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Chapter 5: Fighting through darkness

"I've got a pulse." A faded voice called.

"Lets fet him to the hospital, now!" Another ordered urgently.

Reid's eyelids parted slowly and blurry figures floated above him. He tried to speak but his eyes closed again and the darkness drowned him.

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"Come on Reid." Morgan urged quietly as he watched the paramedics take him into the ambulance.

He rushed after them and stood at the doors.

"I'm riding with you." Morgan stated to the EMT's.

"I'm sorry sir, there's no room." One of them shook his head at Morgan.

"I'm losing him!" Another called from inside the vehicle.

The doors closed and the ambulance sped off, leaving Morgan stood in the gravel.

"Come on." Hotch touched his arm. "Lets go." He nodded to the SUV and Prentiss, Morgan and Hotch got into it to follow the ambulance.

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"Clear!" A voice broke through the darkness and a sudden shock thundered through Reid's chest, causing it to rise robotically and fall once the shock was over.

Oxygen flooded Reid's lungs and he returned to consciousness, though he could not move.

"We've got a pulse." A voice said.

"I need more gauze!" Another voice announced loudly.

"I can't stop the bleeding." A third voice sounded alarmed.

"Keep the pressure on it." The first voice ordered, authority was rigged in his low voice.

"Five minutes!" The driver called from the front.

Reid faded back into the darkness.

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Morgan shifted impatiently as he stood by the nurses station, waiting for the paramedics to burst through the door. Then it happened.

"Twenty nine year old male, multiple stab wounds, several broken ribs, trauma to the lower thigh, gunshot wound in the left hand, he's losing blood fast." The EMT's announced to approaching doctor's and nurses as they emerged through the doors.

"Reid!" Morgan cried but was held back by Hotch.

Morgan studied his friend with a distraught expression. They'd ripped open his shirt so the stab wounds were clearly visible; there were so many of them, his skin was pale and splattered with blood. It hurt Morgan to see his happy, innocent friend balanced precariously on the edge of life and death.

"Get him to the OR, stat!" A doctor ordered as he ran beside the flurry of EMT's and nurses.

Then they were gone, through the operating room doors and out of the team's sight.

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David Rossi, Penelope Garcia, and JJ arrived at the hospital and the team sat in the waiting room; dreading, worrying, guilt ridden as they awaited news of their teammate from the OR.

An hour later; JJ and Penelope sat huddled together, talking quietly to each other as they felt more volume would destroy their composure and they would collapse in tears. Dave stood by the window, quietly thinking with a worried expression, as did Emily, but her expression was different. Her eyes were wide and tears threatened to slip through and slip down her soft, pale cheeks. The image of her friend, laying on the floor, in a pool of his own blood, dying slowly, choking on his wounds flashed through her mind, plaguing her every thought and encouraging the tears, egging them on in their mission to stream down her face.

She drew in a sharp breath and fought them back, determind not to appear vulnerable, to stay strong for the others, and for Reid.

"You know." Dave spoke softly to her. "Seeing what you saw, no one would blame you for showing emotion."

"I know." Emily nodded. "I'm alright." She looked out of the window, avoiding his gaze.

"Emily, look at me." Dave raised his brow and Emily turned to him, her dark hair covering one eye and some of her face as she bit her lip. "You don't have to hide. Reid is our friend, he'd want you to cry."

"Don't talk about him like he's gone." Her voice was just shy of a whisper as she glared at him.

Dave gave her a sympathetic look and approched the woman who was inches from breaking down. Which she did as soon as he was close, her knees buckled and she fell into him, burying her face in his chest and sobbing harshly. Dave held her in comfort, he always felt very fatherly to the team as he was the oldest and had no kids of his own. He sat her down and she cried on his shoulder as he hushed her cries and spoke soft comforts to her.

Aaron Hotchner watched his team silently. Guilt flooded through him and he knew it was dumb, but he kept a close eye on them all, not wanting to lose another member of the team, even though they were in a safe, quiet room.

Derek Morgan sat on the edge of a chair, his leg bouncing as it rested on a nerve. He clasped his hands together and stared down at the floor, going over every possible thing that the doctor could say when he entered the room to inform them about Reid

Another two hours later, Emily had joined Penelope and JJ and the three woman talked quietly together, Aaron sat with Dave and the two men spoke plainly and calmly to each other, not knowing what to say while avoiding the subject of the moment.

Derek remained on his own, mentally torturing himself for allowing Reid to be kidnapped and almost killed by those bastards.

It felt good to pump bullets through them.

The first two survived and they were currently being charged but he was sure the last was dead. He aimed straight for the heart and pulled the trigger numernous times, watching as the blood spurted out and streamed down his clothes.

The corners of Derek's mouth curled up slightly in a vicious smirk as he went over the moment he killed the unsub over again in his mind. He then straightened his face as he realised that it was wrong to relish over murder.

One more hour later and a surgeon walked into the waiting room. Everyone stood up and rushed to the doctor.

"What is it?" Aaron asked him.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Derek cut in desperately.

"He lost a lot of blood and there was major trauma to the internal organs from the combination of mutiple stab wounds and electrocution to the chest..."

"Is he alright?" Derek demanded.

"He's in the ICU and in a coma. I can't say or sure if he'll make a full recovery but for the moment, he's alive." The doctor nodded.

"Can we see him?" Aaron asked the doctor, while Derek sat down heavily on a chair with a relieved sigh.

"He's sleeping, but I don't see why you can't." The doctor shrugged and led them to Reid's room.

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Reid's body was numb. His mouth tasted of medicine and his throat was clogged with a tube attached to an oxygen mask on his face. He tried to move his hands but they refused him. They remained by his sides, rejecting his orders to move. He gave up and tried to open his eyes but with the same result. So he just listened, he listened to the heart monitor keeping in time with his weak heartbeat, to the oxygen machines heaving up and down supplying him with the air he needed to stay alive, and to the busy hospital just outside his door.

Other than those sounds, Reid was surrounded with nothing. He saw just the darkness behind his eyelids, he heard the generic noises of his hospital room and he felt the tubes, needles and the plain feeling of the hard bedsheets.

The door opened slowly, and he heard the nurse usher a few people into the room. Immediatley he knew who they were. He could smell Morgan's familiar musky scent, Rossi's strong aftershave and Garcia's sweet, candylike perfume infused with the smell of insense that had caught onto her clothes after she'd had it burning in her computer room.

They were comforting smells, scents that made him feel safe and taken care of. Even loved.

He heard the nurse leave and the team were silent.

Come on guys, its only me.

Reid urged his friends to speak. They remained quiet and still at the other side of the room.

The first sound was the high pitched sound of Penelope's shoes quickly step towards him and her soft hand with numerous rings touched his gently. She took his hand and held it close to her. She breathed harshly, fighting back tears that threatened to spill out of her decorated eyes and she closed her eyes tightly.

Derek was the next to move. He walked over and stood beside Penelope, putting an arm around her in comfort but, there was nothing he could say. He just stared blankly at Reid's lifeless, bruised body that was practically wrapped in hospital equipment, tubes, needles, the works.

No one spoke, but the rest of the team slowly made their way over, standing by Reid's beside, silently comforting each other and battling with their own tears.

If Reid could move, he would've smiled. His team gathered around him, not leaving his side while he clung onto consciousness. If he fell asleep, or rested for even a moment, he didn't know if he would ever be able to return to the world, trapped forever in empty darkness.

That thought scared him and he could hear the heart monitor speed up slightly as his heart beat did.

"Do you think he knows we're here?" Penelope asked quietly.

"Yeah." David nodded, smiling weakly at the young man laying on the bed. "He knows, don't you Reid?"

Yes! I can hear you, I'm awake!

Reid wanted to yell but not a muscle twitched. His throat didn't even tighten as he tried to pass words through.

"Reid?" Derek spoke softly as he leaned in.

I'm sorry Derek. I should've listened to you. I should've waited.

"I'm sorry, Reid." Derek said, biting down on his lip.

You're sorry? Why are you sorry? I was stupid enough to run down a dark ally without back up to follow a scream. It was completely wreckless of me!

Reid protested desperatly in his head but his body remained motionless.

"I know you're not the bravest of people..."

Rub it in much?

"But you did it, you survived for almost a week. You survived all of that and even managed to save Claire."

Well yeah, but I still got kidnapped in the first place.

"You're the strongest person I've ever met, and I..." Derek couldn't push his words out without them collapsing into choked sobs.

Derek, you think I'm...

Reid had never been called strong before, and coming from Derek Morgan. He felt proud, and touched that he thought of Reid like that.

"I'm so proud to call you my friend, my brother." Derek spoke quietly, not daring to raise the volume, aware that his words wouldn't come out if he did.

You're my brother too.

Reid begged himself to be able to speak but he couldn't. The only function that still worked was his eyes. A tear leaked out of his closed eyelids and slipped down the side of his face.

Derek saw the tear and hope flooded through him. Reid knew he was there, he could hear him. He was alive.

Reid would've frowned if he could as his body felt tightened suddenly. Pain shot through each individual wound and his lungs closed, not allowing air to pass through.

Reid's chest convulsed violently and the heart monitor sped up to a worrying pace.

"What's happening?" JJ asked desperately.

"Reid!" Derek cried.

Doctors and nurses rushed in with a crash cart and chased teh team out of the room.

"Reid!" Derek cried louder as a doctor held him back from rushing to his friend.

The heart monitor flatlined and Reid stopped moving.

"No!"