Despite getting shot, it was luckily in his bulletproof vest and he managed to pull himself into a. Sitting position to continue firing at Mills.

"Go." Fleur nodded as she ran after Mills.

Outside, Blake and Elijah were kneeling beside Reid.

"We need a medic now! There's too much blood." Blake called to the others before pressing her hand against Reid's neck,"You're doing great, alright?"

"You gotta stay right here, okay? Stay with me." Elijah squeezed his hand,"Eyes on me, eyes on me."

Reid than began to cough a little, his eyes closing.

"No, no- Ethan, Ethan." Blake cursed.

"Amore mio, per favore, apri gli occhi!" Elijah pleaded.

Meanwhile, the trio still chased Mills, catching up to him as he got cornered, before having to go through a few buildings and backwards. Until they finally entered the building where Mills had ran into. They began to walk up the stairs but hear a loud thud from downstairs, promptly following the noise and they ended up wandering through the darkness.

Morgan found him, shooting him the second he saw Mills.

"Subject down, subject down." Fleur sighed into her comms.

"We've got this covered. One of yours is in bad shape." Vicky told them.

"Let's go." Morgan nodded as they ran back to the others.

"Copy that. Two of ours, three of theirs. Any causalties?" Cruz asked through the comms.

"Just Coleman." Blake sighed.

"Coleman?" Cruz blinked.

"And what about Reid?" Hotch asked.

"Not good, they're taking him to the hospital.. We'll call you back." Elijah rubbed his eyes as the others walked over.

"Okay, Derek. Go get that looked at we'll meet you there." Fleur told Morgan.

"Fastest route to the hospital is Hughway 17." Bennet informed them.

"Thank you." Fleur nodded, taking Elijah's hand.

*********************************

Elijah splashed some water on his face in the bathroom before he returned to the waiting room and sat with Blake.

"Anything yet?" Blake asked.

"No." He shook his head.

"Spencer would've read two books by now." Blake chuckled.

"Maybe three." Elijah hummed.

"It should've been me." Blake sighed.

"Or me, or any of us." Elijah looked down.

"No. He pushed me out of the way." Blake told him,"If he doesn't make it.."

"He'll make it." Elijah stopped her.

"He has to.. He's just too young, and he has you."

"Yeah, there's still things for him to do." Elijah swallowed harshly, looking up,"You know, he wants kids.. Can you imagine Spencer as a dad?"

Blake laughed,"They'd be the luckiest kid in the world, having you two for dads."

"No doubt." Elijah smiled softly.

"Hey." Garcia sighed as she walked in.

"You made it." Elijah looked up at her, holding out his arms.

"Turns out we're not the only ones that's connected and he knows somebody with a plane." Garcia hugged them,"How is he?"

Elijah sighed,"Still in surgery."

"You can see Agent Morgan now." A nurse walked into the room.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd really like to stay here." Elijah told them.

"I'll stay with Elijah." Blake nodded.

"Second you hear anything, call me." Garcia pointed as she left.

"I will, love." Elijah waved her off.

When Garcia walked into the room, JJ, Rossi and Fleur were already there.

"How's Reid?" Fleur asked.

"He's still in surgery." Garcia told her.

Morgan moved, fixing his pillow and moving his wires.

"No- What are you doing?" Garcia gasped.

"You can bet your ass I'm not gonna just sit around here." Morgan tried undoing his wires,"Guys, come on, get me out of here."

"Actually, you are. Just hang on a second. Just until we figure out what's what. Catch me up." Cruz sighed.

"The three victims inside were dead before the shooting started. Lividity had set in and there was no blood spatter." Hotch began.

"They weren't killed there." Fleur nodded.

"The preacher's car was clean so there's no way he transported bodies in it." Rossi added.

"So you were right. He was being framed. But by whom?" Cruz wondered.

"The answer's in the victims. Belinda Clark and Jesse Moore were both tied to prostitution like the others. Travis Henson, was a regular at the pool hall, but he didn't work there." Hotch explained.

"See, I don't get why the preacher didn't just come clean with you." Cruz shook his head.

"He was a narcissistic sociopath who was cornered, but he still thought that he could get away with it." Hotch crossed his arms.

"Once he started shooting, he made his decision." Fleur sighed,"Coming clean wasn't an option."

"Guys, I dont think he was the first one to shoot." Morgan spoke up,"Whoever set him up was there."

"That's ballsy. What makes you think that?" Cruz raised a brow.

"Because I'm pretty sure that Reid and I heard the first shots fired." Morgan told them,"We were all outside of that diner. Anybody got any photos?"

"Yeah, I downloaded the crime scene photos." Garcia handed the tablet over.

"Alright, show me Coleman." He nodded.

"Right here." Hotch pointed.

Morgan looked over the photos of Coleman's body before looking up,"Where's my vest? I want to show you something."

Fleur handed Morgan his vest, taking it out of the bag.

"Alright. You see these? That's from a MAC-10. Now look at this. You see how the impact mushrooms out. That's from a semi-jacketed hydroshock round. It makes a high-pitched scream and I know I heard it." Morgan explained.

"That's law enforcement issue.' Rossi realised.

"Friendly fire?" Cruz raised a brow.

"No. All those cops were shooting into the diner. The round came from the same direction as the preacher." Morgan pointed.

"Okay- I don't know who shot first, but I do know that every victim's connected to the pool hall. The only one missing is Dinah." JJ shook her head.

"Go find her." Hotch nodded.

*********************************

"Agents." A doctor walked up to them.

"How is he?" Elijah asked quickly.

"Incredibly lucky. Two millimeters to the right and the bullet would have torn through the carotid artery. It nicked some smaller vessels, but we've stopped the bleeding. You can see him bow." He informed them.

Elijah didn't need to be told twice and hurried ahead to Reid's room as Blake collected his belongings and called JJ. The trio of Blake, Garcia and Elijah found themselves in Reid's hospital room as he slept in the bed and Garcia placed Dr Who characters on his side table, Blake and Elijah at his bedside.

"He'll be so happy when he wakes up and this is the first thing he sees. Of course- After you." She grinned.

"Yeah, the good doctor will always make him smile." Blake hummed.

Garcia sighed, staring at Reid,"It would be really weird if he just wakes up and we're all just like- Ooh! Staring at him, so I'm going to stand over here." She pointed to the corner.

Elijah sighed and took Reid's hand, squeezing it tightly.. He wasn't going to lose him.

*********************************

Morgan was discharged from the hospital, Fleur walking out with him to greet the others,"What's wrong?"

"Trust no one, my friends." Rossi sighed.

"Why?" Fleur blinked.

"Corruption." Cruz shook his head.

"Something this organised needs a strong leader. We think it's Deputy Owen McGregor." Hotch sighed,"And there's a second in command who appears trustworthy, but has the access and the skill set to do a lot of damage. Deputy Bennett is presenting as that."

"They framed the preacher and Dinah. She's still alive and terrifed." JJ crossed her arms.

"She ran the prostitution ring with the preacher, but she must play a bigger part in the rest of this." Rossi shook his head.

"She's clearly worth more alive than dead." Morgan shrugged.

"For now." Fleur added,"We could offer her something, get her to trust us."

"We've seen this before." Cruz pointed,"We find her kid and maybe she'll talk."

"Let's see if Garcia can find him. The rest of us need to figure out who else is involved." Hotch walked off.

*********************************

Garcia had left to find Reid something to eat but Blake and Elijah hadn't left his bedside, not since he woke up.

"When this comes off, I'm gonna look just like Boris Karloff." Reid joked.

"Yeah, a little green makeup and you'll have the best Halloween costume ever." Blake hummed.

Reid closed his eyes and furrowed his brows.

"Everybody's fine. Don't worry." Elijah ran his fingers through Reid's hair.

"I'm not." He shook his head.

"You've got that furrowed brow." Elijah pointed.

"Hey, hey, hey. Will you look who's still awake." Garcia walked into the room, still on the phone,"Can you tell Blake to go away please?"

"I'm okay, Alex. Go help the team." Reid nodded slightly.

"I'm out of here. I'm glad you're awake." Blake smiled softly and left.

"Thank you." Reid smiled back

"Okay, juice, broth or.. Jell-O!" Garcia hummed.

"Jell-O, my favourite." Reid reached for it.

*********************************

The team were in a corner of the sheriff station as Blake and JJ walked back in.

"So Garcia tracked down Dinah's son, who's living close to here, but I've got eyes all over me, so someone else should go." JJ sighed.

"How's Dr Reid?" Bennet asked Blake.

"He's awake. He's gonna be fine." Blake hummed.

"That's good to hear." Bennet smiled.

Blake slowly walked up to the others, seeing their stillness and silence,"What's wrong?"

"Let's take a car ride. I'll fill you in." Rossi stood up,"JJ, send us the info."

"Will do." JJ nodded.

"We knew Coleman had only been here a year, but get this. He replaced a sheriff who also died." Cruz told them.

"Of what?" Morgan asked.

"Allergic reaction to medication. He was in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound." Fleur read the file.

"Who shot him?" JJ asked.

"Got away." Cruz shook his head,"Report says it was a drug raid that ended in automatic gunfire."

"Whp wrote that report?" Morgan raised a brow.

"Owen McGregor." Cruz sighed.

"So the old sheriff realized that his office was corrupt. They staged a murder. That sounds familiar." Morgan shook his head.

"Then if the prostitutes witnessed it and threatened to tell, that's what got them killed." JJ nodded.

"On what date did the sheriff die?" Hotch questioned.

"It says here March 20th, a year ago." Fleur pointed.

"The same day as the first victim, Lucas Wagner." Hotch added.

"So Owens had a whole year to figure out his endgame. It all started on that night." JJ sighed.

"You need to see if you can get Dinah talking, and you need to find out all you can about Owen McGregor." Hotch instructed.

Morgan, JJ and Fleur walked out of the room, not meeting the eyes of the cops.

*********************************

Elijah was sat beside Reid, holding his hand as Garcia quickly walked in shutting the door.

"I did that, now what?" Garcia spoke over the phone, looking at Elijah as she placed the phone kn speaker.

"I need you to focus and I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?" Morgan asked.

"Yes, yes. I can do that- Elijah's here too."

"Is there a wheelchair in the room?"

"Uh.. Yes." Elijah nodded, looking over at it.

"Good. Get Reid in it." Morgan pointed.

"That is not going to be easy." Garcia shook her head.

"Then get his patient bag. His gun is in there, Elijah already has his but you'll need one too." Morgan instructed.

"Oh my god, what?" Garcia gasped.

"I need you both to get out in that hallway." He told them.

Garcia nodded slowly,"O-okay.."

Soon enough, Garcia and Elijah managed to get Reid into a wheelchair, quickly getting by McGregor in the hallway. Elijah pulled the fire alarm to cause a futher distraction as they hid in the crowd of exiting patients.

After about twenty minutes, the hospital began allowing people back in, Morgan and Fleur staying on call with Elijah and Garcia.

"He's gone, right?" Fleur asked.

"He is gone. They're letting us back in." Garcia nodded.

"Good, you did it." Morgan sighed.

"Flo- I got to pull the fire alarm! It was so fun." Elijah hummed as he pushed Reid's wheelchair.

"Yeah, we'll be there in about five minutes." Fleur chuckled.

*********************************

"You okay?" Elijah asked Reid after he and Garcia got him back in his hospital bed.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired." Reid sighed.

"Of course you are, you need to get some sleep." Garcia nodded as a nurse walked in,"Oh, but how can you sleep? 'Cause you're in a hospital where people are always poking you."

Then the nurse approached the bed with his tablet and a vial, looking down.

"Oh- He had his meds an hour ago." Elijah pointed.

"Yeah, post-op antibiotics." He nodded as he began pushing it in the IV.

"Yeah, he had those too." Elijah told him.

"Let me see." Reid sat up slightly,"Caebenicillin? No, that's not right. I have a severe reaction to beta-lactams. I can't have that."

The nurse looked through his file,"It doesn't say that in your chart."

"What are you doing? What are you doing?" Reid panicked as he began to place the medicine in, desperately pulling out his wires.

"Hey- He said he can't have that!" Elijah smacked his hand away.

The nurse then bent down, grabbing the needle, only to show a gun in his waistband.

"Guys, he has a gun!" Reid called to them.

Elijah desperately reached for his holster, freezing aftee realizing he had no clue where his gun was. The nurse then grabbed his own gun, placing his finger on the trigger before a gunshot went off. Elijah slowly turned around to see.. Garcia holding the gun with shaky hands.

"Holy shit." Elijah muttered.

"He's moving. He's okay." Garcia whispered as Morgan and Fleur walked in, guns raised.

"You.. Yeah." Elijah nodded slowly.

"I didn't know how loud.. I can't hear, except for my heart feels like it's gonna come out. Can that happen? Physically, can your heart burst out of your chest? And what is this ringing? My ears don't pop for like a week after I fly, and if this is like, that's gonna drive me bonkers. Am I yelling? Because it feels like I might be yelling." Garcia ranted as Fleur and Morgan checked the 'nurse' out.

"You saved my life.. You saved our lives." Reid told her,"Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I heard that. Makes it feel better. Thank you for saying that." Garcia smiled.

"Thank you for doing it." Elijah sighed softly.

"Uh huh." Garcia nodded, hugging the two,"You're.. Okay. You're both okay."

*********************************

The rest of the team confronted McGregor in a junkyard with Hotch managing to shoot him dead after a physical altercation. Now, they were all sat on the jet together.

"Huh, look at this. It's a booked flight." Garcia hummed as she looked around.

"Maybe with the year we've all had, uh, the brass will give us a bigger plane, you know?" Cruz chuckled.

"Yeah, let me know how that goes." Rossi hummed.

"What did the Rangers think?" Fleur asked, laying her head on Morgan's shoulder.

"Sadly, they've seen this before. They're going to have their hands full cleaning up the place." Cruz sighed.

Then, Hotch's phone pinged.

"Hotch, do not tell me we have another case." Morgan warned.

"Are we turning the plane around?" Elijah asked slowly.

"No. No, we're gonna go home and get some sleep."

"Lots of it, I hope." Rossi added.

"I am starting now." Garcia walked off.