A/N: Wrote this literally in ten minutes. Sorry if it's rubbish.

Night was freezing.

Her injuries were making her drowsy, and she was so thirsty that she was certain she could see an ice cold pitcher of lemonade sitting just a few feet away.

Slumped against the tree she had struggled her way over to, JJ was hoping and praying her team were out there, looking for her. She had left her jacket out in the middle of the field and hadn't had the energy to go and get it. The result had been that she had to shiver her way through the night, while simultaneously dying for a glass of water.

Rolling her weight over to her good side, she shakily pushed herself up. Her legs felt like dead weights beneath her, and the second she was upright the entire field started spinning, but she stood her ground. She was determined to get back to the highway, back to her vehicle, and hopefully, that would mean getting back to safety.

She staggered a few feet before falling to the ground again under another small cluster of wiry, barren trees.

Before she could even register that she was lying down again, she realised there was moisture on her face where it hadn't been a moment ago.

Lifting her face enough to see the ground below her, her heart practically flew when she saw the sun dancing off of a tiny puddle of stagnant water.

Just enough to wet her mouth, she reasoned. Everything she had ever learned was telling her not to touch it. But the overriding need for a drink was winning over every other instinct in her body.

Pursing her lips, she put her face down towards the water and took in a mouthful. It didn't taste right, and it was somewhat gritty, but she was so thirsty she found she didn't care.

Soon, the puddle was drained, and she was lying on her back beneath the trees, the sun beating down between the twiggy branches onto her already heated face. The water had helped. She felt less foggy than before, and wondered if maybe, just maybe, she had a chance of getting back to the highway.

"Ok," Garcia mused, JJ's phone sitting beside her as she ran through the usage scripts and information she had managed to find within the phone company's database. Hotch and Garcia had joined Morgan in Merredin, leaving the others in Perth to run point on the case they had been called to work on. "JJ's phone left the Merredin tower shortly after midnight... the next major bounce was Cunderdin, just over an hour later. The crash wasn't called in until six am. How far out did the crash happen?"

"Fifteen, twenty minutes," Morgan shrugged.

"So that leaves about a four and a half hour window. JJ could be anywhere," Garcia sighed.

"Assuming she's injured, which judging by the state of the car, she is, she can't have gone that far. Wherever she is, we just can't see her from the road, which means we should widen the search to the area extending north and south of the highway," Hotch replied.

"Why would she leave the crash scene, Hotch?" Morgan asked irritably.

"I don't know. That's my biggest proof that she's injured though. JJ knows to stay put so people can find her. Likely she was disoriented and confused in the crash, and being out there in the dark didn't help," Hotch explained. "We'll widen the search. Garcia, see if you can get anything else from her phone. See if she tried to call for help, if she was still in service when the crash happened"

"On it sir," Garcia said quickly, her fingers tapping away with lightning speed.

Morgan and Hotch turned away, walking towards the room they had been allocated for their search operation.

"I should've gone instead," Morgan mumbled.

"Then we would probably be looking for you," Hotch reasoned. "Morgan, this isn't your fault. We're going to find her. The landscape out here is as flat and uninterrupted as it comes. Someone just has to stand on the right hill and we'll find her"

By nightfall, JJ was almost one hundred percent sure she was going to die. And not even in the melodramatic sense.

Clearly, she should have listened to her survival knowledge as far as the water was concerned, because for the last two hours, she had been crippled with the worst stomach cramps she had ever experienced in her life. That had been quickly followed by violent vomiting, so violent that JJ was positive her stomach was trying to eject itself through her mouth. And then, as if that couldn't be topped, her intestines had decided it was their turn to try and rid themselves of whatever was making her sick, and she had nearly soiled her jeans.

The vomiting was making her dehydration worse, and she now had horrific sunburn across the back of her shoulders, her neck, and her chest. Her face had been somewhat spared, but she knew within a day or two it would be just as bad. Her lips were cracked, her eyes were dry and watery, and she hadn't passed any urine in at least eight hours.

Her short stint of fervour after the ghastly drink of water had led her to try and walk in the direction she thought the highway was. That had resulted in her lying beneath a prickly shrub when the cramps attacked, and she was no closer to getting back.

Feeling another wave, JJ groaned, rolling awkwardly over onto her side until she was propped up on her elbow. With a horrible lurch, she leaned forward as another torrent of watery stomach contents gushed from her mouth to cover the ground before her.

Her eyes remained closed as she collapsed back to the ground, not caring what got all over her anymore.

Either she was going to die from dehydration, or she was going to die from the water.

She hoped the team found her soon.

She couldn't imagine that a body left in the Australian sun would be a very welcome sight.