Note: I apologize for the late update. We lost power for about two days and then I was gone most of yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to update.
A big thank you to my reviewers: meritt, ahowell1993, San child of the wolves, Dextolan, Gawain, spxxxxx, Astrahan, Ludub and Pechika.
Hotch breathes a nearly imperceptible sigh of relief when Reid hits the ground.
He's out of Greer's hands, out of danger for the time being.
He's safe.
Relief doesn't last long, however.
He sees the fist flying towards his face a split second too late.
"You think I'm a coward!"
Another fist sends his head snapping to the side.
The taste of copper fills his mouth.
"I don't think you're a coward." He coughs, spitting blood. "I know you are. I see men like you every day at my job and if there's one thing I can tell you it's that men like you are all the same." Behind Greer, he can see Reid moving, unsteadily climbing to his feet. He needs to keep Greer distracted, give Reid the time to do whatever it is he's planning. "You're all cowards."
"Shut. Up!"
Another fist, this time to the gut. Hotch doubles over, coughing, but he isn't allowed time to recover before another fist hits him in the jaw.
And then another.
And another.
He sees stars, entire galaxies of them, explode across his vision, before Greer pulls back, panting now.
"Do you still think I'm a coward?" he asks, seething.
"Is that why I'm still tied to this chair, Michael?" Hotch asks. He needs to keep Greer going. If he turns around and sees Reid…
Greer makes another go at him, but Hotch stops him with his voice. "Do you want to know what I think, Michael? I think you spent your entire life being made to feel like you were weak and so when you got the chance, you took it out on those who were weaker, those who couldn't fight back. Did hurting your wife make you feel like more of a man, Michael? Is that what it was?"
Greer lunges at him again, but Hotch sees a flicker of movement behind the man.
Unfortunately, Greer becomes aware of it too and he spins around.
Reid freezes, eyes wide. He's found a hammer and, while Hotch hates the idea of seeing the young man intentionally hurt anyone, he knows that it's what he would have had to do to keep them alive.
It doesn't seem like that's going to be an issue, however.
Greer goes for the hammer, attempting to wrest it from his grip. He still doesn't consider Reid to be much of a threat, even with a weapon.
Hotch clenches his fists, feeling the bite of the zip ties against his wrists as he strains.
"Reid!"
He knows what will happen if Greer gets ahold of that hammer. He knows and there's nothing he can do about it because he's sitting here, bound to the damn chair.
Reid stumbles back under the force of Greer's attack, but keeps a death grip on the hammer. He too understands what's at stake here.
Maybe more so than Hotch does.
Even now, a dozen statistics are likely running through his mind.
Hotch isn't sure when it happened or how, but someone wins the fight over the hammer.
Crack!
Greer suddenly slumps to the ground and Reid stands over him, looking slightly dazed as he drops the hammer.
Then he looks over at Hotch and seems to remember himself, taking several steps forward.
"Hotch?" he asks, sounding somewhat frantic. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Hotch says, even though, with the pounding in his skull, he feels as if that is not the case. Reid doesn't look entirely convinced either, so Hotch tugs on one of the handcuffs as a demonstration. "Check his pockets for the keys."
Reid still doesn't look convinced, but at least he doesn't comment, dropping down on his knees next to the body.
Reid checks briefly for a pulse before digging through the man's pockets for the keys.
"He's alive," Reid says, withdrawing and Hotch doesn't miss how shaken the younger agent sounds.
"Are you okay?"
Note: Okay, so... now that I'm not at risk of spoiling anything, I can explain what I meant by a "different" kind of story. I've read plenty of stories where both Reid and Hotch end up in a bad situation and it's Reid who gets hurt and Hotch who does the saving. I wanted my story to be sort of the reverse... especially because the bad guys tend to assume Reid is the weak one. I wanted to make one of them regret that.
Although, I'm not saying I don't like stories that play out in that other way. I've actually really liked some of them, but I just wanted something different from most of the stories I'd already read.