"Did you get anything?"
Garcia jumps from her seat and for a moment her concentration is broken. She looks over her shoulder to see a very anxious Hotch."Kind of," she says as goes back, clicking away. "It keeps bouncing all over the place. I'm going to get it though. That stupid bastard is-."
"Garcia, we don't have time. This needs to be done now."
"I know! I know!" Her typing becomes more frantic. "I'm doing everything I can! I'm not like you guys, I can't work under these kinds of conditions!"
"Baby girl," Morgan says, "Just keep doing what you're doing. You're going to get this."
"I know, but Reid-."
"We're going to get him."
Just as Garcia lets out a frustrated sigh, a new screen pops up on the monitor. She quickly scans through the information and gasps. "Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"What?" Both Hotch and Morgan ask as the lean forward to read the message for themselves.
"Good! So good! Okay, so there was a 911 call placed over a domestic dispute right after Rossi got the call. There are reports of slamming, sounds of physically fighting, and yelling. It's right in one of the areas the signal was bouncing from."
"Where?" Hotch asks.
"Cadbury Apartment Complex, number 10. They're calling about their neighbors above."
"That's where Reid lives."
Garcia and Morgan look at each other. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Morgan says.
"Same hall, I think."
"I was just there!"
"We all were. Garcia, who is leasing in 20?"
"That would be Leon Habben, age 49 and works at the Book Market. He just moved in about three months ago. No criminal record, but I'll start digging."
"Good. We're going to go. Let us know when you find anything."
As close as they were to Reid's apartment, the drive there seemed to last forever. Strauss demanded that she tagged along out of concern of how closely the team will stick to protocol and, although she may not admit it, she could not handle having to stay behind, waiting for results. No one took time to argue. Had she not got in the seat next to Rossi, he might now have even noticed her.
"What's the plan?" Morgan asks. "Besides killing this guy."
"No one is going to die," Hotch says. "We're taking him alive if we can. There won't be much room, and we'll want to give off as little notice as possible. Dave and I will take the lead-."
"Is that a good idea? This guy is targeting Rossi. Do we really want to give him what he wants?"
"If it comes to it, he may be out best chance with getting Reid back." Hotch looks in the review mirror back at Rossi. "Do you think you'll be able to handle this?"
"I'll be fine," Rossi answers shortly. He is far too anxious to talk now. No matter what plan he was told to follow, Rossi knows that he will be the first one up there, and if anyone is going to get a shot at this so called Leon Habben it's going to be him. Hotch had quickly briefed them on their suspect, but the name did not bring up any memories, despite the man's claims that they had met previously. His mind does not seem to be working properly these past few days. This would not be the first case that hit close to home, but none of those had left him feeling so incompetent and helpless. Maybe he has stayed in the game for too long.
As the team climbs the stairs up to the third floor, they can hear a loud stream of curses accompanied with a thud between every other word. "Jesus," Emily hisses to JJ. "I don't think I'm ready for this."
"We'll have Spence soon," JJ tries to reassure her. "It will be over."
"Will it?"
Hotch leads the team to the door of apartment 30. "FBI!" He doesn't wait a moment before kicking open the door. He runs in, gun out and ready, with Rossi right behind him. The apartment is a mirror layout of Reid's. They make their way through the living room, towards the closed bedroom door. The swearing has stopped. Whatever leverage they had was quickly fading. Hotch kicks down the door and bursts into the room.
"FBI! Freeze!"
But the man, with the mask fully disguising his face, is already on the break. He runs for a door nearby, the one connecting to the bathroom. Hotch notices Reid lying on a mattress face down. He lies still with his eyes shut, hands bound, and mouth gagged with a thick layer of tape. He is thankful to see his agent fully clothed, though his pants are covered in blood. The rest of the injuries have not even registered. In a second, Hotch has to decide whether he should stay with Reid or go after their masked suspect. He chooses the suspect.
"Morgan, Prentiss, get the exits! He's running!"
Rossi runs through into the bedroom. He immediately places his gun in its holster upon seeing Reid. Even with all of the commotion going on, the young agent's eyes have remained shut, and Rossi fears the worst. He rushes over to his bound co-worker and kneels beside him. "Spencer," Rossi says, nearly shouting as he places a hand on the younger man's shoulder. Reid remains limp and unresponsive. "Spencer, it's okay now."
Then he notices the large, dark blue bruises that have formed underneath Reid's eyes. A layer of dark crusted mixed with a freshly spilled blood dripping from his nose onto his chin. The hair on the back of his head has been matted down, slick with blood. Rossi suddenly realizes the presence of all of the blood. The blood in his hair. The blood soaked in his pants. The stains on the mattress. The small pool on the floor. So much blood.
Slowly, Reid opens his eyes. It takes everything Rossi has to not kiss him right then and there. Instead, he gently moves to place his on Reid's cheek, trying his best to stay away from the bruised area. Reid flinches violently away from the touch, and despite himself Rossi feels hurt.
"It's okay," he says again. He reaches into his pocket and takes out a small pocket knife. "I'm going to get you out of here." Rossi takes a hold of Reid's wrists and carefully places the knife up to the plastic ring. There are hurried steps behind them. Rossi freezes and looks over his shoulder, ready to attack if anyone dared to threaten his newly saved friend.
"Is he alive?" Strauss asks, her voice filled with concern. She doesn't even wait for Rossi to answer before she makes her way through the room and kneels beside Reid. "It's okay, Spencer," she says softly as she brushes hair away from the agent's eyes. This time Reid does not flinch. If anything he seems to relax a little more. Rossi bites the inside of his check to resist scowling. Sure, he's terrified of the guy he works with just about every day- his friend- but he seems perfectly fine with the Dragon Lady.
Rossi cuts the plastic tie in half and for the first time in over a day Reid is able to move his arms. His movements are stiff and pained, but he tries his best to bring back feeling. He struggles to sit, but Rossi gently touches his arm. "Wait a minute kid. Let me get your legs."
Strauss takes one of Reid's hands into her own as she watches Rossi cut through the ties. "He got out the fire escape," she says. "They all went after him."
Rossi cuts through the nylon cord and tosses it aside. "We're going to need an ambulance."
"I already called for one."
"Do you think we can cut through the tape?"
"I would prefer to save it for the professionals."
Weakly, Reid shakes his head. He attempts to bring himself up again. Rossi and Strauss help him up. For a moment Reid is able to hold himself on his own, but he falls to the side into Strauss. His eyes are glazed over and he is clearly dehydrated, that being the least of his problems. Reid needs a doctor now.
Rossi watches their Section Chief coddle the injured agent. She sits with her arm around the young man's shoulder, his head resting against hers as she whispers words of comfort. It's a strange site. It's been a strange few days.
As if she has picked up on Rossi' thoughts, Strauss turns her eyes towards him. "I'm not always the Dragon Lady," she says. "I am always a mother first."
"I don't have a problem with it. I just want to get him out of here. I don't know what's taking them so fucking long."
"They'll be here."
Reid whimpers from behind the tape. Rossi cannot stand seeing him like that any longer; he has to get rid of it. "Hold still, kid."
"No!" Strauss exclaims as she protectively places her hand over Reid's check. "What if you cut him?"
"I won't."
"David-."
Reid moves his hands up to his mouth and weakly scratches at the tape.
"See? He wants it off. Hold on, kid."
"Be careful."
Just as Rossi raises the blade, the crying of sirens fills the air.
"They're here," Strauss says rather coldly. "Just let them get it."
"Do you doubt me?
"Does he look like he needs any more pain?"
"I'm-." Rossi stops. He knows he can do it. He could do it without hurting Reid; he wouldn't allow it. But there was no point or arguing, not when Reid will soon get the help he needs.
Hotch tried his best to keep up with the masked man, but he had a head start and was quick on his feet. He chased the unsub down the fire escape and through an alley, where the man ripped off his mask and threw it over his shoulder, not once looking back. Out of anger and frustration, Hotch had taken a shot at him in hopes of slowing him down, whether he was startled or the more preferred option of a hit. He led Hotch out into an overly crowded street. Hotch weaved in and out of people, occasionally pushing aside a few that did not listen soon enough. He tried to give the others the location, but he had no idea how close or how far they were.
In the end the man faded into the crowd, now lost amongst all of the passing faces. Once Hotch lost sight of the unsub it was near impossible to find him again. He had not seen the man's face. He would not be able to identify him outside of what he was wearing; a long sleeved grey thermal and dark pair of jeans.
He was gone.
Reid had been rushed into the emergency room. There is so much chaos going on; the doctors running about and talking to each other, Rossi arguing with them and then Strauss arguing with Rossi. The lights are so bright and voices so loud. Everything hurts.
They bring him into an examining room, and right away there are policemen asking him questions, much to annoyance of his nurse. She asks him if he would like any help changing his clothes. Reid stares at her, unable to comprehend. The nurse goes ahead and carefully helps peel away the bloodied clothes and trades them for a flimsy hospital gown. She does her best to shield Reid as much as possible for the officer badgering him with questions that he can barely answer. Now that he is free to speak, the words fail him. Between scolding the officer, who does not look too comfortable himself, the nurse does her best to explain to Reid what she will have to do. Her words are soft but strong, and for a moment it reminds Reid of his own mother. He wonders what she is doing now.
"There's someone here to see you," another nurse says from the now open doorway.
Reid expects to see Rossi or Strauss again, but instead he finds someone else.
"Hotch?"
He panics then. He did not want his boss to see him like this, particularly not in this state of dress.
"Do you want him here, sweetie?" the nurse quietly asks Reid.
Reid isn't sure how to answers, but still, he nods.
"As long as you're okay with it. I wasn't sure if you wanted someone here for this part. It's not going to be fun. I'm going to give you a relaxant," she explains as she prepares an area for injection. "To make it a little easier on you."
Hotch glances at the nurse as he walks across the room to the examining table where Reid sits. The nurse says that she will return with the doctor to do the rape kit, and then left them so that they may talk for a moment. For awhile neither says anything. Hotch is the first to speak. "How are you feeling?" he asks.
Reid thinks about the video his kidnapper sent the team. They know much more than he would have ever wanted. "Terrible," he says honestly.
"You don't look you're best."
Despite himself, Reid cracks a grin. If it were not for the pain he would break into laughter, but instead falls into tears. His head is pounding, with no help from his newly acquired stitches. Hotch takes the young agent into his arms. He rests Reid's aching head against his chest so he can't see the tears welling up in his own eyes. "I'm sorry," Reid whimpers.
"You have nothing to be sorry about."
Reid rubs at his eyes, forgetting his broken nose. The contact, though brief, is far too painful, but he tries his best to hide it. "Strauss hugged me too," he says. "It was strange."
"I bet," Hotch says, smiling softly.
"D-did you get him?"
A woman in a white walks into the room with the nurse right behind her. "No," Hotch whispers. He can feel Reid tense up against him. "But we will. You're safe."
"Will you stay with me?"
"Of course."
Strauss called in another team to take over the case. Now that Reid had returned, she found no reason to keep the team on the case. Hotch of course argued against it, but Strauss quickly shut him down. "This could have gone much worse," she said. "And we're lucky it didn't. I'm not going to take any more risks with this. There is a man on the loose who kidnapped and tortured a federal agent, and I am going to need people in the right state of mind to close this case. Not only is this far too personal, but your team has been working nonstop for the past few days. You need some rest. All of you."
They begin their break at the hospital where they wait to hear about Reid's condition. Emily, JJ, and Rossi have settled down in to stiff arm chairs, but Derek is feeling much less restless. He paces the waiting room floor, texting Garcia the updates.
"You're making me nervous," JJ says to him.
"Sorry," Derek replies absent mindedly. Despite his apology, he continues to pacing.
"How bad did he look?" Emily asks Rossi.
Rossi glances at his own phone. He texted Hotch twice since he had gone in to see Reid, but has yet to get a reply. He wasn't expecting one too soon, but the waiting for any bit of information is draining.
"He'll live."
"That bad?"
"Let's just say it could be awhile before he starts looking like Spencer again," Rossi says. "Or acting. If he ever does."
Emily bites the inside of her bottom lip. "I don't know how he's going to do this. Not that he has a choice."
"We'll be there for him," JJ says. "The best we can do now is to try to make him feel as safe and as comfortable as possible. Derek, can you see if Garcia can run by Spencer's place and pick up some clothes for him to change in to once he is done here?"
"Yeah. Anything else I should tell her to get?"
"Whatever she thinks will make Spencer feel better." JJ pauses. "Where is Reid going after this?"
"I don't know, Emily says. "I'm sure Strauss has people over there now. He may not even want to back, at least not for awhile."
Rossi places his phone out of sight in hopes to help distract the tension. "I'll take him."
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Derek asks.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well, the guy who did this to him was after you. We still don't have him. What if he comes after you or Reid again?"
"I can protect Reid," Rossi says, the anger growing in his voice. "With the security system I have, there is no way that bastard is getting in without me knowing. Besides, I have more than enough space for it. If you're doubting my ability to protect Spencer then you can come to!"
"I'm not doubting you, man. I'm just thinking about Reid here."
"And I'm not?"
"Guys," Emily interrupts. "Calm down. Reid doesn't need more drama in his life right now. Let's see what he thinks before we decide where he goes."
Rossi grinds his teeth. He knows Derek has a very valid point, but he has a sense of responsibility. He should be the one who cares for Reid; he owes it to him. He'll spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to Reid if he has to. But for now, all he can do is wait.
Hello! I apologize for taking awhile to get this up. Last week was homecoming, and thankfully it was my last. All I have to show for those wasted weeks of planning is a silly crown. But now my schedule is a little more open, and I'm going to make sure this gets finished! In all honesty this was supposed to be the last chapter, but I had a change of heart with the ending. I know this one will be more difficult to write, but I know it is how it should be. I can promise that the drama is not about to slow down now, though!
Thank you for those who continue to read and review! You are all wonderful people.