"Alright, guys, this is it. If we don't find JJ now, we won't find her alive," said Emily reluctantly. "Be careful, and make sure that if you find JJ, you don't move her until paramedics arrive."

Emily took a deep breath, then rushed forward, leading her group towards the back of the collapsed factory. From the corner of her eye, she saw Rossi leading his group to the front of the building, and a paramedic team on standby at their ambulance.

"Okay, Luke, Reid, walk carefully. I don't want either of you joining JJ at the hospital. I also don't want us injuring her further by stepping on top of her. If she's not under this mess..." Emily said, the fear she'd been feeling for the past three days spilling out.

"We're going to find her, Emily," Reid said, though he knew that he was just as afraid, if not more, for the safety of his best friend.

Emily gave them both a quick smile before they all set off. She wasn't sure how long they were searching for, but after what seemed forever, she heard a tiny cry. Grabbing her radio, Emily called out,

"STOP! Everyone quiet! I hear something!"

The area around the collapsed factory went silent in seconds. There was no noise, not even the sound of the trees swaying in the light breeze, and then Emily heard it again. It was nothing more than a whimper, but it was there. She glanced around, seeing nothing new, but then, as the sound echoed in the silence, she saw it- a piece of timber moved a fraction of an inch.

"There!" Emily yelled, pointing at the timber. She scrambled over. "JJ! JJ, can you hear me? It's Emily, can you hear me?!"

Emily waited a second, and just as she was about to call out again, she heard the cry, louder and more distressed than before.

"We're here! I need you to hang tight a little longer, JJ, but we're here and we're going to get you out. I promise!"

Emily grabbed the timber that had moved and caught her attention. It was light enough to not need help, so she dragged it off to the side. As she bent down to grab a piece of sheet metal from the pile of debris on top of JJ, the rest of the team joined her. It took them forty minutes to move enough of the debris to create a gap large enough to pull JJ out, though none of them did so.

"There's a decent gap under there," Luke noted. "Emily or Tara, one of you could fit in there with a paramedic."

"I'll go," Emily said immediately. "Get me a medic in here." She carefully lowered herself through the gap and laid herself on her stomach next to her friend. "I'm here, JJ, it's okay. We're just going to get you checked over, then we can get you out of here."

"Em..." whispered JJ, turning her head but not daring to move.

"I'm here." Emily reached out and took JJ's hand, careful not to move her just in case. "Tell me what happened?"

"He had me tied up," breathed JJ, wincing. "Building... exploded... roof hit me..."

Emily frowned and looked her friend up and down. She noticed something dangling from JJ's closest ankle. "Are you still tied up?" she asked.

"Think so? Can't feel... anything now... too cold..."

"Agent Prentiss, I need you to slide across for me a bit please," said one of the paramedics she'd spotted earlier.

Emily nodded and moved sideways, closer to JJ's feet. She waited for the medic to settle into a position that would allow her to work, then turned her attention to the dangling rope she had seen moments before. She could see that the rope was definitely tied around JJ's left ankle, but the chair she had been sitting on had clearly broken in the fall. The wood was smashed to pieces beneath JJ's legs, with some still attached by the rope.

"JJ, I'm going to cut the rope from your ankle. Please try not to move your legs for a few minutes," Emily called out as she slipped a knife from her belt and got to work slicing through the layers of rope.

"Agent Jareau," the paramedic said, "can you tell me where the worst pain is?"

"I can't... feel anything... numb, cold..." JJ muttered.

"You're in shock. As much as I would love to fix that right now, I do need to examine you as much as I can so we can move you. Is that okay?"

"Yeah..."

Emily glanced over and saw that the medic was already half way through a checkup. JJ didn't seem to have noticed any of it, and she didn't think that was a good sign. Barely a minute later, she cut through the final part of the rope and noticed the medic shifting to her knees.

"I'm done, Agent Prentiss. I can't find any damage to her spine, but we will still have to be careful. I'm going to climb out of the hole so that we can lift Agent Jareau out. Do you think you can help me?" the medic asked after passing her bag to her partner.

"I'll be fine. Let's get her out of here," answered Emily as she slid back over to JJ's head.

The paramedic climbed back through the hole with the help of her partner, then turned back and dangled her hands and arms through. JJ maneuvered herself into the tiny space at JJ's head and grabbed her friend as gently, yet firmly, as she could. Without a word, she lifted the top half of JJ's body from the ground and passed her up to the paramedic's hands, and less than a minute later, she was watching JJ's feet disappear through the hole too. She gave them a minute, then reached up and pulled herself up, letting Luke and Matt help her the rest of the way. Without a word or a second glance, she pushed Reid after the retreating paramedics, not needing to tell him that he should be the one to accompany JJ to the hospital.