Theatre Room
Ann-Elise's last class of the day was in full swing. Morgan could see that she was back in teacher-mode – the fear and worry from earlier hidden away from her students' view. They were busy working in small groups at the various tables around the room. While walking around, monitoring their progress, Ann-Elise heard a knock at the door. She made her way to the front of the room. She laughed as she saw a student looking in the window.
"Eli's locked himself out." Morgan started to get up and she motioned for him to sit back down. "I'll let him in."
Ann-Elise walked to the door, unlocked it and started back to her students. She glanced over her shoulder, intending to tell Eli to lock the door behind him but Eli wasn't there. Instead she saw Wayne Murphy locking the door.
"Wayne, did you . . . ." Without warning, Wayne punched her in the face. Ann-Elise stumbled back. She caught herself on the wall and was trying to stand up when he grabbed her by the face and threw her violently back against the wall. She was vaguely aware of her students' screams as she succumb to the darkness.
Derek Morgan had his gun out and aimed it at Wayne Morgan.
"F.B.I. Show me your hands and step away from her." Wayne turned to look at Morgan, a knife held in his right hand. He quickly grabbed Ann-Elise's shoulder and pulled her up enough that he could hold the knife's tip at her throat.
"I don't like you pointing that gun at me. She's not perfect anymore – I'll kill her if you don't put the gun down."
"Put the knife away. We can talk about this." Wayne pushed the tip harder against Ann-Elise's throat. Morgan could see a drop of blood course down her neck. Reluctantly, Morgan placed his gun down on the floor. "Alright, see, I'm putting my gun down. Let up on the knife."
Hallway in Greyshell Middle School
Hotchner ran down the corridor, as he turned the corner he ran, literally, into a terrified student.
"He hit her. The guy pushed me out of the way and he hit Ms. Miller." The boy looked like he was about to hyperventilate. Hotchner spoke calmly, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders.
"It's alright. I'm with the F.B.I. I need you to come with me and tell me everything you saw." Furious that he was too late, Hotchner escorted the student back to the front office as he thought through his next move.
Theatre Room
Ann-Elise felt like her head had exploded. She slowly opened her eyes to see a blurry and sideways view of her classroom. It took a few seconds to realize that she was lying on the floor. Why – she couldn't remember. Across the room she could see her students huddling against the back wall. A pair of black work-boots stepped in her line of vision. Despite the pain, she looked up. Standing over her was an extremely furious-looking maintenance worker.
"Wayne?" He crouched down next to her.
"How could you? You are supposed to be an example – for your students." He grabbed her arm, pulled her roughly to her feet and then threw her onto the nearest table. "You were supposed to be a role model – you were supposed to the perfect gift."
"Wayne, I'm . . . I'm sorry. . . ."
"You were with him – you're not married. What kind of example are you?"
"You're right. . . I shouldn't have . . . . ." Not sure what she was supposed to have done, Ann-Elise stopped short of a confession. She desperately wanted to know what he thought she had done – just keep thinking, she thought to herself.
"An apology is worthless, just like you." He leaned in, his face inches away from her own. Ann-Elise wanted to back away but moving hurt too much and she had no where to go. "Leslie deserves the perfect gift, you were that perfect gift and then you had to ruin it, ruin yourself! Who is he? I found you – I brought you a rose, you were to come home to Leslie. Who was he?"
The intercom crackled and three beeps were heard. Two seconds later the beeps were repeated. From the back of the room, there was chattering from the students.
"What was that? What does that mean?"
"It's the lockdown code. They've locked down the school. We've . . . we're supposed to lock the door"
"The door's already locked." Wayne started pacing. Ann-Elise turned her head and looked back at her students – they looked terrified. She had to keep them safe. She had to get this guy out of her room.
"Wayne, my students – we don't need to get them involved in this." He kept pacing. As crazy as it seemed, Ann-Elise thought what Spencer would do. He had told her about some of the situations he had been in. Then it hit her, Spencer was the "he" Wayne was screaming about. Wayne had been in her house before Spencer left.
"Wayne, the school is locked down. The halls will be empty. You and I . . . we could just sneak out. I promise, I'll be good. The guy, he is just a friend. I swear, nothing happened that night" He stared at her, thinking. He walked back over to her.
"Leslie only asked for one thing. I don't want to disappoint her." He shook his head, looking at her. "She deserves better, better than your friendship."
"I can be better."
"You won't see him again?"
"I promise, I won't see him again – ever. I don't want to be a disappointment to you or to . . Leslie." He walked over to the table.
"You look like her. I don't want to disappoint her – she hasn't asked for anything else. We better go. We don't want to be late."
He grabbed her arm and helped her up more gently this time. As she stood up, Ann-Elise noticed for the first time the unconscious form of Agent Morgan on the floor. He was breathing – he was alive. Wayne pulled her towards the door.
"Wayne, I need to leave a student in charge. Can I talk to one of the kids, please?"
"Yeah." He looked over at the students. "Red t-shirt, stand up." Looking like he was about to pass out, the student stood up. "You can talk to him."
"James, no one leaves the room. No one. You're in charge, alright." James nodded. "Thank you."
Wayne escorted her out of the room and into the hall.
Main Office
As soon as Agent Hotchner arrived back at the main office he demanded the school be locked down. Even if he called for back-up, he was on his own for awhile . . . unless he took Reid with him. Not wanting to do it, he called Reid over.
"Reid, I want you to stay right behind me. You are personally involved in this case too much already. Stay calm and do what I say." Reid he accepted the orders -- didn't even attempt to argue. Together they started to walk towards the Theatre Room.
Hallway
Hotchner stopped before taking the last corner. He peeked around and saw Wayne walking towards him with Ann-Elise. Wayne saw him. Hotchner motioned for Reid to stay hidden and stepped out into the hallway. He placed his finger on the trigger of his gun, but kept his arm by his side.
Wayne immediately pulled Ann-Elise in front of himself, shifted his left arm around her throat in a choke-hold and turned the knife towards her chest. Hotchner was worried. Ann-Elise did not look good. Her lip was bleeding, her eyes looked glassy and she didn't seem to be reacting to her situation. He wouldn't be able to count on her helping him.
"Ann-Elise, are you alright?" She didn't answer. She just continued to stare straight ahead. "Wayne . . ."
"Go away! She's coming with me. She said that she would."
"Alright, then let's put the knife down."
"Ann-Elise?" Reid stepped around the corner. Hotchner didn't take his eyes off Wayne or his hostage.
"Reid, step back."
"You said you wouldn't see him again!" Wayne raise the knife in the air, Hotchner raised his gun. A second after Ann-Elise was stabbed in the stomach, Hotchner fired. Wayne, shot in the right shoulder, dropped Ann-Elise and stumbled back a few steps. Before Hotchner could tell him to stop, Reid ran forward.
"Don't move her Reid and don't touch the knife." Hotchner called for medical back-up and walked over the Wayne. Reid kneeled down next to Ann-Elise and carefully cradled her head in his hands. He leaned down and listened. She was breathing – her breaths were short and hollow sounding but she was breathing.
"Just hang on, Ann. Help's on its way, I promise."