Virginia, 2014

JJ hated that feeling and she wasn't even talking about Hastings' hands on her. She hated it too. She hated the feeling of his skin on her, she did, but that feeling... That feeling of being so helpless, unable to defend herself... That feeling of being used as nothing more than a bargain chip so Cruz would give them his damned codes... She hated it. But, right then, she couldn't do anything about it. So she kept her face stoic, her mouth shut. She knew Hastings would get off on JJ's pain and fear and that satisfaction... That satisfaction she wouldn't give him.

"Take your time, Matt." Hastings smirked over at Cruz, who was crouched down in front of the same computer they had given her for her codes. He was beaten, bruised, defeated... And as he turned his face to her to take a look at her, she knew what he was thinking - he wanted to break. Not for him, but for her. "I've been thinking about this for years."

"Matt, don't." JJ choked in her own words, trying to ignore the feeling of Hastings' hands opening up the buttons of her jeans. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine."

Cruz tried to believe her. He truly did, but he knew better. JJ wasn't fine. She was far from fine and Hastings wasn't bluffing. If he needed to, he'd do to JJ as he pleased. And that, Cruz would never allow.

"Ok, ok, that's it. Just stop!" Cruz pleaded, as JJ sobbed, feeling the guilt starting to creep up in her throat. "I'll do it. Just stop."

JJ swallowed hard then, watching as Cruz finally looked away from her with teary eyes and reached for the computer in front of him. JJ whimpered when Cruz started to type and, as soon as he was done, the one man who had been helping Askari and Hastings with torturing her and Cruz, picked up the computer and watched as the codes started to appear in the screen.

"We're in." He announced, as Hastings smirked. "It worked."

With a pleased nod of his head, Hastings offered his partner a pen-drive.

"Start with base security protocols and covert deployments." Hastings said, before finally leaving JJ and walking over to Cruz instead.

The man groaned and yelled when Hastings tugged at the chains around his wrists to get him hanging from the ceiling again and JJ shook her head, looking away from her friend as he struggled.

"Now that we have access..."

JJ could swear Hastings reached for his gun, but, thankfully, before he could do anything properly, the lights in the room flickered. Hastings stopped then, looking around surprised before groaning as he glared at Cruz and JJ. They had found them - whoever it was that had been looking for them both, they had found them. And, as much as he wanted to kill them, Integrity was more important and he had it now.

"I'll call for helo extraction. Tell the men to meet me upstairs." Hastings told his partner, before turning around to look at Askari. "You know what to do."

JJ felt a shiver shake her whole body. Askari knew what to do and what he had to do was kill her and Cruz. She frowned, taking a moment to silently plead that her team had truly found them. Please, please... Please let it be them outside that room. She needed it to be them outside that room.

"We don't have it all." Hastings' partner said, as soon as Hastings grabbed the computer from his hand.

"We have enough." Hastings said, pulling the pen-drive from its slot before turning to Askari and nodding again and leaving the room without another word.

JJ breathed in, holding her breath as if that could have hidden her from Askari somehow. Truly, she thought she was dead already now. She was as good as, if she had to be honest, but, instead of pointing his gun at her - or at Cruz -, Askari loaded his gun and, swiftly, turned to his partner, pulling the trigger in a sudden motion.

JJ let out a surprised yelp, looking away as the man fell to the ground in a puddle of his own blood. Before she could even properly register anything, Askari turned to walk over to Cruz instead and JJ suddenly felt a wave a terror washing over her.

"Stop!" She pleaded, but Askari paid her no mind. "No!"

"Thank you, Matt." Askari smirked, as he stood right up close to Cruz, with his gun leveled at his stomach.

"No!" JJ yelled again, whimpering when Askari pulled the trigger. "Matt!"

JJ was forced then to watch as Askari freed Cruz from his chains, only to see him falling to the ground, dripping blood much like Askari's partner. But then, again, before she could even start to process anything, Askari started to creep out toward her.

"No..." She shook her head, trying to wriggle away from him despite the chains on her wrists. "No. No!"

JJ felt his gun against her side, and then, she heard a gunshot. JJ waited for the pain to come. She waited for the blood to pour out, she waited for death, but it never came. Instead, a loud thud was heard behind her and JJ felt a warm touch in her face - warm, familiar... Something she hadn't felt in hours.

"Jay..." A familiar voice called, but JJ couldn't quite place it. "JJ, it's okay now. Open your eyes."

JJ hadn't even realized she had her eyes closed, but at the request, she obeyed, opening her eyes and breathing out in relief when she found the same old brown eyes she had always seen as a safe haven staring back at her.

"Dani..." She whimpered out the name, almost afraid she was hallucinating again. But, this time, she knew she wasn't. She could feel Dani's hand on her face - real, this time. She was there. She was there to save her. "I knew they'd call you. I knew it."

Dani smiled gently then, her eyes still worried and full of concern for JJ, but her touch was gentle and her voice was sweet as she spoke to her.

"All right. Shh..." She practically cooed, helping JJ out of her chains as she held her up when JJ stumbled as soon as she was out of her restraints. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." JJ said, as Dani frowned. JJ nodded, though, stepping back from Dani to show her she could stand properly without help. "Help Matt, please."

With one last look at JJ, Dani decided she was well enough to be left alone for a second. JJ watched as Dani walked away from her to kneel beside Matt with Hotch. She could hear them talking to each other, but as JJ looked around, she knew she couldn't stay there. She saw Askari laying on the ground, his gun nearby. JJ assumed either Hotch or Dani had shot him down, but, at the moment, she didn't particularly mind. Reaching for Askari's gun, JJ took one last look at Dani before slipping out of the room.

"Hastings is headed to the roof." Cruz mumbled, groaning a little when Hotch pressed against his wound again. "You have to stop him."

"Comms aren't working down here. He's lost a lot of blood." Hotch said, turning to look at Dani. "How's JJ?"

"She's standing, but that's..." Dani stopped herself when she turned around to where she had left JJ only to notice she was not there anymore. "Where the hell did she go?"

"She went to get Hastings." Hotch said.

"It's personal for her." Cruz said.

"Go help her." Hotch nodded at Dani. "I've got him."

"Okay." She said, before looking down at Cruz with a small smile. "Don't die."

"I'm not planning on it." Cruz mumbled back at her.

With that, Dani nodded, gripping her gun in her hand as she stood up to rush after JJ. As she passed by the warehouse, Dani could see the BAU team shooting down some of Hastings' men, but they seemed to be doing just fine and she had other priorities at the moment, so Dani paid them no mind, rushing after JJ as she chased down Hastings, running way faster than Dani had expected her to, considering everything she had just gone through. Dani could hear the team calling for her and JJ, but when JJ started to climb up a few sets of stairs toward what Dani could almost assume would be the roof, she tuned them out, rushing up the stairs as well.

When she finally reached the roof, Dani heard a few gun shots being fired and she jumped slightly in surprise, before looking around to try and locate JJ. In a second, Dani saw the blonde woman, leaning up against a wall as she hid from a wave of bullets that Hastings was firing her way so she rushed up to her, and leaned against the wall with her as JJ groaned in frustration as she checked her gun.

"I'm out." She mumbled.

"I've got it." Dani responded, stepping around JJ to take a look at Hastings while hiding behind the wall.

Dani could see him, across the room, half-hidden as well. Without thinking twice, Dani levelled her gun and shot at him, trying to hit him from a long distance and in the dark. She stepped back behind the wall for a second when Hastings shot back at her, but quickly recovered and put her gun out to shot back at him until she pulled the trigger again and nothing came out.

"Damn it..." She mumbled, hiding back behind the wall and showing JJ her empty gun as well.

JJ sighed, her blue eyes search Dani's in search of some answer of what to do next, but Dani didn't know. It wasn't until the two of them heard Hastings moving again that they decided that whatever they did, they couldn't let him escape. They looked up at the night sky when they heard a helicopter coming. Dani looked over at JJ and she could swear the woman was about to start crying.

"He's leaving." JJ said, as Dani shook her head.

"No, he's not."

And without a second thought, Dani rushed out of her hiding spot, running across the roof toward where Hastings had been. She climbed up another set of stairs, up toward the very edge of the roof, where Hastings was standing, probably hoping his helicopter would arrive before either Dani or JJ could do anything to stop him. He was distracted, looking down at his phone - most likely checking to see if whatever backup he had made of the documents in the Integrity files. Taking that moment to her advantage, Dani rushed over to him, bumping harshly against him and throwing the two of them to the floor.

Hastings groaned when he hit the ground, with Dani over him. Quickly, Dani startled the man, reeling her fist back to bring it down across his face, but Hastings held her hand back before she could hit him and rolled the two of them over so he was on top of her instead. Bringing her arm up, Dani hit Hastings with her elbow, straight in the nose. Hastings yelled, climbing off of her as he took a few steps back. Dani was quick to stand up again then, throwing yet another punch to Hastings' face and trying to use her own impetus to try and kick him in the stomach.

Before she could, however, Hastings recovered and grabbed her leg harshly before she could hurt him. He smirked, looking over at Dani and noticing the sudden fear in her eyes, and, taking her moment of shock to his advantage, Hastings tugged at Dani's leg harshly, causing the woman to fall into her back with a loud thud.

"You were never the best fighter, Moreno." Hastings teased, as he crept up to Dani. "I'm not even sure how you even survived that time in Afghanistan."

"Because she wasn't alone." JJ growled, as she rushed over to Hastings, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him back and away from Dani.

JJ stood in between the two of them, her whole body in a fighting stance, clearly ready to whatever Hastings could throw her way. She was ready now, she would fight back this time. She wasn't chained to the ceiling anymore, she wasn't unable to move anymore and Hastings wasn't hiding behind Askari anymore. Now, it was him and her and only them. Only them and the anger she felt for having been betrayed by him in such a manner, the anger she felt for what she did to her and to Cruz and to Dani now. JJ could hear her groaning a bit from behind her and knowing she was alive was pretty much the only thing keeping her up right now. Well, that and the way her blood boiled in rage and adrenaline at the moment, as she ran up to Hastings and kicked her leg up to hit his stomach.

Hastings huffed at the impact and took a step back from JJ, but when she tried to land a punch in his face, Hastings gripped her hand, grabbing her by the arm to throw her off balance. JJ staggered in her feet a bit, falling to the ground, but making sure to pull Hastings down with her and, with the velocity of their movements, the two of them rolled around the floor a little and straight to the edge of the roof.

JJ let out a scream as soon as she felt half of her body starting to slip from the roof, but kicked her leg when she felt Hastings nearby, sending him flying off the edge of the roof and into the abyss underneath. JJ tried to grip something - any edge, any corner, anything -, but her hands found nothing to hold and, suddenly, she was preparing herself for death all over again, but, just before she could fall all the way off the edge, she felt a strong grip around her arms and, suddenly, she was being held up by Dani.

"I got you!" Dani breathed out in relief when she noticed JJ didn't seem to be slipping away anymore. "It's okay. I've got you."

JJ looked down at the floor then, bitting her lip when she noticed Hastings sprawled out several feet down from her. From their position, JJ and Dani could see Rossi approaching Hastings slowly, his gun at the ready, just in case and, then, they knew that - even if Hastings had, somehow, managed to survive the fall - the rest of JJ's team would take care of him.

Dani wasted no time in pulling JJ back. The two women struggled a little to try and get JJ back in solid ground, but they did it and, as soon as JJ's feet hit the floor, she collapsed. Dani was ready to catch her, though, wrapping JJ up in a sweet embrace as she ran a hand through her hair and let her cry and sob and shake into her shoulder.

"It's okay, Jay... It's over now." Dani whispered, rocking her body side to side a little as she kept JJ steady in her arms. "You're safe. It's okay."

"Thank you." JJ breathed out, her voice sending shivers down Dani's spine as she just squeezed JJ tighter against her chest. "Thank you... Dani... Thank you..."

"You don't need to thank me, Jay." Dani shook her head gently.

"I... I didn't know." JJ whimpered, as Dani frowned, confused.

"What didn't you know?"

"If you would come." JJ said. "I wished you would. I hoped you would, but I... I wasn't sure, I..."

"I'll always come for you, Jay." Dani assured, running a hand over JJ's left cheek as she wiped away a stray tear running down from her eyes. "I'll always, always come."

"Thank you..." JJ whimpered out again. "Dani..."

"Shh... It's okay." She cooed again, as JJ sniffled and nodded her head as she sobbed once again. "I'm just glad you're alive. Now... Let's go take you to a hospital, huh?"

JJ pulled back from Dani then, her eyes meeting hers once more, but, this time, they weren't fearful, or full of hurt. This time, those beautiful, bright blue eyes from Jennifer Jareau held nothing but affection as she looked at Dani. It reminded her of JJ's eyes back in Afghanistan. The type of eyes that carried so much pain in them at all times but that, paired with that pretty smile she had, could light up a whole room when she wasn't even trying.

JJ had gone through too much over the past 26 hours, Dani knew, but, if she had anything to do with it, she would be back to that same old JJ Dani had met in no time. She would be back to the same JJ Dani had fallen in love with all those years ago.

"Come on... Up you go." Dani practically cooed as she held JJ stand up again. Holding her tight around her waist, Dani allowed JJ to lean against her with her arm around her neck. "Come on, let's go get you checked out."

"When you look long into an abyss... The abyss looks into you."