A/N: I know, I know! I can already hear you yelling at me, I know that Spencer and Amelia have gone through enough angst for a lifetime, but I couldn't leave Michael Bellamy hanging over them forever. So please, bear with me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds


Amelia sat in the conference room, completely unaware of her brother and Trudy worriedly casting glances in her direction as the minutes and then hours passed.

"What do you think we should do?" Trudy whispered anxiously to Jason as she nervously tapped her feet on the floor.

After shooting his sister another look, Jason sighed, "Honestly, I don't think there is anything we can do. It's probably better if we leave her alone until we actually know something. Penelope said she would let us know when something happened. I'll give Dr. Howard a call and see what she recommends.

Trudy nodded in agreement and watched Jason leave the room to make the phone call. Amelia continued to sit in her seat, apparently oblivious to what was going on around her. Once she had been told that Bellamy wanted to speak in person with Spencer she had retreated into a protected corner of her mind, the shock of the entire situation too much for her to handle.

They were back on the beach. The beautiful beach that had been her refuge before. A soft, springy green blanket gently tickled the backs of her sun-warmed legs. It was funny what inconsequential things stood out in this place.

The air held the salty tang of the ocean, and a fine sea mist cooled her off every now and then. Amelia could hear Spencer's even breathing next to her; he was finally catching up on some much needed sleep and the rhythmic noise was lulling her into a drowsy state as well. There was such a peace and beauty in this place, she never wanted to leave. Time seemed to stand still, and Amelia let the calm serenity carry her along.

Awhile later, was it minutes or hours? No matter, she felt Spencer's strong, warm hands idly tracing imaginary patterns onto her stomach. She smiled, and turned her head before opening her eyes.

A terrified scream escaped from her lips, "No! You can't take this from me too!"

Michael Bellamy only smiled in response.

"Thank you for letting me know Jason. I'll clear my appointments this afternoon and come over straight away. For now, just leave her be. When I arrive we will all help her deal with this, but for now it's probably better if she's given some time to deal with this in her own way."

Jason thanked Dr. Howard and put away his phone with a heavy sigh. It wasn't fair, his sister had already been through so much. He prayed that Spencer would come out of this unscathed and that someone found a way to put a bullet straight through Bellamy's heart.

Jason walked back into the room and resumed his seat beside Trudy and filled her in what Dr. Howard had said. They continued their silent vigil until the doctor arrived an hour later.

Dr. Howard smiled at Jason and Trudy before assuming the seat next to Amelia, it was the same one that Spencer had used before he had left with the others. She reached out and took Amelia's cold, rigid hands into her own and briskly rubbed them so that the blood circulation would increase.

"Amelia? It's Dr. Howard. It's time to come back now. I need you to focus and talk to me. You can't hide from this. You're safe and Jason and Trudy are here, they want to talk to you." Dr. Howard nodded to Jason and Trudy.

"Hey kid, I'm sitting right here. I'm not going anywhere okay? Spencer is still fine…the whole team is. I'd really like for you to join us. Penelope is going to be coming in with an update anytime now, or Spencer might call. You want to be able to speak with him if he does, right?" Jason pleaded and then bribed, he hated seeing Amelia like this. Normally she was so strong and determined, always facing life head on.

Trudy took a breath when Jason finished, "Amelia, it's Trudy. Don't let him win anymore. You can do this. Fight back with everything you have. Do it for yourself and for Spencer. We all love you."

Angrily, Amelia grabbed Bellamy's hand. Instead of flinging it away from her she grabbed it and twisted it like she had learned in her MMA class. A satisfying yell broke through Bellamy's lips. Amelia took the opportunity to scramble to her feet before placing a series of well-aimed kicks and jabs to Bellamy.

When she stopped he was no longer moving, instead, his body seemed to pulse before dissolving into nothing. As soon as she was alone on the beach again Amelia turned and saw Spencer walking across the sand towards her.

"I'm proud of you Amy," Spencer said when he finally reached her, "I need you to do that for real now. Wake up and join your family. I'll be with you the entire way."

Amelia jolted back to reality, and the beach receded once more into dreamland. It would never be quite so idyllic, but Amelia had a feeling that she would never need to go back there again anyway.

Dr. Howard smiled in relief when she saw Amelia's pupils go back into focus once more, "Welcome back Amelia."

"Dr. Howard? What's going on?" Amelia asked with a bit of confusion. The previous events felt a little hazy and she wanted to know what she had missed.

"The BAU is still at the daycare trying to reason with Michael Bellamy. Bellamy has injured one of the daycare workers, but the children are fine. Everyone on the team is fine. We're waiting for Penelope to come in with more news."

Amelia nodded in understanding. She turned towards Jason and Trudy, "Thank you for coming."

"No problem bao bao. I wouldn't be anywhere else," Jason replied with a concerned smile.

The four of them sat in tense silence again until Penelope bustled in through the door. Her normal, cheerful face was replaced with a strained expression that made Amelia's stomach flutter nervously.

Without any preamble, Penelope filled them in on the situation, "The team has run out of options. Bellamy has killed one of the workers in the daycare, and is threatening to kill the children next if Spencer isn't sent in. The rest are preparing to go in as back up once Bellamy is distracted."

Amelia felt her stomach flip, and wanted to be sick. She felt her brother's hand grip hers in support.

"How long?" Amelia asked.

"Spencer has ten minutes before Bellamy kills a child," Penelope whispered apologetically.

Amelia nodded, "May I sit with you in your office please?"

Penelope hesitated, "Yes, you can all come," she answered finally. "Just stand in the back out of the way. I'm still running some searches for them."

They all nodded in agreement and silently followed Penelope back to her office. Dr. Howard elected to remain inside the conference room instead of following the others, since she felt that it wasn't her place to become involved too personally.

Once Penelope sat back down in her chair she hit the speed dial button her phone, "Sweetie? I've got you on speaker phone. Amelia, Jason, and Trudy are here as well."

"Hey baby girl. There's nothing to report yet Amelia, Spencer is one of the best at talking down UnSubs, so don't worry about him. We'll get him out of this, I promise," Derek hurriedly spoke into the phone, "I'm going to pass you to JJ now, I've got to get suited up now. Okay?"

"Okay, be safe. All of you," Penelope choked out. She hated whenever anyone on the team had to put themselves into such danger.

A short crackling sound could be heard through the speaker while Derek passed his phone to JJ. "Hi Garcia, any luck with the search so far?" JJ asked.

"Well, it wasn't the mother who bribed the guard. Her records don't show any unusual financial transactions, and the field office in New York believed her when they brought her in for questioning. Same with the father. It's someone else that we don't know about. I'm trying to trace the money from the guard's end. But whoever sent the money was smart and covered his tracks. But I will find out who did it."

Both Penelope and JJ went quiet while JJ focused on watching Spencer taking off his vest and weapon so that he could enter the daycare unarmed. The rest of the team and SWAT went around the back of the building to wait for a distraction so that they could enter. Penelope continued to work furiously at her keyboard trying to figure out who had bribed the guard, it seemed to be an insignificant detail at the moment, but it might help them figure out what the game plan was for Bellamy.

The others in the office waited fearfully by the door to the office. They didn't want to say anything and possibly distract the team.

Several more minutes passed until JJ clipped out, "Spencer is going in."

Amelia held her breath, something bad was going to happen. She knew it.

"Oh no!" Penelope gasped out. "JJ!"

"What?" JJ said with urgency.

"I found out who bribed the prison guard. It was a member of your SWAT team, his little sister was one of Bellamy's early victims."

"The SWAT team member must have wanted a legitimate reason to shoot Bellamy, that's pretty smart on his part," JJ summarized before she radioed the new information to Hotch and Morgan.

JJ radioed the information too late though, Spencer had already gone inside the building. Moments later Amelia could hear gunfire echoing through the phone, and shouted orders of "Go, go, go!" thundering over the phone line.

"Oh my God. Oh my God," Amelia frantically panted as fear for her friends and Spencer overwhelmed her.