Pain. That that was the only thing that ran through JJ's mind as she lay on the cold concrete floor. Not how she got there, not who had taken her, only pain. She gingerly lifted her arm up to feel the back of her head, but when she felt a sticky liquid on her finger tips she couldn't bear to look. Her arms shook beneath her as she pulled herself over to the wall and started to roll over so her back could lean against it. As she did so, she immediately felt an unbearable pain shoot up her body from her leg. Once she was finally relaxed against the wall she brought herself to look down at where the pain was coming from. She immediately saw blood soaking her black pants and knew she needed to lift it up and see what was wrong. She didn't see anything wrong until she got to her knee, as first sight it just looked bloody, like there was no source of it and it was just…there, but once she looked closer she realized her knee cap was either broken or shattered completely because it looked wrong and deformed. The blood, however, was oozing out from a wound just above her knee where a piece of metal was wedged in her thigh. She remembered falling on something hard, but just after that she had passed out so she wasn't entirely sure that was the cause. She closed her eyes for a moment and gulped before remembering that she wasn't the only person who had been brought here. She had been with Reid…where was he?
"S-spence?" JJ called out, finding it surprisingly hard for her to form words. Maybe it was because of the shock she was feeling or maybe it was because she was too afraid that she wouldn't get a response.
"I'm here." She heard him say so she turned her head to right only to see him laying on the ground. His head wasn't turned towards her, but she was slightly relieved when she saw him start to try and get up from the sprawled out position he was in.
"Are you alright?" JJ asked, seeing him struggle to get up.
"I have few broken ribs, but…I'll be okay." Reid turned to look at her and she could instantly tell that he was worse than he let on. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as if he couldn't get any air in and his left eye was blacked out and already yellowing around the edges. Luckily, he managed to get to his knees and start to crawl over to her. It took him a minute or two, but he finally made his way over to her and sat down next to her against the grimy wall. "Are you alright?" He asked, looking her up and down.
"I'm fine." JJ decided not to mention her leg at the moment, seeing the condition he was in. She just wanted to help him first. "Is there anything we can do about your ribs?"
"Well the best thing right now would be for me to stay completely still and try to breathe deeply and calmly because if I panic it is likely that I'll hyperventilate and pass out which would cause-"
"What about your eye? Does it hurt?" JJ lifted her arm and gently touched the edges, noticing him flinch ever so slightly.
"It hurts, but I'll live." She could tell Reid was putting on a brave face just so she wouldn't fuss over him anymore, so she decided to leave it alone for now. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked her again, starting to look her over more closely now. "You're sweating, JJ." His hazel eyes met her blue ones and she gave in.
"My leg…" JJ muttered, hating feeling this feeble. She looked back down at it before looking away quickly.
Reid leaned over to look at her leg, "Oh JJ…why didn't you tell me?" He looked back into her eyes again and she just shook her head.
"I didn't want you to worry…" JJ felt herself starting to lose energy and she knew it was because of the blood she was losing. "I'm sorry…" She added, seconds later.
Reid shook his head, "It's alright I know what we have to do." He tenderly got to his knees again and took off his jacket, setting it on the ground next to her.
"What?" JJ asked even though in the back of her mind she knew exactly what he was going to say. Please don't say it, please don't say it.
"We have to pull this out, JJ." Reid told her, "I'm sorry." He ripped the sleeve off his jacket and tied it tightly around her thigh just above the wound and then waited a few seconds for her circulation to cut off. It would make this a whole lot less painful for her. "Okay…ready?"
JJ wanted to say no, she wanted more than anything to tell Reid to stop and to leave her alone, but that wasn't her. She was strong and she could handle this, "Yes." She replied, clenching her fists.
"On three…" Reid put one hand on her thigh and the other on the piece of metal, "one, two…three." He pulled the piece of metal out with a little bit of force and JJ was immediately blinded with pain. She closed her eyes and whimpered quietly, trying not to worry Reid. This was the most pain she had ever felt in her life, not only was her leg throbbing already because of her knee, but now there was a stinging pain coming from her thigh and…she hadn't even mentioned the wound on the back of her head to him.
"Spence…" JJ's eyes were still closed tight, but she felt him working diligently on her leg, wrapping something around the wound.
"Just hold on JJ, I'm almost done. I promise…" Reid told her and a few minutes later she felt him finish his work and rest in the spot next to her again.
JJ opened her eyes, slowly and looked over at Reid, "Thank you." She whispered to him, feeling weaker than she had before. The pain was engulfing her and she felt so much of it that she could barely focus on what Reid replied. It was something about him caring about her so she just nodded and smiled. "Do you know where we are?" She asked glancing down at the piece of metal next to her that had been lodged in her thigh, wondering how something so small could cause so much pain.
"It's a small room, all concrete. I'm guessing sound proof, that's only logical. I'm not sure exactly where though. It had so be somewhere in town, he wouldn't leave."
"Do you remember what happened?"
"When he took us?" Reid sat silently for a few moments before nodding, "You went outside after you asked him where all the drinks were or something…I didn't hear because I was talking to one of the other guys at the party, but I noticed you leave and I knew I couldn't let you go by yourself so I followed. When I walked outside I could see you bent over a cooler, grabbing something out of it. Before I could go back inside I saw a guy start walking towards you and I knew something was wrong because I didn't recognize him and we was holding something in his hands, a bat or club maybe. I started walking out towards you too, making sure to tell the team what was going on through my ear piece, but he hit you over the head with whatever it was before I got there and you fell onto the parking lot gravel and screamed. I guess it was because that thing got lodged in your leg." He pointed at the piece of metal next to her before carrying on, "The team heard it and asked what was going on, but I didn't reply. I was about to kill that guy for doing that to you, but he swung the club around and hit me in the rubs and it in the face. I went into shock and passed out before I could do anything else and I guess you did too and then we ended up here."
"I can't even believe this." JJ shook her head, "At least the team knows we're missing. They'll find us, right?"
"Hopefully. They already know who the unsub is; now all they have to do is figure out where he's holding us." Reid sighed, "I promise everything's going to be okay." He gave her a comforting look and she nodded with a small smile. "You should probably sleep now before he comes back, because you'll need your strength then."
JJ nodded and closed her eyes, thankful that she could finally sleep. As she drifted off she couldn't help but wonder how all of this had happened, even from the beginning she didn't imagine that this would ever be the outcome. Where had they gone wrong?
The clock read 6:00 AM as JJ sat up in her bed and composed herself for a moment before answering her phone that had been ringing on her nightstand. "Agent Jureau." She answered, trying her best to not sound as tired as she felt. Today was supposed to be her day off, why was someone calling her this early in the morning.
"JJ, its Hotch." He started and before she could cut in he said, "I know it's your day off, but we have a case and we need you."
"Are you sure, I mean, can't you handle this case without me?" JJ asked, glancing at her husband who was now sitting up next to her. He nodded at her; she could see the pride in his eyes because he had been encouraging her to say no to Hotch for once.
"Normally, yes, but this case…well…can you just come in?" He asked her, sounding frustrated.
"Sure," JJ looked over at Will and shook her head, "I'll be there in 20 minutes." She hung up the phone and out of the corner of her eye she saw Will roll his eyes. "I'm sorry Will, but he said that it's really important this time." She stood up and walked into the bathroom.
"He says that every time." Will stood up and followed her. He stood in the doorway and put a hand on each side of the frame, "Come on hun, please don't go."
JJ pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth, spit in the sink and then rinsed her mouth out before speaking. "I'm sorry, Will. I have to go, but I promise I'll buy you a souvenir." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
"Fine, but this time I'll be expectin' something sentimental and heartfelt. Not another t-shirt." Will joked, moving out of the way to let her back into the bedroom.
"You love that t-shirt I got you from San Francisco! You wear it all the time." JJ rummaged through the closet looking for something to wear. She pulled on some black tights, a white flannel shirt that she tucked into a black pencil skirt.
"I guess I should probably tell you. Whenever I wear it to the gym, I take it off."
"Well I'm sure the ladies at the counter love that. They're already drooling over you when you have a shirt on." JJ walked back over to him with her hands on her hips.
"First, I put a different shirt on after I take that one off and second, am I sensin' some jealousy?" Will raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, yes you do and I have the right to be. It's unhealthy how much those ladies stare at you while they pretend to read their magazines."
"And you think I don't see the way all those big shot special agent guys look at you. They make a lot more money than me so I have a lot more to be worried about."
"Awww, honey, don't worry. You'll always be the one for me." JJ patted his cheek, playfully. She picked up her phone and walked down the stairs where she started looking for her purse.
Will walked down after her, "You know for some reason. I just don't believe you." He grinned, "Care to prove it?"
"Do we really have to do this now, Will?" JJ asked, having just found her purse.
"I guess if you don't really love me, it can wait."
JJ smiled, rolled her eyes and walked straight up to him. She put both her hands on his cheeks before giving him a quick, but intense kiss on the lips. "Enough proof for you?"
"I-uhh…yea."
JJ laughed, "I thought so." She slung her purse over her shoulder and opened the front door. "I love you. I'll call you later and tell you what's going on."
"I love you too." He said and she walked out the door and got in her car. It took her a couple minutes to drive down to the station and when she got there she saw the cars that she had become all too familiar with parked in the parking lot too. It made her feel a little bit better that she wasn't the only one that had to come in early in short notice. She parked in her normal spot and picked up her purse before getting out of her car and walking into the FBI building. The first person she saw was Emily sitting at her desk and sipping coffee like it was just a normal day.
"Morning JJ, sleep well?" Emily asked, smirking.
"I was sleeping well until I woke up to my phone ringing in my ear." JJ rolled her eyes, "Do you know what this is about?"
"Nope. Maybe we're all getting raises!" Emily exclaimed, hopefully.
"Yeah right, Strauss won't give up that money. For us to get raises we'll have to pry those extra dollars from her cold dead-" JJ cut herself off as Strauss started to walk towards them, "Good morning ma'am." She said, politely.
Strauss gave her a slight nod and kept walking until she reached Hotch's office. JJ wondered why she was going up there. Was Hotch in trouble with her again? She glanced at Emily only to see that she was chuckling.
"Nice save." Emily managed, while laughing still.
"Oh shut up." JJ rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs towards the coffee machine. She poured herself some of her abnormally strong coffee; she had to wake up somehow. Once she finished and turned around she saw that Morgan and Reid were now sitting at their desks too. She walked down to join them and leaned against Reid's desk about to join their conversation, but was interrupted by Hotch.
"We're meeting in the conference room." He announced and then walked down the catwalk to go get Garcia from her office.
JJ, Morgan, Emily and Reid filed into the conference room now completely silent. Once they entered this room they had to professional and focus on the case at hand. Rossi joined them seconds later and after a minute or two of awkward silence Hotch and Garcia walked through the door.
"Richmond." He started.
"Virginia?" Rossi interrupted; surprised that they were doing a case that was this close to home.
"Yes, Hudson Jones and Kendall Jones were found inside their surburban house, tortured, beaten and then finally shot Hudson, but he stabbed Kendall 7 times in the stomach to kill her." Hotch informed everyone. The pictures appeared on the screen; Hudson was a tall, handsome man with light brown hair and dark brown eyes while Kendall was a blonde woman with stunning blue eyes. The pictures of the crime scene were gruesome, but for all the wounds that were inflicted JJ noticed that there wasn't that much blood surrounding them. As she was deep in thought, the rest of the team started discussing.
"Well this unsub is definitely over-killing on the woman. It's possible that either a woman rejected him or that he had a bad childhood relationship with his mother. I'd infer that it's most likely that he got rejected based on the age range he chose. It's quite peculiar that he tortured that man too if the woman was his true victim." Reid contemplated, aloud.
"He's also organized; he didn't leave any forensic evidence behind. He had to have planned this weeks, maybe months in advance." Morgan told everyone.
"There's two more victims," Everyone looked up at the screen again, "Gary and Laura Forman. They were found, tortured beaten and killed inside their home as well." The pictures of them came up, Gary had light brown hair and Laura had blonde hair and blue eyes. "They lived in the same neighborhood as Hudson and Kendall."
"He has hunting grounds." Rossi concluded.
"But no over-kill on the woman this time…" Reid was obviously confused.
JJ, who observed the next set of pictures and came to the same conclusion, finally voiced her thoughts. "He didn't torture them inside their house though. The wounds he inflicted on these victims would have caused a lot more blood to be seen at the crime scene. He kidnapped them."
The rest of the team was silent for a few moments and then nodded, seeing that she was right.
"Well…if he kidnapped them, then it must not be about the woman at all because if he just wanted the woman he would have taken her without taking the man, but he took both. This is about something else for our unsub."
"Torture?" Garcia suggested, obviously grossed out by the pictures. She assumed she was wrong, but Reid immediately sat forward.
"That would make sense. Maybe it's all about pain for this unsub, he wants his victims to feel pain." Reid nodded.
"The woman has to mean something though because why else would he choose them all to have blonde hair and blue eyes?" Emily asked, glancing at JJ.
"Maybe these victims are surrogates for the people that he really wants to feel the pain that he is inflicting." Morgan shrugged.
"Well," Hotch started, "Since both of these murders have happened in the same neighborhood we decided to take a different approach. Instead of scaring the unsub away with police everywhere, we want to have eyes inside without causing suspicion. We need to go undercover."
"Who?" Emily asked. JJ sensed hope in her voice, she had always been adventurous.
"JJ and Reid." Hotch answered, "They're the only two who match the descriptions of the previous victims."
JJ looked over at Reid. Sure, they matched the description, but Reid was the youngest member on the team and JJ had the least experience in the field, let alone going undercover. It worried her that the whole investigation was resting on their shoulders.
"What do you need us to do?" JJ asked, looking back up at Hotch.
"I just want you to go in and act natural, act like you just moved in. You'll have earpieces so we'll be there the whole time. We just want to know what's going on within the community and if we don't get anything helpful this way we'll just use a different approach."
"When are we starting?" Reid asked.
"Well the unsub isn't patient he'll start looking for his next victim so I was hoping that you guys would be ready by tonight." Hotch told them.
"Tonight?" JJ looked surprised.
"Is that a problem?" Hotch asked, concerned.
"No…I guess not, but that's just not a lot of time to teach us what to do." JJ was nervous, but she tried to keep in from showing.
"It's just acting. It's really not that hard, I promise." Morgan told her. She knew that he'd done it plenty of times while he'd been in the BAU.
"O-okay." JJ hesitated, "I guess I can be ready by then."
"Alright then. Reid, JJ, I now pronounce you husband and wife."