Frozen in time

Disclaimer : I do not own Criminal minds or any of the characters, and I certainly make no money writing these stories! Thanks for the reviews and story alerts…

Chapter 10: Explanations

Aaron Hotchner looked down at the brunette, who was slowly drifting in and out of consciousness. He gently tapped her cheek to wake her up, but she merely stirred, her eyes fluttering open as she tried to fight off the sleepiness. In the background, she could vaguely hear some talking, but the volume had considerably lowered.

"Hotch… What's happening?..." She stuttered. The pain radiating through her whole body was keeping her from moving an inch. Something was holding her shoulder to keep her from getting too agitated, and it took Emily a moment to realize that it was Hotch's hand, protectively wrapped over her shoulder while the other was pressing into her side to stop the blood flow.

"I don't know…" he whispered, raising his head slightly to get a clearer view. He could see nothing from this position, and therefore had no way to help his colleagues. But Emily was looking paler and paler, he couldn't just leave her like this. Hotch sighed and settled back behind the photocopier, softly brushing a strand of hair out of Emily's face.

"Have you contacted anyone outside?" It was getting difficult to get a simple sentence out, thought Emily before closing her eyes again. Hotch began fumbling through his pockets, digging out his cell phone. He noticed that there was a message waiting for him. With all the stress, he hadn't even heard it ring.

"Intervention team outside waiting. Can you try to disarm him? Any injured?" He read out to himself as low as he could, so as not to attract the hostage taker's attention.

"It's Dave." He said to the brunette.

"Do they know?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid they want to barge in and use the rough method…" He whispered, stretching again to assess the situation better. Reid was still used as a shield by Agent Wright. If SWAT came into the bullpen with all guns out, he would undoubtedly be injured.

"You need to talk to him… Why is he doing this anyway?" Emily's words came out more weakly than she had intended. It seemed all the energy left in her was draining away quickly. She winced again as Hotch shifted his position, pulling her with him. She hadn't really noticed how close they were before now. So that he could be free of his movements and still put pressure on the wound, Hotch had practically pulled Emily in his lap.

"I have no idea." Hotch pursed his lips, thinking about the different options available to him. He could hear Derek and Reid talking to Lawrence Wright, and guessed that they were trying to resolve the situation peacefully. This was an impossible dilemma: buy some time and get the man to surrender without hurting anyone, or go for the quick alternative and have a whole troop of SWAT agents march in, thereby risking to hurt Reid and the other BAU agents. Hotch lowered his gaze. Emily didn't have much time.

"Text Rossi." Emily said, fighting the dryness in her throat. "Reid will be in the fireline if they come in…"

"I know." Hotch grabbed his phone again and began texting back to his friend, hoping that Erin Strauss had left him in charge, or would at least listen to him if he wasn't. Give us fifteen minutes. Call EMT. Prentiss shot.

Xxx

"We can help you, Lawrence…" Reid repeated for the third time, still not sure whether the agent had his mind clear enough to understand his discourse. The man tightened his grasp around Reid's collar as a response, and took two steps further back until he was leaning against Emily's desk. He obviously needed to have a clear sight over the elevators, fire escapes and the dozen agents lying on the ground in front of him.

"How could you help me? I know I am not going to get out of here…"

Derek shrugged and began slowly getting up from his hiding position. The fact that the hostage taker knew his poor chances made the situation all the more difficult to resolve. He needed to disarm the confrontation before back-up was sent in.

"Lawrence, listen to me." He said, raising his hands in front of him as a sign of surrender. "You are right, the other levels are probably already swarming with SWAT, field agents and so on… Your only chance is to give me your weapon."

"They won't understand…"

As Derek looked over Reid's shoulder, he met the tear-filled eyes of Lawrence Wright. Despite the fact that the man was barely a few years less than himself, the profiler couldn't help thinking how young he looked. He resembled more a terrified child than a cold-blooded killer.

"But we do." Reid's voice came out broken and scared, but the young doctor was trying to gather his emotions. "We understand your reasons for doing it…"

When the hostage taker did not respond, Reid took that as a sign to continue. His eyes were shifting between Derek Morgan and the agents lying on the ground. Some were rising fearful eyes towards Reid, but most were just lying their head down and waiting for it to finish. They could do nothing except wait. Either wait for the profilers to crack the unsub, or the SWAT to swarm the premises and take out Lawrence Wright by force. Reid's gaze settled on Agent Tamara Boyd, who was lying the closest to them. She probably had been coming in with her colleague when it all happened.

"Oh, you do?" Wright's voice brought the young profiler back to reality.

"You took out dirty cops out of the field, didn't you?" Reid tried to take the fear out of his voice. "You wanted to avenge their victims…"

Derek was looking at the man, hoping he would begin to show some signs of reason. But he only kept staring at the gun and the dozen people lying on the ground. Derek held his breath. It didn't take a profiler to see that this man was having a psychic break.

"What happened to you while you were undercover?" Ignoring the fear going through him and the pain in his neck, where the barrel of the gun was digging into, Reid tried again. To get through. To understand. To calm him down.

Xxx

"Go. You can talk to him."

"Derek and Reid are doing just fine…" Hotch whispered, though he continued to peer over and over past the photocopier. He couldn't bear to just do nothing and wait.

"Do you think he will surrender?"

Emily hadn't stopped talking in the last ten minutes. It gave her a sense of normalcy and helped her concentrate on something else than the pain in her chest. As she looked down, she saw that her hands were shaking from the adrenaline slowly draining from her body. Every breath she took in was painful, every movement she would make tore her apart. She didn't want to start crying, but the pain was too much. Even the toughest FBI agent could pass out because of a gunshot.

"Are you okay?" Hotch seemed to have sensed her body tense, because he raised the hand from her shoulder to her neck, feeling how she held her breath, waiting for the pain to pass. Unable to answer, the brunette just shook her head. The tears of pain were pouring out without Emily being able to stop them.

"Just breathe, Emily… We will be out soon." At this moment, Hotch could no more think of the hostage taker, or even Reid being held at gun point. All he knew was that Emily's state was serious. They couldn't waste any more time here.

"I can't…" She stuttered, trying to take in slow breaths and whimpering at each wave of pain. Unconsciously, Hotch pulled her body closer to his, trying to make her feel his physical and moral support. His mind travelled back to the first time when he had seen Emily Prentiss cry. The walls she had needed years to build had crumbled down as soon as the name of Matthew Benton had been pronounced. A few days after this event, she had managed to get back to her usual self and lock the grief into a tiny and well-hidden box. To see her tears again today was almost unbearable for Hotch

"Sssshhh…" he soothed simultaneously looking over the corner to see whether his coworkers had reached anything. They still were in the exact same position as earlier, except Wright, who had stepped back into the corner of the bullpen. This wasn't good, thought the dark-haired agent. He knew that, if the hostage taker felt cornered, he might start shooting without a reason.

Xxx

When Lawrence didn't respond, Reid shot an understanding glance at Derek Morgan, to make it clear that they were working in the right direction. Their best chance was currently to get to Agent Wright and play the comprehensive part, until he let his guard down.

"Lawrence, we know that something happened to you…" Reid continued, trying to fight off the knot in his throat. His neck was beginning to hurt, and he must have looked exhausted because Derek kept glancing worriedly at him.

"What do you think you know exactly?" The man snorted in an angry way. "You don't know anything, because it was all kept quiet! You are trying to trick me into talking!"

He had become so agitated that he unconsciously dug the gun further into Reid's neck, causing him to wince. A couple of female agents lying on the ground let out a distinguishable whimper. For a split second, Derek thought one of them was going to stand up and run for her life, so he reached forward to motion them to stay put. They didn't need the situation to escalate because some inexperienced agent had feared for his life.

"We know that you were dedicated to this infiltration during months, and quit all of a sudden…" Derek attempted, holding Lawrence frightened gaze. "What did you see, Lawrence?"

The man flinched, his eyes boring holes into Derek's face as he was trying to determinate whether the man was playing him.

"They tortured him." He finally whispered.

Xxx

"Hotch, I don't think I am going to make it." Emily whispered more than said, being so weak by that time that she could barely keep herself awake.

"You're such a drama queen, Emily Prentiss…" The frustration and panic was evident behind the man's soft chuckle. He didn't want her to give up, but the blood now seeping through the jacket and between Hotch's fingers was very worrying. And Hotch had noticed the pale skin of Emily, as well as her half-closed eyes as she fought off the sleepiness. He had to make this light-hearted, or he would crumble altogether.

Emily barely sighed as a response. She knew what he was trying to do. Emily had been shot before, had survived a car crash, had been knocked out with a wood plank and beaten up until she could no more breathe. And yet, she had never felt so close to death. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to concentrate on what was being said in the bullpen instead of her own pain.

"Look at me, Emily." She turned slowly when Hotch's soft voice broke the silence. She could tell that he had kept his eyes on her for long minutes, assessing her state.

"I'm not giving up, Hotch." She answered, reading in his mind. "But no one knows how long we are going to stay here…"

Hotch pursed his lips, fighting off the tears threatening to rise in his eyes. He didn't want to think of this possibility. He couldn't bear to lose another agent. Hell, he couldn't bear to lose another loved one.

"Damn it you're not, Prentiss. Derek and Spencer are going to talk the man to surrender. You know how convincing they can be, right?" Again, he tried to keep the drama and worry out of his voice, and could see by the discreet smile that grazed Emily's lips that he had succeeded.

"Sure."

Before Hotch could reassure her any more, the cell phone began vibrating repeatedly, and the unit chief looked down to find another text message emanating from David Rossi. Coming in in five. Stay out of the way.

The dark-haired agent sighed, looking protectively over the electronic machine. Reid would still be in the fireline, if they didn't manage to convince Lawrence Wright. And the SWAT would probably not hesitate to shoot. For them, losing one agent to save fifteen others was a simple equation.

"So, Prentiss, tell me about what happened with you and this Matthew Benton…" Tearing his eyes away from the scene unfolding under his eyes, Hotch tried to concentrate on the brunette and get her attention back. This was probably the worst moment to ask such a personal question, but he knew that she would react, and that was all he needed for now.

The brunette shrugged in his embrace and said nothing for a minute. It seemed so long to Hotch that the man thought for a second that she had drifted into unconsciousness. But then, her broken voice filled the silent in a whisper:

"I'm sorry not to have talked to you then."

"Why?"

Emily cleared her throat and closed her eyes. She couldn't simultaneously keep them open and talk.

"Rossi cornered me. But I couldn't help thinking afterwards that you're the one I should have come to…" Hotch could hear the tears in Emily's voice, although he couldn't decide whether they were of exhaustion or sadness. He didn't want to interrupt, so he stayed silent and waited for elaboration.

"Can we talk about it when this is over?" Hotch was instantly glad to note that Emily had not given up hope about them getting out of there alive. And, although he desperately wanted her to open up, Hotch just nodded in agreement and leaned back against the photocopier, gently soothing the brunette's hair. Suddenly, angry voices could be heard, as well as some metallic sound. Hotch held his breath, realizing that the five minutes were over.