A/N: Two chapters in two days. I feel a bit better about leaving you all hanging as much as I did. Just a bit, not a lot. Hope it's worth the wait at any rate.

Thanks for the warm welcome back and I promise to continue to do better even though I have a yen to read more than write and watch more than read. Deep breath in, deep breath out and push through it...

Thanks to Hazmat and fanficlover for reviewing; you guys are great!

The Colour Red – Chapter 5

Her head screamed in pain and claws of fire ripped at her abdomen. She knew she needed to wake up and pay attention to her surroundings but for the life of her she couldn't remember why. She started to lift her head to look around and the dark washed over her and took her pain away.

New Section-

"JJ, who's lucky last on our list?"

"Phillip Watkins, 34. Works one week here in Augusta and the other week in Cambridge."

"Maine and Massachusetts? What does the file say about why he works in two different cities?"

"Garcia said it looks like he's in demand as an IT professional. He grew up here in Augusta and was good with computers then. He went to MIT and worked to put himself through his courses. When he graduated he was in great demand in Cambridge but was being called to come back here to the city that gave him his start."

"So now he travels weekly between cities?"

"Hotch, he's not a top priority. Garcia couldn't find anything weird in his life that would account for what he's doing. His life is going well, he's getting richer by the day and is soon by the looks of it to be married. The only reason he's on the list is because he leaves Saturday morning after the Friday where an attack occurred."

"Then we check him out and if he has an alibi for any of the nights in question we scratch him off the list. We both know..."

His voice trailed off as the police scanner crackled to life. "Shots fired; 3252 Laney Circuit, Milbrook. Officer down, I repeat, officer down. All available units requested. Civilian casualties reported. Caution is advised as there is an armed suspect involved. Be advised FBI is already on the scene."

"JJ!"

She was already scanning through the list of who was interviewing who as Hotch put on the siren and took the next right. She felt the blood rushing from her face as she looked up.

"JJ! Which team was there?"

"Reid and Emily."

She grabbed hold of the handle above the door and held on tight as the car shot forward faster than it had previously been going. When the phone rang she answered in a shaky voice.

"JJ, the police scanner just reported an officer down..."

"It's not us."

"Are you alright? You sound like you're scared."

"I'm sure you would be too if you were in the passenger seat with Hotch driving 100 miles an hour in a residential zone with kids and animals surrounding you."

"Good point. For what good it'll do since I don't know if he'll hear you, tell him we're on our way to back him up."

"I'll try. Oh my god, no."

"What? JJ what's wrong?"

"It's Emily."

New Section-

Reid felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest at any moment. He was keeping a close eye on Deborah Wheats as she crouched with her gun pressed up against the back of Emily's head. He doubted she was hearing him as he attempted to talk her into dropping the gun, but at least she hadn't shot Emily again. He really wasn't cut out as a negotiator though that was the least of his worries. His frequent brief looks at his partner showed him blood was pooling in two places which made almost no sense when he only recalled hearing two shots fired and he was certain at least one of the shots had hit Kim.

His analytical mind told him this left two scenarios, neither of which filled him with any joy. Either Emily had been shot in the head and was also bleeding out her baby or she was shot in the abdomen, with the baby bleeding out anyway and a dangerous head wound caused by her fall to the pavement. Either way, she was probably going to be dead before help arrived.

"She was taking Kim away from me; I had to stop her."

He blinked, startled that she'd finally spoken to him. He struggled to get his mind working anew on the issue before him as the sound of sirens and screaming tires filled the air.

"Why did you have to stop her. Surely there were other men out there who would have jumped at having sex with a beautiful woman. You could have found someone else; it wasn't the end of the world."

She shot him a derisive look. "Please don't patronise me. Who could possibly understand better than family. You don't talk about the skeletons in your closest agent, you bury them as deep as can be. I couldn't explain to a perfect stranger my need to have almost violent sex as often as I could. Only my son was fit to step into his father's shoes when he passed and now look what you've made me do!"

She was screaming the last, her eyes beginning to glaze over as car doors opened on all sides. Reid was vaguely aware that Hotch was there but all his concentration stayed on the woman who was staring at him with such hatred in her eyes.

"I didn't make you do anything and neither did Emily. You were the one who didn't get help for your addiction and you were the one who raped your son. Do you know he confessed everything to us with such relief? He knew we would have to take him away from you and that we could help him kick his habit. But do you know what he was happiest about?"

"What?" she whispered.

"He was happiest that us knowing what you'd done to him would ensure that you too landed in jail for what you'd done."

"That's a lie."

"I'm telling you the truth. He was glad to be getting away from you."

"That's a lie!"

"I'm not lying."

"I don't believe you! He wouldn't think like that."

"Everything I've just told you is true."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No! No, no no!"

She screamed her fury as she lifted the gun in his direction and for the first time he became aware that he might just have placed himself in danger. Time seemed to slow and sound faded as she started to stand with the rising gun. Then she jerked hard and spun around as she fell, a surprised look on her face as blood blossomed from about a dozen places on her body.

He was still standing there frozen when Derek appeared in front of him as if by magic. He let the older man take his gun from his hand as he watched paramedics swarm all over Emily. They were clearly anxious as they moved about but he still couldn't hear anything nor could he move. He could only watch as Dave and JJ did their best to keep Hotch out of the way as the medics did what they did best.

Then Derek was in front of him again and clearly trying to talk to him but again it was distant and everything was getting just a little blurry around the edges. Derek moved again and he watched as they loaded a stretcher into an ambulance and shut the doors after Hotch climbed in the back. As the lights strobed past his eyes his last coherent thought had to do with how dead he was going to be when his boss eventually got his hands on him.

New Section-

Aaron lifted his head at a soft noise from the door to the room. Dave stood in the door and watched Emily breathe, much as he'd been doing for the last hour.

"How's Reid?"

Dave shrugged slightly. "The doctor looking after him is at a loss; the tests and scans she's run are all coming up negative. She's running out of things to check for and if it weren't for the fact that he is breathing on his own and has a weak but steady pulse you wouldn't know he's alive. She's still checking though to be sure but thinks he'll simply wake up on his own and this will be one of those unexplainable illnesses. They've called his next of kin though to be on the safe side."

He sat back in his chair in surprise. "Reid actually has a next of kin who isn't his mother?"

"JJ said she suspected because she recognised in his behaviour what she'd been up to with Will before they came out with their relationship but she couldn't prove anything and he was really surprisingly good at denying it. She did call the Sanatorium in Vegas though and requested that his mother be informed if they thought it was safe for her mental health to do so.

"What did the doctor say about Emily?"

Aaron sighed as he looked back at his wife. "Thankfully she wasn't shot but that is about as far as the good news extends. She has a severe concussion with swelling occurring under her skull. Her pupils are responsive so they aren't too worried and feel the swelling will subside without causing any damage. They haven't yet figured out why she was bleeding internally and because they haven't finished all their tests yet they can't give me a definitive answer but the consensus is that she's lost the baby. There was simply too much blood for there to be any other viable explanation."

"I'm truly sorry Aaron. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Just keep me updated on Reid. He saved Emily's life back there; I need to know he's doing well again."

New Section-

Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool laced with needles and knives and her abdomen felt scarily hollow as she woke to a white room smelling of antiseptic and flowers. The hand holding hers was limp but familiar as she turned her head to find Aaron with his head pillowed on an arm resting at her side. Monitors beeped quietly and the light was muted by a partially closed door.

She shifted her hand in Aaron's and softly called her husband's name. He reacted as if he'd been shot; his head came up and round quickly and his whole body jerked to attention.

"Emily, thank god you're awake."

"What happened?"

"I was hoping you could answer that for us."

She frowned as the pain in her head increased to the point where she felt like she was going to throw up. Her clever husband must have ascertained this from her facial expression because he helped her roll over and got a bucket in place just in time. When she was finally rolled back in to place she found she was surrounded by others. When a well meaning doctor shone a light in her eyes the pain increased so much so she was seeing colours and shapes she was sure didn't occur in nature and then the lights went out for the third time that day.

New Section-

"JJ? What are you doing here and where am I?"

"Hey Reid, you gave us all quite a scare. How are you feeling?"

"I'm not sure; everything's kind of fuzzy and vague right now. I remember Emily was shot and there was a crazy woman and then I don't recall anything after that."

JJ gently stroked his hair and smiled. "First off, Emily wasn't shot. When she fell she hit her head hard enough for it to bleed badly and the internal bleeding is still a bit of a mystery but both bullets hit your suspect and not her. We aren't too sure yet, but we think he pushed her out of the way when he saw his mother with the gun but he pushed too hard and she fell. We can't corroborate that though because the only witness, being Emily, is still unconscious. She's expected to make a full recovery though."

"What about me? Why am I here lying in a hospital bed with a fuzzy head and a fuzzier mouth?"

She helped him take a few sips of water before settling him back down. "I don't quite understand everything but back at the scene you just sort of froze after Mrs Wheats was killed. Derek said it was like you couldn't see or hear him and then you just passed out cold with no warning. When they got you here you were comatose with no responsiveness to external stimuli. They don't know what happened but about an hour ago you started showing signs of waking up and everyone looked a little happier."

"So they don't know what happened either?"

"Not a clue; all I know is they thought it was serious enough to attempt to get in contact with your next of kin and I called the Sanatorium just to be on the safe side. When we knew you'd be alright, I called them immediately and they admitted your mother was having a bad day and so they hadn't told her and now wouldn't need to. As to your next of kin, apparently they had to leave a message the first time around so they called again to leave another and headed her off before she'd even heard the first one. Thing is though, they won't tell me who she is." She cocked her head questioningly in his direction.

He shook his head slightly. "If she isn't on her way here, I won't tell you. I wasn't ready for everyone to know she existed and that hasn't changed." He resolved to call her as soon as he could to assure her that he really was fine though. "Emily is really going to be okay?"

"I promise you, she'll be fine. And Hotch will thank you when he manages to drag himself away from her side. If she'd been shot for real she'd be dead right now. You getting Mrs Wheats angry enough to attempt to take a shot at you saved her life and I doubt he'll ever forget it."

Too embarrassed to even think about that level of gratitude, he mumbled that he was tired and closing his eyes found sleep sucking him under.

New Section-

"Aaron?"

"Hey kitten. You sound more alert than the last time you woke. How are you feeling?"

"My head feels clearer but my stomach still feels hollow; like the time I had the abortion hollow. Did something happen to the baby?"

He lifted a hand and gently stroked her brow. "The theory is that you were carrying twins and your body, whether through the stress of the situation or for a more natural reason, tried to clear out your insides." He soothed her gently as she whimpered. "Love, the operative word here is tried. You miscarried one of the babies but the other one is still growing within you and the doctor feels that if you take it somewhat easy you should be able to carry it to term without further issue."

"So I'm still pregnant?"

"Yes," he said with a smile.

"You promise?"

"As much as I am able to be sure not being a doctor."

She perked up a little and asked cautiously, "How easy do I need to take things?"

He grinned and delighted in the weak smile she returned. "Until you hit your second trimester the doctor is suggesting you take time off and rest up. He said take the rest of the year off work and you should be fine when we come back after our new year break. Strauss about had a heart attack when I said you needed more time off but she is being incredibly understanding regardless and for some unknown reason seems to like us enough not to have given me too much grief."

"As long as I still have a job to return to."

"I'll make sure you do, I promise."

"How's Reid handling everything that happened? I swear, every time we work together something bad happens to me and he ends up feeling guilty over it."

He detailed what had happened and was thoroughly amused to find that, once assured he was medically alright, that she was more interested in the knowledge that he had a girlfriend than anything else that had happened. She was still pestering him for information on the subject when the rest of the team minus the man in question arrived to see how she was doing and the conversation turned to other things.

He settled back to watch over the proceedings and gave thanks again that his family was going to be well in the long run. With luck they would make it to the end of the year and all would continue to be well.

With luck...

End-

A/N: All finished! Sigh. I just love reaching the end of a piece and knowing it is done and dusted. Hope you enjoyed it and are ready and raring to go with the next one. I'm doing something just a little bit different...

If you are dying to know who Reid has been sneaking around with, stay tuned; all will be revealed in good time and I will also be touching on Derek and Dave's lady friends.

As always, I love reviews, so please let me know what you think.