Author's Note:
Yay! No more writer's block! Unfortunately, it means I'm not going to want to write soon, so I'm going to take advantage of this time now and write the next chapter!
Saturday, November 17th, 2012 2:53 PM
Starbucks, Quantico, VA
Amy sat in her wheelchair, staring out the window a few feet away from her while Dom and Reid got drinks and food. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought of what had happened almost nine months before, and everything that had led up to that moment. She was so lost in thought that she almost didn't notice the man sitting at the table next to her.
"I didn't expect to see you here," the oh-too-familiar British voice said behind her.
Amy's eyes widened as she slowly turned to face the man she thought she'd never see again, quickly turning back to the window as soon as they locked eyes. "Me either."
He leaned in closer, his breath almost against her skin. "Amy, I am so sorry about what has happened to you. I never expected we'd both make it out alive, and even if you did I never thought this would happen to you! But if those agents had been more careful with where they aimed..."
"What are you saying?" Amy asked, her voice cracking as a few tears dripped from her eyes. She dared not face him.
He leaned in even closer, his lips almost touching her ear, the faint taste of liquor on his breath. "I am not the one who paralyzed you, my dear."
She couldn't help it: Amy's head spun to face him. "But-"
"All they told you were lies. I wouldn't be here telling you this if they were telling the truth."
Just then Reid and Domonick walked over smiling and laughing, Reid carrying a tray with drinks and food, Dom holding and leaning on the cane that had replaced his crutches not two weeks before. Both men stopped as soon as they saw him, eyes widening.
"You're supposed to be dead!" Dom exclaimed, Stan pulling away from Amy slowly, cautiously.
"I can say the same for you, boy. As should be your sister, but she's not. You're not. I'm not," he replied, his British accent sounding oddly forced, as if he wanted to revert back to an American accent.
Reid was still shocked. "But Hotch said-"
"What else has Aaron Hotchner said about me? About Amy? About Amy's condition?" he asked. "You know very well I am not the one who shot her in such a way. You know better than I do, Dr. Reid. As does Agent Hotchner."
Domonick sat. "What do you mean by bringing Hotch into this...situation, Stan?"
Stan smiled manically, turning his head slowly to face Amy again. "All I'm trying to say is that you cannot blame me for everything, Amy."
Amy's eyes widened in fear as Reid set down the tray and sat. "I'm not so sure I want to understand."
Stan leaned in uncomfortably close. "Who was it that first told you they were saving up for the surgery to fix your paralysis?"
Amy's eyes widened further as she realized what he meant.
Stan continued. "Why else would he have done that without guilt for being one of the many reasons behind it?"
Amy began to hyperventilate. "You don't mean...Hotch paralyzed me?"
Stan smiled. "That is exactly what I mean."
Reid quickly gathered in all the possibilities and suddenly became more of an agent than a possible hostage. "What do you want with us, Stan?"
Stan turned his head to lock eyes with the agent. "Why don't the three of you join me for tea in my new place? We have quite a bit of...catching up to do."
"I don't think we'll be taking you up on that offer, Stan," Domonick retorted.
Reid's eyes made contact with Stan's right hip, where a bulge made him say, "I think we may have to take him up on the offer, Dom. I just hope Eloïse doesn't mind our being late to dinner."
Amy caught on to what Reid was getting at, and, her eyes never leaving Stan's hip, said, "Yes, definitely. At least to save the lives of everyone in the shop."
Stan smiled. "Very good. Now, it you'll all follow me, we'll take your car, Dr. Reid."
Soon the four had left the Starbucks and were driving out and into a deserted industrial section of the city. Stan drove Reid's seldom-used car into one of the old buildings, parking next to a pillar in the center of the basement. Then he took away everyone's cell phones and Amy's iPods, locking them in the glove compartment. Next he popped a few prescription pills into his mouth swallowing them down with water he pulled from a pocket inside his coat. Then, reaching into Reid's coat, he pulled out a set of handcuffs, locking one around Reid's left wrist and the other around Domonick's right once he had the two out of the car at gunpoint. Stan went back in the car for Amy, whom he carried out in his arms before ordering the other two to follow him.
The four, with much difficulty for Domonick, made their way upstairs onto a floor that had once been filled with cubicles. Now, the walls of the cubicles formed a maze leading to one office with a desk for an awkward bed, chairs, and more cubicle walls obviously in the process of being assigned to a spot in the maze. The window had been covered, and Amy sighed at the lack of a view outside again. She hadn't made sure to have a room with a view for nothing.
Once Stan was sure they were all in the room, he laid Amy down on the makeshift bed-desk and set to work making sure Domonick and Reid weren't going anywhere. After tying the two men together, he started to finish the strategic layout design for the cubicle dividers in the office that would eventually be placed in the maze. A few hours later, it seemed to be complete and he was hesitant to go back into the maze and set them up. However, after looking back at his hostages, he sighed and dragged one wall at a time out into the maze and disappeared, obviously completing the construction. Reid and Dom tried to find a weakness in the rope around their wrists and chests, but realized Stan had been smart and made sure the ends were tied just below their sternums. With a sigh, the two gave up, knowing there would be no escaping this time.
When Stan returned a few hours after he left to begin with, it was obvious the now-53-year-old man was exhausted. He stretched, yawning, then slumped against the wall next to Amy's head, sinking to the floor.
"That's done. I'll test it tomorrow. By then, they should be on my trail, so I'll have to finish the next part of my plans as soon as possible..." Stan said to himself. "If any of you get any ideas, please, do share them with me so I can blow your head off. In other words, I do not want to hear a single sound from any of you. Do not get it in your mind that I will hesitate to shoot because you will be the first I destroy." With that, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Silent tears streamed from Amy's eyes. This couldn't be happening, could it? This was almost scarier than her PTSD hallucinations. Now those were terrifying, mostly because she no longer felt anything from her waist down, meaning she couldn't tell if he was inside her or not. Just as she had expected, like clockwork, one of these hallucinations occurred. She squeezed her eyes shut in fear, tears streaming from her eyes despite her biting of her lips. Her back arched as the bullets re-entered her body even though Stan was on top of her again. She tried so hard not to scream...
"There is something
I see in you.
It might kill me
I want it to be true."
"How long must I wait for my love?
'Cause I need you,
Oh I need you..."
"Time is dead and gone
Show must go on
It's time for our act..."
"I can't survive
Without your sweet love
Oh baby, don't leave me this way..."
"But I feel like I've never known love
I feel like I've never known love
I feel like I've never known lo-ove..."
"Amy, it's just a song!"
"You left me no choice!"
"Don't even start, young lady..."
"I gave it all to you
Let it go one night
Reaching as I fall..."
"I KNOW IT'S ALREADY OVER!"
"Already over!"
"SHUT UP AMY!" Stan shouted, his gun pointed at her face.
The young teen opened her eyes, breathing heavily. She knew she'd been screaming for the memories and pain to stop. The taste of blood in her mouth and the throbbing of her bottom lip told her she'd bitten too hard and even then it didn't do her any good. Fresh tears streamed from her eyes as she came to face her terrible mistakes.
She nodded twice, wincing in pain. The hallucination had seemed so real this time. Was it because Stan was really there? She doubted it, but it was a possibility.
Stan's eyes narrowed, but he lowered his gun. "Next time I shoot." As it to prove it, he opened the chamber and inserted new rounds.
Reid suddenly asked, "Is that the same gun?"
Stan rolled his eyes then turned to face the agent, pointing the gun at him. "What do you mean, same gun?"
Reid shrugged, a difficult thing to do without moving Domonick's shoulders too, so it appeared that the two men were shrugging in unison. If their situation was less tense, Amy would have burst out into laughter. Instead she breathed heavily as the sweat dripped from her forehead. Had I been thrashing, too? No wonder he was ready to shoot me! she thought.
"Well?" Stan demanded, waving his gun.
"I'm just curious. I mean, if it was the same gun - which I know it is - you'll be arrested for more than kidnapping and murder and probably attempted murder, but theft as well," Reid said.
Amy squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard not to face-palm herself. Spencer, please don't do anything stupid that will get you killed!
Stan rolled his eyes. "And? You'll be lucky if you survive my plans." With that, he sat back down in the same spot he had before and fell back asleep.
Amy's body shuddered with each exhale as her forehead dripped. She slowly wiped her forehead with her sleeve, wiping her eyes with her other sleeve. Why was this all so terrifying? What time was it even? It had to be night, but why would she be hallucinating so? Had she fallen asleep instead?
"Amy?" Reid whispered.
Amy opened her eyes.
"You okay?" Reid whispered.
Amy nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just..." She sighed. "I still don't understand the reasoning behind why it was so strong this time. I mean, was it this time when I was..."
"The first time, or when you were shot?" Reid whispered.
"Or both?" Amy asked.
Reid cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
"It was really late when we were on our way to the house when we got into an argument. He pulled over so he wouldn't crash, and then continued arguing with me. Finally I shouted for him to prove to me he loved me, and he did. Worst mistake I've ever made."
Reid was silent for a while. Finally, he whispered, "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"There wasn't a reason to."
"It's still part of the case," Reid whispered.
Stan stirred, and the two geniuses held their breath. He simply moved his head back against the wall, then continued sleeping as normal.
Amy sighed. "No one ever asked me to recount any details about my...experience. They only asked you."
"Because we didn't know how much it would hurt you, or if it would make anything worse by recounting everything that happened." Reid sighed, trying to turn to face her without waking Dom (who had fallen asleep almost as quickly as Stan had). "Amy, we care about you too much for us to ever want to hurt you. Sure, some things are law and they can't be ignored, but we weren't going to ask you to tell us anything you weren't ready to tell."
Amy sighed, looking at Reid's brown eyes. He wouldn't lie to her, and even if he did she'd see right through it. But why did she still have a hard time believing him?
"I understand you probably don't believe me, but that's because of what Stan's been saying about us. It may have been one of Hotch's bullets that landed in your spine the way it did, but it doesn't mean he did it on purpose. He cares about you, too. All he's ever wanted is your happiness, but he's a bit...eh, not-so-good around kids besides his own, especially girls. He's also more likely to do what he needs to do rather than what he wants to do. That's one of the reasons he's such a good agent. Morgan...well, he's Morgan. What else is there to say about him? It takes a while to earn his trust, which is understandable, but somehow you quickly earned his. I personally believe he sees you as trustworthy not just because you are but because Hotch seems to care more about you than he lets on. In that way, you should really know how much Morgan sees in you, how much we all see in you."
Amy cocked her head. "Okay, you lost me there."
Reid sighed. "Forget it. I'd rather not get you killed." With that, he turned back to the way he had been positioned originally, and stared at his knees.
Amy sighed, turning her head back to face the ceiling. She knew Reid had tried to explain how much she meant to the team, but his wording was weird and she didn't see how they could already care so much after only just meeting her eleven months and thirteen days before.
"You are wrong about one thing, though, Spencer," Amy whispered.
"Which is?"
"The gun Stan has now? It's not the same one that you remember. He has two. I've seen both."
Reid's eyes widened. "Really?"
Amy nodded. "Why? Probably as a back-up plan in case something went sour. The other - his revolver - was taken from the house as evidence, so he's using his pistol instead."
There was a silence between the two of them for a few minutes before Reid asked, "Amy, if you're comfortable talking about it, what happened...what happened before I was abducted?"
Amy closed her eyes. "A lot of things. For one thing, you missed most of Stan's anger and most of his love. The night I stood up for you was the last night he raped me. That's why Mrs. Meyes may have commented on how long dances had become, and that's why you witnessed…more. It was to make up for the time lost in the schedule from 'love sessions' and to satisfy his sexual desires for me.
"But you missed more. The night I stood up for you was the second time I'd stood up. The first time I was furious, shouting at Stan for beating Mr. Bronsky. I told him that if anyone were to be harmed again I'd...I'd hurt myself or even take more drastic measures and kill myself."
Reid's eyes widened. "You what?"
Amy nodded. "I did. That got him to stop pretty quick. He started leaving his gun - whichever he had on him at the time - at the top of the stairs outside the door 'just in case I got any ideas.' He really believed I'd do it, that I'd kill myself just to prove to him he needed to stop.
"For a while, he would lock my bedroom door when it wasn't a section of the schedule to prohibit escape, but then he stopped doing that, leaving all doors that had windows locked instead, minus that one I used to escape and tell time.
"The day he left to get you, he was gone. He told me he wouldn't be there for the entire day, and that I wasn't to worry about him. He said he wanted to rearrange the schedule some for just that day - we should have been about to play music - and that he wanted that day's 'love session' to be right then and there. I was pretty scared, I'll admit, because it wasn't in the shockingly warm comfort of his room but in the freeze of mine. We both froze up pretty quick, so he continued it while we were on our way to his room just to warm up. It was longer than usual, I remember, as if he was taking his sweet time. When he did stop, he openly contemplated leaving me right where I was and tying me there just so I wouldn't 'get any ideas' and for his own benefit when he returned. He ended up doing so, only to have someone come a few hours later and let me loose, making sure I was in my room before leaving again. I was so scared, not for Stan's safety - his safety really didn't matter because I was also furious at him for what he had done to me - but for what he could be doing. I was right to be scared."
Amy stopped speaking for a moment, then asked, "If you don't mind me asking now, how did he manage to get you?"
Reid sighed. "Mind manipulation."
Amy raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure it was more than that."
Reid shrugged slightly. "It's a really long story."
"It's better to tell it now when we have time rather than later, if there's a 'later,'" Amy pointed out.
Reid sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you now..."
5/6/2013- Just noticed a few errors, so I corrected them. Sorry about any inconsistencies - unlike Amy and Reid, I don't have an eidetic memory, so I rely on my notes and rereading previous chapters, even if that means hunting through the other three books... Oh, and did I move too quickly into this intense part? I hope not, because Stan's about to be really, really evil. If you hated him before...you're not going to love him now.