Consume Me Like a Fire

“A friend who dies, it's something of you who dies.”
- Gustave Flaubert

Spencer shoved his arms through the bullet proof vest and placed his revolver in its holder on his hip. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and followed Derek out to the black SUV they were riding in. Garcia tracked Ian’s movements via the traffic cams and found out he was hiding in an old construction site that had been put on hiatus due to insufficient funding.

“Reid.” The lanky man stopped and turned at the sound of his superior’s voice.

“Yeah, Hotch?”

“I don’t want you to become emotionally compromised. Are you okay?” Hotch asked with analytical eyes. Spencer took a deep breath and nodded.

“Yeah, I got this. I won’t do anything reckless—“

“You tell me that, but I’ve seen what you’ve done in the past. Acting before thinking… And I know how close you and Shiloh have gotten. I don’t want you to jump in to something you can’t handle. If I think that you might, I’ll order you to leave the area. Understood?” Hotch asked with hard eyes. He cared for his team, but he needed to be stern to make sure that none of them got hurt due to negligence.

“Crystal clear…” Spencer grumbled and climbed into the SUV. Hotch go in the driver’s side and soon the scenery was flying past them as Hotch sped down the street. They were at the construction site within fifteen minutes and it was only three in the morning. Spencer jumped out of the car alongside Derek and Hotch. Rossi and Emily got out of the other one. JJ and Garcia stayed back at the office in case the team needed anything.

“Listen, we are going to split up and meet in the middle of the site. Got it? Rossi and Morgan go left, Reid and Prentiss head to the right, and I’ll cover the back. See you guys soon,” Hotch explained and everyone parted ways. Spencer and Emily snuck into the right side of the building and slowly walked down the dimly lit corridor.

”No sign of Shiloh or Ian over here.” Spencer recognized Derek’s voice through his ear piece. He looked over at Emily and they picked up their pace down the hall while checking all openings along the way.

”Reid, Prentiss, I’m with Rossi and Morgan. Have you found anything?” Hotch asked over the earpiece.

“We have one more door to check,” Spencer answered, his heart pounding erratically in his chest. Shiloh had to be here… Where else could Ian have taken her? Emily covered his back as he entered the room and looked around. There was another open doorway to the left that Spencer slowly inched toward. Emily was still covering him as he walked in, and what he saw made his heart sink.

Shiloh was laying asleep on the concrete floor. She had duct tape covering her mouth, her hands were bound with rope, and her ankle had a chain on it that was attached to the wall.

“We found Shiloh. Last door before hitting the meeting place,” Emily said quickly while she ran over to the blonde with Spencer. Spencer kneeled down and gently shook Shiloh’s shoulder. Her eyes snapped open and watered as soon as she saw Spencer.

“Memmer!” she cried behind the tape and pushed herself up onto her knees.

“I’m sorry, but this will hurt,” he whispered before ripping the tape off her face. Shiloh cringed but refused to make any noise. The pain slowly went away before she started talking.

“I was so scared you guys wouldn’t find me,” she mumbled and rested her head on Spencer’s shoulder. Spencer rubbed her back slowly as Emily pulled out a pocket knife and started cutting through the rope.

“I’d never give up until I found you,” Spencer whispered so only Shiloh would hear. Once her hands were free, she grabbed Spencer’s face and kissed him harshly.

“How touching…” The three turned to see Ian on the other side of the room with a gun pointed towards them. Spencer and Emily slowly stood up with their hands raised.

“Hotch, now would be a good time to get here. Ian is with us,” Spencer hissed lowly into the earpiece.

”Ian has that side of the building blocked off. We had to go around, but now we’re dealing with some of his men. Try to hold him off until we get there.” Spencer swore under his breath and looked back at Ian.

“I see you failed to bring my son with you. I guess that means I get to kill you all right now. Slowly remove your guns from their holsters and kicked them to the other side of the room,” Ian said cocking the gun. The two agents did as they were told. Shiloh panicked and tried to yank the chain from the wall, but it wouldn’t budge and her ankle was too big to slide out of the chain’s hold. Spencer looked down at her and frowned; he didn’t know how to get the chain off either.

“You know, maybe I should just kill your team and keep Miss Montgomery for myself. I think that torture would be worse than just killing her. What do you think Dr. Reid?” Ian asked trying to rile the young man up. It worked, and Spencer clenched his jaw in anger.

“Don’t you dare…” Emily snapped. Ian turned his attention back to Lauren and sneered.

“You have no right to tell me what to do,” he growled and walked closer to her, “You lied to me and took my son away. I thought he was dead.”

“At least he’s safe now and away from you!” Emily yelled. Ian snarled and went to shoot her, but Emily tackled him around the middle and kicked the gun far out of each. The two tussled on the floor while Spencer tried to free Shiloh from her confines.

“Spencer, you need to help Emily!” Shiloh urged and pointed towards the gun. Spencer hesitated before nodding and going for the gun. Ian on the other hand, gained leverage over Emily and held her down. She struggled to knock him off, but he was stronger than she was. Ian quickly grabbed a broken piece of wood from nearby and stabbed Emily in the stomach with it. Her cry of pain alerted Spencer of her wound. He grabbed the gun and fired a round at Ian.

The bullet hit him square in the chest. He looked down at his bleeding wound before slumping and falling to the side of Emily. Spencer rushed to her side and tried to stop the bleeding.

“Hotch! We need an ambulance! Prentiss is injured!”

”Got it! We are almost there!” Spencer pushed his hands down around the wound. Shiloh crawled as close as the chain would allow her and checked carefully to make sure Ian was dead. After not finding a pulse, Shiloh searched his pockets and pulled out the key to the chain lock. She quickly freed herself and reached over to help Spencer, her nursing coming in handy.

“Spencer, don’t press down too hard. We need to stabilize the wood; it’s stopping more blood from coming out,” Shiloh explained and removed her thin jacket. She wrapped it around Emily to stem the blood flow and make sure the wood wouldn’t move until the paramedics got there.

“Prentiss, stay with us! Emily!” Spencer panicked trying to get the agent to focus on them. Seeing Spencer’s lack of focus, Shiloh grabbed his attention.

“Spencer, I’ll take care of Emily. You go find the others and lead them to us,” she told him softly. Spencer looked down at Emily before getting up and running out of the room. Emily laughed softly.

“You have him wrapped around your finger… Thank you, Shiloh. He needs someone like you in his life…” Emily managed to get out. Shiloh shushed her and tried to keep her wound stable, but the blood was starting to soak her jacket. Shiloh glanced at the door hoping the others would run through it any minute.

“Shiloh, look after them, okay? I know we haven’t known each other long, but I need you to do that for me. I only caused them pain so take care of them, please,” Emily mumbled and reached for Shiloh’s free hand. Shiloh held onto Emily’s tightly.

“Emily, don’t talk like that. The paramedics will be here any minute—“

“Promise me, Shiloh,” Emily cut her off and looked her in the eyes. Shiloh bit her bottom lip and nodded.

“…I promise.” Emily smiled lightly at the blonde in relief. Then Spencer followed by the team and the paramedics came running in. The paramedics quickly took over for Shiloh and loaded Emily onto a stretcher to wheel her out of the room. The others checked on Ian and called the time of death. Everything around Shiloh blurred as she looked at her bloodied hands. Emily’s blood.

“Shiloh?” Spencer asked finally having calmed down. He rested his hands on her shoulders and tried to look her in the eyes.

“Spence… What if she….I tried my best,” Shiloh whispered still looking at her hands. Spencer frowned and pulled her into his arms not caring if he got more blood on him. Shiloh was trembling, and Spencer wasn’t sure what to do, but he held onto her tighter and buried his face in the crook of her neck. Everything was chaotic around them, but the couple ignored it and sought solace in the arms of each other.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The team, plus Shiloh, was waiting in the hospital waiting room. They arrived ten minutes after Emily did, but she was taken straight into surgery so they weren’t able to see her or speak to the doctor. Shiloh and Spencer sat next to each other holding hands on the uncomfortable couch. Derek sat on the other side of Shiloh and rubbed her back soothingly every now and then.

They sat there for another hour before the doctor finally came out of the operating room. He rubbed his temples and sighed before addressing the group.

“Is the family of Emily Prentiss present?”

“We are,” Hotch answered for everyone. The doctor gave them a small smile.

“I’m sorry, but Emily didn’t make it. A major artery was severed, and we were unable to patch it before she lost too much blood…” Shiloh broke down in sobs, and Spencer pulled her into his chest. He tried to put on a brave face, but the unshed tears told the truth; he was devastated. Garcia was bawling her eyes out while Derek and JJ tried to soothe her. Rossi and Hotch talked to the doctor for a few more minutes before he walked away. The two men tried to hide it, but the sadness was evident on their features.

“Prentiss was an excellent agent and a dear friend who we will all miss greatly. I will inform her mother and notify everyone of the… funeral arrangements. Everyone go home and try to get some sleep. I know this will be hard for everyone, but Pren— Emily wouldn’t want us to dwell too much…” Hotch said trying to comfort his team. Everyone nodded and slowly filed out of the hospital exhausted and mournful.

“Spencer, can I stay with you tonight? I don’t want to be alone right now,” Shiloh mumbled quietly. Spencer wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked.

“Of course… I was thinking the same thing,” he smiled gently at her as they climbed into Spencer’s car. He drove them in silence to his bungalow. The two were quiet as they dressed and got ready for bed. No words were needed as they crawled in together and held onto one another until they fell into a restless sleep.