Brontide

A Criminal Minds Story

She was dead. She was dead and it was her fault. The gun had never before felt so heavy in her hands as she stared at her friend who was bleeding in the snow just a few feet away. A bullet wound to her abdomen.

"Emily?" It was her voice, and she was calling out for her. Emily didn't move, she had just shot her, she had just shot her. She could see her friend's blood start to stain the snow covered ground.

"JJ! Emily!" The team was nearby and Emily breath started to quicken and she started to step backwards.

"JJ!" Reid was the first to break through the wall of snow and trees and fall to JJ's side. The rest of the team soon followed after. They each began to whisper small words of comfort to their dying friend.

Emily just watched with absolute guilt while she took a few more steps back. It didn't take them long to put it together as they noticed her badly shaking gun hand and the look upon her face. They then looked at her with contempt and disgust and betrayal.

"Emily how could you?" Reid asked.

"She's your friend," Morgan continued his eyes shining with disappointment.

"I didn't mean…," Emily started, "No…"

She turned to run, but found Garcia blocking her path… her eyes were glistening with tears a gun rested in her own hands. She pointed it at Emily, but soon her face morphed into the Unsub's, and he sported a wicked grin, smiling he said, "Guess I won, after all."

"Emily! Emily! Wake up," Emily eyes shot open as she rapidly looked around the room before settling on a concerned Reid who loomed in front of her. She simply looked at him without saying a word.

"Emily, Sweetie are you alright?" Turning to her right she saw Garcia in the bed next to her. A white bandage hid her nose and a nice dark bruise spotted the side of her cheek. The whiteness of the room and the sheets, made her look so pale and very un-Garcia like. By her, stood Rossi who seemed about ready to run out of the room. He too was worried.

Without answering Emily relaxed her body and stared at the ceiling. She knew she should say something to them. Just something. They were so worried, but she was worried that once they found out… they wouldn't care about her anymore. Reid's hand squeezed her own, trying to giver her some comfort, to let them know that they were there. That he was there.

And Emily knew she didn't deserve it, them.

Two floors up, Hotch and Morgan paced the outside of a room in the ICU. They were told that they should be allowed in soon, so they waited. They had been told that JJ had made it out of surgery, but her battle wasn't quite over yet.

And that was all.

They smelled of woods and damp clothes. Their eyes tired, red, and drooping. Spots of blood stood out on Hotch's white shirt, earning them sympathetic glances from the staff. Morgan looked into a room at his right and saw a crying, middle-aged woman at the bedside of what he figured was her young adult daughter. The girl looked sickly pale and had a breathing tube down her throat. Morgan attempted to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat and after a few moments turned away. A older man in a wheelchair was wheeled past them, he looked defeated and tired, but lit up when a young boy rushed to his side yelling, "Grandpa, Grandpa."

Morgan turned to staring at the door in front of them, "Hotch, what are we going to do? This whole case has been off from the start. First Emily and I get shot at, then JJ ambushed, the girls get in a wreck with the Unsub, Garcia steals a gun, JJ gets shot, and Emily isn't speaking. And I still don't feel like this is over yet…"

Hotch didn't say anything as he agreed with everything the younger man had said. He felt it too, something was off. Something was wrong. He too, stared at the door hoping that they would be allowed in soon. Tightening is tie, Hotch looked as stoic as ever, but truth be told he was scared.

"Have been able to get a hold of Will?"

"No, he's out of town, according to Garcia and Henry went to JJ's mom. We haven't been able to reach her either."

Hotch nodded, "Better to wait until we have something to tell them anyway."

"Agents?" JJ's doctor walked out, he too looked tired. A common state of mind and appearance around these parts Morgan figured, "Miss Jareau is sleeping for now. She should wake up in the next few hours. Those hours are extremely critical, but after what I've seen from her today. I am confident that she will pull through." Hotch thanked him, he could see that his confidence was a little stretched. That he didn't fully believe his words. Patting Morgan's shoulder, the two agents walked in together.

A bullet had tore through her abdomen, she had few abrasions and cuts scattered across her face and some stitches near her temple. Her arms were bandaged from where they had been cut from the glass. Several of her ribs were broken, and she had a severe concussion. Their was breathing tube shoved down her throat and her hair had been pulled into a messy bun.

To Morgan, she looked as though she was simply sleeping. Just sleeping. It was hard for him to imagine her in any other state. Morgan struggled to keep these strange emotions that filled him from spilling out as he looked at the girl who he considered to be one of his sisters.

Stepping back from his still figure he hated how she looked so small. SHe looked cold too, Morgan wasn't sure if she actually was, but he felt like the thin white sheet that was over her now was not enough.

"Hotch, I'm going to go get, her blanket from the SUV. The Royal blue one. He only knew the color because JJ had corrected him on it once.

"Blue is blue," He had told her and then of course Reid had started on some statistics for the versatile color. Either way, the blanket was always with her, in the SUV, on the jet.

Hotch watched him leave, frowning as he heard a loud slam of hand to a wall. Sighing deeply Hotch pulled up a chair to JJ's bedside and sat down. He took her hand in his own, pleased to find it warm. Taking that as a good sign, he allowed himself to smile. A small one, but one nonetheless.

"He's just worried," Hotch whispered, "Doesn't like to see anyone hurt. He believes it is his rightful duty to protect you… We all do, I guess."

He could practically hear her response, she'd say, "I can take care of myself Hotch."

And he would nod, because he knew she could, but that didn't stop them from worrying any less. Especially when she was pregnant, he worried all of the time. She did her job well and not once did he doubt her ability to do so. Hotch didn't know what else to say, so he just held her hand, sitting by her side. Letting her know that they were there, that he was there.

He was nearly back to her floor, when he received a call. There was a frantic sheriff on the other line. With blanket in hand, Morgan sprinted up the stairs. The voice of the sheriff still shouting at him, Morgan tried to calm him.

"What another killing? It's impossible? A note? Let me call you back," Morgan shouted before hanging up.

Reaching JJ's floor, he came to a halt as he notice Hotch being shoved out of the room. His eyes screamed with alarm. Morgan held the blanket tighter in his arms, his nails digging into its plushness. His heart started to beat rapidly.

"Hotch?"

"She started to seize," Hotch stated then he looked back at Morgan, "What happened?"

"We have a problem," Morgan answered, "Someone was just beaten to death outside of the police station. They left a note, it's addressed to us."

Hotch closed his eyes and shook his head, his eyes glanced back to JJ's room which was still bustling with nurses, "you're kidding."

Derek wished he was.

So something else is at hand? Is it too much? Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions, comments, or criticisms. I'm not going to drag this story out for too long, but there is still some loose ends that need to be fixed, so anything you say can only make the story better. Thank you for all the support.

Thanks!

-HCB