Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and all characters and recognisable themes belong to the respected creators.
I'll be Your Strength:
'Okay, Reid, I know this is going to be hard, but we need you to stay in the shadows and not let Parker see you. If he does and he has Emma, all of those jealous memories may cause him to hurt her. Let me, Morgan and Prentiss do the talking, we'll signal to you when it's safe to come forward', Hotch told the team in the car as they drove to the warehouse.
Seeing the youngest agent about to protest, Hotch added, 'You know I wouldn't ask you to do this unless it was absolutely necessary'.
Reid nodded, seeing this was the best way to keep his little sister safe.
'So what angle are we going for?', Morgan asked.
'Tell him he doesn't have to do this, that Emma's innocent, and that he shouldn't be hurting her to get back at Reid. But I want one of you to have a shot though - he's unstable and if he does happen to see Reid, we don't wanna take any chances.' Gideon replied, to which the rest of the team nodded in agreement.
Ten minutes later, Hotch, Gideon, Reid, Prentiss and Morgan were quietly running through the snow, heading towards the warehouse.
'Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, you take the side door, Gideon and I will take the back', Hotch told them, as the team split up and ran in opposite directions.
Morgan could tell that Reid's anxiety was building up as his breathing was becoming more and more irregular as they came closer and closer to the entrance to the warehouse. This was only made worse by what happened next.
As they approached the side door, the three saw there was a piece of paper stuck to it, which read 'Better luck next time. I'm always one step ahead of you. See you at the funeral'.
As soon as they had all read what the sign said and seeing how white-faced Reid had become, Morgan wasted no time in kicking down the door to the warehouse. As Prentiss switched on what appeared to be a light switch, the awfulness of the room lay out in front of them. The walls were painted deep black and caved in on you, giving the sense that you were truly imprisoned. But this was not what Reid saw. He suddenly felt sick, because lying in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood, was Emma.
'NO!', came his strangled cry as he ran towards his little sister. Placed next to her body was a bloody knife and Prentiss and Morgan could see as they got closer that there were multiple stab wounds to her lower abdomen, as well as a wound to her head.
'No, no, no!', Reid sobbed, as he tried desperately to find Emma's pulse. 'Em, no, please don't be dead, please!'.
At this point, Hotch and Gideon ran into the room from the other door and were both shocked at what they saw; none of the team had ever seen Reid break down before. However, only Prentiss noticed them enter the room. Morgan was shaking Reid's shoulders saying,
'Reid, Reid! Look...look at me, I need to know, can you find a pulse?', he asked urgently.
'N-no, I...I can't Morgan, I can't, she can't be dead', was Reid's hysterical reply.
'Okay, Hotch I need you to get the paramedics in here. The unsub can't have been gone long, there's a chance we can still save her', Morgan said fiercly, as he began to start chest compressions on Emma's feeble body, whilst Hotch quickly ran from the warehouse.
At the same time, Reid held his little sisters hand, saying, 'I'm not gonna let you die Em', over and over again, whilst tears cascaded down his cheeks.
'The ambulance is having some trouble getting here in the snow, they're going as fast as they can', Hotch informed them, a grave look on his face.
'WHAT? They're not even here yet?', Gideon said angrily. It looked as if they'd arrived just too late when suddenly Emma rolled over onto her side, coughing up mouthfuls of blood on the already blood-stained floor.
Hotch, Gideon, Prentiss and Morgan both breathed sighs of relief, whilst a fresh wave of tears overcame Reid, which he attempted to wipe away quickly with his sleeve.
'Spence?', Emma whispered quietly though a mouthful of blood, as she looked up dazedly at her older brother.
'I'm right here Em, I'm right here', her brother replied, as he held her hands tightly in his. 'I'm never leaving you again, I promise. Don't worry, help is on it's way. You're gonna be fine, you're gonna be fine. Just stay strong for me, okay?'.
Emma nodded and tried to smile at her brother, even though it came out as a weak grimace.
After what seemed like an age, Reid's hand still wrapped tightly around his sister's, whispering comforting words to her to keep her conscious, the paramedics arrived in a wave of green and yellow as they quickly surrounded Emma, attaching an oxygen mask to her face and various wires into her arms. They quickly pressed packs against the deep head and stomach wounds and lifted her onto a stretcher, her brother never leaving her side the whole time.
'You coming with us I take it?', one of the paramedics asked Reid as they began to carry Emma out towards the ambulance, to which he nodded.
'Hey Reid, call us when you have a minute okay?', Morgan told the youngest agent, patting Reid's shoulder as he he did so.
'I will. Thank-you all so much...just...I can't even begin to...just thank-you, Em wouldn't be here without you', he told them, looking at each team member as he said it, his voice hoarse from his tears.
'Hey, there's no need to thank us. We're just glad your sister's okay. Just let us know when you need us', Emily said, smiling slightly.
Reid nodded and tried to smile weakly too, and then hurried after the paramedics.
'Well thank God for that', Emily sighed, turning to her fellow team mates as soon as Reid had left the warehouse.
'I know. You know for a minute there, I thought we were actually gonna lose her. I wasn't half surprised when she actually started breathing again', Morgan murmered, shaking his head in disbelief.
'We still have one problem', Gideon said, looking around the warehouse.
'Parker', Hotch sighed. After a minute of thought he said, 'Okay, so here's the plan. Like Morgan said, he can't have been gone long, especially in the snow, so we'll get the police to scan the perimeter. Prentiss, you go call JJ and Garcia and let them know what happened. Jason and Morgan, we'll carry on building on the profile and give it to the rest of the police back at the station. We're not resting until we find this unsub.'
Reid's POV:
Beep. Beep. Beep. The heart monitor beside Em's bed is showing that Em's heart is responding well to the surgery, it's strong. But I still can't help but worry about her. It's almost as bad as when I was sat in the dismal waiting room for eight hours whilst Em was in surgery, expecting every doctor that walks past to tell me she didn't make it. I cannot explain the relief that I felt when I was told she was gonna be okay, that I was gonna have the chance to make my little sister smile again. Seeing her for the first time after the surgery was a shock; she's covered all over in little cuts and bruises, not to mention the various plasters and gauze on her head. But it was at this point that I became determined that I would never let anything hurt Em ever again, I would protect her, whatever it took, because this is my fault.
When I look down at Em lying on that hospital bed, she looks so young and innocent, like the day I first saw her again after all those years. She's curled up on her side, which makes her look so small and fragile that it breaks my heart. I can't believe that anyone would ever want to hurt my beautiful baby sister. I'm sat here holding her hand, waiting for her to wake up, whilst trying not to cry again. I've gone past the point of caring that my team saw me that upset. Em's gonna be okay, and that's all that matters. I called Morgan when Em was in surgery, more than anything to try and distract myself from the ticking clock on the wall, to give him an update and he told me they're still trying to find Parker. I know there's anger and rage somewhere in me, for what Parker's done, but my brain's so busy processing everything else that it hasn't quite hit me yet.
I know I should probably call Morgan again, so the team don't worry, but I've decided I'll do it after Em's woken up. I know I'll feel guilty if I leave her while she's sleeping, when she's defenseless and oblivious to her surroundings, even though the hospital's probably safer than most places.
It seems like hours when I finally feel Em's hand faintly squeeze my own. I am suddenly completely alert and look at my sister, hope building up inside me. I see her eyelids gently flutter before they slowly open to reveal her brown eyes. She looks at me for a second, before blinking and then whispers,
'Spence?'.
'It's me, I'm here sweetheart, I'm right here. I promise I'm never gonna leave you again okay?', I whisper quietly leaning in towards Em, still holding her hand tightly.
'Wh-what happened?', she croaks, whilst looking around the hospital room confused.
'You...you were stabbed by one of our unsubs. Robert Parker, we met him at that college reunion party of mine...oh God, Em, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, I'm so sorry sweetheart', I whisper gently, my eyes beginning to sting with tears as guilt washes over me.
'N-no...Spence, it wasn't your fault...th-this wasn't your fault', she tells me, the stubborn part of her voice coming through slightly, as she tries to sit up.
I take a deep breath to stop the tears from falling down my cheeks, and smile weakly, before finally telling my sister what I've wanted to tell her since I saw her picture on that screen.
'Okay. But just remember one thing for me. I love you so much, I always have and I always will and I promise I'll never let anything hurt you ever again Em', I say fiercly.
Em smiles at me, a stronger and wider smile than before, though I can see how much this pains her, before squeezing my hand and whispering,
'I love you too Spence. So much. And thank-you, you saved my life.'
I laugh quietly before saying, 'Any time sweetheart. Now try and get some rest, I promise I'll be here when you wake up'.
Em nods, before letting the morphine and the call of sleep envelope her once more. I kiss her lightly on the forehead, before taking her hand in mine once more and settling back into my chair, not allowing my eyes to close, but my brain to finally relax for the first time in hours.
Author's Note: I know this chapter's shorter than the others, but I wanted to give you an update, and what I was going to put in the rest of the chapter didn't really fit in with the title of the chapter. The plans I have for the next chapter mean that it should again be a usual longer one, but I decided to make this a shorter, more emotional chapter. This has been one of the hardest parts of the story to write and I hope I've written it well. I thought the last part of the chapter would be more intense if I wrote it from Reid's POV, so I did. :) I'll hopefully be updating again soon! Thank-you again for all the alerts, favourites and reviews and for sticking with the story! :D