I do not own Criminal Minds, CBS does. The song used this time around is "So Far Away" by Avenged Sevenfold.
I am really sorry I haven't updated lately, I've been busy with school and work. :/ I'm going to try and update as much as I can. I hope you like this chapter! Please review!
"Never feared for anything, never shamed but never free,"
Everyone is in the pavilion, which has become infested with flashlights and lanterns. The storm is finally dying down, but the beach is now enclosed in darkness.
But the beach isn't the only thing currently residing in the dark. Her heart has been beating relentlessly since she called Morgan. Her gut has been twisting and turning in every possible angle that it can. She has the euphoric feeling as if she is free falling or just got scared by a screamer on the internet.
Why is she afraid, though? She's not even the one in danger.
"A light that healed a broken heart with all that it could/ Lived a life so endlessly, saw beyond what others see/ I tried to heal your broken heart with all that I could,"
Why is he the one? Why him? Why not her? Stereotypically, she would be the easier target. He's just gone through his ex-wife's tragic death...he just killed a man with his bare hands...Hasn't his mind been broken enough? They were finally starting to glue the pieces back together, even the ones that managed to slip under the couch...Why does it have to be broken again?
"Will you stay? Will you stay away forever?"
"I had gone to the bathroom, and when I came out he was gone," Prentiss informs the team as she hugs the blanket around her. JJ is sitting next to her, resting her hand on Prentiss' knee. Morgan's hand is resting on his gun and Prentiss observes that he seems to be ready to beat the living daylights out of anyone connected to this crime. His other hand is reaching for his cell phone and dials a number without even looking. Rossi is kneeing at Prentiss' level, as if he is talking to someone shorter than him. His eyes are fierce and sting everyone else's with determination. Reid is looking around the area, but is still close to the team. Prentiss knows the gears in his head are turning, trying to figure out the solution to this...
"Speak, my sweet prince," Garcia greets Morgan as she answers Morgan's call. Even though Morgan has turned away and walked a couple of steps, she can still hear Garcia's normal peppy voice.
"Garcia, I need you to get satellite photos of our location from the last hour. Monitor this whole area after you've done that," Morgan orders her.
"Sure, wha-what's going on?" Garcia asks, her tone suddenly changing upon Morgan's persistence.
"Hotch has gone missing," Morgan tells her quietly, but Prentiss can still hear his words and they sting her sharply in the heart, as if nothing else was already stabbing it.
"How do I live without the ones I love? Time still turns the pages of the book, it's burned/ Place in time, always on my mind/ I have so much to say and you're so far away,"
Rossi and JJ suddenly look up, as if waiting for Hotch's direction on the situation. Prentiss also looks up, searching for her leader, for her friend...for her soul mate...
"Plans of what our futures hold, foolish lies of growing old/ It seems we're so invincible, but the truth is so cold...A final song, a last request, a perfect chapter laid to rest/ Now and then I try to find a place in my mind/ Where you can stay, you can stay awake forever,"
Prentiss focuses on the ocean once more as she suddenly sees blinking lights sail on the open sea. She can hear voices emit from an officer's walkie-talkie, but the voices are indistinct and soft.
"Coast guard hasn't found anything, but they're gonna go a bit further since the storm's died down," the officer informs the team. Morgan punches a post in the pavilion.
What is happening to him? Has he been shot? Is his body floating near or at the surface? If it is, why hasn't it reached the shore yet?
Is he being tortured? Is he on a boat still streaming through the rough ocean's water? Did someone tie some kind of weight to his ankle and drown him?
Is he being raped? Is he being tortured by some sexual sadist that is even worse than Frank?
Why is she thinking about this? There has been victims before that Prentiss has never wondered about before. Why is this victim any different?
"How do I live without the ones I love? Time still turns the pages of the book its burned/ Place and time always on my mind, I have so much to say but you're so far away/ Sleep tight, I'm not afraid/ The ones that we love are here with me/ Lay away a place for me/ Cause as soon as I'm done I'll be on my way/ To live eternally,"
Prentiss begins to let go of the blanket wrapped around her. Even though she feels cold, the warmth was reminding her of the jacket he had lent her when they were all the way in Alaska...
"We are going to find him, Emily," JJ comforts Prentiss as Rossi takes the blanket. JJ grasps Prentiss' hand, and Prentiss looks at her. The corners of Prentiss' mouth twitch into a smile as she remembers the time that she held JJ's hand while Garcia was in surgery.
But Hotch isn't in surgery...yet.
"What do you got, baby girl?" Morgan answers his ringing phone, putting it on speaker.
"Okay, I got the satellite photos from the last couple hours. Prentiss went into the bathroom around 8, and Hotch was taken just a couple minutes after that. From what I could tell, a black figure grabbed Hotch around his face, must have drugged him and dragged him into the water,"
"Did they surface any time after that?" Rossi asks.
"Not in the area you guys are located, but I'm still scanning anything within 50 miles,"
"You are an angel, woman," Morgan tells Garcia before hanging up.
"How do I live without the ones I love? Time still turns the pages of the book, it's burned/ Place in time, always on my mind/ I have so much to say and you're so far away/ And the light you left remains, but it's so hard to stay/ When I have so much to say and you're so far away,"
Prentiss suddenly stands up and begins walking to the shore of the beach. Maybe she can retrace her steps, do a cognitive interview with someone...anything they can do until Coast Guard or Garcia comes up with anything.
Prentiss stands as the shore, looking out into the increasing speed of the waves as rain drums on her skin. She closes her eyes as she feels JJ's hand grasp hers once more. She breathes in the ocean air and it brings her back to the moments of her and Hotch walking along the beach, giggling at an inside joke the two have together. She opens her eyes and turns to see him holding her hand, chuckling as if he just watched Jack do something cute.
"I love you, you were ready/ The pain is strong enough despite, but I'll see you, when He lets me/ Your pain is gone, your hands are tied,"
Tears form in her eyes. There was a reason this happened. What is that reason? Why did God deem it necessary to rip him away from her?
She bursts into laughter and falls to the ground, pulling him with her accidentally. She had forgotten to let go of his rough, warm hand. He begins to laugh as well, not only because of the joke, but because of the sudden euphoria that is being shared between the pair.
"What made you go to the bathroom?" Reid asks, suddenly appearing behind Hotch.
Prentiss stops laughing, but Hotch continues, stroking her hair gently, shaking his head in disbelief that they are finally together...
Prentiss didn't see anything but him at that time. But she did hear something other than the gentle waves...It sounded like a branch breaking...or something...
"So far away, and I need you to know...So far away, and I need you to need you to know,"
"We were being watched,"
