TW: hospitals, mention of gun violence, mild gore, mention of medical procedures and fatal injuries, mild language
truth comes out, part three of three.
"time is what we want most, but what we use worst. " - william penn.
-
"Someone call the medics!" Derek dropped his gun and sprinted over to where she had collapsed. Spencer and Hotch converged onto Derek and Genevieve while Rossi and Emily ran over to Jack, who was still conscious, and attempting to sit up, wincing.
"Genevieve!" Spencer shouted, tumbling to his knees beside her, but keeping his distance, seeing that Derek was already tending to her. She had been shot badly in the lower hip, closer to her pelvis. Hotch was on the comms shouting furiously at the medics, updating them on the details of her injury and urging them to hurry.
"Damn it, woman, why would you do something so stupid," Derek cursed under his breath as he undid the straps of her bulletproof vest and pulled down the waistband of her jeans so that he could better see her wound. She let out a loud cry of pain at the movement, squirming furiously, her hands protectively covering her wound. He gently pushed them away. "Let's get her out of the sand," He told Spencer, his anger vanished and was replaced with determination, his only goal being to stop the bleeding until the medics got there. The young profiler nodded and slipped his hands under his sister's mid-back. Derek wrapped one of his arms around her waist so as to keep her supported, and then used the other arm to keep her legs up. They struggled to get a grip on the thrashing woman and counted to three before lifting.
She screamed at the sudden movement - the two were being as careful as they could, but lifting a muscular 5'6 woman who wouldn't keep still wasn't exactly an easy feat.
"She's losing a lot of blood," Hotch said warily, eyeing how pale the normally tan brunette's complexion was.
"There's dirt in her wound," Spencer noted, seeing the sand that caked around and in the bullet hole. The two set her down on a nearby patch of grass, where Derek unfastened his belt. He gestured for Spencer to lift up her stomach so that he could use the leather to fashion a tourniquet around her abdomen.
"Come on, Gen, stay with me, stay with me," He chanted as he tightened the belt as much as he could. She let out a low groan at the suffocating feeling of the restraint around her waist, and Spencer held her shoulders down so that she couldn't move again. Derek ripped one of the sleeves off of his shirt and used it to press against her wound. "WHERE ARE THE DAMN MEDICS?" He shouted.
"Here! They're here!" Hotch announced, waving a pair of the EMTs over to where the quartet were huddled. Genevieve's eyes were glassing over and her struggles got weaker.
"Look at her eyes! We're losing her!" Spencer cried out. The medics set the stretcher down, and asked for Derek and Spencer to back away. Spencer obliged, and it took Hotch repeating his name a couple of times before Derek looked up, and stood up, letting the two lift a now unconscious Genevieve onto the stretcher.
"I'll go in the ambulance with her," Hotch said, and sent Derek a sharp look as he opened his mouth to argue. Morgan, Reid, you meet me there. Get Emily and JJ to accompany Annike back to the precinct. Rossi will ride with Detective Gardener and the Unsub.
+++
"Ugh," Genevieve groaned. She opened her eyes, only to immediately shut them again, temporarily blinded by the fluorescent lights built into the ceiling. She tried to sit up, but a hand pressed onto her shoulder, pinning her down. She tried to slap it away, but got a gentle slap on the back of her hand in return. She cracked one eye open to find her assailant and saw Derek smiling down at her. She opened her eyes normally, and childishly stuck her tounge out at him.
"Glad to see you're back to normal," He chuckled, sitting back down in the futon beside her bed. "Garcia and Reid were taking shifts but I kicked both of them out to go get something to eat that wasn't hospital food,"
"How long-"
"You've been out of surgery a few hours. The doctor's said you were very lucky to get out of that alive. The bullet shattered your pelvis. That resulted in damage to your kidneys, and you went into shock on the table. But after twelve weeks, they said you'll be clear for active duty," He responded, putting his hand over hers.
"Oh. Um, that's good then. Twelve weeks isn't too bad," She shifted uncomfortably, feeling his palm press slightly against the cannula inserted into the back of her hand. Seeing her reaction, he looked down to see what he was doing.
"Oh shit, sorry," He apologised, recoiling.
"No, don't be," She grabbed his hand again, and intertwined their fingers instead. They smiled at each other, before they both awkwardly averted their gazes.
"Is he um... where'd he get it?" She asked, pursing her lips. She didn't know whether she'd prefer for Jack to be dead or alive. If he was dead, it was assurance that he'd never touch her, or Annike again. But if he was alive, she would get the chance to send him to prison and make sure that he stayed there for a long time.
"I got him in the shoulder. Medics managed to keep him stable, he got the slug removed and he got transferred to VPD custody a couple hours ago," Derek told her, causing her to nod. She didn't say anything in return, so the two sat in silence for a little while. "Are we going to talk about all of this?" He broke the silence, gesturing around at the hospital room.
"All of what?" She furrowed her brows, not sure as to what he was referring to.
"The fact that you're in here because of me. Because I didn't see the shot coming," He hung his head guiltily.
"Derek, no one saw the shot coming. The only reason I did is because I'm the one who taught him how to handle firearms. I saw it coming but not early enough to put a stop to it. Besides, better my pelvis than your head," She used her other hand to lift his chin up so that he could look at her. For a moment, it seemed appropriate for her to lean in and press her lips to his. And from the way that his eyes were drifting between her eyes and her lips, it seemed that he was thinking along the same lines.
But she couldn't. Even if she wasn't woozy from painkillers, she couldn't jeopardize her friendship with him. He was feeling upset and guilty about her getting shot and wasn't thinking straight. He'd probably regret it, looking back. So, she dropped her hand from his face, and slumped against her pillows. He rubbed his thumb up and down the length of hers a couple of times, before sighing.
"I should uh... probably let the others know you're awake. They're all somewhere in the hospital, most of them drifted off to get food after we got word that you were out,"
"Yeah," She said, resting the hand that he let go on her bandaged hip.
+++
"Genevieve!" Garcia practically squealed as the team save for Derek, who was probably out getting some coffee, piled into the room. The nurse that had been changing her cannula sent the band of agents a disapproving look, but didn't say anything as she walked out of the room. "Oh, you knight in shining armour, they told me what happened! I can't believe you were shot! With a gun!"
"Garcia, she's just woken up, maybe dial it down a notch or two," Emily chuckled, rubbing her blonde friend's arm. Genevieve smiled.
"No, it's good," She shook her head, beckoning for the blonde to come stand next to her. Spencer had a worried expression on his face. "Spence? What's on your mind, brainiac?"
"You know that 43 percent of law enforcement officers that are shot in the pelvis-"
"Reid," Hotch, JJ, and Rossi all groaned.
"Good to know that my getting shot hasn't changed any of you," She nodded, causing them all to roll their eyes.
"Now that we've all said hello, Genevieve, I need to talk to you," Hotch said, sending her a significant look. She winced slightly, knowing all the trouble she was about to be in. The rest of the team took the hint and all slinked out of the room.
"I know what you're going to say," She said, before he could get a word out. "It was stupid, and risky, and I ended up getting shot because of it. But you can't blame me. You know you would have done the same thing if it was Jack - your son, I mean, not uh... anyway," She clarified, frowning slightly at the end of her sentence.
"I know you know how stupid you were. And you're right, if it were me in your shoes, I'd have done the same thing. But, Detective Gardener didn't feel the same way, so he called up Strauss-"
"No," Genevieve let out a frustrated moan.
"You're suspended for two weeks, without pay,"
"What? Hotch-"
"She wanted you demoted from Supervisory Agent to Special Agent, and I managed to talk her down," He warned her, causing her eyebrows to raise in surprise. "My advice is, take the two weeks. You're out of action for one anyway, so just think of it as one more extra. You'll return to the team afterwards, riding the desk with Garcia for another couple of months, then when you get the doctor's clearance, you'll be back in the field with the rest of us,"
"This is ridiculous. Strauss just isn't in the field so she doesn't understand," She said stubbornly.
"I agree with you," He assured her. "Just take it as a blessing in disguise. Binge a TV show. Learn how to cook. I don't know, do something that normal people do. And besides, I think arrangements have been made for you to live with Garcia for the first few weeks,"
"No. No way. I don't need a babysitter-"
"Your other options are staying with Reid or Morgan. And in case you need help redressing, I think you might prefer Garcia,"
"Fine," She huffed, crossing her arms.
"And there's one more thing-"
"More? Seriously? Damn Hotch, I was just shot, can't you give me a break?" She mentally prepared herself for more bad news, but arched her eyebrow when she saw the small smile on his lips. "Why are you smiling? You never smile. This is weird for me,"
He rolled his eyes.
"You've got three more visitors. If you'll have them, of course," He said, gesturing to the door, which opened, to reveal Lincoln and Kendra. A fast asleep Annike was in her arms. The two parents had very apologetic looks on their faces. "Prentiss and JJ told them about what you did to protect Annike and Derek, so they asked if they could come and visit you,"
"Y-yeah. Of course," She managed to stumble out, and her eyes locked on Annike's sleeping figure.
"I'll give you guys a minute," Hotch said, patting her shoulder, before nodding at the two parents, and striding out, shutting the door behind them.
"We're sorry about how we treated you earlier Agent Taylor-" Lincoln began to apologise, but she cut him off.
"No, it's fine. I understand. And Genevieve works fine. I think we're a little past the point of official titles," She said, letting out a dry laugh.
"Your team told us about what happened. How you left on our own to save our baby, and how you almost died doing it," Kendra chose her words carefully, mindful of the young child whose hand she was clinging onto.
"It was nothing, really," She tried to brush it off.
"No," Lincoln disagreed, shaking his head. "It's everything. They also told us that he told her everything about you. And she's crazy about you. She wouldn't stop talking about you and how brave you were the whole ride over here from the precinct. I just- I guess what we're asking is-"
"We'd like you to be a part of Annike's life. If you're interested. If you aren't it's totally-"
Genevieve's face broke into a huge smile.
"Absolutely. No, I'd... I'd love to," She said, happy tears pooling in her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry," She apologised quickly, dabbing at her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Would you like to hold her? I would wake her but-" Kendra offered.
"She's had a long couple of days," Genevieve agreed, smiling. "But yeah, I'd really like that," She shifted to the side, giving some room for Kendra to set Annike down beside her, while Lincoln warned his wife to be careful of Genevieve's hip. Finally, she managed to set her down, the little girl's head resting on her chest.
The brunette couldn't help but break into a smile, staring down at her beautiful daughter, fast asleep beside her. Part of her ached, wondered if this was the life she could have along. But the more rational half of her shoved the other down, and instead, made her focus on the only thing that was important - the life that she had now.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
i like just realised that on my timeline, the next episode is where Garcia gets shot which is kind of badly planned on my part but it's okay because it's too late for me to rework now, so i guess it's just going to be a few chapters of bad luck for the team. i hope everyone enjoyed the almost moment between derek and gen, and i'm really excited to work in annike to the rest of the story as well. stay safe and hydrated <3