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𝑬 𝑽 𝑬 𝑹 𝑮 𝑹 𝑬 𝑬 𝑵
❝ 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔...𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚝 ❞

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ㅤ𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐈𝐂 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄. It was an almost terrifying sight; seeing something who always seemed to be smiling and making jokes, all of a sudden turning into a robot. But no one could blame her for her expression, and even Spencer was looking at her with an indecipherable—yet similar to everyone else's—expression.

After retrieving Ingrid and watching how John schooled the young girl on her mistakes and misconceptions, she was already becoming irritated. Irritated with the lack of respect, for others and for others' cultures. And then they stormed a motel in the middle of nowhere, and finally met the so-called 'grandfather'.

She became so visibly angry that, while the others were concerned, John became alarmed. He knew the signs; shaking hands, radiating heat, irritability, and for May specifically, a flushed face. So he was always lingering beside her, calming her down by his own presence. He also made sure to ask for her father's number—just in case.

But after apprehending Jackson Cally, and in return calming the raging wolf that was bursting to come out of her, she was able to find her footing again. It was enough to make John's concern quell for a bit; enough not to gain the rest of the team's curiosity again, specifically Spencer's. Unlike the others who didn't care much about May and John's friendship—though they wondered, especially Derek—Spencer was the only one suspicious.

Could be because he was suspicious about May now, in general.

After being given more information and officially concluding May's prior suspicions about Jackson Cally's motives, she and the others—namely Hotch, Elle, Derek, and John—proceeded to interrogate the 'Grandfather' in a way that gave him the audience he really wanted. But it only made her angrier than ever.

Eventually, they separated, with Elle and Derek heading back to the station to further discuss everything with Spencer and Gideon while taking Cally with them. On the other hand, she and Hotch drove John back to the reservation. As they were walking back to the car, John whispered to her how much he admired her self-control.

There was a bit of an awkward silence in the car. As Hotch drove, he was unsure of how to approach both John and May, who were quite obviously taking this case very personality. John sat in the front with him while May sat right behind the passenger's seat, so instead of trying to start a conversation, he let the both of them stew in their anger.

May was picking at the lint of her jeans. She was now wearing a black shirt and dark-washed jeans with some black sneakers, showering and getting changed as soon as she could. Her shoulder-length hair was messy, so for once, it was tied into the world's tiniest ponytail.

The sound of his phone ringing broke the silence. He decided to put it on speaker.

"Hotch, where are you?" Gideon asked from the other end. "Are you at the reservation?"

"Not yet," Hotch frowned. "What's going on?"

"We figured out his plan."

"What's our plan?" May cautiously asked, eyeing John's stoic face, his expression set in a frown. They were walking through the dark halls of the reservation's school, preparing for Cally's little army to rain terror upon the tribe.

John turned his attention to her, but before he could speak, he heard Hotch prepare his gun. "Put that away," he instructed.

"What?" Hotch wondered.

"You don't need it. Use your baton," he said. At Hotch's scoff, he continued, "There are many paths to the same place, trust me."

"Just so you know, you sound like a fortune cookie."

John turned to May once more, whose eyes had gone a bit wide in alarm. "You...I need you to be strong. If something happens..."

"John..." She warned, eyes flickering to Hotch whose frown turned to her, confusion swimming in his eyes. "You know my duty is to protect people from...Cold Ones."

He sighed, looking at Hotch for a second before looking at her, relaxing his expression for a moment to address her. "I understand," he stated, "I won't force you into it. But please, do your best."

She slowly nodded, hands clenching and unclenching. "I will."

"You watch over the kids."

"I will."

Soon, the trio dispersed, and May quickly headed over to where Jane and the rest of the kids were hiding. She made sure to help keep them calm, her eyes meeting with Jane every few moments to make sure she was also doing fine.

There were lots of bangs and grunts from outside, causing some of the kids to jump and let out tiny whimpers of fear. May clenched her jaw, hands immediately shaking at the thought of anyone wanting to harm innocent children. In her mind, they were cold and heartless people, who were far worse than wild animals. Because while wild animals are instinctive and kill only because of necessity, these so-called 'intelligent' humans are choosing to hurt and kill.

A gunshot was heard from a distance, but it was far enough that it made the two adults assured enough to think that those intruders were far away from where they hid.

All of a sudden, it was silent, and a ringing began to pound in May's ears. She tilted her head, closing her eyes to focus on what she was hearing, when she realized that they were footsteps, and they were getting closer and closer. She immediately—but silently—stood up to make her way towards Jane.

"There's someone outside," she whispered as quietly as she could. Jane's breathing faltered, but she quickly held her hand in comfort. "Keep them close."

"What will you do?" Jane asked.

"Fight if necessary, and keep him as far away from you as possible."

There was a shuffling sound from right outside the door; a sound that everyone heard. The kids stayed silent, but most of them already had tears in their eyes, trembling in fear of what might happen. Jane made sure to keep them as far away from the door as possible, and May made sure that she was between them and the shooter.

The doorknob rattled, and a low chuckle echoed. "You're all in here, aren't you?"

With bated breath, everyone wondered what would happen next. But with her enhanced hearing and faster reaction time, May immediately jumped in front of the door as soon as she heard a gun cock. It all happened so fast in the eyes of the humans, but for May, it seemed like an eternity.

A .22 caliber pierced through the door and embedded itself into her left shoulder. Groaning in pain, she gritted her teeth and stomped towards the door and, before the man—who laughed when he heard her—could do anything else, kicked it open as hard as she could, breaking the piece of wood off its hinges and causing the man to quite literally go flying.

Growling under her breath, she walked towards the severely weakened man who was now lying on the ground, picked up his rifle, and broke it in two with her bare hands. She threw the parts away to a random direction, fisted the man's shirt, and lifted him into the air with just her right arm.

The man's nose was broken and he was already bruising, to pass out. But his eyes went wide upon seeing the incredibly angry expression on May's face.

On normal days, May was already considered an intimidating person with her tall stature and resting bitch face. She was a domineering figure on a regular basis, but now that was angry—so angry that she's visibly shaking—and with eyes that looked like they could turn anyone into stone, she was terrifying.

She was about to once again throw the man towards a random direction—like a ragdoll—when she suddenly heard her name being shouted.

The ringing in her ears slowly faded, and soon, she could hear footsteps coming towards her, from the direction in which her back faced. But their scents were warm and comforting, familiar. That's when she realized it was John and Hotch.

"May..." Hotch was breathless, staring at the scene in horror. "What...?"

At that, she unclenched her fists, dropping the man unceremoniously to the ground.

John was the one who finally made her snap out of it completely. "The kids."

"Safe."

"And your shoulder?"

"What about it?"

"Black...you were shot," it was Hotch that answered. "May I...May I look at it?"

She finally turned to face him, and emotionlessly gestured towards her wounded shoulder, ignoring John who was hauling the now-unconscious man and leaving the room with him, presumably towards where the rest of them are. "Can you try and fish out the bullet?"

"I--"

"If you can't, I'll do it myself."

"May, I've called the paramedics."

"By the time they get here, the wound would have closed and I'd have a bullet stuck in me forever. I'll do it myself."

She then pulled out her switchblade that she always kept on her person. But before she did anything, she turned towards Jane. "Get the kids out of here."

Jane nodded shakily, glancing at Hotch before announcing to the kids that they needed to leave. Once the two coworkers were alone, May went ahead and sat on the floor, back on the wall to keep herself upright. She switched open her blade and--

"May--"

"Hotch, let me do it. You can help me by keeping me by shutting up for a second."

She then gritted her teeth, dropping the blade for a second to rip her shirt open around the wound. Before long, she was basically stabbing herself, fishing for the bullet that was deep in her. Hotch, without question, pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and kneeled in front of her.

"Bite into this," he said. She didn't hesitate to do so, grunting into the piece of fabric. She was lucky she her senses were heightened allowing her to feel exactly where the bullet was. Soon, she was able to scoop it out. The bullet dropped towards the ground, still covered in blood.

But Hotch's eyes were trained on her bullet wound, healing faster now that the bullet that was restricting it was gone.

He let out a shuddered breath. "You good now?"

May nodded and removed the handkerchief from between her teeth. "Yeah."

She then pushed herself up, grunting a little. Hotch quickly lent a helping hand, grabbing onto her unwounded arm and pulling her up. He then wrapped an arm around her waist to support her.

"Let's go and meet everyone outside. The team's on their way," he said. They began walking, but it was clear he was uneasy, and that a question was threatening to spill from his lips.

May sighed. "I'll tell you when we get back to Quantico. For now...keep this between us."

"...Okay. When we get to Quantico."

author's note: i hate college.

or at least, i currently hate how my college is rn. bc like, our schedule keeps changing and it's like we have no control over it. we've been back to school since august but there are still so many complications that i never have time for anything else.

so, i'm sorry if this update is late. as much as i love to write, my un-fixed schedule takes over most of my free time and i just wanna scream.

hope you guys enjoyed this tho. now one member of the team knows!! did y'all expect hotch to know first? or did y'all think it was gonna be a diff member; if yes, who?

anyways, love you all, and i hope to see you again soon. thank you for helping evergreen reach 100k reads!