DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds, nor and I making any money from this story.
A/N: Thanks again everyone who reviewed and added! I know originally I said this was set between series three and four but I changed it :P Its' set anytime after JJ comes back off maternity leave. Doesn't really matter much, but thought I'd let you know. You'll see why.
WANTED – Chapter Five
Garcia arrived at her apartment block just as a cab pulled up. She parked her car and made her way over to pay the driver when she saw Reid sitting in the back. The driver thanked her and drove off.
"Well that was good timing." She said, turning to face her friend. "Oh my God, Reid." She said as she took in his appearance. He looked paler than normal and was breathing heavily. His skin looked clammy and she noticed he was holding his right arm across his body to his left side. "What..." She looked at his hand and noticed it was covered in blood. "What happened?" She asked, tears filling her eyes at seeing her friend in such a way.
"Can we..." Reid winced a little. "Can we go inside, please?"
"Erm..." Garcia looked from Reid to the door then back. "Yea... yea. Come on." She put her arm gently around his waist, supporting him as they walked to the door. She fumbled with her keys for a few seconds before finding the right one and opening the door. She guided Reid to the sofa and felt another wave of tears fill her eyes when he hissed in pain. He closed his eyes and rested his head back.
"Reid..." She said softly, kneeling down in front of him. "How did you get hurt? What happened, sweetheart?" She gently placed her hand on his knee.
"I..." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "I got shot."
Garcia stared at him for a few moments before registering what he'd said." Sho... Shot?" She choked out. "Oh my Gog, oh my God..." She took a deep breath trying to calm herself. "Ok, ok... we have to take you to hospital." She said, standing.
"No!" Reid said, grabbing her hand and wincing at the movement. "I can't go to the..." He coughed a little. "The hospital. Not yet."
"Reid," She knelt back down. "You're shot and you're bleeding and you're hurt and you need help."
Reid shook his head, letting go of her hand. "It's not that bad." He said quietly.
"Reid, I've been shot. I know it hurts." She said, her voice calmer than before. "We have to go."
Reid shook his head again.
Garcia sighed. She wanted nothing more than to pull him into a big hug and tell him everything would be ok. She wanted to take him to the hospital. She wanted to rewind time so none of this had ever happened. She wiped away the lonesome tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Being stubborn is going to kill you." She said gently. She knew why he didn't want to go. He'd be arrested and now they thought he'd killed a Police Officer that would not end well for him. She reluctantly resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't be getting him to a hospital anytime soon. "Will you at least let me look at it?" She asked, trying her best to smile reassuringly at him.
Reid thought for a moment or two before nodding. He knew deep down that he should be in a hospital and that Garcia was right. But he knew he'd be arrested, and that, without any evidence or him being about to account for his whereabouts they'd lock him away. Or think he was insane. Neither option was too appealing. He knew that the team were working on things and he trusted them to figure it out.
"Honey," Garcia said, bringing him out of his Thoughts. "You're gonna have to take your jacket off at least." She said softly.
Reid nodded. He sat forward slowly, biting his lip as it made his side scream in silent protest. He unzipped it and Garcia helped him pull it off his arms.
"Oh my God, Reid." Garcia said as she saw his blood soaked t-shirt for the first time. "Please..." She said, letting a few tears fall from her eyes. "Let me take you to the hospital."
Reid breathed heavily for a few minutes. "Later." He said quietly. He closed his eyes trying to block out the pain that was radiating from his side.
Garcia stared at him for a few seconds. "Ok..." He let out a breath. "Ok. I'll go see what I have in the medicine cabinet. Erm..." She stood, not really sure what to do. "You... you'll have to take your shirt off. I erm..." She looked around again. "Medicine cabinet." She said again, before leaving the room.
She returned a few minutes later with her arms full of supplies. "Ok," She placed them down on the floor next to the sofa and knelt down next to them. "I have some bandages left over that I was given from my shoulder. Erm... some antiseptic. A few pain killers. But that's it." She looked up at him and noticed he was still wearing his t-shirt, although now he was leaning forwards with his arms wrapped around his middle. "Reid, if the..." She cleared her throat as yet more tears threatened to fall. "If the bullets still in there we really, and I mean really, need to go to the hospital. Ok?"
He raised his head to look at her and nodded.
"Do you need me to help with your shirt?" She asked. He nodded again. "Ok." She took a deep breath. Why had it been her he'd called? She was no good in these sorts of situations. Prentiss, she'd have been good. She'd have managed to make him go the hospital. Morgan, he would have done so too. She gently pulled his t-shirt up, making Reid cry out a little as the movement jarred his injured side. She stopped immediately. "Ok, ok..." She thought frantically trying to come up with a plan. Any plan. "Scissors." She said to herself, disappearing to the kitchen. She returned with a pair of kitchen scissors and began cutting his shirt away. "You know, I though the first time I saw you half naked would be a little more romantic than this if I'm honest." She looked up at him smiling a little and was glad to see he was smiling also.
She set to work cleaning the wound as best she could with what she had. She tried to ignore the hisses and groans than Reid tried in vein to hide as she worked. She sat down next to him to clean off his back. Luckily – if that word could be used in this situation – the bullet had gone through. At least it wasn't still inside.
"That's the best I can do." She said, taping a dressing to his back. "I'll go see if I've got anything for you to wear." She gave him a kiss on the forehead and left again. She returned a few minutes later with an old t-shirt. "I use this to sleep in." She said, helping him pull the dark blue and over washed t-shirt over his head. She headed into the kitchen to fetch him a glass of water.
"Thank you." Reid called, gently leaning back into the sofa. Although his side still hurt he felt better just for having had it cleaned. It had almost stopped bleeding too which was hopefully a good sign. "What did you want to show me?" He took the water off her and drank some of it, not realising how thirsty he was.
"Little sips," Garcia said, taking the glass off him and placing it on the table next to him. She went to her bag and pulled out a USB stick. She then fetched her laptop form behind the sofa and started it up. "You ok?" She asked, knowing it was a stupid question but wanting to make sure all the same.
Reid nodded before letting out a sigh. "I will be." He said, trying his best to smile at her.
She smiled back before turning to face her laptop. "Ok," She said. She had calmed down a little, but she still wanted to just shove Reid in her car and drive him to see a doctor. She fought the urge and concentrated on the task at hand. "This is the video from your apartment." She said, playing it from a few seconds before Reid appeared.
The two watched as Reid opened the door and disappeared out of sight into the building. A few seconds later a man appeared out of the shadows. He was about the same height as Reid but much broader. He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. As he approached the camera his hand went up and suddenly the image turned black. "Suspicious, eh?" Garcia said, looking at Reid who nodded. "But then we saw this." She started to play the video from the other apartment block.
"Where did you get this?" Reid asked, his voice quiet and soft.
"From Bedworth Heights Apartments." Garcia told him. "This is the guy who rented the apartment Hotch and Morgan found you in. It was rented to Charles Thomas."
"The guy next door called me Charlie." Reid said, resting his head in his right hand and closing his eyes.
Garcia fought down the panic that rose in her when she saw Reid grimace in pain again. "Erm... yea." She turned back to her laptop. "The guy," She pulled up the two still images next to each other. "It's the same guy. I... I think."
Reid opened his eyes and looked at the screen. "He's..." He furrowed his brow, confused. "So I'm not crazy?" He asked, looking at Garcia and sounding hopeful.
Garcia let another tear fall down her cheek and smiled. "No, sweetheart." She said, fighting the urge to hug him in case she hurt him more. "We think you're being set up."
A smile spread across his face. "I'm not crazy." He repeated before he turned to look at her. "We?"
"Us." She said, "The team." She smiled sadly. "We just don't know who by. The guy who did kill the girl and Officer Rothbarth..."
"He's dead?" Reid asked, looking away from her.
Garcia nodded sadly.
Reid sighed and looked back at her. "Can you..." He coughed a shut his eyes tight against the pain that flared up in his side. He hissed through gritted teeth. "Erm... can you zoom in on his face?" He asked, pointing at the man on the laptop screen.
Garcia pressed a few buttons and the man's face appeared much closer.
"Oh my God..." Reid muttered. He looked at Garcia then back to the screen. "It's Officer Clarridge."
"What!" Garcia shrieked looking at the screen. "The cop that got shot!"
"You have to tell Hotch." Reid said, "You have to go back to the BAU and..."
"I can't leave you, Reid. You're hurt and you..."
"Garcia," Reid interrupted. "You have to tell Hotch. I'll be ok."
Garcia looked at the screen then at Reid and nodded. She disconnected the USB stick and put it back in her bag. "I'll be back as soon as I can, or I'll send someone over." Reid when to protest but she cut him off. " If you need me, you phone me." She said, sternly. She handed him a blanket from off the other sofa and kissed him on the forehead again. "You stay here, and stay safe. You promise?"
He nodded. Garcia hated to leave him. He was hurt and he needed help. But if she stayed here, then she wouldn't be able to tell Hotch they knew who was framing Reid. She could just call him, but she couldn't tell him Reid was at her apartment. And why would she be looking at the case if her place was flooded? She'd have to go back to the BAU and pretend she'd made the connection on her computer their. "Ok," She said, sighing and picking up her keys. "You... You just be ok. Ok?" He nodded at her again and she left.
Reid waited until he'd heard the front door click shut and rested back on the sofa. God his side hurt. At least now they had a suspect. He groaned as he tried to lie down on the sofa, managing it eventually. He felt tired. He just wanted to sleep and wake up and find this had all been some weird dream.
(((((())))))
"Hey, Garcia!" JJ called from the break room as she saw the tech enter the bull pen. "You're back." She walked over to the other woman. "God, Garcia," She said, looking at he hands. "What happened?"
Garcia looked down at her hands. They were covered in dried blood. Reid's blood. "Oh my God." She said. She turned and ran to the bathroom.
She ran over to the nearest sink and began washing her hands, crying as she did so. JJ quickly followed her in. "Garcia?" She asked gently. "Where did you go?"
"Home." Garcia sobbed. "That bit was true." She continued scrubbing her hands.
JJ walked to stand next to her. "Garcia..."
"Reid called me." Garcia said, turning the tap off and resting her hands on the edge of the sink. She turned to look at the blonde woman. "I... he..." She shook her head. "He asked me to look at the CCTV from his apartment entrance and there was a guy who followed him in but he blacked out the camera. He..." She started crying again. "It was the same guy that rented the apartment."
"Where's the blood from, Garcia?" JJ asked.
Garcia began to cry even harder. "Reid..." She looked down at her hands again. "He got shot." She managed to sob out.
JJ tried to speak but couldn't. "He..." She tried but nothing came out.
"Is he ok?" Prentiss' voice came from over by the door. The two women turned to look at her questioningly. "I saw you two come running in here and I followed you." She looked down at the floor as if ashamed she'd been caught spying. "Sorry."
Garcia tried her best to wipe away some of her tears from her mascara stained cheeks. "I did what I could but he won't go to a hospital. He's at my apartment."
"You left him?" JJ asked. Her eyes were starting to fill with tears but she refused to let them fall. Falling apart wouldn't help Spencer.
"I have to show Hotch the video. Reid ...ID'd the guy as... as Officer Clarridge." She managed to say between hitched breaths.
"Clarridge?" Prentiss asked. "He was one of the arresting officers."
"Makes sense." JJ said. "He must have drugged Reid or knocked him out. He shot Rothbarth, moved Reid then shot himself to make his story believable." He sighed. "One of us needs to be with Reid." She said running a hand through her hair.
"Why don't we just tell Hotch?" Prentiss asked, looking puzzled. "If he's hurt he needs help."
"I tried to tell him that," Garcia said. "But he doesn't want to implicate any of us till we can prove he didn't do anything."
"I'll go," JJ said, looking at Garcia. "I'll tell Hotch that Will is out of town and Henry's babysitter's sick or something. That was I can get out of here for the rest of the day." She looked at Prentiss. "I'm not really doing much here anyways. Apart from getting mad at everyone for saying Reid's crazy." She glanced at Prentiss, who quickly looked down at the floor.
"Ok..." Garcia said, looking at herself in the mirror and attempting to make herself look presentable. "Here are my keys," She said, handing her the set. "Take care of him." She smiled sadly before leaving the bathroom. Prentiss smiled at her a little before following the tech out of the room.
(((((())))))
"I don't know how I didn't recognise him before." Hotch said, studying the two images of the man. He ran a hand down his face. "We talked to him earlier and didn't even pick up on anything."
"So do we bring him in?" Rossi asked. "I mean we got enough here to bring his statement about Reid shooting him into question."
"Morgan, you go to the hospital and pick Clarridge up." Hotch said, looking up at the younger man. He was fixated on a spot on the table, staring at it intently. "Morgan?"
"I though he did it." Morgan said, not looking up. "This morning, for a few minutes," he shook his head and looked at Hotch. "I actually let the though cross my mind that he was crazy and had killed that girl." He laughed, although it was full of sadness. "How could I do that?"
"Morgan..." Prentiss began, but was unsure of what to say.
"The though crossed my mind too," Rossi said. "I'm not proud of it but I can't pretend it didn't."
"I think it crossed everyone's mind," Garcia said. "It's understandable, I guess." She shrugged. She didn't need to say more. They all knew about Reid's Mom and that there was always the possibility, however slim, that Reid would one day find out he had inherited her illness.
"It never crossed your mind." Prentiss said, suddenly feeling guilty about questioning Reid's innocence and sanity. "Or JJ's."
"Look, what we said and what we though had happened." Hotch cut in. "We need to find Clarridge, bring him in and put an end to this."
Prentiss and Garcia shared looks. There was part of that plan Hotch had missed. They needed to get Reid to a hospital.
(((((())))))
She watched the FBI Analyst leave her apartment. She'd followed Agent Reid since he'd left the other apartment. She'd seen him get shot. She'd followed him as he ran. She'd followed him in the cab. She'd followed him for years.
Now she sat, waiting outside the apartment of his friend. She looked at her watch. The Analyst had left fifteen minutes ago. She'd almost be at Quantico now. She stood and made her way into the apartment block. She smiled to herself a little at finding the door unlocked.
She entered the apartment and walked slowly into the lounge. She smiled as she saw a sleeping - or possible unconscious - Agent Reid on the sofa. She sat on the free sofa and watched him. She'd have to wait until he woke up, otherwise this was all pointless.
(((((())))))
Ooh... Hope that was ok? Struggled with that a bit. Didn't want Garcia to freak out too much – she still had to be useful :) Hope you enjoyed!
Might not be able to update for a few days :( Me just getting better from Chicken Pox, and the twins having summer colds and the hubby having a broken collar bone (silly man broke it playing football! Or soccer... you know what I mean!) is making for an unhappy and hectic household! Will be back soon though! Don't forget me! Hehe :)