Wheels Up

Fight Song

"Ros, I'm so tired." JJ said. "I don't know how much longer I can keep going." Every time JJ closed her eyes for a few seconds, it was like being wrapped in a warm blanket of comfort. She felt herself slipping into it more and more.

"Come with me." Roslyn said, taking her hand and leading her through the door. They stepped out into the hospital, which disoriented JJ, but she shook her head and kept following. She led her into a waiting room.

"Look at who you're fighting for."

"You're basically a daughter to both Hotch and Rossi." Ros said, leading her over to them. They were handing out coffees because nobody had slept in hours. Hotch sat back down and stared away towards the OR corridor, as though willing someone to come out. "He blames himself, you know. They all do." Rossi was comforting Reid, who was flipping between complete silence or rambling senselessly. "You know this would wreck Spence."

"What's Garcia doing?" JJ asked, because watching her team was starting to break her heart.

Roslyn offered a sad smile. "She's looking for Gary. I think they're all plotting ways to murder him. If you don't pull through, this is the last case she'll ever work for the BAU. If you don't pull through, it'll change her forever. It'll shred her optimism, her belief in the good, to pieces."

JJ rested a hand on Penelope's shoulder and gave it a small rub. Garcia half turned her head, as though she felt it, then returned to work on her laptop.

"And surely, you've gotta meet the incredible woman whose managed to put up with Morgan for 3 months and counting." Ros said with a smile.

JJ chuckled. "Get the girl a medal."

"He's angry. He needs you."

"They'd be okay, though." JJ said. "Hotch and Rossi, they've both lost people far more important to them than me, Reid, he's far stronger than anyone gives him credit for, Garcia has lost her parents and still manages to see the good in the world, Derek and Aisha would have each other. They'd get through it."

"I know Gary made you feel worthless Jay, but you're so much more to so many people than you realise. But say, hypothetically, they do get through it," Ros said, then pointed at Emily.

"What about her?"

A buzzing sound filled JJ's ears, and the room started to fade out, turning a bright white, until all JJ could see was the shadow of Roslyn.

"What's happening?" JJ asked desperately.

"It's okay. It's okay. You're worth fighting for JJ. So fight." Ros repeated, until finally she too faded away.

"Wait! Come back! I'm not ready to go yet!" JJ cried out.

Hotch was still staring intently at the door when it finally swung open. He stood up, drawing the attention of the rest of the team. They all looked towards the doctor walking towards them.

Unintentionally, Hotch was analysing her behaviour, noticing her hesitation to walk over, her eyes that were slightly red as though she'd been crying, or was about to, and suddenly he was dreading what she was coming over to say.

The doctor took a deep breath. "I'm Dr Sadie Harris." She firstly introduced herself, as though trying to delay having to speak.

"How is she?" Emily cut in.

"She uh, lost a lot of blood before we even made it to the OR, and unfortunately, there was massive internal bleeding inside her abdomen. We transfused as much blood as we could, but we uh, we were unable to stop the bleeding and she uh, she bled out. I'm so sorry for your loss." Dr Harris said, and then apparently unable to bare standing there any longer she walked off.

For a full minute there was pure silence as they stared at the spot where the doctor had stood, everyone waiting for someone to say it wasn't real, because there was no way it could possibly be real.

Reid was the first to move, turning and running out the door, towards the bathroom.

Garcia started sobbing, silently at first, but they became louder and harder to contain. This awoke Derek from his state of pure shock, and he pulled himself to his feet to walk over to her and comfort her, wrapping his arm around her and whispering quietly into her ear. Aisha sat, one hand over her mouth.

Hotch and Rossi looked at each other, in pure shock. Hotch was breathing heavily. The team had been in danger but pulled through so many times, it was impossible to comprehend that this time she hadn't. All the times they'd been shot or stabbed in the moment, they'd come back. Yet with JJ, the one time they'd had warning something was going on, she didn't make it.

Still, nobody had said a word.

"No." Emily said finally, breaking the silence. "No, she's not-" her voice broke. "She can't be. No. No no no."

She started walking towards the OR corridor.

"Prentiss." Hotch said. "You can't go down there and you know it."

Emily ignored him.

He went after her. "Prentiss, stop." He reached for her arm, and gently pulled her away. She tugged her arm out of his grip.

"She quit!" Emily turned round and yelled at him. "You let her walk out of that hospital room after she freaking quit! You know she would've never just quit on her own accord like that, why did you let her go!"

"Emily..." Rossi tried to intervene. She rounded on him.

"And you! You told me she would figure it out on her own, how did that work out for her exactly? You're supposed to keep her safe! And you!" She continued, pointing at Spencer. "You thought she was on drugs and you still did nothing!"

"And what exactly did you do that the rest of us didn't Prentiss?" Spencer shouted back, which stopped her in her tracks, partly because of what he said, partly because he never called her Prentiss.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You're just as much to blame as the rest of us so stop throwing around accusations." Spencer said.

Derek's eyes were cold and hard as he stood up. "The person to blame is Gary. So Garcia I swear to god tell me where the hell to find that son of a bitch. Because I will kill him."

Chapter 6- Love You Goodbye:
JJ says a final goodbye.

Uhhhh sorry about this ig 😭