one night stand | spencer reid

fifteen

stella's pov:

before i get a chance to respond, spencer and i are grabbed by emily and morgan, and are dragged away from the building.

"what's going on?" i ask quickly, as morgan picks up my crutches, and basically shoves me.

"hotch found a bomb in the building. he's on his way out now, but it's big. it's set to go off in 2 minutes." he answers hurriedly, as we rush over to the black SUV's.

just as morgan gets me in the car, we see hotch running out in a hurry. i wave my hand in the air as he runs faster towards our SUV, and morgan gets in and starts the car. i look to my right and see JJ and rossi. where the hell is emily and spencer?

a few seconds later, hotch swings open the passenger door and hops in as morgan presses on the gas before hotch can even shut his door. he wipes sweat from his forehead and his panting breath slows. "you guys alright?" he asks, turning around to me.

i nod slowly. "yeah, i think i'm good-" before i can say anything else, a deafening boom fills my ears and, out of instinct, i turn around to see the warehouse i had previously been in. it has burst into flames, pieces of metal flying all around, and a large cloud of smoke begins to fill the sky. "woah." i mutter under my breath as i turn around. "did emily and spencer get out?"

"i believe so. i didn't see the other SUV when i was walking out. i think they left while you all were waiting for me." as hotch talks, i look him over. his hands are covered in blood, and his body is covered in dirt. before i can ask, derek takes the words right out of my mouth.

"what happened to you, hotch?"

hotch looks over at derek, and takes a deep sigh. "i was in the back room of the warehouse, looking for the last couple of people, and i, uh, found one of the men trying to sneak out with a woman. i stopped them and announced my presence, and as i was trying to negotiate with them, he took his gun and shot her in the neck, splattering her blood everywhere. i shot him after, and then tried to help her, but she bled out."

we all nod solemnly at his response, and then sit in comfortable silence on the way back to quantico.

-

as i hobble along on my crutches exiting the elevator, my skin comes in contact with the freezing air from the air conditioning. i let out a shiver and it was then that i realized that i'm still in the clothes i wore in the warehouse. hotch, derek, and i are greeted by the rest of the team just outside of the bullpen.

emily is the first to wrap me in a hug. "stella, we were so worried when we found out you were in there."

emily's comment is followed by a series of more comments from JJ, rossi, and garcia.

"thank you all for your worries. i am pretty sure that i'm okay, minus the shot to the foot, my crushed fingers, and the punches across the face. i wasn't in there long enough for it to get worse. you should've seen some of those other girls. it was just.... not okay in any sense."

"we saw a few as they were leaving. i spoke to your therapist, and she is willing to resume sessions if they're still needed." rossi adds, cracking a soft smile.

"thank you, rossi. i'll definitely be needing those after that, as much as i hate to admit it."

"stella, it's okay. we all need those talks sometimes." emily reassures me, as she rubs my arm. "let's get you into something warmer, shall we?"

i nod, and prepare my crutches to begin walking. as JJ is opening the glass door for emily and i, i look over at spencer for the first time. the corners of his mouth twitch up into a slight smile, and he nods his head. i return his smile, and then i walk into the bullpen.