HEHEHE Sorry about the cliffy on the last ep but I'm posting this one early to make up for it! Im glad y'all liked it and I'm happy with how this one turned out! Enjoy :)
Thank you all for the love and support!

PT2

When he came to, Reid was on the ground, staring at the night sky. He grimaced in pain and turned his head to the side. Morgan was sitting next to him, but he was looking somewhere else. He looked like he might be yelling something, but Reid's ears wouldn't stop ringing.

He tilted his head the other way, noticing Rossi staring at Morgan. The man quickly noticed his stare and began mouthing words at Reid.

Reid wasn't very good at reading lips and couldn't decipher what Rossi was trying to tell him. He felt his grip on awareness begin to slip close again, but a hand tapped his cheek. This caused him to open his eyes once more.

Reid watched as Rossi and Morgan exchanged words, no sound landing on his ears. The two looked like they were arguing about something. After a pause, Reid was confused when Morgan began undoing his button-down shirt. However, he didn't have the energy to fight him, so he let it happen.

Both the man's faces turned to horror when it was completely undone. The bruising must be pretty bad. Morgan placed his hand on his ribs and Reid immediately groaned at the contact. He ran his fingers over his whole rib cage. The majority of it was just sore, but there were a few spots that caused Reid to flinch extra hard.

Reid watched the men through half lidded eyes, pleading with them to stop. Rossi frowned, beginning to pet Reid's hair lightly, attempting to comfort him. Reid's eyes immediately closed, leaning slightly into the light touch.

Reid began to drift, unaware of his surroundings. His ears continued to ring, but it seemed to be fading slightly as the minutes went on. The world was no longer spinning, and he seemed to be getting his breath back.

A voice began breaking through the ringing in his ears, encouraging him to open his eyes.

It was Morgan.

"Kid, kid, open those pretty eyes of yours." He pulled them open as far as he could, looking at Derek, "There you go. We're gunna carry you inside, okay?" Reid barely registered the words, staring blankly at Derek. The man frowned, attempting a different approach. He placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in even closer.

"If you don't respond to me, I will take you to the hospital. Which we probably should be doing anyways but we know how much you hate it." Reid's eyes widened at this and he immediately nodded. He attempted speaking but ended up coughing instead, grimacing as his rips stung.

Morgan began gathering him up in his arms as gently as he could, sliding one arm under his knees, then the other under his back. He then lifted him like it was nothing, cradling Reid's head into his chest. His eyes began to drift shut, but they shot open when Morgan jolted him in his arms.

Reid groaned in pain, but Morgan began to speak. "Pass out on me again and your ass is at the hospital. Are we clear pretty boy?"

"Mmmmmhmmm" Reid moaned in confirmation, unable to form any coherent sentence. He kept his eyes open as wide as he could, trying not to pass out. When they finally made it into the hotel room, he was relieved to be set down on a mattress. His eyes immediately closed but Morgan slapped him lightly, making sure he was still conscious.

"Gotta take care of the injuries first, kid." Reid nodded lethargically, focused on staying awake. Rossi was in the room suddenly, arms full of supplies. Morgan began removing Reid's shirt from his arms so that they could tend to his ribs. He looked down at himself, frowning when he saw the mess of his torso.

It was covered in bruises, especially around his ribs. They were dark purple and yellow. There were two outlines from the gun where Cyrus had hit him twice.

It would have been very obvious if they'd been broken though. Despite his best efforts to gain weight, Reid was still very skinny, and his ribs were very visible.

Reid also had an array of small cuts on his arms, probably from his fall, but they'd stopped bleeding and were fairly shallow.

"You're lucky none of your ribs are broken, or you'd be in an ambulance right now." Morgan said, looking at his bruised chest. "Rossi can you help prop him up, we're gunna need to wrap his ribs."

"Yeah" the older man said, making his way to Reid's side. Rossi lifted him up carefully, essentially holding all of his weight up since Reid was limp as a noodle in his arms. He allowed himself to be held up, not having the energy to argue with either one of them.

Morgan grabbed the gauze and began expertly wrapping Reid's torso. Reid grimaced as it was becoming slightly more difficult to breathe since the wrap was so tight, but he knew it was necessary. His ribs screamed as the gauze pushed against them, but Reid was able to bite back a whine which threatened to escape.

When Morgan finished, they laid him back down on the mattress. Reid panted, fatigued.

"Any other injuries you're hiding kid?" Morgan said, looking unconvinced when Reid shook his head. "This is your chance to come clean. Come on kid, we're only trying to help." Reid sighed and nodded, confirming Derek's suspicion.

"It's one of your feet isn't it?" Reid tilted his head in confusion, but Morgan quickly answered the unsaid question; "I saw you limping earlier, I'm not that dense kid." Reid nodded in understanding.

The two men removed his shoes and socks, immediately seeing the problem. His left ankle was swollen and dark, clearly very injured. Morgan poked and prodded it, receiving some groans and whines from Spencer, but determined that it was definitely not broken. Rossi stood, going to get some ice from the machine down the hall.

Morgan turned back to Reid as the other man left. "Why didn't you get checked out by the paramedics?" he asked harshly.

Reid's face became riddled with guilt. He swallowed before speaking softly; "Em'ly."

Morgan's anger disappeared, immediately sympathetic. "That wasn't your fault kid. Sure, she got hurt but she's okay, just like you're going to be alright as well. She doesn't blame you."

Reid shook his head, upset at the thought of her injuries. That should've been him getting kicked around, not her.

"Should've been me."

Morgan sighed. The kid was already suffering enough, why did he have to throw all the unnecessary guilt onto his pile of pain. He took a deep breath, debating his approach.

"Kid…" Morgan started, unsure, "listen, Emily wanted to protect you. Just like you wanted to protect her." Reid looked up with sad eyes, clearly paying attention to his words. "You stayed in the church when Cyrus gave you an out. You distracted him long enough to get out. Not only did you save Emily's life, but you helped save all those women and children."

Reid shook his head, closing his eyes. He responded without opening them; "I should've gotten beaten. She took the blame."

"Reid, she took the blame to protect you and because of that we were able to save the civilians. According to Prentiss, Cyrus was pointing a gun at you! What if you'd opened your mouth and they shot you? They might've killed you, but they weren't going to kill a woman. Prentiss knew that. That's why she did it." Morgan leaned forward, placing a hand on Reid's. He opened his eyes again, looking at Morgan with unshed tears.

"Kid, you can't dwell on the past. This was a big win today. Your guilt will fade over time and we'll move on. Just…" Morgan paused as a tear fell from Reid's eye, wiping it from his face, "get some rest. We can talk again when you're feeling better."

Reid nodded into Morgan's hand and he closed his eyes again, relaxing into the bed.

A minute later, Rossi came back with the ice. The two men worked to wrap it in a towel and delicately place it on Reid's bruised ankle. He immediately sighed in relief.

It took a while, but they'd eventually iced it enough to where Derek thought it would be okay overnight, and he decided he'd let Reid actually get some sleep.

He closed his eyes, immediately falling into a deep slumber.

Reid awoke in the morning, feeling much more refreshed. His body still ached in pain, but he felt much better. Morgan offered him some food and coffee, which he took immediately. Reid hadn't realized how hungry he was until he could smell the food, he scarfed it down fairly quickly.

Hotch stopped by to check on Reid briefly, making sure he was doing better before informing the team that they'd be heading to the airport soon.

Rossi and Morgan worked to ice Reid's ankle again, before wrapping it tightly. Soon, they were packed up and heading out of the hotel, Reid leaning heavily against Derek and Rossi as he limped out.

He sipped on his coffee in the car, silently watching out his window. He couldn't wait to be back home in DC. He just wanted to forget all this ever happened.

Reid still hadn't spoken to Emily since yesterday, he hadn't been avoiding her, but he also wasn't sure he'd want to talk to her if given the chance. The shame was still too fresh, her injuries still unhealed.

He knew Derek was right, that Prentiss had wanted to protect him and that she probably didn't blame him for her injuries. However, that didn't stop him from overthinking everything. Why couldn't he have been strong enough to take the beating for her? Or smart enough to think of something to divert their attention? Instead, he'd sat there, scared and confused, not knowing what to say.

When they boarded the plane, Morgan helped deposit Reid in a corner seat, understanding that he probably wanted some time to himself on the flight. Reid immediately pulled out a book, hoping everyone would take that as a hint not to talk to him.

He wasn't even reading the book, much too distracted by his thoughts. He tried flipping the pages at regular intervals, keeping up appearances. It worked for a while, no one approached him or tried sitting across from him.

But about an hour into the flight he'd gotten too distracted. He'd been staring at the same page in his book for about ten minutes and was startled when Emily took the seat across from him.

Reid's heart began pounding quickly and he risked looking up from his book. Emily made eye contact with him. He gave a small smile but made no move to put his book down.

He really didn't want to talk.

"Hey." She started.

"Hey" Reid replied softly, but brought his eyes back to the book, hoping she'd go away.

She leaned forward, gently grabbing the book from his hands and closing it. He looked at her as blankly as he could, trying not to let any emotion show on his face. His eyes roamed the bruising on the side of her face and a pang of guilt went through his heart. Unintentionally his brows furrowed with guilt and mouth pulled into a small frown.

"I need you to listen to me," Emily began, leaning forwards, "what Cyrus did to me is not your fault."

Reid's eyes dropped, looking anywhere but at her. He knew it was a lie, it was his fault. But she continued.

"It was my decision, and I would do it again." He clenched his jaw, bringing his eyes back up to meet hers. Emily's eyes looked truthful, but Reid didn't know if he could accept that. She reached forwards, grabbing his hand with her own. "Do you hear me?"

His face twitched slightly as he tried not to break down in tears. Reid's eyes wandered once more before he finally nodded to her.

He would've said something else, explained his actions at least, but he didn't trust his voice. There was a lump in his throat, and he was fairly sure if he said anything his voice would crack, and he'd probably cry.

"Thank you." She said, squeezing his hand. She rubbed her thumb gently over his, and he watched the movement, still feeling guilt.

Reid knew he should be the one comforting her, but she didn't seem like she needed it. The more he looked at her, the more he realized that she looked okay. She probably looked better than he did.

"I heard about your ribs..." She said, causing him to look up at her. He shook his head, dismissing the statement, but she spoke again, "and I guess you hurt your ankle too? What happened?"

He hadn't actually told anyone what had happened, he realized. He was certain Rossi and Morgan had probably figured it out, considering how prominent the bruising on his chest was, but Reid never explicitly told them. He cleared his throat briefly before attempting to speak.

"Uh, Cyrus hit me with the butt of his gun when I was quoting scripture to him."

"Why?"

Reid looked at her, confusion in his eyes. "Why, what?"

Emily smirked, "Why were you provoking him by quoting scripture?"

"Why would you think I provoked him on purpose?"
"Why are you avoiding the question?"

Reid sighed, glancing out the window and Emily smiled, knowing she'd won. He swallowed, clenching his jaw before speaking. "I was t-trying to stall. I figured you needed more time to get t-the civilians out and if I provoked him it m-might give you more time."

Emily tilted her head, "So you purposely angered him for me, even though you were unarmed, and he was holding an automatic weapon."

"W-well I guess when you put it that way…"

"Spencer." She interrupted him, squeezing his hand. "I know he gave you an opportunity to leave and you didn't. Hotch told me. And I know you stayed because, even though you knew it was a stupid thing to do and you'd probably get killed, you wanted to repay me for what I did for you, but Spencer…" she grabbed his other hand as well, now holding both, "you don't owe me anything. I would die for you just like I know you'd do the same for me or for anyone on this team. We protect each other because we're family. And like I said before, I would do it again, and I know you would too. So please, let go of the guilt."

Reid took a deep breath in, closing his eyes, and exhaled slowly. He let the shame wash away, letting it leave his body. He knew he'd still hold on to a little, but he felt a lot better than he did a minute ago.

Opening his eyes again, he smiled at Prentiss. "I love you." He spoke softly.

She smiled. "I love you too Spence."

They sat there for a while, holding hands, grateful that they'd gotten out alive.

When she finally did let go of his hands, he grabbed his book once more, opening back to the page he'd been on. He began to actually read, but looked back at her again, offering a small smile.

Reid wasn't sure when he'd be able to fully forgive himself, but a lot of the pain had washed away. He was grateful that the two of them had survived the fiasco. And he was thankful that he still had his big sister in his life.

I HOPED YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER!
I am very happy with how it turned out. Originally it was a lot shorter and I just didn't like it so I ended up rewriting 75% of it today. But I'm glad I did because now I think it wrapped up nicely and got some good angst going!
My next fic is gunna be another extra while I continue watching CM looking for more angst or injury to write about :) Have a good day! Love y'all!