AN: Hey everyone, ohmygosh I am so sorry this took so long. I don't even have any excuses. Maybe if I was a more experienced writer zi would have written the whole story ahead of time so I could give more frequent updates. Anyway, all I can really say is I'm sorry and thank you all for sticking with me. Yikes. Also, as usual I wrote this really late at night and didn't check over it at all so sorry for any mistakes.
Disclamer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters
Rossi didn't feel the least bit despondent about leaving their old camp behind. He didn't know exactly where they were going or what Morgan was so excited for, but judging by the gleam in Morgans eyes, he felt that whatever it was was something to be eager about. They had been walking for about 50 minutes and the sweat had been dripping down his back for a while. The sun had fully risen a while ago and it was beating down on all of them with ferocious waves of heat. The journey had so far mostly been spent in silence, save for the crashing of waves onto the rough rocks. Rossi knew from experience that they were close to the stream they used as a water source.
Hotch and Morgan had been leading the group with Emily and himself in the middle, and Reid and JJ taking up the rear. They had been going at a fairly even pace when, abruptly, Morgan and Hotch stopped.
"Why'd we stop?" asked Emily, "I thought what you found was after the stream" she concluded. Hotch didn't answer but he held up a finger as if to silence them. Rossi noticed that Morgan had gone ridgid. He couldn't see whatever it was that had stopped them dead in their tracks but he didn't want to think about what would make Morgan and Hotch react like that. His blood ran cold in his veins as he gingerly stepped around the two agents so he was standing next to them as Emily did the same on the other side.
"Oh my God" he breathed. In front of them was their stream, but that wasn't what made his hands start to shake. On a large sunny rock sat four alligators. His breath caught in his throat. He had of course seen alligators on TV, but these beasts were nothing like what he had seen on TV. Everything about them screamed powerful from the large rigid tail to the enormous black jaw.
"Are you kidding me? Alligators?" Emily asked rhetorically, frustration clear in her voice.
"Not alligators, caiman. Black caiman, to be precise" said Reid who was now standing beside Rossi with JJ next to Emily so that they stood in a line.
"What the hell is a caiman?" asked Rossi.
"The black caiman is the largest of all the alligator species and is known for its aggression. Like most reptiles, they're nocturnal which is probably why they're all sleeping right now. Chances are they won't attack unless they're provoked, but it is true that unwarranted attacks have occured" Reid concluded, looking slightly out of breath.
The words struck even more fear in to Rossi's heart. Unwarranted attacks? What if these caiman were feeling particularly belligerent today? He shuddered as he looked over at the creatures. He knew that most of the attacks were probably on stupid tourists to get pictures of the animal and he didn't hold it against them.
"I propose that we walk carefully upstream and continue our walk through the jungle for at least a little while. Although the terrain may be more difficult, we eliminate the risk of the caimen" Hotch said, a look of concentration on his dark features. Rossi simply nodded and followed the others as they walked up along the river bank.
It soon became clear that crossing the stream further up would not be an option. The stream widened out the closer they got to the jungle and the current was rapid to say the least. Rossi sighed. Why can't anything around here just be easy?
"All the rain we've been getting must have affected the current of the stream" JJ pointed out.
"Okay let's find the medium ground between getting eaten by caiman and drowning in the river" Rossi said sarcastically. He looked over to Hotch and saw the man rubbing his temples. He knew he was dreading making this decision. He decided to take some of the pressure off by saying, "I say we do it right here" he said, walking over to a spot about 25 feet away from the caiman where the current didn't seem too bad.
"Looks good to me" Hotch said after looking side to side a few times. His expression seemed to lighten a little bit.
"I'll go first" Morgan said after a moment of silence. After no protest, he took a deep breath and Rossi looked on as he reached down and took off his flip flops and stuck them into the bag he was carrying. He took a cautious step into the water and Rossi saw a slight chill run down his spine at the cold of the water. He wadded in further until the water was at his waist. At this point, he had put his bag and everything else he was carrying above his head.
Rossi watched as Morgan pushed his way to the other side of the stream, the effort it took visible on his face. His jaw was set tightly and his eyebrows were knitted together from the strain it took for him to walk in a straight line against the powerful current. His features didn't relax until he was securely on the other side. He fell back into a seating position and gave the others a thumbs up from the other bank.
Rossi let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in when he saw that Morgan was safe. He risked a glance over at the caiman and saw that they were still sleeping soundly, apparently undisturbed by the struggle they were putting the team through.
"Hey guys!" Rossi snapped his gaze away from the caiman to across the river where Morgan was seated. "The current was pretty strong so you need to be careful. I was fine cause I'm a pretty bulky guy but I don't know how some of our lighter members will do." Morgan yelled.
Rossi scratched his chin in thought. He figured he would be fine but it was true that some of the others might not be. JJ for instance barely weighed above 100 pounds. And Spencer being injured as he was probably wouldn't do too well either.
"I think I have an idea" Emily said from the place where she was standing behind Rossi.
He turned around to look at her and cocked an eyebrow and said, "care to enlighten us?" She ignored his sarcastic comment and turned to the rest of the group.
"Which one of you has that rope that was in the survival kit?" she asked.
"I think I do?" JJ asked more than said.
"I think if we all attach ourselves together with that rope, we can all cross the river at once. We'll be stronger together." she said.
"That's a great idea. I'm on board" JJ said.
"I am as well" Hotch agreed. Rossi just nodded. He felt a little uneasy about the idea but didn't bring up any of his doubts to his team. He sat back and watched as JJ fished around in her duffle and triumphantly lifted the coil of rope above her head after a minute of searching.
Together they figured out the order would go Hotch first, then JJ, then Rossi, then Spencer, and finally Emily. Rossi watched as JJ found the end of the rope and wrapped it securely around Hotch's waist, tugging at the knot a few times to test it's durability. She then let out about two feet of rope before tying a tight loop around her own waist. She then passed the loose end of the rope back to Rossi. He grabbed it and, with the careful instruction of Jennifer Jareau, he tied a tight knot around his own waist. After deciding that the loop around his waist was sturdy, he passed the loose end back to Reid who took it in slightly shaky hands. Rossi felt concern churning in his stomach as he watched Spencer fumble with the rope but pushed the feeling down. Lastly, Emily secured the last bit of the rope around her own waist. They ended up having the exact amount of rope they needed. Funny how this was the one thing that seemed to work out.
Hotch looked back at all of them and gave a thumbs up and so did everyone else in response. Rossi took a deep breath as they started moving. His feet hadn't even touched the water yet and he was feeling worried. He watched as Hotch stepped in and started wading in. The rest of the team shuffled along in his wake.
He watched as JJ stepped into the water, and at this point the water was up to Hotch's calves. They kept moving. Rossi took a deep breath as it was his turn to step into the water. The chill was the first thing he noticed.
"Damn that's cold" he said, not to anyone in particular. He wasn't shocked when no one responded. The water got deeper surprisingly fast, creeping up his legs as they went. He looked up from his feet to see JJ, the water up to her knees, already starting to struggle with the current. He looked past her and saw that Hotch was in up to his waist, his bag held above his head. He could also tell the unit chief was struggling slightly against the current.
Rossi shook his head as he kept going deeper and deeper. He saw that by now JJ was in up to her waist, and she wasn't faring too well. Her duffle bag rested on top of her head where her white knuckles grasped it. And then she was gone. He was looking at the back of her blonde head and he looked away for one second, and when he looked back she wasn't there. He was shocked, his eyes wide with fear.
The only thing that snapped him out of his trance was the sharp tug of the rope around his stomach. Hotch must have noticed it too because he looked up sharpley. He could feel the rope cutting into his skin as he struggled to get a hold and dig his feet into the sand at the bottom of the river so as not to slip and have the same fate as JJ.
"JJ!" Hotch yelled. Rossi looked around desperately searching for that blonde head. His eyes scanned the water and then he saw it. A hand sticking up, waving frantically.
"Over there!" He yelled to Hotch, pointing to where he had seen the hand. Due to the rope, Hotch was the only one who could really get to her in time, so Rossi could only watch as Hotch practically threw himself after her downstream. For one terrifying second Rossi watched as Hotch's head disappeared beneath the water. He let out a gasp as he saw the unit chiefs head reappear along with the rest of his upper body.
He had JJ in his arms and Rossi saw that Hotch jerked his chin towards the river bank in the universal sign for, "let's go."
Rossi looked behind him and saw the white faces of his other two teammates, obviously as afraid as he was.
"We have to keep going" he said to them, motioning forward with his chin as Hotch had done. The other two nodded and they all trudged forward at a faster pace than before, now with a new motivation. Hotch still held JJ in his arms and ice coursed through Rossi's veins as he realised she didn't seem to be moving. That alone made him increase his pace and trudge through the current as if it were nothing.
Soon, he reached a place on the other side of the river where he could stand with only the slight pull of the river up to his calves. He glanced briefly behind him to see the others who seemed to be doing fine. In no time flat he had reached dry sand and surged over to where Hotch had already lain JJ flat on the ground. Morgan was there too, hovering worriedly. Reid and Emily weren't too far behind him. He looked on in terror as Hotch leaned down and put his ear to her mouth, simultaneously grabbing her wrist to check for a pulse. After a few seconds Rossi gasped as JJ's face scrunched up and she rolled onto her side and coughed up a mouthful of water. Hotch stumbled back at the sudden movement but recovered quickly and put a soothing hand on JJ's back as she gasped for breath.
A few seconds more of the coughing and JJ fell backwards flat onto her back, gasping from the effort. Hotch fell back as well, obviously exhausted from his little swim.
"Jesus Christ" Rossi muttered under his breath. After the adrenaline rush, he was quickly coming down. In fact, as he looked around at his team he realised they were all drained. It went unspoken, but they all decided at the same time to take at least a few minutes of rest.
Rossi leaned back until he was resting his head on the ground. That had been way too close of a call. God, he didn't know what he would have done if JJ had died right in front of him. The horror of how helpless he had felt came back to him and he had to squeeze his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the painful memory.
They were all quiet for a few minutes and Rossi didn't want to say anything to break the silence. It felt like a spell had fallen over them.
"That sucked" JJ said hoarsely, effectively breaking the silent streak. Rossi didn't know what made him start to laugh because it was just so unfunny, but once he started he couldn't stop. Big bursts of laughter, the kind of laughter he hadn't had in days. He saw Hotch looking at him like a crazy person and he didn't blame him because he knew thats what he looked like, but it felt so good that he couldn't stop. And then another laugh joined in, and he could tell it was JJ because of how raspy it sounded and that just made him laugh harder. And suddenly they were all laughing, even Hotch. Just the six of them, sitting in a big circle and laughing like maniacs.
And just as soon as the laughter had started, it died down again and it was back to silence. But this time, it was a content silence, as they all caught their breath from their little fit.
"We should probably get going" Hotch said at last.
"Hotch is right. We're almost there anyway" Morgan said with a grin.
"About that: are you finally gonna tell us where we're going, because all of this better have been worth it" Rossi said dryly.
"Oh it will be. But you're just gonna have to wait and see what it is" Morgan said. Rossi rolled his eyes but the gesture didn't hold any real annoyance.
"Lets just go then" Rossi said with mostly fake exasperation. He got up and started to walk away only to be yanked back down off his feet. Then he remembered the rope and his cheeks burned with embarrassment as his whole team laughed at him.
"Nice one, Dave" Hotch said. Rossi crossed his arms and huffed and he could only watch as Hotch and Emily, the two ends of the rope, started freeing themselves. It didn't take long for everyone on the team to get free. Rossi handed JJ the rope and she efficiently re-coiled it around her arm and stuffed in her duffle that she miraculously hung onto during the whole almost drowning ordeal. Rossi looked over to Hotch and only then did he notice that he no longer had whatever it was that he had been carrying.
Rossi frowned as he said, " hey Hotch, hope you weren't carrying anything too important" Hotch looked down and it seemed like for the he noticed for the first time that he didn't have his bag.
"Just the water bottles which I'm sure we can find more of, and all the rest of my clothes" he said, putting a hand up to his face. Rossi couldn't help but snicker at that, although he did feel a little bit bad. He would probably end up borrowing from someone.
"Okay now let's get going" Rossi said, this time successfully getting up. The rest of his teammates followed suit and got to their feet. Morgan walked to the front of the group and wordlessly led the way to whatever it was he was leading them to. After walking for about ten minutes Morgan stopped them.
"It's just up ahead now" he said smiling widely.
"If this isn't worth it, so help me Morgan…" Rossi trailed off. Morgan just laughed easily brushing off the threat. Rossi looked up and he could see… something looming in the distance. He couldn't tell what it was at first, but as they got closer, his jaw dropped.
"Holy shit" Emily breathed. Yeah, Rossi thought, holy shit just about sums it up.
AN: well thats it for chapter 11. I promise I will try to get these updates out to you guys a lot faster. And as always, I appreciate any sort of feedback! Thanks again for sticking with this alsoo.
