Hey guys :) I know I was sort of in the middle of another story, but the inspiration for this one hit me hard, and I knew I had to get it down straight away. I hope you enjoy, I've really been feeling this one, as the experiences are a lot realer for me than my other fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters blah blah blah ;)

It was not a morning anyone would have wanted to spend outside, under any normal circumstances. The sky was an unappealing blue-grey colour, and rain drizzled in thin, unpredictable patterns, showering people, but not enough to completely soak them, instead leaving tiny pinpricks of cold on every exposed area of skin. However, these were not normal circumstances, and nobody in the distressed and weeping crowd, would have chosen to be anywhere inside the FBI building at that given moment. Even if the sky were to break and lightning were to flash purple in the clouds. Anywhere was better than there. The clocks read 10:15am, on the longest day that any of the BAU team would experience in a very long time.

Though the morning had been dreary, it had started out as any other. Emily had been late, rushing into the conference room, shaking droplets of water out of her hair and umbrella. The team had waited, meaning their coffee cups were all half-empty, and turning cold, but their faces were more alert. The clock said it was 7:53am, though the meeting was supposed to begin at 7:30. They weren't supposed to come in at all today, but they'd been called in urgently, needed in Oregon apparently. Hotch didn't comment on Emily's lateness, regarding her wet hair and frazzled expression; there wasn't much to reprimand. He nodded to JJ, indicating for her to start presenting their case.

"We've got a string of murders in Portland, each-"

JJ never got to finish her sentence, because just as the first picture appeared on the screen, the rumbling began. A family photograph of two girls and their parents began to sway as the computer screen tilted and rocked unnaturally. Confused and panicked, the team exchanged looks with one another, as the building began to jolt and roll in a way that made all of their stomachs turn. Someone – in the confusion it was almost impossible to determine who – finally yelled out what they were all trying to piece together: "EARTHQUAKE!"

Then came Hotch's voice, ordering them under the table. Morgan dragged a frozen, terrified Garcia towards the doorway, as Emily, JJ, Hotch, Rossi and Reid crowded under the table, clutching the legs as the entire building was thrown into chaos. The churn of metal-on-metal and concrete collapsing rose with the sound of the rumbling earth. With a horrifying creak and a final drop, the shaking stopped. But the building didn't. The team felt the floor they were on become considerably lower, and the mingled sounds of screaming, alarms and destruction were enough to tell them that the building had collapsed. Reid, attempting to cast away statistics on building collapse survival rates, tried to calculate how many floors they'd dropped, but found his mind had numbed. Amidst the ringing of his ears and constant screaming and whirring from outside, he heard Hotch call out, trying to find the others and see if they were all right. He called back, shuffling forward a little to make sure his legs weren't pinned.

"Hotch! Over here – I'm fine, I think I can see Emily."

It was only then that he realised how much dust had entered the room – or was it smoke? A rancid cloud of debris and smog had filled the air, and Reid found he couldn't see two feet in front of him. "Emily?" he called, feeling around for her.

She'd been right next to him. She had to be here…

Finally, his hand found a heeled foot. It twitched under her touch. "Emily? Are you okay?" Reid heard a cough, and then, "Y-yeah. Where the hell did that come from?"

"I've got Morgan and Garcia!" Came Rossi's voice from where the doorframe must have been. "Morgan's pinned, and I think Garcia's unconscious… Hotch, help me move them…" Reid was about to go help them as well, when he heard a low moan from his right.

"Henry?" the voice said. "I- I have to call him. I need to call Will. I need to know they're safe. I…"

JJ was unharmed, already wriggling around to find her phone, which she'd left on the conference table during the quake. "My… Phone…"

"JJ, listen to me, even if you find it, the signals are going to be down. Everyone's going to be calling everyone at once. You're not going to get through, trust me. We need to focus on each other right now. We're the people we can help." Reid hated having to say that to her. He knew that Henry and Will were the most important people in her life. Hell, he understood. But it was true that she couldn't help them right now, and all any of them could do was hope and pray blindly for the safety of anyone outside the building. Right now, the only people that mattered were in the room.

"The floor's too unstable to stand on," called Hotch, "but we need to try and lift this wall off Morgan, so we're going to need everyone's strength."

Slowly, Reid, Emily and JJ shuffled towards the door. In reality, the adrenaline pumping through one of their bodies would have been enough to lift it, but the combined strength made everyone feel like they were contributing and working together, and Morgan was freed almost immediately.

Through the smog, Garcia seemed to be unconscious, but otherwise unharmed. Hotch's best guess was that she'd passed out from the shock, and Morgan had been able to shield her from most of the damage.

"Procedure states we should try and evacuate," said Hotch hopelessly, coughing slightly. "Reid, uh, any idea how many floors we dropped?"

Reid cleared his throat, trying to cast his mind back to when he felt the floor drop. But for the first time in his life his memory was a blur. It startled him, but before he had the chance to be worried, he felt an aftershock hit. The whole team clutched the thing closest to them. JJ and Emily grabbed hands, and Emily wrapped one arm around Garcia's unconscious form. Morgan let out a semi-conscious moan, and Rossi put his hand out to steady him. It rolled on for seven seconds or so, with each crash sending collective jolts of fear through every conscious member of the team. Then, it was over, and Hotch had made a decision. The smoke in the air around them was developing the noxious smell of gas. The building's system was leaking, and before long the whole thing would be alight. Their first priority was to get the hell out of there - no matter what.

Later, the reports would say that survivors emerged from the FBI building half an hour after the initial quake, but in fact, for the team, it felt like they'd made it out in several minutes. They were the first to get free, and were met with total and utter destruction. In the clear air, Hotch's face was revealed to be completely soaked in blood, and as the adrenaline began to subside, and the strain of walking on it set in, it became apparent that JJ's ankle had been badly broken. Both Morgan and Garcia had regained consciousness, but Garcia's chest was heaving dramatically as she launched into a full-scale panic attack at the scene that confronted her. Alarms rang constantly, and smoke billowed from the pile of rubble that used to be the FBI building. Crushed cars lay, blaring their horns, sporting dead drivers still at the wheel. One still had its radio on, but the static drowned out any real information. Rossi sat with her, trying to help her breathe, while Reid looked over Morgan, trying to determine whether the wall had done any lasting spinal damage. He hadn't been able to wiggle his toes at first, sending Reid's heart into a pit of dread, but now that they were in the open, Morgan tried again and found his legs had regained all of their mobility. Immediately, he forced himself up, despite Reid's angry protests, looking not just at the FBI building, but the buildings up and down the street.

The entire city, for as far as any of them could see, was a pile of ash and rubble. The clocks read 8:29am.

First chapter done! I think it's quite a short one, so if it is too short I apologise, but all I really wanted this chapter to be was the earthquake. The aftermath etc. will come later, and I'm pretty excited to write it! But this is a little difficult to write, seeing as these experiences are somewhat my own, and writing them down brings back memories I'd rather not think about. But it's a great fic idea, so hopefully it's worth the sacrifice! ;) I'll upload as soon as I possibly can, please remember to review! 3