"You sure you're all right, McDowell?" Prentiss asked as she sat down at the table across from the couch.
They were on their way home from a case which had resulted in McDowell not only jumping into the river to save the girl the unsub had forced into the car with him before driving them both off the bridge but also a nasty bump on the head when she had finally wrestled him onto the bank.
"You know I'd be a lot better if all of you quit asking me if I'm okay," McDowell answered from where she was perched on the edge of the couch. She gave Prentiss a deadpanned look as she leaned back on the couch and pulled a book out of her bag.
"Fine, if that's how you want it to be," Morgan said mock defensively, and the interior of the plane settled into a comfortable silence as they all returned to what they had been doing.
A few minutes later, Hotch glanced over at McDowell who was now asleep, the book she had been reading half-closed and resting on her thigh. He nudged Rossi who was sitting next to him and glanced pointedly at McDowell, just in time to see her shiver and shift on the couch.
"JJ, hand me that blanket," Rossi requested, and JJ did so.
Right as Rossi was about to get up to cover her up, Reid came back from rinsing out his coffee mug and took the blanket from him instead before tucking it around McDowell.
She snuggled into it but stayed asleep, until fifteen or twenty minutes later when she jerked upright. The blanket went flying, catching on her knee but still trailing onto the floor, and she was screaming.
"Hey, kid, it's okay," Rossi said, jumping to his feet and putting his hands out as if to calm her.
Morgan stepped in, too.
"McDowell! McDowell, calm down, you're safe," he told her, touching her shoulders so she was forced to look at him.
Her screams slowed to heaving gasping breaths, and she raked her fingers through her hair, clutching the heels of her palms to her temples.
"Are you okay?" JJ asked, but the only response was her harsh gasps as her eyes flitted around the interior of the plane, catching on nothing.
"McDowell!" Morgan snapped, giving her a rough shake, and she clicked back to normal, brushing Morgan's hands off and answering defensively, "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a dream."
"Must have been some dream, kid," Rossi remarked, sounding sympathetic but almost judgmental.
McDowell didn't take offense, just offered a noncommittal shrug and got up to get some coffee.
No one dared to say anything about how much she hated coffee in any normal, and even most abnormal considering their job, circumstances.
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Criminal Minds One Shots
FanfictionA collection of story blurbs containing cut material and alternate scenes from my book Unknown- A Criminal Minds Fanfic but also some random Criminal Minds stories featuring the members of the BAU and the character Charlie McDowell. Not all stories...
