon drove and Hotch sat in the back foot well and JJ remained at the scene.
The ride to the chopper rendezvous was agonizingly long, especially for Reid. When he wasn't coughing violently it was vomiting and no matter how smooth the ride or how he was positioned the pain was inescapable and increasing. He was disoriented at best seldom grasping anything beyond that. Hotch was always sitting nearby constantly telling him to be still or to stay awake. Derek remained unconscious but stable and Gideon silent. In comparison to the hour drive the chopper flight was the blink of an eye. Hotchner continued with his team mates while Gideon went back to JJ. The flight did nothing to calm Hotch's fears for the pair, especially Spencer, with the medics' flurry of activity around him, the unnatural rhythms audible through the heart monitor and the numerous tubes being iv's being added to them both. It was an almost out of body feeling when he finally found himself standing in the hospital hallways, alone, his team members taken away by doctors, with nothing to do but wait. It took a nurse suggesting he get some coffee and have a seat while he wait to get him moving again. He complied, finding and found himself with a hot coffee checking his phone with a half-hearted chuckle. There were ten voicemails and twenty two texts from Garcia.
Are my babies safe?
