Jennifer

JJ hated whenever Reid suggested they split up. Ever since Tobias Hankel, she never wanted to let Reid out of her site while in the field, but unfortunately, she had no time to argue with him today. It was only when she heard the loud thud and Reid's cry of pain that she knew she should have taken the time to argue. She ran into the room where she'd heard the noise with her gun drawn but stopped immediately in the doorway.

"Don't come any closer or I swear I'll shoot 'im!" the Unsub shouted, frantically.

Well, the profile had been correct: a Caucasian male who was above average in size and strength. Well… way above average. He was holding an unconscious Reid like a limp ragdoll, with a giant mitt wrapped around Reid's gun. The Unsub was pointing it straight at Reid's head.

JJ did a quick sweep of the room. Three exits: the front door to the Unsub's left, the doorway leading to the kitchen behind JJ and a staircase on the Unsub's right, going up. There was a crowbar lying at the Unsub's feet and judging by the blood slowly trickling down Reid's forehead, JJ guessed he had been incapacitated by a quick blow to the head. The Unsub probably came from the staircase and surprised Reid from behind.

Oh, Spence… JJ thought, Do you always have to get yourself into these situations?

JJ tried a light step forward… they weren't there yet.

"I said don't move! I-I… I will shoot 'im." The man stammered, pulling Reid closer, backing them up against the wall. Reid's head lolled on his chest, completely unaware of the gun at his temple. The trembling gun… The man's hand was shaking out of control. He crept slowly towards the door on his left, hiding behind Reid like a human shield. He wasn't going to shoot Reid, that wasn't his MO. Still, JJ had to get Reid out of there.

"Okay…"JJ said soothingly, "I'm going to put my gun down, okay? And we're just going to talk."

She carefully set her gun on the floor in front of her and slowly raised her hands, not taking her eyes of Reid or the Unsub. He was still as tense as ever, and the gun in his hand was shaking way too much for JJ's comfort. She took a deep breath.

"What's your name?" she asked gently.

"Charles." The man said hesitantly.

"Listen to me, Charles…"JJ said, taking a small step forward. "I know you don't want to hurt anybody."

"But I will!" Charles said, panicked "I-If you come any closer, I'll hurt him. I swear I will."

JJ held back a pang of fear as the barrel of the gun was shoved against Reid's temple, causing his head to roll lifelessly on his chest. She couldn't let herself panic right now, for Reid's sake. She took a deep breath again, switching back into her FBI brain.

"No… I don't think you will," JJ said a little more sternly. "Because my friend hasn't done anything wrong. Jack Sumners, Eric Lapaul and Scott Braden on the other hand, well… they deserved it, didn't they?"

The gun lowered slightly from Reid's head at the mention of the Unsub's victims.

"They were liars… a-and cheaters! What they did to Cassie… my darling girl…" Charles explained, tears brimming in his eyes.

Again, the profile had been dead on. The string of murders were all tied to one young woman: Cassidy Barnes. And the BAU had deduced that the man they were looking for saw himself as Cassie's protector, and was possibly even her unknown father. The three victims had all been ex-boyfriends of Cassie's and all though the breakups were messy, they were not worth murder. Charles obviously thought differently.

"But you took care of them, right?" JJ continued, creeping forward again. "Cassie is safe now. So hurting my friend won't do anything, because he's never hurt anyone in his life."

Charles adjusted his grip on the gun. There were tears on his cheeks. JJ continued forward.

"Please… just let him go, and I'll let you see Cassie." She slowly stretched her hand out in front of her, palm open. She could see the struggle in Charles' eyes, the gun growing increasingly heavy in his hand.

Relief flooded through JJ as the cool metal of the pistol reached her hand. She quickly tucked it into her belt and eased Reid's limp body to the ground as the Charles loosened his hold on the young agent. She gently propped him up against the wall as the front door burst open.

"FBI. Hands up!" Agent Morgan yelled.

But she'd already tuned everything out. The Unsub was their priority now, Reid was hers. She quickly checked his pulse, then she scanned his head for the source of the blood flow and found the abrasion. She was about to inspect further when Reid's eyes began to flutter open.

"Spence? Spence, can you hear me?" She asked.

"JJ… wha..?" Reid managed. His hand began to wander up towards his head but JJ grabbed it before it could reach its target.

"Don't touch it…" She soothed, placing his hand down beside him and quickly grabbing his other hand from doing the same thing. "You were hit in the head with a crowbar… do you remember?"

Reid blinked hard and then opened his eyes, looking at JJ.

"Yeah… yeah, I think so…I was just about to check the… stairs…" Reid looked towards the stairwell, "I'm guessing they weren't clear."

JJ let a small laugh escape. She smiled down at Reid.

"No, Spence, they were not."

"Noted," Reid replied, he blinked hard again and looked back at JJ. "Did we get him?"

"Yes, Morgan's got him in cuffs. He's walking him to the car as we speak."

"You're lucky Pretty Boy." Derek's voice chimed in. He'd just walked through the door, as if on cue.

"Really?" Reid replied, "I wouldn't call getting whacked in the head by a crowbar lucky…"

"You better hope he didn't wreck that beautiful brain of yours," Derek retorted, crouching down next to the pair. "Think you can get up? Medics are on their way."

Reid nodded slightly.

"Yeah. Yeah… I think so…" he said and started to push himself up off the wall, both JJ and Derek hovering to help. Before he could get two inches off the ground, he groaned slightly and set himself back down, taking a deep breath.

"Do you know what? I think I'm just going to stay here." He said, obviously trying to make the world stop spinning.

"Good call," JJ replied.