Criminal Minds One Shots

You're Bleeding

The rapport of guns firing drowned out the blaring police sirens as back-up arrived, but it's not like we could get inside the building to save the hostages anyways.  Suddenly there was a flicker of movement behind the front door of the house the unsubs were holing up in, and then it cracked open slightly.

"Hold your fire!" Rossi yelled, and the chief of police repeated the order until all the firing had ceased.

A girl slipped out the door and I immediately recognized her from the most recent missing persons report we had attributed to this case.

"It's Annie Lance," I called, holstering my gun to go get her, but Spencer beat me to it, dodging out from behind one of the cop cars we were taking cover behind and running across the lawn.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hurried with her back towards the police barricade we had set up in front of the house.  They were only halfway across the lawn though when another round of fire rang out.  It wasn't coming from our side but it was soon enough when everyone fired back, Spencer ducking and running the rest of the way with the girl.  The second they were across the barricade, JJ grabbed the girl and hurried to get her safely tucked away inside one of the SUVs parked the farthest from the shooting.

"You good, Reid?" Morgan yelled over the exploding gunfire, and Spencer nodded, answering with a breathless, "Yeah," before dropping against the side of the car and sinking to the ground.

"Spencer!" I shouted, dropping down next to him.  He looked fine...but then I spotted black seeping through his pants a little above his left knee, in the middle of his thigh.

He'd been shot.  Shit, he'd been shot. He was going to die.

"You're bleeding.  Spencer, you're bleeding," I pointed out, my voice flat even though my head was spinning.  I couldn't stop staring at the rapidly expanding spot spreading across his leg.  It grew with each breath I took, and I was dimly aware of someone gasping frantically in the background.  It might have been me.

"McDowell!" Morgan shouted, and I snapped my gaze to his face.  Everything was blurring along the edges, I still couldn't breathe.

"Hey, we need to help Reid.  Calm down and keep pressure on his leg.  Can you do that?" Morgan asked, pulling out his phone.

"Yeah, yeah, I can do that," I answered numbly, taking a shallow breath as I risked a glance at Spencer's face.  He was pale and his eyes were half closed, but they flew open and he screamed in pain when I pressed my hands over the wound on his leg.

I grimaced both at his scream and the squelching of slippery blood and unnaturally lose flesh between my fingers.  I could feel the blood pulsing through his skin right under my palms clasped over the hole in his leg.

"Harder. He's going to bleed out," Morgan commanded from where he was crouched nearby, talking on the phone and risking a glance through the window of the squad car we were taking cover behind.  I could still faintly hear the bullets flying, glancing off metal and shattering glass.

Spencer had his eyes cinched closed, his fingers curled into white-knuckled fists.  I forced myself to push harder on his leg, eliciting a strangled cry as he shifted under me.

I cringed, I could almost feel the pain myself and it made my stomach churn uneasily even as I gasped out a barely audible, "Sorry."

"Ambulance is on it's way," Morgan said before hurriedly hitting Reid's cheek, instructing gently, "Hey, Pretty Boy, come on.  Don't close your eyes."

Spencer moaned, struggling to blink, and I shifted as the blood continued spreading under my hands.  Each panting breath I took matched the thrumming pulse I could see fluttering in his neck.

"You're gonna be okay, kid," Morgan told Reid, adding to me, "Keep pressure on his leg, McDowell."

I did so,  focusing just on that and keeping the blurriness that repeatedly forced itself over the edges of my vision and my consciousness at bay.  Spencer was bleeding and I couldn't breathe, it felt like the commotion of bullets, blaring sirens, and blue and red flashing lights barreling through the dark were all spiraling out of control; but I just had to keep my hands pressed to his leg and my head clear enough to see that they were indeed covered in his blood.