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Clean-up on Aisle 5 said a monotone voice over the tannoy.
Reid looked over his shoulder as a supermarket assistant squeaked past him with a mop and bucket.
His gaze returned to the shelves stacked with packets of nuts from all over the world. The last two trips to the supermarket proved unsuccessful in finding his prized nuts but he had a good feeling about today. He scanned the labels. Almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia, walnuts, cashew.
His face broke out into a winning smile, when his eyes rested on the Pili nuts, it definitely was his lucky day. He knocked five packets into his basket. Their unique nutritional profile made his mouth water, no other nut had fats, proteins, and carbohydrates like Pili nut. A nut health craze sweeping the country realising this is probably why he left the store grumbling in annoyance the last two times. He eyed another packet and gave in and swept it into the basket with the rest.
I'll take that packet with me later when I go to the movies with Morgan and Garcia he thought.
He glanced at his basket, checking off the items one by one in his head. There wasn't much there just the basics, a loaf of bread, instant coffee, slices of ham and cheese, and nuts. That's all an FBI agent like him needed.
The checkout queue wasn't long, but he didn't expect anything different for an early Saturday morning.
"That will be $22.41 sir, thank you," she said as Reid handed her the cash. She processed it through the till, and then dropped some change into his waiting hand. He dropped the pennies into the charity bucket at the end of the till, with an awkward smile and a nod he left the store
He whistled to himself as he strolled out of the supermarket into the car park. The sudden wave of heat blasted against his skin as he left the comfort of air conditioning behind him.
The sun isn't holding back today he thought as he strolled to his car, squinting his eyes at the unbearable July heat.
There weren't that many cars parked already, but they arrived in numbers as Reid weaved his way around the cars. He was pretty pleased with himself that he missed the early morning rush.
His mind drifted to his plans for the rest of the day. Go home read a book or five, enjoy the symphonies of Mozart, brush up on his Russian, and cap the day off with a sci-fi film with his best friends. Just another ordinary day. It was the first Saturday in weeks the BAU team had for themselves, so he was going to dip into all his pleasures.
A scream shattered his idyllic thoughts, and he snapped his head in its direction.
"SOMEONE HELP, PLEASE HELP," said a crying woman, when her puffy eyes locked with a concerned Reid's she darted over. The woman wore a black cap tilted down, partially obscuring the brightest blue eyes he has ever seen and pieces of auburn hair escaped the sides of her cap framing her face.
"PLEASE HELP MY HUSBAND" she grabbed his sleeve roughly ignoring Reid's questions about what was wrong and roughly pulled him as if there was not a moment to lose. He couldn't help but notice a luxurious scent radiating from the woman. Notes of star anise and incense, there was something deep and dark about her.
The observation slipped from his mind as she dragged him to a stop behind a white van. Immediately Reid's alarm bells started ringing, this had all the hallmarks of a kidnapping, a clever ruse where you pay for trying to help someone out. That dark thought flew out of his head as quickly as it came in as the lady slammed her hands against the van's tiny window.
"BABY I'VE GOT SOME HELP" she screamed, and she looked back at Reid urging him to come closer and he did so without hesitation. She stepped back giving Reid some space to peer into the van.
At first, his eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness, he didn't think anything was in there. He used his hands to block the sun out and then his breath hitched when the scene in front of him materialized.
Two piercing desperate eyes looked at him, silently and intensely begging him for help. A man who looked no older than 40 was sat on his knees while his hands were shackled to the roof. His face was all bloodied and bruised, staining the white tape that trapped his cries for help. You only heard his frenzied cries and muffled sobs.
What shook the BAU agent to his core was that 'REID' was marked on his creased forehead; droplets of sweat had smudged the letters, but it was clear as day that this was a message for him.
"I'll get you out of here" he shouted as he rushed to the front of the vehicle prying the door open but to no luck. He banged on the windows hoping that they would crack but they didn't even shudder.
If Morgan were here, he'd use that super-strength of his he thought, it wasn't the time to dwell on his weaknesses.
He rushed back to his spot, the distraught woman shouting her professions of love.
"Get some help, call the police," he said to the woman who nodded, her mascara smudged, and rushed off to the supermarket for help.
Reid peered into the van again, this time the man was frantically bending his body and tears were streaming down his face like a waterfall.
"Hey, calm down we're going to get you out of there, you're hurting yourself" Reid shouted as he could see the cuffs were cutting into the man's wrists leaving angry red marks.
The man shook his head vigorously, and he nodded his head to what was in front of him, Reid felt compelled to follow his eyes. His eyes widened, it finally clicked why the man was so desperate to get out. A black case sat on the floor of the van with tangling red, green, white, and yellow wires sticking out and a timer counting down from 15 seconds.
"GET AWAY" Reid turned around at lightning speed and started to shriek orders at the passers-by who were alarmed at this random man barking orders at him.
"I'M AN FBI AGENT, AND YOU ALL NEED TO EVACUATE" he screamed hurting his voice box as he madly waved his arms, directing everyone away from the looming calamity.
He turned back desperately banging on the windows and pulling at the van doors with all his strength. He looked around for anything he could pick up, but it was hopeless, he scanned the area trying to see where the wife had gone to, he needed that help right about now, but he couldn't see her. His head was spinning.
6 seconds left. At this moment he felt his heart and head split. One telling him to keep pushing on to try and save this man. The other telling him it was too late, there was nothing he could do. He locked eyes with the man. He had stopped moving frantically, the man was whispering words under his breath. A silent prayer as his broken body resigned to his fate.
Reid screwed his eyes shut and he mouthed a silent apology.
I'm sorry
At the end of the day, he was an FBI agent, and he was trained to go with his head. If he couldn't save him, then he was going to get that sick son of a bitch that forced him to suffer.
With one final look at the man and the bomb, Reid sprinted off, his heart pounding hard and fast. 3 seconds later, he felt himself being blasted through the air, crashing against a car bonnet and slamming his head on the concrete floor.
He could see plumes of smoke springing to the sky as he laid sprawled out on his back. His ears were ringing so hard he couldn't hear the sirens that had arrived on the scene. He was fighting to stop the heaviness that was creeping upon him, but it was a losing battle.
He could hear the sounds of footsteps approaching, he had no strength in him to move his head in their direction, but he didn't have to. Two boots planted themselves at either side of Reid's head, he squinted hard to see who was standing above him. He blinked the drops of blood that rested on his eyelashes away. It was the wife, guilt seeped into every part of his body and his heart ached for her. He wanted to tell her that he was going to do everything in his power to get justice for her husband. An excruciating pain coursed through his body so all he could do was moan.
She crouched down gracefully and gently caressed his face as a mother would do for their child when they were hurt. Her hand slowly roamed down from his face and then tightly latched onto his throat. The nurturing smile disappearing into a devilish grin as she towered over a breathless.
"I didn't think you would survive that" her voice was completely different this time, it unnerved Reid. It was cold, calculating nothing like the woman in distress he saw earlier. She inspected his injuries. His arm was bent at an awkward angle, angry burns covered his right leg, and blood-drenched his tangled hair. She let go and Reid painfully gasped for air as if were a newborn taking their first breaths. His body couldn't take any more stress.
"Well, it won't take long before I am right," she said tapping his cheek.
"Why?" he mustered all the strength he had to ask, his voice was all croaky.
"There can only be one of us, Dr. Reid," she said cryptically, she eyed him one more time before she walked away. The thought that she didn't need to explain herself to a dying man crossed his mind.
The young agent felt his head pulsing, every neuron was firing away in his brain like a pinball. He didn't know her at all, if he had he would have recognised her from the beginning. His train of thought started to break up and slip away as he started to feel light-headed. The tingling sensation he felt in his toes and fingertips spread to his body, and he was feeling as light as a feather. His eyes slowly starting to shut.
Two EMTs dropped to his side, quickly pulling their tools out of their bags at lightning speed.
"Can you hear me sir?" one shouted as they flashed a light into his drooping eyes. He wanted to respond, he wanted to yell follow that woman but all he could do was stare blankly. The EMTs yelled instructions as Reid felt the curtains of life and the world around him collapsed to darkness.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Someone make that stop he thought screwing his eyes shut. In between the punches of sound, he could hear worried voices trying to reach out to him.
"Dr. Reid, can you hear me?" said an unknown voice, and then he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder.
"Spencer, please open your eyes," said another voice laced with desperation, this voice sounded familiar and comforting like home.
"Garcia" he rasped, he struggled to open his eyes, they felt glued shut as if they hadn't been used for a while, and then brown eyes locked onto blue.
"Oh my god, oh my god, you're awake" the bubbly woman he was used to was reduced to a bubbling wreck as she cried at his side.
He absorbed his surroundings, a nurse and a doctor were whispering at the end of his bed reading a clipboard, while another nurse was checking the machines, unplugging, and plugging wires. He glanced down at himself, his arms and legs were bandaged, and there were little tapes on his fingers. He attempted to trace his mind back to the causes of these injuries, the last thing he remembered was being at the supermarket but then he was drawing a blank.
Suddenly, his head felt like a bowling ball. A strong headache was surfacing, and waves of nausea rocked his body forcing a whimper to escape his body.
"You need to rest Dr. Reid," the doctor said coming over to his bedside, Reid blinked his eyes in agreement. He shut his eyes from the blinding hospital lights, but his ears pricked up to the ongoing conversation.
"Is he going to be ok Doctor?" said Garcia worryingly, her heart could take any more shocks.
"I can't 100% say he's out of the clear until we do a few more tests" the doctor didn't like to give false hope but seeing the grave expression on the blonde woman's face she changed her tune.
"He's a fighter for sure, and the worst is behind him," she finished, and Reid could hear her heels tap the floor as she left. Silence blanketed the room.
"Thank you for not giving up on us Reid," Garcia said her voice wobbling piercing the silence, still holding his hand. He focused all his energy on gripping it with all his might but it came out as a twitch instead. It didn't matter because she knew what he was trying to do. With promises of visiting him later with the gang, she left the room leaving him to drift off into sweet sleep.
The next time he forced his eyes open and sat up in the hospital bed, five pairs of hopeful eyes were staring at him.
"Guys" he croaked, his favourite people in the world were in front of him.
JJ launched herself onto him showing restraint, she gently wrapped her arms around him, careful not to disturb the tubes that were sticking out of him. Her body trembled in his arms, as she sobbed into his shoulder.
"I'm ok, I'm here," he said to his best friend but also addressing the whole room, he knew by the look on their face that they needed to hear that.
"I thought… I thought I was never going to see you again" she said pulling back from him. She used her sleeve to dry her tears as Garcia laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You gave us a scare, kid. You're always trying to play the hero" Rossi added
"He forgets that he's not Superman," Morgan snapped and then quickly regretted it. He shot Rossi an apologetic look.
"Sorry, the thought of losing you pretty boy," he shook his head, just imagining it was unbearable and Reid understood he'd been in that position before.
"No, that's alright" Reid looked back down at his bandages staring at them hard, he still didn't have the answers.
"Everything ok Reid?" Emily said noticing his fixation.
"I-" the door swung open halting Reid in his tracks.
A woman walked in with two trays of coffee in her hands and seeing Reid was awake she placed them down on a small table and strode over to him. She was wearing a grey suit with an FBI badge pinned to her suit pocket. Her straight auburn hair went past her shoulders, rivaling JJ's.
It was her blue eyes that struck Reid the most. His brain gnawed at him as he got lost in the two orbs. It was screaming at him to make a connection.
"It's a miracle you're awake Dr. Reid. I'm BAU Special Agent Parker, it's nice to finally meet you" she said stretching her hand out for a shake with a small smile.
"Uh Reid?" said Morgan with a small smile, he thought the young genius was star-struck by her beauty.
"Oh sorry," he said sheepishly before shaking her hand. A strange feeling washed over Reid as their hand connected and he stared into her eyes. He would have thought looking into her blue eyes it would take him back to days spent admiring the ocean so why did he feel like he was gazing into the pits of hell.
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