Reid's fear had worsened to the tenth power when he realized who that ominous looking man that Wilkins was with must have been: S.D. - Their UnSub. He was only glad Garcia didn't know yet; she would take the news almost as bad as he was.
Reid raced past the lady at the desk, and stumbled up the apartment's staircase taking three steps at a time. He could faintly hear the sirens of the rest of the team, and Morgan yelling to the lady at the desk, "FBI!" But Reid's mind couldn't comprehend anything. He was in a whirlwind focused entirely on Holly's fate. If only he'd brushed Lila off when he had the chance, Wilkins wouldn't have gotten so jealous, and none of this would have happened.
As Reid rushed down the hallway of doors, gun held cautiously outward, he let his eyes scan over the room numbers for split seconds.
"235, 236, 237, 238… 239."
Usually he would have called out to Morgan before attempting to enter the room, but if that man was their UnSub, and Wilkins was with him – which he was certain he was correct on both questions – there was no time to wait. Besides, Morgan would be there soon enough. Reid roughly jerked the door handle up and down, but of course, it was a card lock, and locked automatically when the door closed. Morgan and Hotch ran up behind Reid, just as Reid fired a few mindless shots at the lock.
"Reid!" cried Morgan. "I've got the key!" Morgan quickly unlocked the door, and Reid rushed inside. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the room. Everything was demolished, as it would be in a furious struggle.
"Oh my God," said Morgan in shock, noticing in the carpet of the doorway a stain of blood.
Reid's heart began to sink, as it only had the day he had sent his mother away, so many years ago. He carefully stepped over the broken lamp, and following the trail of blood drops slinked across the wall to the nearest room, as Hotch and Morgan began the search of the rest of the apartment. He quickly stepped into the door way, trusting his gun in. It was a bathroom. The door was splintered, the lock broken off, and in the shadows, to the far wall, were the trail of blood ended, lay Samuel Darwin; blood splattering the wall from his head being smashed into the tile wall.
He was dead.
"Reid!" called Hotch. "We found her!"
He knew he shouldn't, but Reid let one hateful bullet disfigure Samuel Darwin's forehead before rushing out to Wilkins.
Reid fell to his knees beside her. She had a knife in her gut, and she was unconscious, but she was alive, and through the pain he had seeing her in this state, a wave of relief washed over him. He didn't care whether Hotch and Morgan were there or not; he let out the sob that had been threatening him since the moment he noticed her missing, as a solitary tear ran down his cheek.
She had tried to reach the door but had collapsed beside the couch, out of sight of the three when they had entered.
"Reid, don't," said Hotch, softly, grasping Reid's arm as he reached for the handle of the knife. "The paramedics are outside, they'll do it."
"I just don't like seeing her this way," said Reid, voice breaking. He reached up and wiped away the forming tears that threatened to show themselves.
Reid moved his gaze away from her injury and up to her face. She was pale, despite her jealous make-up. Her eyes were closed in a soft, sleeping, almost peaceful sort of way, and that relaxed Reid a bit. He was almost glad she was unconscious, because if she weren't, she would be in more pain than he dared see.
Reid brushed her mussed up hair from her face, and thought to himself, "I'll never lose you again, Holly." He knew it was foolish to be in love with someone you'd only known a few months, but Reid didn't care.
At that moment he lost a little of his sensible nature.
He loved her, and he wanted her to know it.
o-O-o-O-O-o-O-o o-O-o-O-O-o-O-o
One. Last. Chapter. My babies. :(