Piece of Mind (Criminal Minds FF)

6. Damion Taylor

"Of course not. He's a really good friend of mine. Taught me some self-defense I couldn't learn online. But nothing romantic."

We pull up to a stop outside the house, and Reid and JJ jump out. I start to get out when Morgan speaks.

"Maybe you shoul—"

"I'm not staying in the car. Don't even try it," I say, glaring at him. I slam the car door as the other car pulls up behind us. Hotch gets out of the drivers seat, instantly taking command.

"Prentiss, Morgan, you two go around to the side door. Brooks, you're with me. We're going in front. The rest of you go throght the back." I nod quickly. "Alright. Let's go. Be careful."

We all split up into our separate groups, Hotch motioning me to come with him.

"Any place they might be?" he asks before we walk towards the door. I shake my head sadly.

"Maybe one of the spare bathrooms or the basement? I never saw much of the house. Just a few certain rooms: kitchen, living room, bathroom. Other than that, I don't know."

He nods, and we move forward. We walk up the front steps quietly, and Hotch goes to knock on the door.

"Let me," I whisper. He nods. I knock on the door like I normally would. "Damion? It's Claire. Are you there? I need to talk to you. I, um, had a few of your movies to return, and I have some news."

No answer.

I glance at Hotch before knocking again.

"Damion?"

Hotch looks at me before shaking his head and reaching for the doorknob. It opens smoothly, no lock in place.

Hotch goes in first, quietly stepping inside the house with his gun raised. I follow quietly, scanning the dark rooms. We slink from room to room, making sure they were clear as we went.

We turn at the end of the hallway, and I see the rest of the BAU team outside of a door. Morgan motions us over with a nod, and under the door, I can see a faint glow. I mouth the word "basement" at everyone, getting quick nods. We try the doorknob, and, unsurprisingly, it's locked. Morgan takes a step back before slamming the door open with a kick. We am quickly descend the staircase into a concrete room.

Jacob is at one end of the room, tied to a chair, while Damion stands behind him, holding a gun to his head. He looks panicked, his eyes darting to all of us, freezing when they see me beside Hotch.

"Mr. Taylor, put Jacob down," Morgan says calmly, gun still raised.

"He... I... I can't," he says shakily. "He's... The creativity. It needs to be stopped. He has too much. It needs to be stopped. It's a disease!" he yells the last part, the hand holding the gun shaking. I had never seen Damion like this. "It needs to be stopped," he repeats.

"Mr. Taylor, you need to calm down. Drop the gun," Hotch orders him.

"NO!" Damion yells. "I... I need to... I'm stopping the disease. I'm doing good. Ridding the world from it."

"Damion," I say calmly. I get sharp glances from some of the team members, but I ignore them.

"Claire?" he looks at me with confusion. "What are you doing here? You're with them, aren't you?!" he yells, his grip on the gun tightening.

"No!" I yell." I..."

My brain spins, spitting forth an idea.

"I came to you for help. The disease," I say quickly. I was at the bottom of the stairs, so I moved forward before anyone could stop me.

"The disease? You'll.. You'll help me?" he asks. I nod.

"Jacob... He's just a child," I say. "He can have the disease taken out of him. But I need your help."

In his confusion, I see him loosening his grip on the gun.

"I... I have the disease. I'm too creative for my good. I see that," I say, putting down my gun. "I need you to hep me while we help Jacob."

"Claire." I hear someone say my name in warning, but I ignore it.

"Why don't you give us Jacob? We can take the creativity out of him. I'll come to you, and you can help me. It's too late for me, but it isn't for him. Okay?"

"How do I know you'll get it out of him?" he asks.

"Have I ever let you down before?" I say quickly.

He stares at me before nodding quickly.

"Yes. Yes, I'll help you. I can't with that vest on, though. You needs to take it off and come over." He looks off to the side distractedly for a second, and I hurriedly fumble with the straps on my vest.

"Claire. Don't you dare," I hear a familiar voice say. I look behind me for a second, long enough to see half of the team looking at me as if I was crazy, half of them glaring at me, and Spencer looking at me like he had that night..

I slip the vest over my head and let it drop, turning my attention back to Damion.

"Okay, I'll come to you, and you untie Jacob and let him come back to us. That's the deal."

He nods, and with his free hand, he yanks on the cords. It takes him a few minutes of fumbling, but he gets the cords undone. I walk forward, and, when I'm almost there, he shoves Jacob past me and towards the team. Prentiss and Rossi quickly take him upstairs, and I slightly sigh in relief.

My arm is grabbed, and I'm yanked forward, Damion holding me now, putting the gun to my head. The rest of the team has their guns up quickly, but I'm surprised to see that Reid is the first.

"You said you have the disease. I need to get rid of it. I need to stop the creativity," Damion utters. I can feel the barrel of the gun shaking against the side of my head.

"I do," I say quickly, feeing his arm tighten around my neck, "but you forgot one thing."

I kick backwards into his shin, making him cry out in pain. I twist out of his grip, grabbing the fun and getting it out of his hand. I drive my elbow into the place between his shoulder and his neck, bringing him to the ground.

"You taught me self-defense," I utter, holding the gun to his head now.