willow, criminal minds [ 1 ]

017. wheels up

"Molly? Molly. Hey, can you hear me?" The woman is woken up by somebody gently patting her cheeks. "Molly." The voice sounds like it's underwater, only slowly becoming clearer the less drowsy she becomes.

Molly opens her heavy eyes.

"Hey." Her sight focuses in on Luke. "Hey. You alright?"

"I don't--" She mumbles, still disoriented. She lets out a small groan, reaching up to touch her forehead. She frowns at the liquid feeling, pulling her hand away to see the blood on her fingertips. "Oh, shit."

"Fuck." She hears Luke hiss. She looks at him before following his gaze down to her abdomen, seeing a piece of glass in her side. "Okay, hey. Hey, Molls, don't move, all right?" Luke quickly finds something to hold against her wound.

Molly looks over, finally noticing Stephen's body.

"Oh, my God." She mumbles, eyes watering as her jaw falls slack.

"Hey. Hey, hey, hey." Luke's hand falls onto her cheek, forcing her to face him. "Don't look, all right? Just focus on me."

"Where are-- what about the others?" Molly asks.

"I haven't checked on 'em yet." Luke says.

"Go." Molly tells him.

"Molly--"

"Go. I-- I got this. Go make sure the others are still alive." Molly says, holding the jacket to her side.

"Okay. Keep pressure on that." Luke orders. Molly gives him a small nod as she lets out a quiet whimper.

"Molly?" She hears after a few moments. The woman looks up to see Penelope outside her door.

"Oh. Hey, Penny. What's up?" Molly hisses when she presses on the wound a little harder.

"Oh. Okay. Oh-- oh, my God." Penelope whispers, seeing Stephen's body.

+++

A couple of medics wheel Molly in on a gurney, Luke walking next to her.

"You're gonna be fine, all right?" Luke tells his half unconscious co-worker.

"Hey." Spencer rushes over. Luke points back to the others, Spencer letting them rush off.

+++

"Hey. Wha-- whoa." Luke closes his eyes when he finds her shirtless, only in her bra and pants. "Wait, wh-- why are you getting dressed? You're in the hospital. You're not going anywhere."

"I'm fine." Molly says. She grimaces slightly as she slips her shirt on. "You're clear." She says, smirking a little.

"Molly, what are you doing?" Luke asks, opening his eyes. "You need to lay down, okay? You can't help us out with this."

"I never said I was leaving the hospital. But I know Tara's waking up from her surgery and I'm not missing out on stuff I can help with. Which means I'm not walking around in a hospital gown."

"Wha-- Molly--"

"Luke."

"Aren't you in, like, I don't know? Immense pain or something?"

"No. Because, you see, there's this wonderful invention called morphine and it really takes all that pain away. So I have dull aches, but I'm pretty okay."

"Can you even walk?" Luke asks.

"And that is where you come in." Molly smiles. Luke's eyebrows furrow, watching Molly stand up. She wraps her arm around his shoulders, leaning some of her weight on him.

"Molly, you should really just be in bed." Luke insists.

"Luke, you're gonna have to make the doctor sedate me if you want me to lay down." Molly says.

"You're really stubborn." Luke comments.

"It's been said." Molly says.

~ ~ ~

"Scratch. Scratch took Emily." Tara states. "I saw him."

"Yeah, we know. We're looking for him." Luke says.

"He dosed her." Tara says.

"In the SUV while she was knocked out?" Rossi asks.

"Yeah." Tara nods. "He brought his gas with him."

"She would wake in a delusion. He'd have total control over her." JJ says.

"He thinks she knows where Hotch is, so he's trying to trick her." Luke says. "She's one of the smartest people we know. She'd see through it."

"So Scratch would go even farther." Molly says.

"Sometimes interrogators even simulate death." Luke says. "I mean, he could make it feel like the real thing."

"No, that wouldn't work." JJ argues. "Remember, Rossi, Molly, when Prentiss told us about when she died, for real died, how for her, it was just dark and cold?" Molly nods.

"That's right." Rossi says. "If he made her experience some out of body vision, she'd know it was a lie."

"He probably combined the delusion with a classic prisoner interrogation tactic." JJ says. "At first, he would take away any chance of escape. Then he would introduce somebody else and give her a sliver of hope."

"It could be a second interrogator who is a nice guy." Luke says.

"That guy would be her blind spot. She'd trust him and then reveal something she shouldn't." Rossi says.

+++

After Stephen's funeral, the team meet up in the round table room.

"So we all need to discuss what Peter Lewis' death means for this team." Emily says.

"It means that Hotch can come back." Penelope says.

"Yeah, we, uh, spoke to him." Rossi says. "He was relieved that he and Jack were out of danger. They're out of witness protection, but, um..."

"He's not coming back, is he?" JJ asks.

"He loves being a full time dad." Emily says. "He never got to do that before, and let's face it, in this job..." She shakes her head.

"There's always gonna be another Scratch." Rossi says. "And he's lost enough."

"We all have." Tara says.

"Yes. We have, which is why the director has ordered us to take some time off from handling cases, but before we all leave, there's one last thing I need to say." Emily says. "Scratch got deeper into my head than I care to admit, and the only way I was able to stay sane was by repeating a mantra, two words. You know what those two words were? "Wheels up." It saved my life when I wasn't sure I was gonna make it because it reminded me that you were out there fighting, so take your rest -- you've earned it. But when we get back, wheels up, Matt."

"Wheels up, Emily." He responds.

"Wheels up, Tara." Emily says.

"Wheels up." She repeats.

"Wheels up." JJ says.

"Wheels up." Penelope smiles.

"Wheels up." Molly says.

"Wheels up." Luke nods.

"Damn right, wheels up." Rossi says.

They all turn to Spencer last.

"Wheels up." He says.