The BAU Badass

Chapter 34

Back to Jo's POV

Memories flashed through your mind rapidly. It started during your younger days with your foster siblings. You could only remember the good memories. Playing outside in the snow with them and building a snowman. It was with the boy who had saved you from being raped by your foster father, the one who became an unsub. He was putting the carrot on the snowman as a nose as you giggled uncontrollably. Then suddenly a new image emerged in your mind and it was a memory you had almost forgotten. You were older, maybe 13. You were sitting in school in your science class and daydreaming about the boy sitting next to you who never noticed you– your first crush. He asked for a pencil and you blushed before handing him one. More childhood memories flooded your mind until suddenly they were memories from recent years. Spencer was in most of them. Some were from the office with you and Morgan teasing one another, a few from girls night with Emily, JJ, and Garcia. A lot were with Spencer as you watched movies, threw popcorn at each other, talked about your favorite books, or just enjoyed each other's presence. Then, all the images fled from your mind and darkness appeared.

Your mind was wandering into the darkness. The silence was so loud. You didn't feel like you were dead, but you knew you weren't alive. You had no sense of time, touch, or pain. For some odd reason, you weren't afraid. For the first time in forever, you felt at peace. You felt like everything was going to be okay. But that feeling worried you slightly. Did that mean you were dead?

With no sense of time, you didn't know how long it was before things started to fade in again. There was no longer darkness and no longer silence. Shouts began erupting around you and you became aware of the chaos that surrounded you. You were numb everywhere on your body and the only pain you felt was in your head. You felt your body shaking or shivering from the cold. The noise surrounding you was unbearable but with your eyes still shut, you didn't know where it was coming from. You tried to blink, to open your eyes slightly and take in your surroundings. As your eyelids slowly fluttered open, blurry figures stood above you shouting words you couldn't make out. Confusion struck you as you wondered what was going on. You felt two hands hold your head and another hand move to your eyelids. The hand held your eyelid open and suddenly, you were blinded by a bright light in one eye, then the other. You could only assume it was a flashlight.

More shouts began to surround you and it was too much for you to bear. The pounding in your head became stronger and the numbness that hid the pain in your body started to fade away. All your wounds became painful again and your body couldn't take it. Your eyelids became too heavy and began to slowly shut once again.

Before you fell back into an unconscious state, you heard a woman's voice shouting "She's responsive!"

Your eyes shut and the noises faded out. Silence took over once again and your mind wandered into a dark abyss.

You were in a calm state. No thoughts, no feelings, no pain. Everything was peaceful. Darkness was the only thing surrounding you, but you didn't mind it – you could finally rest. It felt like eternity before the darkness faded and you became aware of everything again.

You opened your eyes slightly and was immediately blinded by bright lights. After blinking and trying to adjust to this new light, you saw white ceilings above you. Slowly, noise began to fade in. You hear some far away voices and monitors beeping. It took you a minute before you could fully open your eyes, and when you did, you realized where you were.

I'm alive, you realized.

Your head was pounding as you tried to recall the events that led you here. Only a few seconds passed before your mind was flooded with blurry images of your torturous experiences. It felt like you were reliving them as they appeared in your mind. A feeling of panic and fear surged through you as you remembered every detail of the torture, every beg for mercy you cried out, every scream you let out, every laugh Cat laughed while you cried, every gunshot that sounded. In the end, they weren't hallucinations. The figure that came to save you really was the FBI. Your team must have found you. You were going to be okay.

You slowly turned your head to your right where you recognized Emily with some bags under her eyes and baggy clothes, it looked like she hadn't slept in days.

She stared at you while you shifted your head and immediately jumped to your side, "Jo..?" She lifted her eyebrows and a genuine smile formed on her face from seeing you awake. It looks like she had been sleeping here in your hospital room. You were so happy to see her but slightly disappointed it wasn't Reid that was next to you.

You tried to respond but your throat was dry and you could barely move your chapped lips. A nurse entered the room, his name tag labeled "Brennon," he looked like he was in his early thirties.

"Brennon look, she's awake" Emily smiled at him.

"Hey, Jo" he came over to the side of your bed and held a chart in his hand. He looked at the monitor above you and wrote something down on his chart.

"I'm your Nurse, Brennon. Do you know where you are? Do you remember what happened?"

You tried to speak but all that came out was a whimper of pain. Your throat itched and you couldn't form any words but Brennon saw you struggling to speak.

"Your throat may be dry and you're probably really tired," he explained as if reading your mind, "I'll bring you some water, you should rest." You nodded.

You barely blinked your eyes before he was back with some water. After taking a sip from the water with Brennon's help, your throat felt better.

Emily's hand was holding yours so tightly, as if she was scared that if she let go even for one second she would lose you. You glanced at her and tried your best to give her a reassuring smile.

"How's the pain? You'll most likely be sore from the bruises and cuts, your ribs were broken but should be almost healed by now. Your wound was stitched but may still be painful." Brennan explained.

You were too focused on the fact that you were still alive to notice your bandaged body and feel any pain. Your eyes scanned your body and you noticed a lot of the cuts on your arms were now faded into scars. How long have I been passed out? You thought

You felt overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by your injuries, overwhelmed by pain, overwhelmed the events that happened, overwhelmed by memories that were haunting you. You wanted to speak, to tell the nurse you were okay, to tell him you just needed to rest, to tell him that it was actually really painful, to tell him something, anything. But all that you managed when you tried to speak was a choked sob. Emily gripped your hand tighter as her own tears fell as well.

"I'm so sorry, Jo" she whispered as her eyes avoided your gaze, she was ashamed.

It's not your fault. You saved me. You wanted to say to her, but the words wouldn't come out. You calmed down and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

After you calmed down, Brennan spoke up once again.

"Is your wound still painful?"

You struggled at first but were finally able to form coherent sentences and speak. "N-Not too bad for just almost dying" you joked, but nobody laughed. Brennon just gave you a weak smile as he scribbled something down on his chart while Emily's grip on your hand only tightened.

"I'll go get the doctor. Emily, I assume you want to call the rest of your team," Brennan nodded towards her before leaving you two alone.

"How are you feeling?" Emily asked in almost a whisper.

"I'm okay," you managed to say. You squeezed her hand as you mumbled a genuine "thank you" to her.

You asked her about the person you're most eager to see, "Where's Spencer? And the rest of the team?"

She let out a laugh, knowing that you were eager to see him and that you two had more going on than just friendship, "I made Spencer go back to his place for the night, told him I'll be with you the whole night. He's been sleeping here for a few days refusing to leave your side"

Your heart warmed at the thought of Spencer being next to you and caring for you. You quickly snapped out of it when you realized what she said. A puzzled look struck your face, "Days?" You questioned, confused on how you could have been sleeping for days.

"You've been in a coma for almost a month now," Emily spoke in a cautious whisper, knowing these words would shock you. 

a/n: im having a good day and had some time to write this chapter today hehe thank you for all the support it means the world to me HAVE A GREAT DAY <3