VIOLENT DELIGHTS, aaron hotchner

living worthy

November starts out cold, the bitter air piercing Juliette's cheeks as she walks from the SUV to the tarmac. They've been called to a small Texan town after a series of prostitute murders, more as a favor to Cruz who's good friends with the sheriff.

When they land, there are only three victims within the year, with varying degrees of stabbing. Despite some over-eager officers, they have a few suspects within the first day.

Then, the ME isn't an actual doctor. And a fourth victim shows up, which reveals the police don't have as much training as they should.

The whole team is on edge, trying to put together a profile while doing the work of the department. Juliette watches Aaron with pity, his hands turning white from it's grip on his other while talking with the chief.

So she stands behind his chair as Spencer explains his geographic profile, casually starting to massage the tension from his shoulders, even if it's only for five minutes. When it's finally time to present the profile, he holds her back in the conference room to place a kiss on her lips, reminded of how grateful he is.

For awhile, the preacher looks like a great fit for the crime, but they are forced to rule it out when the profile suggests they're looking for someone framing him.

Then, they can't find the preacher. There's a kilogram of cocaine hidden in his house, but that's as much as the local PD can find.

They put out an APB for him and set up roadblocks, and soon an officer spots him heading into a diner. Racing across the small town, everyone but Hotch and Rossi set up a perimeter with the police, their guns drawn on the only door out.

Then, bullets start to rain from a window. From the sheer amount that hit their SUV doors, there has to be at least one semi-automatic shooting towards the barricade.

Juliette's on the drivers side of an SUV, so focused on returning the gunfire with her own that she doesn't notice Spencer's been hit until Blake's yelling for a medic.

For a moment her brain freezes. Panic sets in, when his neck is bleeding too close to an artery for her to see anything but red.

Blake's pressing down on the wound, pleading with him to keep his eyes open and calling him a name that Juliette doesn't recognize.

When the gunfire stops and an officer yells, "Suspect is down," she runs from her spot behind the door to next to Spencer. Grabbing a sweatshirt someone left inside on a seat, she relieves Blake and presses it to his neck.

It was probably only five minutes, but it feels like hours before the ambulance arrives. When Juliette moves for the paramedics, she turns to find Blake on the ground. Her head's in her hands, but she isn't hurt as far as Juliette can tell.

Giving her a moment, she looks around the scene to see three other officers being put into an ambulance. JJ and Derek approach from inside of the diner, sweating. "The preacher's dead. Two of theirs have injuries, the sheriff's not going to make it." Derek exhales, pressing a hand to a blood stain on his arm. "How's Spencer?"

"They're taking him now." Juliette looks to his graze. "You should get that looked at."

They look to the ambulances about to pull away, then back to her. "We'll meet you there." JJ says, pulling him towards one of them.

Juliette looks down to Blake, softly placing a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, I'll drive."

She nods, taking Juliette's hand to stand up and step into the car she'd been hiding behind. Once on the road, Juliette answers one of Aaron's dozen calls while speeding to the hospital.