Peppering JJ's hand with kisses, Rossi whispered into her ear, "Sweetheart, are you ok? Who's here?"
"It's him, Dave. It's Will!" A sheen of perspiration was glistening on JJ's forehead. After gently checking her for a fever, Rossi quickly glanced up to see where their Good Samaritan had gone. As far as he could tell, he was digging in his truck for something, he had mentioned bottles of water, and had a cell phone to his ear.
"How do you know, honey? You haven't seen him. He just showed up out of nowhere to help us, he's even notified EMS for us." Rossi was sure that JJ's head injury was getting worse, fear for her health beginning to overwhelm him.
"Because David, I heard his boots," she spat, "I heard him talk. I swear to you it's him. You've got to believe me. I promise you I'm not crazy!"
"Honey, I know you're not crazy but you do have a concussion, so it's entirely possible that you're not thinking straight. You just need to calm down and think about this. Will lives in New Orleans, right?" Noting JJ's subtle nod of the head, David continued. "OK, so you haven't had contact with him for a while, haven't seen him, right?" Again she nodded. "OK, so how would he even know where you are? He doesn't have access to our itinerary, and this case didn't make national news, that I know of, so he wouldn't have seen any of your press conferences. Plus, this exit interview we were headed to was spur of the moment, not to mention our accident. None of these were planned. How would he just happen to find us out here, in the middle of nowhere, when he should be in New Orleans?"
"I don't know David. All I know is that it's him! It's not my concussion talking – it's my gut!" There was such urgency and pleading in JJ's whisper that David had no choice BUT to believe her, or at least placate her. There was certainly no harm in being extra careful or even suspicious at this point. "OK,OK…honey, I believe you." David took a second to take a brief glance in the direction of the truck. Jason, if that was indeed his real name, was leaning on its door, open on the driver's side, while speaking into his cell phone, presumably trying to find them help. If this so-called Good Samaritan was now an "unsub" then their situation had gone from bad to much worse in the span of minutes.
Taking stock of their current surroundings, David realized that he and JJ were very much exposed without any cover to protect them. While in the middle of a grove of trees, he and JJ were in the clearing, having about fifty feet in either direction to run to get to appropriate cover. And, that would only be if JJ were at her best, which she clearly was not. Even though she was more alert than before, David still had concerns about her health and knew that it was taking every bit of effort just to talk to him. Whatever adrenaline she had had in her system immediately after the accident, had clearly dissipated by now. David had to not only be able to protect himself, but her as well. While still leaning over JJ, his back to the now unknown man, David took the opportunity to look at his cell phone.
David noticed that the signal bars were randomly going in and out, not quite long enough to place a phone call, but plenty of time for him to text their team. Formulating an idea in his head, David decided on a quick, short message, "CRASH. STRANDED. NEED EMS. DANGER." Placing every member of the team in his "TO" list, he was hoping that someone would receive it and get them some help -quickly. David typed in the message and waited for a signal bar to appear, all the while feeling JJ staring at him. His thumb hit "send" as soon as he saw a signal bar. Trying not to appear nervous when the screen displayed "COMMUNICATION ERROR. RESEND.", David shot JJ a brief, reassuring smile and hit resend. Again, the same error message appeared. David noticed that the bars disappeared as he leaned closer to JJ, and reappeared, even if only slightly stronger, as he moved his hand away. Fearing that he was going to have to leave her side briefly to take advantage of this signal, David decided on a ruse.
The heart. Such a vital organ to life, small in size yet huge in complexity and need. So many things could this organ do. Her heart. JJ lay so still she could feel it beating in her chest, but nothing else. She was certain David could feel it to. The fear that she had tried to relinquish over these past few months had returned in spades. Never would she be safe again. All of the FBI training she had had, all of the dangers she had been in the middle of, all of the people she had directly helped to save, all of it meant nothing now. She had been reduced to one of the victims she had so often fought to protect. Glancing at David, she felt her heart beat faster. While she was glad that he was here with her, grasping on to some sense of security from just his mere presence, JJ was now faced with a new fear. She was terrified that something would happen to him. And while she would be afraid of something happening to any member of her team, her family, her fear was magnified with the thought that something could happen to David, one she had feelings for and had just discovered he felt the same. So not only did she fear losing him, she feared losing the opportunity for real love. And at this thought, her heart broke. And her heart broke, because her heart loved. Her heart loved him. She loved him. At this realization, JJ vowed to herself that this would not be the day that she would find and lose love. This was the day that she would fight back. And win.