*crawls up from the whole she's been under* Gasp! Sunlight, with no tests in sight! I'm free! Relief!

I swear, school is evil. It enjoys taking up all of your free time and then some :T I've been busy for so long that I haven't had time to update this. I still should be technically doing two projects, but I said 'screw it' and wrote this instead hahaha

XpurplemacaroniX: Ahh! *glomps* Thank you for the reviewww(: I'll make sure to check out ur story when I can ^^

And thanks to krystalrousell and Melanie-Baker for reviewing as well :D *blows kisses to both of you* you're both amazing~

Same goes to all of you who favored this!

I LOVE YOU!

Eon stared out the window, eyes unfocused and body tense. Josh had long since called it a night, and was sleeping in Aleixio's room. A guard stood outside her door-a very reluctant Shake-but besides that, she was alone.

She shuddered, bringing a bandaged hand up over her fluttering heart. She felt...dirty. Like she hadn't taken a bath in a week. But she knew that wasn't the truth; Tali had helped her bathe less than three hours ago.

The feeling was overwhelming. So overwhelming that Eon actually reached out to press the button on her bed that would call Tali into the room. Her conscious stopped her at the last second. It wouldn't be fair to wake Tali up just because she wanted to take a shower, even though her skin was begging her to.

A sob choked her, and she brought her knees up to her chest, trying to keep away the memories. They created a horrible throbbing, and she rubbed the sides of her head, trying to relieve the pressure that seemed to want to rip her head off.

"Aw, does my little sex kitty have a headache?"

A strip of fabric came out of nowhere and wrapped around Eon's mouth, stopping her scream in her throat. She thrashed blindly at her attacker, but hands had her wrists in a death grip and knees were pinned on either side of her thighs, effectively keeping her trapped to the bed.

Eon's eyes darted desperately, taking in the now-open window, the locked door, and the familiar woman straddling her chest.

Melanie moved with surprising speed, pulling out a syringe of clear liquid. She squirted some of it out to get rid of any air bubbles and then jammed it into Eon's arm. The girl cried out as the syringe was emptied out into her body. When the attacker was done, she threw the syringe carelessly onto the ground.

Melanie gave her a lecherous grin, licking Eon's cheek. "I'll make it allll better," she cooed, switching both of Eon's wrists into one hand.

Adrenaline fueled Eon's struggling, and she wrenched one of her wrists free from Melanie's grip. Her hand flew on its own and punched Melanie's cheek, reopening one of the larger cuts from her previous fight with Mykaela. She cursed loudly and let go of Eon's other wrist, nursing her bleeding face.

Leaping on the chance, Eon shoved her attacker away and clumsily tumbled out of the bed. The blanket tangled her legs, making her head slam into the floor before she could stop herself. Eon cried out in pain, stars dancing behind her eyes.

Whatever Melanie had given her must have started to take effect, because it was becoming increasingly difficult to think clearly or make her limbs move in the way she wanted them to. Everything was looking fuzzy and doubled, making it even harder to concentrate.

Through Eon's hazy mind, though, she heard someone banging and yelling from behind the door, and desperately tried to drag herself towards it.

Melanie slammed her hiking boot down with all her force onto Eon's thin ankle. Through the gag, she screamed at the top of her lungs, which ended in pained cries.

"You really think you can get away from me?" Melanie roared, pushing down harder on Eon's ankle. "Huh?" Eon screamed again as the pressure increased again. "Well, you can't! You should just give up while your ahead, fucker! Because you. Are. MINE!"

There was a disgusting, wet crunch, and Eon's ankle erupted in an even greater pain than she thought possible. It hurt too much for her too even emit a sound, and her whole body was wracked with shudders and spasming.

The door was starting to splinter from the force of Shake's kicks. Melanie knew that it wouldn't last much longer. Gotta get outta here fast.

She hauled the semi-conscious form into one arm, and lunged towards the window just as the door finally gave way. As soon as Shake saw Melanie fleeing, he whipped out his gun and shot her with deadly accuracy.

Melanie screamed as the bullet went whizzing through her left thigh, tearing through muscle and ligaments like a hot knife through butter. Blood flew out, splattering against the walls and floor. She fell forward on top of Eon, making the air whoosh out of the smaller girl's lungs. Eon whimpered-the agony her ankle was causing her, mixed with the drugs from Melanie, made it impossible for her to move.

Shake rushed forward and kicked Melanie off of Eon with his steel-toed boot. Tali, who had heard the commotion, had come rushing in and was trying to wake Eon up while Shake kept Melanie down.

"Eon? Eon!" Tali yelled, slapping the girl on the cheek to get her attention. "Can you hear me? I need you to tell me where it hurts."

"An...ankel..." Eon managed to utter in Swedish, eyelashes fluttering. "Spruta..." (syringe)

Tali didn't understand the last word, but was struck with realization when she saw the syringe laying on the ground, gleaming in the moonlight. She cursed loudly as she hauled Eon up with surprising strength and carried her into another room, shouting for Mama Nina.

"Ye gotta lotta nerve ta show oop here, Miss Gregorovich," Shake spat, his forearm tightly pressed up against Melanie's neck. "Ah knew there was somethin' off with ye when ya came this afternoon."

Melanie spat in his face in response. "You asshole," she snarled. "Give me back Eon. She's mine!"

"Ah think ye should shut the hell up before I decide to cut yer throat right here 'nstead o' given ye to Aleixio," Shake growled, yanking her up onto her feet. He felt grim satisfaction when she screamed in pain as pressure was applied to her bleeding thigh.

Shake dragged her roughly down the hallway to where he would have the pleasure of torturing Melanie until her last breath. She really should have just pressed his buttons to get a quick and easy death.

Josh was a nervous wreck after the attack. He refused to leave Eon's side for longer than a few minutes. When Aleixio tried to coax him away from the abused girl, Josh had practically bitten his hand off. Aleixio reluctantly gave up, but made sure to make it obvious that he was willing to hang out with the teenager.

Tali and Mama Nina managed to get poison Melanie had given Eon out just in time. In broken English Mama Nina had cheerfully told Eon that she would have died if it wasn't for her and her assistant. Her harsh wording made Tali and Josh uncomfortable, but surprisingly, not Eon.

Not her at all.

She was nearly catatonic, and nothing they said or did could get her to react. She refused to look anyone in the eye or eat more than a mouthful of food. Eon did accept small amounts of water, but that was it. As a last resort Mama Nina, in fear that the young girl would end up dying of malnourishment, had put her on a drip. Like everything else, she was indifferent to what they did to her.

And it was pushing Josh over the edge.

He felt so helpless as he tried to get Eon to respond to him in any way. He had asked her if she was feeling well, and she had simply stared at her hands silently.

Josh jerked forward and grabbed her hand. Eon flinched slightly, but her lifeless eyes didn't move.

"Please, Eon," he begged her. "You have to say something, even just 'what.' You're freaking killing me."

The second to last word that left his mouth seemed to crack through the barrier Eon had around herself. She took a long, shuddering gasp and shoved Josh away from her. He wasn't expecting such a sudden move, and barely caught himself from falling onto the ground.

"Eon-"

His voice trailed off as she cowered into the corner of the bed. Her hair hid her face, and she clutched her shoulders in a death grip. A babbled, nonstop stream of Swedish came pouring out of her mouth, and didn't seem to have an end in sight.

Josh gathered his nerves and reached a hand to touch Eon's foot. Before his fingertips had even grazed the blanket, the girl's eyes flew open. They were filled with nothing but pure, unadulterated fear. She screamed at the top of her lungs something in Swedish.

"Calm down-" Josh tried to say around her screaming, but she just scrambled farther away from him and screamed loudly.

Mama Nina and Aleixio, who had been talking in the hallway, entered the room. Mama Nina was at Eon's side in seconds, trying to stop her screaming and fear. Aleixio put a soothing arm around Josh's waist, shepherding him out of the room.

"What happened?" Aleixio asked when they entered his room.

"I dunno!" Josh yelled, pacing restlessly around the small room. Aleixio gestured for him to sit down on the bed, but Josh shook his head rapidly. "I can't sit down right now. She just started freaking out, and when I tried to grab her hand, she started screaming her head off! Oh God, it's because I said the word 'kill,' isn't it? It's all my fault."

Aleixio started uncomfortably when he realized that Josh was beginning to cry out of frustration. He teenager kept running his hair roughly through his hair, as if he wanted to rip it out by the roots. He ran a long hand over his face-he never got a break.

Aleixio stopped Josh from pacing by grabbing his wrist and jerking him forward. The teen yelped and sat up on the bed, looking at the older man with a mixture of indignation and confusion.

"What the hell was that for?" he yelled at Aleixio.

"I was getting tired of seeing you walking around," Aleixio shrugged. "You will wear a whole into my floor." Josh grumbled about how all foreigners were off their rockers as he bit back a very unmanly sob.

"Stop crying," Aleixio responded, lighting a cigarette.

"I can cry all I fucking want!" Josh screamed, rubbing his eyes harshly.

Aleixio raised an eyebrow at the response. He was expecting the cliched 'I'm not crying' or 'you idiot, I'm not!' Basically anything besides Josh actually admitting it. It made him less sure of what to do.

"Not in front of a stranger!" he said with a bit of panic. Is he crying harder?

"I can't cry with people I know because you won't let me go home and Eon's a mess!" Josh wailed, snot starting to run down from his nose.

"Then I do not know!" Aleixio yelled. His cigarette came tumbled out of his mouth and onto his shirt, embers glowing bright. He cursed loudly in his native tongue while he brushed the offending object off, Josh bawling his eyes out the whole time.

"Screw it!" Aleixio muttered, and pulled Josh into a tight hug.

"Lemme go!" Josh wailed, fighting against him.

Well, at least for a second. He gave up after he tested Aleixio's steel-like grip that was somehow...gentle. The hell?

"You've been in the jungle with men too long!" Josh babbled. "Manly men! You've probably turned into the mean man whore in movies who hits on everything that moves because you need protection or just the comfort of someone else to hold at night!"

"What is wrong with you, boy?" Aleixio yelled. "I just want you to stop snotting all over my room and whining."

"Liar," Josh cried, punching Aleixio's shoulder and moving closer to him. Aleixio huffed and started uttering things in Portuguese as he awkwardly patted Josh's back, waiting for the other to stop crying.

After awhile-waaaay too long for Aleixio's liking-Josh finally stopped crying. He froze for a second before slowly pulling away slightly so he couldn't look at Aleixio's face. Josh's eyes were puffy from crying, and his face was practically on fire.

"Done?" the bigger man asked, finishing off what was left of his cigarette. Josh said something unintelligible, which Aleixio decided to be an affirmative.

"Awww, but that was so cute," a voice drawled from behind Aleixio.

The man's eyes widened comically. "No," he said loudly.

"Oh, yes," Lee giggled gleefully, putting his phone back into his pocket. Barry was pinching the bridge of his nose, biting his bottom lip to stop from bursting out in laughter at his friend's humiliation.

"You will never speak of what you saw," Aleixio demanded, putting on his best 'I'm-your-boss-so-you-will-listen-to-what-I'm-telling-you-to-do-goddammit' voice.

"Of course not," Lee said innocently, putting a hand up to his chest. "I don't have to say anything. I just have to show the pictures. They're worth a thousand words, you know." He barely dodged the knife that was sent whizzing past his head. He flipped Aleixio off before strolling away.

"So," Barry said when he figured Aleixio had had enough time to cool down. "About that thing...?" He purposefully stopped and glanced over at Josh. Aleixio understood.

"Have they answered yet?" Aleixio asked, immediately going into his professional mode.

"I wouldn't be bringing it up if they hadn't," Barry responded, looking out the window. "They want to set a time."

"Time for what?" Josh cut in, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Barry and Aleixio shared an uneasy glance.

"I will tell you later, yes?" Aleixio said as he made his way to the doorway. He patted Josh on the top of his head absently. "Go check on Miss Reid, or help Mama Nina or...just something. I have work to do."

Josh scowled as they exited the room, murmuring to each other in low voices.

At exactly seven in the morning, an email was sent to the BAU. They had tried to have Garcia trace it, but whoever had sent it had expertly hidden themselves. An emergency meeting was called, and the BAU team-minus Reid-sat in a meeting room, brooding over the printed out message.

"We have to call Reid back," Prentiss said, rereading her copy.

Morgan cut in, "I thought we weren't letting him back on this case. You know how much of a workaholic he is-if he knows we'll cave so easily, he'll never listen to us again when he kick him off one."

"That isn't much of an issue at the moment," Rossi objected.

"But then we don't even know if he's mentally stable enough to negotiate," JJ said. "He might completely ruin the whole mission."

"We'll just have to trust in his capability to perform under stress," Hotchner said as he pulled out his phone. "Garcia. Prepare the jet and call Reid. Tell him he's back on the case."

"We're...actually going to meet the ransom demands, sir?" she asked in surprise.

"There's not much of a choice, unless we want the hostages to be killed," he responded with more bitterness than necessary. He regretted it as soon as it left his mouth, but he knew that Garcia would understand the stress he was going through.

"Yes, sir," she responded smoothly. Penelope disconnected the call, and hurriedly called Reid.

The genius picked up on the second ring. His voice was high-pitched and worried, making Garcia's heart ache for him. "Have you found her yet?" he asked desperately.

"Not exactly—" she began.

"Not exactly?" She could hear the frown in his weary voice. "Don't speak in riddles, or dance around the topic, Penelope. Please. You either know where she is or you don't."

Garcia groaned and then explained the whole situation to him. He listened without saying a word, or even acknowledging he had heard what she was saying.

"Are you still there?" she asked, unsure if he had hung up or not.

"When does the flight leave?" he asked, and Garcia was shocked at his voice. It was something that she had never heard in him before—utter helplessness.

"Baby, are you crying?" she asked, putting her hands down on her desk.

"It doesn't matter," he said dully. Garcia heard the shifting of clothes, and figured he was grabbing his go-bag.

"Yes, it does," she argued tenderly. She herself was also leaving the office, determined to give her boy genius a hug before he left again. "You need someone to talk to, and I'm all ears."

Hotch's words resurfaced in Reid's mind. "He can't talk to a girl without stuttering, and each time there's more than two strangers in a room he starts listing off data like a robot. Don't tell him, but it drives the team absolutely insane."

And then his thoughts were whipped back to a conversation he had heard months before, but had repressed. "…I can't stand how he's always just 'blah, blah, blah' about work!" Garcia had whined to Morgan. "He's just so annoying and—"

"Sweetie?" Garcia's voice broke through. "Spencer?"

"Honestly, Garcia?" Reid said, not caring if he hurt her feelings. "You're the last person I want to talk to right now."

He hung up before she could say anything else.

Meanwhile, with the rest of the BAU team, Dmitri entered the room with his phone in his hand.

"Two people should be here with the money within four hours," he announced, his jaw set tightly. "Tell the kidnappers that it will be in kronas, not American money, but it will be the same about."

As they left the hospital conference room to get to work, one sheet was left on the polished surface of the table. The paper was crinkled, and had two translations: one English, the other in Swedish.

BAU team-

We have found the two people you have been looking for, Eon and Josh. Unless you want them to be sent back to you in body bags, we suggest you listen to our demands.

1,000,000 American dollars shall be the price for their lives. Any less will not be tolerated, and will result in their lives being ended in a more tortuous manner for each dollar lost. As long as the amount is still the same, different currencies will be allowed.

Only one person will be there to make the exchange. It can only be Supervisory Special Agent Spencer Reid, and no one else. He cannot carry any type of weapon or device which will allow him to communicate with the rest of you. If anyone else is found, they will be shot on sight without hesitation.

You have 12 hours to respond. If you do not, we will consider this as you saying you refuse to exchange, and will kill the hostages. The time and place will be given to you as soon as you agree to our terms.

Choose wisely.

-Unknown

The letter was short and to the point, exactly the way Aleixio had ordered Lee to write the note. With the word choices of Barry, Aleixio had deemed it good and allowed Lee to send it to Hotch's team.

"What do they say?" Aleixio asked, running an absent hand across his neck.

"They agree, of course," Lee responded, typing rapidly on his keyboard. "Didya really think they wouldn't?"

"Does not matter," Aleixio shook it off, unwilling to admit that yes, he hadn't. "Give them the address and time. And don't mess it up this time," he added warningly.

Lee shifted uncomfortably as Barry snickered. "It was one time!" he said defensively. "And it all turned out fine, didn't it? We got 2.5 million and a yacht. If you wanna give people shit about that, then give it to Shake for wanting a random yacht."

Barry was about to turn around and do just that but was interrupted by the fact that he was gone. "Where'd that lunk of Scottish idiocracy go?"

"He is still in the basement," Aleixio responded. "With the one who attacked the girl."

Barry raised an eyebrow. "Still? It's been over five hours. I don't even know he had enough creepy torture methods to keep going for that long."

Lee replied flippantly, "Eh. He's creative. And you get to see his creativity when you go down and get him." Barry choked on his coffee, his mouth hanging open at the smirking tech wizard.

"You're insane if you think I'm gonna go down there with him and a chainsaw!" he exclaimed. "The last time I did I nearly had my arm cut off because-and I QUOTE-'you were in the way.'"

"Exactly why you're going," Lee answered cheerily. "You're the only one here who doesn't need both their arms. I need my arms to type out codes."

"I am your boss," was all the explanation Aleixio needed.

"Two against one, majority wins," the tech responded cheerily, interrupting Barry before he could argue. He spun his chair back around and went back to formulating a response for the waiting BAU team.

Barry grumbled about how he hated democracy and flung the door open. He froze at the unmanly squeak he heard and looked down into the wide eyes of Josh. He turned around and fixed Aleixio with a 'have fun' grin as he left quickly.

Josh gulped in the silence. "So. You're ransoming us?"

Aleixio cleared his throat. "If you sit down, I will explain," he offered.

Josh fixed him with a tight smile. "No, I think I'll stand," he said with forced jovility.

Lee grimaced and started to sit up, but Aleixio pushed him back down into the seat without looking. "Then at least close the door," he said. "This conversation is private."

Josh complied and closed the door. He crossed his arms and fixed Aleixio with an expectant glare. "I'm waiting."

Aleixio ran a hand through his hair. "We have…appearances to keep up," he tried to explained. "We cannot simply give things to the FBI, even if it is morally right."

Josh didn't respond, fingernails digging into his arms. "So you're ransoming off those things to them," he responded, his voice still disturbingly calm.

Fuck. Wrong word choice.

"I meant to say—"

"No, no," Josh said, holding up his hands. "I get it." He smiled icilly. "You can't just leave two traumatized kids alone. No, that's too logical. You have to put them even through more shit."

"I think it's time for me to go anywhere but here," Lee tried to say, moving towards the door.

"SIDDOWN!" they both screamed at him.

Lee blanched and sat down right on the floor, looking up at the two while sucking in his lips like a chastised little kid.

"Josh—" Aleixio tried again, but Josh stopped him easily with a simple raise of his index finger.

"If you'll excuse me," he said. "I'm going to go see if Eon's not catatonic anymore." He opened the door before closing it behind them.

"…Can I get up now?" Lee asked.

The next part's ready and waiting in my mind to be written. It should be up within the week, I pwomise!

As usual, review and favorite, it means the world to me :x

Now...on to procrastinating...XD