Hey Everyone!
Alright, so I know you all hate me right now... I understand, you are all welcome to have very strong worded conversations with me about your emotions. But I PROMISE you, the story is just getting good! I have had the idea of how this story was playing out for years, and the fact that we are finally getting to the juicy parts of the story makes me so happy to share more and more! So don't hate me! (yet).
With an astounding amount of gratitude, I thank everyone who follows and favourites this story. The way my mood changes when I'm left with an email notifying me of a new follower or such a fun review makes me super SUPER happy.
To my lovely reviewers who are probably very upset with me: LisaPark, OneWhoReadsTooMuch, Rubyia, fishtrek, masoxrista, LeopardFeather, mercigirl01, zikashigaku, gossamermouse101, LoveFiction2020, and smilin steph, I appreciate you hanging in there! You brave souls bared your soul, and I promise you I won't put you guys through too much misery!
Okay everyone! Here... we... go!
Try to enjoy... muahahaha...
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.
"Good to see you awake."
It was hard for Emily to open her eyes, but she could withstand the light that was coming from the gray window. Her head felt like it was spinning, slowly recalling why her head was fuzzy, and why she was in a hospital bed, and who was speaking to her. It wasn't an unfamiliar voice, but she couldn't pinpoint who that voice belonged to. Opening her eyes as wide as she could, Emily turned to find Aaron Hotchner sitting in the armrest beside her bed, his dishevelled appearance depicting the events of the night that had just passed.
Her mind finally caught up to why Hotch was sitting at the edge of her bed.
The explosion.
Bennett.
Lou!
Panic coursed through Emily.
"Hotch," Prentiss said softly. Her mouth was unbelievably dry, making it harder to speak. "What happened? Where's Lou? Bennett?"
"Bennett's in custody."
The disbelief coursed through Emily like a lightening bolt.
He's not dead?
"Lou's okay," Hotch stood up, shaking his leg a bit. Emily noticed it must have fallen asleep. "She incapacitated Noah with a set of drugs."
Emily let out a relief sigh.
"She's alive?"
"I did hug her, so yes." Aaron said, a small smile appearing on his face.
Trying her best to sit up, she felt the soreness of all the aftermath of the explosion. Hotch came beside her to help prop her up. Emily settled into the multiple pillows as comfortably as she could, breathing through her pain.
"I can have the nurses administer—"
"No, Hotch, I'm good." Emily said, her jaw clenching. She didn't want anything that would dull her thoughts.
"What happened exactly?"
Aaron raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms. "It's a bit much for right now."
Emily shook her head as best as she could. "I can take it."
"What do you last remember?"
She took a moment to think, a deep breath coming forth.
"When JJ, Reid, and I were running out of the dining room, and then the explosion."
"After that, we managed to get everyone back on the comms, including Morgan, his location still unknown. Bennett was taunting the team from an unknown location within the Manor." Hotch settled back into the armrest. "He had speakers running throughout the house. Reid was… not containing his emotions well, taunting Noah in retaliation."
Emily's eyebrows furrowed. "He didn't let Rossi take lead?"
"Didn't give Dave the chance to. Reid was furious, manipulating Bennett to buy more time for EMTs to reach your location. But I'm sure Reid was itching to let out some pent-up anger."
Prentiss was in disbelief.
Reid taking charge?
No. That's believable.
Especially when it comes to Lou.
"We were in the process of getting you out when Bennett invaded the comms." Hotch didn't stop speaking, knowing if he did, Emily's face would be more shocked. "He began taunting the team again, specifically Garcia, and eventually making her choose between locating Morgan, or locating Lou, to which he would go after whoever Garcia didn't choose."
"Morgan took himself off the comms, didn't he?" Prentiss asked.
Morgan would do anything to protect Garcia and Lou.
Hotch nodded, continuing on.
"We hadn't known at the time, but Bennett placed Morgan and Lou in the same room. After Morgan disconnected, Bennett told us of this fact, and Garcia was enraged and disconnected Bennett, which left us blind until Morgan connected back to the comms, confirming he had found Lou, with Lou herself verbally confirming she was okay."
His deep breath, and the worried look on Aaron's face, unsettled Emily.
"What happened next?" She was hesitant to ask.
"Bennett happened."
Emily turned her head to find Morgan in a wheelchair, pushing himself into the room.
"You shouldn't be out of bed," Hotch scolded.
Derek gave Aaron a levelled look, turning back to Emily.
"He came to hunt us both down. I told Lou to run. Good thing she did, son of a bitch dropped a tower of chairs on me. Luckily, the leg's the only thing he caught."
"Which is why you shouldn't be out—"
"Hotch, enough. Emily needs to know this, from me."
Emily could feel why Morgan was telling her this. He wanted to remind her of how dangerous her actions were.
"From my spot, I could see Lou stopped running, turning back towards me and aiming a slingshot at Bennett. A slingshot, Emily. Bennett pulled a gun on her, and she had a toy. I had to watch Lou run away from the spray of bullets that bastard was pelting on her, and she had no way to defend herself." He kept going on, not stopping. "You whisked her away from the entire team, put her as the perfect bait for this monster, and you weren't even able to arm Lou correctly?"
She closed her eyes, knowing Derek had every right to berate her.
"Did he shoot her?"
Listening to his deep and muted sigh, Emily listened to Morgan speak.
"No. She ran off, but he managed to corner her. From what Reid told me, he came in just in time to distract him. The kid planned to have Bennett shift his anger onto him, releasing Lou, but apparently, Little Lou had a syringe filled with drugs to incapacitate him. She managed to stop him without anyone else getting hurt."
Emily's eyes opened, the shock on her face.
"What is it?" Hotch asked, noticing her expression.
She took a breath, exhaling slowly. "Lou insisted she got her hands on liquid oxy. Zion supplied it easily, but I wasn't sure why she wanted it."
"She didn't tell you she had the syringe?" Morgan asked, to which Emily softly shook her head.
"I knew it existed. But…"
Emily was uncomfortable sharing this tidbit. She didn't know if Lou was comfortable with her sharing this bit of information as well, especially after exposing her secrets already. Now knowing how unreliable Lou was when she was formulating a plan, Prentiss fully believed the information given to her may not have been true.
"I was under the assumption it was for Lou's own personal use in case Bennett had her trapped and she had no escape, to stop him from manipulating her with a coherent mind. But even then, it felt odd. Like Zion and her had a deeper understanding that only two of them shared."
"You think Lou would have used the oxy on herself?" Aaron asked.
Emily nodded. "At the time, it was believable. She mentioned how she would want it on hand, in case she was locked up and Noah tried playing mind tricks on her, to which her father and Zion commented on how well she knew how oxycodone worked. Now, after seeing that Lou's been playing the long game, keeping everyone out of the loop, I'm not too sure."
"Not everyone was fully out of the loop."
Morgan's eyes were burning towards Emily's form still. He was still seething in anger.
"Derek—"
"How could you have gone with her plan? No, how the hell did she convince you to get on a plane to go along with her plan?"
"Would you listen for a second?"
"Morgan—"
"She is an untrained civilian, who you allowed to empathize with, ultimately gaining your assistance out of her sheer desperation—"
"—Bennett's having the FBI invaded."
Her words stilled the two men.
"What do you mean?" Hotch asked.
"I was already on the plane flying to Virginia. My intel within Interpol dictated that Noah obtained several snipers and multiple guns a week prior to Antoinette Richardson going missing, as well as machinery classified as a rappelling device, which I now know what the intended use for that item was."
Derek rubbed his ribs, realizing the machine Emily was talking about was the grappling machine Bennett modified to shoot out with pressurized air, pulling both Morgan and Lou into the home.
He hoped that machine was destroyed.
"Reid had Bennett's name searched more than once. It raised flags within the system. There were gossips running about, and rooms started getting quiet when I, or someone else higher ranking, would walk into rooms. The talk dictated Bennett was about to perform an unsanctioned hit on a high-profile individual, a hit that was being planned for years, and apparently was the worst kept secret from anyone below Bennett's ranking."
"Jesus," Morgan whispered under his breath. "Do they know who his target was?"
Emily shook her head, taking a moment to gather herself, the drugs still making it foggy to recall information.
"There were no reports of who, but I'm sure you can guess."
The two men chose to remain silent.
"I had one of my agents run a back-check on Bennett's computer, and not only were there dossiers of the team, as well as members of Lou's White Collar team, there were copies of applications and transfer papers for the FBI, all the names of previous Interpol agents that were disavowed or forcibly removed from posting. More specifically, there was an agent that was assigned to Lou's team, but I never got the confirmation."
"Interpol wasn't investigating Bennett?" Hotch asked, furious.
"They are. They've been investigating Noah for years now; however, they had no definitive evidence, not until I had my agents do their research. But when Bennett popped off Interpol's radar after my investigation, it was too risky to assume he wasn't headed towards Quantico as well. I got on the jet and was already overseas by the time Lou called me. I got a cryptic voicemail from Lou when I landed and went straight to her home."
"Cryptic?" Aaron kept prompting.
"She asked how long a plane ride was from where I had been. I figured she was asking me if I could get on a plane to come to Virginia. But she was ultimately asking for my help without realizing she was already receiving it. By the time I set myself up in Lou's home, my contact told me someone from Bennett's side was watching her home already."
Hotch crossed his arms. "Lou does have impeccable timing."
"Hotch, how can you be this calm?" Morgan was still mad, still having the night's adrenaline coursing through his veins.
"Because my team is safe."
His shoulders dropped in relief, his arms uncrossing so he could rest his hands on either side of his body, supporting him. His actions truly revealed his emotions.
"Garcia's safe. Kate, JJ, Rossi… you both, Reid, most importantly Lou…" Aaron sensed calmness over him. "All accounted for. This past week has been hell, and I've been having this dread build up, not knowing what Bennett would do. But Bennett would have killed any one of us without a second thought and had every opportunity to do so. The fact that Bennett didn't get to any of us, the fact that we got him, is what's keeping me calm."
Aaron stood up, walking over to Morgan.
"If you want to be angry, Morgan, be angry. But be angry for the right reasons." Hotch gestured towards Prentiss.
"Prentiss chose the best way to protect Lou in the given circumstance, to be by her side and arm her as best as she could. The point is, whatever the means, the outcome remains the same."
Derek, although not satisfied with the answer given, chose to keep his mouth shut, his lips tightly clamped together.
Hotch's phone ringing diffused the tension in the air.
"Excuse me," Aaron said, walking out of the room to answer the phone.
"So, Lou's okay?" Prentiss asked, still in disbelief.
Morgan nodded. "We talked. She seemed much more like her old self, now that Bennett's out of the picture."
Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion hit Emily, being so emotionally involved in the conversation threw the agent off. She was realizing the gravity of her wounds, and how her body still needed to recover from the explosion that was not even a day ago. She shut her eyes as she breathed slowly, her body attempting to calm down from the pain.
"Emily," Morgan whispered. She slowly opened one eye.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm giving you a hard time and—"
He cut himself off at Emily's hand waving him to stop. Although she was winded, she still felt the need to speak.
"Trust me… Everything you're telling me, I'm telling myself. And before you say it… I am definitely pissed that Lou's not able to shoot a gun."
The small chuckle from her old friend comforted her.
She snuggled into the hospital bed as best as she could, taking slow, long breaths to not aggravate her body. "I'll take everyone angry at me if that means Lou's okay. Well, everyone's more so going to… be angry with her."
Derek laughed softly. "If I'm being honest, Lou's been on everyone's good side all the time, it's hard to be mad at her."
Prentiss, with both eyes closed, smiled. "Yeah. The entire time she was… asking for my help, I felt I was doing her a favour… not the other way around."
Her eyes opened momentarily, looking at Derek.
"And Reid? He's okay too?"
Morgan nodded.
"The happiest that I've seen him, ever."
"Really?"
"Really. The kid was beaming."
"No kidding?"
"I heard him tell Lou he loved her."
The warm smile spread over Emily's face as she closed her eyes again.
"About time."
"Emily. Derek."
Both the agent and former spy gave all their attention to Aaron Hotchner.
When they did, they realized the calm demeanour he just held was no longer there.
And upon realizing Aaron used their first names, it brought the concern to the forefront.
"Hotch?" Morgan turned his wheelchair to face the team leader. "What happened?"
The pain shot over Aaron's face.
Emily could have sworn she saw tears.
"Hotch?"
He took a deep breath before speaking.
"That was JJ."
"And?" Derek asked.
There was another paused from Hotch.
Another breath.
Another beat.
"Bennett… had a bomb waiting."
The icy feeling of dread shot throughout her body.
The evident distraught look on the face of Hotch already determined the severity of the situation.
Something happened.
Something bad happened.
"Where?"
"The base of the tower."
"The tower?" Derek was confused. "Didn't we get the all-clear for the entire manor?"
"The area was cleared after the agents went in; however, JJ thinks there was someone on the inside who placed the bomb there after the fact."
"Is everyone accounted for? JJ's okay?"
When Hotch looked directly down on the floor, the tears began to form in Emily's eyes.
"Aaron," the broken voice escaped Derek, who was pleading for information.
"Garcia wasn't close to the radius, but she has multiple wounds: a car window exploded near her, covering her in scratches. She may need surgery to remove some glass particles."
"No," Morgan whispered.
"JJ's arm and several ribs are fractured, and the doctor thinks she may have a concussion. She wasn't too far off from the blast. Even when she was speaking to me, I could tell she needed EMT assistance. Both of them are headed here to the hospital."
"Oh my God," Emily whispered.
"Reid—"
A huff of air escaped Hotch, droplets of water falling and hitting the floor from the pain of stating the next statement.
"Reid is on his way here as well."
Emily froze.
"He was standing at the front of the foyer, at the threshold. When the explosion travelled from the base of the tower, throughout the Manor, and towards him, the force threw him back, knocking him cold. EMTs state he was bleeding from his head and unresponsive when transporting him."
"And?" Emily pleaded.
"The only good news we have on him is that he's stable."
"Wait…" Morgan stopped Hotch. "What about Lou?"
The grimacing pain on Hotch's face told the truth.
But Derek still waited.
"Unaccounted for."
Emily didn't try stopping her sob from escaping her.
"No one saw her?" Emily pleaded.
Hotch shook his head. "No one."
"But—" Morgan had now become defensive, using his logic to decipher the situation. "Did they search the area? Where was Rossi?"
"With Lou."
"Fuck," Derek whispered.
"And? Where were they? Did anyone know where they were?" Emily asked.
Derek knew the answer.
Emily knew.
Hotch did too.
Morgan wanted to be wrong.
He hoped he was.
But he knew that he could only hope.
"From JJ's account of the last conversation between Lou and Reid and where she was headed, they were most likely at the top of the tower."
[ + ]
It took half a day, but they were finally able to see Reid.
They wheeled him into a private room, and from what Hotch could see standing from the viewing window, Reid was in bad shape. His vitals were as stable as possible, but he was critical. The impact from the blast rendered him unconscious before he hit the stair slabs, which worked in Spencer's favour, as his body was loose before he made contact and lost consciousness.
He took a moment to stare at Reid, looking at his form. His nasal cannula fed a steady flow of air and oxygen into his nose, helping him breathe as much as the machine could.
It broke Aaron to see Spencer that way. Emily was in no condition to leave her bed, even after insisting that she was feeling better, however she would have to have approval by her doctor to even move out of the bed for the next couple of days. Morgan conceded to let Hotch push him in the wheelchair to see the kid after Reid was settled in his room, and the sadness on Derek's face added to the pain Hotch was feeling. Aaron had just come back from wheeling Morgan back to his room, after the agent showed his exhaustion and finally conceded to slumber. Hotch hoped that maybe Spencer would wake up when he got to the window.
Staring at his still form made him feel that much more desperate.
How could Noah Bennett do this? Hotch and his team were sharp, had gone against the worst of the worst unsubs— serial killers, rapists, mob heads, assassins, double agents… Hotch had a whole slew of people that his team and himself bested, as best as they could.
Tobias Hankel, Billy Flynn, Benjamin Cyrus, Frank Breitkopf, George Foyet…
Each one of these monsters were taken care of by his team, because the team was strong, when they were united.
But Noah Bennett?
He weakened the team bit by bit.
Bennett pulled the team straight apart by pulling everyone apart.
Started off with Antoinette. Tikvah. Prentiss. Morgan. Lou. Reid. Rossi.
Hotch huffed at the thought of his friend.
David was missing, and Hotch had no idea what was happening next.
He refused to believe Dave was dead until there was evidence.
Both of them worked off one another, bouncing thoughts and ideas between the two of them was natural to Hotch. Not that it was odd to have a different thought process than Dave; they were both on the same page most of the time. Not having his best friend there to aid in protecting the team was straining him, only to make it worse by realizing that he didn't know what was going on with the investigation into the tower, and whether or not Rossi and Lou were in there at the time of the explosion.
Dave, please don't be dead.
From the information he gathered from local authorities, only a quarter of the Manor was a complete wreck, as the update renovations completed years ago incorporated a new fire system, housing multiple sprinklers throughout the Manor. However, the tower was engulfed in flames. The local fire officials were still checking to see if the structure was still safe to enter, to see if there were any remains found within the tower. The only comfort Hotch had was that the majority of his team was near him. The downside was the majority of his team was admitted into the hospital, albeit in one piece each (…somewhat).
He was lying if he said the local authorities was not the best at sharing information.
Garcia was resting now, her body scraped, but finally had removed from any bits of glass embedded into her skin without the need of surgery. JJ, hellbent on making sure the team was okay, had given into her fatigue and allowed herself to sleep, in her own hospital bed while being monitored by nurses. Both JJ and Garcia wanted to see Reid but were both in no shape to move from their own hospital beds. Knowing that Penelope, Derek, Jennifer, Emily, and Spencer were within the same area, each one of them slowly recovering, allowed his stress to lessen as much as they could.
He had two people to worry about, and that required all his attention.
"Agent Hotchner?"
Aaron turned to find Charles Richardson coming towards him.
"Ambassador?"
"Is it true?"
Aaron paused, unsure of what to confirm.
"Is he…"
He?
Hotch looked on as the Ambassador picked up on where the agent was located. He watched Charles look at Reid, who was unmoving in his hospital bed.
The man's face was stoic.
"From the explosion." Charles muttered to himself. "God damn."
Aaron was shocked.
The Ambassador knew about the explosion.
That meant he knew about his daughter's missing status.
"What do you know?" Hotch asked bluntly.
The elder man scoffed. "Agent Hotchner, you don't have to play dumb. I know what has become of my home."
Charles crossed his arms, staring at Reid's still body.
"I also know that your friend and my daughter were near the blast."
"We don't know if she…"
He couldn't continue with that sentence.
Hotch realized that he didn't believe that Lou was alive.
That meant Hotch didn't believe Dave was alive.
The reality was setting in.
No, not yet.
Not until I have evidence.
Another laugh from Charles.
"The optimism is welcomed, Agent Hotchner," he said quietly. "But Lou-bear…"
A deep sigh escaped Ambassador Richardson.
"She'd want me to check up on Spencer. Make sure he was okay. How shameful I feel to see him like this."
"Shameful?" Hotch asked.
"Yes. I did everything I could to protect Lou, and I did nothing to protect Spencer. Had I been more cautious, Spencer would not be in this predicament, and Lou-bear—"
The Ambassador stopped himself from speaking, and Hotch couldn't help but notice that Charles stopped himself from speaking the same way Lou did when she cut herself off at the beginning of what would have been a long-winded rant.
It made Hotch miss Lou more.
"Lou-bear would not want her partner to be unprotected."
Charles took a step closer to the window.
"I'm having James, my personal bodyguard, watch over Spencer. At least until he's conscious and surrounded by your team."
"You feel that's necessary?" Hotch asked him.
Charles nodded, watching Spencer who, not only hours ago, was announced to be his future son-in-law. He remembered the happy expression on the young man's face clear as crystal. His daughter made the doctor unbelievably happy. To see him now, ripped away, beaten and blown almost in half… It was an odd pain for him to feel, to feel the need to protect from the extension of a loved one.
He felt compelled to protect Spencer.
"More than necessary," Charles stated, this time his tone more definite.
Hotch noticed that the Ambassador had… resolve.
As if he was making a huge decision.
And needed to make sure Reid was safe from said decision.
"Ambassador, we don't know if Lou is dead. I would proceed with caution—"
"Proceed? With caution?"
Charles' tone was appalled.
"Agent Hotchner, I have been told that not only has my home that I have worked my bloody ass off to ensure its security and structure has been blown irreparably, and that my daughter, the only child I will ever have, was apparently in that same home while the building exploded, based on the accounts from your Agent Jareau. And right now, in this very second, the only connection I have to her in this moment is sitting in the hospital bed away from me, practically inches from death, and your advice to me is to proceed with caution?"
The Ambassador's words stunned Hotch as Charles took a step forward menacingly.
This is what Lou had feared from the beginning.
When she spoke of how influential her father was, how she didn't want him near the case back when Hotch first met the Professor when she was a professor. He knew Lou's fears was something to recall.
This moment, the moment where the Ambassador had come out, the one that had no regard for any and all laws, terrified Hotch, and he couldn't help but understand Charles' motivation.
Hotch believed Charles' only child's death was looming over him.
And it was causing him to be filled with vengeance.
"Let me make this noticeably clear, Agent Hotchner. Caution is no longer a possibility."
"And revenge is a certainty?" Hotch profiled, knowing exactly what the Ambassador was going after.
Charles didn't try to hide his plan.
"You are more than welcome to stop me."
"Bennett is being kept by Interpol, Ambassador. Do you intend to see him undetected?"
The larger man in stature towered over the agent.
"I intend to look that man in the face. The one man who dared to interfere with my family and thought he could get away with it."
Hotch froze at his words.
"You, of all people, Agent Hotchner, should know what that feels like."
How could Aaron refute Charles' words? Was George Foyet truly no different from Noah Bennett? There was no way he could deny how Charles was driven to seek out the person who destroyed not only the Richardson family, but Hotch's family at the BAU. Who was he to refute the Ambassador, who knew too much about everyone, so much so that he saw why Lou was amazing at what she did; she was just like her father, ever persuasive when using the truth to get what they want.
"You raised your daughter well, Ambassador." Hotch said softly.
It disarmed the older man.
"I can understand how she had so many people help her without a second thought. You both have a way with words."
"Don't," Charles asked. Aaron noticed his voice was practically begging.
"Lou would not want you to go after Bennett. She had an opportunity to end his life, and she chose not to."
"And look at the price it cost," the Ambassador gestured towards the window, to the man sitting in the hospital bed.
"My daughter showed kindness to someone who didn't deserve it and look what it did."
"You daughter showed kindness to someone who didn't deserve it to remind us of what it would have cost. If Lou chose to end Bennett's life, she would have gone to jail."
"Agent Hotchner, I know your intentions are well. But the fact is, because that fucking monster is living, your entire team is bloodied and broken, my wife is barely alive, my future-son-in law is currently only breathing, and my daughter is—"
The Ambassador stopped himself short, the pain evident on his face.
Hotch went to speak, but the older man put his hands up. With one last look at the Doctor, Charles Richardson swiftly turned away from the agent, walking down the hospital corridor. Aaron knew better than to run after Ambassador Richardson—Hotch knew the exact look of a man who has his family threatened and destroyed and was about to do everything he possibly could to seek some sort of gratification. Hotch knew that the Ambassador had more control than most people he came across, and Hotch knew better than to stand in the Ambassador's way, not when he was this focused.
Hotch may have gotten his evidence without even trying.
Aaron felt the need for coffee overwhelm him, and he turned around to walk towards the cafeteria.
What he wasn't expecting was JJ, Morgan, and Garcia coming around the corner, and down the long hallway.
JJ was slowly pushing Garcia (also secretly using her and the IV drip as support), with Penelope sitting in the wheelchair, bundled with a blanket. Derek was propelling the wheels on his own chair forward, intent on heading towards Reid's hospital room. Hotch wanted to be frustrated with the team, but he knew how they all felt; pulled away from their family forcefully. They all wanted to be around each other and make sure they were okay.
Hotch, however, still kept his disapproving glare towards the team.
"You should all be resting," Aaron scolded.
JJ half-heartedly laughed. "Well, be grateful we didn't wheel Emily's bed over here. You're lucky she's asleep."
Garcia softly spoke, her eyes not leaving Reid's still form through the window.
"We wanted to check on Reid, see how he was."
"We also wanted to see if there were any updates on Lou and Dave," Derek mentioned softly. "But I don't think we have one yet."
Hotch could only shake his head.
"The authorities are still investigating."
"Do Lou's parents know?" Garcia asked Hotch, turning her head to face their leader.
Still not willing to trust his own words, especially after having confirmation of their knowledge from Lou's father himself, Hotch nodded, crossing his arms.
He noticed Derek watch the change in his body language.
Ignoring Morgan for the moment, he watched a tired JJ attempt to stand. He walked over to JJ, ignoring her protest and softly wrapped her arm around his shoulder.
"There's a few seats in Reid's room. Come."
Slowly, the small portion of the team made their way towards their teammate, the one who went above and beyond to save the person he loved. How bittersweet it was that it was all in vain, to not be able to stop the havoc that Noah Bennett brought forth made it difficult for everyone. Hotch helped JJ sit down before going back to help Garcia come into the room.
"Any changes?" JJ asked, her tired body giving out sighs of comfort.
"No, he's been steady since they brought him in."
"What's wrong with him? Is his brain bleeding? Is he in a coma?"
Hotch shook his head again. He felt extremely uncomfortable not knowing the answers.
"The doctors ran some test, and Reid was out before his body hit the ground. It worked in his favour; there's no visible damage done, and the CAT scan shows his brain is fine and not swelling, the gash was just a lot of visible blood, but not enough to be critical. The heat from the explosion caused him to have a few burns to his hands and face, as well as the heat did burn his esophagus a bit, but the impact from the blast rendered him unconscious is what the doctors can confirm."
"All we can do is just wait for him to wake up?" JJ pleaded, her own body's pain taking its toll.
"JJ, you need to rest. All of you need to rest, especially Reid."
"Hotch, Bennett is still alive." Morgan said, his body bandaged, but his voice stern. He wheeled himself right beside Spencer. "How can you rest knowing that son of a bitch lives when Lou isn't alive? Or Rossi?"
"You don't know that she's dead," Hotch protested.
Jennifer scoffed in her seat, causing the team lead to turn his head towards her.
"What is it, JJ?"
Her blue eyes filled with tears, looking at Spence's form laying on the hospital bed.
"I watched her go into the Manor with Rossi. I heard her talking with Reid about showing Rossi the tower. I watched Dexter go straight after Lou, towards the North end of the home. I saw her, with my own eyes go into the home, and I watched as the flames flashed in front of Spence through the foyer—"
The tears formed in Jennifer's eyes, and her heart warmed as she watched Penelope slowly wheel herself over to where she was sitting. She took Garcia's hand without a second thought.
"Bennett took our family away from us. He killed Lou, he killed Dave, he practically killed Reid, knowing what it would do to him to lose Lou… We need to get at Bennett, and make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."
"JJ…" Penelope started softly. "Hotch is right. We don't know Lucy's gone."
"Baby girl," Morgan said in protest, hoping that Garcia wasn't clinging to false hope. "You can't be thinkin' like that."
"No, I can be." Garcia said, her voice finding its grip. "Who said Lou and Rossi made it to the tower in time for the blast? JJ, what did you tell me you heard from Reid and Lou's conversation? How Lou wanted to give Rossi a tour of the home? Maybe she got distracted by something and showed him another room?"
"They cleared the entire home, Garcia." Derek cut in.
"What about the tower? Did they clear the tower?"
"Fire marshals are still attempting to deem the structure to be safe," Hotch cut in. "We don't have confirmation yet."
Penelope pointed to Hotch as best as she could, in agreement.
"See? We don't know for certain if they were in there at the time of the explosion."
"Baby, where could they have been in the Manor if not in the tower? And the tower… The tower is burnt beyond repair. If the fire marshals are saying it's not safe to even enter, then who knows what damage was caused beforehand."
"Then… Maybe Lou knew something was wrong and went through one of her secret tunnels through the home! There are a lot of them that we don't know about. Maybe she snuck through one before the bombs went off."
"Penelope, no one knew something was wrong until it was too late. And let's say that Lou did figure it out, as quick as she is both mentally and physically, Rossi isn't. If Lou got into one of those secret passageways from the time she entered the home to the time the Manor exploded, then there would have been a trace of it somewhere." JJ calculated for her.
"On top of that," Jennifer continued, "Reid heard Lou, most likely from the acoustics of the home allowing her voice to carry through, and Spence shouted her name before the bomb went off."
"And you were there, Garcia," Morgan reverberated JJ's sentiment towards his baby girl. "You saw how big that explosion was. You, JJ, and Reid were outside of the home just out of reach from the blast and look what it did to you. If you think Rossi and Lou were in the home, they would be okay?"
The tears collected in Penelope's eyes, almost relinquishing to the evident truth in front of her.
"Lou can't be dead. Not my Lucy-Lou. She… We still need to go dress shopping! And we were supposed to get sky-high pumps together! And we… we were going to get matching Doctor Who scarves, and… we… we…"
The hand holding JJ's hand was squeezed tighter, comforting Penny as she cried.
"Hotch."
Aaron, who was ready to say what he thought about the situation, turned to Morgan's voice.
However, Morgan's attention was drawn to the bed in front of him.
Or rather, the person laying in the bed.
The person who had been unconscious moments ago was now waking up.
Hotch watched as Spencer's eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the room.
JJ and Garcia caught onto what was occurring.
Aaron walked up to the other side of the bed, getting Reid's attention.
"Reid, can you hear us?" He asked softly.
The doctor slowly blinked again, his throat attempting to clear the way to speak.
"What happened?" Spencer said, barely a whisper escaping.
Hotch went to speak, but the words were lost on him.
Morgan filled in the gaps. "Bennett had a bomb waiting."
Recognition fluttered over Reid's eyes.
"Sydney… Judeau."
"Should we know that name?" Hotch asked, regaining his footing.
A soft nod came from Reid. "She—"
"The woman from OPR!" Garcia mentioned, to which Spencer nodded. "I can give you guys all the info I have on her."
Derek nodded, turning back to Reid.
"How you feelin', kid?" Morgan asked.
Spencer ignored his question, looking directly at Morgan.
"Where's Ellie?"
Everyone in the room stilled.
Spencer, even in his groggy state, knew there was something definitely wrong.
"Where's Elena?" He asked, his voice barely having more strength to be stern.
"Reid…" Morgan started off, his leg in serious pain.
But Derek knew that was nothing compared to the pain of telling his friend that the love of his life was dead.
"The bomb came from the base of the tower."
Morgan slowly said those words, but even at the reduced speed, Spencer's face was showing he was still confused.
Hotch cut in. "The fire marshals confirm the tower isn't structurally safe due to the blast, and anyone who was in the tower was subjected to the blast."
"Where is she?"
"From your last conversation with Lou and how she was headed for the tower with Rossi, and the lack of evidence that Lou and Rossi went anywhere else in the home, we have to assume they were in the tower—"
"I heard her," Reid whispered.
The team looked to one another.
"I heard her call my name… just before the bomb went off…"
JJ spoke again.
"Spence, I know about the acoustics in the home. I heard the conversation between you and Lou. She told you that you could hear her if she was at the base of the tower. The foyer was checked, the library was checked, the whole house was checked from top to bottom, there was no way that Lou or Rossi were in any other location the home at the time of the explosion. If you heard her, then she must have been call your name from inside of the Manor, at the bottom of the tower—"
"I didn't hear her from inside of the Manor."
"What?" Morgan questioned, the shock on his face.
"Her voice didn't come… from inside of the Manor," Spencer said softly, his breathing slow.
"El's voice carried… but it didn't echo like… it was supposed to."
Penelope understood what Reid was saying. "She didn't shout from inside the home. The Manor caught her voice, but it didn't catch the vibrations in her voice fully to pinpoint her location. I'd need one of my computers, but if I got the blueprints of the entire grounds, I could input the numbers and calculate the location of where Lucy was when she shouted."
"Is it possible for her voice to have carried if she wasn't in the home?" Hotch asked, looking for more evidence
Garcia quickly ran through the numbers in her head.
"Maybe? If Lou was loud enough."
"Hold on," Morgan cut in, confused. "Lou was outside of the Manor? How? The tower is on the Northwest side. None of our surveillance saw any entrances noted near that area."
"It could be another passageway we don't know about," Hotch threw out.
"Hotch, is that possible?" JJ asked. "Could there have been a door from the Tower leading to the outside?"
"We'd have to get the original floorplans. Or one of the Richardsons. Either way, it would fit all of the variables."
"But that means Lucy could still be alive!" Penelope cried out in happiness.
"Wait…" Spencer asked, the heart rate monitor attached to him began to climb in pressure.
"Could be… alive?"
Shit.
They realized they should have been more sensitive with their words.
Especially around Spencer.
"You don't… You don't know if she's alive?"
The silence was deafening.
"Where's… Elena? Does… anyone know where… she is?"
"Reid, take a second." Hotch went over to attempt to soothe the doctor.
"Hotch… where… what happened to her?"
The monitors had been beeping louder.
"Where… is she!" Spencer pleaded.
"Spence," JJ tried to calm down.
"I can't… lose her again! Don't… Don't make me go through… through this again…"
The tears rolled down the sides of his face.
The beeping from the monitors caused the nurses to flood into the room. After being thoroughly scolded by the nurses for not only disturbing Reid, but also for all the other patients who should have been laying in their own beds resting, the team watched as they were kicked out of Reid's room, watching a depressed Reid let more tears go free.
Penelope, ever the persuasive one, managed to get one of the nurses to convince her to stay with Reid, at least until he had stopped crying. With Garcia watching over Reid, Hotch pulled JJ and Morgan off into the hallway.
Hotch, after witnessing what had happened to his team, was done playing by the rules.
Following the rules is what put his team in this position.
"I need to have an open and honest conversation with both of you. Whatever transpires between the three of us is not to be repeated unless told to another trusted member of the BAU."
"You got it," Morgan responded.
"What is it?" JJ asked, finding a table to sit on.
"What I am about to ask of you will most likely be highly dangerous, and absolutely illegal. If you want to leave now, here is your opportunity."
Both Derek and Jennifer didn't move a single muscle.
"Hotch, that son of a bitch made everything dangerous."
"Enough is enough," JJ said, mirroring Morgan's words. "We need to protect our team."
"What do you have to tell us?" Derek asked.
Hotch took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking.
"Ambassador Richardson came to visit Reid."
"When?" JJ asked.
"Just before you three arrived to keep Reid company."
Morgan finally got his suspicions confirmed.
"That's how you knew the Ambassador knew of Lou's missing status."
Hotch nodded, confirming what Morgan was thinking.
"Does he know something we don't?"
Aaron didn't know how to answer Derek.
"I think he knows Lou is alive, and the Ambassador doesn't want anyone to know."
"How?" Derek asked.
"I did believe that maybe Lou was gone. Rossi, on the other hand, would have left something behind if he knew he was about to die. Something specific to him. Since no trace of anything belonging to Dave was found, that means if Rossi was truly with Lou, then they both would still be alive."
"But…"
"But I knew Charles was lying about something when the Ambassador was speaking about Lou; he made it clear to steer away from admitting her death. Yet he inadvertently confirmed her alive status."
"How?" JJ asked.
"He referred to Reid as his future son-in-law."
Morgan smiled, catching onto Hotch's point.
Charles wouldn't have referred to Reid as his future son-in-law if he hadn't been thinking about Lou's potential future with the Doctor.
Lou would have to be alive to have a future with Spencer.
"Nice catch," JJ said, the bit of hope she got from Hotch jolted her awake.
"What else did you gather?"
"The Ambassador may have insinuated that Noah Bennett's life would be coming to an end at his hands."
JJ scoffed. "Why does that not surprise me?"
"And we're going to help him."
JJ found that surprising.
Morgan's sculpted eyebrows rose, betraying the hidden welts in his forehead.
"We're going to kill Bennett?"
Hotch shook his head.
"But we're not going to stop him," Morgan confirmed grimly.
Aaron chose not to respond.
"Do you really think they're alive?" Jennifer asked, a hint of hope in her tone. "Even with all the circumstantial evidence, do you think we can find them?"
"JJ… Prentiss told Morgan and I that there are people in the FBI working with Bennett."
"Jesus," Jennifer muttered under her breath.
"The info we have is from local authorities, being fed via FBI contacts. We can only trust the allies we have at the BAU and the other channels we've accumulated. Everyone else in the situation must be treated with suspicion. We have to assume that the intel we've been fed currently about the status of the Manor is not true."
"There could be evidence of Lou and Rossi still present there." JJ spoke, matching Hotch's thoughts.
"If there is, do you think it's there anymore?" Derek slid out. "Noah would have paid people to cover his tracks, and if he had Rossi and Lou taken, he would have covered their tracks as well."
"But wait… Dexter. Lou had Dexter with her… any sign of the dog?" Morgan asked JJ.
She shook her head. "He was following Lou into the Manor. Unless Hotch has info I don't have?"
Aaron shook his head as well. "No. Dexter was following Lou all night like a shadow."
Jennifer's head shot back, an odd thought occurring to her.
Both Derek and Aaron looked to their friend, waiting for her to share.
"What is it?" Morgan prompted.
JJ took a breath, her eyebrows furrowing, before she continued.
"This may be completely unrelated… but… What happened to the bodyguards?"
"Bodyguards?" Derek asked.
"The ones that Lou's father asked to watch her. They followed her into the Manor right after Dexter."
Hotch's back straightened after remembered the two bodyguards.
He didn't recall the bodyguards…
Because they weren't included in the reports Aaron was given.
Not one single person investigating the explosion mentioned the location of the bodyguards.
Lou was missing.
Rossi was missing.
The disappearance of two men.
And the clear lack of information of their existence…
Something is not right.
"What happened to them?"
Next Time: "Uncle Dave, I think Noah has a backup plan."
