I let myself sleep after Madeline left, knowing that it was only a matter of time before I was killed. I just wished that I could say goodbye. Especially to Spencer.

The things that I said to him still echoed in my head.

I knew I hurt him, and I had convinced myself that it was because I was trying to protect him.

But, that didn't make it okay. I wanted so much to hear his voice one more time.

If I was being honest, I just wanted the sound of a friend or anyone to tell me I would be okay, even if it was a lie.

I was awakened by the sound of the door opening. Twisting my head, I met the gaze of Nicolas.

"Back for round two?" I asked.

"You are incredibly stupid," he spit out as the chains dropped to the ground, causing me to crumble to the ground.

"So I've been told."

"Stand up," he said sternly. I looked at him, and I knew that I didn't have the energy to fight anymore. Slowly, I made my way to my feet.

He quickly removed the chains from my wrists, but not before putting my hands behind my back and restraining them with what felt like zip ties. I let out a yelp, my arms not used to the position. He didn't speak.

"So, I guess you're in charge of moving me to where ever you're going to kill me?" I asked.

No response.

"Someone's awfully quiet today," I said, trying again to get any response.

Nothing. He pushed me forward. I stumbled a little, my legs sore from the beating that I had received what I assumed was few days ago.

"You could give a girl a little warning," I said trying again to get a response, any response, from him. As he opened the door, I saw his face. His chin was tense, his eyes were stoic, and his mouth twitched slightly.

He was hurt.

Instantly, the words I had taunted him with came flooding back. Even though the bruises on my abdomen were still aching, I knew that I shouldn't have said the things I said. His parents were a touchy subject.

"I'm sorry," I murmured quietly, letting him guide me out of the room. "I didn't mean what I said… I just wanted it to be over…"

He didn't respond.

But his jaw muscle relaxed slightly, so I knew that he had heard me.

That's all I wanted.

I just wanted to die and not think about the bad I had done in the world.

I glanced around this new area as we walked. It looked like I was in an abandoned warehouse. Natural light flooded into this room from high windows. The light burned my eyes, but I relished that feeling.

"We ready to go?" came Madeline's voice from a corner of the room. My eyes darted over to her. She was standing next to the man who had brought me here and an older man, who I assumed was Pavlov from the few pictures I had seen of him.

Was this all the man power they had?

"Yes," Nicolas said gruffly from behind me.

"Perfect," she said. "Let's go!" Her voice was almost cheery, a stark contrast to the somber faces of the two men next to her.

She made her way to the doors of the warehouse, the two men following behind her, as Nicolas pushed me forward. She had almost reached the doors when she froze. I didn't know why at first, but then I heard them.

Sirens.

"Shit," she hissed, turning to face the men. "They found us… How did they find us?"

None of the men spoke, and I resisted the urge to smile.

At least they wouldn't get away with what they had done.

"Lock the doors," she demanded. "Now!"

Instantly, the two men locked the doors and ran to a backroom, returning with multiple guns and ammo. They each geared up, with Pavlov rushing over to give Nicolas a handgun. Madeline looked at me, hatred oozing from her.

"This is your fault," she hissed, her face contorted in anger.

"You won't be getting away with this," I said, "and you deserve all that's coming for you."

"I wouldn't doubt that I'll be getting out of here," she said, "because I do think that we have one card left to play…"

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"There's a reason that they're here," she said. "They want you alive."

"We both know there's no way you let me leave here alive," I said, "so what's your move?"

"You and everyone here may know that," she said, "but they don't… Nicolas, you know what to do."

I was pulled up to his chest in an instant, my feet above the floor. A gun was now steadily pointed at my head.

"You really think that they," I said, nodding my head at the door, where sirens where loud and light flooded in through the high windows, "don't know that you're going to kill me? I knew that you made mistakes to get caught, but I didn't think you were flat out stupid!"

Madeline turned to look at me, anger filling her eyes.

"Shut up," she growled at me.

"And having good-old Nicolas kill me?" I asked.

"Shut up!"

"You're always having someone else do your dirty work, huh?" I taunted. "Don't want to get your hands dirty, right?"

"Shut her up," Madeline growled, walking over to Pavlov.

"You don't have to do this you know," I said to Nicolas, my voice lowered as to not draw attention. "If you cooperate with them, they can probably cut you a deal."

"We both know that there's no way I'd be shown any mercy," Nicolas said, his voice low. He hadn't gagged me yet, so there was hope still.

"I'm sorry," I said. "You don't have to believe me, but I didn't mean what I said...especially the last thing I said... I did..."

"I know," he said, after a pause.

I opened my mouth to continue, but then there was a ring from a phone. My head shot to the sound, and I saw Madeline answer a call, putting the phone on speaker.

"This was not the deal," Madeline hissed, her eyes wild.

"We just want Danielle to be freed," came the voice of Derek over the speaker. "Once we have her in our custody, you can leave for Morocco."

"And lose our only insurance?" she said, laughing. "You know that would never work… you would storm the building and kill us once you had her."

"What if we worked out a new agreement?" Derek propositioned. "One that would let us take Danielle alive and let you get out of here."

"Nope," she said. "We made a deal and you broke it. You all need to leave now, or else."

"Madeline, you know that we can't do that."

"Fine. You come in; she dies." And with that, she ended the call. She let out a yell as she chucked the phone across the room. It made a loud clattering sound. The room was tense as she looked around, her eyes finally landing on me.

"You know there's no way you're getting to Morocco, right?" I said.

"Shut up," she said.

"You kill me, they come in. You don't let me go, they come in…and seeing as you've made it apparent to me that I am not leaving alive, I think it's safe to say this is the end for you."

Her eyes narrowed, her face contorted in thought and rage. Then she smiled.

"I guess you are right," she said, "But at least I'll get one last thing…one last request…"

"And what would that be?" I asked, trying to buy more time for the team to get inside.

"I want to see you die first… Kill her." She directed the last statement to Nicolas.

I felt my heart drop.

Knowing you were going to die was one thing…

But knowing it was seconds away from happening was another.

Nicolas pushed me to the ground, and I let out a groan as I hit the ground harshly. He then pulled me up by my shirt so that I was on my knees, his gun aimed steadily at my head. I heard the gun cock.

"Wait," she said, walking over to where the phone had landed, the glass on the phone shattered. "You wanted to say goodbye? Well, here's your chance." She walked over to where Nicolas and I were before she clicked a button and I heard the dialing noise of a phone.

She held the phone near me, but it was on speaker.

Then it picked up.

"You ready to negotiate?" came Derek's voice. I knew that this was her way of making them pay for breaking the deal. Give them hope that I would survive, and then kill me. A way to psychologically suffer from guilt.

"Hey Derek," I said, my voice soft.

"Danielle?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

"No," I said, letting out a short laugh, holding back tears. "I'm really not…"

"Are you-"

"Derek, is Spencer there?" I asked, knowing that he deserved an actual goodbye.

He didn't respond for a moment.

"Yes, but he's not allowed to have contact or be in the field."

"Please?" I asked, tears pricking at my eyes. I just wanted to hear his voice one more time.

"Danielle, I'm not allowed-"

"God damn it, Derek!" I shouted; my voice hoarse. "Please!"

There was silence. Then there was the sound of a brief conversation and a rustle on the line.

"Sa-Danielle?" came the all-too familiar voice.

"Spence," I said, my voice caught in my throat for a moment.

It was his voice. It was him.

I knew that it had only been a week, maybe two, at the most, but I felt my heart pound at the sound of his voice.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't have a lot of time," I said, a tear running down my face. "I just… I wanted to apologize… I didn't want to-"

"You don't have to apologize," Spencer said.

"But I do," I said, shaking my head. "I lied to you Spence, and I got you involved in this mess… And I left and I said those awful, awful things… But I didn't mean them… and I just want you to know that I- I… I love you Spencer Reid." I choked on that last phrase. I saw Madeline nod towards Nicolas.

"Danielle, you're going to be okay," Spencer said. My heart stopped for a second.

It was a lie, but I needed to hear it.

I needed to.

"Spence, please, try to-" I started, but Madeline ended the call.

"Do it," she said. I swallowed and rose my eyes to meet Nicolas' eyes. If he was going to kill me, I wanted him to look me in the eyes as he did it. I tried not to look scared, I wanted to be brave.

His eyes met mine, and I saw something flicker through them. His gaze faltered for a moment; his muscles softened for a second.

And then he lowered the gun.

"No," he said, his eyes not leaving mine.

"What?" Madeline asked.

"We kill her, then we are all going to die," he said, breaking our eye contact to meet her eyes.

"Fine," she growled, marching over to the corner of the room where the two other men stood, watching. She grabbed a gun and came back, cocking it at my head. "Too weak to kill her? Good thing I'm not."

Her finger was on the trigger.

Then a gun shot rang out.

But I was still alive.

Nicolas had the gun pointed at where her arm had been moments ago.

"You fucking son of a bitch," she growled, clutching her arm on the ground. "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer. He just looked at the gun in his hand, his face contorted in shock, as if he couldn't believe what he had done.

Then the door burst open.

Everything happened in a blur. Madeline leaped to her feet, grabbing me and putting the gun to my gut as agents with guns swarmed the room. I glanced to where Pavlov and the other man were. They had multiple guns trained on them, yet their eyes never left Madeline.

They were waiting for her signal.

"Let her go," said Rossi, his gun aimed in our direction.

"I'm not stupid," she said, favoring her left side. I felt the blood from her wound trickling down her arm onto my body. "You're going to kill me anyways."

"You need medical attention," Rossi said. "We can get that for you."

"No," she said, shaking. She was in pain, that much was apparent. The wound was likely prohibiting her for putting the gun to my head, losing access to a definitive kill shot.

"Madeline, you need to let her go," Derek said.

"If I am going down, this bitch is coming with me," she growled as a gun shot rang out.

I let out a scream as pain exploded in my abdomen and I crumbled to the ground. The world became blurry and I heard more gun shots ring out, until everything stilled. My abdomen felt on fire, pain ricocheting throughout. My arms were still stuck behind me, but I felt liquid spreading. I may have been on the edge on unconsciousness, but I wasn't stupid.

It was blood.

I gasped and struggled to breathe, knowing that it would help me keep conscious.

Then there was a figure over me.

"Dani, stay awake, okay, do not close your eyes," a voice said. My vision blurred and my breathing slowed. I couldn't make out the figure in front of me.

"I'm… so tired…" I murmured, hearing my words slur.

"Listen, love, you're not dying on me today," the voice said, applying pressure to my abdomen where, I assumed, I had been shot. It hurt, but I knew that, whoever it was, was trying to stop the blood loss.

"Is she dead?" I asked, struggling to get the words out. I needed to know.

"Madeline? Yeah…yeah, she's dead," the voice said. "It's over… We need medical over here now!"

"You need to step away from her, right now," another voice said.

"Just… just help her…" the first voice said.

"Danielle, stay awake, eyes on me, okay?" the second voice said, more pressure being put on my abdomen.

"Tell Spence I'm sorry," I murmured, my eyes fluttering shut. "I… can't…"

"Danielle, stay awake! God damn it, where is medical?" the voice asked, sounding more and more distant.

As my eyes shut, the world turned black.

And that's the last thing I remember.