ROSEMARY - spencer reid

O N E

CHAPTER 1: THE WOMAN

Dr. Spencer Reid's POV

[September 24th, 2009]

"1... 2... 3!" Hotch counts down under his breath before stepping back and allowing Morgan to kick down the heavy door.

Hotch runs in with his gun raised, all of us following in behind them. I hop over the threshold with my arms straightened, my clammy hands grasped around my gun. We tread quietly across the wooden floorboards, particles of dust swirling in the beams of light streaming through the partially-opened blinds.

"Clear!" Prentiss calls quietly from down the hall.

"Clear." I hear Morgan announce from what I see as the kitchen.

I poke my head into a bedroom, seeing that it is empty.

"Clear!" I call out to the team.

We regroup in the hallway, approaching a door that we assume leads to the basement. Rossi tests the door knob, finding it to be unlocked. He opens it up and we all file down the wooden stairs, hearing the cries of a young boy; seven-year-old Kyle Russell.

"Michael Andersen!" Morgan calls out the UNSUB. "F.B.I.! Don't move, man!"

We all train our guns on him as he hovers over Kyle with a knife. The child looks to us with large, tear-filled brown eyes, and I see myself as a child in his expression. I clench my jaw and swallow hard, blinking and snapping myself out of it.

"Drop the knife." Hotch demands harshly, his voice so cold that it could scare anyone.

Andersen looks between Morgan and Hotch a few times before allowing the knife to clatter to the concrete floor. Morgan moves in swiftly, kicking the knife aside and gently grabbing Kyle's arm. He moves Kyle behind him, shoving him into JJ's grasp before roughly slamming Andersen against the wall. He wrestles the man's arms behind his back, handcuffing him and pushing him towards the stairs without bothering to be gentle. Rossi then steps in and takes Andersen up the stairs and out of the house, knowing that Derek is too livid with the child-killer to deal with him right now.

JJ allows Kyle to bury his face against her stomach as she rests her hands protectively on his shoulders. We all take a deep breath and look around the room, our eyes picking out all of the items and evidence lying around. Just as soon as we think everything is over, we hear a muffled voice.

"Hello? What's going on?" A distinctly female voice says, and we immediately try to pinpoint the location. "Please help me!"

"JJ, take Kyle out to the medics to check on him. We'll handle this." Hotch instructs, and JJ nods, leaving with the boy.

Hotch, Morgan, Prentiss, and I look at each other with furrowed eyebrows. We weren't expecting anyone else to be here other than Kyle and the UNSUB.

"Miss?" Prentiss calls out. "Where are you at?"

"I'm over here! The boxes!" The voice says again, and we cross the room to a pile of wooden crates.

We begin to open the lids, seeing nothing but the bottoms of the boxes until we make it to the last one. Derek lifts the last lid and we look inside to see a medium-sized metal cage inside of it. The woman that the voice belongs to lifts her head up weakly, squinting her eyes at the sudden exposure to the light. Her pale cheeks are smudged with dirt and what appears to be dried blood and her pink lips are chapped and cracked due to dehydration. She has tangled auburn hair, and a shaky breath is all she can offer us.

"Are you injured?" Hotch asks her calmly as he opens the door on the top of the cage. "Can we move you without hurting you?"

The woman grips the edge of the crate, pulling herself up onto her feet slowly, staggering before straightening completely. Her eyes widen in terror as she looks at Morgan, Hotch, and me, but when she sees Prentiss, she clambers out of the crate towards her. Her legs instantly give out under her and they send her falling onto the floor.

"Miss? Are you alright?" Prentiss asks her, kneeling on the floor and allowing the girl to cling onto her arm.

"Please!" The girl whispers harshly, her voice cracking as she looks up at the three of us men. "They're going to hurt me!"

"We're not going to hurt you," Hotch assures her gently. "We're here to help. We're with the F.B.I."

"Please?" She repeats, looking at Prentiss and completely ignoring Hotch's words.

"We're going to take you somewhere safe," Prentiss assures her. "Can you stand?"

The woman nods, allowing Prentiss to help her to her feet. She averts her eyes from the three of us again; that paired with her reaction to us earlier indicating that she has been abused by a man or many men. Her knees are stiff and her walking is labored until her legs get used to the motion. Prentiss turns her gaze to us, indicating for us to follow them up the stairs in case the mystery woman begins to fall. Morgan follows right behind her, his strong arms extended and ready to catch her should she fall.

It turns out to be a good thing as the woman begins to pass out. Prentiss tries to catch her, but is not strong enough. She falls straight backwards and Morgan catches her in his arms, Hotch and I instinctually reaching up to steady him. Derek pauses, putting an arm under the woman's legs and lifting her up, carrying her the rest of the way up the stairs. We would have just had him carry her in the first place, but I know she would have panicked and would never have allowed a male to touch or carry her in her state if she were conscious.

We get her outside just as the emergency responders arrive. Morgan carries the woman over to the ambulance, and they immediately load her into the back and prepare an I.V. for her. They drive off towards the nearest hospital and as the ambulance leaves, a police car carrying Kyle's parents arrives. The Russells sprint towards the other ambulance where Kyle is sitting up and getting checked on by the medics. He leaps into their arms and they cry tears of joy at the safe return of their child. A small smile pulls at my lips.

It's the moments like these that remind me why I do my job.

It's the moments like these that make up for the horrors that I see every day.