Please Don't Go (The Story of Us Book 3)

Chapter 2- The News (Part 2)

Surprise! I'm not dead and should be able to update at a semi-normal pace now! Enjoy! ~ Jess

Spencer has to go to the ER so that they can treat his wound but the rest of the team heads up to the ICU to see Hotch. Since Aaron's room is the first at the end of the hallway, Emily sees them coming and excuses herself from Kristen so she can go talk to the team. She stops them before they can see past the nurses' station and they ask about Hotch and if she's sure it's Foyet before Morgan asks the question she had been dreading.

"Did they get him on surveillance?"

"They got him dropping Hotch off but because it's only in the entrance we can't tell where he went after. Where's Spencer?" The team shares a confused look as Emily doesn't usually call him by his first name so this must be something serious.

"He's in the ER. Took a bullet to the knee, why?" Rossi asks and Emily clears her throat.

"I lied to Reid. When I was checking out Hotch's place, I found this," she reaches into her blazer pocket and pulls out Amanda's credentials, and hands them to the older man. "I had Garcia ping her phone but it said she was in her apartment and she had already found Hotch so I came to check on him. When I got here I could see Lacey and Kristen down the hall. From what I could tell, Foyet went to Amanda's apartment first, sometime after 11 pm and before 2 am. Lacey found Amanda's gun in her room and used it to make sure nobody was there before calling 911.

"So she had time to go to her room and set her gun down and then a fight ensued. I spoke to the detectives that worked the case and he broke a vase over her head before crashing her into their glass coffee table. The blood at the scene wasn't all hers so she fought back but she had a very faint pulse when the paramedics arrived and was bleeding from her head wound and he had stabbed her in the side. They operated because there was minimal brain activity but it hasn't increased. The doctor told Kristen that it isn't very likely that Amanda is going to wake up."

"What?" The very broken question comes from the very person Emily hoped she wouldn't have to tell. There, standing behind the group is Spencer who had just finished in the ER and heard the tail end of her explanation. "When did they find her?" He demands, voice cracking from the emotion and upon seeing the guilty look on her face a betrayed one appears on his own. "You lied. You said you didn't know!" He shouts, drawing Lacey's attention as she had come to check on Amanda's brother.

"I told her to," she reveals, taking the attention off her girlfriend as Spencer makes his way to her. Spencer turns to his friend with a glare and Emily clears her throat, leading the other team members to Aaron's room to reveal what Kristen had learned.

"Why would you tell her that?" He snarls.

"You're not going to like my answer," she tells him.

"Try me," he grits out.

"Emily said that you were trying to keep some kid safe. I knew that if you heard about Amanda then she would consume all of your thoughts and you'd be useless. She wouldn't want that and we both know it." Spencer scoffs at her answer and she rolls her eyes. "I told you you wouldn't like the answer."

"Actually the eye roll was on account of the fact that I always knew you were a lying, manipulative little whore but I genuinely thought that cared about Amanda at least. Guess you fooled me, Lace," he sneers.

"Spencer," Morgan berates but Spencer ignores him, glaring at the girl he had actually considered his friend until this moment.

"Go ahead, Spencer, call me every name in the book," Lacey replies. "Because if you think I don't feel like shit that this happened then you're wrong. If I hadn't gone out then I would've been there and he might not have been able to hurt her. If I had come home sooner then maybe she would be awake right now! You think I haven't been tearing myself apart as I watch the only person that's ever cared about me regardless of all the fucked up shit I've done dying. The only person that's always protected me.