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part six - broken ribs broken spirits
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season 4 episode 3
Minimal Loss
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Hotch knew the second he landed on the scene that there was an infatuating smell of trouble.

He had to dismiss the Attorney General and clear up the messes caused by his anger. Now, hearing the news that there was a leak regarding the fact that there was an FBI agent inside the compound, he couldn't help but feel a rather large scowl fall onto his face. The day was not getting better. Due to the bugs that they had planted, Hotch knew that Cyrus also had gained privy to this information.

He sat in the small trailer that had been set up for them, feeling a chill come through his spine as the bugs picked up Cyrus' voice. He was hunched over the sound system, thinking the closer he got, the closer he would be to getting answers. He wasn't looking as professional as usual. He had packed jeans, not suits, and sweaters, not shirts. He was spending hours in the tiny trailer, listening to every ounce of sound the compound was creating, just in case they let something slip to indicate their true plan.

"Which one of you is it? Which one of you is the FBI agent?"

Rossi picked his head up, staring at Hotch. The pair of them were stunned at this leak and perplexed as to what to do next. Hotch knew that out of the three of them stuck inside, his wildcard was the one that was going to step up. She was the leader in their group, she was the one who felt the need to protect and serve to the full extent of her capabilities, no matter the cost. He bit his lip, waiting for an answer and quietly begging that she wouldn't do this to herself.

"It's me, these guys don't know anything about it but, I'm with the FBI."

"Of course it's you."

He let out a defeated sigh, leaning back in his chair and feeling his head push into his temple in an instant. He heard the sounds of a commotion unfolding wherever they were in the building. Rossi was looking at him, their leader, with a defeated look.

"We have to go in, he's going to kill her for defying him!" Rossi stated, leaning both his hands on the table, letting them carry his weight as he bent over to Hotch.

"We can't, I want to but, we can't. If we go in we jeopardize the lives of everyone else," He mutters, the officers are beginning to crowd around the pair in an already small trailer.

"We don't know how Ivy will respond here, she hasn't been with us long enough for us to be able to predict that," Rossi bargained with him but, he could not do it.

"We have to trust that she'll do what's best."

Ivy was pulled by her hair into a storage room. Cyrus had dragged her up a flight of stairs, sticking her in the knee with his rifle to ensure the fight up would be painful for her. He pushed her across the room, watching her struggle to keep her balance but eventually flick her hair out of her face, locking eyes with him.

He didn't like that. Cyrus swung a right hook that Ivy caught, twisting his wrist and forcing the man back. His anger consumed him. Ivy knew that being overpowered by a woman would be an atrocious feeling to him and cause him to hurt her worse but, she had trained her reflexes to always be one step away from her reasoning.

"You ungrateful bitch." Cyrus ran at her, pushing her with a force that, with her already hurt knee, knocked her off her feet and back onto the shelf. She felt the tin cans fall over her, they didn't care what part of her body they hit. Cyrus laughed.

The sound of the laughter was enough to make Hotch pull off his headphones. That conniving son of a bitch. He couldn't listen to it, the sounds of her getting hurt.

Ivy stood up in a slight daze to be met with a punch in the stomach. She could feel that momentarily, her lunch was going to come back up but, she didn't care. She planted her feet and punched back, hitting his septum, twisting this.

"You're going to wish you were dead, bitch."

"I don't care, Cyrus, I can take it," Her breathing was becoming heavy but she wouldn't let this destroy her, she wouldn't let him win. "I can take it."

He picked up his rifle, swinging it at her and hitting her across the face.

"I can take it," She felt a laugh escape her lips, followed by a grin. If anyone was to watch this, they would think she was psychotic but, she knew that deep down, this was one of the more relaxed beatings that she had gotten in her short life.

Rossi looked at Hotch who had not put his headphones back on. He was already looking at Rossi for his opinion on what to do. Rossi placed his hand on Hotch's shoulder and gave him a knowing look, one that Hotch knew meant that he had to put the headphones back on.

He immediately heard the sound of Ivy being thrown against another shelf.

"You can take it? Can you?!" Cyrus yelled, striking his foot against her stomach.

"You hit like a fucking 10-year-old," She wheezed through the pain. A smirk came over her face as she rolled on her back. Cyrus made another lunge at her.

Hotch hated the sound of her voice at this moment. The true pain that she was in was shining through but, she remained brave. Rossi looked at him again.

"She's antagonizing him," Hotch muttered, trying to be quiet to not miss anything.

"She's not telling him that she can take it, she's telling us," Rossi realized, Hotch slowly coming to the same realization. They listened back to the bug.

They heard every grunt from every punk, kick and slap Ivy received. It was gruelling.

"I can take it," She focused on her breathing, in and out. She couldn't stand it anymore, she let him come to her to do the damage he was dealing.

"I'll be back for you, bitch," Cyrus spat. He was older and the damage he was dealing with was tiring him out. She had beat him.

He picked up his rifle, smeared with blotches of her blood. She was left in a pile of cans and a world of pain but, her smirk stayed plastered on her face.

"I'm okay," She let out a sigh of relief.

Hotch and Rossi shared their relief. Hotch pulled his headphones off and stood up, stepping outside of the trailer into the desert air. Trying to catch his breath.

Ivy lay on the floor with her victory and before she knew it, she passed out.

•———•———•

Ivy Auclair awoke in not just pain, but in a different room. She was on a bed and it looked as though someone had tended to some of her injuries. She scanned her surroundings. There was a small window with a blind but, she was in too much pain to lift her torso and peat out of it. There was also no food and she felt starved. She had gotten into the habit of eating three meals a day but, there was a time when she was young, that she could go days without anything and feel fine. She hoped she could suppress her needs and focus on the task at hand.

She was glad that she had opted for combat boots that morning, not heels, and that her simple black trousers and wine-coloured turtle neck were keeping her somewhat warm. She knew that she had to get the team's attention somehow and so, Ivy began to hit the blind and talk.

"I don't know if you can hear me but, I'm okay. I need a time, you need to come soon he's escalating," She spoke as quietly as she could.

Nothing.

"I don't know if you can hear me but, I'm okay. I need a time, you need to come soon, he's escalating," She repeated, hitting the blind again.

She heard nothing back but kept going, repeating those words again and again until suddenly, a bright red laser shined through the window.

"Oh, thank god," She gasped when she saw the ray shine through her window, knowing that this would be over soon. "I know you're going to come in tonight, I need a time so I can get the followers to the basement. There is a tunnel to the outside."

There were three red flashes in response.

"3 am? Okay, I'll try, I'll try," She repeated. "Spencer and Emily are downstairs somewhere and please remember, there are children in here.

She didn't know that it was Derek on the other side of the laser. From her short time with the group, Ivy had begun to consider him as a good friend. Derek couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt over the fact that he couldn't just storm in there and get the group out. Especially since he knew that Ivy was hurt. He begged Hotch to let him listen to the footage of Ivy and Cyrus but, his want fell on deaf ears.

"Someone's coming," Ivy quickly whispers and Derek turned the laser off.

Ivy dropped her leg back down into the bed and watched as the door opened and closed with Liz appearing from it. She had what looked like a hot towel and some bandages.

"You're okay," She sat down on the bed beside Ivy and ran out the water in the towel, then placed it on Ivy's forehead. "I put bandages on your wounds, it should lower the risk of an infection."

"Cyrus is planning a mass suicide," Ivy built up the might to explain to her, a cold look came over her face, which suddenly became one of guilt. "You made that 911 call."

"This all never would have happened if I hadn't made that call. This is all my fault," She muttered, dabbing the cloth on Ivy's head.

"You were trying to protect your daughter," Ivy consoled her.

"There were other girls, before Jesse. He would marry them in secret and after a while, he'd take another. We weren't permitted to speak of it and so when she asked me for my consent, I wanted to just take her and run. But I was afraid she wouldn't leave him," She tearfully explained.

"You gave her a chance, Liz. We can get her out. My team is coming at 3 am, to get everyone to the tunnels. You can free her," Ivy explained. The conversation was bringing back memories she didn't need to remember at that time.

"Why are you telling me this?" Liz cried.

"Because you're a parent. My Dad would have done the same thing for me if he had the chance. I'm giving Jesse the shot to be saved, the shot some of us never got," Ivy spoke and Liz stood up.

Ivy prayed that she had gotten through to her but, she couldn't know until it was time to execute the plan.

•———•———•

Ivy passed out and when she awoke, she realised she had lost her concept of time. When she was a teenager, in the depths of hell, Ivy did whatever she could to keep her sanity. She learned to correlate the position of the moon to the time. She would count days, that was something she never forgot. Her benchmark was the moon at midnight. She could count from there and make a rough estimate. However, Ivy couldn't see the moon from the small crack of the window and it worried her.

Suddenly, she heard a small commotion from the hall and a burst of adrenaline shot her up out of the bed. She sat up, staring and the door and didn't know if she could handle another beating right then. She realized she wouldn't have to as when the door opened, she saw Liz running towards her.

"It's 2:45 we need to go," She hurried Ivy to her feet and a pain from her ribs shot through her body.

"Where are the people I came in with?" Ivy asked, Liz was carrying her out of the room.

"They're in the chapel, with Cyrus, we need to go. The comping is rigged with explosives, we have to hurry."

Ivy was pulled down to the tunnels where she saw the followers of the cult hurrying to the exit. She saw Emily there, directing people to an exit. She noticed Ivy immediately.

"Oh my god, Ivy," Her voice trailed off, looking the girl's wounds up and down.

A noise made the girls turn suddenly and they saw the beaming lights of flashlights. Hurling down the tunnel was Derek and Hotch.

Hotch had frozen at the sight of her. Her clean appearance had been stripped. She was coated in her own blood and her body was in complete ruin. She was cut, bruised and crushed. He cast his mind back to when he had seen a teenage Ivy, she looked the same. Everything ain't had worked so hard to disassociate herself from was gone as she looked the same as her teenage self, destroyed.

"Ivy!" Derek shouted and came running towards her. Liz handed her off to him but she didn't seem to think she needed the support.

"Cyrus had rigged explosives. The whole place is gonna blow. You need to get everyone out there. Give me a gun," She gestured to his side which had a gun in the holster.

"Absolutely not, Morgan, do not give her a gun," Hotch had joined them.

"Jesse no!" The group turned to see Liz screaming. Her daughter had returned to the chapel and she was fighting to follow her up.

Ivy's adrenaline kicked in again and despite her pain, she rushed to Liz and pulled her away. Emily came over and helped, trying to restrain the distraught Liz.

"Liz, Liz. You need to let us go get her. We will find her. Go with Emily, she's going to take you out of here," Ivy had convinced her and once she left, she turned back to Morgan. "Either give me the gun or I'll go in unarmed."

He looked at Hotch who was for some reason, smirking. He nodded to Morgan.

"We can't stop her, clearly." Hotch nodded to Morgan to hand her a weapon. He was quickly learning that there was no challenge Ivy. She got her way and that was fine.

With a weapon in hand, Ivy, Hotch and Morgan made their way back up to the chapel to find Spencer. They ended up in the chapels where they saw Cyrus. Morgan had his gun focused on him while Ivy scanned the room for Jesse.

"Oh! You cannot convert me, brother," Cyrus preached to Reid. He was lying on the ground and they knew he had been found out, "No one to follow. God could have stopped me-"

Morgan fires straight into Cyrus' back. He felt the pure rage of the assault on Ivy and the sight of Spencer on the ground that he couldn't hold it back.

"He just did," Morgan called out, lowering his weapon and turning to try and see Ivy but, she wasn't there.

Ivy had spotted Jesse in the corner of the room, detonator in hand.

"Jesse you don't have to do this," She tried to bargain but Ivy knew, there was so much getting through to her. She turned back to the group, "Get down!"

Hotch ran to Ivy, she moved back from Jesse and he ran towards her, pushing her to the ground. Ivy felt the weight of him as he used his body as the shield. She knew that the button had been pressed as soon as the vibrations from the explosive were felt and the sounds of the worlds crashing around them could be heard. He didn't move, Hotch kept his body over her like it was his god-given duty.

"Are you okay, Ivy?" He whispered, not knowing how severe the damage around them was yet.

"I'm okay," She whispered back, feeling relaxed for the first time since entering the compound.

•———•———•

Ivy felt as though she needed to be the one to tell Liz what happened and she held her as she cried out for her child. The devastation was felt in waves through Ivy's body and she knew that Liz would forever blame herself for this.

"This was not your fault, none of this was," I yelled told her. She was being taken away to finally receive medical attention but needed Liz to know that first.

"Ivy?" Liz looked up at her, "You said that your Dad would have done the same thing for you if he had the chance. What did you mean by that?"

"I just know, from experience. He moved heavens and earth for me and you tried to do the same," She turned to leave her.

"Did it work? For him, did it work?" She called out.

"No, it didn't."

•———•———•

Hotch met again with Morgan and Rossi. He had been checked out, making sure he had someone look at his ears in case the explosion had damaged them more. The pair were packing the trailer up and sorting through case files, choosing what needed to come home.

"Has anyone seen Ivy?" He asked them, the pair looked up at him in confusion.

"You want to know about the well-being of Auclair? Interesting," Rossi hummed, Morgan just rolled his eyes.

"She's arguing with paramedics and refusing to go to the hospital," Morgan nodded out the window and towards an ambulance with a smirk on his face.

Hotch left to go and find her. He knew he was close when he heard someone giving out and lecturing on the proper way to carry out the job they were trained to do.

"Your hand is too shaky. Look," Ivy had a young paramedic beside her. She had rested her arm on a small tray with the needle in her hand, stitching her arm up. "You need to get clear margins. If your hand is shaking then the stitch could be loose or uneven and, we don't want that."

"Huh, I see. Ma'am we do really need to get you to a hospital, to check for internal bleeding," He was bargaining with her.

"I need some morphine. I'll be fine, I can walk," Ivy sent him to get her something for the pain and as Hotch turned the corner, he couldn't help but laugh at the scene. "What?"

"You are bossing people around who are trained to help you, you need to go to the hospital," He smirked at her. The smile on his face made Ivy laugh. She enjoyed seeing it.

"I'll survive-"

"I heard him hurting you. I know what he did and I'm not a doctor but, I know you need help. I would try to force you to go but you do not believe in authority so I'm not sure how far I'd get," He laughed, and she laughed back, feeling the pain in her ribs. It was nice to laugh, despise it all.

"Fine. You were listening?" She asked, he nodded. "It wasn't as bad. It doesn't even make the top ten worst fights."

"That's not funny," Hotch said with a straight face but Ivy still laughed, causing him to break, "I'm going with you, get in the ambulance."

He helped her stand and step up into the ambulance, sitting her down on the bed and calling the paramedic back over to inform them of the new plan.

"Did I hear you teaching him how to stitch?" He turned to her and asked her, noticing the guilty look on her face.

"It's not my fault he couldn't do his job. He'll thank me one day," She smiled. Hotch sat down beside her on the bed.

"I'm sorry I requested your file. I shouldn't have done that. Will you forgive me?" He looked down at her. Even when sitting, there was a noticeable height difference between them.

"Nope," She looked up at him and his puzzled expression, "You are going to have to grovel for forgiveness."

He burst out laughing while Ivy was attempting to be serious.

"I'm not kidding, I'll need coffee and extra days off," He made her laugh again, "You need to stop doing that, laughing hurts."

"I'll try. You need to lay down," He stood up to give her room, and the young paramedic climbed back into the ambulance. Ivy rolled her eyes.

"Aaron, would you quit bossing me around?" She still did as she was told, laying flat on the bed.

Hotch sat in one of the fold-out seats. He was next to her on the bed and scanned her. The dirt that was covering her face was gone and her features could shine through once again. It made him smile.

this took diabolically long to write. i'm also writing another book "paint and literature" which is a reid fic so if you are waiting on this head over there.

remember to vote and comment!!

- Jamie