I do not owned Criminal Minds and thanks to Skye for being my beta.Chapter #22

Ashley walked down the hallway, thinking. "A Goddamn fucking normal relationship," she muttered to herself as she turned the corner.

"Hey," she heard a familiar voice. She looked up, seeing her best friend, sitting in the waiting room. His two guards sat down on either side of him, with their arms folded in front of them.

"Darcy," she said where he stood up. He smiled and hugged her where she hissed in pain.

"Sorry," he said, pulling her away.

"It's ok, kind of getting use to . . ." she started to say when she noticed that he had a bandage on his forehead and there was a scab on his cheek with some bruises.

"What happened to you," she said, gently touching his face.

"Your memory hasn't returned, has it?" She shook her head no, when she realized something.

"You were there with me when it happened," she said as she covered her mouth in horror. Her legs gave out when he caught her. He led her to a chair in the waiting room, away from the guards.

"What happened?"

"Do you remember turning off your cell phone the night before," he asked as he leaned against the wall, hiding in a corner away from the nurses. She nodded.

"Well you forgot to turn it back on and I heard what happened at the concert. I couldn't get a hold of you so I came over to your place to check on you. I was in the bathroom when the explosion happened. I was thrown to the wall and the next thing, I knew that the guards were carrying me out of there and throwing me in the car. They dialed 911 as they drove out of there."

"What," she exclaimed where everyone around them looked at them.

"I know, I am not happy with them as well," he leaned forward, whispering.

Ashley whispered, "So since you were there, did I set it off?"

"No, of course not. You were mostly upset that Dr. Reid hasn't called you. I heard what happened to you this morning, are you ok?" Ashley shrugged her shoulders the best that she could, but she could see something was up with Darcy.

"Spill it."

"Spill what?"

"I know you, you are hiding something and it is bad."

Darcy stepped forward where he bent forward, "My sources said that the finger went missing and both your and Dr. Reid's clothes were soaked in some kind of bleach, making the testing hard. Special Agent Derek Morgan is at the FBI's lab, personally keeping guard over the bullet that was fired."

"Sources? How powerful are you? Never mind," she said, waving her hand in front of him. "Are you sure it was Demon, not a hit or the Scorpions?"

Darcy shook his head no, "I wish it was, sweetie. But he is in town right now. I will make arrangements to have a guard on you for now and yes, it will be legit."

"Oh goody. Honestly, I am not surprise that this happened."

Darcy agreed. "Do you want a soda?" She nodded yes where Darcy stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out some quarters. He gave them to Ashley.

"Look, the good news that he still cares about you. I mean he is here in your room."

"But not for long. I think Demon is trying to drive a wedge between me and Spencer, and it is working," she said as she walked up to the coke machine.

"Is that offer on that lawyer still open?"

"Of course, why?"

Ashley dropped the quarters into the pop machine, one at a time, "I might have to lawyer up when they question me about this," she answered.

"They? As in the FBI? You do realize that if you do that, it would really put you and Dr. Reid in a pickle." She looked at her best friend as she pressed the button. The coke machine cough as it dropped a pop can underneath her. Darcy bent down and picked it up for her.

"Thanks, I have a choice of either pissing him off or having him being ashamed and disgusted with me. Not a hard choice," she said.

"Sweetheart, I know what he had done to you. And I am neither disgusted nor mad at you."

"But how many times have I disappointed you," she asked as she dropped more quarters into the machine. She pushed another button where again the machine coughed and spit out another pop can.

Darcy once again bend down and picked it up for her. "When you were using? Countless times. But when you are clean and sober, none," he answered.

"You are not going to let me win on this, are you?"

Darcy shook his head no, "As to not forgiving yourself, pushing him away or not allowing yourself to open up to him and trust him, absolutely not." She made a sour face at him. Ashley knew that he was right; still she wasn't going to admit that to him.

"I tried to tell Spencer about this, but I couldn't. I saw his face; this is going to hurt him bad. How can I do that to him?"

Darcy stepped back. "And how can you not tell him? He is involved no matter you say or do. Demon took a shot at him less than a few hours ago. And the timing of the explosion happens the day after he stayed with you. You know that if he wasn't called away, he would have in the house with you. It is kind of hard to walk away from that. You just need to be brave and tell him."

She leaned her head forward, touching the cool machine, "Remind me to yell at Morgan for this."

"Ok, why?"

"Spencer and I started making out and one thing almost leads to another when Morgan knocked on the door."

"Ah."

"If he didn't, granted, right about now, Spencer and I would be cuddling in the afterglow, but at least, I would not be in this situation right now." She looked up, seeing Reid returning to her room, carrying his Go bag.

"Well, that is really not Morgan's fault. Dr. Reid could have easily asked afterwards," he said, making a sour face back at her.

"I know. I just want to yell at somebody for this."

"I know you do." She turned her head again, seeing Reid leaning against the doorway of her room, watching her.

She walked away from the machine, closer to Darcy where she whispered, "What else do you need me to do?"

"Stay at Ashburtons and get better."

She nodded her head. "And if they ask about you, why you were there at the house?"

"Tell them the truth, you forgot to turn your phone back on and I was worried about you."

"I am going to be your Achilles' heel no matter what happens," she sighed.

Darcy pulled stuck his hand in his coat pocket before pulling her in for another hug, "No you are not."

He still held her in his arms, "I know that he is not coming back, but I know that this will make you feel better." She felt something heavy dropping into her pocket of her robe. She stepped back, peering inside, seeing a switchblade inside of her robe pocket.

"Thank you." He had a cell phone in his hand where Ashley saw him putting it in her other pocket.

"This is until you get your phone replaced. It has everyone's numbers already programmed in."

"Thank you."

Darcy kissed her forehead, before looking at her, "Now go, and talk to him. And if this doesn't work, then you can call me and yell at me," he said.