GOLDEN || S. REID

𝟷𝟿: 𝚃𝚊𝚑𝚊𝚠𝚞𝚜, 𝙽𝚈

 A single gunshot going off in the night was all it took before Aaron Hotchner gave the signal to go ahead. They burst through the rickety doors together, Hotch in the lead with Prentiss on his left and Morgan trailing behind them by a foot or so. Agents and SWAT team members branched off from the center hallway, clearing rooms left and right as they went.

Prentiss called out, "Clear!" as she finished examining an empty room, sweeping the area once more before leaving. The lack of furniture and humans was jarring and borderline disturbing. It was like no one ever actually stepped foot into the building.

However, at the end of the hallway sat a door only slightly ajar. Hotch motioned Prentiss and Morgan forward, signaling for everyone else to stay back to allow them freedom of movement. He pressed his back to the opposite wall and waited for them to get into position before allowing Morgan to barrel through, weapon raised as he shouted, "FBI! Hands up!"

"Don't shoot!" Eliza yelled, the gun still clenched tightly in her hands as her legs shook underneath her. She looked between the three agents that had barged in and the dead body on the floor. Spencer was standing behind her, though he didn't look to be in any danger and he was mostly left unharmed.

"I had to," she cried, looking between the body and the agents. The panic written across her face as she was caught in yet another compromising situation overtaking all her other senses. She didn't even think to lower the gun, mind scrambling for excuses. "He came at us and I just... I just had to!"

"Okay," Prentiss said, her voice soothing. She took a step forward, holstering her own weapon before attempting to take Eliza's from her. Fortunately, she gave it up pretty quickly, allowing her to collapse in a heap on the floor. She sobbed into the stone floor, hiccuping as she tried to calm herself down.

Spencer's first move was toward her, though Hotch held him back. Morgan had been tasked with the body, flipping it over to reveal the wound through his chest. Patricide was a tough murder to commit, though Morgan figured this one was justified.

"John Parker," Morgan ID'd him to the entering paramedics. "Dead on arrival, gunshot wound to the chest."

"Let go of me," Spencer demanded, looking up at his boss defiantly. "She's just as much a victim as I am. She shouldn't be left to sob into the ground, Hotch."

"She's unstable right now, Reid," Hotch tried to argue, herding him away from the room. Spencer braced himself against the doorframe, refusing to move any further from the room.

"So were you." Those three words sent chills down Aaron Hotchner's spine, causing him to hesitate long enough for Spencer to slip out of his grasp. He ran back toward Eliza, dropping on his knees next to her as the chaos ensued around them.

Gently, he gathered her in his arms and pulled her into his chest, willing to hold her until she calmed down. At first, she thrashed, attempting to escape his hold, but once she realized who it was, she calmed down.

"I had to," she muttered under her breath, most likely a mantra she'd given herself in order to stay sane. He'd never seen her break down like this. Even when she'd been shot, he saw no fear in her eyes. "I had to, I had to, I had to--"

"You had to," Spencer validated her senseless murmuring. "You had to, to save us. Eliza, you saved us."

"I saved us," Eliza whimpered, hands fisting into the material of his shirt. Her side was on fire and she could barely move without the pain igniting in another spot. Black spots appeared in her vision as she struggled for air.

I saved us.

"Eliza's coming back to San Francisco with me," Julia affronted, her arms crossed across her chest to show that she would not budge. "Being in New York would be way too stressful and I'm not going to let her just live alone in her Quantico apartment. She needs a familiar environment and, hopefully, her family there to support her through her recovery."

Noah scoffed. "And you call yourself her best friend. You and I both know that if we crowd her, she's just going to end up pushing us all away. I've almost lost my sister more times than I can count and I refuse to lose her for real this time. She needs her space. She should stay in Quantico with Riley and I in another apartment within arms reach."

"Well I'm her wife and I have final say," Julia said. "Thank you for your input but she's coming back to San Francisco with me."

Riley glared at the woman he once would have loved to call his sister. "Don't say we didn't warn you when she turns into a recluse, dumbass. We'll try your way for a month and if she's not better than mute by then, you'll have a lot less than just Noah to deal with."

"And don't call yourself her wife," James said, laughing lightly. He twirled a pen over his fingers, catching it in his fist before using it to point accusingly at the woman in question. "We all know that Eliza fast tracked the divorce papers. By tomorrow, you'll be divorced and we'll be using our seats on the Hamilton chair to take our sister's company back from you. Good luck to you, though. I'm sure your college will take you back after you get forcibly removed from Hamilton Company."