𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 |~𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚍~|

Chapter Five

I sighed and tightened my grip on my gun. Spencer started walking down the hallway with his hands up. Morgan was telling him not to but he still did. 

"Stay calm, Mr. Garner," said Reid.

"Ask the question, Sir Percival." 

"I told you, I'm not Percival. My name is Dr. Spencer Reid from the FBI. You were in the hospital with my mother, Diana?"

"If you want the grail you must ask the question!" 

"She's not a grail. She's your daughter. Her name's Rebecca."

"My daughters died in a fire. And my son. And my wife."

"Rebecca lived." 

"No, your mother, she explained it all to me." 

"My mother's a paranoid schizophrenic who'd forget to eat if she wasn't properly medicated and supervised." 

Morgan looked around at me. I guessed he didn't know that. 

"She made me realize none of it was real," said Garner. "I didn't lose Rebecca. She never existed in the first place." 

"She does exist, Mr. Garner. And we're here to help her." Reid opened the door and took a deep breath. He was quiet for a moment. "Leroy, Hotch, Morgan," said Reid calmly. "I think maybe it'd be better if you guys waited downstairs."

"What?" asked Hotch. I tried to look around the corner, but Reid was blocking my view inside the room.

"Mr. Garner and I are just gonna talk alone up here." 

Something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

"Go ahead and talk, Reid," said Morgan. "But we're not goin' anywhere."

"Ask the question. I'll be healed," said Garner. "And you may take the grail. Just ask the question, Sir Knight."

"I can't."

"Heal me!" 

"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... It's a wound that only you can find, and a wound that only you can heal."

"Just ask the question," said Garner.

"There's only one question that matters, Mr. Garner. There's only one really important question. Can you forgive yourself?"

"I couldn't get to them."

"If you tell me where she is, you can save Rebecca now. Tell me where Rebecca is."

"You already know. I sent your mother the map."

"What map?"

"Can I forgive myself? No, I can't" 

Reid turned and started back down the hallway. "Run!" he yelled. There was a beeping followed by a large explosion. 

I knew I had to get away, but I couldn't leave Reid. I ran down the hallway and found him laying face down. I took off my jacket and hit him with it, putting the flame on his clothes out. 

"Leroy, get him out of here," said Hotch.

"Yes, sir," I said. I helped Reid up. 

As I helped Reid stumble down the hallway, Hotch spoke up. "What the hell was that?"

"He had a bomb!" said Reid. 

"You didn't think we needed to know that?" asked Morgan. 

"I told you to go downstairs!" 

"Well, you didn't say bomb, you left that part out!" yelled Morgan. 

"Ok, stop, stop, stop," said Reid.

"What do you mean stop? The house is on fire, Reid, let's go!" yelled Morgan.

"Just let me think! Let me think!" Reid pushed his hair out of his face. "He's the Fisher King, this is his castle. Rebecca's got to be here."

"Reid, there may not be time for a search. Let's go," said Hotch. 

"Location's on the map he gave to my mom..." 

"Reid, all she told us about was that photo," said Morgan. 

My eyes widened. "The photo is the map!" 

"She's in the basement, downstairs!" yelled Reid. 

We all ran downstairs, searching for the basement. We found it and ran into a musty room. Rebecca was in there, chained to a bed. 

She was locked up. "The key. The key. The youngest ones hold the keys!" 

I dug the key out of my pocket and unlocked her handcuffs. There were two keyholes. We got Rebecca out and Hotch picked her up. 

We ran out of the room just as it burst into flames. 

I stayed behind Reid as we exited the house. I stood outside and watched as it burned. The paramedics were there. They got Rebecca on a gurney and in the ambulance.

We got back into the SUV and drove to the BAU. 

As we walked through the doors, JJ greeted us, smiling. "Elle's out of surgery. She's gonna be ok."

"Good," said Hotch. "Is Gideon still at the hospital?"

"Yeah. How's Rebecca?" 

"She's in the hospital, but she should be all right," said Morgan.

Garcia walked up. "Physically, maybe." 

Just before Hotch walked away, he said, "Thank you everyone." He looked at Garcia. "All of you." 

"Well, we could have only gone so far without Mrs. Reid," Garcia said. I smiled at Reid before patting his shoulder and walking back to my desk. 

I sat down and sighed, letting go all of the stress from the past few days. It was only then that I realized how extremely exhausted I was. I packed up my bag and went up to Hotch's office. I knocked on his door.

"Hey Hotch, I know I have reports to fill out, but is it ok if I go home and sleep?" 

"Yeah, yeah, of course."

"Thank you." I walked out the door and to my car. I could barely keep my eyes open while driving home. 

When I finally made it to my little house, I dropped my bag on the floor and laid on my bed, passing out almost immediately.

I still had nightmares. I would always have nightmares.

But, when we solved a case, when we saved a life, it made it all a little more bearable. 

"It has been said time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone." -Rose Kennedy