Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters. This story is for fun
Chapter 24:
Blood. There's so much blood. Please, get it out! Seaver scrubbed her hands frantically together. She had raced to the bathroom as soon as she was able to, anxious to rid her hands of the red stains on them. After five minutes, the sink water was tinged pink from all the blood, Reid's blood. She fought against the memories of the day's events, desperately trying to keep her grip on reality. It was only after she had rubbed her hands raw, and rid herself of the blood that she allowed herself to collapse against the wall; her memories overcoming her.
Wee-woo-wee-woo. The sirens blared as Morgan wove in and out of traffic. "We're less than five minutes out." JJ said. "We, um, we need to be prepared for what we might find." "What we'll find is the kid injured, but alive!" Morgan retorted. 'I sure hope so.' Seaver thought, her eyes searching for the warehouse Reid was being kept in. "Pull in here!" she yelled, causing Morgan to take a tight turn. The tall brick building Garcia had pulled up before they left loomed over them as they exited the vehicle.
"I'll take the front!" Morgan asserted, "JJ and Seaver take the back!" The two women barely had time to nod in agreement before their colleague sped off. "Follow me!" JJ said, quickly jimmying the locks. Seaver pulled out her glock before walking through the backdoor. The warehouse was bare except for a small structure in the room's center. "Reid!" she whispered, noticing the figure chained in the middle. "Clear!" Morgan called from the front of the warehouse. "Clear!" JJ responded.
"Spencer!" Ashley called, racing towards the center of the room. "Seaver stay back!" Morgan yelled, throwing out an arm to catch her. "It's booby-trapped." he hissed, taking in the wires surrounding their friend. "Oh my gosh! Spence!" JJ cried, pointing at the stake protruding from his body. Bile rose in Seaver's throat, blood was seeping around the wound and onto the concrete floor. "We need to get that stake out!" she said, meeting Morgan's eyes. "He'll bleed out if we don't apply pressure to the wound." She watched as Morgan's weighed all possible scenarios.
Finally he nodded, "Okay, here's what we'll do. It looks like the booby trap has a spring on the bottom of it. Right now Reid's body weight is compressing the spring, but as soon as we take him off it will push the spring up; causing the C-4 to detonate. Seaver, I'm going to have you pull the stake out and try to keep Reid from bleeding out. JJ, I need you to be watching the door in case we have any unexpected company. I'll do my best to neutralize the bomb." The words had barely left his mouth before Seaver had stepped onto the platform. Heat flushed through her cheeks as she realized the only way she'd be able to keep pressure on the wound would be by straddling Reid. 'You don't have time to be a blushing violet Ashley!' she reprimanded herself, 'Spence is depending on you!'
Placing one hand on Reid's chest for support as the other pulled the stake out as gently as she could. She could feel his heart beating abnormally slow under her fingertips before quickening when she pulled the stake out. Reid's eyes shot open, and she could tell the only thing keeping him from screaming in pain was the exhaustion from his ordeal. "Shh! Spencer, it's alright. We're gonna get you out of here!" she attempted to plaster a reassuring smile on her face. The last thing she wanted was to cause him to panic. Spencer briefly returned her smile, his heartbeat erratic under her fingertips. "Morgan, how are we doing?" she asked. "Almost there!" he responded. "We might be out of time!" JJ yelled, firing multiple rounds at the plethora of unsubs running towards them. "Got it!" Morgan yelled, right as Reid shouted, "Ashley lookout!" Bang! Bang! Seaver fired two shots at center-mass, effectively neutralizing the last unsub.
"Thanks for the heads up!" she said to Reid, only to watch his eyes roll up in the back of his head. "Reid? Spencer? Spencer, stay with me! Morgan, where's the ambulance?" "Two minutes out!" was Morgan's frantic reply. Seaver's fingers flew to the pulse point on Reid's neck, only to find nothing. "There's no pulse!" she cried, starting CPR. Blood oozed from Reid's wound as she started compressions, desperately trying to keep her friend alive. It was only after the third set of compressions that she'd managed to get him back.
"Miss?" she heard an unfamiliar voice ask. "Miss, please step away. Let us help him." She had stepped back, anxiously watching the paramedics take over the compressions she'd started. "He's lost too much blood." one of the paramedics said. "We need to get him to a hospital now!" "Ashley go with him!" JJ ordered. Seaver barely hesitated before scrambling into the back of the ambulance. The five minute drive to the hospital had been the longest five minutes of her life. In those five minutes, she had watched Spencer's heart stop another two times. Luckily, the paramedics had been able to get him back each time.
"Make way!" One of the trauma nurses yelled, wheeling the gurney containing Reid into surgery. "Miss, you need to let go!" Seaver met the kind eyes of one of the nurses, "Please save him." The nurse gave her a reassuring smile, "He seems like a fighter. Do you know what blood type he has? He'll need a transfusion." "He's AB-negative." she whispered, "If you need a donor, I have type O-negative. You'd be able to use that, right?" "Yes, that's the universal blood type. Be prepared to have your blood drawn." They'd ended up taking two pints of blood, twice the normal limit, but it was worth it if it helped Reid.
"Ashley?" a quiet voice stole her from her thoughts. Red-rimmed eyes glanced up to find JJ standing in front of her. "Hi, Jennifer. Is everything alright?" she said weakly. The other blonde glanced anxiously around the bathroom before taking a seat across from her. "I just wanted to see that you were okay," she said, her blue eyes boring into Seaver's. "You really care about him." she murmured the statement like a question. "Why do you care?" Ashley hissed, "the last time I saw you, you pretty much told me that I would never be good enough for Spencer."
A grim satisfaction settled over her at the slight flush of the older woman's cheeks. "I'm sorry." JJ admitted, "I should never have said the things I did." "Why did you then?" Seaver asked. "I was jealous." The simple admission caused Seaver to look over at her in surprise, "what?" "I was jealous, because I felt that Spence had replaced me in his life. You know, he was absolutely miserable when I was transferred. It wasn't until you started at the BAU that he smiled again. It was like this giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. It drove me crazy. I finally confronted him about it, and forced him to tell me. He told me about how he'd met this girl and she liked him for him. Not because he was an FBI agent or because he was a genius, but because he was this insanely sweet person. What I didn't realize was that you two worked together. I thought he'd just met you at his support group. I guess that's why part of me was so confused when he told me about how he'd shoved you away. Ashley, I need you to know that breaking your heart shattered his. He couldn't think, he couldn't speak, it was all he could do to properly function. And I got so, so angry. It was completely irrational, because he was the one who ended it, but I just couldn't bear to think about the monster that caused him to hurt like that. I guess that's when I realized that you were the Ashley he was talking about, and every day must have been like rubbing salt in the wound for him, I tried to make you hurt as much as he did. And I am so, so sorry for that. I have no idea whether or not you'll give him a second chance, but I hope you do."
Seaver sat in silence for a few minutes, processing what JJ had just told her before bursting into tears. The older woman didn't hesitate to grab her arms around the trainee and let her expel all the emotion she'd held inside for the past few days. "I was so scared," Seaver sobbed. "It was all I could do to keep the blood loss to a minimum, but it wasn't enough. I'm so scared that they won't be able to save him." "Shh! Ashley! It's okay. Spence is strong. He'll pull through. If there's anything I've learned in the years I've known him, it's not to bet against him."
The two women sat in silence, holding onto each other for dear life. It was only when they heard Garcia calling for them that they exited. "Is there any news on Spence?" JJ asked once they'd exited the bathroom. "Nothing, except that boy wonder just came out of surgery." Garcia replied. "Did you know he asked for no visitors?" "I'm not surprised." JJ said, guessing that Reid would want as little human contact as possible right now. "But it's not fair," Garcia cried, "I need to know that my junior G-man is alive, and safe, and." "Garcia, why don't you ask the nurse?" Seaver asked. The flamboyant computer tech pouted, "because it's not the same!"
"Fine! I'll go ask then!" Seaver stalked towards the nurse's desk, anxious for some news regarding Reid. "Excuse me," she murmured, catching the attendant's attention. "Can you tell me anything about a patient that just came out of surgery? Dr. Spencer Reid?" The nurse eyed her hastily replaced button down and replied, "you're one of his co-workers, aren't you?" "Yes, I'm Ashley." The nurse's head shot up as soon as Seaver mentioned her name. "You're Ashley?" she asked. "Yes," Seaver said confused, "why?" "Dr. Reid requested no visitors, but he's been calling out for an Ashley in his sleep. I know we do our best to respect patient wishes, but could you come sit with him? It might help him sleep better." Seaver nodded, "Yes, um let me tell my unit chief."
"What's going on?" Hotch asked, noticing how Seaver had approached him directly after talking to the nurse. "The nurse said no visitors, but apparently Reid's been saying my name in his sleep. Is it okay for me to go stay in the room with him?" The unit chief hesitated slightly before nodding, "Yes, let us know if anything changes." Seaver barely had time to utter her thanks before being directed towards Reid's room. The sight she found was similar to Boston, except the chair was plush instead of plastic. With a weary sigh, Seaver pulled the chair up to Reid's bedside and slipped her hand through his. It was going to be a long night.
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