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“Okay, so who’s most likely to be targeted by the unsub?”
You and the team are trying to figure out how you’ll trap the unsub since you’re struggling to narrow it down from the three suspects. However, you know the pattern; the unsub is targeting people who’re alone at a club, not really mixing, but also not out of place.
“I think Y/N,” Spencer pipes up after looking over the team. You look at him with a frown, glaring slightly. “You’re young, relatively attractive, in fit physical shape, and you fit the MO the best.”
“Yeah kid, I’ve got to say, if I was a single woman in a club…” Emily trails off.
“No, no way,” you protest, “I’m not getting dressed up just so I can be murdered by an unsub!”
—•—
“Just be calm and collected,” Rossi instructs through the earpiece. You subtly roll your eyes.
“You use this to pick up all the girls, Rossi?” You joke back, grabbing your drink from the bar and taking a sip. There’s a light laugh from the rest of the team.
“Most of them,” he replies.
“And how’s that working out for you?”
There’s silence and you have to bite back a smirk.
“Okay, Rachel’s just walked in,” Hotch announces.
“Do you think she could be our unsub?” JJ asks.
“Probably,” Morgan cuts in, “she fits most of the descriptions compared to the other two.”
“She’s walking up to you, Y/N. Remember what Dave said.”
You subtly nod and turn around, facing Rachel as she walks over to the bar. She leans over, her dress riding up slightly in an attempt to get your attention.
“I’ll take a vodka martini,” she says, “and whatever the person looking at me wants.”
You cough, looking away quickly. The bartender lets out a light laugh, and after taking your order, starts to make the drinks.
“I haven’t seen you around here before,” she greets, “I’m Rachel.”
You smile, leaning on the barstool slightly. “I’m Y/N. I’m from out of town. My buddy lives here and I’m visiting him on spring break.”
“Oh, a college student?” She asks. You nod.
“Yeah.”
“What are you studying?”
“Law, actually. I’m a junior,” you answer, taking the drink she ordered you. You clink glasses before taking a sip.
Something’s wrong.
The drink’s bitter.
You try to hide the disgust on your face as you drink the rest, not wanting to seem out of place and let Rachel know you know she’s slipped something in your drink. She leans in close.
“How about you and me get out of here?” She purrs. You grin.
“I-I’m just going to tell my friend we’re leaving,” you reply, swaying as you get off the barstool. You stumble forward and look through the crowd for any of your teammates. You can’t seem to find them. They wouldn’t all go to the bathroom at the same time, and they sure as hell wouldn’t leave you by yourself.
Spencer looks up from the booth he’s in with Rossi, taking focus off his book as he searches for you. His heart picks up when he sees you, dishevelled and stumbling around like someone who’s had one too many but doesn’t want to admit it. Your face is a bright cherry red and you appear to be dizzy.
“Rossi? Rossi?” He gets the attention of the senior agent. “Something’s wrong with Y/N.”
“What do you mean?” He asks.
“I mean, they’ve had two drinks and they look awful.”
Dave looks up and once he spots you, his face drops. Something’s definitely wrong.
You’ve been drugged.
“Shit, they’ve been drugged!” Rossi exclaims, getting up to move to you. Morgan follows from his place on the back wall, ready to arrest Rachel. As they approach, they see Rachel take you by the hand, ready to leave. They push though, trying their hardest not to draw attention to themselves, until they reach you.
“Y/N? Where’re you going?” Rossi asks, walking over. Derek follows suit, grabbing Rachel’s hands and pulling them behind her back, handcuffing her. He starts to recite her Miranda rights as he leads her out, and Dave turns his attention to you, now leaning against a wall and vomiting.
He springs into action, placing an arm around your shoulders to support you and takes you to the car. He puts you in the back before running around.
“You’re gonna be okay, bambino,” he says as he gets in the driver’s side. The rest of the team, having heard what just happened, rush out. Prentiss and JJ help Morgan as Hotch and Reid accompany you and Dave.
“Y/N, I need you to stay awake, okay?” Spencer asks, hands on either side of your face. You give a slight nod, and mutter a faint ‘I’m sorry’ before your eyes roll into the back of your head and you pass out, leaning so you’re on Spencer’s lap. “Y/N? Rossi, drive as fast as you can!”
“What do you think, Reid?” Hotch asks, turning around from the passenger seat to look in the back.
“Cyanide. They need their stomach pumped and an antidote,” he panics. Rossi pulls into the hospital and gets out. He grabs you from Spencer, carrying you straight to the ER.
“We need help!” He yells, garnering the attention of a few nurses. “They’ve been poisoned. Please.”
Immediately, doctors rush over, some bringing a gurney as others grill the three men.
“Do you know what with?” One demands as Rossi places you on the bed.
“We think cyanide,” Hotch answers, the only one keeping a somewhat level head. “Please.”
The doctors nod and wheel you away, leaving the three agents to sit in the waiting area. Spencer’s leg won’t stop moving, bouncing up and down as he wrings his hands and cracks his joints. Hotch notices and places a hand on his knee, making it stop. Rossi, on the other hand, is almost distraught. That’s his kid in there, being treated for cyanide poisoning.
“Dave? Dave!”
His head snaps up to look at Aaron. “Yeah?”
“I’m going to take Spencer to the station to help with analysis. Are you going to be okay by yourself?” He asks with kind brown eyes Rossi only sees when Hotch is truly vulnerable.
He nods, waving them off and dismissing them with a simple ‘I’ll be fine’.
He wishes he hadn’t lied.
—•—
Two days it takes for you to wake up.
In that time, Rachel’s been arrested and charged with the murders of four people, and the attempted murder of a federal agent. Most of the team have flown back to DC on order of Strauss, but Rossi refused. He’s stayed by your bed for the two days, leaving only to take a shower when Hotch forced him.
“N/N? Jesus bambino, I’m so sorry,” he apologises for what feels like the tenth time today. “If we hadn’t got you to do it, if we’d come up with another strategy…” He trails off.
“Then you wouldn’t have got her,” a raspy voice replies. Dave looks down and breaks out into a smile as he sees you’re awake and looking a damn sight better than you did. “We did get her, didn’t we?”
He nods. “Yeah. She’s being charged with all the murders and attempted of a federal agent.”
“Huh, guess working for the government pays off.”
Rossi laughs along with you, only stopping to get you a glass of water when you start coughing. He helps you drink it and smiles a little.
“I thought you died,” Rossi mumbles after a little while. “You just slumped into Spencer and I…God, I don’t know what I’d do, what any of us would do, if we lost you.”
You give a soft smile, taking Rossi’s hand in yours. “I’m here though, aren’t I? You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
Rossi chuckles, wiping a tear that was threatening to spill. “Yeah. Nothing can kill you.”