-MAD WOMAN-
five!

great deeds are often wrought
at great risks
- herodotus

now - 6x06

If Aaron Hotchner didn't make the executive decision to run into a burning building, he would've definitely been furious that Wren Spader opted to join him in entering it.

The two agents, along with Lieutenant Garner, were on their way to Jay-Mo's Diner just as Garcia informed them that a fire alert had gone off at the very establishment. Wren was already opening the car door before the vehicle had even come to a full stop and was making her way towards the building. The lieutenant said something about backup but neither Wren nor Hotch were listening as they exited the car and pulled out their guns. Hotch ran faster than she did, but only by a little so she stayed on his tail until they got to the building, where they both pushed each of the doors open.

The smoke was thick and Wren could tell that the fire had originated from the back of the building. The heat rose quickly and violently which meant it was only a matter of time before the fire hit a gas line. She could only hope they had enough time to get everyone out.

"Spader, stay close," Hotch instructed her and she nodded, even though he wasn't looking at her.

"Hello?" A man called out suddenly, surely reacting to hearing Hotch's voice. "I'm over here! Please, help!"

The pair followed the voice until they found the man it belonged to and immediately helped him to his feet. Hotch wrapped one of the man's arms around his shoulder while Wren hoisted him up by his elbow.

"Is there anyone else here?" She asked him and he shook his head as he coughed. The temperature was becoming unbearable for all of them so they made their way to the exit of the restaurant as fast as possible.

Once they were out, the next goal was to get as far as they could from the building, but it was no use. The group had only made it a few yards away before the building blew up behind them, sending each of them flying forward onto the concrete.

Wren immediately put an arm up to shield the injured man's head from being hit by any flying debris. She didn't let herself react to her own personal injuries as she waited for the explosion to settle. Once it did, she sat up and helped Hotch roll the man over so that he was laying on his back. He needed to breathe as much fresh air as possible and breathing in the tar of a paved road wasn't going to do that.

The sirens of oncoming firetrucks and EMTS became audible as Wren worked silently to make sure the man was as comfortable as he could be. She didn't pay attention to where Hotch went once the man in front of her started to cough. There wasn't much else she could do until the paramedics arrived, so she just kept her focus on keeping him alive.

As soon as the EMTs arrived, she waved them over and they took over tending to him. One of the firemen helped Wren stand and she wavered for a moment before taking a few steps away from the first responders. She looked down at her leg and saw that the fabric around it had been torn up and she could see blood dripping down her shin.

Sounds began to blur together as her ears started to ring and headlights flooded her vision. First responders seemed to move around endlessly and everything around her became hazy. A blur of a person approached Wren and the safety she felt when they grabbed onto her arms assured her she was with her team.

"Spader, hey! Wren! Can you hear me?" Emily's voice eventually rang clear in Wren's ears and she nodded her head before focusing her eyes on the woman.

"I can hear you," she replied, taking a deep breath. The raven-haired woman sighed in relief but still looked her over carefully.

"Are you okay?" Prentiss asked her as they moved slowly towards one of the SUVs.

"My leg is bleeding but I'm fine," Wren stated, which was a lie. They had a job to do and her well-being could wait until they were finished.

"Okay, it doesn't look bad but I'm going to go get someone to clean it," Emily told her, placing the semi-shaken agent next to Morgan, who put his arm around Wren to help keep her standing.

"No, I'm fine. It can wait," Wren attempted to protest but it was no use, she was already gone.

Another car approached the group and the final two members of her team exited the vehicle and made their way over to her and Morgan. Hotch reappeared in Wren's line of sight with Lieutenant Garner close behind just as the paramedics were ready to move the man into one of the ambulances. At the same time, another paramedic approached Wren and helped her sit on the ground again. She leaned on the car as they cleaned and bandaged her leg.

"The owner's car was stolen," Garner informed the group as he followed Hotch, who was following the paramedics towards the ambulance.

"I need to ask him some questions," Hotch told the paramedics, who were clearly reluctant to keep the man away from a hospital any longer.

"He's in and out of consciousness," one of them said to him as he approached one side of the gurney.

"I'm with the FBI. Can you give me a thumbs-up for yes and a thumbs-down for no?" Hotch asked the man. Wren tried to see as much as she could but from her vantage point, she couldn't tell what was happening unless it was audible.

Hotch appeared to have a quick conversation with him before sending the paramedics on their way and walking back over to his team.

"Hotch, you ran into a burning building?" Morgan asked his boss in disbelief.

"We didn't have a choice," Wren piped up from her spot on the ground, watching as the paramedic finished bandaging her wound.

"'We?'" He turned around and looked at her with wide eyes. "What were you-"

"Her name's Tracy. Kaman's trying to find her," Hotch interrupted Morgan.

"That man put his life on the line to protect her," Reid said as he helped Wren stand up. She clutched onto his forearm as she gained balance, but soon enough she felt like she had a handle on the pair and walking on it.

"So she means something to him," Prentiss added.

Hotch looked over at the burning building that was slowly burning out. "She means everything."

✦✧✦

Garcia found Tracy Anderson and her family within minutes and the team was on their way to their place of residence immediately. Wren knew they were only a few steps behind Kaman Scott, but those steps could be enough for him to kill the people in that house if he didn't find who he was looking for. After the technical analyst gave the group one last piece of important information, all of the agents focused entirely on getting to the Anderson home.

When Hotch, Garner, and Spader arrived at the home, they approached the back of the building and found a window. Inside, Kaman was standing with Tracy's adoptive parents held captive at the dining table as he spoke. Wren noticed that the parents seemed to be drenched in something she could only assume was an accelerant. Hotch told Garner to get on the radio and tell the other units to hold their positions and send in a marksman. If anyone made any sudden movement, Kaman could get spooked and set the whole place on fire, starting with the Andersons.

A member of SWAT arrived within a few moments and the entire time they were waiting, Wren's focus shifted between her own heartbeat and each movement of the man inside the house.

"Spader, you and I are going to go in and see if we can talk him down," Hotch told her and she nodded. "If we can't and he sets the house on fire, I want you to get out as fast as possible."

"But-"

"Say you'll get out," he insisted.

"I'll get out," she repeated his request as she refocused on what was happening in the house. Her boss started to move but she grabbed at his arm when she noticed another figure enter the window frame.

The pair of agents watched as Tracy approached Kaman only to be grabbed violently by him. Wren's instincts told her to go in, but she knew better. Entering the home now would get the whole family killed.

Soon enough, Kaman's grip relaxed and Tracy turned towards a voice coming from the kitchen.

"Go, go, go," Hotch instructed as he moved towards the side entrance with Wren right behind him. She pulled her gun out of its holster as they approached the home. Her hands felt clammy against the grip of her gun, but she ignored it and followed her boss closely into the house as Kaman became confused at the sight of the child clutching onto Tracy's side.

Hotch announced their presence when they were within walking distance of everyone in the room. "Kaman, drop it."

At the sound of Hotch's voice and seeing two guns pointed directly at him, Kaman knocked over the can of accelerant and lit his mini torch. "You shoot me, I drop this and they burn. Then what?"

"You move, you die," Wren replied from her spot.

"I'm already dead. I ain't got nothing else to live for," he shot back. Anger and resentment for the world around him seeped from his body and the words he said.

"Tracy, you need to tell him," Hotch said to the woman standing across from Kaman. The woman looked over at the pair of agents as she held onto her son tightly.

"Tell me what?" Kaman asked, still focused on the agents and keeping the torch lit. "What the hell's going on here?"

"He needs to know," Hotch added, never letting his focus waver from Kaman.

"Kaman," Tracy began. Her eyes didn't meet his at first. Wren could tell that this was something she hadn't quite figured out how to say out loud. "While you were in a coma, I found out I was pregnant."

The news startled him to the point that the hand with the torch lowered slightly. "No."

"I didn't know what to do. I thought you were gonna die," she continued, her voice breaking slightly. "Baby, I'm so sorry."

"You're telling me that's my son?" Kaman asked with a low voice. Tracy nodded as tears pooled in her eyes.

"Kaman, do you really want to do this in front of your son?" Wren inquired of the man.

"Put it down," Hotch repeated his request from before. Both of the agents' tones had changed since the news was finally released. 

"Baby, if you don't do it for me, do it for him," Tracy pleaded with her ex.

"Don't you want to know his name?" The unit chief prompted, causing Kaman to glance over at the agents once more. After looking down at the ground for a brief moment, he released his grip on the trigger of the torch and let the flame go out. Lowering the device to his side, he kneeled to be at the boy's eye level. Both Hotch and Wren trailed his movement with their guns.

"What's your name?" Kaman asked his son.

"Daniel Kaman Anderson," the boy said, the pitch of his voice a relieving shift within the environment around him. Daniel then reached up and placed a hand on the side of his father's face that had been altered due to the burn marks. A wave of peace flowed over the room and Wren placed her gun in her holster as Kaman placed the torch on the ground.

Hotch placed the man in handcuffs as Wren helped release the two parents at the table from their restraints. She nodded out the window to Lieutenant Garner and the marksman, who got on the radio and lowered his weapon respectively. Within moments, the rest of the BAU arrived along with any other units that were on their way to the home. Wren got Tracy, Daniel, and his grandparents out of the home before Hotch allowed an officer to take Kaman away.

✧✦✧

"Oh, buddy, I don't know how to tie a tie!" Wren revealed to the five-year-old in front of her, tilting her head down in shame. "I know eleven languages but I can't tie a tie."

"It's okay, Auntie Wren," the boy reassured her. "I can do it!"

"You can?" She asked as she watched him turn around to face the mirror he had in his room.

"Yep!" His optimism was inspiring to the agent and she watched as he very carefully tied the tie around his neck like it was a knot. When he was done, he turned to show her his work with a proud smile. Sure, it was tied in a knot and one end was sticking straight out to the side, but he still did his best and that's all Wren could have asked of him.

"Good job! Your dad is going to love it," Wren told him as her phone buzzed in her pocket. After checking to see a text from Raven, she clapped her hands together. "Okay, I need to go, but I will see you in a little while, okay?"

"Are you bringing Oakley?" He asked her as she put her jacket on.

"Yes, sir! I'm going to pick her up now and then I will see you, your dad, and a few of the others where we are going trick-or-treating!"

"Okay! See you soon," Jack replied as she dashed out of his bedroom and into the hallway.

Hotch looked over at her rushed state with furrowed eyebrows. "Is he almost ready?"

"Should be any moment now," Wren informed her boss, pulling her car keys out of their pocket in her coat. "I need to go pick up my niece but I'll meet you all there."

"Sounds good." He nodded. "Thank you for helping him put his costume together. He wouldn't tell me what he wanted to be and your name was the first he said when I asked who we should get to help."

"Happy to be of service," she chuckled, moving through the apartment.

"I also never asked if you were okay after the case," he brought up and she stopped for a moment, her smile faltering a bit. "You did something very risky while we were in Detroit."

"If you're talking about running into a burning building, I'm putting all the blame on you for that one," she argued, pointing a finger at him. He smiled slightly at her argument. "Besides, I'm fine. A cut on my shin and nothing else."

Hotch nodded and a beat of silence passed between the two agents before Wren spoke again. "It's a great costume. I wish I could stay and record your reaction, but the duties of an aunt are calling me elsewhere."

She opened the door as they bid each other a brief goodbye before Wren was rushing out of the building to pick up her niece before her sister had to leave for work.