Chapter 21: The Power of Love

Reid was trying his best to loosen the ties around his wrists. "Spence, just stop, he has them in an army knot," she told him.

"We knew he was military, still doesn't explain the whole being Tobias's brother thing," he answered as he sat back in his seat.

Charles had left for the day, went to spy on the rest of the team as he always had for the last few days. "Garcia never found anything on a sibling," She commented.

"Unless it was a child no one was supposed to know about," Reid answered as he started rocking in the chair.

"You think Tobias's mom had an affair?" JJ asked.

"Had an affair and they had Elijah who's now Charles," he replied as he looked around the room.

He started backing his chair up against the nearest wall. "Maybe Tobias had his brother hidden," JJ suggested.

"Would explain why no one has any recollection of him," Reid answered.

He started rubbing his tied wrists against the wall, hoping the roughness of the cement wall would help cut them. "So, that's why I had gone over the edge? Using dilaudid?" he asked. JJ looked at him, she wasn't expecting for the subject to change.

"Yeah, Spence, we lost you completely after she died," she replied.

Reid frowned, swallowing hard. "She was beautiful," he murmured. She nodded her head slowly.

"There were so many days I needed to talk to you, because I loved her just as much as you did, but I couldn't reach you. You were gone, the Spencer Reid I knew was gone," she answered, her voice shaking.

"And then you met Will…" he said slowly.

"And then I met Will," she agreed softly.

He looked at JJ. "You said yesterday that it was always me, is that why you never agreed to marry him?" he asked. JJ let out a sigh.

"Every time I wanted to say 'yes' but then I kept thinking that it should have been us a long time ago," she replied, "I loved Will."

"But not as much as you still loved me," he concluded.

JJ was silent as she stared at the floor. "For what it's worth, I never stopped loving you either," he answered, "You were always the woman for me."

"You remember a lot about our relationship more than anything else," she commented.

"You were and are the best part of my life," he replied.

He smiled at her. "You know what?" he asked.

"What?" she asked.

"I think we should get married," He said suddenly.

She couldn't help but laugh, they were trapped in the middle of nowhere by a crazy, revenge-ridden unsub and he was talking about getting married. "Spence, I really don't think this is the time to talk about this," she commented.

"Sure it is, we get out of here, let's do it. Let's get married," he answered.

She could see he was truly serious about this and smiled at him. "Yeah, let's do it," she agreed. Reid gave her a smile when he felt the ropes giveaway and held his wrists up.

"Let's get out of here," He murmured as he ran over to untie her wrists.

Suddenly, he heard the click of a gun and Reid froze in his place, his hands raised. "You really thought you could escape that easily?" Charles asked. Instead of answering, Reid grabbed his arm and twisted the gun out of it. He grabbed the hunting knife that was in Charles's belt and dropped it into JJ's hand so she could get herself out of her trap as he ran behind a wall when Charles grabbed his other gun, firing at him. "Give it up, Reid! I'll kill your new fiancé here and now!" he called out.

JJ glared at Charles, kicking him in the knees and got up as the ropes came lose on her wrists. Reid ran out from his hiding spot, grabbing her hand. "Let's go," he told her as they ran out of the room. They looked up to see at least a dozen flight of steps. "We better start climbing," he commented. They jumped when a shot was fired and Charles ran out of the room. Reid held the gun up, firing several shots. "Get out, JJ!" he called out to her.

"Spence, I'm not leaving here without you," She answered.

"He has a gun and probably some bombs strapped somewhere, you need to get out of here, call Hotch for backup," he told her as they ducked behind a wall.

He came out from behind the wall, firing shots back at Charles. "I told you that we were never splitting up again," She answered.

"This time, you have to break that agreement," he told her, looking at her.

Reid looked at her, their eyes were locked together when Charles fire another round of shots at them. "Please, just go," he insisted, "I'll be fine, I promise." Instead of answering, she placed her hand on the back of his neck and kissed him deeply. He kissed her back, his hand resting on her waist as he pulled her a little closer.

"I love you," she told him.

"I love you," he answered, "Go, I've got you covered."

Nodding, she let out a deep breath as Reid went out from behind the wall, firing more shots at the unsub while she took off up the stairs. The two of them continued to fire shots at each other, until both of their guns started clicking. "Dammit," Reid muttered under his breath.

"What happens now, Dr. Reid? Your girl's gone now, your gun's empty, it's just you and me," Charles sneered as he walked closer to the wall.

Reid looked around for any means of escaping, but Charles was now blocking the only exit. "What happens now?" the unsub sneered, "You pushed your girl away, your kid's dead, your mom's a nut job in a mental hospital, what exactly do you have?" Reid stood up and came out from behind the wall.

"I still have a family, something you never had," Reid answered, "Your brother was a crazy man who didn't get the help he needed and in turn it got him killed."

"My brother was a good man," Charles snapped.

"Your brother was mentally sick, and he didn't suffer," he stated.

Charles let out a shout as he ran at Reid, grabbing him around the waist and slammed his back up against the wall. Reid winced as his back hit the corner, the air knocked out of him. The man went to punch him in the stomach when Reid blocked the attack, kicking him in the stomach. The man let him drop to the floor and Reid kicked him in the side, sending him backwards. The unsub reached into his belt, pulling out another hunting knife.

He took a swipe at Reid's middle who easily backed up from the would-be attack. He dodged the knife swipes at his body, remembering what Morgan had taught him for just in case scenarios such as these. "Come on, Dr. Reid, fight me," Charles hissed. Reid grabbed his arm, slamming his wrist against the wall to knock the knife out of it. The knife fell and Reid kicked it under the stairs before he elbowed the man in the stomach.

Outside, JJ ran as fast as she could towards Charles's van. She broke the window to it, finding the car phone she knew he had in it. She searched for it, finding it under the seat. Grabbing the phone, she dialed Hotch's number. "Agent Hotchner," he answered.

"Hotch, it's JJ, I'm on a car phone right now I need you to get Garcia to track this," she told him.

"We're tracking you, JJ, where are you?" Hotch asked.

"I don't know, I just escaped, Spence is still in there with Charles," she replied.

"We're on our way," Hotch told her.

"Hurry," JJ answered before she let the phone sit on the seat and she ran back inside.

She ran down the stairs to find Charles pinning Reid to the wall with his hands around his throat. "Just when you thought you could win," Charles sneered. She ran up behind the man, kicking him in the back, making him drop Reid. He spun around, punching the woman in the face. Reid got up from the floor and grabbed the man around his throat, yanking him off JJ. The man ran backwards, slamming Reid up against the wall a few times, grabbing his arms and then throwing him onto his back. "SPENCE!" he heard JJ shout. He opened his eyes to see a gun aimed right in his face.

"You lose, Dr. Reid," he sneered.

Before Charles could pull the trigger, Reid had grabbed his discarded knife and shoved it into his thigh. As he was trying to grab the knife from his leg, Reid got up and punched him in the face so hard it knocked him to the ground. "No…you lose," he answered, trying to catch his breath. They looked up when the door upstairs burst open.

"FBI!" he heard Morgan call out.

"We're down here!" Reid answered.

JJ walked over, hugging Reid tightly. He hugged her back, feeling nothing but relief. "You two alright?" Hotch asked as they came down the stairs.

"Yeah, we're fine," Reid replied as he hugged JJ a little tighter.

JJ hugged him back before she went to grab a blanket for her and Reid that their new recruit, Agent Alex Blake, was holding out for them. As Morgan went to grab Charles, Reid looked just as Charles shoved Morgan backwards, punching him in the face and grabbing his gun. In slow motion, Reid looked from the gun and to where he was aiming, right for JJ. "JENNIFER!" he shouted. JJ looked up as the unsub went to pull the trigger when Reid grabbed her and shielded her from the shot. Another shot was fired and Charles was on the ground with a bullet in the shoulder from Hotch. "You okay?" Reid asked, holding onto her.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Good…that's good…" Reid murmured before his legs gave out.
"Spence!" JJ exclaimed as he collapsed.

Morgan ran over, grabbing Reid as he almost hit the ground. "I NEED A MEDIC!" he shouted. JJ saw the blood coming from his back and her eyes grew wide as everything moved in slow motion.

"SPENCE!" she shouted in agony as she placed her hands on his face.

Medics rushed down the stairs, running towards the injured agent as Morgan got up, letting them do their job and he held onto JJ as she was on the verge of collapsing. The team rushed out the door with the medics as they were loading the now injured agent into the truck while Charles was getting put into another ambulance, laughing maniacally. "He loses! Yes! Spencer Reid finally loses!" he said cackling as the doors closed.