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“If you want the grail you must ask the question” the unsub said urgently hotch was losing sight of read as he walked farther into the hallway towards ‘the king fisher' hotch knew this was a bad idea he had tried to stop reid as he went in but couldn't.
“She's not a grail” hotch hears Reid respond he can hear the urgency in the kids voice clearly wanting to get this over with Reid still walking closer to the door, to the unsub.
“She's your daughter, her name’s Rebecca” Reid has always been good at talking down the unsubs in situations like these though hotch almost wishes he wasn't as it wouldn't put him in situations like these where hotch couldn't help him to be honest hotch had viewed Reid as something close to a son for a little while now always wanting to protect the kid or put an arm around him hotch loved his rambling he honestly found comfort in his kids talks about whatever new article he had read that day
“My daughter's died in a fire” Garner had said snapping him out of his thoughts “and my son and my wife” he said honestly the unsub sounded pretty worn down if they hadn't have thought he might have a gun on him hotch probably would have burst in there already especially if it took Reid out of danger
“Rebecca lived” Spencer stated hotch could hear the wanting of this situation to be over in his kids voice but there was no fear in it so he stayed back
“no, your mother she explained it all to me”
Hotch had never really heard Spencer talk about his mother he heard a few tales from when the kid was younger but he had thought up untill recently that she may have not been around anymore though he knew she was he had met her only a few hours earlier she had seemed nice paranoid maybe he had learned she was in a nursing home but she had seemed nice enough so when Spencer had said this next statement hotch had been taken aback
“My mother is a paranoid schizophrenic who would forget to eat if she wasn't properly medicated and supervised” hotch could hear the annoyance in his kids voice as well as he could see Morgan look over to him with a worried glance Hotch hadn't known about Spencer's mom sure he probably had a file that said something about it somewhere but he didn't like to dig into his employee's life's and hotch could see it now remembering all the times he went silent when family was brought up he always had this look this guilty look hotch had always thought he had felt bad because he didn't have anyone to talk about with them and then a couple days ago when spence had looked so worried about visiting his mother hotch should have seen it
“She made me realize none of it was real, I didn't lose Rebecca, she never existed in the first place” the unsub spoke once again snapping hotch out of his thoughts “she does exist, Mr Garner” Spencer said showing sympathy towards the unsub as he spoke “And we are here to help her” hotch could hear as Reid slowly opened the door towards the study the unsub was in
Hotch could hear Spencer's breath catch once the door was open but hotch let it go expecting it was just a gun the unsub had pointed at Reid don't get him wrong he still hated putting his kid in danger but this was to be expected with this unsub
“Hotch, Morgan, I think maybe it would be better if you guys waited down stairs” if you were anyone else you might have missed it but hotch heard a slight wariness in his kids voice “what?” Hotch had finally spoken out why would the kid want them to wait downstairs it didn't even seem like Mr. Garner knew the rest of them where there yet
“Mr. Garner and I are just going to talk alone up here” hotch knew he couldn't leave the unsub alone with Reid but before he could say anything Morgan beat him to it
“Go on and talk Reid but we aren't going anywhere” Morgan said and hotch could tell from the tone of Morgan's voice there was no arguing with him not that hotch wanted to there was no way hotch would leave the kid alone with this guy
“Ask the question I'll be healed and you may take the grail” the unsub said to Reid this must be part of the myth that this guy believed in part of hotch wishes that Reid would just ask the question he knew Reid had known it “Just ask the question sir knight”
“I cant” Spencer said so delicately as if this guy was going to explode if Spence startled him (haha get it because he is) “heal me” the unsub responded raspingly
“Mr Garner, a fisher king wound cannot be healed by somebody else it's not a wound to the body it's a wound to the memory, wound to the mind it's” Spencer pauses clearly nervous “it's a wound that only you can find and a wound that only you can heal” he can tell Spencer has given up on the route of convincing the unsub that he really is delusional and has started playing into this fantasy this guy has made up in his head
“Just ask the question” hotch could feel the nerves radiating off of Reid as he began to speak again “there’s only one question that matters, Mr Gardener there's only one really important question” hotch heard him hesitate “can you forgive yourself?”
“I couldn't get to them” the fisher king says brokenly
“if you tell me where she is you can save Rebecca now” Spencer tries “tell me where Rebecca is” there is a little bit of hope to Spence's voice “You know I sent your mother the map” “what map” Spencer said and hotch paused at that all he had sent Spencer's mom was where they were hotch once again was torn out of his thoughts by the king fisher as he said “Can I forgive myself” he seemed to think for a moment hotch gets this moment of hope maybe he'll stand down but before he gets to hopeful something happens “no I can't” Garner says and Spencer turns around “RUN!” Spencer shouts as hotch hears something beep right before an explosion
Hotch and Morgan quickly duck down covering himself from the explosion, hotch's ears ring then he looks up and see’s Morgan run over to Reid hotch gets up sprints over to realizing the kids leg is on fire “Dont move Reid don't move” Derek yells as he grabs something to put out the fire on reid's leg “get him out, Lets go, LETS GO!” Hotch yells trying to get Reid out of there as soon as possible “the hell was that?” Hotch says trying to get Reid downstairs as soon as possible “he had a bomb” the kid says between coughs and hotch mentally facepalms of course Reid wouldn't tell them “you didn't think we needed to know that?!” Morgan says stating exactly what hotch was thinking “i told you to go downstairs” god kid that's not the point hotch thinks as he continues to drag the boy though the house “you didn't say bomb you left that part out”
“Stop, stop, stop, stop” Reid said “What do you mean stop?! The house is on fire Reid let's go” Morgan yelled back at him “just let me think let me think” hotch could hear the urgency in the kids voice so he paused “he's the fisher king this is his castle Rebecca has got to be here” Reid said. Leave it up to Reid to be hurt in a burning building and still be thinking of other people “Reid there might not be time for a search let's go” as he speaks he can hear the urgency and weary sneak into his voice he holds out his arm to try and get Reid to continue on as Reid started mumbling about the location but hotch at the moment was more focused on the house burning above them “she's in the basement downstairs!” Reid yells running past them limping god he wishes his kid would just let him help him so he wouldn't get more injured “how do you know that” Morgan yells as they follow him downstairs and sure enough as they get closer they hear screaming from the basement of course reid was right hotch leaned down and started working on getting the girl unchained “the key the my tell me you got the key” morgan says and of course spencer does hotch picks the girl up and runs out of there.
The rest of the night is a blur, getting checked out, and everything until he looks over he see’s Spencer getting hauled into and ambulance and he's over there in a split second the ride to the hospital is also a blur.
“Sir, are you Spencer's emergency contact?” a doctor comes up and breaks him out of this haze “yes is he ok?” He says urgently “yes he’ll be fine there will be slight scarring on his legs and he has damaged his lungs slightly, you can see him now if you’d like to?” The doctor said as hotch nodded quickly “Right this way sir” the doctor lead hotch down a hallway into Spence's room “he’ll be good to go in an hour or two we just need to make sure his breathing is stable” the doctor said before leaving “God kid you scared me” Hotch said sitting down on the edge of Spencer's bed “sorry” the kid says looking away from him “kid there's no reason to be sorry you did what you thought was best just maybe warn me next time ok?” Hotch says not wanting to make the kid feel bad “ok” Spence responds “Now have you read anything recently?” Hotch says trying to distract the boy “yea actually…”