Title: The Flickering Flame of Hope
By: Daisyangel
Pairing: Garcia/JJ
Rating: PG-13
A/n: written for the fanfic round 14 All The Colors of the Rainbow challenge over at the Chit Chat on Author's Corner forum. My characters were Penelope Garcia and Jennifer Jareau. My sentence: The golden, yellow flame burnt out, leaving not only their hearts but the entire room engulfed in darkness.
Summary: Written for CCOAC fanfic round 14 All The Colors of the Rainbow challenge. Reid is kidnapped while working on a case will the team find him in time?

***

"How does he always manage to do this?" Garcia asked the media liaison as they sat in the police station in Columbia Missouri.

"I don't know. I'm just glad you came out on this case to begin with so you can help us find im faster,"" JJ replied. The team had been called to Missouri to help on a case. Six men strongly resembling Reid had been taken, tortured, then killed within the last six months. Each man was kept and tortured for a month before being killed and dumped where they could easily be found. Two days later the next man was taken and the cycle started all over. Reid had been taken from the most recent crime scene two days after the body had been dumped there. He'd gone back to see if they'd missed anything and for some reason the officer that had been assigned to go with him had gotten distracted and let Reid be kidnapped. Needless to say both Hotch and Rossi had that officer's head on a silver platter.

XXXX

A beep from one of Garcia's computers alerted them to another video clip. The only glimpses they'd been given of their friend and co-worker over the last week had been in small video clips. Some of them depicted the torture he was enduring and others just showed him sitting in a roo with a flickering candle as his only light source.

XXXX

This video appeared to be a video of Reid half sitting, half lying on the ground with all his bruises, cuts, and burns visible for everyone to see.

"O, Spence, I'm so sorry," JJ mumbled.

"Stay strong, sweet cheeks. We're all working as hard as we can to find you," Garcia assured him. They weren't sure if their words could be heard by their missing friend, but that didn't mean they weren't going to try. The computer tech was using every program and piece of software she could think of to try and find the missing agent.

"Is it just me or does it look like the candle is going out?" JJ whispered. Garcia nodded it looked like that to her as well. She hoped they were wrong, but a moment later they were both proven right. The golden, yellow flame burnt out, leaving not only their hearts but the entire room engulfed in darkness. They just hoped they found him soon and especially before their month deadline. None of them could handle it if they lost the young genius. He was too important to them all.

***

"Talk to me, baby girl," Morgan answered.

"I have an address," she said excitedly.

"Give it to us," Hotch said. Morgan had put the phone on speaker when she told him she had an address.

"It's 1433 Walnut Street. I just sent it to your phones.

"Thanks, Garcia, we're heading out to get him. Stay close to your phone and we'll call you when we have him," Rossi instructed.

"Will do, Garcia out." As quickly as they could, they rushed to the SUV's and headed for the address Garcia had given them.

XXXX

"JJ, you, you, Morgan, and Emily take the front. Rossi and I will take the back. Let's go rescue Reid," the unit chief instructed. Nodding in agreement the agents left to take their places. On the count of three, Morgan kicked the door in and everyone rushed in. Rossi had done the same at the back of the house. They caught sight of a man trying to run.

"FBI, freeze!" Rossi shouted. The man looked around and after seeing every gun trained on him he surrendered. He knew he would be no match for the agents. Once he was cuffed, Morgan and Prentiss ran towards the basement door he'd accidentally left open and hurried down the stairs. At the bottom they found a barely conscious Reid.

"Reid, it's Emily, can you hear me?" the female agent questioned.

"Em'ly?" came a small voice.

"Yeah, it's me. Morgan's here as well," she said softly.

"Hey," Reid croaked.

"Hey there, kid. Come on, let's get you out of here. I know Garcia will be glad to see you," he said as he untied the younger man then covered him with his jacket and carefully cradled him in his arms until the medics could get there. As if on cue the paramedics came into the basement and quickly placed Reid on a stretcher and after ensuring he was stable they headed out of the basement and began moving quickly towards the ambulance, Morgan keeping pace. He was just glad that they'd found Reid in time. He didn't even want to think about what would have happened if they'd been too late. Pulling out his phone he dialed Garcia. He knew she'd be just as relieved as he was.

Finished!

A/n, sorry for the crappy ending. I didn't know how to finish this story, but didn't want to leave it incomplete.

***