A/N: Hello again, everyone!
A shout-out to ahowell1993, Hippiechic81, tannerose5, Skylar, Amy, Betty, Martha, Susan, and Kelly for reviewing Chapter 16!
A special shout-out to LostDemonessRaven for following and/or favoring the story.
Also, it may be a while before I write and/or post the next chapter since I now have school again!
Also, I can't believe I had 100 REVIEWS! THANK YOU ALL! JUST THANK YOU!
Warning: this chapter (may) contain contents and mentions of sexual assault; reader discretion is advised.
Hours later…
The team felt exhausted but anxiously waiting in the hospital waiting room for the news on Reid and Élise. Prentiss stepped outside to take a phone call, Rossi and Tara got the team some coffee. Alvez and Simmons paced back and forth, and JJ and Garcia were keeping Anastasia company. Prentiss walked back in,
"Well?" JJ asked.
"That was Cruz. He…"
A middle-aged doctor walked into the waiting room with an equally exhausted look. "Spencer Reid family."
"I'm his medical contact so you can speak with us."
"He's has a multitude of abrasions, but he's going to be alright. Some broken bones, fractured ribs, dislocated shoulder and fingers, few cuts and bruises on the face. He should take it easy for a while."
"Okay. And what about Élise Bastien?"
"Her body suffered from an excessive amount of torture and abuse, so we need to keep her calm and avoid any kind of stress to her heart. There are signs of dehydration, bruising—old and new—there are notable bruising around her wrists and ankles from being restrained, an old head wound resulting in cuts that we've stitched up. There were also burn scars on her back from which we suspect from a cattle prod and a dark bruise around her neck like she was strangled. And…there's something else," The doctor had to take a deep breath. "We also ran a rape kit. And while there were no fluids, there was external trauma and injuries to her genitals as well as to her extra-genital. And…I have reason to believe this happened more than once. Repeatedly."
Garcia had to take a sit as if she was going to faint; Alvez soon comforted her while the rest of the team looked shocked and speechless for a split second.
"Anything else?"
"Why don't you all follow me?"
Everyone followed the doctor into the private room; the doctor soon showed them Élise.
A broken and bruised Élise.
Tara asked. "Doctor, why does she look so out of it?"
"Perhaps because of the drugs that were in her system. She suffered from a seizure on the way here, so we had to do a full tox screen before we flush out the drugs."
"What was in her system like that?"
Going through the medical chart, "Opioids, benzos, sedatives, hallucinogens, inhalants, alcohol."
"Damn," Rossi exclaimed. "This bastard..."
"He was trying to keep her down."
"Dr. Bastien is not the kind of person who takes drugs for pleasure." Prentiss defended.
"I can tell. I hope whoever did this to her is dead."
"He is; Dr. Reid took care of him."
"Good for him." The doctor agreed before excusing himself.
"Oh, Élise."
"I'll make sure she gets counseling and therapy for everything."
"I'd be happy to give her all the counseling and therapy she needs." Tara volunteered.
"Hey, guys," Garcia alerted the team. "Reid's awake."
Reid lightly flaps his eyes open and soon found himself hospital room with beige-painted walls, shining flooring and the windows being covered by the white blinds. He couldn't remember why for some reason he was even here in the first place; he was not even sure why he had a nasal cannula in his nostrils. The last thing he could remember was,
He stopped those thoughts when,
"Hey."
The team greeted him with smiles and relieved looks on their faces.
"You're okay."
His eyes lit up when he saw Anastasia. "Hi, lady. It's okay, now. Daddy's okay."
"Don't worry. We're taking good care of her."
"We got you a card." Alvez smiles, presenting a giant 'Get Well Soon' card.
"And we thought we brighten up this room with some decorations." Rossi lets go of a bouquet of balloons before chuckling. Reid joined in before stopping,
"I get you're not that okay." Simmons assumed. "Especially after giving Griffin that beatdown."
He didn't want to ask this, "How many times did I stab him?"
"We won't know until we get the autopsy reports, but I'll bet it was…what, 100 times?"
"How's Élise?"
"Bastard did a number on her. He tortured her, abused her, almost strangled her, possibly sexually assaulted her more than once. Repeatedly."
This made Reid cringed.
"We're going to make sure she gets all the counseling and therapy she needs."
"Thanks."
"And when you get back, Cruz wants to have a word with you."
"Okay. Can one of you check on Élise for me, please?"
"I'll check on her." Alvez rushes out of the room.
"Well, that was quick."
"He made it clear to us that he's scared of you," JJ commented. "And I mean, really cleared."
Days later…
For some strange reason, Élise felt better. She wasn't in pain. She wasn't feeling drowsy. She wasn't having any headaches. And she most certainly didn't feel as if she's been bruised and broken. She even took a deep breath and opened her eyes until,
"Hello again, Élise."
He was Griffin dressed as a hospital doctor, sadistically smiling while holding a syringe.
"Whoa!"
Élise leaned forward, gasping for air. She placed a hand over her heart in an attempt to calm herself down.
Turns out she wasn't the only one who was in the room with her.
"Hey-hey."
Reid soon comforted her. "It's okay. It's okay. It was just a bad dream."
Élise soon noticed she was sitting up in a hospital bed with IV tubes taped to her arm and an oxygen cannula under her nose and hooked to her ears. "What happened?"
"You're in a hospital."
"Oh. Well, the last thing I remembered was…being in your arms and you…carrying me."
"I did."
"How long was I out?"
"About a week."
Élise almost dreaded asking this question. "Is he…?"
"He's dead." Reid announced.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Élise had her head against her pillow. "What happened?"
"Hell." There was no other word he could think of.
Whispering, allowed a tear to fall and felt her eyes fogging, "He…h-he broke into my home. I don't know how. I mean, I always…" Élise stopped herself. "I don't think I could ever live there again."
"Understandable."
"But, where am I going to live?"
"You can move in with me."
A/N: Sorry for leaving you hanging! Also, as I said in the beginning, it may be a while before I write the next chapter since I've started school again!