Spencer Reid/Derek Morgan
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. Any characters or related settings are not mine and belong to CBS and Jeff Davis unless otherwise stated.
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The scarred gunman threw Spencer into the middle with the other six chosen hostages, and a booted foot quickly met his ribcage, driving the air out of his lungs, and he coughed as he rolled onto his side. He felt his messenger bag being ripped over his head, and as his head fell, it connected harshly with the ground, sending red pain flashing through his vision. He gulped in air that burned his ribs as he struggled to sit and blinked to clear his vision as he looked up to see the gunmen pulling his credentials from the bag. They turned to him. The smallest of the group, a rat-faced man with a straggly beard and stained t-shirt, peered at him with malicious eyes.
"A Fed, huh? That could be fun."
The one with the scar slapped him around the back of the head, earning him a squawk and a glare before the smaller man backed away, handing over the credentials as he did so.
"Shut up, idiot. He's a cop, means we're done for. You can't just take a cop hostage ad get away with it. This ends here."
Spencer swallowed at the man's words and looked around the tent. All around the, people were hugging their children tighter as tears crept down their faces, and Spencer closed his eyes in relief that Henry was free. At least he wouldn't be caught in what was about to happen.
The scarred one jerked his head in their direction.
"Grab them."
Spencer felt himself hauled off the ground, and found himself face to face with his original captor. He watched the man's lips as he growled at him, the scar stretching tight as teeth bared and hot breath fanned across his face.
"I'm gonna enjoy shooting you, kid."
Then they were being herded out of the tent, each gunman with his own hostage until they stood in a line in front of the surrounding crowd of police officers and FBI agents, the rest of the hostages still in the tent behind them. Spencer looked ahead and saw his team gathered around Hotch in front of them, Henry clutched tightly in JJ's arms, something that made him smile a little until he saw the devastated expression on Derek's face. He knew it must have been killing him to watch the gunmen and be unable to do anything to stop them, but just as he went to smile at him, the man holding onto him spoke up.
"If you try and shoot any of us, our friends inside the tent and going to start taking potshots at the rest of our hostages. We're using these as examples. They tried standing against us, and we're gonna show you what happens when we don't get our way."
Spencer frowned. There were seven gunmen out of the tent. That meant there were no more in the tent; the gunman was bluffing. He tried to shake his head to let the team know he was lying, but received a hit to the back of the head by his captor's gun for his efforts. Looking back up, he saw Derek being held back by Rossi and Hotch, and JJ and Garcia crying silently as the gunman at the end began speaking.
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"This one begged for us to let her and her kiddies go."
Derek watched at a rat-faced gunman held a gun to the head of a middle aged woman who had her eyes closed and was crying. He smirked down at her before stepping back and shooting her in the back. The crack of the gunshot was loud in the sunny afternoon air, and they all jumped at the harsh sound before the muted thump of the woman's body hitting the grass followed. Derek saw Spencer pale and flinch, and wanted nothing more than to take him in his arms and hold him until the danger had passed. He felt Hotch and Rossi gripping his arms tight to stop him from charging forward, and Garcia had her arms wrapped around his back, her face pressed into his back as she cried. To his right, JJ had Henry's face pressed into her neck and Emily was hugging them close as if to protect Henry from hearing what was going on.
The gunmen went on down the line, from the seventeen year old boy who had told them they wouldn't get away with it to the older man stood beside Spencer who had tried tackling one of the gunmen shortly before. With every gunshot and every fallen body, Spencer got paler, and looked more and more anxious, and when it came to his turn, he locked eyes with Derek and didn't let go.
The man behind him chuckled darkly.
"And this one. Well, first he snuck a little brat out of the back of the tent-" he hit Spencer across the back of the head with his gun again, holding him up to stop him from collapsing "-and then we find out he's a federal agent. How does it feel, to have one of your own in our little line up? How does it feel to be powerless, Agent Hotchner? How does it feel to know he's going to die?"
The gunman stepped back and laughed again, putting space between him and Spencer before he levelled his gun with Spencer's back. He looked around at the team, meeting each pair of eyes with a cold satisfaction before he cleared his throat and the team saw his eyes zero in on Spencer's back.
Spencer locked eyes with Derek, and his mouth formed words as the crack of a gunshot echoed through the park.
I love you.
Spencer's body jerked, and his eyes shot wide before he stumbled forward a step, and he pressed a hand to his chest. Beneath his hand, just below his right collarbone, his white shirt began to blossom a red stain over his right pectoral, and he fell to his knees with a gasp before the gunman planted a foot in his back and kicked him into the ground.
Derek threw himself forward with a pained cry "Spencer!" Penelope gripped him tighter and her cries intensified as Derek's heart shattered and he felt his knees give him and drop him to the ground, taking Gracia and nearly Hotch and Rossi with him. His whole world narrowed on the slender man lying in a growing blood stain on the grass in front of them, until a shout came from the police officers to the side of the perimeter as the gunmen raised their guns towards the crowds.
"Fire!"
Several shots fired at once, and the seven gunmen fell where they stood, and the crowd held their breath, but there were no gunshots from inside. Instead, shaking civilians began to creep out of the tent one by one, holding their children close, as it became apparent that there were indeed no more gunmen other than the ones who had been standing outside. Derek pulled himself free of the arms holding him and rushed to Spencer's side, clinging to the idea of a miracle.
Rolling the younger man onto his back, Derek choked at the sight of him bleeding and unconscious, and pushed the hair away from the young genius' face before a small whimper drew him back. Shaking fingers came to lie over the pulse point in Spencer's neck, and the faint shuddering pulse that beat there almost caused Derek to collapse where he knelt. Choking back a sob, he started shouting.
"Medic! Medic! I've got a pulse! He's alive! Someone help me!"
There was a sudden flurry of activity, and Derek found himself being pulled back by Emily and Garcia as medical staff swarmed around Spencer's prone figure. He caught one of the paramedics by the shoulder and caught his attention, only half sure of his actions as he kept his eyes on Spencer the entire time. He didn't elaborate anything, but instead gave only one instruction.
"No narcotics."
Derek stood with tears in his eyes that he refused to let fall as he watched his partner being loaded onto a stretcher and rushed away, and when he moved to follow them, Hotch stepped in front of him.
"There's no room in the ambulance, Morgan."
He felt anger spiking. He tried to push past but found himself held back again. He turned his red eyes towards the team leader once again, trying to convey without words how much he needed to be with Spencer, but the dark haired man seemed immovable. The fight seemed to flag from Derek's body as he slumped where he stood, and he had almost let go of the tears in his eyes when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Rossi smiling at him, and when the Italian nodded toward the road, Derek felt hope singing in his veins.
"Come on, Morgan; I'll run you to the hospital. You too, JJ; they'll want to check Henry over."
The two FBI agents looked at one another and smiled, JJ still holding a now quiet Henry close, and they quickly followed Rossi out of the part to his car. When they reached the vehicle, JJ and Henry climbed in, but Derek waited to face Rossi before they drove off. Facing the older man, Derek swallowed hard before he could speak, and when he did, he did so looking the other man in the eye.
"Rossi, thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me."
The older Italian smiled. He rested a hand on Derek's shoulder as he spoke, his dark eyes warm and understanding.
"I think I do. You guys are all my family, and none of us want to see Spencer hurt. Hotch wasn't trying to be harsh when he wouldn't let you go; he just knew the ambulance would be hectic enough as it was. We'll get there five minutes after the ambulance, I promise; our genius will be back on form in no time, you'll see."
Another smile had Rossi pulling Derek in for a quick hug which the darker man clung to for a moment before they both pulled away and climbed into the car, Rossi glancing back in the mirror towards JJ and Henry, who was clapping his hands against his mother's with a solemn expression on his face. As they began driving, Derek stared out of the window, but was quickly distracted by a small voice from behind him.
"Uncle Derek?"
He turned in his seat to see Henry looking up at him, blonde hair falling over his face before JJ hooked it back behind his ear.
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Is Uncle Spence going to be okay? He didn't look okay."
Derek swallowed hard as he went to answer, because suddenly his throat was tight and tears were threatening to choke him, but after swallowing hard for a moment or two, he spoke in a hushed, slightly choked voice.
"Yeah, buddy, he'll be fine. It's your Uncle Spence; he's not going to leave you, is he? Besides, you never managed that magic show, right? He's got to be around for that."
The little boy watched him for a moment, and Derek suddenly saw how people found it so hard to lie to four year olds; they looked straight through you at times, and it was worrying how doubtful he was that Henry believed him. But eventually, the little boy nodded and looked out of the window.
"I guess you're right. Uncle Spence likes magic shows."
Morgan smiled sadly before turning back around after catching JJ's worried eye. As he watched the buildings flash past the car window, he sighed under his breath. Henry was right; Spencer did like magic shows, and it seemed to Derek that he may need a little magic to help him through.
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Beeping and voices surrounded him as he felt the ground beneath him moving. A pinch in his hand and the steady cool of something flooding through his veins before his head felt light and dizzy, but he heard his name being called before a list of medical conditions were called out to somewhere behind him.
He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids seemed to be made of lead and stubbornly refused to move. He flexed his fingers, trying to reach out, but when they encountered only scratchy sheets, he wanted to frown.
Where was he?
Where was Derek?
What was happening?
Spencer felt himself drifting away, but before he faded completely, he thought a single word managed to escape his mouth.
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