A Particular Needle

"Clarity?" I exclaimed as I jumped up from my chair. I grabbed JJ by the shoulders. "Please tell me you found Clarity!"

"We did," she told me, "But she's in critical condition. She's in the hospital right now."

I hugged JJ. I didn't care if I didn't know her, I was immensely happy.

"Venus, can you give JJ and I a moment?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said before I left.

From outside Hotch's office, I could see Spencer, Morgan and Prentiss drinking coffee in the hall.

"Hey Spence...Morgan...Prentiss."

"Did you hear? We found your friend," Morgan told me.

"Yeah I heard. How did you guys do it?" I asked.

"The tip line we set up really helped. Someone told us they saw your friend on the news and remembered seeing her last night. It was all history from there," Prentiss answered.

"Aw man, that's so great. I'm so glad she's safe."

"Me too," Spencer added.

"I should probably get out of here and figure out where the hospital is," I told them.

Morgan subtly nudged Spencer.

"Oh! Um, I could drive you there," Spencer offered. "If-if you need a drive, or I could tell you where it is if you want to go alone, or--"

Morgan put one hand over his face and shook his head.

I laughed, "It'd be great if you could drive me."

*****

"You know, Jenna and Taylor will be at the hospital," Spencer told me. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I can face them now Clarity's safe."

Spencer pulled into the hospital parking lot, put the car in park, and froze. I grabbed the door handle but rested my hand there.

"Venus," Spencer sighed. "She's in a bad condition. She's been stabbed in the stomach multiple times."

I covered my open mouth with both of my hands. I few tears rolled down my face. I rested my forehead on my knees to cover my face from Spencer. He didn't say anything else. Instead he slowly rubbed my back in attempt to comfort me. He opened the glove-department with his other hand and took out a package of tissues. I lifted my head up and looked at him. I reached for the tissue he was holding out to me, but my hand was shaky. He noticed this and dried my face himself.

"Thanks," I said as I smiled through my tears.

We got out of the car once I put myself together and went inside the hospital. Amongst the many people there, I saw Jenna and Taylor. Jenna was sitting down close to the desk, biting at her nails. Taylor was pacing a small section of the open room. It looked like she was talking to herself.

"Taylor! Jenna!" I cried as I ran over to them.

I wrapped my arms around Taylor before she could even realize I was there. Jenna got up from her chair and I hugged her next. Spencer was behind me, not too close but not too far. He didn't want to get into our little reunion.

"Are you okay?" Jenna asked, "Nothing happened to you, right?"

"Jen, I'm fine," I assured her. "How are you guys?"

"We're good," Taylor said. She noticed Spencer. "Who's this?"

I turned around and looked at him. He took it as a hint to step forward.

"This is Spencer," I told them. "He's from the FBI...part of the Behavioral Analysis Unit."

Taylor's eyes lit up like a child at Christmas. "Oh. My. God. Are you for real right now?! I've been wanting to ask someone from the BAU tons of questions!"

"Maybe later, let's see Clarity," I insisted.

Jenna shook her head. "She's in surgery right now. We're going to have to wait a few hours, since she's going to be knocked out after too."

"Right..." I nodded as well.

"Well since we'll be waiting for awhile, do you think I could possibly ask you a few questions?" Taylor asked Spencer charmingly.

"Uh yeah, sure," he agreed.

They sat down where Jenna had been sitting. Spencer looked at me. I would have rather been with him right now. Jenna asked if I wanted to get a coffee. I had enough coffee in the police station, but I went with her anyway. We walked around, looking for the coffee machine the lady behind the counter said they had. It was far from the lobby area.

"So," Jenna began. She grabbed a cup from the stack. "Spencer's cute, isn't he?"

She didn't look at me when she spoke.

"Yeah, I guess." I brushed it off like I wasn't really interested in him.

"What happened last night?" Jenna snapped a lid on her cup and then made eye contact with me, "When you stayed in his hotel room."

"Jenna! Nothing! I'm with Blake, jeez. What do you take me for?"

I had forgotten Blake existed until now. I should have remembered with the twenty-seven texts and eleven missed phone calls I've received since I got to Mexico. I didn't like Blake as much as I let everyone believe. I was just too scared to leave.

"I'm just saying!" Jenna defended herself. "Spencer is cute and he obviously has a soft spot for you...and you know, Blake hasn't really been in the picture lately."

"I just don't know, okay?" I secretly begged her to drop the topic.

"Let's go back to see Taylor," Jenna suggested. She gave me a smile as if to say 'no hard feelings'.

Taylor was all over Spencer. She was writing down a billion things. I noticed he has a tendency, when asked a question, to go further into it than he needs to. Taylor loved his long explanations and random stats though. Other people, I noticed, found it bothering. I liked it, because I liked his voice.

I sat in the chair beside Spencer and Jenna sat in the one beside Taylor. He immediately turned to me.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey Spence," I giggled and nudged him. "Having fun talking to Taylor?"

Taylor was talking to Jenna about what Spencer had just told her and how excited she is to actually become an FBI Agent.

"Yeah, she's great," Spencer laughed. "She knows a lot about what we do."

"Never underestimate Taylor," I told him. "We're probably going to be here for a few hours, you don't have to wait. I know you should get back to work."

"We're done the case. We've got the killer in custody and we're leaving tomorrow morning. There isn't much else for me to do, and I'd rather be here."

"Yeah?" I smiled to myself and rested my head on his shoulder.

He seemed to relax a little. His breathing was slow and easy as if he was trying to keep himself calm.

A few hours passed and I took on different stances in the awkward hospital chair. Sometimes I was leaning on Spencer, sometimes I was using my hands to keep my head up. Taylor started a conversation with Spencer about some of the cases they went through. It was amazing how interested she was.

Jenna seemed to be content just sitting normally in the chair, back straight, hands in lap, silent. She didn't move the entire time. Her eyes were set on the hallway ahead where Clarity would be.

A doctor walked down the hallway and stood in the middle of the lobby. "Clarity Miller?"

Jenna got up from her chair and the doctor walked over to us. "How is she?"

"I'm guessing she's been better," he sighed as he opened the folder in his hands. "It's fatal."