Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Author's Note(s): All I can do is say I'm sorry :-( Real life has a way of sneaking up on you! Anyway, big thanks to ssbailey, smokeylove, SLITH, tearbos, RavennaNightwind, TJ, brihana25 and Sue1313 and also to everyone else who is still reading and has managed to put up with my sporadic and erratic posting. Hope you enjoy the last chapter!
Easier to Lie
Chapter 17
Hotch lowered his gun and surveyed the surroundings with a quick sweeping glance. The unsub lay dead on the floor at Reid's feet. The poor boy had a look of utmost horror on his face as he stared immovably at the corpse.
"Hey, Reid," said Morgan, walking forward past Hotch to pull him back from the body, "You okay, man?"
Reid seemed to gulp a little before looking up at Morgan with frightened eyes, "Um…Yea I think so."
Taking in the bruises that were quickly developing on the boys face, Hotch suspected that Reid wasn't quite as okay as he was letting on. But he pushed this thought out of his mind for a moment and looked up to where JJ and Emily both sat on the floor, staring up at the long knife that had been embedded in the tall tree in between them, missing them both by a mere few inches.
JJ was the first person to gather herself. She pushed herself wearily into a standing position and then took Emily's hands and pulled her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" asked Emily, suddenly snapping out of her paralysed stupor.
"Yep, apart from the large bruise I think I'm getting from where you pushed me onto the floor," said JJ with mild tone of amusement in her voice, "How about you?"
"I'm good," said Emily with an apologetic smile. The merest flicker of understanding seemed to pass between the two women.
They then both turned to look at Hotch, who had watched the exchange with some interest. In the distance Hotch could here the sound of police sirens. When he had received a call from Emily's friend telling him that JJ and Emily had taken off into the dark after the unsub, who had conveniently kidnapped Reid, Hotch's first reaction had been to call the rest of the police force they had at their disposal. Just in case. He also had a paramedic waiting for them because at the rate things were going, it was a rare occasion when one of his team weren't injured in some way. Judging from the bruising on Reid's face, Hotch had been right.
He blinked in an effort to clear his thoughts and turned to look back at Reid, who was currently being steered off towards the sound of sirens by a determined Morgan.
"Who was he?" asked Hotch, fixing his gaze back onto Emily and JJ.
JJ shrugged, "Said his name was Dylan."
"He didn't give us a last name," added Emily.
Hotch felt himself nodding slowly. The gravity of the situation had suddenly hit him and he wasn't entirely sure what to do about it. Three of his agents could have died. Again. The sense of relief that flooded him was almost overwhelming. When he had seen the unsub with that knife, Hotch thought his heart had actually stopped. Nothing in the world could have prevented him from firing that shot to protect his team.
"You okay, Hotch?" said JJ, shooting him an odd look.
For a second, Hotch couldn't respond. But he quickly found his voice and said, "Come on, we should go with Reid to the ambulance. Are either of you hurt?"
"Nope," replied JJ firmly, "We're fine."
Hotch gave them a stiff nod and turned on his heel to follow his other agents. Behind him, he could hear JJ and Emily doing the same.
"Hey, Hotch," said Emily, speeding up to walk to beside him, "Have you seen Charlie?"
"No, but if she's still here she can follow the sound of the sirens," he said reassuringly. Emily nodded and looked just a tad guilty. He fleetingly wondered why, but decided not to pry.
"Thanks for saving us again, Hotch," said JJ from his other side, "What would we do without you?"
She grinned slightly. He disagreed with what she was saying, he was doing a terrible job of keeping his team safe, but he was glad she was in good enough spirits despite their recent trauma. It was the first genuine smile he had seen on her face for quite some time.
--
It didn't take them long to get out of those God awful woods, and JJ was intensely grateful when they finally broke through the thick foliage and out into the open air. She was ridiculously tired and right now all she could think about was going to bed, despite the fact that it was starting to get light again.
Reid was already being seen to by a paramedic, with Morgan hovering over him like an over-protective older brother. Spencer himself seemed a little shocked and was staring in front of him with widened eyes and his mouth agape. JJ couldn't believe they'd almost lost him again, things where getting just a little bit absurd now. They all needed to sit down and have a serious chat about keeping themselves in line. She wasn't sure she could cope with another episode like this. Her line of work was dangerous of course, and there was always going to be some unfortunate situations where people's lives would be in danger. But she suspected there was more they could be doing to prevent them from happening.
As they made their way over to share the details of what had happened with the local police force, an extremely irate looking Charlie stormed over to them. She glared at Emily with as much fury as she could muster.
"Don't you ever do that to me again!" she said angrily.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean…" said Emily, shifting uncomfortably.
"Oh, you've forgotten have you? Well allow me to refresh your memory," said Charlie, her voice slowly increasing in volume, causing Emily to visibly cringe and seek out JJ as though she could somehow stop this inevitable tirade, "First, you run off into the night towards the sounds of pained yelps, then after finding out that the source of these sounds were relatively harmless you decide once again to delve into the heart of darkness after more potential danger while there is a psychotic serial killer on the loose. Leaving me stranded alone in the pitch black no less!"
"Um…Well…" began Emily.
"In our defence, we did just safe Reid from a murderous killer," said JJ reasonably.
"It's true," said Emily quickly, "We did."
Charlie crossed her arms and glanced over to where Reid sat in the ambulance talking to Hotch and Morgan, she then let out a deep sigh, "All right then. I suppose I'll have to let you off just this once."
JJ smiled slightly at the look of relief that crossed Emily's face at this piece of news. Maybe it was pure exhaustion, but JJ was beginning to find this whole situation rather amusing. She was tipsy from lack of sleep.
"Hey, Jayje, you all right?" said Emily with a note of concern in her voice.
"Yes. I'm fine. I'm just glad this is all over," said JJ reassuringly, then she added, "But I'd quite like to go to bed now."
"Wouldn't we all," mumbled Emily in response.
Opening her mouth, JJ began to reply but was cut off by the sound of yet another police car pulling up to a screeching halt in front of them. JJ flinched at the noise and suddenly realised that she seemed to have developed a rather severe headache in the last couple of hours. The pain in her head increased exponentially when she saw who was getting out the car. The almost silent groan from Emily told JJ that the other woman was suffering from the same side effects, to a disease she was now thinking of as 'Regal-itis'.
A red faced, angry short man stepped out the car. Sheriff Regal surveyed all the activity around him with unbridled fury. He spotted JJ and made a beeline for her and she mentally cursed herself for standing within range of sight.
"Who's this attractive fellow?" muttered Charlie, eyeing the bulging vein on the man's forehead that looked like it was about to explode.
"Good morning, Sheriff Regal," said JJ as the man drew level with them, "Is there a problem?"
The man spluttered and squeaked ungracefully, "Yes there's a problem! Why was I not told before now what was going on? This is my case!"
"There was no time, Sheriff," said Emily diplomatically, "You were contacted as soon as someone was available to do so."
"That's just not good enough, we should have been told immediately," said Regal, now gesticulating wildly and looking rather crazed, in JJ's opinion.
"Look," Emily snapped, "We came here on your request. We did a job, and now we're leaving."
"You caught the guy then?" Regal snorted disbelievingly.
"Yes. Yes we did. He's over there in the woods," said JJ, pointing through the trees, "He's all yours. You can have him."
"You can have all the paperwork that comes with it too if you'd like. That can be arranged, can't it JJ?" said Emily, looking to JJ with a quirked eyebrow.
"Oh yes, that can certainly be done," JJ agreed, "We'll have everything sent over to your office as soon as possible Sheriff."
"But for now I suggest you go and find that body," said Emily.
"Yes, you wouldn't want him disappearing again after all," added JJ.
Regal's face had become so alarmingly red, that JJ wouldn't have been surprised if steam had started gushing from his ears followed by a high pitched squealing noise. He opened and closed his mouth like a demented goldfish and alternated between scowling at Emily and JJ, obviously unsure as to who he was angrier at.
"Go on then," said JJ finally, "You have a body to collect."
Holding his head high, Regal went to move past them in what he apparently thought was a dignified manner. JJ was having none of that though, she stuck her foot out without thinking and sent Regal crashing to the ground.
"ARGH!" he cried and he fell face first into a puddle of mud. JJ felt her mouth fall open in shock, she hadn't actually meant to trip him up. She almost didn't hear the barely restrained chuckles from the nearby agents, who were securing the scene, and she certainly didn't miss Charlie's outright laughing.
Regal leapt to his feet with a look of the highest embarrassment mixed in with a generous portion of anger, "You just assaulted me!"
Shrugging, JJ shook her head, "I didn't touch you. You just fell down."
"It's true. I saw it happen," added Emily, her voice soaked with sincerity.
"It isn't my fault if you have poor balance," JJ said with another shrug.
Dripping with mud, the horrified Regal looked to Charlie for support, who simply bore a confused expression and said, "Don't look at me. I clearly saw you trip over your own feet."
Regal threw his arms up in resentful rage and stormed away, but not before throwing JJ the filthiest look he possibly could.
After he was out of earshot, Emily turned to face JJ and said thoughtfully, "And suddenly this case all became so very worthwhile…"
"I think mud is a good look on him to be honest," replied JJ.
"Well, folks," interrupted Charlie while looking at her watch, "I have to be in work in less than three hours, so I'm afraid I shall have to depart. I don't think my clients would appreciate me turning up in clothes I wore yesterday and looking like I was just dragged backwards through a hedge."
Emily did a good job of hiding the fleeting look of disappointment in her face, but if JJ caught it then she was fairly sure that Charlie had done too.
"All right then," said Emily with a rather false smile, "Well it was nice seeing you. We should get together more often."
"We should," Charlie agreed, then she moved forward and shook JJ's hand, "It was lovely to meet you, Agent Jareau. You and Emily make an excellent team."
"You too, Doctor Winters," said JJ with a smile, "Thank you for your help."
Charlie turned to leave but Emily caught her by the arm and pulled her into a hug. Charlie stiffened for a moment but quickly returned it and shook her head in mild amusement, "Yes, Emily. I love you too."
They broke apart and Emily moved to stand beside JJ with an undeniably sad expression on her face.
"Call me when you get home," said Charlie softly, and then she turned once again and left.
They stood in silence for a minute, oblivious to the hustle and bustle that went on around them. Then Emily said quietly, "You know…You forget sometimes that this job doesn't have to be your whole life. It…It consumes you. I can't remember the last time I did something just for fun or just because I felt like it. Everything revolves around the job…"
Unable to think of anything to say to this, mainly because Emily had just expressed her own exact feelings, JJ simply reached out and took Emily's hand in her own.
"I just don't want us to turn into Gideon," said Emily with a sigh.
"We won't," said JJ definitively, "We're going to be fine, Emily."
Emily let out a short laugh and squeezed JJ's fingers in her own, "I think so too."
"Come on," said JJ, "Let's go and see how Reid is doing. I'm going to buy him a leash when we get back to the BAU…Do you know any good pet stores?"
"Ha, I know just the place. We can go before our next case."
"Fantastic."
--
"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." - George Washington
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Author's Note(s): Sorry about the rather naff ending. I'm not good at writing a decent conclusion to my stories! Something I need to work on. But I hope you liked it anyway.
ARGH£"£SKJ;L£DFKL;" have you seen the monstrosity that was the last episode of Criminal Minds!? As if they blew somebody up! I am shocked and horrified. For the record, my money is on it being Hotch. I think this is what all his personal trauma and stuff has been leading up to. I think he has to hit rock bottom before things can start to look up again. Maybe I'm wrong though –Rant Ends Here–.
Random Note: I just got myself a livejournal. Well…Not just. I actually have had it for a while but only just started using it. Anyway, if anyone fancies a Criminal Minds related chat, or to poke me for not updating my stories…or for a general natter really…My username is 'msrubiks'. Add me :-)
Anyway, thank you for reading all this. I really appreciate it. And good luck to those poor souls out there that are still doing exams!
Much love,
Rubiks