CHAPTER EIGHT: ASSASSINATION NATION !

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CASEY WILLOWS WAS KNEE DEEP IN PAPERS AT THE MOMENT. She had currently been studying for her evaluation testing and she had been working her butt off for the past two weeks. Casey was at her desk, looking down at her paperwork and not daring to look up at the chatting co-workers near the desk.

Paperwork was a bitch, especially for testing and things you had to study for. To Casey, it was like high school all over again.

Morgan, Garcia, Prentiss and Reid were all chatting their heads, talking about Garcia's supposed relationship with Kevin and as much as Casey wanted to chat with them — she had to keep studying. That's what she pretty much did in high school, it wasn't any different.

Eventually, Morgan and the rest of the team noticed the distressed yet focused look on Casey's face and wondering why she wasn't over there, joining them in the conversation.

"Casey?" Morgan called but Casey did not look up from her work. "Casey." The girl still didn't look up and this time, she heard Morgan calling her but she didn't look up. "Earth to Willows." Morgan told, standing up.

"Can't look up, I got evaluations I gotta study for." Casey spoke, keeping her eyes on her papers.

Morgan chuckled, walking towards her and the team followed him. "Oh, don't you remember the FBI testing?" He asked, looking towards Emily, who had a smirk on her face. "The whole system is rigged, you know." She told.

"I'd like for Garcia to rig it for me." Casey told and Garcia chuckled beside Morgan. "I could," She said. "But I can't, you gotta earn it fair and square like the rest of us."

Casey yawned, covering her mouth and just wanting to rest for a minute or two. Reid couldn't help but notice the bags under her eyes, he was familiar with those since he had bags under his eyes most of the time. Which is why he had about seven sugars in his coffee this morning. He barely slept the previous night.
"You okay?" He asked her.

Casey shook her head and rested her head in her hands. "I've been eating, sleeping and breathing papers for the past week," She sighed. "No, I am not okay."

Morgan laughed again, remembering the stress he had to endure when taking his tests. "You're gonna do great." He assured to her. "What have you mastered at so far?" Reid asked, looking over Casey's shoulder.

Casey moved back a bit to show Reid what she was working on. "The mental stuff, I think I can take. My gun evaluation is soon and then there's the brainy stuff which I know I'm gonna be stumped at so I've been working my butt off on it." She explained.

     "Didn't you have a 4.6667 GPA in high school?" Garcia questioned, causing Casey to look at her. "How'd you know that?" Morgan and Emily chuckle, shrugging at Garcia, answering Casey's question for her. "Never mind."

      "The only reason I had that immaculate GPA, might I add, was because I studied a lot in high school. I had a lot of easy classes but FBI testing and high school testing are completely different." Casey told.

  "Guys, we have another case." The team looked up and saw as Hotch and Rossi were headed towards the round table room and they looked at the room and saw that JJ was already preparing the screen.

   Everyone looked at Casey, knowing she was going to be having some time away from studying... again. "And I guess it'll just have to wait." She said, standing up and the team headed towards the round table room and took their regular spots.

   JJ started to brief the group about a massacre that occurred down in Austin, Texas. "There was a massive shootout." She clicked the button on her remote and security footage was shown of random citizens getting shot and many others running and others screaming in terror.

  "Eight people were shot. Five are injured, three are dead. They caught security camera footage of the shooting." JJ explained.
  "Looks like the bullets are coming from above them, not directly. You can't see the shooters from the footage." Rossi stated. "Maybe our unsub was in a building." Emily assumes.

   "The angle that shows where the bullets are coming from, that's definitely coming from someone in a building — which means, they probably plotted this out." Morgan stated.

   "You know what this oddly resembles?" Casey spoke up. "The John F. Kennedy assassination," Reid said, reading Casey's mind. "Which also took place in Texas."

   Hotch stood, tight-lipped and arms crossed. "The PD in Austin agrees. They think we should check it out and I think we should, as well. The locals are taking precautions. This has been the second accident in Texas and the detective wants us there now. Wheels up in 30." He ordered.

    The jet ride wasn't long and it had definitely given Casey time to study a bit even if she couldn't during a case. When they had reached the Austin PD, there were people rioting at the station, TV vans piled down the streets and newscasters only receiving words from the FBI, which were: 'No comment'. There had been officers blocking the riots from coming through the doors, guarding locals from doing something stupid.

The team entered the building and Casey looked outside and even wondered how many people were outside, lining up. The fear definitely struck them.

"There is a serious riot out there." Emily stated. A man approaches the team. "Everyone's wondering if they're safe or not and they're piling. We had to take action." He holds his hand out towards Hotch, since he was standing in front of everyone.

"Detective Moore." He introduced himself and Hotch shook his hand in return. "Agent Hotchner, we spoke on the phone." Hotch glances at his team. "These are agents Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi, Jareau, Dr. Reid and our intern, Miss Willows." Casey nods her head and subtly waved towards the man.

"Pleasure to meet you all," Detective Moore shakes Morgan's hand and then Rossi's lastly. "I'd like to thank you for coming down here to help us out. We appreciate it. Right this way. We've got a room set up like you asked. The locals are terrified." The man had led the team down into a separate room right across from where they were standing.

   "Well, of course they would be," Reid started. "Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power struggles, as well as the expression of certain psychopathic disorders. If someone were to attack right now, it would only give them more power and frankly, everyone's lives would be in danger." He explained. "Explains the rioting." Emily told.

  "They don't want another JFK assassination. They're scared. And this guy is really pushing the limit." Detective Moore stated.

   "What buildings are surrounded downtown around that area?" Morgan asked as the video footage had come up on a laptop in the room they were currently in. "There's the Auction's office, the parking lot for it. Then there's the senator's office building and the court building. Also the local apartment complex." Detective Moore explained.

    Morgan looked at the footage and Rossi looked at the detective. "You said there was a parking lot?" He asked. "Yeah." Detective Moore nodded. "Could've been where they were shooting from. I'd like to check it out." Morgan volunteered. "I'd like to join you." Rossi nodded. "I'll be coming with, too." Emily added on.

   "Settles it then, Morgan, Prentiss, Dave, check out the crime scene, JJ and I will talk to the survivors. Reid, Casey, I'd like you to stay here and work on the geographical profile — see if you can figure out where he was shooting from. I don't want anything going out about this unsub — this could give him more power to kill and we aren't giving him that." Hotch explained sternly to the team.

   So, the group went their separate ways and Reid and Casey stayed at the PD and Reid had being doing most of the work on the geographical profile and Casey had been seated down and working on the profile — but she was also working on her testing.

   Casey was a determined person and she wasn't gonna stop studying until the first test were to be released to her. Reid began to speak and jotting down possible places where the unsub could be living near the crime scene.

  "He could live near the apartment complex that the detective told us about," Reid stated. "Wouldn't someone see him shooting out of a window, though?" Casey asked.
   "Complex roofs may be the answer. By definition, they're more than standard gable roofs, but that makes a building more interesting and possibly worth more than other buildings with less complex roofs... a specially built complex roof can be made to be more resistant to the elements specific to the area in which it is built—" Reid stopped himself. "Sorry, I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

   "No, I don't mind." Casey didn't look up from the desk. "Well, of course, you don't," Reid turned around to face the girl. "You're not even paying attention to what I'm saying."

   "Huh?" Casey looked up and her eyes connected to Reid and she exhaled and shook her head. "Sorry, I, uh, I've been really focused on this evaluation thing. I just don't wanna fail." She stated.

   "You're not going to," Reid assured, leaning towards the desk Casey was sitting at. "You're sure of that. You had nothing to worry about with your evaluation. You probably passed with flying colors." Casey told.

    Reid shrugged, "Well, it was fairly easy, for me, at least. But I have an eidetic memory so I probably would've passed either way. But with my gun evaluation... that's something I'm still not very good at."

   "You're an FBI agent, you can't even shoot a gun?" Casey smirked at the man. "Have you shot a gun before?" Reid crossed his arms. "Well, not at a person — but I know that that's the one test I'll be passing."

   Reid looked at the girl and saw that she was doubting herself. "You're smart, too, y'know. I mean, you're related to Gideon and he's one of the greatest minds I know." He told.

   Casey chuckled and shrugged, "Believe me, my brain is not as big as his."

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A day had passed and another accident had occurred, this time, the victims being four people — a man, two women and a nine-year old at a local store. They had been watching the footage and no one could bring themselves to watch. JJ had to step out of the room and Casey had followed to make sure she was okay and the rest followed behind her.

JJ had watched as Casey had been helping her out and wondered how she did it. "Casey?" She asked.
"Yeah?" Casey looked at JJ. "How come none of this gets to you?" She questioned.

Casey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"You came off of college," JJ started. "You enrolled at the academy, you're still doing your training and yet, you're in the field surrounded by mutilated bodies, and... you don't even flinch."

"She's right," Hotch walked up behind, listening into the conversation. "You've never blinked."

Casey had wondered the same thoughts. How was she able to handle any of this? She was only twenty — almost twenty-one, dealing with bodies and murder and cases and studying her ass off for it.

The girl couldn't find any words. "I... guess... I don't know, maybe because I always wanted this job and I knew what I was getting myself into and I don't know, maybe I compartmentalize better than most people." She explained.

She began to think about her words. Of course, she had wanted this job since she was eight. Casey knew what she getting herself into. She made that decision. She wanted this job, there was no other job she would've wanted.

The conversation had ended and Hotch had decided to go and talk to other survivors down at the hospital and helped them recollect their thoughts and got more information. "One of our survivors said they noticed a figure near the apartment complex when the shooting started. And a rifle scope was seen." He explained when he had gotten back with JJ and Emily.

Casey looked towards Reid and nodded. "Reid, you were right. He figured out that our unsub either lived near or in the apartment complex."

Morgan had walked in the room and held his phone up. "Babygirl, you're on-speaker." He said.

"Okay, so I did some research on our unsub and I'm still coming up blank. I need some help with finding the perp." Garcia explained. They had given the profile yesterday but it still hadn't been enough to go on.

"Okay, we believe he's a male in his late forties, early fifties. He works alone, meaning he's a very secluded and isolated person." Emily began to help Garcia out.
"There's no doubt in my mind that people have seen this guy out in the open but thought nothing of him." Rossi continued.
"He's willing to hurt anyone, so he may be diagnosed as a dysfunctional sociopath," Morgan told. "He's smart, he may have a degree and he may have graduated with a 3.0 GPA or higher and thinks he is in the upper classmen and is angry with his life choices in the present." Reid explained.

"That's why he's taking it out on others." Hotch commented.

"He may also work in the apartment complex —" Casey continued. "Such as a janitor, a handyman, he's very hard working and his employees would be terrified of him."

There had been some clacking heard on Garcia's keyboard. "I've narrowed it down to one employee that works at the complex and that name is Dan Rockfell. He lives in Apartment 3A. And his life is filled with all kinds of sorrow. His wife left him two years ago, took their nine-year old with him."

"Anything about the wife, Garcia?" Reid asked.

"Let's see," Garcia began. "Wife's name is Caroline Edmonds and she recently just announced that she is now engaged to Andrew Lloyd and that post dates back to... five weeks ago."

"Around the same time as the first accident," Casey comments. "There's your stressor." Rossi stated.

"And bingo, Rockfell has a license registered for an M16 rifle." Penelope stated and Morgan looked at Hotch. "The bullet we found was from an M16 rifle. Thank you, Babygirl." Morgan hangs up on the phone.

"Seriously, we always get everything done with her." Casey commented.

"Okay, Dave, Prentiss and I will check out the apartment, I don't think he'll be there but we'll still need to check it out, stay here in case you hear anything." He looked at Morgan, JJ, Reid and Casey — who stayed behind.

    Casey had checked outside and saw that the riots were still occurring and Morgan stood next to her, watching the rioters with her. "I'm surprised this riot hasn't gotten any worse." He commented beside her.

  "You should see the line down at the local pharmacy, just as worse as this." Casey stated, walking away from the window.

  "Based on the witnesses just being here, something could happen and a riot starts with things going out of stock with one stupid mistake that someone could make," Reid stated. "It's just like John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated." Reid had continued as he followed Casey out of the room, since she seemed to be the only that didn't mind his rambling.

  "If he had had more protection, Lee Harvey Oswald wouldn't have killed him that day and the future changing due to a simple mistake, everything we know can be wiped out, just like that." He snapped his fingers and as he did, a gunshot had blared that the whole state could probably hear it.

   Casey gasped and stopped in her tracks and Reid looked at the girl in confusion. "Casey." He said.

   Both him and Casey looked down and saw Casey's stomach was covered in blood and they had both figured that the gunshot — the bullet — had gone right through Casey's body and blood was seeping through her shirt and on her hands.

   In the shock that she just got shot in the stomach, Casey fell forwards and Reid caught her immediately and called for Morgan and JJ, who had rushed to them and noticed the blood smearing through her shirt and that had now stained Reid's button-up shirt.

   "Oh, my God!" JJ watched as Morgan carefully placed Casey on the ground. Reid turned around and watched as the rioters were running away from the building in fear, some already being dead and some hiding. They looked up and wondered if the shooter — who was possibly Dan Rockfell — had been responsible for shooting Casey and everyone else outside.

   Everyone else had been panicking in the building, staying close to corners.

   Morgan placed Casey flat on her back and she looked down at her wound, her hands covered in her own blood and she whimpered in pain. Morgan looked around for something to stabilize her wound, using his hands to keep pressure.

    Reid was quick and rushed into the room and grabbed his gray cardigan he was wearing earlier and placed it on Casey's stomach and Morgan applied the pressure to her stomach.

   "Ace, stay with me, okay? Stay with me." Morgan told the girl and looked at the detective, who was currently under a desk with other officers and to make sure that he wouldn't get shot next. Morgan looked at Reid. "Kid, I need you to keep pressure on her gunshot, okay?"

    Reid had been shocked at the fact that Casey had just gotten shot in front of him. "Kid!" Morgan called, a bit more sternly this time and Reid came back down to Earth. "Sorry. S-Sorry, I'm sorry."

    He placed his hands towards Casey's stomach and keeps pressure on it with Morgan. Morgan tells JJ to call 911 and Hotch to tell him what had happened.

    Morgan looked towards the sheriff of the station as he was on the phone, telling everyone to lock down but Morgan couldn't let that happen. Otherwise, Casey would die if she wasn't gonna get the medical treatment she needed.

   "What are you doing?" He questioned.

   "Locking down the station!" The sheriff told.

   "You can't do that!" Morgan told. "One of our own is hurt!"

    "Exactly," the sheriff continued. "And someone else will get hurt if I don't do this!"

    Morgan looked towards Reid. "Kid, keep her stable." He stood up and rushed towards the sheriff and JJ kneeled next to Casey, grabbing her hand.
"Casey, just look at me, okay?" JJ tells the girl. "Squeeze my hand." She nods.

"I-I-I feel—I feel... I feel cold." Casey stammered.

"I know, I know," JJ told. "But the ambulance... the ambulance is on its' way." She assured. JJ actually wasn't sure, if the sheriff was planning on shutting the station down, there was no way the ambulance was gonna make it through.

Morgan looked at the sheriff, continuing the conversation with him. "With all due respect, one of us is down and she needs medical help. We need to send somebody that knows what the hell they're doing. She'll die if she doesn't get the treatment she needs. We need to get her to a hospital."

The sheriff paused and looked towards Casey, Reid and JJ. And both Reid and JJ were hoping for a positive response as they kneeled beside Casey, praying that she would be okay.

"Only three of you." The sheriff ordered.

Morgan nodded and looked at Reid. "Kid." He rushed towards the three. Reid was unsure and shook his head. "I don't- I don't know if I can." He said.

"Kid, please." Morgan pleaded with him. "Casey's life depends on it." Reid looked down at Casey, who was still struggling. "She'd do the same thing for you."

When Morgan said those words, Reid knew he had to give in. Casey would've done the same thing for him or for anyone on the team. He exhales, "Okay."

Morgan looked over. "JJ, you let Hotch, Emily and Rossi know what happened. I will fill you in with what happens to her. I promise." JJ nodded and looked at Casey, hesitantly letting go of her hands.

His eyes thwarted over to Casey and Morgan spoke softly over to her. "Okay, Casey, I'm gonna get you up, but I need you to work with me, okay?"

Casey nodded at his words.

"Okay," Morgan looked at Reid and Casey. "On three. One, two... three." Casey winced as Morgan and Reid helped her to her feet.

Casey's stomach burned in response to being shot and her body felt warm yet cold at the same time. Her vision blurred a bit by tears from the pain. She blinked and she had been in a parking lot with Morgan and Reid helping her to an SUV.

Morgan was behind the wheel and Reid was in the backseat next to her, keeping pressure to her wound. Casey rested her eyes for a moment and Morgan called, "Casey, don't close your eyes." He demanded.

"Casey," Reid began. "Keep your eyes on me, okay?" Casey's eyes fluttered and she struggled to keep herself awake. "We're almost there! You just need to hold on a little while longer." Morgan told the girl.

    As the two had been taking Casey to the hospital, Emily, Rossi and Hotch had been looking through Dan Rockfell's empty apartment and Hotch's cell phone began to ring and he immediately picked it up when he saw that it was JJ who was calling him.

   "Hotch." He said and JJ began to explain to him that Casey had just got shot. Hotch's heart dropped down to his stomach. "What?" He questioned. A million thoughts ran through his head. Was Casey okay? How did this happen? She was supposed to be safe at the station. "At the station? Alright."

   Rossi was the first to notice the distress in Hotch's face. "What's up?" He asked.

   Hotch had stared down at the ground with his phone in hands, fiddling with his phone. "That was JJ," He started. "Casey was just shot at the station." Even saying it out loud didn't feel real. His distress matched Emily's and Rossi's faces next as soon as the news flew through their ears.

   "What?" Emily questioned, her eyes widen in fear. "Is she okay?" Rossi asked next.

   "She-She was shot in the abdomen," Hotch told and kept himself together but internally, he feared for Casey. "Morgan and Reid are taking her to the hospital now. But the point is: she was shot by our unsub and he's not here." Hotch explained.

   "Which means he's somewhere near the station if Casey got shot there." Emily figured out, reading Hotch's mind. "We have to get there. Now." With that, the three headed out.

    Morgan, Reid and Casey arrived at the hospital in time and three doctors began to wheel her in the hospital, trying to get her to keep breathing because she was now unconscious. "Twenty-year old female, gunshot wound near the abdomen. Heart rate's over 100. Patient is going to need surgery." Reid and Morgan overhear a doctor say and they stay back as the doctor's wheel Casey away.

    Back at the station, Penelope had been calling the team like crazy and JJ had answered immediately as she finally saw Garcia call. She had been closing all of the blinds to make sure no shooter would see anyone else or her so they wouldn't end up like Casey.

    "Hello?" JJ spoke. "Hello? That's all you have to say? No one's answering! What's going on?!" Penelope questioned frantically. "Penelope... I'm sorry, it's just... the shooter was near the station and Casey was shot and—"

    "Casey was shot?" Penelope's voice quivered and she sounded like she was in disbelief. As if she didn't believe that young Casey had just gotten shot. "Is-Is-Is she... she okay?" Penelope stuttered and by the cluttering, JJ knew she was packing up. "I don't know, Morgan and Reid took her to the hospital. They'll let me know what's going on as soon as—"

     "I'm getting to the hospital now. I don't care what anyone says and I don't care if it's dangerous to go to Texas right now with a shooter going around. Casey needs me right now and I'm sending an entire army there now. You do not have time to argue. You'll just get nowhere with it. I love you, stay safe, JJ."

     "See you soon, Garcia."

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       Morgan and Reid had sat in the waiting room in silence, both waiting anxiously for a doctor to come out and tell them that Casey was alright. Morgan had sat beside a distressed Reid, his foot tapping on the ground and he stared straight at the ground in front of him. Morgan had taken notice that both him and Reid were covered in Casey's blood.

He had worn a black shirt and only his hands were stained with red so Morgan had figured that he would be alright. But Reid had been covered in her blood. His button-up shirt was dyed with red liquid and his sleeves were rolled up, showing that his arms and hands were stained like Morgan's. He honestly looked like he had just murdered Casey.

Morgan leaned forwards towards Reid. "Kid, you gotta go clean yourself up." He told. Reid shook his head, avoiding to look Morgan in the eyes and he looked down at his hands, resting on his thighs.

"It should've been me..." Reid mumbled loud enough for Morgan to hear.

"I know, kid, I wish it was me, too." Morgan sighs.

Reid shook his head and took a deep breath as he was trying to hold back tears. "I was... I was standing in front of her. If I had just traded places with her, it would've been me who got shot and not her." He could've easily prevented this. Reid should've been the one that was shot. He blamed himself for her being shot.

"Don't blame yourself for this," Morgan said, putting a hand on Reid's back. She's gonna be fine. We got her here in time." Reid sniffled and Morgan's phone began to ring and he removed the hand from Reid's back and answered his phone.

"Morgan," He began and talking was heard over the phone. "Alright." He hung up and looked over at Reid. "They need me to help them." Hotch had been on the other line of the phone and Hotch had called him to ask to corner Dan Rockfell since he was not near the station anymore and of course, Morgan obliged, wanting to get the son of a bitch and kill him with his bare hands.

"You gonna be fine here?" Morgan asked as he stood up and Reid looked at him and nodded, "Yeah, I wanna be here when she wakes up." He stated.

"Okay," Morgan looked at Reid. "The second you hear anything..."

"I know." Reid stated.

Morgan was gone and Reid was left in the waiting room, alone. He looked down at the blood on his hands. Even if Morgan told him not to blame himself, he couldn't help but do so. Casey didn't deserve what happened to her. If Reid could go back in time, he'd tell her to get out the way and would've taken her place in a heartbeat.

Reid waited for at least an hour or two and he looked up once he heard heels clacking on the ground and furrowed his brows as he saw Garcia walking around and then she spotted him.

"Garcia?" Reid asked, standing up suddenly and Garcia rushed over to him and the first thing she did was hug him. "JJ told me and I had to get here in a second flat. How is she? Is she okay?" She asked.

"Nothing yet." Reid answered. "Oh, my poor fair maiden." Garcia looked ahead at the door to the surgery room. Her eyes thwarted over to Reid. "No offense, Boy Genius, but, you don't look good." She noticed the blood on his hands. "Is that her—"

Reid didn't answer, instead he stayed quiet. Garcia looked at him and shook her head. "You need to go get yourself cleaned up." She told.

"No, I'm not gonna—" Reid refused to go and wash his hands. He didn't want to miss any doctor coming his way.
"Go," Garcia insisted. "I'll be here in case a doctor comes." She told and Reid looked at her. "Go." She repeated.

Hesitantly, Reid went to the bathroom and washed the blood off of his hands. He knew that Garcia would tell him anything if a doctor had come through.

Reid had gone back to Garcia and she told him that no one had come by yet but a surgeon doctor started walking towards them with a board in his hands. "Cassandra Willows?" He asked and Garcia stood up next to Reid and nodded.

"Is she okay?" Reid asked.

"There was a tremendous amount of bleeding but fortunately, we were able to stop it. So, she is okay."

Both Garcia and Reid sighed in relief that she was okay. "Can we see her?" Garcia asks the doctor.

"She's asleep right now, but you can wait for her to wake up." The doctor nodded. "Okay." Both Reid and Garcia whipped their phones out and Garcia called JJ and Reid texted Morgan.

Once everyone had received the news about Casey being alright, weights had been lifted off of their shoulders in relief. To everyone, Casey was still a kid in their eyes. She wasn't even out on the field yet and she was hurt. To hear that she was okay was great.

Their plan to catch Dan Rockfell worked well. They had struggled for a bit since he was on top with his plan but they had caught up to them and had got him down. Well, Morgan had, by chasing him down and throwing punches at his face when he lunged at him.

Hotch and Emily had to physically pull him off of Dan Rockfell and Rossi had the opportunity of arresting him and throwing him in the back of a police car.

After that, the group had headed down to the hospital and waited in Casey's room for her to wake up. Well, most of them since it was too big of a crowd to fill up the room.

Reid and Garcia had decided to stay with her since the two refused to leave the room until she woke up. JJ, Morgan and Rossi had added themselves into the room because they didn't want to leave Casey, either.

And the next morning, Casey had waken up.

She took in her surroundings and realized she had been in a hospital. To her left, JJ and Garcia had been asleep — Garcia using JJ's shoulder as a pillow. Morgan had been right next to them, asleep as well, resting his head on the wall behind him.
To her right, Reid had been asleep, his hair fallen over his face and a blanket had been placed over his body and he didn't look comfortable in the chair he was sleeping in. Rossi had been right next to him, looking down at his cell phone but he hadn't noticed that Casey was up.

Once she turned around, though, Rossi looked up. "Well, look who's up." Rossi said and everyone had stirred awake from their slumber. "Casey." Garcia and JJ were the first to take stand as Reid had sat up and Morgan did, as well.

"I'll go get a doctor." Rossi said, standing up. Casey lifted herself up a bit and the pain was excruciating. "Don't try to sit up." JJ advised and Casey exhales. "What happened?" She asked.

"You got shot." Morgan told.

The memories came flooding back to Casey as she looked down at her bandaged stomach under her hospital gown and blanket. "Oh, that, I remember." She stated and then looked over at the four in her room and one surprise guest shocked her. "Garcia, when did you get here?" Casey questioned.

"Just yesterday, but don't worry about that. How are you feeling?" She asked. Casey looked at herself in the hospital bed and Garcia standing up before her. "Like the tables have turned." Casey stated. "Might be my karma for putting you in a hospital bed just months ago."

A doctor had walked in, following Rossi, Emily and Hotch. "Well, look who's awake." The doctor commented. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"She's up and already makin' jokes, Doc." Morgan told. "I'm okay... just really have a craving for Jell-O, right now." Casey stated and everyone in the room smirked at her words.

"You really scared us." Emily said. "I know, I scared myself, too." Casey told, needing to sit up but knowing she really couldn't. "We're just glad that you're okay." Hotch said and Casey nodded.

"I'm sorry if I worried everyone." Casey said. "You don't need to apologize for anything." JJ said. "Everything looks normal, you should be able to get back home in two days. We'll keep you overnight just to be safe." The doctor explained and walked out of the room after Casey nodded at him in understanding.

Everyone took a look over at Reid and noticed that he was looking at the ground and wasn't saying a word. JJ was the first to speak up. "We'll go get you that Jell-O." She motioned to everyone to go with. "I'll, uh, go and get your clothes for you." Garcia said, grabbing her hand in reassurance before leaving. "I'll glad you're okay." She kissed her head and left the room.

"I could use some breakfast, you guys?" Morgan asked and Hotch, Rossi and Emily nodded in agreement. "We'll be back." Emily told in reassurance.

Everyone had cleared out of the room, leaving only Casey and Reid in the room. Casey looked his way and Reid was avoiding her gaze. "Hey," Casey spoke up. "Are you okay?"

"I-I... really shouldn't be the one receiving that question." Reid said and there was a brief pause. "I'm sorry." Tears welled up in Reid's eyes and he apologized. "I should've been the one that was shot. I'm so sorry." He said.

Casey shook her head at him. "This wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known." The girl had taken a second and remembered a couple of words her uncle had told her when she was eleven. "Gideon always used to say that things happened for a reason. Who knows? Maybe this did. But I'm okay. And I'm alive. I'm breathing. And there's always tomorrow."

Reid nodded at the girl. Hearing her tell him that it wasn't his fault felt relieving to him. Like a weight had been knocked off his chest. He stood up. "I should, uh, I should go." Casey reached and grabbed onto his wrist. "No," She spoke and Reid looked back at her with his bagged eyes looking down at her. "I want you to stay..." She realized that she didn't want to make him uncomfortable and immediately removed her hand from his wrist.

"If you... if you want to."

Reid looked at the ground and stuttered, "Uh, yeah, yeah, sure, I'll-I'll, uh, stay."

hey, lovelies!
so suspenseful and crazy and angsty and for what lmaoooo
ik it's too early to put casey through something traumatic but that's what makes a good book amirite? 🤠
also
the casey and reid moments in this chapter,,, always making my heart melt and for what 🥰 now mind you, this is a slowburn so nothing major will be happening yet!!!
thank you for reading and i love you all!! thank you so much for this support and this was honestly crappy and not one of my best butttt oh well ig lmaooo
next episode is — in heat
thank you!!!
(also happy mother's day to everyone!!)
-mya <3