Aaron Hotchner was not easily disturbed. Part of his job description was to be able to remain calm during stressful situations. But when the jet that was carrying him and the rest of his team got struck by lightning, his temperate facade fell away.

They had been coming back from a particularly difficult case in Campeche Mexico. The local authorities had called in their team when they realised what was going on was out of their hands. Someone had been abducting and killing all different kinds of victims with no age, race, or gender preferences. Eventually they found the man and realised that he suffered from schizoaffective disorder. He had claimed that God had made him do it and that the people he had killed were suffering from the sins of humanity. Hotch had needed a drink after that. But he never did get that drink. About 20 minutes into their flight back, the weather had started to turn sour. He watched out the window as the clouds darkened around them.

The pilot had come out of the cockpit and said, "We're experiencing some minor turbulence. The storm is getting pretty bad and it's not expected to get better anytime soon. If worst comes to worst, we may have to fly back inland and land the plane."

"Thank you," Hotch had replied.

"Jesus Christ." Rossi muttered under his breath as he buckled his seatbelt and curled his fingers tightly around the armrests.

"Relax Rossi." Reid said from his seat next to Morgan, "Only around 12 percent of plane crashes are due to weather. Ever since aircrafts have become more reliable, the main source of plane crashes has become pilot error. Since aircrafts are so complex, there is more room for tactical error, and since the pilot has to actively engage with the craft at every stage of the flight, there are various occasions in which something could go wrong. Only about-" Reid hadn't managed to finish his sentence before Morgan cut him off.

"Okay kid, I think he gets the point." Reid looked dejected for a moment before returning to his book.

"At least if we got into a plane crash I wouldn't have to deal with all this paperwork." Emily quipped.

"Strauss would probably hunt you down and make you do it even if you were on a remote island." JJ teased back.

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Rossi gritted out through clenched teeth. Morgan laughed and Hotch had even cracked a rare smile.

Then it happened.

Hotch had just closed his eyes to try and get some sleep. Suddenly he felt a jolt go through his entire body. His eyes flew open. He looked around desperately trying to find the source of the disturbance.

"What the hell just happened?" Rossi demanded, his eyes wild.

"Is everyone alright?" Hotch asked. He looked around meeting each of his teammates eyes. A moment of calm passed over him, but it only lasted a second.

The plane started it's nose dive. Hotch didn't even have time to react. He floated up in his seat as he fell in time with the plunging aircraft. He grabbed onto the arm of his seat in a frantic attempt to ground himself. The plane suddenly leveled and he felt himself slump harshly back into his seat. The pilot came rushing from the front of the plane, looking frantic.

"You all need to prepare yourselves for an emergency landing. We've been struck by lightning and the vertical stabilizer came completely off. I've managed to level us out but we're still definitely going down. If I am correct, there should be an island close to here but a water landing would be best in this situation. There is an emergency inflatable raft located in the back. You guys go ahead and get that ready. We need to be as quick as possible, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." and with that he surged back forward into the cockpit.

"Oh my God" JJ uttered as she got out of her seat. Morgan also stood and shakily made his way to the back of the plane. Hotch got up and clambored his way over to Morgan, steadying himself on the back of the seats on his way. Together they pulled out the bright orange raft which immediately started to expand. For a second the only sound was Rossi muttering soft prayers to himself.

Hotch looked at each of his teammates in turn; Rossi was praying to himself with his eyes closed, JJ was standing a little ways away from the raft and her eyes were searching frantically, Morgan stood next to him trying to busy himself with the raft, Reid stood the furthest away his face pale and eyes wide, and Emily was the only one still sitting down, her shiny black hair hiding her face. Hotch himself tried to remain calm and put on a brave face for the others sake. But he was genuinely afraid. He could deal with people. People were predictable and he could always figure out what they were going to do next. But nature was erratic and uncertain. He had no idea what was going to happen next.

The pilot came back out from the cockpit and said, "alright, I have the plane hovering about 20 feet above the water, but I can't keep it that way for long. You're going to need to jump. I'm going to open up the door and you will go one at a time and jump on to the raft."

Before anyone could reply, Rossi said, "are you insane? If we do that we'll die."

"You'll die if you stay here." the pilot stated simply. Hotch envied the calm demeanor that the pilot managed to keep.

"I'll go first." Hotch said. He knew that it would have to be him. He was the leader after all.

"Okay. We have to do this quickly. I'll go up front, open up the door, and try to keep this baby level for you."

"What about you?" Prentiss piped up.

"This is what I'm trained for. I'll figure something out." he replied. Before any of them could argue, he flashed a smile and disappeared into the front of the plane.

Hotch braced himself against the doorway, holding the now fully blown-up raft in front of him. He loosened his tie and took a deep breath in. The door opened up exposing him to the harsh elements outside. Rain assaulted his face and the wind whipped savagely. His heart beat fast against his chest at the thought of what he was about to do. Before he could think any more, he gripped the raft tightly and jumped. For a second he was falling through the air and an odd calm overtook him. Then he was brutally pulled back to reality as he hit the water with a jolt. In his dazed state, he had somehow managed to get the raft underneath him so that now he was sprawled on his back on the springy orange plastic.

He sat up and blinked away the rain until he could see JJ waiting in the doorway of the plane. He nodded his head in consent and saw her small form leap through the air. She landed next to him and expertly rolled across the 7ft by 4ft raft, significantly lessening the impact.

Next came Rossi, landing slightly less gracefully than JJ on his backside. He rolled over with a groan and cleared the way for the next to jump: Emily. When she landed, she nearly missed and Hotch had to grab on to her arm to steady her. She looked up at him gratefully and moved to where the others were. Next was Spencer. When he jumped, he really did miss the small orange dinghy and landed with a splash in the surrounding waves. Hotch looked over the rim, eyes desperately scanning the dark angry waves. A second later, he saw brown locks bob above the surface. Hotch reached out to grab onto the collar of the young agents sweater vest and hoisted him onto the boat. Reids eyes slowly blinked open and he looked up at JJ, who was cradling his head in her lap the way only a mother could.

Hotch looked up to Morgan and gave him the thumbs up signal to let him know it was safe to come down. The dark skinned agent didn't need any more encouragement and he plummeted out of the plane. He landed with a soft impact on the elastic material. Hotch let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding when all of his team was safely on board.

Hotch looked up, searching for the pilot. He looked up to the cockpit and saw the man gazing down upon him. It was far away but even with the distance he could make out the figure smiling a mournful smile. Hotch watched as the man sat back in his chair, away from the controls of the plane and closed his eyes. The plane, with nothing holding it up any longer, plummeted to the shadowy water below.

Hotch blanched and lurched forward. His attempt did nothing however as their small craft was swept away in a wave from the splash the plane had made. It took all of his energy just to hang on to the edge. He looked around, trying to get a look at the quickly disappearing jet. Not even a glimpse. Hotch said a silent thank you to the man that had risked his life to save all of theirs.

"Is everyone alright?" Hotch found himself asking for the second time that day. He was met by silent nods.

"Where's the pilot?" Morgan asked.

"I saw him go down with the plane. I think he knew all along that he wasn't going to make it out alive so he did everything he could to protect us. He was a very brave man." the team was stunned. JJ lifted her hands to her mouth and let out a slight cry. All the while the rain pelted them, water pounding at every surface it could reach. Hotch's hair was plastered to his face and he did the best he could to wipe it out of his eyes.

Everyone huddled together on the uneven surface of the raft, trying their best to ignore the rain and stay warm. They were all obviously cold, but Spencer seemed to be fairing the worst, having fallen into the frigid sea only moment ago.

Suddenly, they lurched to a halt, bumping up against something solid.

"We've hit land" he announced.

"Thank the Lord." Rossi breathed as he stumbled over to where they had hit something. In the dark and the rain, it was hard to see exactly where they were, but it seemed to be some kind of landmass. Hotch stepped over the front of the boat, his socked feet (having lost his shoes in the commotion) meeting rough coral under a few feet of water. After being on an unsteady raft for so long, he was a bit shaky on his feet. The coarse coral bit into his calloused feet, the socks offering little protection. The others followed suit, slowly getting out of the unsteady raft. The cold water ebbed up his pant legs and clung to his ankles, but that was the least of his worries right now. He grabbed onto the edge of the raft motioning for the others to do the same and lifted it slightly out of the water.

An unspoken silence fell over the group as they trudged closer to what seemed to be a small island. Hotch could make out the slight form of trees in the distance. The rain had eased up slightly but still made it harder for him to see and everything was shrouded in a light fog.

After a couple of minutes, they reached the end of the coral and a soft welcoming sand took its place. Hotch's sock clad feet left firm footprints leading a trail up from the waters edge. They all stopped to catch their breath and looked around. The island was small and the sandy beach stretched out to the left and right until it gave way to the curvature. A little ways inland, there were twisty trees that looked to be mangroves. When Hotch looked further, he could see that the island was more of an atol, and there looked to be some sort of lagoon past the thin scattering of trees.

"What is this place?" Emily asked, voicing all of their inner thoughts.

"I think we may be on one of the nine islands of the Marquesa Keys. There are three main islands in the gulf of Mexico, The Marquesa Keys, Scorpion Reef, and Cayo Levisa. Our flight path would have put us most directly over the Marquesa Keys. It's about 30 miles West of Key West and it is technically a part of the Florida Keys. It has zero inhabitants but is visited about twice annually by members of the National Wildlife Refuge. The islands cover about 2.54 square miles of land. Certain parts of the island are protected by the National Wildlife Refuge. That's really all I know." Reid said

"All he knows." Morgan snorted

"Alright, that's good Reid. It's good to have a bit of background information. I say we make a temporary shelter for the night to try to get out of the rain, and we can regroup and figure things out tomorrow." Hotch said. Everyone nodded, clearly weakened from the days events.

"Morgan, Prentiss, come help me use this raft to provide temporary shelter from the rain. The rest of you, see if any of our cellphones work out here." The team happily obliged, clearly pleased that they had something to work on.

Hotch Grabbed one end of the raft and Morgan grabbed the other while Emily walked alongside them. When they got to the treeline, they set the raft down.

"Look for two sturdy trees that we can lodge the raft in between to make a makeshift shelter." Hotch instructed.

After a moment of looking Morgan called out, "Over here guys, I think I got somethin' good." Hotch and Emily strode over to him and saw two trees about 7ft apart that looked solid enough to hold the raft between them. Hotch grabbed the raft and hoisted the bulk of it onto his shoulders. Emily and Derek grabbed either end and helped him to wedge it between the trees. When they were done, they has a solid little shelter. Hotch stepped back and admired their handy work. It wasn't perfect but it would keep them dry.

"I'll go get the others," Emily said as she turned and walked in the direction that their friends has been.

"This is bad, isn't it Hotch?" Morgan asked. Hotch turned and saw Morgan looked unnerved. He was surprised to see the look of anguish on the usually sober agents face.

"Yes, it is. But we're going to get through this how we always do; as a team."

"I'm scared, man." Hotch was stunned to hear this admission of fear from the prideful man but managed to keep his expression even.

"We've been through worse than this. We'll get out of here. I promise you." Morgan didn't say anything but looked grateful to the older agent. At that moment, Emily came back with the rest of the team.

"Any luck with the cell phones?" Hotch asked them.

"Nope. All drenched. I always knew those godforsaken machines were useless." Rossi growled. Hotch sighed. He hadn't exactly expected it to work but the hope had still managed to creep into him, infecting him like the plague.

"On a brighter note, the shelter looks good!" JJ exclaimed. Hotch could tell she was trying so hard to stay positive. He knew she was putting on a brave face for them.

"Thank you. It's only temporary, but it will do for now." he replied. They all settled down underneath the semi-dry shelter. They all huddled together, bodies pressing close in search of warmth. In normal circumstances, Hotch would have been embarrassed by this, but these were not normal circumstances.

For a while, the only sound that was heard was the chattering of teeth, the howling of the wind, and the rhythmic beating of the rain. It was disturbing to the unit chief to not be doing something, to not have a plan. But he could tell that what the team needed most right now was a moment of rest. After the sudden adrenaline burst, everyone was feeling exhausted, including him. Soon they would come up with a plan, but right now, the best thing to do was wait. As sleep slowly started to claim him, the last thing he thought was that he was damn well sure that he was going to get his team off this island.

Authors Note: Okay so this is my first attempt at fan fiction so let me start off by saying: I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT PLANES. I've never even been on one. So as some of the commenters suggested, I did some research to try and make this as accurate as I can. I know its not perfect and if anyone has any suggestions for how I can make it better, please let me know. Obviously, I am inexperienced, so any feedback would be welcome. Thanks for the read.