Paige

I woke up after sleeping for what felt like weeks. I started to stretch my stiff arms and legs but pain stopped me. I had the vague thought that something was wrong, that I should open my eyes. So I opened my eyes a crack. I could smell the combination of decay and filth of the room I was being kept in. A man loomed above me with a syringe. My body automatically kicked into fight or flight mode. Panic filled my chest and powered me to move.

I surged up out of bed and struck the syringe out of his hand. I started punching and kicking and scratching as hard as I could, trying to get away. I felt brief sharp pain, but I didn't care.

"Let me go!" I screamed, clawing at his face. Tears streamed out of my eyes without control. Arms clamped around me, pinning my arms to my sides. I struggled harder, trying to free myself. "Let me go!" I pleaded in between sobs. "Please don't hurt me, just let me go! Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me please!" My voice gave out and I choked on my sobs. I stopped struggling, my energy completely spent, resigned to the pain.

"Paige," a soothing voice said. "Paige, you're in a hospital. No one is going to hurt you. Everything is okay." The voice shushed me and the arms around my sides turned gentle. Unable to help it, I collapsed in his arms, so utterly thankful. The smell of the room faded from my mind and I could now smell the unmistakable hospital smell, the mixture of rubbing alcohol and plastic. I sobbed out of pure relief that my ordeal was over. I could feel myself being gently lowered back onto the hospital bed.

Suddenly I found myself looking up into the face of the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He looked down at me with concern. I could only stare. He took my breath away.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded and finally took a breath.

"The man…the man with the syringe…" I stuttered.

"He was a doctor. You gave him quite a scare, attacking him like you did." The corner of his mouth turned up briefly, revealing that he'd found it a tiny bit funny. "He'll be okay, but he may be too afraid to treat you after this."

"I thought…I thought I was there in that room," I shuddered. He put a comforting hand on my shoulder and his eyes softened. "Is he really dead?" I whispered. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them I could see the regret and determination in his eyes.

"Yes," he said. "He's really dead." I sighed in relief. Then another thought occurred to me.

"The man, the one that I hurt…"

"He's fine," he said. "He's in the bed next to you actually." He stood up and pulled the curtain back so that I could see him. He was awake, and reading a file. He had bandages on his arms and I could see the healing scab on his bottom lip where he'd bitten through it. He turned to look, and when he saw me he smiled. I almost gasped out loud. What was with the beautiful men surrounding me?

"Hi Paige," he said. He almost sounded nervous. I wanted to smile back at him, but the guilt of what I'd done was crushing me. He looked so sweet and nice, and I'd been the one to torture him with a knife. My eyes filled up with tears.

"Sir, I am…" I couldn't speak. His eyes creased with worry.

"Call me Spencer," he said. "And you had no choice, Paige. He had a gun to your head. You did exactly what you should have." This only made me feel worse. He really was a nice person. He smiled uncertainly. "So I see you and Morgan have been introduced," he said, clearing his throat and obviously trying to change the subject.

"Morgan?" I asked, confused.

"Me," said the gorgeous dark-skinned man that had comforted me. "My name is Derek Morgan."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. Just being around that man made me feel shy and awkward. "Yeah we've met." I turned to Derek. "Thank you for stopping me from hurting my doctor too badly." My mouth twitched as I tried to smile. Derek smiled at me sympathetically.

"He's just lucky I was visiting Pretty Boy, here," he said. "You gave the doctor a couple good left-hooks."

Just then a nurse entered the room, looking cautious.

"Is it all-right if I come in," she asked nervously. I fought the urge to laugh hysterically until I cried, and I managed.

"Yeah it's okay come on in," I said, trying to sound nice and just ending up sounding sarcastic. Regardless, the nurse came in and giving my bed wide berth, walked over to Spencer's bed and checked his charts. She flashed him a charming smile.

"Well then Mister Reid, you've been cleared to go home in the morning. Just get a good night's sleep and then you can go on saving lives." She practically batted her eyelashes at him. I wondered if it was too late to rescind her invitation to the room.

"As for you," she continued moving over to my bed. She used a significantly less sugary voice when she addressed me. "I'm going to give you more pain meds and in the morning we'll reevaluate your status. Also your parents called they're on their way here. They should be here in the morning."

She picked up a syringe and eyed me cautiously as she approached my bed. She looked me over disapprovingly. "It looks like you tore out your IV when you were attacking Doctor Backcroft." That would explain the pain I felt when I started punching him. She took a couple minutes bustling around my bed, replacing the IV. I didn't even flinch when she stuck me with the needle, even though she was far from gentle about it. Derek tried to act like he wasn't watching me, but he wasn't far away. I caught his eye once while he was checking to make sure I wasn't going to attack the nurse. I rolled my eyes at him and he started to laugh but hastily turned it into a cough as the nurse turned to look at him.

The nurse finally left. I glanced over at Spencer and saw he was reading the file again. He was flipping through pages as if he wasn't reading them at all, but his look of concentration showed something else.

"Are you actually reading that fast?" I asked and he looked up at me briefly before returning his eyes to the page.

"Yes," he said simply, then looked back at me. "You're very observant." I blushed.

"I've been told that people can always tell what I'm thinking just by looking at my face. I didn't realize that was different from everyone else, because I've always been able to tell what people are feeling just by looking at their faces. It's just a weird coincidence I think." Spencer looked at me for a few moments more, seeming to study me like he'd been studying the file.

"You would have made a good profiler," he said. "But a terrible interrogator."

"I could never lie to my parents," I said. "They could always tell when I was lying, but I could always tell when they were lying too. They weren't too pleased about that." Spencer chuckled and looked back down at his file. I looked back at Derek.

"So you guys are from the FBI?" I asked. "You've come a long way."

"It's our job," he said. "We fly around trying to catch guys like the one that hurt you."

"I don't think I've officially thanked you," I glanced at Spencer, "both of you for saving me. I didn't think I'd ever see my family again…" Against my will a couple tears slid down my cheeks, but I brushed them away. Derek leaned forward and squeezed my shoulder.

"My pleasure," he said softly and smiled. I couldn't breathe, he was so attractive. Spencer didn't say anything, and I tried not to take it personally. I could feel the drugs start to work, and I was getting sleepy. My eyes felt heavy and I closed them for a moment, then opened them again. Derek smiled at me again.

"You should get some sleep, honey. You'll want to be awake when your parents get here." I nodded and he got up to leave as I closed my eyes and drifted off.

A couple hours later I woke up again. The room was dark, but still somewhat lit because the door was open. I wondered if Derek had left it open for me. I could hear his voice near me, and I listened.

"She's definitely got some post-traumatic stress, but she's strong and she's got a good sense of humor. She'll recover."

"Did you see the way she looked at me?" This was Spencer. "She couldn't look at me for more than a couple seconds without crying. Do you think she'll ever be able to get over what she had to do?"

"She liked you Reid. She had a conversation with you. Eventually all wounds heal." Spencer stayed silent. "You like her don't you?" asked Derek. "Is that why you were ignoring her?"

"I wasn't ignoring her…I just didn't know what to say." Derek chuckled.

"You'll think of something. Get some sleep now. We've got a long drive to the airport and then a long plane ride back to Virginia." I felt a flash of something like panic and regret that they were leaving. I felt so safe with both of them around. I rolled over and went back to sleep, wishing against hope that they would stay.

In the morning I woke up and both of them were gone. I sighed and resigned myself to facts. They were FBI agents with busy jobs. They probably both had girlfriends at home, maybe wives. They couldn't stay with me forever and help me face my own demons. Their job was done. I couldn't help missing them. God, they were both so good-looking. It was then that I noticed an envelope on my nightstand with my name on it. I opened it and inside was a letter.

Paige,

I'm sorry I didn't respond when you thanked me for helping save your life. Sometimes I just don't know what to say. I'm not exactly prolific at social interactions. I wish that we had met under normal circumstances. You seem like a really nice, intelligent woman. As for helping save your life, I have wondered if I was more of a hindrance than a help. I hope that the experiences you had to go through won't follow you through life. A couple years ago, I was abducted and tortured as well, and I know how difficult it is to move on with your life afterwards. All I can tell you is to keep pursuing what you're passionate about and to let your family and friends help you. If you ever need to talk I can't promise I'm always available, but I can promise to get back to you.

Dr. Spencer Reid