A/N: Wow, I think this is my longest chapter yet, which is probably because I wanted to end this little case here and get on with the story again. This means that yes, they will find the UnSub and Reid. Just a warning, there is violence and torture again in this chapter. Now on with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of the characters.
Morgan and Garcia sat surrounded by Garcia's computer screens. The technical analyst's hands hovered over her keyboard, ready to begin searching.
"Alright, love muffin," she said. "I'm ready to perform my magic and save Reid. What am I searching for?"
"Look for siblings who lived with or close to their mother, in D.C., in the months before the first victim went missing," Morgan suggested.
"I'm going to need more than that, handsome," said Garcia. "There are way too many."
"At least one of the siblings is between the ages of twenty-five and forty," said Morgan.
"Keep it coming."
"The fact that the UnSub extensively tortures his victims means that he is either self-employed on unemployed," said Morgan. "He would also drive a nondescript car, so he can avoid detection when he's stalking his victims."
"I've still got three," Garcia replied.
"He would have some sort of cellar or a basement on his property, so he had somewhere to complete the torture. And it would be away from other properties, so nobody… nobody could hear his victims scream." Both Morgan and Garcia knew that the other one was thinking about Reid at that point, as Garcia frantically typed.
Garcia suddenly stopped, and stared at the screen. "Oh, my god," she gasped.
"What is it?" said Morgan.
"I found one!" she cried. Hurriedly sending the information to Morgan's phone so he'd have it with him, the two of them ran out of Garcia's office.
"Guys! Hotch!" Morgan cried, entering the bullpen. JJ, Prentiss and Hotch raced over to him. "Garcia found something!"
"What is it?" Hotch asked.
Morgan opened his phone to the file Garcia had sent to him. "Richard Connors, 31. He was very close to his mother, before his sister Rachel, who's two years his junior… had her committed to a mental institution, even though she was released two years later because she wasn't actually insane."
"Then why would Rachel commit her?" Prentiss asked.
"Because she hated her," Garcia replied. "It says here she faked everything. She's in jail now."
"When was the mother released?" Hotch asked.
"Over a year… oh my."
"What?" the team exclaimed all at once.
"Mrs Connors died two months before the first victim went missing," Garcia said.
"That's got to be the stressor," said Hotch. "Do we have an address?"
Garcia checked the information quickly. "2103 Scarlet Ash Drive."
As soon as Garcia spoke, the team sprang into action. They all raced to grab their bulletproof vests, while Hotch also called a SWAT team to join them. The other agents in the bullpen all looked up and stared as the BAU ran around frantically. They all knew that the team wouldn't be moving so quickly unless they knew where their missing agent was. Silently, all the agents prayed for their fellow's safe return.
As the team raced out the door, vests on and guns in hand, Garcia stood and watched them with both hope and fear filling her. She knew without a doubt that they had found the right man. What she didn't know is what they would find when they got there. I'm praying for you, my doves. Bring Reid back to us. Please.
The two black SUVs containing the members of the BAU careened towards the home of Richard Connors, sirens and lights blazing. SUVs containing SWAT agents followed closely behind them.
As they drove down Scarlet Ash Drive, the team realised why nobody had noticed what the UnSub was doing, or nobody had heard the victims screaming. The houses in the street were very far apart, and Connors' house was even more cut off from the others.
The agents pored out of the SUV and crept slowly forward towards the property, not wanting to alert Connors to their presence for fear he might kill Reid. The team, led by Hotch, were waiting for the best time to move in. Their thoughts were stopped, however, when they heard a bloodcurdling scream. Reid. Abandoning all thoughts of a soft, secret entry, the team burst into Connors' house.
While the team had been searching for Connors' identity, the effects of the Dilaudid had begun to wear off Reid and he was returning to consciousness and lucidity. The UnSub was still sitting there, watching him, a sick smile on his face. "You like that, don't you?" he laughed.
Reid didn't answer. Even if he hadn't been in too much pain and still too out of it to talk, he didn't want to admit to himself, nor give the UnSub the satisfaction that it was true.
The UnSub had heard the hesitation in Reid's voice, and moved closer to him. He pressed a finger down on each of the holes in Reid's arm, like the ghost of the needle that had injected into him. Reid shivered, his body aching for more of the drug. The UnSub laughed. "Don't worry," he said. "If you miraculously manage to live through this, and find out who I am, you'll know when to find them."
After watching Reid shake uncontrollably for a moment, the UnSub picked up the knife and moved towards him again. The look of intense anger had returned to his face, as if he had remembered something. "It's time to make you pay," he hissed.
"Pay for what?" Reid whispered, his voice weak.
"For what you did to your mother!" the UnSub yelled.
"My mother?" Reid couldn't think. The loss of blood and the drugs had combined to dull his brain. "What did I ever do to her?"
"You sent her away! You chose not to help her, and sent her away!"
"Sending her away was helping her," Reid croaked.
"That is it!" the UnSub cried. He lunged forward, plunging the knife deep into Reid's stomach. Reid cried out, screaming louder and louder and louder. He had never felt as much pain as he did right now, and he knew he was losing a lot of blood. Too much to hold on for much longer.
As Reid drew closer to unconsciousness, he could hear a thundering above and around him, almost like… footsteps. Reid hung onto that sound, letting it fill him and keep him conscious. It was his team. They had come for him. It had to be them. And he would see JJ again…
As this thought filled him, the door to the room flew open and Reid's four fellow team members burst in, followed by a SWAT team, all with their guns trained on the UnSub. Reid had never been so happy to see them in his life- Hotch, Prentiss, Morgan and JJ, all of them looking at the UnSub with extreme hatred on their faces.
The UnSub, however, wanted to finished what he had started. He brought the knife back down towards Reid, but it never made it there- a gun had gone off, and he had fallen to the floor. With half-closed eyes, Reid studied his team to see who had made the shot- Morgan. Of course it had been Morgan.
"I knew you'd come for me," Reid whispered. He smiled- and then winced in pain. His body went slack as his eyes closed.
"Spence!" JJ cried, lowering her gun and running towards him. She took his hand, squeezed it, and screamed his name to try and wake him, while Hotch ordered the EMT's into the room. Morgan had to ease Reid's hand out of JJ's grip as the paramedics rushed him into the ambulance. JJ and Morgan glanced at Hotch. When he nodded at them, all four team members rushed out of the room. Nobody could stand to be in the room where Reid was tortured and where his blood covered that table and the floor.
Hotch watched as the paramedics loaded Reid into the ambulance, but he stopped them before they could close the door. He turned to look at JJ. "Go with them," he said. "He's going to need somebody there with him, especially if he wakes up."
JJ nodded and jumped into the back of the ambulance before the EMT's slammed the door behind her. The rest of the team piled into one SUV, and drove after the ambulance towards the hospital.
JJ barely felt the ambulance moving as they raced towards the hospital. She barely heard the sirens wailing. All she could feel was Reid's limp hand squeezed between both of hers. All she could hear was the monitor signalling Reid's weak, thready heartbeat.
"Spencer, it's me," JJ whispered. "It's JJ. Please wake up. Please. There's something I want to tell you, but I can't tell you until you wake up. Please." Reid remaining silent and unmoving. JJ didn't know what else to do.
Suddenly, the heartbeat monitor began emitting one long, loud beep. JJ was pushed away from Reid as one of the paramedics rushed forward and began performing CPR.
"What's going on?" JJ yelled. "What's wrong with him?" The paramedic didn't answer. "Tell me! Please!"
"His heart has stopped. He's lost too much blood," the paramedic replied shortly.
"Are we almost at the hospital?" JJ asked.
The second paramedic stopped the ambulance. "We're here now."
He ran around to the back of the ambulance and threw the doors open. The paramedics pushed the gurney with Reid lying on top out of the ambulance and into the hospital, with a paramedic on top of him performing compressions. JJ climbed out of the ambulance and came face to face with the rest of the team and Garcia.
"What happened?" Hotch asked.
"His… his heart stopped just before we got here," JJ managed to get out. "They said he's lost too much blood."
Garcia's hand flew to her mouth and the rest of the team stood there in stunned silence. "We've got to go in there," Hotch finally spoke up. "We can't just stand out here." Without waiting for any responses, Hotch turned and walked into the hospital. The rest of the team followed.
Hotch flashed his badge to the nurse at the front desk. "SSA Aaron Hotchner. One of my agents was just brought in here. We need to know what's going on."
The nurse sighed. "Hold on. I'll page one of his doctors." The nurse spoke a few words into the phone. "He's in surgery at the moment. There's no other information available."
"Can we at least speak to his doctor?" Hotch demanded.
The nurse looked slightly annoyed now. "If you sit down, I will get him when he is available."
Knowing they could be in for a long wait, the team took the nurse's advice and sat down. Hotch and Prentiss were their usual selves, sitting up straight and alert, but the anguish of not knowing was evident on their faces. Morgan was sitting next to Garcia, his arm around her in comfort. JJ sat wringing her hands, silently telling herself that Spencer would survive, that he would get through this mess and survive.
It was a long time before a middle-aged man dressed in surgical gear came into the waiting area. He was covered in blood. Reid's blood.
The team stood up as the doctor approached. "How is he?" said Hotch. He'd been doing all the talking since they'd found Reid, probably because he was the only one that could talk with a level voice right now.
"It was touch-and-go there for a very, very long time. We had to perform several blood transfusions- in fact we will have to give him another one in a few days- and treat all of his wounds, not to mention try not to give him any medication that would react with the Dilaudid in his system," the doctor explained.
"But he's okay, right?" said Prentiss, speaking with an uncharacteristic, nervous tone in her voice.
The doctor breathed out a long sigh. "He's sedated for now, so he's unconscious. While he may wake up soon, he may be out for a while. We're also going to want to monitor his condition very carefully. But yes, he will be okay."
Every member of the team gave an exclamation of relief, and finally allowed smiles to creep onto their faces. Morgan and Garcia embraced, while Hotch murmured something about calling Gideon and Haley with the news and walking away. JJ, however, turned to the doctor. "Can I see him?" she asked.
The members of the BAU, minus Hotch, turned to look at JJ. "He's my best friend. I need to see him. Please," she begged the doctor.
"You can see him, alone," the doctor replied. "But remember, he is still unconscious, and he has sustained very serious injuries."
JJ nodded. "I know," she said. The doctor motioned to her, and she followed him into Spencer's private room.
Despite the bruises that marred Spencer's face, he looked almost peaceful as he lay sleeping on the white bed. The doctor left JJ as she sat in the seat beside Spencer's bed and took his hand, squeezing it as she had done in the ambulance.
"How could you worry me so much, Spence?" JJ whispered. "How could you leave me thinking you were dead? I need you, Spence." She tenderly brushed a few strands of hair off Spencer's face. "More importantly, how could you not tell me what I had said that night? How could you believe it wasn't true?" JJ gave a small laugh. She couldn't believe she was doing this here and now, where this time it could be Spencer who didn't remember a thing she had said. "Because all of it was true. Every single word I said. Especially the last part. I love you, Spencer Reid."
JJ heard a small moan; so quiet she thought she could have been imagining it. "Spence?" she said. "Spence, was that you?"
"JJ…" That time JJ definitely heard something.
"Spence, are you coming back to me?" JJ whispered.
"I could… never leave… you," Spencer managed to get out. JJ felt a light squeeze of her hand, and looked at Spencer's face to see his eyes flickering open. "JJ… so… beautiful…"
JJ's heart almost stopped. Was Spencer saying what JJ thought he was?
"Ssh, Spence, you don't have to speak," JJ said.
Spencer shook his head, slowly, to each side. "Let me…" he whispered. "Before I fall asleep again… make sure you… tell me what I said if I- if I forget."
"Of course I will," JJ promised, knowing she meant it.
"I… I love you JJ. The only reason I… I'm alive is you."
A/N: Aw, who knew Reid could be so sweet and sentimental? *sniffle* Realised halfway through writing that I hadn't mentioned whether Gideon knew what had happened to Reid, so I hope you caught what I threw in there! Also, I've been thinking of writing a series of fics about Reid/Morgan (that yes, will be slash) with the multitude of ideas that have been racing around my head. Let me know what you think of the idea! As always, please review!