Chapter 20: Symptoms
JJ hadn't been able to say much.
Not since her stomach forcefully wretched blood intertwined with stomach acid three times in a row shortly after Morgan and Emily had left her room.
But when she forced herself to move from her hospital bed and towards the bathroom for another round of vomiting, the pair must have heard the thud her body made when it connected with the floor because they came sprinting back inside.
Derek might have said her name.
He probably did say her name, but her eyes only fluttered open for a second before her head rolled to the side on the linoleum, and she lost consciousness.
Morgan placed his hand on JJ's forehead and gaped at Emily.
"She's burning up."
He motioned to have Emily help him lift JJ. As soon as he started to pull her up, he could see the vomit and blood soaking into the right side of her hospital gown.
"Do you think they have extra gowns in here?"
Emily shrugged and stood before abruptly rummaging through the few cupboards and cabinets until she deeply exhaled when she found what she was searching for.
"I've got one. I'll grab some towels too."
Emily squatted and started to pull the dirty gown off JJ's shoulder while Morgan pulled on the other side.
JJ still hadn't opened her eyes again, and Morgan tried not to focus on the boiling concern that alluded to.
Once the missing gown exposed JJ's sharp shoulders, he gazed back toward Emily with guilt festering under his hard stare, knowing he was about to expose JJ in more ways than one. Morgan didn't think things could worsen, but if they could, he didn't want to be the cause of that by putting JJ in more vulnerable, forced situations.
Emily returned the shaky peer with a reassuring nod. "It's okay. We're helping her, and she doesn't need to know."
Morgan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"We're helping her." He whispered as the two removed the gown completely. Emily helped wipe off the remaining vomit from JJ's discolored and mute skin, then lifted her gently so Morgan could pull the new gown over her shoulders and cover her body.
Morgan scooped her into his arms and brought her back to her bed, purposefully sidestepping the pile of puke on the side and internally thanking God that somehow no vomit had ended up on the bed or sheets.
As he carefully set her down, Dr. Lewis, JJ's primary care doctor, strolled in with a nurse at his side.
Derek didn't miss a beat. "She's throwing up blood, and it feels like she has a fever."
Dr. Lewis turned to his nurse. "Get Missy in here to clean this up. And I need you two to wait in the hall while we help your friend."
"But-" Morgan started as Emily grabbed his bicep and started to pull.
"They're going to help her," Emily whispered.
"She's refusing to eat or drink anything. Her abdomen is still causing her a lot of pain. Now she has a fever of 101.4, and she has thrown up blood more than three times. We need to treat her now." The doctor stressed to the agents.
"You don't think we know that?" Morgan retaliated.
The team stood around JJ's bed, staring anxiously towards Dr. Lewis. They understood what the doctor meant when he said they needed to treat JJ. It meant they would start experimenting with treatments even though performing treatments without knowing what they were treating was risky.
"Rossi is back at the jail talking to Alderman." Reid offered to no one and everyone while flipping through a new book of unique toxins that could be poisoning JJ's body.
"Aren't you supposed to be the genius? You don't know everything about toxins yet?" Morgan shouted, willing to take his rage out on anyone in the room.
"Morgan. Take a walk." Hotch instructed.
Morgan rolled his eyes and shook his head as he started to move from the room, but not before he glanced back at JJ one more time. She appeared too pale and too sick. Her varying contusions and broken bones seemed to be more pronounced, and now she had an oxygen mask placed over her mouth and nose. Not to mention, nothing the nurses were doing would bring her fever down.
"Well, he better find something," Morgan muttered, hiding the uncertainty and fear all with a few words and some misplaced anger.
"I gotta say, you made a real idiot move." Rossi ground out before sitting back down at the same table as the last time he had to see this wretched man.
"Where is she? You brought her, right?"
Rossi laughed at the gleeful smile smeared across Colton's chapped lips.
"You may be dumb, but we're not."
Just as quickly, Colton's face fell into pure anger.
"Then she's going to die. She's going to die, and it will be your fault." Colton sputtered, but the words came out more threatening than anything else.
"And see, I don't think you want that. I don't think you want her to die without seeing her one last time."
Rossi noted Colton's jaw clench but ignored it.
"I need two things. I need to know where Hardy is, and I need to know what he gave JJ."
Colton sat back and crossed his arms.
"I'm not telling you anything until you give me what I want." The irritating smug reeked from his words while he still tried to prove what he thought was strong will but instead presented as a blind inability to adjust.
Rossi leaned forward.
"Yeah, I thought you might say that. So here's the deal, you tell me where Hardy is, and I'll let you give JJ the antidote just like you want."
Colton laughed. "No way. How am I supposed to believe you after last time? I have the better hand, so I make the calls here."
Rossi clenched his teeth and refused the urge to make threats of bodily harm, knowing with this unsub it would only spur him on more.
"Let me tell you what's going to happen. You tell me where Hardy is, and we both get what we want. You don't tell me where he is, and neither of us gets what we want. You see the math here?" Rossi pushed, trying to convey the significant urgency this exchange induced.
Colton seemed to contemplate the request.
Minutes passed, and Colton's otherwise blank face never faltered.
Rossi sat forward again, hands clasped together, resting on the table. "You need me to spell it out?"
"Fine. I'll tell you where he is," Colton spat.
"Beckham Hardy put the gun down," Hotch instructed while he, Emily, Morgan, and Reid pointed their weapons towards a middle-aged man dripping sweat. He turned around and let the agents see the smirk across his face.
This time the agents could see the grey circling his eyes. But he kept the gun facing upwards while allowing his hands to rise into a non-threatening position.
"She's dead? That's why you're here, right? Colton didn't get what he wanted, so he sold me out."
Hotch ignored his jab. "Why'd you go along with Colton?"
Hardy snickered.
"Colton was paying me to help him do his dirty work."
"Must have been a hell of a check to agree to murder," Emily added, questioning his shaky body language and shifty expressions. But Hardy only gave her a dirty stare and spoke again.
"Yeah, it was," he scoffed, and his gaze lowered. "But she wasn't innocent. She deserved to suffer just like Colton said."
"Why?"
"Because it was her mouth that killed my family!" He shouted as his voice broke. "Agent Jareau opened her mouth, and if she hadn't done that, they wouldn't have died."
He paused as their blank faces waited for an explanation. "There was a serial killer back in Pennsylvania a couple years ago when we still lived there. She gave a press conference that ended up sending the killer into a high-speed car chase."
The recognition must have slipped over their faces because Hardy's face dropped. They remembered that day all too well.
"Yeah. In his attempt to get away, he slammed into a parked car in front of a park. Killing my wife and child. So when Colton showed up only a few months later with this plan, I couldn't wait."
"I remember that day. It was awful and unfair. But you can't blame JJ for another person's actions." Reid controlled his voice with slow and low words while he attempted to reason with a man that had clearly been susceptible to manipulation simply from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Like hell, I can't. She has ruined too many lives to not pay the consequences." He slowly started to lower his gun towards the agents.
"Don't do it, Hardy; we don't have to do this. Put it down." Morgan coaxed, knowing this man could save JJ's life.
"Goodbye, Agents." He brought the gun straight ahead as several gunshots rang through the backyard sending him to the grass, dead.
"Damn it!" Morgan yelled and ripped off his FBI vest as he stormed away. Their one chance at saving JJ was gone, and now he didn't know what to do.
He couldn't lose her.
"He knew we would have to shoot," Reid mumbled.
"Yes, he did. And now we've run out of options for JJ." Hotch replied dismally.
"Her BP is spiking!" A nurse yelled out.
As soon as Dr. Lewis ran back into the room, JJ's body started to shake violently. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, her limbs became stiff, and she lost complete control of her body.
"She's seizing!" The same nurse called out.
The medical professionals around JJ held her limbs while waiting, hoping, and praying for the seizure to end.
"Give her B6 and get neurology up here." Dr. Lewis instructed. "We're running out of time."
A/N: Sorry it's been a bit. I've been recovering from surgery, but I'm doing a lot better now! I had a hard time with his chapter, and I have hated everything I wrote so I'm sorry, but thanks to CmGleek for helping me beta!