Make Me Smile

“Stay there,” he whispered. I tried to stay out of eye sight, but so that I could still see what was going on.

“Nobody moves and nobody dies.” Phillip Dowd was holding a rifle whilst holding a security guard and using him as a shield, preventing Hotch from firing his gun.

“Better be a head shot,” he tried to mock Hotchner, “I got this on full load. If anything I will go down squeezing the trigger.” Hotch slowly put his gun down on the desk that was in front of him. Dowd dropped the guard and advanced towards Hotch to take his gun. Dowd swiftly looked back.

“You get over here. Now!” he shouted at someone who was in the hallway. Seconds later I saw Spencer jogging over to where Hotch was standing. His lip was bleeding and there was a bruise forming around his eye. I had to cover my mouth to suppress the gasp that almost escaped.

“Take your partners gun and put it on the counter,” instructed Dowd as he pointed the gun at Reid.

“He is not armed.” Hotch was collected and calm as he answered. “See for yourself.”

“Hands on your head.” Phillip Dowd quickly checked whether Reid had any weapons stashed. Satisfied he told the guard to tie up Reid’s and Hotch’s hands, and then put one on himself. The guard did as he was told and stepped back. He was then knocked out by Dowd.

“Down on the ground.” Spencer immediately sat down. “Have a seat.” This was directed at Hotch, who took his time sitting down slowly.

“Now what kind of FBI agent doesn’t carry a gun?” wondered Dowd, pointing the gun once again at Hotch.

“I’m a profiler,” answered Spencer, averting his eyes to the ground. Dowd asked whether they can figure him out. Spencer told him that they already did, hence how they found him, but he was shortly silenced by Hotch who told him to shut up.

“Now don’t shut up, tell me what you found about me,” challenged Dowd. Reid looked unsure of whether he should speak or not.

“Go on genius. Tell him. But remember, If you get it wrong he is going to kill you” said Hotch, his voice was cold like ice. I had to wonder what the hell he was doing. His sudden behavior better be part of some plan. Spencer continued looking at the ground without speaking a word. Dowd then turned to Hotch telling to tell him his behavior since he was the boss. Hotch told him the facts. I shivered at the sound of his voice. It was as if he was a complete different person. Hotch kept telling Dowd about his behavior. He then suggested to let Spencer and him to barricade the door. However the idea seemed skeptic to Dowd.

“Now why would you want to help me?” asked Dowd.

“They knew you were in here, they knew you were armed and dangerous, and they knew you would fight to the last round. And they sent me in here with an unarmed kid who can't shoot his way out of a wet paper bag.” came Hotch’s reply. I sat there in the back glaring at him. He can’t be serious! I mentally shouted. I wanted to shout at him, but I knew it wouldn’t end well. So I just kept my quiet.

“They set you up." Laughed Dowd. Hotch agreed with him.

“Exactly. And they're probably laughing about it right now.”

“And this is why you want to help me,” stated the un-sub. Hotchner disagreed saying that once the police came in here Dowd wouldn’t go down without a fight causing many people to get caught in the crossfire.

“They sent me in here. Why make it easy for them?” he said.

“You want to know why they took the boy geniuses gun?” questioned Hotch the un-sub.

“Why?” asked Dowd. I look at Spence. He was still looking down, humiliated. I also took notice that his nose was bleeding more. Poor boy.

“He failed his qualification test. Twice a year I have to listen to him whine about re-qualifying. So I tutor him, and he fails again.” Dowd smirked, saying how he had it rough with the people that surround him not doing anything. I thought I was going to get sick after the next words that Hotchner has spoken. He suggested to Dowd to put the people that have done him wrong next to the barricade, so they would be the first to go once there is open fire.

“You are one sick dude,” said Dows as he grinned.

“How do you think I found you?” came Hotch’s respond. Dowd forced all of the hostages including myself to move next to the barricade.

“Can I ask you for a favor?” wondered Hotch. “My chances of getting out of here alive are pretty slim. I wanna kick the snot out of this kid. He has made my life miserable for three lousy years.” Spencer kept looking between the un-sub and Hotch. I could tell he was scared. I wish I could do something. But I was helpless.

“Knock yourself out,” said Dows giving Hotch the green light to do as he wanted. Hotch jump on Spencer and kept kicking repeatedly, whilst dropping insults. I held my hands over my mouth, preventing from any sound to escape. My eyes watered from the sight letting a few tears to spill. However I noticed that one of Hotch’s ankles was exposed, showing a now empty gun holder. I wasn’t the only one who notices. The un-sub aimed his rifle at Hotch. A gun went off and but it wasn’t Hotch who got hit, but Dowd. I looked at Spencer who held the fired gun. He had hit Dowd right between his eyes. Hotch shouted for the SWAT to hold the fire. I quickly crawled over to Spencer.

“Oh god, Spence.” I hugged him tight.
“I’m alright,” he reassured me as he hugged me back. I was glad that his ended. I got up pulling him up with me.

As we were by the Ambulance getting Spencer checked up Hotch walked over.

“You alright?” he asked Spencer. Spence just nodded.

“Nice shot.”

“I was aiming for his leg,” said Reid with a sigh. Hotch just smiled.

“I was afraid if I wouldn’t have kept kicking you wouldn’t have got my plans.”

“I got your plan the minute you moved the hostages out of my line of fire,” replied Spencer.

“Well I hope I didn’t hurt you too badly.” This caused Reid to laugh.

“Hotch, I was a 12 year old child protégé in a Las Vegas public high school. You kick like a 9 year old girl.” He explained causing Hotch to chuckle. Spencer offered Hotch his gun back.

“Keep it.” He gave Spencer a pat on the shoulder. “As far as I’ m concerned you have passed your qualification.”

“Alexa,” he turned to me, “I’m sorry if my actions caused to frighten you. I just tried to keep everyone from getting killed.” Apologized Hotch.

“That’s alright, you were doing your job.” I gave him a small smile. He walked away to Emily.

“Let’s go soldier,” I said referring to Spencer.

“Hey Reid you okay?” asked Morgan, but Spencer didn’t answer. Instead he just threw the whistle to Morgan. Just before we walked out of ear sight I could hear Morgan say ‘touché’.

Once everyone was boarded on the jet, I set down my bag and went to get some ice for Spencer. I wrapped it into a towel and went back to where he was sitting. Well lying down. His eyes were closed and for a moment I thought that he had fallen asleep. But just when I was few inches away, he opened them and gave me a light smile. He sat up making space for me to sit.

“How is your head?” I asked, whilst studying his injuries. He has a massive bruise around his eye and check and a busted lip.

“Not too bad. But I guess it could be better.” I chuckled. I looked around seeing that almost everyone was asleep. I don’t blame them then it was a really long day.

“You should sleep it off.” I told him. He agreed and began to get up. I gave a small laugh.

“Spence, it’s okay. You can sleep here.” I gave him a smile.

“But aren’t you going to lie down?” he asked. I shuck my head ‘no’.

“I'm not tired.” Okay so I might have told a tiny white lie about not being tired. But I didn’t want him to go.

“Well..umm.. if you are su..ure,” he stammered, which resulted him in blushing. He lied back down, but this time laying his head on my lap. I put the ice on his bruised check.

“This should help,” I told him. He just nodded and closed his eyes. Few minutes after his breathing slowed down to an even rhythm. He was asleep. I smiles to myself and leaned further into the seat getting comfortable. I was asleep in seconds.