The night swallowed the Earth and everything around you, into an overwhelming darkness. Shrouding the vast sky in a blanket of indigo blue, that bathed the land below it in it's haunting shadows. Forgoing the twinkling stars or even the brightest sliver of moonlight, for a twilight so immense it felt suffocating. For it felt as though the oppressive darkness was apart of the atmosphere that you breathed. Falling through the darkness, as though an inescapable black hole. Hurdling towards a destination you couldn't see, the bottom of the pit hidden away as the blackness around you seemed to travel on for eternity. 

Every breath, stinging with the humidity that lingered with lost rain showers and unavoidable fear in its tracks. The air felt thick, as you breathed it in through your lips that panted wildly out into the open air. The puffs freezing faintly in the few inches from your face, still imperceptible to your sight, but you could feel the minimal lash of it as it wafted back across your sweating flesh. For the night contradicted itself. With the moisture that lingered in every breath, lending to a humidity that made it feel more like late July rather than early October. But the chill in the autumn air, nipped at your exposed flesh as you ran through the still breezeless night. It froze your exasperated and exhausted breaths with the simple flick of Jack Frost's frozen finger.

The fallen leaves crunched beneath your sneakers that pounded the forest floor, feeling the pressure in which they hit the ground with, reverberating throughout your entire body. You could barely see what lined the forest floor below your feet, but you could surely hear every snap and crack it made, in the stifling silence that engulfed the darkness around you. Hearing the crunch of the dried up leaves, lost of their color as they were stomped to ripped up pieces in the dirt, that had been saturated with the late night rainfall. The rich scent of the Earth filled your senses, as the floor was damp from the fresh precipitation. Muddying the path your shoes clumsily sloshed through, side stepping thick roots ripping up through the ground and hidden rocks rolling your ankles. You could hear the squishing of your shoes as they hit puddle after puddle of thick and molasses like mud. The night was so still, as even the branches of the bare trees all around you seemed to lay at rest.  Allowing for every miniscule sound to be heard and send a tremor of adrenaline laced terror rushing repeatedly through your veins.

However, even as the adrenaline your body pumped furiously through you managed to keep you moving, it could no longer numb the pain shooting throughout your body. For as the muggy but chilled crisp air danced along the raw flesh wrapped thinly around your wrists like bracelets, from the pinching handcuffs that tore through your skin as though a sharp set of teeth, you could feel the sting immediately. Piercing your eyes with the bitter bite of tears at the sharp searing sensation that held your hands captive, just as the rusty set of metal had for days. It was a sharper pain, more abrasive and attention seeking. Whereas the wound on the side of your left thigh, was a throbbing ache. One that didn't crave your regard straight off the bat, but rather fed on the ache it slowly spread and consumed your leg with. It was a dull throb, as it swept upwards from the deep knife wound, through the surrounding discolored flesh and the muscles that slowly started to scream. Finally, after having been running on your wounded leg for longer than you could possibly begin to remember, forcing the overwhelming pain to the forefront of your mind. Consuming your body and your thoughts, as all you could think of now was the excruciating pain that had once been a throbbing voice in the background.

Staring ahead of you into the thick void of black, your eyes search for the faint outline of the figure running a few steps ahead of you. His heavy breaths heard in the echoing silence, alerting you to his constant presence but failing to make out the details of his shadow. Squinting your tear burned eyes for more than the thin outline of his broad back, that nearly disappears into the night with the dark fabric of his t-shirt and the silhouette of his clenched fists as they sway at his sides with each bounding step. As your eyes focus their sight on the man ahead of you, the obstacles of the haunting darkness around you reaches out their hands. For the thick base of a fallen branch slams into the bone of your ankle, forcing you off of your already swaying balance and crashing down on your hands and knees. Scraping the palms of your hands on the rough bark that coated the damp and dead tree branch, feeling the sting of newly ripped skin across the lines of your trembling hands. The knees of your blood soaked jeans scraped and ripped, feeling the oozing of the sudden cold mud through the tears.

Your parted lips releasing a pained grunt, a cry out into the silence of the darkening void, as your fall lands you straight on the sight of your swollen stab wound. The sight of his dark silhouette isn't immediate as your eyes shut in pain, but his familiar scent and the warmth of his exposed flesh is. For you can feel it as his hand darts out instantly, as your cry hits his ears and he runs his way back to your fallen body. His hands reaching out in the darkness and they settle over your shoulders, as he begins to take observation in the limited light of what's wrong. His warm breath fans over you like a thin cloud, as his panting isn't nearly as harsh as your own, but still evident in his breathing patterns.

"Hey, hey, hey," Derek Morgan is bent to your level, kneeling beside the fallen tree limb and his fingers press up and down your arms. Traveling from the tips of your shoulders, down to the edges of your elbows and back again. Almost as though he's trying to steady you as he looks you over in the shadowy dark. "you're alright, what happened? Where are you hurt?"

Gritting your teeth through the burning pain beginning to spread through the entirety of your thigh, you slowly lift your head and respond breathlessly. "I-I tripped and I fell right on my--on my leg."

Your eyes lifted with your head and slowly fell upon Derek's shadow. The faint outline of his towering body over your own, coming into view as your sight began to allow tiny details of his appearance to come into fruition in the overwhelming darkness. His eyes were trained downward, looking straight at you, but were beginning to drift towards the location of your wound. His muscles were tight, as you could see the visible rigidness of his biceps as his hands still gripped to your shoulders.

"Let me take a look." Derek whispered softly, in a tone that washed over you like a fluttering breeze. Light, gentle and calming. You could feel the entrance of a single breath, as his softly spoken words descended upon your pained body, for his soothing presence was enough to ease the rapid beating of your heart, just long enough to allow for your chest to expand into a much needed breath.   

Hearing a low moan rumble through the back of your throat, feeling the vibration shudder down your spine, your teeth grind harshly together as you pull your body up from the muddy forest floor. The whoosh of the chilled October air feeling bitter cold like December as it drifts across the saturation against your thighs. The wind finding the fresh mud and slowly seeping blood, and nearly freezing the form of moisture right to your flesh. With the help of Derek's strong and stable hands, you soon balance on the fallen branch that had tripped you to begin with. Feeling the prickliness of the torn bark beneath the underside of your legs, as you carefully outstretch your left leg towards Derek.

Even as your eyes had adjusted to the darkness, allowing you both the access to basic shapes and rough outlines of few recognizable objects, there was still very limited sight in the shadows of the dark night hours. But Derek Morgan still tended to your wound as intently as he would have if the sun had been at it's highest peak in the sky. His fingers, calloused and worn from the past three days, danced gingerly around the sight of your swollen and inevitably infected wound. Delicately brushing over the surrounding flesh that screamed out, feeling the sticky nature of the fabric now suctioned to your leg, by the blood that had yet to cease from flowing from the inflamed gash. The pressure, even as gentle as it appeared, made your face twist in pain as you winced with each inspecting touch. But he was swift and tried to see all he could of your injury in the darkness, in the most painless way he could provide.

The fabric felt distinctly colder as Derek's fingers disappeared, your eyes focusing on his close figure next to you, watching as he sat upward. The lines of his face were stern, but not in an angry way. They were creased and burdened in a certain degree of harsh pressure, in concentration. Watching his deep brown eyes, that nearly faded into the shadows swallowing up the atmosphere around you, focus on the sleeve of his t-shirt. Seeing the faint outlines of his fingers twisting into the dark material that covered his right shoulder, but only realizing what he's doing, when you hear the distinct sound of fabric tearing. The seams of the thread being ripped apart, a sound normally so soft sounding, now boisterous in the suffocating quiet of the surrounding wilderness.  

His fingers return to your thigh swiftly as though they had never left in the first place, although this time, he wraps the narrow strip of his cotton tee around the base of your wound. Only pausing once as his eyes dart up to meet your awaiting gaze.

"Hold onto my shoulders," Derek urges in a gentle tone, before his eyes fall back down to where his fingers work cautiously. Reaching out, feeling the steadiness of his broad shoulders underneath your slightly trembling touch, you understand his request immediately. For as his fingers fasten the cloth around your wound, tightening it like a tourniquet, scalding pain shoots through your leg. Causing your fingertips to dig into the muscle of Derek's shoulders and stifle your sob with the biting of your lip.

"I'm done, it's done now," Derek assures as you feel the intense pressure disappear from your thigh but leaving all of the remaining agony still firing beneath the surface. His hands press gently to the sides of your face, as he slowly brings your into his chest. Allowing for your teeth to let go of your now bleeding bottom lip and expel a cry out into the safety of Derek's warm chest. His fingers twisting gently into the wind blown strands of your matted tangles, letting you listen for a moment to the rhythmic and soothing beating of his heart. "it's okay, you're going to be okay."

Although you know Derek's soft reassurances are meant to calm your soaring anxieties and help ease an extent of your overwhelming pain, there is something in the calm words that flutter over your bleeding body like the flap of butterfly wings in the darkness, that cracks through the very last straw left standing after everything you'd experience the past three days.

Even as your heart aches as your hands glide down from his shoulders, pressing against the muscular swell of his chest and begin to push against the much larger frame, the emotion spiraling rapid through your veins overrides the guilt and cold vacancy once out of Derek's comforting embrace. Even as the darkness claims most of the foreseeable details in your surroundings, you are still able to see the confusion wash over Derek's facial expression. His eyebrows knotting a little tighter as the lines in his forehead crease a little further, as his eyes wash over your body that pulls away from his hold. But as he catches sight of the tears flowing their way down your cheeks, his expression immediately softens.

"Hey, it's okay." Derek whispers, feeling the chill of his words dance across the dampness of your cheek, as they form a faint cloud in the cold night air out in front of him.

"But it's not okay Derek!" Your voice cracks as it reaches a volume higher than a hushed whisper for the first time in days. Croaking as though you've lost the authentic nuances of your own voice. "None of this, nothing about this situation we're in right now is okay!"

There had been very limited moments in the span of your relationship with Derek Morgan, that anger and emotion simmered so high that it forced an outburst out of you and casted it down upon him. For you could feel the regret bubbling right alongside the pain and anger boiling inside of your chest and you could see the surprise reflected across the lines of his face. The taken aback rise of his eyebrows and the slight parting of his lips, as though he wanted to say something to help and defuse your anguish, but hadn't the slightest clue what to in that very moment. But you felt completely out of control. As though you couldn't stop your expelling of truthful but lashing words no matter how hard you could possibly try.

"We have no idea where we are Derek!" You cry out, blinking furiously through the salty blur of your flooding tears. "Look around us, we're in the middle of nowhere! We might still be in Virginia, but you don't know how long we were knocked unconscious! We could be states away by now, stranded in some God forsaken forest with absolutely no light to see where we're trying to go! And where are we even trying to go Derek, we don't know where the hell we are! I know you keep saying if we can just find help, if we can just reach the edge of a highway that we'll be saved, that we'll get back home. That maybe, just maybe, your team is out there looking for us. But were is that damn helicopter at Derek, huh? Three days and nobody has found us, nobody is looking for us here... because no one knows where the hell here is!"

For the first time since escaping into the depth of the darkness at the very cusp of nightfall, you are grateful for the lack of light. For it would mean you could see in full view, the expression worn across Derek's face as you cry out your pent up frustrations. Lashing him over and over again with your words, exposing a little bit of the searing pain burning through your body over his own.

"You keep saying that everything's going to be okay, that we're going to be okay, but Derek," You pause as your soaked lashes flutter slowly with the weight, staring up at his shadowed face through the darkness. "how is anything about what we just went through okay?"

It was in the silence that followed, that every wound that tarnished your flesh, every emotion that severed the fragile strings of your heart, the overwhelming fear that thundered like a storm within the pit of your chest, engulfed you like a tidal wave. Dragging you beneath it's surface and submerging you in the terrors that were far too raw in your memories.

For they screamed in vengeance beneath your skin. The raw cuts on your wrists from the rusty metal cuffs, seared as though tiny wildfires spread beneath the layers of chaffed skin. The bruises around your neck, they spoke up not only in the throbbing ache that continued to torture with every word you whispered, but in the voice of the hand who put them there. For the finger prints lining the swell of your neck, marring your flesh in inflamed red marks, made it feel as though his hand was still around your throat. Still squeezing the life from your lungs as he whispered things into your ear that made your skin crawl. You could hear him in the continuous throb around your neck. You could feel him in the pain that soared through your leg, the excruciating pain that sparked relentlessly through your thigh and thundered like the beating of a drum across the right side of your bruised ribs. 

The physical pain bellowed at the top of it's lungs in the overwhelming darkness, but the hidden pain silently ate away at all you had left. For the fear, that had completely taken over your body and never once gave it back, made it impossible to breathe. Even now, as you stood out in the open air away from the musty stale air of the hideous cabin he kept you locked up in, you still felt as though your body clawed at your lungs for a single breath. The emotions you had yet to sort through, the amount of trauma forced upon not only your body but your mind, it swirled like a hurricane in the forefront of your ever racing thoughts. But the longer you stared up at Derek Morgan, through the ocean of tears that overwhelmed your limited sight in the immense darkness, you could feel the breaks in your heart beginning to completely shatter. 

For that man not only abducted you, but Derek as well. What he put you through, what he inflicted upon your body, was far worse on Derek. However, the pain of seeing him in such a dyer situation, chipped away at your heart in ways a knife to your thigh could never touch. For three days, you watched as the man who drugged and stole you off the streets of Virginia, tormented Derek. Spewing venomous snarls at him in sickening amusement, as he beat him down to a pulp. For three days, you watched as Derek fought for each breath as your abductor released his sadistic fury upon his body. You listened to the cracks in his bones, from the wooden beams swung against his tied up body. The stale air of the dimly lit cabin became tainted with the stomach churning stench of his flesh and the bile forced up. You tasted nothing but the salt of your never ending tears, burning your bruised flesh raw as they trailed down your face, as you nearly lost your voice crying out to Derek. You felt helpless, watching him become torn apart at the hands of this man, as Derek did all he could to take the brunt of the abuse. Taunting him on, forcing your abductor to turn his attention away from you and unleash all the pain he could inflict upon Derek instead of you.    

"I know it's not," Derek's voice broke through the spiraling thoughts that drowned your mind, forcing your focus back upon his face and the reality that gripped tightly to your standing body in the darkness. "but we're still here... together. And that to me, is the best damn okay that I'm going to get right now, alright?" 

His tone wasn't angry, in fact it hadn't even raised a single octave. Although the exasperation and exhaustion was ever present in the soft whisper of his voice, his words lacked the emotion fueled anguish that you had unleashed like a leather whip upon him only moments prior. And it was in that calm demeanor, that was so unexpected and so unnaturally composed for this heightened type of situation and after your sudden outburst, that you felt the tension in your body melt away. As though his soft tone was the fire that burned the frozen ice from your shoulders, freeing your body from the rigidness in which it stood, feeling as you sagged gently in the darkness. 

"I know nothing about this is okay, you don't think I wish I could go back and stop us from getting abducted like that? Chained up and beaten, violated, tormented like that?" Your body instinctually winced at the words, their connotations having a meaning that you could feel in the pain that consumed your flesh. But even as the truth bared within the horrible words stung, they made you look closer at Derek. They made your eyes adjust further in the darkening shadows, to the wounds of his own that sat fresh against his own flesh. For here you were, just moments ago, spewing unwarranted harshness his way after he had tended to your wound, never once complaining about his own. You could see it in the shadows now, the swollenness that engulfed his face. The lashes and bruises that nearly made his expressions fade into the dark. The cloth of his shirt, nothing more than a thin piece of cotton soaked and dried in the thickness of his own blood. Covering the bruises and broken ribs, but never once speaking to the pain that held his body it's own iron grasp. The guilt swallowed up the shards of your heart, that continued to break off one by one, in the painful pit of your chest. 

"You don't think I would've given everything for you to not have had to go through what we just went through?" The single break in his voice, as he lent forward faintly in the darkness as you felt the dance of his cool breath against your cheek, was the last break in your heart. 

"I know we're lost in the woods who the hell knows where, I know you're in pain and in need of medical attention. I know we need water and rest and damn rescue helicopter!" Although his tone raised just a fraction, it wasn't out of anger or even a raise in voice. It was pure and utter passion that drove his exasperated expression. "I know we just went through hell and I'm asking you to keep going, but it's because we made it out. We got out of that cabin and we're here, still alive and still fighting. Together. And I'm never going to stop doing that, fighting for you. But you can't give up on me, not now, alright?"

Blinking through the tears that you in no way now, could stop from flowing like a waterfall down your face, you cried at his words. You cried at his comforting tone, shadowed by exhaustion, pain and his own rightful sense of fear, that spoke the words that somehow he knew your broken heart needed to hear. You cried at the raw commitment you could hear in his voice, overflowing into his words like your own fresh run of tears, his endless promise to keep you safe and the fire that burned within him to uphold it. But most of all, you cried, because his words touched upon a nerve so frightfully inflamed, that you could feel it throughout your entire body. Derek Morgan never stopped fighting for you, for your well-being, for your life. All the while, he continued to put his own on the line in the process. How could you allow him to sacrifice himself the way he did and how could you have persevered this far, just to give up now?

"I love you," Derek leaned forward, as his words fluttered against your tear stained skin in a light cloud of chilled air. "and I tell you it's okay because I know it will be. Because it has to be and because I know I need to be that voice of hope right now for you."

You were thankful for the darkness, as it concealed the extent of your sobs. Hiding away your blotchy red flesh and the salt trailed mess gliding down your face. Allowing just enough ability to see the faint glint in his eyes as he spoke softly and to make out his comforting silhouette as it softly shadowed above your own. 

"Because I see how it's fizzling out for you, but it's there. I promise you, it's still there. It's hard to see it in this darkness and with all of the pain you're in, but it's going to be okay."

In the same breath that finished Derek's heartfelt expression, you stepped through the space lingering between the two of you and wrapped your arms around him. You didn't care in that moment, if your leg screamed out in fiery anguish or if you overextended your bruised ribcage. All you could feel was the rush of contentment as your arms wrapped around his neck in a tightened embrace, hearing the faint grunt of pain brush against your ear from underneath his breath, but as his own wounded arms coiled around your waist, you knew that Derek didn't care about the pain either. Not in this moment. Not as you cried against his chest, letting your tears soak through the blood stained cotton, as though the rush of salt could in some way take it away with it's harsh flowing current. Not as you stood holding each other, after three days of wondering if you'd ever get the chance to do so again. 

"I promise we're going to be okay." Derek's voice floated over the top of your head, feeling his warm breath soak through the damp chill that had clutched tightly to every strand of your matted tangles. "I promise that you will get through this, I swear it."

And you believed him. For although the hope you could see was dim, Derek Morgan was the small beacon of light flickering in the darkness. For his words of sincerity and love and dedication, his embrace full of warmth and much needed healing, his follow through on his promises made to you thus far, brightened in the dark void. Nothing about what had happened to either of you was alright and you realized Derek never believed it to be. He was simply being the strength you needed in the moment you needed it most, the moment you lost it. For Derek contrasted your tears, your overwhelming terror and pain, the defeat and trauma. He was your strength as you stood weak, your hope when all seemed lost, your comfort in the cold night, but most of all, he was the calmer of your heart. For his promises laid against your pounding chest and aching flesh, as though a balm in which you could begin to heal. For you knew everything wasn't alright, but with Derek Morgan, you slowly believed that one day it could be. 

The night was silent as it laid still in the darkness all around you, but it was in the depth of that uneasy void that every small sensation radiated boisterous. For the simple snapping of a nearby fallen branch, made your eyes shoot open. Your soaked lashes brushing against the cotton covering Derek's chest, that you felt instantly as every muscle in his body went rigid. Contracting tightly as he too stood alert at the small semblance of sound, that echoed in the shadows from an unknown direction. It was in the same moment that you both straightened on your feet, your arms falling back down towards your sides, that Derek's hand wrapped tightly around your mouth. As though he could feel the fearful gasp beginning to bubble up in the base of your throat. His hand warm as it pressed cautiously but with an unbreakable strength against your lips, silencing your panic that began to flow with it's own anxious heartbeat through your veins. Derek's lips gingerly brushed against the base of your ear, as his breath was a whispered hush in response to his quick startling action. 

Derek's arms were strong as they not only kept you silent, but dragged you quickly and carefully behind a nearby tree. Pressing your right shoulder against the rough bark as he loosened his right hand's grasp on your arm, but kept his left hand secure over your trembling tear soaked lips. His breathing was intense, as you felt it's hot streams blow down against the side of your neck. Sending shivers racing down your spine from the contact in the ominous darkness. It was the only sound you could hear in the silent void that trapped you within it's suffocating grasp. His chest was pressed against your back and you could feel the thunderous beating of his racing heartbeat. But it was as a single light, one dim and yellowed by old age, panned across the fallen foliage a few feet away in the distance, that you were suddenly thankful for Derek's sturdy sealing of your lips. For you knew as you watched the flashlight illuminate the forest floor, in the first sign of light since the flickering lightbulbs of the cabin earlier that evening, that your fearful cries would've graced the atmosphere given the first possible opportunity. 

The crunching of fallen shriveled up leaves continued to echo in the dense quiet, as the light of the dim glowing flashlight crept closer. Derek's hand tightened over your lips, as his own bent down and gently drifted the words that balanced delicately on the very edge of them into your ear, in the softest tone you had ever heard. 

"You need to run." Although his voice was nothing louder than the fluttering of a feather, it was his words alone that sent a chilling trickle down your spine. "I'll keep him focused on me, but you need to run. Don't stop for anything. You've got to reach a stretch of highway or a campsite, alright?"

Your heart hammered harshly within your chest as you listened to Derek's rushed and anxious words. Feeling it's rapid beating thrash against your bruised ribcage, begging to be freed as it pumped at a pace that nearly made the shadows around you begin to swirl. Your mind felt stuck, as though it wouldn't allow Derek's words to completely seep into the crevices of your understanding. Twisting in his tight hold, you managed to maneuver his strong embrace just enough so, that you could look up through your lashes up at his face. His hand having no choice but to fall from your parting lips, but he didn't stop you from whispering out your response in a chocking sob.  

"Not without you!" Your voice was nothing more than a croak in the night. For it was so overwhelmed by the blubbering of your cascading tears and choked in the very base of your throat from the suffocating fear. It was a fear unlike the one that held you captive for three whole days, this one you felt deeply radiating upwards from your soul. For the only thing that got you through the hellish nightmare that was your traumatic reality for the past 72 hours, was standing right in front of you, asking you to leave him. And the thought alone nearly broke what was left of yourself in two. 

Derek released a shaky breath, one between an exhaustion laced sigh and the slight tremor before the oncome of tears and you felt as it danced warmly against the raw blotchy skin of your face. Contrasting the chill that nipped at your damp flesh in the open air. His hands lifted and they cradled the sides of your face in the tenderest of grasps, feeling as his thumbs pressed against your flesh with a loving but strong pressure, as he dragged the soft pads of his own skin through the endless trail of fallen tears. Wiping away the salt that burned into your open wounds, replacing the harshness of burning tears with the calming sensation of his familiar touch and staring into your fluttering eyes, he whispered softly as he continued to erase the sorrow that fell like an open waterfall down your cheeks. 

"I promised I would always keep you safe. I'll find you, but you need to go before he finds us." 

You knew as you could see in the corners of your eyes, the light of the flashlight beginning to grow against the surrounding trees, that the time in the hourglass was almost out. You knew what you needed to do, you knew it the moment Derek's words filled your conscious for you could feel the ache immediately sprout in the core of your heart. And now, as the time had come, you felt as your heart popped open the stitches that Derek had placed there with his comfort and love, leaving the beating organ mangled and hanging loosely by a single thread. 

Choking on a silent sob that nearly closed off your airway, you lifted yourself up onto your tip toes and pressed your lips against Derek's. Feeling the swollen cut running against the bottom of his and the slickness of your tears, tasting the metallic salt that melded between your chaste action. Pulling back only as you felt the sobs growing too harsh in your throat, looking up once more into Derek's eyes, as they reflected in the shadowed glimmer the three words you wanted to say but physically couldn't. Once more, becoming the strength you needed, for he said the words that you couldn't in the moment you needed to hear them the most. 

"I love you."

The whisper sounded as though a crashing echo in the cavity of your mind, as your body tore away from his safe embrace and ran. Running away from the flashlight that grew closer with the impending danger of your captor. Running into the depth of the darkness without a single safety net or lifeboat anymore, having been forced to leave them behind. Running towards a safety you could only cling to the hope of, somewhere within in the darkness that appeared never ending. Running away from the one person you needed the most, leaving him in the darkness along with the part of your broken heart that had always been his. 

Voices clashed like angry titans in your head, as the strong sound of Derek's last three words pounded like a snare drum in your memories, mixed with the clear call of his voice to the abductor that wanted you both dead. You weren't sure what made your tears fall faster or your sobs escape harsher. The thundering memory of a painful goodbye or the sound of him reaching out towards the hands of pure danger. 

Your body screamed out in agony, begging for you to hear it's pain and stop your quick movements, but all you could think of was Derek telling you not to stop for anything. Not for the pain bellowing out through the inflamed knife wound in your thigh or the frightening sound of his voice fading into the darkness somewhere far behind you. For it gripped to your senses, the shadows taking away the sensation of sound and the precious gift of sight, leaving you running into a dark abyss without a single shred of guidance or composure to navigate it. 

His voice echoed only in your head now, having lost it long ago in the shadows trailing behind you. Even the "I love you" that you gripped so tightly to, began to fade as the pain soaring through your entire body began to take the reigns of your mind. Overwhelming your clarity in a way that slowly began to make the suffocating sobs lessen and the tears begin to dry out, as their remnants stiffened against your flesh like paper mache.  

Your heavy breaths were the only sound to be heard in the void of the dense forest, feeling the chill in the atmosphere slowly rise as a low fog shadowed around the base of your ankles. Brushing against damp moss that lined the bark of trees your weak body bumped into, one after another, as your running steps soon slowed to a trudging stroll. Your shoulders stung from the numerous cuts torn through fabric and through layers of your skin from low hanging branches. The soles of your shoes nearly worn down to the very last tread it could provide, as you legs grew flimsy. Your hands darting out to the tree branches to keep you steady on your feet that wanted so desperately to give out, with each continued step. But you couldn't stop. You weren't just doing this for yourself and your life, you were doing it for Derek. 

Your sense of time had faded with the senses of your surroundings. For the darkness slowly began to dissipate as a low glow in the distance, began to pan slowly across the dark blanket of black that had captivated the sky for hours. Bleeding light into the darkness that consumed the shadows of the forest, allowing a sharp marigold to pierce it's way through the tree line. The nature around you began to blend into a single swipe of color, melding together it's earthy brown tones with the newcomer light of pale peach, as the clarity in your vision all but gave out. Tripping over your own feet as the ground beneath it, although finally illuminated by a shred of light, became nothing more than an incoherent brush of watercolor. Unable to tell rock from patch of lasting dying grass. Your eyelids fluttered open and shut, as they were weighed down with the extent of your exhaustion and the pain that was slowly beginning to dull. But just as your legs began to wobble against a tall oak, with your eyes shut tightly for what you thought would be the last time, you heard a voice in the distance. 

Your arms were wrapped loosely around the tree as though it was the embrace of another, keeping you upright the best it could, as your worn out sneakers slowly slid against the frost dampened leaves below you. But as you listened to the distant sound of your name being called out, you used all of your lasting strength to part your lips and call out in the only voice you had left. 

"Help! Please!" It wasn't much, not even the croak it once was in the dead of night. It was barely that of a breath leaving your tongue, but slowly opening your eyelashes, you continued to cry out to those yelling your name. Even as the very last of your voice fizzled away into the open air, you couldn't stop calling out for someone.

They were nothing more than droplets of dark blue, bleeding against the canvas of the nature swirled around you. Seeping into the crevices of the dark brown that blended with the growing light that swept across the foreground. Only becoming shaper as they grew in proximity, soon becoming rough outlines of figures standing out amongst the fuzzy background. 

Your legs had fallen, giving out beneath you, as you sagged against the large base of the tree when they approached you. Watching them through the faint slit of your closed eyelids, as their hands stretched out and wrapped a large navy blanket around your shivering shoulders. The familiarity in her gentle demeanor engulfed you in the knowledge that Alex Blake had her arms tightly coiled around you, as Spencer Reid's instantly identifiable voice and soft presence alerted you to his own hands helping you steady up on your feet. 

They didn't try to ask you questions as they helped walk you towards, what in the blur of grey that you could see, was a gravel road not more than a half mile ahead of you. They didn't force you to keep your eyes open, they instead carefully guided you towards the gathered search team and ambulances lining the narrow road, while softly whispering notions of comfort for you to hear. But it was as your toes touched the bumpiness of the gravel, that your eyes slowly tried to flutter open. Just enough so, that it let in the light of the rising sun and the flashing fluorescent glow of the medical vehicles and police cars. As Alex and Spencer walked you slowly towards the second ambulance parked on the tight stretch of road, a sight coming from the neighboring medical vehicle captured your attention in a clear view. No longer a blur as the rest of your surroundings appeared, but a clean cut picture that stole your breath away. 

The crash of gravel clashing against each other sounded, as Derek Morgan's boots ran with harsh conviction against it. Engulfing you in his strong arms far before you had a chance to completely take in the sight of his presence. Replacing the sweet touch of two caring friend's hands, with the overwhelming embrace of Derek's loving warmth, permeating every inch of your aching body. His right arm coiled tightly along the base of your back, pulling you closely into his chest that was damp with the stain of fresh blood, that you would later learn to be that of your abductor's. 

The distinct metallic scent slowly lifting into the space, but no where near reaching the comforting familiar scent of his flesh. Although tainted with sweat, his own blood and the filth that lined him like a layer of skin, there was something familiar that still lingered beneath the surface that instantly breathed a breath of calm into your burning lungs. His left arm wrapped around the blanket bunched securely around your shoulders, as his hand raised and pressed strongly against your head. Feeling his fingers peek through the torn tangles of your wind blown strands, as he pressed your tearful face against his chest in the place of his beating heart. Derek's arms not only felt like a wave of comfort after a raging sea, but as soon as he wrapped you up immediately in his strong and safe embrace, it felt like you were finally back home.

"I've got you baby, I've got you. You're going to be okay. I promise I won't ever let you go."

And just as all of his promises made before, you knew that Derek Morgan would move Heaven and Earth to keep it. 

A/N: Wow, who else's heart feels a little heavy after this one??😭

I knew that this piece was going to be very emotional and angst filled. I knew it was going to pull at the heart strings, take you on a rollercoaster of always changing emotions and be on the more intense side. And I could only hope that those levels of emotion would transfer when I began to put the words to the page and reading it completed, I can say I am very happy with how it turned out!

This idea first began to come together as the dialogue that is spoken and aimed towards Derek in fear and overwhelming emotion, began to form in my mind with the idea of two people having completely different reactions and demeanors to a shared traumatic situation. Someone who was overtaken by the grief and fear, almost paralyzed by the anxiety and doubt and trauma. Contrasted by someone who wants to keep pushing forward, someone who worries more for the other than themselves and holds tightly to the hope in a hopeless seeming situation. I was very intrigued by those two differing perspectives and with the idea of adding some disagreement and a heated moment in the dialogue that I haven't really written yet in this book. 

I wanted to try my best to immerse you immediately in this dark and intense plot, bringing the surroundings and raw and honest emotions that might arise to life in my descriptions. And with over 7,000 words (that still makes me so proud to be able to write), I can only hope that you all were able to feel the emotional and haunting depth in this piece. I hope you all enjoyed it!!❤