Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Criminal minds or the show itself)

This is the final chapter, thank for reading and for your support, I hope you enjoyed this story. There are two endings to this story, I chose this because... well you'll see, but I will make the other one available if that's what any of you'd like. Just comment if you would like to see it, but I'll be uploading it anyway ;)

The team worked through the night. Coffee was dished out every hour to keep them awake. By 12.43pm a loud bang sounded, as Alex's head smacked down on the table; asleep. Both teams laughed, except Hotch and Reid, Hotch being too focused on the severity of the case and Reid's guilt still clinging to him like a bad smell.

Alex didn't wake up from the impact, sleeping through a few hours of work and she almost slept through the arrival of their unsub. Lucky for her, she was gently nudged awake by Garcia's trembling hand.

She woke to a terrifying scene.

Callen was stood in the doorway, a gun in his hand and the receptionist twisted into a headlock, the gun pressed to her dark curls.

"..to the roof." Callen had been saying, but Alex, still incoherent from sleep, missed most of it.

Her team had their arms raised along with the CSI team.

"Put that gun down. Step away from her, she has done nothing." Harper said calmly.

"I will do what you want, once you give me what I want." He growled, pushing the barrel harder into the receptionists skull, causing her to whimper softly.

Reid had been in a seperate room at the time when he heard warning shots. He'd darted back in and crawled behind a desk. JJ was cowering under the opposite desk, and she exchanged a petrified look with him, her eyes dampened with tears. Amelia was with her, she had a determined glower set on the scene playing out over the desks.

Reid peeked around the desk. Callen was stood by the doors with Tara held hostage. 2 other men were with him, he recognised the one as Darrell, who had helped Callen kidnap and torture him and his team. The other was a rounded man, with a ratty moustache and dirty beard to match. They too, had hostages, their knives dangerously close to their victims necks. Darrell had even drawn some blood.

JJ motioned him to look at her. When he saw her actions, she mouthed something at him, her eyes emblazoned with desperation. "Stay down". Reid nodded at her to ease her worry, but he wasn't planning on staying hidden. It was his turn to seek revenge.

"We can't do that. You plan on killing these people. We can make some sort of deal, to lower your sentence bu..." Callen laughed coldly, interrupting Harpers negotiations.

"You're in no position to make such deals, lieutenant. As you can see, it is I, who has the upper hand." A roar of laughter surged through his and Tara sobbed in terror.

"BAU." He addressed the team now. "If you wish to save this woman's life hand yourselves over to me. Let's finish this already." He said with mock sweetness.

"I will hand myself in to you, if you promise to release that woman and leave my team out is this. You can have me, but I will not give you my team." Hotch persisted.

"That's not the deal. If you don't all come with me, then I will kill everyone in this room. Starting with you." He hissed slyly into the quaking receptionist's ear.

Reid stood up on hearing this. So sudden was his movement, that most of the team had jumped.

"No!" He objected, forcing Callen to revert his attention on Reid. Callen's face contorted into a malevolent grin.

"You!?" He chuckled to himself. "You're the sonovabitch who shot me!" He yelled, motioning to his men to have a good look.

"Bit scrawny aren't you? No wonder you fell down those stairs, a gust of wind could've pushed you down them." Callen's men laughed at his remarks in low, gruff voices.

"Oh, I have the right mind to shoot you too. Actually, you can come with them to the roof, killing..." he counted the agents. "... 8 birds with one stone."

"You can't have them." Reid retorted.

"Excuse me! Did I not just make myself quite clear." He shifted the gun, his finger poised on the trigger.

"No, stop! You don't need them." Reid said, trying to remain calm.

"Oh and whys that then." Callen was beguinning to lose his patience. They were trying to ruin his plan.

"Because you never completed your original plan." His team were eyeing him with great fear.

"Don't" Hotch reprimanded.

"I'm afraid you lost me. Now come along, time is wearing thin." Callen was turning his attention back on the BAU, when Reid snagged off his glasses flinging them to the floor, he whipped out his contacts in a swift action and flicked his hair from his eyes, he couldn't do anything about the colour, but even so, he was no longer Detective James Cooper. He was Dr Spencer Reid again.

"What the hell are you doi..."

"Remember me!?" Reid shrilled, fury running through his veins. A hate fire for Callen lit inside him.

"You!" Callen hissed, narrowing his eyes.

"You're supposed to be dead!" He snarled.

"And here I am, spoiling your plans."

"How?... I shot you!" He yelled.

"Your aim will never be like your brothers." Reid smiled and tapped the scar across his skin.

Callen looked almost like a cartoon character, his face burnt red and it looked as if steam would begin billowing from his ears.

"Don't..."

"What? Talk about your brother? You barely knew him! Is that why you killed my father? Because I barely knew him? This is just between you and me. Don't keep them involved." Reid instructed, pointing at his team.

"You let them go and you can have me." Reid said holding his hands up in defeat. Callen eyed him deliciously, as if someone had offered him a cake.

"Get over here, now! Slowly! Don't try anything either, or I'll blow this fat bitch's brains all over the floor."

Reid nodded his consent and began making his way over. He didn't look at his team as he left them, for what may be the last time. They sent him pleading looks, wanting desperately for him to stay, but truthfully they saw no way out of this situation.

"Reid!" Gasped JJ. He ignored her call, not turning back to look at her. A sob burst from behind her lips and she collapsed to the floor in helplessness.

Reid stopped in front of Callen, waiting expectantly. Callen took his gun away from Tara's head and shoved her away. She slumped onto the floor and scurried away from them, like a rat down a drainpipe.

Callen stepped forward and smacked his gun down into Reid's skull. Reid hunched double, his fingers pressed against his temples as a headache drummed in against them and the ringing burst into his hearing, alongside the yells of his team.

"I see you haven't gotten over that explosion just yet." Laughed Callen, mechanically.

Reid straightened up and found himself staring into the barrel of a gun.

"Darrell, Mortez, you stay here. Don't let them move until I'm back. You..." Callen refocused on Reid. "We're gonna finish this."

Roof

Reid fell to the ground, after Callen threw him through the door. The sun was beating down and Reid had to squint to see, having been inside since his trip to the hospital with JJ the previous day.

"Get up!" Reid scrambled to his feet, Callen stood over him.

Reid turned to face Callen and he punched the agent in his ribs. Reid's breath was knocked from him, and it took all his strength to stay on his feet.

"You think you can beat me?" He spat, kicking the defenceless agent.

"Get up!" He yelled again. Reid stood up shakily, waiting for the pain.

Callen watched him with disgust. He lifted the gun.

"Walk." Reid gave Callen a fleeting glance, before turning his back on the armed assailant. Reid walked slowly to the edge of the building, his knees still ached from his fall the day before and they creaked in protest at the movement. He stopped at the buildings edge, 2 layers of scaffolding hung loosely to the side of the 26 floor building.

"Why are you stopping?" Callen's voice buzzed through his skull with a nasty purr.

"What are you expecting me to do?" Reid replied, defiantly. He felt the butt of the gun pinch the small of his back and Callen's dry lips pressed up behind his ear.

"Get up on that scaffolding." He hissed. Reid's heart beat raced. He looked down at the city below and swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat.

"I said.." he gave Reid a thump. "GET UP!" Reid tripped over the edge of the building landing heavily on the scaffolding bars. The bar he landed on shook tremendously and the position he landed in caused him to slip down off it. Reid felt the wind rush past him, and he felt his breath hitch in panic, his arms flailing to grasp the bar again.

Reid did manage to get hold of a pole, but this one was on the layer of scaffolding below, that meant that there was nothing underneath him to save him if he were to let go again. Reid was left hanging.

"Oh god.." he trembled. His feet swayed with the wind and he could see the cars driving down on the ground, like the size of the ones he'd seen Henry play with before.

Callen was balancing on the bar Reid was holding dearly.

"You're completely at my mercy." He smiled looking at his nails gingerly.

"Fuck you." Reid grunted.

"Your father would be disappointed in what you've become, Spencer. I do hope you didn't use that language around him. Oh no, wait, he never did see you, couldn't stand you, could he.?" Reid huffed in white rage, pulling himself up. He pulled his chest up, allowing his arms to rest, as soon as he'd done this, Callen's calloused hands were gently pushing him back down.

Reid whimpered with panic.

"Don't worry, we're almost done. As soon as you let go, this is over." Callen drew himself back up. A sharp ping bounced off the scaffolding. Callen ducked suddenly and his feet lost their grip on the pole. Unlike Reid, he didn't manage to grab hold of the bar.

Instinct took hold of Reid as the man fell. He let one of his hands off the pole, and snatched up Callen's hand as it fell by him. Callen's weight suddenly jerked his whole body, and his hand was almost torn from the pole.

"HELP!" He screamed, feeling his fingers peel off the pole. Morgan's head popped over the side of the building. Reid assessed the situation quickly.

"No, Morgan wait." He said seeing the agent begin to climb down. Reid used every ounce of will power he had to re-grip his fingers, though his hold was still un-secure.

"Kid, I need to..."

"No, its unstable enough, I won't let you fall with us!" Reid begged, sending Morgan a sympathetic look.

"Let go of him, pretty boy, so I can pull you up" Morgan demanded, throwing Reid a frown.

Reid looked down at Callen, who's eyes were filled with terror. For the first time, Reid believed the man might actually have human emotions after all.

"You wouldn't drop me!" Callen cried, gazing down at the traffic below his feet.

"Wouldn't I? Reid asked fiercely. His arms burnt in strain and the sweat between his fingers and the bar, made his grip unstable.

"Hold on, kid!" Morgan yelled, panic seizing his voice.

"I...I'm trying." Reid huffed in reply.

"You have to let him go, Reid." Morgan shouted.

"NO! Don't let me go!" Callen yelled from below him, Reid felt fingernails sink deeper into his flesh.

"Reid, I can't lift you both, just let him go." Morgan begged, edging nearer on the unsteady bars.

"Morgan stop! It's too flimsy." Reid warned.

"I'll take my chances, kid. There will be less weight if you let him go. Think of all he's done." Morgan said.

"DONT LET GO!" Came a frantic scream beneath them.

Reid looked down and locked eyes with his enemy.

"You killed my father." He snarled.

"Y..you killed my brother." Callen retorted.

Reid felt his sweaty fingers slip slightly.

"You barely knew him! Admit it, you used his justified death as a means to become a killer yourself! I would bet anything that you were jealous of him."

Callen writhed under Reid's words, causing the duo to sway.

"SHUT UP!" He bellowed.

"You never cared about him, you just wanted to be like him, you had to be better than him. You used me and my family to fulfil your sick fantasies. Therein lies your mistake; you cannot hurt this family and get away with it." With that Reid turned his eyes back up to Morgan and released his grip on his tormentor.

He didn't feel Callen's weight leave him as he'd hoped he would, fingernails still grappled his hand.

"NO!" Callen screamed desperately keeping hold of the agents wrist which was still wrapped in a fabric support. His grip slipped from Reid's arm and he clawed for a hold on Reid's ankle. Reid yelped as he was pulled down slightly. He launched his other arm at the bar, trying to secure his hold. Callen clung to Reid's leg, holding it close to him, blubbering loudly to himself.

Reid clutched onto the warm bar, the weight of Callen forcing him down and his fingers to slip even more.

"MORGAN!" He screamed roughly, trying to offer his hand to the older agent, but not finding the courage to release it from the bar.

Morgan inched closer. He was no longer on the roof, with the safety of the building to protect him should he fall. He was now balancing on the thin bars extending out as part of the scaffolding. He cautiously made his way from the top level of scaffolding to the one Reid was hanging off. When his feet hit the bar, Reid was grasping onto, a jolt went through the three of them. Reid whimpered at the movement, Callen released a deranged scream.

"Reid, you gotta kick him off." Morgan said calmly, positioning himself to pull Reid up.

"I can't." Reid murmured through gritted teeth as his shoulders screamed in agony. Morgan grasped under Reid's arms and tried to pull. The attempt was useless, Morgan almost fell back off the bar himself, had he grabbed the flimsy bar above him to balance himself.

Reid's muscles trembled and he knew he couldn't hold on for much longer. He had no strength to kick off the dead weight holding onto the ankle.

This was how he would die. He tried not to think about the impact, knowing he'd be killed instantly. He closed his eyes, feeling his body beginning to give up on him.

"REID! Don't you dare! You hold on!" Morgan's voice barely made it past the ringing that had built back up inside Reid's ears.

He heard other voices now, the CSI team as well as his own team. Pleading with him to hold on.

"Come on, Reid. Just hold on." Cried JJ.

"Don't let go, Kid." Yelled Rossi.

Reid opened his eyes and could see most of them above him, tears welled up in his eyes. His fingers began to slide down the slick bar.

Images began to flash in front of his eyes.

"D'you know she's the only person in the whole world who calls me Spence?" He smiled at Gidion before going to retrieve his slice of birthday ...

"I don't want it?" He begged, his voice breaking with...

"He's so lifelike." Emily gasped sarcastically, after poking him with her finger and...

"Will and I were talking and... we want you to be Henry's Godfather." Reid stood back speechless, a warmth of joy, sent feelings of...

"I fleel thin" Reid said through a barrier of bared teeth. He knew what he said was wrong, so he tried again. "I fleel thin, I do." He groaned in frustration as he felt the anthrax burn into his lungs. His hair stuck to his face from...

"What did you join a boyband?" Hotch asked, frowning at Reid's new haircut. Reid opened his mouth to answer, "No" he pouted, his team laughed sedately around the table, before...

"Thomas Merton" she whispered. Reid's eyes widened. "Who's Thomas Merton?" Diane spat. "He knows, he knows." Maeve murmured. "Who's Thomas Merton? Who is he!?" Cried Diane, her voice cracking. "He's the one thing you can never take from us." Diane looked to the ground. "No" she said through gritted teeth, then she held the gun to her head and...

"Blow it up." Reid told Derek. Derek laughed, "nu-uh" he said. Reid looked back at his file, smiling smugly. "Pssst" he looked to his right and Hotch offered him a fist bump, a similar smile etched into his face.

A gun shot sent his memories floating back into the depth of his mind.

A searing pain and sudden weightlessness caused his hands to slip fully from the bar. However, he didn't feel the sensation of falling. He opened his eyes and saw Morgan, with his handd locked around Reid's forearms. He was lay across the scaffolding on his front, so he was more stable. He heaved a trembling Reid towards him.

"Hey, gonna need a little help." Morgan huffed. Harper was next to him before Hotch could even lower his smoking gun. Reid looked down, Callen was no where to be seen. Harper lent forward dangerously and wrapped his finger into Reid's belt loop, lugging the agent back onto the scaffolding.

Reid released a shuddering breath, and began shivering more violently. Morgan held onto him as they carefully made their way back onto the building.

Reid's arms burned like hell, and he stood in front of his team, letting them hang in front of him, like anchors pulling him to the safety of the ground.

Hotch holstered his gun and gathered his young agent into his arms. Everyone was taken aback by Hotch's rare display of affection.

"Don't you ever do that again. That's an order." Hotch grumbled happily. Reid pulled away, looking at him seriously.

"Callen?"

Hotch motioned to his gun.

"I guess I was aiming for you're leg." Hotch smiled, Reid remembered when he'd admitted that to Hotch after telling him he kicked like a 9 year old girl. Reid grinned.

"And you got me!" Reid laughed, lifting his blue decks which were soaked red from the bullet grazing him ankle.

"Sorry about that." Hotch apologised, he placed his hand over Reid's shoulder, Morgan on his other side and they helped him to the door and back on solid ground.

I'm going to miss this story, thanks so much for reading! This isn't it from me though, I have 2 milder stories planned which will be mainly romances.

Is it evil of me to end it there? I'm pretty sure it is, so I may wrap it up with a short epilogue. (Also there's some unexplained things which may annoy some people, so I'll update tomorrow) But for now, farewell Jack Callen, you sadistic bastard!