Chapter 18: Eye for an Eye

Reid pulled up to the curb and turned his car off. He took a second to prepare himself for this. One of the reasons he felt he let this go on for so long was that he had never wanted to hurt Michael. He took one last deep breath and then he placed the small designer paper sack the rings were inside of into his glove box. As he sat back in his seat, he noticed the Suburban parked in front of Michael's house. He recognized it as Morgan's immediately.

"What the hell?" he mumbled. Morgan was off the case so there was no good reason for him to be here. It crossed his mind he was here to see Maya… It crossed his mind Morgan was here to confront Michael. He felt neither one of those scenarios would have a favorable outcome for their relationship. "Dammit…" He let his head fall back loosely as he sighed, straightened up and then he forced himself to step out of his car and shut the door. But first, he was going to walk up to the SUV to look inside. As he headed toward it he glanced back up toward the house. He had to question reality when he saw someone running from the front door across the lawn. Is that Morgan? Reid squinted as his hand instinctively moved to the pistol at his side. Fear stole his breath as he confirmed by sight that it was Morgan and he was in trouble. He could see blood on his head, face, shoulder and leg. His shirt was opened and hanging off his shoulder and his hands were bound behind his back.

"Morgan?!" he called out.

"GET BACK HERE! YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" a woman screamed.

Reid's eyes shot toward Maya who was also covered in blood all down her front. What the fuck is happening? Reid looked back to Morgan who had taken just a second to glance over his shoulder and began to lose his balance as he ran.

Something caught the light – something shiny in Maya's hand. She had a gun and it was pointed at Morgan.

Right as Morgan face planted onto the sidewalk, Reid pulled his gun from his holster. Maya had stopped in the center of the lawn and fired one shot. That bullet shattered a hole into the concrete next to where Morgan was grinding to a halt. Reid took immediate aim and fired without a second thought. Maya went down instantly and she went down hard.

Reid tried to even his breathing out as he walked toward the house, stepping onto the sidewalk and then onto the front lawn with careful deliberation. He glanced once all around him to look for anyone else who may want to cause harm as he tried to assess the situation. His gun remained aimed at Maya as he approached her, but once he saw the entry point of his bullet, he lowered his weapon. It had entered the area of her left eye. She was dead. He tried to kick the gun from her hand, but she still had a grip on it, so he had to bend down and gently pull it from her grasp. He went ahead and checked her neck for a pulse, but there wasn't one. She was gone.

When he turned around, he saw Morgan trying to stand up and he took another look behind him toward the house looking for Michael, but after he saw no movement inside and couldn't hear anything coming from the opened front door, he went to Morgan.

Morgan had made it to his knees, but when he saw Reid coming back for him, he stopped and waited.

Still breathing hard, Reid knelt down with Morgan, placing Maya's gun down next to them and then took hold of Morgan at his jaw, raising his chin so he could see the fresh scrapes he'd just suffered from the sidewalk. "Are you okay?" He could tell Morgan was about to cry and Reid could feel his own insides shaking, like a sudden adrenaline burst. He was trying so hard to remain calm and not panic. "Jesus, what happened to you?" he glanced over his shoulder at Maya's body and then began to study the left side of Morgan's face and head. Reid started to man handle him a bit, trying to take note of all his injuries, but Morgan kept flinching.

"You don't need to put your hands on me. Just untie me!" Morgan spat, out of breath and obviously in pain, wincing.

"Morgan, you're safe. Calm down. I just want the EMTs to be ready for you. Is that bruising on your side? Do you have broken ribs?" Reid sounded scared as he spoke and it wasn't helping. He reached for Morgan's body, but only to move his shirt and take a closer look.

"I'm serious. Don't fucking touch me right now."

Reid froze as Morgan's eyes held him firmly in place; he realized that something really bad must have happened in there. His eyes moved downward to Morgan's lips where he could see red stains from lipstick, then further down to his waist noticing his belt was undone and his pants were open at top. He couldn't stop from tearing up. What happened to you? He licked his lips and then breathed in, thinking of a different way to approach this. "Okay… Do you have a headache?" he asked softly.

"Really?! I've been attacked twice with a baseball bat. The side of my face is black and blue and my eye is swollen shut. How the fuck do you think my head feels, Reid?" Morgan took a deep breath to try and calm himself after he'd heard himself snap at the man he loved.

Reid blinked several times and swallowed, but continued. "Right… Sensitivity to light? Do you feel weak? Uncoordinated?"

Morgan would have performed the biggest eye roll in history if he could have pulled it off. He just wanted his hands freed. "Yes."

"Any nausea?"

"A little, but I think it was cuz I had swallowed some blood. Untie me."

"Slurred speech?"

"Not really."

Reid nodded, "Okay, that's good. Memory loss?" He motioned Morgan to lower his head so he could see the top of it. There was cut in his scalp that was about an inch long. He had a knot on his head in that area and some minor discoloration. He winced realizing how much pain Morgan must be in.

Morgan tried to shake his head in response, but that just made it hurt worse. "No! Untie my fucking hands!" he demanded.

"Let me see your eyes." The two men looked into each other's eyes. Reid was checking his pupils to make sure one or both hadn't blown out, but he couldn't even see his left one. "Can you open your left eye at all?"

Morgan was getting pissed off enough that he considered screaming at Reid, but he forced himself to hold his cool. "The rope, Reid."

"Just… one second. Let me see your eye…" Reid ordered.

Morgan sighed and held still as Reid tried to lift his eye lid open by gently pulling up on his brow. He had to press upward on the swollen eyelid just a little bit, but Morgan could tell Reid was being as considerate with his injury as possible. "I think she broke my face." He sucked in air between his teeth as the inflamed tissue was manipulated to expose his eye to the open air. It made his eyelid sting so badly and his eyes began to water.

"Maya did this to you?" Reid frowned at Morgan when he didn't answer. "Did Michael have anything to do with this?" Still no answer from Morgan. Once he got a good look at the eyeball, he cringed. He couldn't see much of it, but he could tell nearly the entire white of his eye was red. His pupil was fine. "Well, you have a mild concussion. And I see some hemorrhaging here. I think you'll be okay, but with this much swelling and trauma to your eye, you definitely have an orbital fracture. You may need surgery." He took a look at his thigh and it was ugly, but earlier he saw Morgan had full use of his leg. All in all, Morgan would be fine…physically. He sighed in relief and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Santa came early this year…" Morgan tried to joke.

Reid moved to Morgan's backside and studied the knot so that he could manually untie it without his pocket knife because he didn't have it on him. He pulled out his phone and dialed for help as he worked. When the operator answered, he identified himself and told them the Ortega's address. He told them the extent of Morgan's wounds that he could see. Then he mentioned one fatality as he freed Morgan's hands from the rope. He moved back around so that they were facing each other again.

"Two," Morgan corrected him as he rubbed his wrists. He began moving his arms around trying to relieve the tension built up in his shoulders.

Reid stared at Morgan as he spoke to the operator, stumbling over the correction he tried to repeat while the lump in his throat formed. As soon as he hung up the line, he asked, "Where's Michael?"

"He's gone, Reid. I'm sorry." He was about to start crying again and nearly choked on his apology.

"What happened here, Morgan?! Where is Michael?!"

Morgan couldn't tell if Reid was pissed or panicked. He nodded toward the house, but then he told Reid, "You don't wanna go in there." Reid was waiting for some sort of explanation and Morgan decided to spill a short version. "Maya lured me here, held me captive… Michael came home and messed up her plans to kill me so you and Michael can live happily ever after and she shot him. He died trying to save me…" Morgan recognized the shock on Reid's face. Everyone had been wearing that look today. "Reid, stay here with me. Wait for help. I'm tellin' you, you don't need to see…"

"He's dead? Are you sure?" Reid was ready to go check for himself. He didn't even wait for Morgan to say the words. He was already on his feet and walking away.

"Maybe you didn't hear me! She tried to kill me!" Morgan gave up and pancaked onto the lawn and just breathed, appreciating the fact that he was alive.

Reid placed his hand on his weapon as he stepped into the open door way. The first thing he saw was the blood in the wall that led into the hallway. His right shoe brushed up against Michael's backpack causing the helmet to shift. The sound scared Reid and a wave of fear passed through his chest.

Even though he knew it was must be coming, his heart sank into the pit of his stomach when he saw Michael. Reid saw a chair and loose rope on the carpet near Michael's feet and legs. He held his breath as he slowly walked up to him and knelt down. Michael was on his left side, facing him. He looked relaxed as if he was only sleeping… but his blood was everywhere. Reid could tell his body had been moved several times as he bled. When he saw the amount of blood loss behind where Michael's body lay, his chin began to tremble. He tucked his lips into his mouth and stared at the ceiling for a second. As Reid reached his hand out to touch him for what he thought would be one last time, he heard the oncoming sirens and pulled his hand back.

Reid sniffed and closed his eyes, trying so hard not to cry. Michael didn't deserve this and in the very deepest corner of his mind, Reid felt this was his fault. He could feel the pressure in his throat building becoming painful and he let some tears fall. But as soon as he heard that the ambulance had pulled up to the house, he quickly wiped his face dry and began to lift himself from the floor. He could hear the police coming too. "I'm sorry, Michael."

When he almost had his back turned, he heard the dead man on the floor suck in a shallow breath. His eyes grew wide and he turned back around, landing on his knees again. "Michael?" he cupped the right side of Michael's face and then ran his hand down over his hair. "It's Spencer. I know you can't respond right now, but please hold on, okay? Help is here. They're going to do everything they can." Just then the paramedics entered the home and Reid knew well enough to get out of their way.

He stood by the door and watched for a short bit as the paramedics tried to get a response out of him while they took their reading and prepped him for the gurney. There seemed to be some confusion for a second and they asked Michael to repeat himself. "Not today, Mr. Ortega," was one of the men's response.

"What did he say? He's lost too much blood. He shouldn't even be conscious." Reid asked one of the paramedics who was stepping out of the house to get a needed piece of equipment.

"He asked us to let him go."

Reid tucked his lips into his mouth and looked down at his feet as the man walked off. He hoped that the men had heard that wrong. Then he stepped outside he saw Morgan at one of the ambulances with a paramedic. When he reached them, he told Morgan, "He's alive. He's trying to breathe."

Morgan shook his head. "Reid, he isn't gonna make it. He lost way too much blood."

"But—"

"Shot in the back, Reid. Shattered bullet and bone fragments piercing organs, puncturing lungs, blood loss, nerve damage, muscle damage, God knows what else. The man is gone." Morgan hated himself at that moment, but he couldn't allow Reid to grasp onto something that wasn't there.

Reid swallowed hard and stared at the ground while Morgan crushed what little hope he had. As he stood there, his cell phone rang. "It's Hotch," he told Morgan and stepped away as he answered the call.

Morgan sighed from his nose as he watched Reid while the paramedic dressed his thigh wound. He tried to hear what he was telling Hotch, but gave up quickly; he was just too tired. After another few minutes, he saw Michael getting wheeled out of the house. And Morgan watched Reid pay very close attention to what was happening with Michael, even as he spoke with Hotch. Another paramedic gave Morgan a wrapped ice pack to place over his eye. As soon as he touched it to his skin, he winced. "Damn…"

Michael's ambulance finally left and Reid was heading back to Morgan. His ambulance was about to leave as well. "We'll need to give statements later." He glanced at the Suburban behind them. "We're having your vehicle towed back to work."

Morgan didn't care about any of that. "Are you riding with me?"

"I can't. My car… but I'll meet you there."

"Are we still on?"

Reid stared at Morgan for a second. "Still on?" He didn't know what that meant.

"You and me."

The two paramedics made quick eye contact. Reid noticed, but ignored them.

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"The last time we ended up in ambulances, you broke up with my ass."

While Morgan spoke, Reid walked up to him and waited for him to finish. "Why would you even think that, especially now?"

"You're quiet and I know for a fact you're worried sick about Michael."

"I'm worried because I care about Michael. I'm quiet because I have a million voices in my head screaming at me that this entire thing is my fault."

Morgan's face got serious. He was about to tell Reid he couldn't be more wrong, but the paramedic interrupted.

"Sir, we need get you to the hospital," one of the paramedics said.

Maybe this was a conversation for a different time… for when they didn't have an audience. "We need to talk later. I'll see you there?"

"I'm right behind you," Reid nodded. He wanted to lean down and give Morgan a kiss on the cheek or something, but with Morgan not wanting to be touched earlier, he didn't want to chance upsetting him again.

When the ambulance had left, Reid sat in his car for a moment, fighting back the tears. He felt so guilty and it was crushing him. He quickly reached over to his glove box and fished out the bag that had the rings inside. As he held it, he watched all the police activity happening at the house now. His eyes welled up as he pulled one of the ring boxes out and he wiped them away as soon as the tears spilled over his eye lids. He still couldn't believe that he almost lost Morgan today. He wasn't looking forward to how it was going to feel when it finally sank in. He opened the box and tried to imagine Morgan's face when he would be able to give it to him and it made him smile as more tears fell from his eyes.

After another moment, he sniffed and wiped his tears away again. He needed to get to the hospital. He closed the box and placed it back into the bag and set the bag back inside his glove box. Just as he was about to pull out, he saw the tow truck pull up next to the Suburban and he watched, letting it distract him from his thoughts. After another fifteen minutes, when the tow truck was leaving with Morgan's rig, he dialed Hotch again.

"They just came and got the Suburban… Yeah. I'm gonna be at the hospital until I'm sure what's happening with Morgan. He may need surgery." He paused to let Hotch ask if he was okay. "I'm fine… but I gotta go… I was supposed to be right behind him. I'm sure he'll be wondering where I am. I'll call you later." He cringed, able to tell Hotch was just as worried about him as he was Morgan.

Now do you see why I couldn't have posted these like a month apart? I think you guys would have been upset waiting! So how was it? Uncalled for? Sad? Don't worry, we're still not done. I have four more chapters planned. We'll see how it goes. Leave me some love!