Chapter 26

Reid was terrified that they had already killed and disposed of Jessie. The entire house was clear and they found nothing else. They broke through the back door and checked in the shed. But still found nothing. Reid walked out of the shed and considered options other than Jessie's death. Maybe they let her go. Or she escaped before the fight had happened. Then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

Halfway through the back yard, Jessie stopped. She couldn't see anything anymore because she was crying so much. Her strength failed and she collapsed to the ground. Reid's heart leaped when he recognized Jessie and he took off running after her. He fell down to his knees beside her and touched her. She was crying and burying her face in her hands but as he touched her shoulder she yelped and leaned away from his touch. She looked up and saw him, confusion clear on her face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked between deep calming breaths.

"I came to rescue you." Reid said simply. He saw blood on her face and hands and in her hair and needed to take her to the Medics.

"Why?" she asked stupidly.

"Because I love you." He answered and her expression changed into something unfathomable. She pushed him away with sloppy anger and fought to keep her balance.

"Why would you?" she asked and a hint of happiness leaked into a chuckle. She wiped her tears and dosed out for a second, not expecting an answer. She lost her balance and fell back. The jacket slid open and Reid could see a bloody mess on her hip. Her head fell back and Reid caught her before she fell flat on her back.

"Medic!" He yelled as he picked her up and carried her around the house to the ambulance.

"I'm sorry." Jessie whispered between consciousnesses.

"Hey. Shh…" Reid tried to calm her down. Tears were streaming down her face.

When Reid reached the ambulance, the Medic helped Jessie onto her feet. He told her not to sit down until he knows the extent of her injuries.

Reid was absolutely mortified as the paramedic took off Jessie's leather jacket. Blood was running down her back and she had a bruise forming over her ribs. Jessie swayed again and Reid tightened his grip on her, grudging the fact that Jessie had to stand up while the Medic checked her out. The fact that she was only wearing jeans and a bra at this point didn't help his anger. It was cold, and Jessie's body was too messed up at that point to register the temperature.

As soon as Morgan saw Reid carry Jessie over to the ambulance, he wrapped up his conversation and walked over. He arrived just as the medic took the jacket off and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Okay, you can sit." The medic told Jessie and she leaned back onto the high stretcher. And with a sigh, she leaned her head forward, into Reid's shoulder.

"What?" she asked Morgan groggily after she noticed him staring. He immediately looked away and found that Reid was staring angrily at him.

"Looks like he messed you up real bad." Morgan answered Jessie but she was already fighting sleep again. "And to be honest, you really are beautiful."

Jessie made a poor growling sound in the back of her throat as she lazily swatted her hand at him. Pain shot through her arm and she noticed shards of glass on the side of her hand. It seemed that they made no sense to her, as she frowned.

"Jessie," Reid had a thought. "Why did you run? through the back yard? There's nothing back there."

"I did?" Jessie's frown deepened in confusion. "Why?"

"I don't know, I'm asking you." Reid breathed a laugh. Jessie was so out of it. He kissed her on the forehead and sighed.

Jessie tried to fight the threatening sleep by blinking.

"S'car." She mumbled.

"Mmmmmm?" Reid was falling asleep too.

"Richard…" She sighed deeply and winced at the pain. "He… the car… he parks it in the next yard. Behind the trees…. Shed… in… a shed… thing."

Morgan ran to Hotch and told him, what Jessie just said. Hotch sent a few agents to check it out and they found the black matte van and another car.

"I controlled your bleeding. They'll have to put stitches in at the ER." The medic woke Jessie for just a second. And he made sure that Reid understood. "You can go with her in the ambulance."

Reid helped Jessie into the ambulance and onto the stretcher. Morgan poked his head in and started saying something but changed his mind.

"I'm glad you're okay." Morgan said before he closed the ambulance door.