ENTANGLED | CRIMINAL MINDS

Liberation

Author's Note: This story has only has two chapters left! 

While I'm sad this is ending, I'm excited to share with you my second love triangle story with Hotch and Spencer! It's called Caught in the Crossfire and the first chapter is already posted if you want to read it/add it to your library! 

Sorry for the cliffhanger the last chapter, enjoy this one!

Spencer let out a breath he had been holding in and opened his eyes, looking around in bewilderment as to why he was still alive.

He had heard the gunshot loud and clear.

He knew he should be dead and bleeding out on the ground, but for some reason, he was breathing in the grimy smell of the old abandoned warehouse instead and he couldn't be more thankful.

Spencer dropped to the floor out of shock, trying to come to terms with what happened and more importantly, why it happened. There was a gun pointed straight at his temple ready to end him once and for all.

He laid his hands out on the floor to stabilize himself, turning to the window to try to see if Hotch had miraculously saved him but was instead met with the sight of Cat Adams' corpse in front of him.

Spencer got up quickly and moved towards Jean in the middle of the room, beginning to untie her when he was suddenly swarmed by his teammates in their FBI vests.

"Spencer, I need you to go outside and get checked out by the EMTs in the ambulance. You're experiencing extreme shock right now and you need to be assessed to see if you sustained any serious injuries while you were here" Derek whispered, bringing his boy genius into a hug.

He was so glad to have his Spencer back. Although not by blood, Spencer and Derek were brothers, through thick and thin. He had been up all night worried about his safety ever since he and Hotch had this hare-brained idea to come on their own to save Jean.

They got lucky that the team had recently put trackers in each of the team's SUVS, otherwise they would not be celebrating a happy ending right now. Derek tried not to think of how easily that could have been Spencer's body lying lifeless on the floor instead of Cat's.

"Jean, I need to get Jean, I need to get Jean" Spencer shouted frantically, each time getting louder and louder as he looked upon Prentiss and Rossi, who were already working on untying the rusty chains that had been holding Jean to the pole that stood in the middle of the room.

"The team is taking care of her. There's already an ambulance waiting to race her to the hospital, alright? According to Prentiss, she isn't doing too well but hopefully once we get her to the hospital, they can take care of our girl" Derek said.

Those words did little to calm his racing heart.

Morgan threw an arm around Reid as he walked him personally out to one of the several ambulances that were parked outside with their lights still flashing bright.

"Where's Hotch?" Spencer questioned, desperately looking around at the other ambulances to see if he could spot the man who Spencer made quite literally promise to take care of Jean when he died.

Morgan squinted his eyes and pointed to the red and white ambulance that was stationed only a few feet away from the one that him and Reid were currently in front of.

"He's already inside that one right there. He insisted on riding with Jean to the hospital since he wasn't in the throes of death like you were" Morgan insisted, leaving Spencer with an older female EMT who began to go through the routine of checking him for any signs of concussion or trauma.

When she gave him the green light on his health, she told him to wait as she went into the front of the vehicle and handed him a shock blanket to wear.

"Thank you so much, ma'am" he whispered, his eyes not leaving the ambulance that held Jean and Hotch as it sped away from the dingy warehouse that would forever haunt their dreams.

"I don't know who was in that ambulance but I can see the love in your eyes for them. I'll say a prayer for them tonight, son" the older woman said, pushing a strand of grey hair out of her eyes as she bestowed a soft smile upon him.

Spencer Reid had never been a religious man but he was deeply touched by the stranger who vowed to pray for Jean. It showed that despite what he witnessed tonight and every day on the job, kind, genuine people still existed.

He plopped himself on the dewy green grass and followed the EMT's example, placing his hands together and sending out a prayer, a message, to any higher being in the universe, anyone who was listening, to let his Jeanie be okay.

That's all he ever wanted several hours ago when he was stuck in that warehouse and that's all he wants now.

His girl to be safe.