TW for mentions of rape and violence.

oOo

Charlie woke again to someone gently shaking her arm. She flinched again before realizing that she wasn't in danger. She was in another underground parking lot and Hotchner was waking her up.

"We're here." He said softly. He helped her out of the car and into the wheelchair waiting next to the car. In silence they wheeled her through the parking garage to an elevator, through a hallway to another elevator. Finally the elevator opened into a hallway that led to a crowded room filled with desks. As they rolled her through the room, Dr. Reid appeared with a glass of water in one hand and a small paper cup in the other, walking along beside her as he first handed her the paper cup. There were a few pills in the bottom of it and for a moment she felt the blood drain from her face.

"Those are the antibiotics for the infection in your leg." He said as he now handed her the glass of water. After a moment she took the glass of water and swallowed the pills down. She wanted to ask about painkillers but stopped herself. The thought of taking something that might make her pass out again sent a jolt of fear through her. Instead she thanked him quietly, deciding that no matter how bad the pain got, she would simply endure it. They were now in what could only be some kind of conference room. She was pushed up to the large table in the middle and then several of the agents took seats on either side and around her. There was a recording device sitting on the table, complete with a large microphone.

Gideon, who was in front of her, spoke first. He offered her a reassuring smile. "Hello again, Charlie. How are you feeling."

After a second to process the question she shrugged slightly. "Jet lagged. Sore."

"I'm sure we can get you some Tylenol or something." He nodded. "In the meantime we're going to need your statement. And I know it has been very difficult for you to revisit the events of Christmas Eve but we would really appreciate anything you can tell us."

Charlie nodded, swallowing hard. "What do you want to know?" She said a bit more bravely than she felt.

"Let's start from the beginning." He said and reached over to press a button on the recording machine. Charlie heard the soft whirring of the tape rolling and Gidion said "Tell me about the party."

"It was…" She struggled to recall the last normal moments of her life. "Well it was nice… actually. I usually don't like parties but it wasn't very loud. The people were pretty tame, y'know?"

Gideon nodded. "Did you meet John McClane before the attack?"

"No, not before." She shook her head. "I knew Holly had a husband but I didn't meet him until later."

"It was around a quarter to ten when Hans Gruber and his team arrived at the party, where were you when they entered the room?"

Charlie felt her palms starting to sweat. "I…" She glanced to the other agents in the room but they were all looking at her expectantly. So she answered truthfully. "I was with him. G-Gruber." Using her good hand she reached up to push some hair out of her face. "I left the party early- I was going to just go home- and I found them in the lobby." In her head she could picture the scene still. Walking up to the desk and seeing the body. "They took me back up to the party."

"Right, of course." Gideon said as if that had simply slipped his mind. "Did you see them enter the building?"

She shook her head. "When I got to the front desk they were already there. They'd shot… They'd shot the guard and he was on the floor. I just thought they were trying to help him at first. Like he'd passed out or something." She felt her pulse quicken slightly as she remembered seeing them all for the first time. "One of them chased me and…" She gently touched the dark purple bruise on her cheekbone with her good hand. "Pushed me into a door. And then-then that's when I met Hans."

"What did he say to you?"

"He told me he'd kill me if I didn't behave."

"And what did you do?"

She looked up to him now, he was watching her curiously. "I told him I'd behave." She said matter of factly, and he smiled slightly.

"Of course." He nodded again, then leaned back in his chair slightly and rested his hands on the table in front of him. "Then what happened?"

"We took the elevator up to the party."

"Did anything happen in the elevator?" He pressed.

"Not really, he asked my name." She said, but then remembered. "Well… I mean, he gave me a handkerchief for-for my lip." Her lip was still healing and the cut was plain for everyone to see. "It was bleeding pretty bad."

This seemed to intrigue Gideon but he didn't press her about it. "Nothing else happened on the way up?"

"They started unpacking guns from their bags."

There was a short moment of silence as the agent wrote something down on a notepad and then he urged her to continue. "When you arrived at the thirtieth floor…?"

"Well at first some of them started fanning out around the room, but then one of them started firing into the ceiling and it was just chaos after that."

"From there all of the statements place you with the rest of the hostages, but then Mr. Gruber took Mr. Takagi with him, and he took you too. Why did he do that?"

"I don't know." She answered honestly.

Gideon gave her a small shrug and a curious look. "He didn't say anything to you?"

"No." She tried to remember but it wasn't easy. "He just looked at me and told me to follow."

Their conversation continued like that for a long time, she felt like a broken record now, having told this exact story so many times for them. Prentiss left the room at one point to bring her the Tylenol she had been promised but other than that the other agents sat silently, watching and listening. Only Gideon spoke to her. After a while he pulled out several files as he talked to her, flipping through the pages back and forth as he asked questions. She realized that they were statements from other hostages and they were trying to corroborate her story.

"Shortly before the death of Harry Ellis, the other hostages mentioned an altercation between you and Gruber when the police attempted an ingress into the building." Gideon said as he leafed through one of the files. Several folders were open in front of him.

"I tried taking his radio from him so he couldn't keep ordering the attack." Charlie nodded.

"How did he respond to that?"

"He pushed me into a wall."

"Reports said that he kissed you." Gideon said, and then looked up from the page he was on to gauge her reaction.

"He-He didn't." Charlie replied, blushing slightly again as she remembered the moment. She had wanted him to. She had felt his… "But I think he was going to."

"Why do you say that?"

She couldn't help but feel a flash of indignation at that question. "Aside from the fact that it seems everyone already told you he did?"

"I'm sure they-"

"He was leaning in. He was going to do it." She snapped.

"What stopped him?" Hotchner asked.

"Someone came in. One of his men."

"What did he want?"

"That was when the whole building shook. I think John had used some of their C4."

Gideon continued. "When you were removed from Mr. Gruber's presence for the first time, where did they take you?"

"To the bathroom. That's where I managed to escape."

"Into the vents." Gideon nodded. "Did you know that they were about to kill Harry Ellis?"

She hesitated but still answered truthfully. "I… suspected. They didn't say they were going to but they didn't have to either."

"How so?"

"Well, he was making a total ass of himself. Not just for giving up John so easily but…" She really didn't want to speak ill of the dead, but she didn't know how else to phrase it. "He was a- I mean, he was so full of himself and- well," She took a second to gather her thoughts properly. "He always managed to rub someone the wrong way. This time it was just the wrong person. He kept saying things and not realizing that he was making Hans mad."

"And what did he say to make Hans want you out of the room?"

She didn't know how he knew about that part. It wasn't like anyone else in that room could have told them since Harry was dead and the thieves were gone. Charlie thought about it. "It was more… what he did. He was being a bit condescending- to me, I mean… and… he touched my leg."

"In front of Hans." Gideon confirmed and she nodded even though it wasn't a question.

There was a second of silence that Charlie almost missed, where a few of the agents seemed to be sharing glances. But she saw enough to ask "What?"

"When you say he touched your leg…" Prentiss trailed off, inviting Charlie to explain.

"He was hitting on me. Trying to invite me back to his place."

"During this whole hostage crisis?" Prentiss asked with an incredulous look.

Charlie nodded. "He was under the impression that he was going to save the day by giving up John and then we could all go home before midnight."

"When Ellis touched your leg what was Hans doing?" Hotchner asked.

"Watching."

"Did he seem angry?"

"Of course. Harry has that effect on people." She shrugged slightly with her good shoulder, then sobered a bit before adding "Had. He had that effect."

"Don't you think Hans was angry because Harry was touching you?" Gideon asked.

She had considered it of course, but she felt like Harry had sealed his fate the moment he decided to interfere. "You think Hans killed Harry just because he was… jealous?"

"I think Hans killed Harry to make a point to John that he was serious. That he would kill any of the hostages at any moment. But I also think that's not completely true now."

"What do you mean?" She asked, glancing to the other agents but their faces were neutral, controlled. Almost robotic. They were all watching her carefully now.

"I think Hans needed to make a point but he didn't want to kill you so he made you leave the room. In fact his actions in that moment confirm that he had become possessive of you."

"Possessive?"Charlie asked, and Gideon nodded. "You think… you think- what? Like, he's in love with me?" She thought back to one of their last conversations. Hans had said "I'm not saying I'm in love with you." With a sneer to the word love. No, he wasn't in love with her. Impossible.

"Oh, I couldn't tell you about love." Gideon answered honestly. "You would have to ask him about love. Personally I doubt he's even capable of it. But in my opinion, usually when you love someone you don't hold them hostage."

"You'd let them go." She agreed, the words falling from her lips before she could stop them. And then she realized what she said. "...Oh my god." She whispered. Her good hand flew to her face, covering her mouth. Is he expecting me to come running back? To find him somehow?

"No, Charlotte, that's not what I meant." Gideon tried to say.

Her eyes were wide with disbelief, fresh tears beginning to collect behind her lashes. "That's not love!" She said angrily. "That wasn't love!"

"No." Prentiss agreed firmly. "It's not. It's just his twisted desire to own you."

They had to stop the interview shortly after. Charlie didn't want to talk much about Hans after that, but they still needed to know about his escape and the days leading up to her release, and those were the most Hans-centric questions of them all. Knowing that it was going to be a long and painful process, they went ahead and ordered lunch for everyone. She was left alone in the large cold conference room with Gideon, Prentiss and Hotchner. Though the interview was technically on hold for now she could still hear the soft whirring of the tape recording.

"Holly will be so happy to see you." Prentiss said, breaking the silence as they ate. "She was very insistent that we look into your disappearance."

"We watched the news some." Charlie said absently as she used her chopsticks to poke around her takeout box. She had taken a few bites of chicken but still didn't feel like eating, and she didn't want anyone to nag her about it so she figured she could just get away with pretending for now. "Whenever we were in hotels, they were always watching the news. I never heard my name mentioned. I just assumed that everyone thought I was dead."

"We figured they might be watching so we purposefully kept your disappearance out of the news while we could." Hotchner said. "Along with some other facts."

"Did you think you were going to find me?" She asked, looking up at him.

Blank faced and unapologetic, he shook his head slowly. "Honestly, no."

"It was a pleasant surprise." Gideon added quickly.

She wasn't hurt by this. "H-How many… that is, when the roof exploded, how many people died?"

There was a quick glance between the agents, with a nod from Gideon, before Hotchner answered "So far, five bodies have been recovered but not identified."

"Two are thieves. Maybe three. I don't know." She responded absently.

"What do you mean?" Gideon asked.

"Hans blew the roof while Karl and Uli were on it. And Eddie was up there too but I think John got him."

There was a long moment of silence while they finished eating after that. She missed another shared look between the agents. Hotchner raised his eyebrows in question and Gideon shook his head. Charlie was busy wondering if they had known about any of the dead thieves to see their silent conversation but decided it probably didn't matter. If she had seen them she would have asked and maybe found out about something a bit important right then instead of a few weeks later.

"You've barely eaten." Hotchner noted as the rest of them began cleaning up their food mess. "You don't like Chinese?"

Giving up the pretense, Charlie just set the mostly full box on the table. "I'm just not hungry right now." She said, and missed another shared look between the agents.

"If you tell us what you're in the mood for we can get you anything you want." Prentiss offered.

Charlie shook her head. "Maybe later. I just want to get through this." She had been beginning to feel feverish for the last hour.

The other agents returned from their break and joined them at the table again and they began asking her questions again after that. But this time the other agents were taking turns asking questions too. When she got to the part about Hans impersonating a Nakatomi employee with an American accent, she was reluctant to admit that she hadn't been so quick to alert John.

"He gave you the bag and went to investigate the noise." Gideon read from what must have been John's statement. "Did you follow him?"

"Not at first. When I heard Hans talking in that fake accent I didn't recognize him so I got closer to try and hear better."

"And when you realized it was Hans Gruber?"

"I… I didn't know it was him. I just heard him give John a name and I realized it was a fake name. I was trying to get to them to tell John when I heard John giving him a gun."

"How did you know his name was fake?" Hotchner asked.

"I know everyone who works in Nakatomi Plaza."

"Everyone?" Prentiss asked.

Charlie nodded, sensing the skepticism from everyone in the room.

"That's at least three hundred people." Gideon pointed out. "And you're saying you know every single person?"

"Well, not personally but… two hundred and seventy one, including security guards, sanitation, cafeteria workers and night shift." Charlie corrected, giving each agent a quick look as she made her point. "And of those people only thirty-six were there for the party and most of them I was already very familiar with. The name he gave was not one of those people."

There was a short moment of silence where Charlie was aware that everyone was suddenly seeing her in a new light. She had experienced this kind of thing before. Dr. Reid was the first to break the silence. "Charlie, I understand that Mr. Takagi hired you right out of high school?"

"Sort of." Charlie agreed. "I worked for him as an intern while I took some college classes and then he hired me full time."

"What was your job at Nakatomi?"

"Mainly cybersecurity but unofficially I was also their IT department. The entire IT department."

"How does someone land a job like that right out of high school?" Morgan asked.

"My dad worked for Nakatomi doing the same thing before he died. He even taught me about coding and insisted I follow in his footsteps. He said computers are the future." Charlie smiled softly at the memory. "...Anyway, I guess he must've mentioned something to Mr. Takagi because after his funeral Mr. Takagi approached me and told me there was a job if I wanted it."

"Just like that? No interview or resumé?" Hotchner asked in disbelief.

"If he had any doubts he never voiced them. And my work speaks for itself." Charlie replied, staring down the intimidating man.

"So you just happened to memorize every employee in the building too?" Reid asked, bringing the conversation back to the topic.

"A couple of times when the system was down I had to file a lot of paperwork by hand, including time cards. It's how I got to know about my coworkers. It's how I knew John McClane was Holly's husband too… and it's how I knew the name Hans gave John was a fake." Charlie couldn't help but notice a smile on Reid's face when she said this, and it made her blush slightly.

"So when you realized that the name was fake, you tried to warn John but he had already given him a gun." Gideon said, bringing the conversation all the way back on track. "At that point John said he came to get you to see if you recognized the escaped hostage. Why didn't you tell him who he had just met?"

"Because now he had a gun!" Charlie pressed. "And he made sure I knew what he would do if I tried anything."

Gideon nodded, writing another note on his pad before continuing. "He did eventually reveal himself to be Gruber."

"Y-Yeah. After he and John talked a bit Hans gave up the ruse. He had a radio on him and he called for backup."

"Did you try to run?"

The memory of being tackled into the shards of glass made her stomach turn. "I did. We both did. Some guys came out of the elevator and… well, everyone started shooting and it was chaos. I knew Hans wanted the detonators so I dropped the bag but he just kept chasing me."

"You gave him the detonators and he ignored them?" Hotchner asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Charlie nodded. "That was when he tackled me. He had told one of his men- Karl- to shoot the glass because John was barefoot, and then when I tried to run he chased me and pushed me down onto the broken glass."

"He was mad." Gideon supplied.

The knot in her stomach seemed to tighten as she remembered the look on his face when he pressed the gun to her cheek. "F-Furious." She felt tears prickling in her eyes again.

"Why didn't he just shoot you there?" Morgan asked.

"He… He was going to…" Charlie hesitated. This was the very thing she wasn't supposed to tell them. The whole reason Hans claimed that he needed to create her alibi. At the time he had been so convincing, but maybe he was just saying whatever he thought would make her more compliant. "He put his gun… he said-" She stopped herself. Torn between telling them the truth and protecting herself.

"It's okay. Take your time." Prentiss said gently.

"He pinned me down, put his gun to my-my face and s-said… 'give me a reason' and that I was more trouble than I was worth."

There was another silence as they waited for her to continue but she didn't.

"Charlotte…" Gideon said carefully. She looked up to meet his eyes and in that moment knew that she couldn't lie to him even if she wanted to. He would know. "How did you convince him not to kill you?"

"I told him…" She swallowed nervously. "I told him… that I could open the vault."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Morgan and Prentiss shift slightly. She glanced around to see Dr. Reid looking curiously at her and Hotchner staring at her with a stoic, unreadable expression. Charlie couldn't help but feel like she had just signed a confession, and she let out a shaky breath.

oOo

The rest of the interview was surprisingly easy to get through once she had given up her biggest secret. With nothing left to hide she told them everything and answered their questions without trouble. When she got to the part where she opened the vault, they were interested to learn that Hans' demeanor toward her changed suddenly from hostile- telling Theo to kill her if she didn't open the vault- to nurturing.

"He cleaned your wounds?" Prentiss asked when Charlie got to the part where Hans started pulling glass from her leg. She nodded to the agent.

"Why did you drink vodka when you had already lost so much blood? Weren't you worried about losing consciousness?" Reid asked.

"At that point I… well, I thought he was still going to kill me, and I just didn't care anymore. After everything that had happened I just didn't care."

"Did you want to die?" Gideon asked.

"No, but… I don't know. I was just tired. I wanted it to be over and I didn't care how. I didn't see a situation where I got out alive. I was tired of being afraid."

She explained how from there she had been unconscious for two days and didn't remember much from the few days after she woke up. She didn't want to relive any of that but of course, they wanted to know everything. They said it was necessary to help create their profile. Her answers to everything were once again vague at best. She told them that they had forced her to take the painkillers as a means to keep her docile and weak, even though she was injured. Thankfully they stayed away from the topic of her rape, though Charlie had a feeling that they weren't done asking about that yet. Finally after nearly seven hours they decided to break for the day.

"We have more to ask you but that can wait until tomorrow." Gideon said. "For now we have a hotel room for you, and a doctor would like to take a look at your injuries. The doctors in Canada had you on antibiotics for a pretty nasty infection in your leg and we want to make sure that it doesn't get any worse. Are you in pain?"

"I… y-yes but…" She struggled to find the words. They had been in the process of gathering their things and everyone stopped to hear what she was going to say. Reluctantly she admitted. "I don't want anything that would make me sleep." The Tylenol hadn't done much for the hot radiating pain across her body but she didn't want to take anything if it was going to be a narcotic like whatever Hans had been giving her. She didn't want to be at someone's mercy ever again, even if it was the FBI or a doctor.

"You've got a bullet hole in your shoulder and you don't want painkillers?" Hotchner asked pointedly.

"He was drugging me with some kind of painkiller." She explained. "I don't want to feel like that again."

Hotchner gave her a sympathetic look, the most gentle expression that she had yet to see on him.

After helping her back into the wheelchair, Hotchner and Prentiss got her loaded into another SUV and drove her to a nearby hotel. It was easily the nicest hotel she had ever been in. She immediately felt like she didn't belong and stared numbly at her hands while they got her checked in- under a false name- and rolled her up to her room.

"I'll be over in the morning to pick you up." Hotchner said at the door. Charlie nodded her reply but he didn't leave. "Charlotte… you're not in any trouble."

"I helped him steal from Nakatomi." She said. I let him convince me that he cared. I let him…

"Under the circumstances your actions are understandable. It's arguable that you may have even saved a few lives."

"How?"

"We believe Hans Gruber's plan was to blow up the roof with all of the hostages. Between you and John McClane, his plans were somewhat diverted."

"Diverted." She repeated absently.

"Plus the FBI is way more concerned with catching Gruber and his associates than going after a hostage." Prentiss chimed in. "Even if he wasn't our top priority, we don't usually make a habit of punishing people for acting under duress."

This made Charlie feel a bit better until she realized that it really did mean that Hans didn't have to rape her, and he probably knew it too. "I'd like to go to bed now." She was hot, tired and her shoulder was throbbing.

"Of course. You've been very patient with us and I can't thank you enough for your willingness to help." Hotchner said, sounding so gentle and sincere for the first time that Charlie couldn't help but glance up at him to make sure it was actually him that had said it. It was like he was suddenly a completely different person.

"I've got some more antibiotics for you to take and the doctor is supposed to come by soon to get you checked out." Prentiss said as she opened the door. "But then we'll be out of your-."

"Prentiss, can I talk to you for a second?" Hotchner interrupted.

"Uh, yeah. Let me get her inside."

She rolled Charlie into the room and then both agents went into the hallway for a few minutes. It was a suite with two queen-sized beds and a large television on one wall. Charlie waited patiently, wondering if she should just get in the bed. Surely a doctor could examine her while she slept?

"Alright, the doctor should be here shortly. Have you thought about what you want for dinner?" Prentiss said as she came back to the room.

"Not really. What was that about?"

"Oh! Nothing, we just had to talk about tomorrow's plans." She was quick to brush it aside which for Charlie just confirmed her suspicions. They were talking about her.

"So, come on. What do you think?" Prentiss asked. "Pizza? Tacos? Do you like sushi?"

"I don't really care. I just want to go to bed."

"Charlie, you haven't eaten all day. In fact you've barely eaten since you were in the hospital. Your body needs nutrients, especially with your injuries."

Charlie didn't respond and with a sigh Prentiss made a decision for her, ordering a pizza from room service. The doctor arrived shortly after that. She was a young woman not much older than Charlie. She wasn't wearing scrubs or a white coat but she had a bag with her.

"Hi, you must be Charlotte!" She greeted warmly. "My name is Dr. Diaz. If it's alright with you I'd like to look over your injuries."

Charlie nodded to the doctor, who then began to help her undress.

"Hmm… how old are these injuries?" Dr. Diaz asked absentmindedly as she reached Charlie's bullet wound.

"They happened on Christmas Eve." Charlie reminded her with a flat tone before glancing at Prentiss and arching one eyebrow.

"R-Right. Forgive me. It seems your bullet wound is also developing an infection but the antibiotics you're on should help with that too. Would you like something for the pa-"

"No." Charlie cut her off before she could even ask.

"Come on. You must be in a lot of-"

"No." Charlie repeated.

"It's alright." Prentiss said from the other side of the room. "If it gets bad enough I'm sure Ms. Durant will let us know."

"Alright." Dr. Diaz relented with a sigh. "But it will help you rest, which is what your body needs most right now. Bed rest and food. No stress, no activity for the next few weeks." She was talking to Agent Prentiss now, a tone of warning in her voice.

"We'll take very good care of her." Prentiss assured.

"You'd better." Diaz warned. "Or she'll wind up right back in the hospital."

oOo