𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘. ( 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧 )

chapter twenty-two

TW: hospitals, mention of gun violence, mild gore, mention of medical procedures and fatal injuries, mild language

truth comes out, part three of three.

"time is what we want most, but what we use worst. " - william penn.

-

"Someone call the medics!" Derek dropped his gun and sprinted over to where she had collapsed. Spencer and Hotch converged onto Derek and Genevieve while Rossi and Emily ran over to Jack, who was still conscious, and attempting to sit up, wincing.

"Genevieve!" Spencer shouted, tumbling to his knees beside her, but keeping his distance, seeing that Derek was already tending to her. She had been shot badly in the lower hip, closer to her pelvis. Hotch was on the comms shouting furiously at the medics, updating them on the details of her injury and urging them to hurry.

"Damn it, woman, why would you do something so stupid," Derek cursed under his breath as he undid the straps of her bulletproof vest and pulled down the waistband of her jeans so that he could better see her wound. She let out a loud cry of pain at the movement, squirming furiously, her hands protectively covering her wound. He gently pushed them away. "Let's get her out of the sand," He told Spencer, his anger vanished and was replaced with determination, his only goal being to stop the bleeding until the medics got there. The young profiler nodded and slipped his hands under his sister's mid-back. Derek wrapped one of his arms around her waist so as to keep her supported, and then used the other arm to keep her legs up. They struggled to get a grip on the thrashing woman and counted to three before lifting.

She screamed at the sudden movement - the two were being as careful as they could, but lifting a muscular 5'6 woman who wouldn't keep still wasn't exactly an easy feat.

"She's losing a lot of blood," Hotch said warily, eyeing how pale the normally tan brunette's complexion was.

"There's dirt in her wound," Spencer noted, seeing the sand that caked around and in the bullet hole. The two set her down on a nearby patch of grass, where Derek unfastened his belt. He gestured for Spencer to lift up her stomach so that he could use the leather to fashion a tourniquet around her abdomen.

"Come on, Gen, stay with me, stay with me," He chanted as he tightened the belt as much as he could. She let out a low groan at the suffocating feeling of the restraint around her waist, and Spencer held her shoulders down so that she couldn't move again. Derek ripped one of the sleeves off of his shirt and used it to press against her wound. "WHERE ARE THE DAMN MEDICS?" He shouted.

"Here! They're here!" Hotch announced, waving a pair of the EMTs over to where the quartet were huddled. Genevieve's eyes were glassing over and her struggles got weaker.

"Look at her eyes! We're losing her!" Spencer cried out. The medics set the stretcher down, and asked for Derek and Spencer to back away. Spencer obliged, and it took Hotch repeating his name a couple of times before Derek looked up, and stood up, letting the two lift a now unconscious Genevieve onto the stretcher.

"I'll go in the ambulance with her," Hotch said, and sent Derek a sharp look as he opened his mouth to argue. Morgan, Reid, you meet me there. Get Emily and JJ to accompany Annike back to the precinct. Rossi will ride with Detective Gardener and the Unsub.

+++

"Ugh," Genevieve groaned. She opened her eyes, only to immediately shut them again, temporarily blinded by the fluorescent lights built into the ceiling. She tried to sit up, but a hand pressed onto her shoulder, pinning her down. She tried to slap it away, but got a gentle slap on the back of her hand in return. She cracked one eye open to find her assailant and saw Derek smiling down at her. She opened her eyes normally, and childishly stuck her tounge out at him.