A/N I am back with new and improved excitement! I am happy to continue this story, and it is my main priority (other than, you know, exams). So, please enjoy and my greatest hope is that I will reach 60 reviews soon!
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds!
Clary glanced up, gasping in shock with her eyes wide open and glassy. Reid quickly limped over to her and embraced her small, shaking figure.
"Spencer!" She choked, holding back tears. "Why are you here? Did he hurt you?"
Reid continued hugging her tightly, relief flooding through him.
"I am fine, a little hurt, but nothing of serious concern. And you? Are you hurt? Are you ill?" Reid frantically asked her, attempting to keep his mind off the statistics threatening to burst from his lips about her health and chances of injury.
"I am fine Spencer. He hasn't hurt me." She whispered, burying her face further into the comforting embrace of her brother. She had never been so happy to see him. He nodded softly as he began to stroke her matted hair. The two siblings sat in silence together in the gloomy basement, only the quiet dripping of pipes making any sound at all. Reid couldn't bring himself to draw away from her and investigate their surroundings just yet, and Clary did not at all mind the comfort. She had been alone in the dark and dreary basement for so long, with no one but a sadistic killer in the same house, and so was deeply craving Reid's company.
After five minutes, however, Reid decided he really should assess their situation more thoroughly. He lifted his head to look around the room, and he was hardly surprised with what he saw. The room was rather small, and his earlier assessments had been correct. There was a small makeshift bathroom, with running water, and a bed pushed against the side. Windows were nowhere to be seen, and the door he had been pushed through stood defiantly above the stairs. Remembering the sound of locks on the way in, Reid determined there was no way of breaking through the door. The ground was solid concrete along with the walls, and there were no boxes or junk anywhere to be seen. A small vent was in the right hand corner of the roof, far too small for Reid to even fit his arm through. With a grim sigh, he concluded escape was impossible.
Wanting to take his mind off the hopelessness of their situation, Reid gently unravelled Clary from his torso and moved her back slightly so he could look at her eyes. What he saw made him almost cry out.
She looked severely depressed and helpless, as if she had given up on happiness and hope. He saw none of the familiar spark he had grown up to be apprehensive of, or any of her well-known courage. But he knew from her expression that she still knew how to trust, and that realisation reassured him that his little sister was not broken. He could fix her, be there for her and bring the life and spark back into her eyes once more.
"Clary" Reid said comfortingly "Do you know where we are?"
Clary stared at him for a long moment, before her eyes became glassy. She pursed her lips in an attempt to hold back tears as she shook her head softly. Her blond curls waved around at the motion and Reid ran his fingers through them in a comforting motion.
"Hush now, it will be fine." Reid said in a surprisingly courageous tone, the complete opposite of what he really felt. In truth, Reid knew the statistics of them coming out of this ordeal alive were not high but he shoved them to the back of his mind. Now was not the time to become even more worried.
After a short while, Reid sat Clary back down on the bed. The springs creaked loudly and he flinched at the unexpected noise. As he began to calm back down and the adrenaline began to wear off, the pain in his ankle flared up again, and he fought desperately to keep the pain off his face. Clary, however, was not fooled.
"What is it?" She asked, hands searching for the pain. "Are you hurt? You told me you weren't!"
Reid bit his lip. "I may have down played it a little. He shot me in the ankle."
Clary gasped in horror before sliding down to examine what little she could see in the darkness. Reid held on to any noises of discomfort, but failed when her fingers directly pressed the wound. She apologised quickly before standing up again.
"Spencer, I need to treat this." She said defiantly, and though still in pain Reid was happy to see she still possessed some of her courage. He nodded weakly as she walked over to the sink. Beneath the basin there was a small cupboard and she took out a few items, hiding them from his view. Reid was unsure if she did this on purpose.
As she sat the items down next to where she kneeled in front of his ankle, he squinted in the darkness to see what she had. The bandages, antiseptic and tweezers made him gulp in painful anticipation.
"Damn it!" Morgan groaned, slamming his fist down on the desk. His eyes were full of anger and worry as he thought of Reid. They had no leads as to where Crehg was hiding them. Hell, if Reid hadn't figured out it was Crehg in the first place they wouldn't know where to start looking. The hopelessness of the situation was taking its toll on Morgan.
"Morgan, calm down!" Hotch snapped, not taking his eyes off the file before him to even look at the glowering man. Hotch was beyond concerned knowing that his youngest agent may not even still be alive, and knowing that he could have stopped the whole kidnapping. And the memory of Reid being shot in the ankle because of his idiocy made him gag.
"Hotch! I can't calm down when Reid might be dead!" He yelled, advancing towards his boss. Hotch looked up angrily.
"You think I don't see that! But your anger isn't helping!"
"And neither is your lecturing!"
"Stop it!" A voice rang clearly over the bickering. Rossi stared at them, disappointment and assertive anger clear in his expression. "Reid may still be alive, and your fighting is doing nothing to save him! If he dies while you are wasting time fighting, the fault will be on your shoulders. Now please, act like the federal agents you are and start working productively! Team meeting in twenty minutes." Rossi turned around and walked back to his office, leaving the two agents staring after him in shock.
Hotch turned to face Morgan.
"I am sorry for yelling at you Morgan. Ready to get back to saving Reid once again?"
Morgan smiled humourlessly before nodding in assent. They shook hands and with the fight forgotten, returned to the files they had been previously reading through.
Please hang on for us, Pretty Boy. Morgan thought looking at the photo in front of him. We need you to keep this team, this family, together.
Around two hours after Reid had arrived in the basement and been reunited under painful circumstances with his sister, they were both sitting on the bed in quiet thought.
Clary had removed the bullet, applied the disinfectant and wrapped his ankle as quickly and painlessly as she could, but she couldn't prevent the desperately restrained yelps that came from her brother every now and then. She comforted herself with the thought that at least it wouldn't become infected, Spencer would recover fine, and it would all be worth it in the end. But she knew deep down that the sooner he got to a hospital the better, and until then he would be in some sort of pain the entire time.
Spencer Reid, however, felt enormous relief now that the wound was bandaged. The pain was dulled and he could often ignore it if he preoccupied his mind well enough. The real struggle, he found, was preoccupying it in the least depressing and morbid way he could. It was proving very difficult. His thoughts were continually straying to possible outcomes, the next time they would see Crehg, and his team. In some memories, his team kept him more positive, but often all he could think of was how they were meant to find the two of them.
Reid decided he should try to distract Clary and himself in the happiest way possible. He was just about to bring up the story of when she placed a worm in his pasta at the ages of eight and six when his head snapped up at a terrifying noise…
…The sound of locks rattling on the door above them.
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