Author's Note: Welcome. Thank you for your interest in this story.

It's amazing how an idea you had in a night of insomnia can lead you to learn so many things.

I had very wise advice about the first part of this work when I posted it on the site a while ago, so I decided to upgrade it, to make the characters more believable. I hope it will not disappoint this time. I appreciate every one of you, readers, from the bottom of my heart. Also, sorry for the long, long, long wait, I had to go back to the drawing board… Then, there were some real life surprises… and on top of it all, I had a little accident with my tablet and lost half of this. My advice… always backup your files. ;)

This story takes place at any time after the episode 'Memoriam', Season 4. It has mentions of facts from said episode and little spoilers from 'Elephant's Memory', Season 3, 'Amplification', Season 4 and 'Nameless, Faceless', Season 5. Some of the places mentioned here exist in real life and some others are just a product of my imagination.

Warnings: Coarse language, a little bit of angst, lots of friendship. ;)

I am not a native English speaker. Every critique, concerning the story, but also grammar and spelling, will be highly appreciated.

THE CAR, THE SNAKE AND THE FATHER.

A Criminal Minds Fan Fiction.

"Life doesn't get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient."

Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth and Being Free.

PART 1

The black Ford SUV had been trekking on that lonely dirt road for a long time. Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid had been driving in the middle of the Arizona-Sonora desert for almost three hours, with little rest.

It was nice for Spencer when Hotch asked Morgan and him to leave the Police Station, to go and interview a witness for their current case. The case involved a man who lived in a settlement that didn't even appear in the map, relatively near a faraway mining town that, oddly enough, was called 'Bagdad'. It was 178 miles to the north-west of Phoenix.

In the beginning, Reid was spouting facts about that particular desert wildlife and vegetation, from the beautiful colors of the Gila monster and the Mountain Kingsnake, to the amazing adaptation of the Jumping Cholla and the Barrel Cactus. It was so close to the place where he was born and where he spent the first years of his life...

Right now, he was lost in thought.

The landscape was beautiful, but it could be utterly overwhelming for those who were not familiar with it. The cloudless, dark blue sky, made a blinding contrast with the scorching, golden sand and huge rocks all around them. There were cacti as tall as houses, plants with the strangest colors and shapes, dead trees and dry grass here and there. The road was just an indication of tracks that stretched as far as the eye could see. At certain moments, it looked like a frightening otherworldly scene. Nothing seemed to be able to protect the FBI Agents from the infamous heat, even if it was past the time with the peak temperature of the day. The sun was slowly going down, but that didn't mean it was less unrelenting.

Spencer was squinting behind his sunglasses, with the beginning of an ache at the back of his head.

There had been silence for the last hour. The transmission from a Phoenix radio station became weak and eventually disappeared. Instead of looking for another one, the young genius decided to turn the stereo off. His large bottle of water now was half empty and the liquid inside was warm. Out there, on that afternoon in early May, the temperature was almost 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Now I know why they call the town 'Bagdad'…" Derek said, frowning behind the wheel. "I would absolutely believe we are in Iraq. This is a damn good place to hide. How many miles left to go?"

His colleague didn't seem to hear him. He turned to look at him just for a second and then his attention went back to the road. The younger profiler was staring into the void with a forgotten map a mess in his lap.

"Reid… Are you ok?"

No answer.

"Earth to Reid!"

Startled, Spencer blinked a couple of times, as if he had been brought back from a very distant place. He sighed.

"What?"

"I asked if you are all right, kid."

Reid loved the desert. Some of the best memories of his life had this background… but also some of the worst. An eidetic memory would not discriminate between the good and the bad things and that was the price he had to pay for it.

This was not the time nor place to talk about his tangled memories, so, he lied, at least partially.

"I'm fine." He said, adjusting for the umpteenth time the seat belt that kept hurting the delicate skin of the right side of his neck. "I have a bit of a headache, that's all."

Derek turned to look at him once again, for a moment.

"You know you can trust me and tell me if anything is bothering you."

"Nothing is bothering me, Morgan, but thanks for your interest. Do you need anything else?"

The dark skinned man rolled his eyes at him.

"I need to know how many miles are left to go. This road is as rough as hell. My back hurts. I feel I've been driving forever."

Reid had a look at the speedometer and at his watch, rubbing the back of his neck.

"About 26 miles left." He said.

"How do you know? You weren't even looking at the map."

"There's no need. We passed Bagdad 36 minutes ago. Since then, because of the dirt road, you have been driving at an average speed of 45 mph, 0.75 miles per minute. That means we have traveled 27 miles already. The settlement is located about 53 miles away from the town. It's simple. 25 miles left now, 33 minutes. We're almost there."

"Right. Let's do this. If there are 25 miles, I will pay for dinner when we go back to Virginia. One mile more or less and you pay. Oh… and you drive back."

"Some people never learn. Now I can't decide if I will pick Indian, or Thai." Spencer said, adjusting the seat belt again. At least for now, Morgan would stop asking uncomfortable questions and then, the interview would require all of his concentration, putting the bad memories away for a while.

"Of course." Derek started to laugh, heartily.

In that moment, Spencer fixed his sight on the road again, just in time to barely see, in the corner of his eyes, a group of many small dark animal shapes crossing right in front of them, surrounded by a cloud of dust, running, but not fast enough to avoid the SUV.

"Morgan!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "WATCH OUT!"

The dark skinned man beside him saw the shapes in the dust as well, the grin now completely gone from his face, he pressed the brake pedal with both feet and the car slid hopelessly on the loose dirt, with the noise of tires sliding across the dusty tracks.

Out of control, the SUV turned sharply to the left. It went off the road and crashed into the base of a huge Saguaro, about thirty yards away. The airbags deployed with a loud noise… and then everything stopped, behind a curtain of flying yellow sand.

As the dust settled, six big animals similar to wild pigs ran away of the wreckage, snorting.

After that, all that was left, was the silence.

The heat was almost unbearable.

A buzzing fly brought Spencer back to reality. He could feel the insect crawling on his forehead, flying again and landing now on the tip of his nose. He shook his head a little and slowly opened his eyes.

When he did, the first thing he felt, was a sharp pain on the left side of his face. He grimaced and raised his hand to touch it. He found the pieces of his broken sunglasses and an unsuspected, warm dampness on his skin.

He tossed the shades away and placed his shaking hand in front of his eyes, to see what the dampness was. The blood on his fingers appeared out of focus for a moment.

"Wh..."

(What happened?)

He tried to move, but something across his chest restrained him, causing more discomfort. He groaned and then, remembered.

(There was… There was an accident...)

Suddenly afraid of what he was going to find, he turned his head slowly to the left, to see his colleague and best friend, unconscious in the mess made by the airbags and the pieces of the wrecked dashboard.

"M… Morgan… Morgan!"

He couldn't see any injury or blood on his friend, but that didn't mean he was not wounded… maybe even dead… He tried to move once more and strenuously raised his hand again, this time in order to reach him.

His fingers barely brushed the side of the older agent's head and Derek whimpered. That was enough to fill Spencer's heart with relief. His best friend was alive!

"Morgan!"

That scream seemed to bring Derek back to himself and he woke up with a start and a yelp. Spencer felt like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders and he couldn't help but smile.

"What… what was that?" Morgan asked, with a soft voice, still a little shaken.

"A car crash… You scared me… I thought you were dead." Spencer said, unable to move, not even an inch. That thing across his chest was like a torture instrument. "Are y-you all right?"

There was a small pause, while Derek checked himself, with a sigh.

"Yes. Nothing broken." He said. "You?"

"My chest hurts… and my shoulder..."

Morgan's eyes widened upon hearing that. He removed his seat belt and moved the debris of the inside of the car out of his way, to come close to his young colleague.

At first sight, there seemed to be nothing wrong with him, except for a scratch on the left side of his face and a red mark on the right side of his neck.

"Are you having problems to breathe? Dizziness? Anything else?"

"No, no… Just the pain."

Derek raised his eyebrows. Very carefully, he unbuckled Spencer's seat belt. Then, he undid the knot of his friend's black necktie and unbuttoned his light blue shirt. He discovered a nasty collection of bruises in a diagonal line all over the younger man's too pale skin. Reid lowered his sight and gasped when he saw them.

"You know, Morgan? There's this thing called 'seat belt syndrome'." He said, frowning and swallowing. "They are injuries caused by the seat belt itself when you… when you have a car accident. They can go from simple bruising to fracture of the sternum, shoulder, ribs, neck or hips and depending on the f-force of impact, there can also be damage to internal organs or spinal injury."

In any other situation, Derek would've told the kid to shut up, but he didn't… because he found a bump that shouldn't be on his friend's right shoulder.

"Reid, I'm sorry, your collarbone..."

"Is b-broken. I know. I can feel the crepitus."

"What?"

"Crepitus... is the s-sensation produced by friction of bone and cartilage… or the fractured p-parts of a b-bone."

"Oh... Ok."

(I hope it's not as bad as it sounds.) Morgan thought, taking his cell phone from his belt. He was disappointed when he saw the 'No service' sign on the top of the screen, but he tried to not show it on his face. He dialed 911, knowing that, even if the phone had no signal at all, it should be able to make emergency calls.

It didn't work.

(Shit… We are only a few miles away from that freaking town… How is this possible? This is Arizona, not the damned Middle East...) He thought, gritting his teeth at the silence of the line.

"Reid, let me borrow your phone. Don't move, I'll take it." He said, trying to sound unconcerned, without much success.

"There's no signal." Spencer said, but his voice sounded like a question. The other man shook his head, at the time he grasped the old phone from Reid's belt. He found out that the screen was cracked. The thing was dead.

(Great...)

The older agent remembered the police officer that helped him to make the preparations for the trip earlier that day and his recommendation to bring a satellite phone with them. It was only a short trip, they would be back in Phoenix tonight. He thought there was no need of it.

(Derek Morgan, you moron. You idiot bastard.)

He sighed, holding back his desire to punch something.

"We will try again later. Don't worry about it. Now I have to do something to help you, at least to minimize the pain. We need to immobilize that arm. Are you ok with it?"

Spencer closed his eyes, biting his lower lip. The pain was excruciating.

"Yeah." He whispered.

"Right. Let me go have a look in the trunk, to see what I can find." Derek said. He got Spencer's bottle from the floor and opened the door, allowing the breeze to cool down the car. Thankfully, right now the battered SUV was in the shade of the tree-like cactus where they had crashed. "I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere without me."

"I may go to have a look at the Long-nosed Leopard Lizards." The younger man said.

"Long-nosed Leopard Lizards? Surely you don't feel too bad if you're still the walking Wikipedia." Derek smiled, trying to cheer up his injured friend.

"In any case, right now, I'm the 'sitting in a crashed car and f-fractured' Wikipedia..."

Morgan laughed and Spencer exhaled a little chuckle, but he was stopped by the ache and groaned, frowning.

"Ough!"

"Sorry, kid. I guess we will have time to laugh later." Derek said, getting out of the car. "Try to move as little as possible, will you?"

He nodded.

Morgan found out that the SUV was in pretty bad shape. The dashboard was completely destroyed by the airbags, which meant there was no way to operate the vehicle. Not even the battery was working. The windshield was cracked and the windows on the passenger side were entirely broken. There was glass scattered in very small pieces on the ground. Reid was lucky that it didn't end all over him. Both doors were dented and blocked by the giant cactus. Both tires were flat. Morgan realized that the passenger side was the one which received the most damage.

He just hoped that, against all odds, that broken collarbone was the only thing they had to worry about.

When Derek approached to the back of the SUV, his heart sank.

He could see a transparent liquid dripping from somewhere in the right side of the car and pooling under the tire. He opened the trunk, to find the jerry can with 5 gallons of water that they carried for the trip, damaged from the crash. More than half of its content was now lost.

"Son of a bitch..." He whispered. One more problem added to the list… and this one was big.

"What? Morgan, what's wrong?" Reid tried to turn around, but the pain stopped him.

"It's the water. We lost some."

"How bad is it?"

"We still have enough for a few hours. We want to be out of this place as soon as possible anyway. Don't worry about it."

Derek knew that with the container open to the elements, the rest of the water was going to evaporate soon. Losing it in the middle of the desert was a problem he hadn't anticipated.

He would think about that later. Spencer was the priority right now.

Morgan found many usable things in the trunk. There was a container with fuel, a big functioning flashlight with a shoulder strap, a couple of light blankets and a small first aid kit. There was also a tool box and in it, among other things, he found screwdrivers, pincers and a fire starter. Besides that, there was a rucksack with some energy bars. All those things would help them if they had to spend a few days in the desert, but he was hoping they didn't have to do it. Water, or the lack of it, would be a problem soon and he wanted to take his friend to a hospital as soon as possible. It was a big worry to be uncertain about his real condition.

The discomfort seemed to be taking its toll on the young man. He was too quiet now and Derek was afraid that he could fall into shock at any moment. He had to help him, hoping he would not end up doing more harm than good.

Morgan grabbed something from his pocket: a gift that Emily gave him some time ago for his birthday. It was a Swiss penknife, with lots of tools in it. He would never admit that the only tool he had used so far and quite frequently, was the corkscrew, but in this case, he unfolded the sharp blade and used it to cut one of the blankets into pieces that he would use to immobilize the fracture.

He placed a small piece of fabric between Spencer's chest and his right arm. He made him put his right hand on his left shoulder and used a larger piece of fabric to make a sling, folding it in the shape of a triangle underneath his arm and making a knot with the ends behind his neck. Once he did this, he used some bandages that he found in the first aid kit, to tie the arm to the chest and keep it completely still. That would also help to keep protected his ribs and sternum, in case they were injured as well. It worked fine to minimize the pain. He took the time to clean and put some small adhesive strips on the wound on the side of Reid's face and could see him relaxing as soon as he finished. Spencer even started to take deep breaths and smiled.

"Thank you, Morgan."

"You have nothing to say thank you for, kid. I got us into this problem."

"It's not your fault. It was an accident." Reid said. "Your hands are magic. It still h-hurts, but I feel much better now… Where did you learn to do it so well?"

"When I was a teenager, my little sister broke her collarbone pretending to be an Olympic gymnastics champion. My mom taught me how to do it, for the times when she had to go to work and I had to take care of the girls."

"Your mom is an angel..."

"I know." Derek smiled. "Anyway, that sling is temporary. We need to think of a way to get you out of here, but right now, I need to take care of something else."

"The water problem?"

"Yeah."

Morgan used his knife again, this time to cut a large piece of white plastic material from one of the airbags. Then, he went back to the trunk and, after refilling their bottles, covered the water container with it, the best way he could. If that didn't stop the evaporation, it would at least delay it for a while.

When he went back to the front, to give water to his colleague, Derek found out that Spencer was trying to get out of the car.

"Man, what the hell are you doing? I told you not to move." He said, at the same time helping his friend to pass his leg above the gear shift.

"I know, but my back hurts. My legs are so stiff that I think they are going to fall off. I have been sitting there for hours! I don't want to get economy class syndrome. It is d-directly related to long periods of immobility during which blood pools in the legs, raising the risk of..."

"Reid!"

"Sorry."

When Spencer finally managed to get out, he was panting because of the effort. Morgan put the remaining blanket on top of a rock to make his friend sit down there and gave him his bottle of water. He even considered giving him food, because he was hungry himself, but didn't want to risk any more problems, so he just let him be for a while. After all, he had learned something from his afternoons watching 'Man Vs Wild'. A man could live three minutes without air, three days without water and three weeks without food.

Reid could see how his friend was looking persistently toward the road, surely hoping that someone would pass, even if the last car they saw that day was hours ago, fifty miles away and going in the opposite direction. He also could see how Morgan moved away from the car and tried to call 911 again at least twice, with no success whatsoever.

Thinking about the dangerous situation would keep Spencer's mind busy for a while, far away from his own, most feared, personal monsters… Those he stupidly thought would disappear when he discovered that the murder of little Riley Jenkins was not only a nightmare he had, as well as the identity of his killer. Those monsters which were now more alive than ever...

Derek started to gather small branches, and dry grass to make a fire, in the hope that someone would see the smoke from the distance and also because he wanted to be ready for the night. It was almost 4 pm. They still had between two and three hours of light, but he didn't want to risk anything else. Shadows were already getting longer.

"I should've called Hotch by now, to let him know we arrived." Spencer said. "He'll notice that there's s-something wrong. Even if now he doesn't, later he may try to call us, to know the result of the interview. He'll realize we are not answering our phones and send someone to look for us."

"Unfortunately, we don't know for sure if that will happen, kid. It could be a long time before they find out we're not coming back. They may think we stopped somewhere for the night. So, option one is to wait, but we may have to spend days in this place. I would not like you to do that with your injury and with the amount of water we have."

"What is option two?"

"Me, going back to Bagdad to get help."

Spencer could not help but feel his heart skipping a beat. He felt a twinge of pain coming from his shoulder and he looked away, trying not to show it. He knew the beauty, but also the dangers of this desert. Maybe it was because he was incapacitated, but the idea of parting sounded crazy for him at the moment. To spend the pitch black night alone in the middle of nowhere wasn't appealing either, even if he knew dusk was the best time to travel in that environment.

"Every survival manual that I h-have read indicates that the best thing to do is not to split up." He said. "It is better to remain close to the vehicle in the case of an accident, because a rescue party would find something as big as a car faster than something as small as a person."

"You are absolutely right, but in this case, there's a road. I won't be more lost than I already am. There are only twenty five miles from here to the town."

"Twenty eight, actually."

"Ok, twenty eight. I can walk about four miles in one hour, easily. It would take me seven, eight hours to get there and another hour coming back, in a car. Maybe less if I get to call 911 or find someone on the way. A rescue party could take way longer than that, if it ever comes. This is a godforsaken place."

Spencer stood up and took a few steps toward his friend, now looking at him in the eye.

"Morgan, there are many other things you have to think about. The weather, the terrain, the wildlife..."

"Then tell me."

"It's not as easy as it seems. The desert comes alive at night. You shouldn't do it alone. Last year, 183 illegal immigrants died in this place because they underestimated it."

"What do you suggest, then?"

"I want to go with you."

"What? Surely you're not serious, man. Not with that injury."

"My collarbone is broken. The rest of me is fine."

"Are you one hundred percent sure of that? Listen, Reid… I know you are in pain. I know you are scared..."

"Is not that!"

"...but that is the best option I can see. I will leave after starting the fire and I promise, I will be back before dawn."

Morgan took two steps back and his friend took a few more toward him. Spencer's face was suddenly pale, with the corners of his mouth turned downwards and a shadow of fear in his glassy eyes.

"Derek..."

The dark skinned man found odd the fact that his colleague used his first name. He was going to say something else, he even opened his mouth, but then… he heard a noise right next to him. In the beginning, he didn't know what it was. It was a deafening, continuous rattling that echoed all around him. It was a sound everyone would have heard in movies, one that in real life was completely different and petrifying.

Morgan opened his eyes impossibly wide, staring at his friend. For a few instants, he was paralyzed.

Spencer held his breath looking down at something at Derek's feet. Then, in just one second, he ran toward his friend and pushed him away with his left arm, with surprising strength and precision. The older man stumbled backwards on the ground, utterly astounded.

With his heart jumping in his chest, Morgan could finally see it.

It was a snake.

It was almost five feet long and had the same golden color of the sand, with a dark brown geometrical pattern on its back. The tail had black and white bands and a large light brown rattle.

The noise stopped when the snake buried its fangs in Spencer's left leg, through the fabric of his pants, right above his foot. He just exhaled a muffled gasp.

"FUCK!"

In a flash, Morgan got his gun from its holster and shot the reptile, twice. Reid was startled each time.

The snake fell dead to the ground in front of Spencer. Both men kept looking at it… and for a few moments it was like nothing had happened.

Derek stood up as fast as he could, to run to his colleague, who was still standing there, just looking at the dead reptile.

"Don't touch it, Morgan." Spencer said with unsteady voice. "Snakes retain their bite r-reflex and can still be venomous for up to an hour after death."

"Oh, Reid… what did you do?"

"It's question of statistics, really." He swallowed and took a couple of steps backwards. "I was already c-crumpled, which meant my probabilities of getting out of this place alive were low anyway. You have 99.5 percent probability to get out unscathed. If I let the s-snake bite you, both of us would have less than 5 percent chance of survival. There's no sense in having t-two people injured. At least… one of us would make it out. What I didn't… I didn't think is..."

Spencer's legs gave in under his weight. He fell on his knees, engulfed by a wave of dizziness and pain.

"Reid!"

"...it hurts like hell… and I just realized… I don't want to die..."

In that moment, Derek finally saw the sheer terror in his friend's eyes.

"I know nothing about snakes, kid. Tell me what I have to do. Help me to help you."

"Crotalus Atrox, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake." Reid said, his sight was fixed again in the dead animal. The tail was still moving a little. "Their venom is hemotoxic, destroying tissue, causing necrosis and disrupted blood clotting… I may lose my leg… I could bleed to d… "

"No! No, Spencer, Don't say that. Try to concentrate. If you tell me what to do, both of us will be fine, we'll be home sooner than you think. Come on." He said, putting his hand on his friend's left shoulder. "I need to know what to do."

Spencer closed his eyes and tried to breathe deeply, to calm down and search for the information in his troubled mind.

"Keep… keep the person calm." He said. "Reassure them that bites can be effectively treated in an emergency room. Restrict movement, and keep the affected area below heart level to reduce the flow of v-venom. Remove any rings or constricting items, because the affected area may swell. Create a loose splint to help restrict movement of the area. If the area of the bite begins to swell and change color, the snake was probably venomous. Clean the wound, but don't flush it with water. Cover it with a clean, dry dressing. Monitor the person's vital signs, temperature… temperature, pulse, rate of breathing and blood pressure if possible. If there are s-signs of shock, such as paleness, lay the person flat, raise the feet about a foot and cover the person with a blanket. Get medical help right away."

Derek noticed how Spencer was speaking in third person, as a sort of denial of what was happening to him.

(This is going to be funny considering my first aid kit has aspirins, antiseptic and a couple of band aids… and medical help is at least twenty eight miles away...) He thought, with a sigh.

"There… there are some things that you shouldn't do..." Reid continued. "Don't allow the person to become over-exerted. If necessary, carry the person to safety. Don't apply a tour… a tourniquet. Don't apply cold compresses to a snake bite. Don't cut into a snake bite with a knife or razor. Don't try to suck out the venom by mouth..."

"I wasn't planning to do that..."

"I'm glad… Don't give the person stimulants or pain medication unless a d-doctor tells you to do so. Don't give the person anything by mouth… Don't raise the site of the bite above the level of the person's heart."

"Ok, kid. For starters, let's go back to the car, so you can sit there."

Spencer made his best effort to try to get on his feet, but his body just didn't respond.

"Don't do that. I will help you." Derek said. "You'll be all right."

Reid looked like a newborn foal, carrying an invisible, terrible load. Morgan offered his hand to him, which he accepted with a small grateful smile. He helped him to get up and held him by the waist, to walk back to the SUV. He ended carrying most of Spencer's weight, which was surprisingly and worryingly light, considering his height. The scene was sad and terrifying.

Morgan needed him to be as calm and comfortable as possible and he made him settle in the back seat of the battered car. The short trip seemed to have exhausted him. He looked very afraid and lost.

As quick and carefully as he could, Derek removed Spencer's shoes and socks. Right now, his feet looked normal. He used his knife again, this time to cut the fabric off the left leg of Reid's pants, all the way to the knee.

He could see the awful marks of the snake fangs on Spencer's skin, bleeding profusely, in the centre of an irregular spot that looked reddened and sore. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to verbalize his fear for his friend to know that it was quite severe. After all, they were both profilers.

"It looks bad, doesn't it?" Spencer asked, shuddering. Derek could see that the adrenaline rush was already wearing off, at the same time the pain was settling in.

"It doesn't look great, but that is to be expected."

Reid nodded.

"Morgan… there are going to be… symptoms… Pain, dizziness, breathing difficulty, blurred vision, weak or rapid pulse, nausea, vomiting, numbness, changes in the skin color, swelling, tingling, weakness… I-I think I already have some of them… I could… I could have paralysis… or tissue damage…"

Derek groaned with frustration. When his gaze met Spencer's, he found tears in the corners of his eyes.

"How are you feeling right now?" He asked.

"The pain is acute. I feel dizzy and tired… My heart is beating too fast. I'm… I'm scared…"

The older agent could see that his friend's features had hues of gray, with dark purple circles under his sunken eyes. The bones on his face appeared cruelly highlighted… like those of a person in agony.

(Stop thinking like that, Derek Morgan… Reid is strong… He will get through this… He has to get through this...)

"I understand, kid, but you have to be positive. You've got out of worse situations before. You will get out of this one as well. I'm here to help you."

Derek used some antiseptic from the first aid kit to clean around the wound thoroughly and covered it with a dressing. Then, he decided to take away Reid's watch. He knew in cases like this, time could be a decisive factor and he didn't want Spencer to stress about it, above all else. He didn't have anything to examine his friend's vital signs, so he used his hand to check his pulse and temperature. The young man seemed to be quite cool at the moment.

"All right. Now I have to go out and see if I can find something to make a splint for you. For the moment, your job is to try to keep your foot down and stay as calm and steady as possible. Ok?"

Spencer nodded again gratefully and tried to breathe deeply, to lower his heart rate. He knew a faster heartbeat would bring the venom to his heart quicker.

"Morgan, be careful when you pick up pieces of wood from the ground. There could be scorpions or black widows hidden underneath them. They're even more venomous than rattlesnakes. Giant centipedes are also dangerous."

"No problem. Thanks for the advice."

Derek got out, leaving the door ajar. He saw the blanket and went to pick it up to use it later, shaking it to get rid of the sand and any bugs that may have found shelter in it.

Then, he closed his eyes, trying to fight the sudden lump that appeared in his throat. Unexpectedly, the possibility of his best friend dying was very real.

The worst part was that he felt that if something bad happened to Spencer, it was all his fault. If he hadn't been teasing him earlier, he would have been paying complete attention to the road and the accident would never had happened… if he hadn't been arguing with him, he would have seen the rattler and stopped it from biting either of them…

Ironically, Morgan thought that the snake really proved Reid's point: The desert was dangerous, even deadly… and he underestimated it. If it wasn't for his friend, now he would be the one facing the pain, the fear and the possibility of death.

(You were right, kid… and I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry...)

Morgan had been working tirelessly for the past half hour.

He ended making the splint for Spencer with a couple of branches, his friend's tie and shoelaces. It was not pretty, but at least, it served its purpose of keeping the young man's leg fixed in the adequate position without being too tight.

He had been checking his friend's wound regularly. Before, Reid said that there was a chance for the bite to be 'dry', meaning no venom was injected, because rattlesnakes can control the amount of toxin they inoculate. Besides, they don't use all of their venom if the animal they're attacking is too big to eat. However, Morgan found out that the discolored area around the fang marks had grown and the leg started to swell. Obviously there was venom in Spencer's flesh… but there was no way of knowing if it was a little, or a lot.

Reid had been silent for a long while. He only spoke some time ago to say that now, on top of everything, he had a tingling sensation in his foot, which became 'heavy like a log', he was nauseous and his headache had grown stronger.

Derek felt that somehow all he was doing was useless. He needed to do something else to help his colleague, before it was too late. Even if it was too late.

He continued with his plan to create a fire big enough for the smoke to be seen from the distance in the few remaining hours of light and the flames to be easy to spot after sunset. In order to light it, he chose a rocky place that would not put the car or its surroundings at risk. He needed it to stay burning for a long time, even unattended, so he added some green twigs to the branches and grass he gathered earlier.

Soon enough, red flames and gray smoke rose into the blue sky, like a beacon of hope.

With that sorted, he went quickly to the back of the SUV, to refill the water bottles. He knew that the small amount of water was not ideal for what he was planning, but there was nothing else he could do. He put one of the bottles in the backpack along with a couple of energy bars and the flashlight. He placed it upon his back and carried the other bottle in his hand, thinking that the next step was going to be the hardest. What he was about to do, was going to hurt his friend in the same way it was already hurting him.

He found Spencer curled in one corner of the back seat, with his eyes closed. There was a fly buzzing around his face, but he didn't seem to notice, or care about it. Derek chased it away with his hand, thinking his friend was probably asleep; his breathing was a little faster than it should have been and he had tiny beads of sweat on his forehead. Morgan put the bottle within his reach and checked his temperature, touching his neck with the back of his fingers. He found out that his pulse was racing. His friend's condition was worsening. He had to hurry.

"Reid?"

"Mmmhh…"

Spencer opened his eyes. They were tired and unfocused.

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better." He answered. His voice was weak and raspy. Then, he saw the backpack that his friend had and he knew what Derek was about to do. He could not help but feel a heaviness in the pit of his stomach, because reason and emotion were two completely different things… and most of the time, they were opposite. "You're going to look for help…"

"Yes. You cannot stay like that much longer. Something has to be done. This is the only solution I can see. The sooner we find someone, the better."

"I agree…" Reid said.

"I will… have to take the flashlight with me. That means you'll be in the dark for a while. I'm really sorry about that, kid."

"That is n-not a problem." Reid whispered, lowering his sight. The corners of his mouth twisted in a sad and tired smile, which only served to manifest his sorrow even more. "They say absolute darkness is the best way to appreciate the night sky… It is a magic d-display you cannot see in the city because of all the lights around… Who knows? Maybe I'll get to s-see a shooting star…"

"Yeah… maybe." Derek's smile was as fake as the one of his young friend. "If you do, you have to make a really good wish…"

Spencer exhaled a wry chuckle.

"I know what it would be…" He said.

A deep and heavy silence, like the brief pause between the detonation of a bomb and the actual explosion, lingered between them. Reid stared at his friend and there was uncertainty in his eyes.

"Morgan, you have to be really careful. Sun exposure in the desert is dangerous, even for a short time. You need to find something to protect your s-skin and keep away your face from the dust. You have to seek shade if you c-can… Try to stay on the road for as long as possible, but if you d-don't, be sure you always know where… it is…"

Spencer started to cough. Each jerk brought a wave of pain with it and Derek held him the best he could, to try and keep him stable.

"Please don't strain. Don't worry. I will take care of myself and be back as soon as I can. I promise. You just hold on."

Reid swallowed, then hid his face in his colleague's chest, in order to keep his discomfort unseen.

"Listen." He continued. "This… this is important. If you stop to rest, don't lie flat on the ground. Stay alert. Don't remove your shoes, or you won't be able to wear them later, b-because your feet may… may swell… After dark you must… you must… AAAHHH!"

"Holy shit, Reid! What's wrong?"

"It's n-nothing…" He whispered, as he started to gasp in an alarming way. "Just… just a little ache… it will pass… it will pass."

But that didn't happen. Instead, the agony became stronger than ever. Spencer clenched his teeth, groaned and lifted his head, grimacing. His left hand unwittingly reached Morgan's arm and he squeezed it so hard that his friend knew he was going to have a bruise.

"Derek… it h-hurts so much… I'm… I'm t-terrified…" He said. His face was the vivid picture of hopelessness and affliction. His friend could see the dread in his eyes and hear it in his voice. "I tried but… I can't… I can't take it anymore… I know I'm going to die… I don't want to die alone… Please… Don't let me… die alone…"

Suddenly, the heavy pressure on Morgan's arm ceased. At the same time, Spencer collapsed. Derek could feel clearly how his friend lost consciousness… it was like water slipping through his fingers… and he couldn't do anything to avoid it.

"No, no, no… Don't do this to me, Reid… Don't do this to me..."

Swiftly, Morgan placed Spencer's limp body into the recovery position, taking extreme care of his leg and his shoulder. Then, he checked for the pulse, touching the side of his neck. He exhaled a relieved sigh when he found out that his heart was beating and he was breathing.

His best friend was alive… for now.

He tried to wake him up by tapping his face gently and calling his name, but Reid didn't respond.

Derek found himself in a turmoil of mixed feelings, as he evaluated their chances. Leaving his colleague behind in his current situation, was definitely out of the question. If he wanted to go, he would have to take Spencer with him, but to transport an injured person by oneself was not an easy task, much less at nightfall. It would slow him down too much, exposing Reid to the elements, maybe aggravating the damage caused by the seat belt and the snakebite, putting both of them at risk in case of an animal attack, or any other potentially dangerous situation. It didn't seem worthy to do it now… and he wondered if it ever was.

Thinking about that, the man did what he should have done from the very start.

"You will not die alone, my dear friend… my little brother." He said, brushing away a lock of hair from Spencer's forehead. "No matter what happens… We are in this together, until the end."

Deep in his mind, Derek Morgan thought that the only hope they had, was a miracle.

TO BE CONTINUED.