Commencement
Chapter 12
Their moment of reunion was interrupted by the sound of shouting coming from the direction of the parking lot they'd been in so shortly before. Separating, they each moved forward, toward the tree line, trying to make out the words.
"Idiot! How could he have let them get away?!"
The words were followed by the sound of debris crashing to the pavement, and then a not-so-muffled curse. Make that a string of curses.
"I told you, I heard them moving toward this door!" Presumably pointing to the one exiting to the parking lot. "You're the morons who must have missed them on the road!"
"They weren't on the road! This place is a ghost town, we would have seen them!"
"All right, then where are they? They couldn't have disappeared into thin air!"
JJ and Reid held their breaths, nearly certain they'd be found out. They weren't deep enough into the forested area, and Reid was hardly in any shape to change that. If the intruders decided to search the woods, they would be in trouble.
The familiarity of the next voice caused JJ to shiver.
"They're probably walking behind the buildings, you idiot! They're trying to get some cover."
The voice belonged to Linda, the frightened near-victim who'd sent them on their fool's mission. The two profilers exchanged a look, but had no time to speak, before they heard the sound of running footsteps, and the voice of one of the males, calling back to his colleagues.
"Drive along the road! I'll flush them out to you!"
Which was the profilers' cue to head deeper into the woods. JJ stayed by Reid's side this time, ready to steady him should he stumble on one of the many small protruding boulders or prolific number of tree roots in their path. They stopped every twenty feet or so to listen for their pursuers, only stopping for good when they hadn't heard anything for more than two minutes. Then, JJ escorted Reid to sit against a large boulder surrounded by moss.
"Looks like it was made for us to sit here, doesn't it?" Trying to sound confident in the decision to stop and rest. When Reid didn't reply, but simply grunted into his position on the ground, she took stock of him. Despite her attempts to keep them upright, they'd both fallen three times during their escape. Now she wanted to see what those stumbles had cost them.
"Let me….oh, God. You're bleeding again!"
Reid gritted his teeth against the pain of his reopened wound. "I know. But I think I just need to retighten the belt. That worked last time."
"Last time? Spence, I thought we agreed…."
He put up a hand to stop the scolding. "We did. I noticed it when we were separated, and I took care of it. There wasn't exactly time to tell you, was there?"
It was so rare for him to be irritated with her that his words, and his tone, struck home. JJ was immediately apologetic.
"I'm sorry! Old habits, I guess."
He gave her a grim smile to express his forgiveness. He knew both of them were worried that their habits wouldn't have a chance to grow any older.
"Let's look at your hands, while we're at it."
Which exercise gave them both new reason for alarm. The wounds on both palms had reopened during their flight, and the bandage of the right palm was stained both red and yellow.
"Show me your arm," demanded Reid.
JJ shrugged out of his jacket and gave him her right hand. In the darkened interior of the forest, it was hard to make out, but it looked like the pink streak might have reached just beyond her wrist.
She lifted worried eyes to his. "It's worse, isn't it?"
He'd promised to be honest, and so he was. "It's spread, I think. But it's probably good that the pus is draining."
It's just not so good that we both have open wounds in an environment that's anything but sterile.
He'd promised to be honest, not thorough.
"Okay, then, we need a plan." JJ had never been one for self-pity. "Should we just lie low for a while, and wait for them to leave?"
He wasn't sure. "They have a lot at stake, if we make it to safety. I'm not sure they'll give up so easily."
"But if they can't find us, what choice will they have? They'll give up, and then they'll probably try to make a run for it, and get out of town before the team comes after them."
Which caused both of them to wonder about the status of their team. They had no doubt that Emily would have become concerned when they hadn't returned by yesterday afternoon, and that she would have mobilized resources as soon as possible. But their colleagues didn't know what they knew about Linda, and her accomplices, nor did they know about the building explosion, nor…..
It struck Reid suddenly. "There's no one left on the team who would remember that case, the one that made me realize Linda had to be part of it. Only Garcia. It was so unusual, I remember Gideon saying that. No one will even think about Linda being the unsub. They'll just see her as the victim."
"But they'll talk to her, right? That was the last location they have for us. They'll try to trace our steps."
Reid's eidetic memory offered information that wasn't promising.
"Neither of us thought to call in, because it was only a minor detour, and we didn't think it would take more than a few minutes. So they have no idea we were doing a favor, and there's definitely no reason Linda would tell them so."
"Are you sure?" JJ didn't trust her own memory about something so mundane. "Wouldn't we have let someone know?"
"We probably would have, but just as we were driving away, we saw that woman getting out of her car, and she reminded us of Garcia, and…
"And we got to reminiscing. But are you sure we didn't call in?"
"Sorry to say, but yes, I'm sure."
"So they'll have no idea how to look for us."
"Not unless Linda and her friends were crazy enough not to hide our SUV. I'm sure there's a BOLO on it."
JJ heaved a great sigh. "So, we're going to have to save ourselves."
"Looks like it."
"Okay, then," wearily pushing up from the ground. "Let's go."
But she'd no sooner risen than she'd swayed on her feet, causing Reid to push to his knees, to catch her before she fell.
"Are you dizzy? Faint?" His concern evident in his tone.
"Uh….uh…no. No, I don't know what happened. Just lost my balance, I guess."
Reid was busy taking her pulse and feeling her forehead with the back of his hand.
"Losing your balance makes you stumble, it doesn't make you collapse. You don't feel warm, so I don't think you're running a fever. Your pulse is strong, but it's a little fast."
She tried to make light of it. "That's because I've been running for my life through the woods."
"Nice try. Listen, I don't know what it was, but I think we need to let you sit a little longer."
"But we'll lose the daylight!"
He'd taken that into account. "I think we'll be okay. Remember, we're just a couple of days past the full moon. And we're outside, so we'll have some ambient light that we didn't have inside the building. To tell you the truth, I think we might be better off trying to move at night, anyway. They're less likely to be looking for us."
JJ closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the boulder in a combination of concession and relief. However badly she wanted to be out of here, she didn't think she had the strength right now.
Reid was pleased to have prevailed, at the same time that he was disturbed by the ease of having accomplished it. It told him the depth of her exhaustion.
Which is probably pretty much the same as my own.
He wished he could afford to close his eyes, too. But the light wasn't quite gone yet, and it was possible that their pursuers hadn't yet abandoned the search.
It's also possible that they won't abandon it at all, but it's unlikely. Still, if they do….we'll just have to make a stand.
Resigned to staying in place until dark, Reid tried to address his still-bleeding thigh. He loosened the belt, jostling JJ in the process. He apologized when she opened her eyes.
"Sorry, I ….."
"Let me do it, Spence. I'm not that weak. I want to make sure it's good and tight."
"I can…."
But she'd already pushed his hands away, and loosened the buckle enough to pull the length of the belt through. Tightening….tightening…
Reid hissed, biting his lip to keep from crying out. He managed a hoarse whisper.
"I think that's enough."
JJ looked her apology at him. "I just want to make sure."
"JJ, if it gets any tighter, I'll lose circulation altogether."
"Sorry. Do you want me to loosen it a little?"
He shook his head.
"No, you were right, that's good. It was just a little painful."
He caught the look of regret in her eyes, and knew just how to erase it.
"You pulled it tighter than I might have, but it was worth it. I don't think it would dare bleed now. It's too afraid of you."
His best friend's eyes went wide. "Are you making a joke? Now?"
"I'm just being honest. You told me to be honest."
She chuckled, in spite of everything. "It's a good thing I love you. And this is among the many reasons why."
"For which I am very grateful."
He lifted his arm, creating a space for her to rest her head against him. Seeing, she again slipped his jacket from her arms, and helped him spread it over both of them. Once they were settled, he encouraged her to rest.
"Close your eyes for a little bit. I'll wake you if I need to. Otherwise, we'll wait until moonrise."
He thought she'd followed his direction, until a few minutes later, when he heard her whisper.
"I'm worried about the boys."
Even whispered, her tone carried a depth of meaning that Reid knew they couldn't give in to, right now. She was worried that they would be upset at her not returning on time, frightened about what it might mean. And she was worried, on some level, that they might have to adjust to a life where she was only a memory.
He did his best to encourage her.
"We'll get out of here, JJ. You'll see them again, and they probably will never even know about this."
"But I called Will even before we left to bring Linda to her house. I told him the case had wrapped. He expected me home last night. He'll be worried, and Henry will read it, and…"
He tried to assure her, although he shared her concern.
"Will is very good at distracting the boys. They won't be scared."
JJ wasn't placated. "How do you know that?"
"Because he was so good with Henry when you were…..you know. When it happened before."
He'd just pushed a button, however inadvertently.
JJ sat up and looked at her best friend. "Aren't you the one who says we need to name things? That if we don't name them, and face them, we give them power over us?"
"I thought you needed to rest."
Uncomfortable with the subject matter, even if part of him was glad to have changed the direction of the conversation.
"Spence…."
"All right. When you were kidnapped."
"And tortured."
It was his turn for bug eyes.
"Are you serious?"
JJ squirmed a bit on the moss, until she found a comfortable spot. "I am. As ridiculous as it sounds at the moment, yes, I am."
"Why?"
Why are we talking about this, now, of all times? Why are we talking about it at all? Why did it have to happen to you?
It was as though she'd heard every one of his internal questions.
"I don't know. Maybe because we've never talked it out before. I mean, I wouldn't let you, when you wanted to. And now…."
"And now, we don't need to. Not now." Worried that she was beginning to give up on them getting out of this. "When we get home….'when', not 'if',…..we can talk it all out, if you still want to. I just don't want you to worry about the boys. Will can handle them."
"Listen, I know Will is capable of distracting the boys. But Henry won't fall for it for long, because he's got big ears and he's too smart to settle for anything but the truth. He was younger, back then. He…we…hadn't been through as much."
Reid wasn't about to argue with her, and he really didn't want to talk about it in the middle of the forest….but he would acknowledge the truth of what she'd just said.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you. For your kidnapping and torture."
Making a point of using the words, which garnered a small, victorious smile from JJ.
"See? They lose their power, don't they? A wise friend told me about that, once."
"Very wise."
"Uh-huh. And, for the record, I'm sorry for it happening to you, too."
He was silent for a moment, remembering that time. Then…
"You told me you were sorry back then."
"In a graveyard. I was all emotional then."
He lifted his arm, once again inviting her to lay against him, and she took him up on it. Once she was settled, he continued the conversation.
"So…..you're not emotional now?"
"That's not what I mean. I mean that, back then, I was scared to death for you, and angry at what he'd done to you, and angry with myself for having separated from you. I was exhausted, and sleep-deprived. And I had my own PTSD after those damn dogs came after me."
"I'm sorry…."
"No, let me finish, because I don't want you to think the wrong thing. What I meant was that, even after the heat of that awful, horrible, amazingly wonderful moment when we found you…..even after that...even now, it brings me pain."
He squeezed her shoulder in acknowledgement, and spent a moment taking in her words.
"I'm sorry. And I guess I should be thankful that I didn't have to go through it more than once."
JJ tilted her head up to look at him. "What?"
"Thank goodness you only had that one kidnapping. I'm sorry I put you through so many more."
JJ's brows raised. "Are we having a competition?"
"JJ, you've got admit that I've been through more kidnappings than you have. Well, technically two of them were hostage-takings, but still….I'm sorry if you were worried."
"Oh, my God, I can't believe you're joking about that. We must both have hit our heads harder than we thought. All right, Doctor Reid, let's count."
"Are you forgetting I have an eidetic memory?"
"Heaven forbid. But these are the kinds of things that stay in the memory of us mere mortals as well. Okay, start."
As much as they were both exhausted, and as much as they both needed rest, they also both desperately needed a distraction that would carry them until the moon took its rightful place in the night sky. Later, much later, they would each ponder the fact that they'd spent that time recounting so many of the horrific things they'd been through. And then they would realize why.
Because we survived them.
So they played the game, and Reid began.
"If you insist. Okay, there was that time Hotch and I were taken hostage by the LDSK. And the time Emily and I were taken hostage by Cyrus. And, I don't know if it counts, because I went in there voluntarily, but the time I was held hostage on that train with Elle."
"Ah, but how many times were you kidnapped and held hostage?"
"Uh, twice, that I can think of. Once by Tobias Hankel, and then once with Garcia, by that disciple of Cyrus. Not to mention, I was about to be sacrificed, that time."
JJ heard the tone in his voice, and eyed him.
"Are you trying to one-up me?"
"Let's face it, I think, if we were to write a book about how not to survive a career with the FBI, I would definitely have more material to work with."
She kept up the facetious tone. "Maybe you and Rossi can collaborate, when this is all over."
"Maybe. When it's over."
She was quiet for a few moments after that, and he thought she might have fallen asleep. But then she spoke once again.
"For the record, I thank God that you came out of each of those things in one piece. We weren't even that close, back when you went into that train car, but I don't think I breathed again until you came out. Just like…"
She'd cut herself off at the still-traumatic memory, but he knew exactly what 'just like' referred to, because she'd told him so often. She'd felt like she'd been holding her breath for the entirety of his time at Milburn.
He felt her arms go around him, and squeeze him tight.
"Promise me one thing?"
"What?"
"As you're thinking about what you'll do next…..can you please make sure it's something where you can't get into trouble?"