Chapter 15

Here we are, the last chapter. I am amazed as always that you all actually consider anything that comes from this crazy brain of mine worth writing and this journey has been an honor. You are wonderful =) and your reviews make my day when I receive them. Ps, sorry this isn't as long as I thought it was going to be holliefjsmith hope you still enjoy.

What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can't move, with no hope of rescue. Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems more likely, consider how lucky you are that it won't be troubling you much longer. – Douglas Adams

Their captor disappeared behind them again and started rummaging and clanging.

Which was lucky, because that meant she didn't hear the new set of muffled voices that joined the fray upstairs or the sounds of a struggle that followed.

Reid did though, and he had never been more grateful because it was harder to breathe by the moment. He glanced at Prentiss and from her rigid position she'd heard them too.

The team had arrived.

A wave of dizziness hit Reid and he leant forward wretching again, though all that came up this time was bile. He tried to ignore the fact that his genius brain was telling him bile was definitely not supposed to be red. He coughed a couple of times and then he couldn't ignore the blood because it was getting all over him.

"Reid!" Emily was watching him nervously.

"I'm fine." Reid lied but the fact that he weezed the words proved that he wasn't and he didn't like the way his dizziness was making the edges of his vision go black.

A gunshot rang out just outside the basement door and both of them jumped.

All at once, he felt cold metal pressed against the side of his head.

"Don't move a muscle, Dr. Reid."

The dizziness was so bad now that he had to close his eyes but he could hear as their team burst through the basement door.

"Drop the gun." That would be Morgan, Reid figured. His anxiety was gone and all of a sudden he was feeling almost sleepy. The only thing keeping him awake was an annoying tightness in his sheet. That wasn't supposed to be there, was it?

And if he was sleepy, why was his heart racing so fast?

Someone was talking to Morgan now but Reid couldn't hear what they were saying and he didn't care. It was so much easier not to think because nothing made any sense anyway except that the tightness in his chest was turning to pain. He heaved in, needing to breathe, but air didn't find his lungs. Instead, it was like he had sucked in water. He reeled forward coughing up blood.

He heard Emily shout no as a shot rang out but he was too busy coughing to process anything else. Blood continued to flow through his lips as the team ran forward but no matter how much he coughed up there was just more to replace it. Distantly he felt hands untie him and he could hear Prentiss shouting something but none of it mattered. He game one last strangled heave, lying on his side now, then gave up as pain racked his body. It was no use, he was so tired and everything hurt.

It hurt so much that Spencer Reid stopped fighting. Instead, he embraced the darkness that called to him even as Morgan screamed at him not to.

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Reid heaved in a deep, easy breath and flicked his eyes open to tell Morgan to stop screaming at him.

He forgot all about that, of course, when he realised that he was floating near the ceiling.

He watched as down below Morgan yelled that he wasn't breathing and started CPR.

This wasn't right, none of it. How could he be up here and down there at the same time?

Realisation hit him.

No, no, no!

Was he dead?

But before another thought could enter his head Reid felt a powerful pull towards his body as Morgan pushed down on his chest again and just as he let the darkness take him before he let the pull of life take him now.

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Morgan, Rossi, JJ, Seaver, Garcia and Hotch who had just been released sat in the waiting room anxiously. They'd been waiting for nearly an hour and a half and Hotch was about ready to pull his hair out. An unnatural quiet had descended on the team, the kind of quiet that only comes when you aren't sure if you're going to see someone again and you left things unsaid. Garcia was staring blankly into space, sobbing quietly, while Morgan was looking at the same hands that had brought Reid back to the land of the living. Rossi was his normal collected self but, profiler as he was, Hotch could see the worry in the rhythmic tapping of his foot. JJ was staring at a picture of Henry and Seaver was pacing, exactly what Hotch would have done if he'd been able.

It had been so hard for him not to be a part of the raid on the warehouse, and then the news that Reid and Prentiss had been poisoned.

A young woman in scrubs made her way into the waiting room and Hotch jumped up, ignoring the pain.

"Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss." Hotch nodded and they all surrounded the chunky blonde. "We managed to isolate the poison they had both been injected with. Emily Prentiss is fine, she should be released in a couple of hours, but Agent Reid lost a lost a lot of blood and his lungs were severely compromised. We managed to stabilize him but he lost a lot of blood and slipped into a coma. I'm worried that if he doesn't wake soon–"

"Can we see him?" Hotch felt sick inside. She nodded.

"I don't see how it could hurt."

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o

Hotch, definitely Hotch.

I'm here Hotch, I can hear you. He tried to say the words out loud but his mouth wasn't following orders any more than his eyelids were. God, what was wrong with him?

"Reid I'm so sorry, you should never have had to go through that." This was a new voice and it cracked. He knew immediately who it was this time.

No JJ, I'm the one that should be sorry.

Another voice sobbed quietly in the corner and he knew who that was too.

Don't cry Garcia.

"He'll be okay baby girl." Morgan. God, were they all there?

Prentiss, was she alright? Reid felt panic course through him. He had to ask, had to find her, but damnit he couldn't move! He was pulled out of his panic as the door to his hospital room squeaked.

"Reid." A new voice joined the fray. It was so quiet and soft he had to strain to hear it. Still, he knew who it was.

Emily.

"God Reid you're so strong, stronger than any of us." He hated that it sounded like she was going to cry. "I'm so proud of you." She was kneeling beside his bed now, he could tell because her voice was right at his ear.

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Prentiss watched as Reid's eyes flickered open.

"Em, you're alright."

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. – Winston Churchill

Aw, I'm going to miss this story! *sniffs*. Thank you everyone who stuck with me, especially through all the times when the chapter updates could not exactly be considered regular. Let me know what you think and please if anyone has any idea for a new story they would like to see me write don't hesitate to let me know, I would be happy to write it =). All the best to everybody, I should be back with some new insane idea soon =).