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"Are you sure this is the address Hotch said?"
The silence between them was suddenly very thick, and Spencer shot a look at his friend. "Really? You're asking me if I'm sure?" He questioned, his voice taking on an incredulous tone.
A stilted, awkward grin formed on JJ's face. "Okay, yeah. I probably should have thought that through. But does this seriously look like anybody lives here?"
She scratched the back of her head, her hair making it itch under the soft hat Garcia had made her.
They still sat in the SUV, peering out at the ancient looking house they'd just parked in front of, and Reid was pretty sure JJ was waiting for him to get out before she would.
"Hey, don't be rude. There are hundreds of buildings in New York over a hundred years old," the genius defended, trying not to let on that he actually knew the exact number.
"Well, I know that, Spence. I just meant, like--Come on, it looks like if a breeze hits it, it'll fall over," JJ replied, scrunching her face at the amount of snow that was falling all around them.
Reid finally opened his door, immediately wincing at the cold air that enveloped them. "The wind right now is more likely to blow you away," he said matter-of-factly, and then promptly jumped out and slammed the door behind him.
The second his feet hit the ground, he regretted every life choice he'd ever made, his Converse doing nothing for the snow that was up to his ankles. "Ah! Cold, cold, cold--"
"I told you you should have worn boots," JJ snarked, coming around to him and showing off her very warm looking fur boots.
"I hate you."
The blonde merely laughed, and started toward the front door of the off white house in front of them. Hotch had sent them to talk to the family of a missing woman so they could figure out places she might have frequented, considering the fact that no one actually knew where she went missing from.
Rebecca Garrett hadn't been heard from in two days, and she matched the victimology, but there was no physical evidence that she'd been taken yet. And really, Spencer understood why.
The unrelenting snow storm that had been going on for over a week sure hindered searches. When Reid got to the porch, shaking the snow of his shoes and bending down to brush it off his now freezing ankles, JJ was bringing her hand up to knock.
"Hello? Todd and Elizabeth Garrett?" JJ called, peering into the window next to the door and hugging her FBI jacket tightly around herself.
Unlike Reid, who had wisely brought his coat with him, the article of clothing keeping his torso mostly warm, JJ had stubbornly left hers at the station and asked Emily to bring it back to the hotel when they went.
"We're with the FBI," Spencer added, squinting into the same window JJ had. Shaking his head, he brought one hand up to cover his freezing ear. He desperately missed his longer hair at times like these, but he knew the girls all loved his so-called "boy band hair", and he didn't have the heart to grow it out yet.
"There's nobody here. I don't think anyone's lived here for a long time," the doctor said, as if she didn't already know that. JJ gave him another flat look, but quickly dropped it to blink away a snow flake that landed directly in her eye.
"No duh, Reid. This house had to have been made like a million years ago. Let's get back to the station," she said, and then started back toward the vehicle.
"The hotel, actually. Hotch said to just go straight back because the weather is starting to get bad," Spencer called after her, very carefully following her exact footsteps to avoid getting snow in his shoes again. He tripped halfway back, though, and yelped, darting to the driver's side as fast as he could.
When he finally got in, slamming the door behind him with a heavy breath, JJ giggled at the look on his face. Her cheeks were red with the beginnings of wind burn, but she didn't seem to mind, pulling her hat off and running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it.
Reid, who'd been in the process of digging snow out of his shoes, narrowed his eyes at her and flicked it right at her face.
"Reid!" She cried, turning away and holding her hands up in defense.
"Don't make me go outside and get a handful," he warned as he started the car, buckling his seatbelt. She did the same, a playful glare on her face.
"Spence, you'd stay in this heated car forever if you could," JJ said as he turned the key in the ignition.
Spencer didn't dignify that with a response, tilting his head up and sniffing, indignant. He started to press his foot down on the gas, but the SUV did not move.
"Oh shit," JJ said immediately, pressing her face against the window to look down at the wheels, before jerking away a second later at the coolness of it.
"Aw, no," Reid mumbled, pressing down harder, and he became more and more worried as it didn't move.
"No, no, no. What are we stuck on? How could we have gotten stuck in less than five minutes?" JJ cried, scowling out her window.
"The snow is seriously coming down. Crap, okay, um. Help me move some snow out from the tires?" He suggested, and she soured but nodded anyway, pulling a pair of gloves out of her pockets.
Spencer promptly froze. She noticed. "You didn't bring gloves, did you?"
"To be fair, I didn't really expect-"
"Spence, you have to bring gloves in the winter!"
"I thought I could just shove my hands in my pockets!"
"Well, that isn't exactly gonna help you now, is i-?"
"JJ!" Reid cried, cutting her off. "Give me your gloves."
Glaring at him, she handed them over, and he stuck his tongue out at her as he pulled them on. "Stay here, I'll be back in a second," he commanded, opening his door once again.
Immediately, he flinched at the cold.
"Nah, I figured I'd go on a quick jog. Where the hell would I-?" Spencer found great pleasure in slamming the door closed, even as his feet were once again dropped right into the very, very cold snow.
Spencer grimaced as he realized it was already up to the middle of his calves, and he bent down to start digging the snow away from the tires, his heart dropping.
Just as fast as he moved it out of the way, it came back. The wind served to blow back snow that was already on the ground, and even more was coming down so hard that he was covered in it. Letting out a defeated sigh, Reid climbed back into the SUV, once again shaking the snow off his feet and legs.
"You weren't out there a full minute. What happened?" JJ asked, frowning as he hissed at how cold his feet were after having just started to warm up.
Peeling off his friend's gloves, he looked over to her. "There's too much. We won't be able to do anything."
"What are we supposed to do, then? Just sit here?" The blonde said worriedly, wrapping her arms around herself.
"We could call Hotch, maybe? They might be able to pick us up?"
"But wouldn't they get stuck driving in this too?"
Reid scowled even harder. "We'll have to just wait it out I guess. I'll call them to let them know," he grumbled, digging into his pants pocket to fish out his phone. Once he had it, he went to click on his boss' contact, but stopped.
"There's no signal."
JJ gave him a disbelieving look, grabbing out her own phone. "Crap, same with me," she muttered, holding it up and squinting at it to see if that would help.
Reid sunk back into his seat, sighing. "Winter sucks."
"Aaron, where'd you send the kids?"
Hotch glanced up from grabbing JJ's coat that Emily had conveniently forgotten to grab on her way out the door, and raised his brow. "The kids?"
"Reid and JJ," Rossi clarified, and Morgan let out a laugh as he walked past them. Struggling to hide the grin tugging at his lips, Hotch shook his head, finally shrugging his jacket on.
"They're headed to talk to the Garretts. Whatever they find out, we can investigate tomorrow. It's getting late, and it won't be of any use to look around in this weather."
"Who kills people when it's below freezing, anyway?" Rossi said rhetorically, but got a strange look from an officer that was walking by. Hotch huffed out a small laugh, and started toward the door.
"Hotch," Morgan said, sticking his head back in the door, a frown on his face. "We can't get the SUV to move. We're stuck in the snow."
A very familiar frown appeared on Aaron's face, and he was quick to stride to the door, finding Emily kicking uselessly at the snow in front of the tires. "The hotel is only a few blocks away. We can walk if we have to," he suggested, immediately noting the way Rossi squinted in annoyance and Morgan sighed.
The men left the station, and Hotch wanted to walk right back in once the wind hit him. Prentiss glanced up, and at seeing the incredibly warm looking coat in Hotch's arms, darted over and made grabby hands at her boss.
He couldn't help the fond grin the adorned his face as he handed it over, watching her pull it tight around herself and immediately glue to Morgan's side for warmth.
"I'd watch out, Prentiss. I hear Penelope has claws," Rossi teased as they all started walking.
"So do I," Emily shot back, smirking.
"Ooh, cat fight!"
"She isn't even here!"
Risking a glance back in the opposite direction, Hotch hoped JJ and Reid were fairing better than them.
"One of these days, I'm going to murder you," JJ said nonchalantly, squinting out of what she could still see of the window.
"Well, that's not at all comforting."
"I'm serious! Emily would help me!"
Spencer scoffed, shaking his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Emily loves me, she would definitely snitch on you."
Smirking, she raised a brow at him. "How sure are you of that?" She asked, a glint in her eyes that slightly scared him.
"A hundred percent, actually--"
"Pshh, would you look at that, the sound of us being covered with snow has rendered me unable to hear you."
Reid had fully intended to snap back with a funny retort, but her words made him freeze, his gaze locked on the heavily falling snow. "Spence? Are you okay? You know I'm not going to actually kill you, right?" JJ prodded, poking his arm.
Spencer nodded, his brows pulling together as he glanced outside once again. "JJ, if we get buried, we'll freeze," he said after a moment, his voice a hint too steady, too quiet.
She fell silent as she processed his words. "We have to get out, don't we?"
"Yeah. We do," he mumbled, eyes flicking rapidly from his hands to the window.
"Could we wait in the house for the storm to pass?" JJ asked nervously, wringing her gloves in her hands, but Spencer shook his head.
"We'd freeze faster in there than in here," he said, frowning harder. "We only have two options."
JJ's brows shot up. "What?"
"We can either risk staying put for what would have to be over a day, or. . ."
"Or. . ?" She prodded at him to continue.
"Or we walk back to the city."
Her mouth fell open. "You're kidding. Spence, that's gotta be like ten miles," she gaped, blinking owlishly at him.
"Nine and a quarter. It would take us about five hours, and our chances would be a lot better." Reid didn't meet her eyes, and she knew without asking what chances he was talking about.
They could sit there and slowly freeze, or they could go out in the cold and freeze all at once but actually get out.
"You've already decided for us, though, haven't you?"
"Jayje, it's the best option," he said softly, regret in his tone.
She sighed for the hundredth time, and then slipped her gloves on. "I'm gonna be glued to your side, Spence. You are my personal space heater until further notice, got it?"
Despite the situation, Reid grinned at her, watching as she picked up her discarded hat from the console. He expected her to put it on, but instead she tossed it at him.
He caught it with wide eyes and a confused expression. "Wh--This is yours!"
JJ gave him a look then that made him feel like he was Henry. "No shit. I, however, have hair that can cover my ears. You do not."
"You and Em are the ones that are making me keep my hair like this!" Reid cried, but he tugged it snugly onto his head anyway.
"In the very wise words of Derek Morgan, it makes you a pretty boy," she sung, and then she opened her door and hopped out into the snow.
Spencer followed suit, immediately tensing as he fell into it. The snow was up to his knees already, and he knew any progress they made would be slow.
His face was immediately assaulted by the harsh wind and snow that melted on contact with his skin. Making his way around the SUV, he found JJ tilting her head down and wrapping one arm around her torso. The second she saw him, she slid her other arm through his, which he firmly refused to remove from his coat pocket.
Without gloves, his hands were already freezing, and his pockets offered a small amount of heat. "Holy crap, it's cold. I'm gonna make Morgan bear hug me," she hissed between chattering teeth as they started trudging through the snow, and Spencer made a face.
"Why Morgan?"
"He's very big and warm," she said obviously, offering him a quick grin that made him huff out a laugh.
"I feel like Hotch hugs would be warmer," Reid replied, tilting his face down against the wind.
"Why?" JJ asked, a confused tinge to her voice.
"He doesn't hug often but when he does, they're like, really good hugs."
JJ nodded, nearly tripping and steadying herself with Reid's arm. "They remind me of my dad's hugs," she said, and then she went quiet, no doubt thinking about the man she hadn't seen in years.
Reid kept his eyes on his feet as they plodded forward. After solving the Riley Jenkins case, he hadn't seen his father again. William Reid had tried so hard to convince him of how much he cared, but he never bothered to reach out again.
"Hey, Spence, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--"
"No, Jayje, it's fine. Hotch does give dad hugs. Must be Jack's influence," he shot back, grinning, but it quickly fell as he saw her very red cheeks and nose.
"What's--Spencer, I'm fine," she sighed. "You look just as cold as me, so don't even."
He pouted slightly at how easily she'd read his thoughts, but he knew she was right. As they kept going, his toes begining to go numb, he glanced behind them. He couldn't see the SUV through the snow, and he knew that wasn't a good thing.
Hotch shifted where he sat on the couch of the hotel lobby, and he glanced up from the case file on the coffee table in front of him, eyes traveling to Emily and Morgan, both of who were on the couch opposite to him and we're in the process of slapping each other.
For a moment, Hotch just stared at them, becoming more and more incredulous as he watched the grown children in front of him.
"Kids, huh?" Rossi teased, drawing his attention.
"They're both over thirty, Dave."
"So? Do they not act like children?" The older man shot back, raising a brow as he looked up from a book in his lap.
"More so when Reid and JJ are here," Hotch said, then looked pointedly at the book. "Reid's?"
"With the signal down, the TV isn't working. Reid left his messenger bag at the station."
He frowned, about to say something when Rossi beat him to it. "Morgan brought it back," he supplied, and then he proceeded to go back to reading.
Hotch tried to suppress a fond grin as he saw Prentiss and Morgan laughing at each other, and he was going to go back to combing over the details of the case, but his eyes landed on Reid's bag, discarded in a chair.
With a very familiar frown, he tilted his head, and then he looked to his watch. They'd been at the hotel now for just over an hour, and he had known that they would likely be a while since they were talking to the Garretts, but it was beginning to be a while.
Checking the address on file, Hotch saw that it was only about ten miles outside the city, and even if they'd talked to them for a half hour, which tended to be the longest interviews lasted, they should've probably been back at least ten minutes ago.
He suddenly thought to the SUV still sitting outside the police station, and then he stood, stalking over to the clear glass doors and peered out at the snow. It was at about knee level, and if any cars on the roads weren't stuck before, they had to be now.
"Hotch? What's wrong?" Morgan called, and when the man glanced back, he saw the team all watching him.
"Reid and JJ should have been back by now. I think they might be stranded," Hotch said unsurely, and he watched as their faces dropped.
Spencer was pretty sure he'd tripped more times than he could count by now, and distantly, he knew that was bad because he didn't just forget things, but all he could focus on was continuing to pick up his numb feet and making sure JJ was still right next to him.
Twice now she'd stumbled and fallen, and he'd had to help tug her back up. With her on his mind, he glanced over at her, noticing how her breath billowed in front of her. His breath was doing the same, and he'd never been more upset that it was winter.
It was still windy, and he knew their faces were windburned. Reid's nose had gone numb probably half an hour ago, and he scrunched his face up every few seconds at the strange feeling.
"J--Holy crap, JJ, your lips are turning blue!" Spencer cries, his eyes widening in alarm, and she blinked rapidly at him, pursing said lips.
His eyes flicked over her form, and when he saw how tightly her arms were wrapped around herself, it dawned on him that she was still only wearing her thin FBI jacket.
With how cold he was underneath his thick coat, she had to be fucking freezing. With a sudden urgency, he unzipped it and began to peel it off, ignoring her telling him not to.
"Put this on, oh my God, JJ, you're probably getting hypothermia," he demanded, even as he put it on her myself.
She stopped fighting him on it as he zipped it up, and she burrowed into his side again, both of them once again beginning to walk.
"D'you think Hotch 'nd the others know we're in t-trouble?" She asked him quietly, and he hated how her words were starting to blend together.
"It's been almost two hours. Th-They know, but I don't think there's anything they can do 'sides wait for us," Spencer whispered back, his breaths shuddering.
"Don't--Don't think? Thought you know everything," JJ mumbled, sniffing as her nose once again began to run.
"I don't actually kn-know everything, JJ. Just a lot."
She leaned a bit heavier on his side after that, and he shifted to accommodate the sudden weight, glancing at her when she didn't respond.
"Jayje--Holy crap! JJ!" Her eyes were slipping closed, and her legs buckled. "JJ! JJ, come on, JJ!"
He wrapped his arms around her to keep her from slumping to the ground, and he hit the side of her face lightly. Her head lolled against his shoulder, and a breath puffed in front of her face, but her eyes didn't open.
"Shit, shit, shit. Please, wake up. Jayje, come on," Reid cried, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and falling before he could stop them.
No matter how hard he cried or how much he begged, she didn't wake up. Grunting with the strain it took, Spencer bent slightly to slide one arm under her knees, and he hoisted her up into his arms, the limbs already beginning to ache. But he stubbornly held on, and after taking a few stumbling steps, he continued on.
"Please, JJ. . ."
Are you sure this is the right way, Hotch? I can't even see anything. . ." Morgan trailed off, squinting out of the windshield as he drove very, very slowly.
The feeling was still coming back into all of their feet and hands after the half hour it took them to shovel all the snow they could out of the way, and then most of them pushing the SUV to get it going while Morgan pressed down on the gas.
They almost hadn't been able to get it going, but the relief once it had was through the roof. The thought of their teammates sitting in the cold all this time was terrifying for all of them.
"I'm sure. There should be a house in another six miles," Hotch said finally, straining his eyes against the stark brightness of the snow against the interior of the SUV.
"God, the snow is so deep. Are you sure they're still at the house?" Emily muttered, but Hotch only pursed his lips.
"They're either at the house, or. . ." He trailed off because they all knew where else they could be. Out in this.
When Reid fell to the ground the first time, it took him about a minute (54 seconds) to pull himself back up, apologizing quietly to JJ the whole time.
The second time, it took him five minutes, the first two spent kneeling on the ground as he sucked in large, shuddering breaths, and the last three spent trying to stand again and trying to hold JJ up with his numbing arms.
The third time he fell, it was because he was suddenly startled by a change in the familiar white expanse around him. Instead of the continuous heavy snowfall, his eyes locked onto a dark, very familiar vehicle, and that combined with how tired and cold he was had him tipping forward and wrapping himself around JJ so he didn't land on her.
Reid's vision blurred as a small sob left him, and when he pulled his pale hands out of the snow they'd landed in, he clenched them tightly, hoping desperately to regain some of the feeling in them.
Car doors slamming had him looking up as he pulled JJ's upper torso out of the snow and into his lap, knowing he wasn't going to be able to stand again.
"Reid! JJ!" Morgan's voice called, and the doctor didn't care at all about dignity, curling around his friend as he sobbed in relief.
Hotch, Morgan and Emily came sprinting over to them, and Reid was sure he looked like a human popsicle, but he didn't try to move. "T-Take J-Jayje. She p'ssed out 'most 'n hour 'go," he gasped, a desperate look on his face, and Morgan didn't hesitate to pick her up, alarm on his face as he felt how cold she was.
"Reid! Reid, can you stand?" Emily asked as she and Hotch came to his side, but it took him a moment to process that they were talking to him, still staring after Morgan, who Rossi was helping into the SUV.
"Yeah," he said, nodding, and then the world tilted sideways, his vision blacking out for a split second.
When he opened his eyes again, he was being carried bridal style by a worried looking Hotch back to the vehicle.
"J 's right," Spencer slurred, his words muffled into the man's shoulder.
"Emily, get to the hospital as fast as you can. Put the sirens on," Hotch demanded as he climbed into the back, keeping his arms wrapped firmly around Reid.
"What was JJ right about, Reid?" The man asked as Morgan got in on the other side, the woman in question wrapped in his arms.
"Y'r hugs. . . D-Dad hugs," he whispered, and then his head lolled to the side.
"Hey, hey, Reid. Eyes on me, come on," his boss spoke, but even as he talked urgently to him, Spencer was looking at JJ's still unmoving form when his eyes slid closed and didn't open again.
"-at do you mean?"
Spencer's brows pulled together just slightly as he awoke, but didn't quite have the energy to open them completely. As he tried to figure out where he was, he could feel a hand wrapped loosely in his, and it made his lips upturn slightly.
"I'm say that the kid could be bleeding out but would care more about a paper cut on one of us, man."
Morgan. That was Morgan's voice. Wait, should he have been offended about that?
"Well, he has absolutely no self preservation at all," Hotch said in return, and from where his voice was, it was likely him that was holding his hand.
"He cares about us, though. All of us," Emily said from somewhere else in the room, and that was the one thing so far he agreed with.
"What had you thinking of this, though?" Rossi was there too?
"JJ was wearing his coat, Rossi."
Oh yeah. She was cold, she needed it. With the thought in mind to tell them all later, Spencer allowed himself to sink back into unconsciousness, his fingers twitching in Hotch's.
The next time he woke, he was more aware, and he actually had the strength to open his eyes, blinking up at the ceiling of what had to be a hospital. He turned his head and found Hotch asleep in the chair on his left side, and he smiled at the sight.
Despite the fact that he didn't want him to be uncomfortable sitting there, the fact that he cared enough to stay by his side long enough to fall asleep warmed his heart.
"Hey there, Pretty boy. You awake for real now?"
Reid followed the voice to see Morgan on the other side, a half eaten cup of Jello in his hands. His mouth fell open.
"You ate my Jello?"
Derek laughed. "Well, hello to you to. There's more," he gestured to the table beside the bed, and he set his down.
"Oh. Thanks." Spencer smiled at his friend, his eyes lazily trailing around the room. "Is JJ okay?" He asked, blinking slowly. He was still tired, and he knew he'd likely pass out again soon, but he needed to know.
"She's fine. Still out, but the doctors said she's gonna be fine. Rossi and Emily are with her," her assured, making Reid relax, sighing.
"Her lips were blue."
"What?"
"I gave her my coat because her lips were blue. She was too cold," he mumbled, his words beginning to slur. If anything, Morgan's face became more incredulous.
"Kid, when we found you, your lips were bluer than Papa Smurf," he replied, his brows raised.
The doctor could only shrug lightly, his eyes closing again. "Don't eat my Jello," he whispered, and began to fade.
"Don't worry, Pretty boy, I'm sure your dad here will keep it safe for you," Morgan laughed out, and Reid only had a few seconds to be absolutely horrified as he remembered, before his mind went blank.
The last thing he processed was that Hotch's hand was still in his.
"Every shadow, no matter how deep, is threatened by morning light."
Unknown.