Chapter 13

The door burst open.

"FBI! Get away from her!" Hotch yelled, as he and his team ran full speed down the basement steps.

But as soon as Christopher had heard the door, he had gotten off of Olivia and, in one swift motion, pulled her into a standing position. He pulled the gun from his back pocket and held it under her chin.

"Not so fast agents," Christopher warned. All their guns were trained on him, but none had a clear shot with him holding Olivia in front of him as a shield.

"Let my sister go," Reid said as Christopher eyed him with recognition.

Her eyes began to flutter open, as she slowly regained consciousness.

The first thing that she saw was her brother standing less than ten feet in front of her, with a gun trained in her direction.

He'd found her.

Reid's concentration was fractured – he was so focused on the Unsub but when he saw his sister open her eyes, Reid felt like he could breathe again for the first time in a week.

It felt so good to see her. But they were far from out of the woods. Olivia also wasn't looking too good – barely conscious, she was bruised and covered in blood.

Olivia began to support her own weight as she woke up, standing up without the help of Christopher, who still had his arm wrapped around her chest and the gun against her head. His grip loosened as he felt her regaining her ability to stand on her own.

"Spence," she whispered.

He looked over at her and their eyes met.

"Christopher, don't do this," Reid begged. "She's not Rachael. She's not the one you want."

"She's mine!" He insisted, pulling Olivia closer.

"Spence. Morgan," she started, looking back and forth between the two.

"Liv it's okay, just relax," Morgan cautioned her.

"It's alright. I know how this goes," Olivia reassured them, trying to stay calm while also trying to catch her breath still. Her voice was raspy and quiet from being almost strangled to death. In the back of her mind, she was surprised that with his force, he hadn't crushed her trachea.

She got questioning looks from all of the team members. "You didn't have to come," she said. "I belong to him. Don't I… Don't I belong to you?" she questioned, turning her face toward her captor.

She could see the flicker in his eyes – the one that showed he was hovering between the lines of reality and delusion. She didn't have to be a profiler to know he was in the midst of a complete psychotic break.

The team stood still, unsure of what was transpiring in front of them. For a split second, Morgan actually considered whether or not Olivia had suffered from a mental break of her own.

Christopher began nodding his head, evidently getting caught up in his fantasies. His delusions were becoming too strong to deny, and any confirmation of his fantasies was enough to drown out his anger from merely minutes ago. The team could see him struggling with his thoughts.

"Do you expect me to believe you now? After what you said…"

"How could you not trust me? I trust you… I was angry that you didn't believe me all those other times I told you," she said.

"But what about Andrew?" he said. "How could you?" He tightened his grip a bit more on her, and Liv shuddered.

"I got rid of him," she breathed. "He's gone. You're the one I want," she claimed, almost gagging on her own words. Olivia could tell she had him where she needed him.

"Then why are they here?' he gestured toward the team.

"They don't understand what we have. I can make them go away if you want. You can have me once they leave," Olivia bargained. "They won't bother us again."

He was too far gone to think rationally and Olivia was taking advantage of it.

She could see how he was contemplating the idea.

"Spence, it's time for you guys to go home. You don't need to be here," she looked him in the eye. Reid was trying to read her, but he was coming up empty.

"You and Morgan have done enough for me. I don't need you here anymore," Olivia had Christopher where she needed him. Now she just needed to get Reid and Morgan on the same page as her.

"You heard her, agents. Go on," Christopher said, nodding in the direction of the stairs.

"Wait," Olivia said. "I just need to say something. My brother needs to know. Spence… Remember that day that I spent with you and Morgan? Back in the springtime? Out in the field by the tracks?"

Reid and Morgan stared at her, remembering that day well. They were teaching her self-defense. Morgan had been the Unsub, and was demonstrating to her how to break out of his grasp.

"I remember the first thing you guys taught me," she smiled.

Christopher was getting impatient, "Enough is enough. Make them go," he whispered in her ear angrily.

"Alright, let's start off with the easiest, most effective way to get out of someone's hold," Morgan said. "So easy, yet the perp never expects it."

Reid had been sitting on the bench watching Morgan teach Liv. Liv had asked Morgan for self-defense help – she'd always wanted to learn and now she had the perfect teachers.

"Alright, what is it?" Liv asked.

"Dead weight. When they got you in a hold, when they're most vulnerable, make yourself dead weight. Chances are, they won't have a tight enough grasp and won't be ready to catch you when you go down. They're not anticipating you to drop like a sack of bricks."

"I remember. Don't you?" Liv said, maintaining eye contact between her brother and Morgan. Morgan's eyes lightened as the memory flashed back to him just in time. Just then, she let her legs give out underneath her as she threw all her force straight down. Down to the floor, slipping through Christopher's grasp. She hadn't even hit the ground yet before she heard two shots being fired.

Because Reid and Morgan were the only two who now knew where she was going with her story, they were ready to fire the shot when Olivia dropped. They had hit him straight in the chest, and Christopher dropped straight to the floor.

Reid was the first to his sister, breaking down in tears as he hugged his sister. Liv was not far behind him with the tears and they stayed like that until the paramedics took over and began their work on assessing her injuries. Reid didn't want to let her go, but he felt Morgan's hand on his shoulder.

"It's over, Kid. It's all over." Morgan reassured him.

"Reid, everything is alright now. Olivia is going to be fine, why don't you come sit down with us?" Garcia tried to reason with Reid who had been pacing back and forth for about an hour and a half in the hallway of the hospital where his sister was being checked out by the doctors. His heart still hadn't stopped racing and even though in his head, he understood that she was safe, not being able to see her was giving him overwhelming anxiety. He had just gotten her back and she had been whisked away by the doctors and he wasn't allowed to see her until they were finished.

Reid couldn't sit down – his adrenaline wouldn't stop pumping through his veins. He paced back and forth, his right hand every so often stimming against his leg in apparent stress. Morgan and Garcia were watching him closely.

He had been on his feet for a long time now – way longer than the doctor would ever allow. He'd also just taken down an Unsub – definitely not something the doctor would be happy about if he knew. Oops. They would all probably be in trouble for allowing Reid to do any of that. Ever since Morgan and Garcia had accompanied Reid to the hospital, they were trying to get him to sit down, but each time he refused.

Every so often, he would stop walking when a coughing fit would overtake him. The physical exertion had done a number on his pneumonia, and Reid was secretly having issues taking full breaths again. He figured he could get rest later and it wouldn't be an issue that anybody would have to find out about. Right now, he couldn't think about sitting still.

Reid's thoughts were racing in his head, but despite his body being in overdrive, he could feel just how tired he really was. He had over exerted himself, but he didn't care – he had his sister back. Alive. So why did he still have this tightness in his chest?

"Reid, honey, come sit down," Garcia was sitting next to Morgan in the waiting room, which thankfully, they had to themselves. "You're still sick, you know that."

Just then, it was as if someone had hit Reid in the back of the head with a hammer – his head seemed to split in pain. It took Reid by complete surprise and he didn't have the chance to hide it from his teammates. His hand went straight to his forehead, his face scrunched up in pain, and an exasperated gasp escaped from his mouth. His other hand was against the wall, trying to steady himself.

"Reid! Reid, what's wrong?" Morgan had jumped up immediately and was at Reid's side. Reid weakly tried pushing Morgan away with one arm and attempted to shake him off, "I'm fine… Really… I'm fine," Reid said between breaths. His heart was pounding violently against his chest. Reid was gasping for air – the initial bout of pain had knocked the wind out of him, not helping his pneumonia.

At this point, Reid had his eyes closed and his head felt like it was going to explode. He couldn't even listen to what Morgan and Garcia were trying to say to him. He was in so much pain so suddenly that he couldn't quite stand straight.

Morgan and Garcia were each holding one his arms so that Reid wouldn't take a fall. Reid's thoughts were coming and going, no longer forming fully. He didn't really know what was happening anymore other than the fact that he knew was doubled over in pain and there was no hiding it.

He willed the pain to stop and couldn't control the small whimpers that slipped out every time he exhaled. Garcia was stroking his hair with her other hand and gently talking to him but he couldn't make out what she was saying – he knew she was trying to comfort him. He could vaguely feel Morgan's hand on his chest, trying to keep him from falling forward onto the floor.

Reid was only partially aware that the tightness in his chest was starting to completely restrict his ability to breathe. There was a heaviness weighing on top of his lungs, and Reid couldn't figure out which ailment he should try to focus on more – his inability to breathe or the excruciating pain. Neither was preferable to the other.

He felt Morgan and Garcia gently nudge him, trying to get him to one of the seats. Reid attempted to take a step, but his body wouldn't allow him to. Once again, he was in sudden darkness, free from pain, and he gladly slipped into an all too familiar unconsciousness as felt his legs give out underneath him.