Hi everyone HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sorry I haven't updated this in a little while. Life kind of got in the way. I started my new job which is good but it meant I've had to wait until now to update. I hope you don't mind. Also thank you for the reviews and new follows and faves.
Constructive reviews are welcome =D
Chapter Four
Derek leant back against the chair, stretching his arms out as he did so. It had been a long day and they had gotten practically nothing from it. Sure, they had concrete evidence of how the victims had died, who the victims were and their apparent link but interviewing the Jones family had been difficult. Mrs Jones had understandably been upset when he, along with Prentiss had turned up on the porch of her very expensive mansion. She had been cooperative at first, informing them of her husband's last movements, but when they pressed her for details pertaining to the alleged rape she had closed off completely. It had taken Prentiss all afternoon to get her to reopen her gates of information, whilst he hovered in the background not wanting to cause any harm to the rapport that had been built between the two women. Yawning, he looked up to see Hotch closing his file.
"I think that's all we can do for tonight." He commented rubbing his brow. "We've been on this for almost twelve hours straight. Get some rest and we'll look at this again in the morning with fresh eyes. Can one of you go and inform Reid?"
"Where is Reid?" Emily asked.
"He went to the library quite a while ago. He said he had something to check out." JJ replied, closing her file.
"I'll call him." Morgan volunteered. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial button that he had assigned for the young profiler.
"Yeah?" Came the other man's voice.
"Hey, pretty boy. When are you deciding on joining us?" He joked. Teasing Reid, or anyone else for that matter, was his favourite pass time. "No seriously kid. We're calling it quits for the night."
"It's ok. I'm heading back now but I have someth…" Suddenly he stopped talking.
Morgan ripped the phone away from his ear briefly as it sounded like it had been hit with a sledge hammer. He frowned. "Kid?" He asked urgently. The other members of the BAU looked to him. "Reid?!" He heard what sounded like a car speeding off somewhere in the distance.
"Mor..gan." A pained voice struggled to put the name together.
Derek was already rushing out of the federal building before the last syllable had been spoken. Fear pumped through his heart as his mind frantically put all the bits of information together. It wasn't good. That much he knew. He burst out of the entrance and span on the spot to look over to the public library's parking lot. A stone planted itself firmly in his stomach as he spotted a dark mound in the middle of the road. It wasn't moving. He launched himself down the sloping white ramp and covered the distance in the matter of seconds but it felt more like a lifetime.
"Aw no, no no." He muttered as he knelt down next to the mound and its features came into sharp relief. Spencer lay on his side, his cell phone hung loosely in his hand, and he was deathly still. He moved around so he was directly facing his friend and gently moved the tangle of light brown hair away from his face to reveal quite a large laceration on his forehead. It seemed like a fountain of blood was pouring from it. He began to reach forward to move him onto his back when his shoulder was jerked away. He looked up to see Emily behind him.
"Don't move him Morgan." She said. The team had only been a couple of metres behind him the whole time and yet he hadn't heard them. He got up and stood by Emily's side as Rossi bent down to check for a pulse, something Morgan had failed to do in his shock. He could hear Hotch, not too far away demanding an ambulance. JJ walked a short distance and picked up the fallen satchel, clutching it to her chest.
"He's got a fairly strong pulse." Rossi said, trying to sound optimistic, as he took off his jacket it and laid it over Spencer's form.
"The medics shouldn't be much longer." Hotch commented looking down at his stricken team member.
It took exactly four minutes for the ambulance to arrive. It's excessively loud sirens had made the team aware of its presence long before they had laid eyes on the red striped, white vehicle. The sirens were cut as it came to a stop not too far way, however the red and white lights continued to flash lighting up the scene before them in horrific detail. Two men in the familiar light blue shirts got out of either side. One of the men already had a red bag slung over his shoulder and made his way over to Spencer. The other paramedic made his way around the vehicle and opened up its back to pull out a spinal board and neck collar.
"Excuse me sir." The first man said to Morgan, who had went back to Reid as soon as Rossi moved aside. Morgan moved and looked at the man's name badge. Gerard Davies. "I understand your friend was hit by a car?" Morgan nodded. "Do you know the speed of the vehicle?" He shook his head. "That's alright. What's your friend's name?"
"Erm it's Spencer. Spencer Reid." He said numbly.
Before he could use this information he was joined by the other medic, a man by the name of James Thornton, who removed the jacket and handed it back to Rossi. Together they worked swiftly as a team to secure the neck brace and then slowly and carefully lowered Reid onto his back, ensuring that no movement of his spine occurred. Without a scan it would be negligent to rule out a spinal injury. James grabbed the bag and begun to rummage around in it whilst Gerard took out his pen light. He moved up by Reid's head, moving the rest of his hair from his face before pulling each eyelid up and quickly moving the white light in front of the exposed eye. "Spencer?" Gerard said loudly. "Spencer, can you hear me?" He got no response. "His pupils are responsive."
James pulled out a small tank of oxygen, fitted a clear tube to the nozzle and carefully pulled the green strap over Reid's head whilst positioning the mask over his nose and mouth. It misted slightly. The medic then busied himself with tightening a tourniquet around his patient's thin arm, tapping at the thin skin above the elbow until a vein showed itself. Having already opened the cannula he pulled it carefully out of its packaging and inserted it into the exposed vein. He connected up a bag of saline to the port and spun the wheel to open it up. He closed both hands around the bag to push the fluids through as quickly as was possible.
Gerard had taped a wad of gauze to the still bleeding head injury and now had his stethoscope pushed firmly into his ears. He pressed it against Spencer's chest and listened closely and then moved it over to his heart. At this point he looked down at his watch to measure the beats per minute. It was then that his demeanour changed, if only slightly but it was enough for the team of profilers to take note. "Pulse is weak and thready." He pulled the plugs from his ears, draping the cord around his neck before pulling up Reid's shirt. He expertly pressed his connected fingers down on various parts of the torso. "Abdomen is slightly distended. We need to go."
James nodded, understanding his colleague's urgency entirely. He laid the bag of saline on the side of the spinal board, whilst Gerard tightened the various stability straps, before counting to three. Together they stood and pulled the board up without difficulty and began to hurry towards the open back. "One of you can ride with us." James told the team.
"I'll go." Came JJ's quiet yet determined voice.
"Where are you taking him?" Hotch asked.
"The Kindred Hospital. 4801 East Sam Houston Parkway."
Hotch nodded. Their last sight consisted of JJ climbing into the back, the medic named James connecting various observation machines to Reid and then the doors were shut and the ambulance raced away, it's sirens blaring once more.
Eight minutes later, having travelled approximately four miles at a speed that could have anyone pulled over, the remaining four BAU members pulled into the hospital parking lot. Hotch marched up the information desk, flashing his credentials before he came to a halt. "Spencer Reid?"
"He's been taken to the second floor sir." A petite woman replied, clearly intimidated by the dark haired man's stern face. He thanked her quickly and the four individuals entered the elevator up to the second floor. As they exited they spotted JJ sitting down in a relative's room, still clutching the old satchel in her arms.
"Any news?" Rossi asked seriously.
She looked up and smiled sadly. She was shaken, the whole team were and if it wasn't for the slight smudge of mascara under her left eye they would never have known she had been crying. "They've just taken him for a scan a minute before you turned up."
Rossi took a seat, leant back and rubbed his eyes. Emily sat down next to JJ and took a hold of her hand, giving them both a little comfort. Morgan chose to continue to stand and paced up and down. Hotch sat next to the entrance and leant forward, resting his arms on his knees. Barely thirty seconds had passed before a breathless nurse came into the room. "Are any of you Mr Reid's next of kin?"
The team's eyes widened. Hotch stood. "No but I have power of attorney." He informed.
"Can you come with me sir. I need you to sign a surgery release form?"
"Of course." He followed her out of the room and crossed the short distance to the nurses' station where she quickly produced the form. "What is the surgery for?"
"Mr Reid has some internal bleeding and they need to operate to stop it before he enters a critical condition." The nurse told him the information with haste. Not wasting a second more Hotch grabbed the pen and signed. A moment later the double doors at the end of the corridor slammed open. Surrounded by a team of nurses, one doctor and a mass of tubes and wires lay Dr Spencer Reid on a gurney. Hotch pressed himself against the desk as the team rushed passed, the monitors wailing at the poor stats. "We have the go ahead Dr Smith."
"That's great. I wouldn't have waited a moment longer." He spoke over his shoulder just before he disappeared behind another set of doors.
Hotch sighed and headed back into the waiting room. Prentiss, JJ, Morgan and Rossi looked at him expectantly. "He has some internal bleeding and they have to operate to stop it. He isn't in a critical condition though." He sat back down. An uncomfortable silence descended on the room as they waited. There was nothing else they could do.
An hour later they were shaken from their dazes by the arrival of an exhausted looking Dr Smith. "Family of Dr Reid?"
Hotch resumed his role as leader and made the introductions. "How is he?" He asked tentatively. They couldn't help notice the splashes of blood on the man's green scrubs. The Doctor asked if he could take a seat. "Of course." Hotch sat down also.
"Due to the nature of his accident he sustained a ruptured spleen which was the cause of the internal bleeding. I had to perform a laparoscopic partial splenectomy and it appears to have solved the problem but I will have another scan booked for tomorrow just to make sure there is no further bleeding. Fortunately, he only lost one litre of blood which means that he didn't have to receive a blood transfusion. His body will be able to regenerate the blood that he did lose within the couple of weeks. Surprisingly, he sustained no other injury apart from a laceration to his forehead and some bruising to the right side of his body. Had his pelvis been broken, which is extremely common with a road traffic collision I wouldn't be here informing you of the good news." Dr Smith smiled reassuringly at them.
"When can we see him?" Rossi asked from his seat.
"He's in recovery at the moment and it will be around an hour before he is moved to a room but once he is I'll get a nurse to come and get you. Do you have any more questions?"
"Can I speak to you outside doctor?" Hotch asked, already exiting his seat. Dr Smith nodded and followed him out into the corridor. "Have you given him pain medication?"
Dr. Smith frowned at the seemingly imbecile question. "Of course I have." But realisation dawned on him. "Before his stats began to drop I did manage to have a brief read of his medical history. Is that what you're enquiry is about?"
Hotch nodded, relief flooding through him. That was one thing that Reid didn't need to go through again.
"I've got him on NSAID's, which are non-narcotic, at the moment but he'll be in a lot of pain when he comes round. I was going to ask you to overrule his request but I guess you aren't going to do that are you?" Dr Smith smiled despite himself.
"He would never forgive me. He's a strong one. He'll be fine." I hope he will be.
"Fine. I'll still be stressing the statistics with him in the morning of how refusing sufficient pain medication can hinder the healing process."
Now it was Hotch's turn to laugh. "I'm sure he'll enjoy that." He shook the other man's hand. "Thank you Dr. Smith."
Over an hour and half later they had all been in to see Reid. Thankfully the hospital had provided him with a private room which allowed the team to pile in all at once. However, due to his narcotic pain medication wishes Dr Smith had decided that it was best to keep him sedated until the following morning to allow his body time to come to terms with the trauma it had suffered. Therefore, when the team had entered the room their colleague and friend was sleeping peacefully. He still had the oxygen mask over his face and the bag of fluids still attached to his arm. They couldn't help but notice the blossoming bruises over his left eye and the now sutured cut.
"We should go. I hate the fact that this has happened but we can't forget the reason why we are in Pasadena in the first place. We need to sleep so we can be on top form to catch the unsub." Said Hotch in an authoritive tone.
"Someone should stay though." JJ argued.
"I'll stay with the kid." Rossi offered before anyone else had a chance to say a thing.
"Fine. Come on." He sheparded the rest of his less than happy team out of the room. Rossi caught his arm before he left.
"I'll sleep in the chair. I know if any of the others had stayed they wouldn't catch a wink." He smiled.
"Thanks Dave. Goodnight."