A/N: This four part series follows on directly after The Road to Nowhere.

WARNING: This story has been rated M due to mild sex scenes and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that the content may not be suitable for younger readers.

PLEASE NOTE: This is NPH 6. If you aren't already following this series, I recommend that you make your way to my author profile page and start with NPH 1, as some or all of this will not make sense otherwise.

DISCLAIMER: I sadly do not own Criminal Minds, its storylines or characters. I can only claim to manipulate them for the purposes of this story.

Aftermath – Chapter 1 – The Guys

It was heard said in the months following the case in Arkansas that no one would blame Aaron Hotchner's BAU team if no one ever wanted to set foot in the state ever again. All three women had been placed on medical leave for a six month period and with half of the team out of action, the men were given a week of desk duty to catch up on the paperwork gathering dust and then were split up and given other work temporarily.

For Reid this was awkward, as he was placed on another BAU team. His team was used to his vagaries and the way his mind worked and though the people he was to work with did what they could to make him feel welcome, he just felt like an outsider who was never fully understood. He welcomed the times he was back at his desk between cases just for the familiarity, but more often than not, Derek was there too and he didn't feel quite so alone and adrift in those moments as they caught up on life and what they'd heard of how the ladies were progressing in their healing regimens.

Derek fitted in with his new team with the same ease he did everything and made his mark early on. The two women in the unit were gorgeous and single and clearly wouldn't mind being otherwise with him, but he had no inclination to make good on the clear signals he was receiving. Instead, he found himself calling on an old friend who'd once shown more than a passing interest in him and taking up with her. And though he spent a lot of time with Kevin helping to get a certain sexy tech kitten back up to health, his new lover more than understood having heard about recent events and supported him in whatever way she could as the months passed while never once making him feel guilty for his deplorable lack of attention.

Dave wasn't all that keen on the idea of being placed elsewhere in the FBI, so he took a temporary sabbatical to Cleveland and lost himself in the woman who had been his constant support for well over a year now. Neither were ready for a serious commitment, but that was alright since what he needed with her in that period of time had nothing to do with love and everything to do with proving he was still alive and kicking after the year he'd had.

For Aaron, being the boss turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Rather than staying saddled with work, as soon as the week of desk duty was up and his team was busy elsewhere, he took the next six months off to focus on Emily, their relationship, and getting her better, as Jack would put it.

They'd finished Pride & Prejudice in the hospital under her mother's watchful eyes and had then moved on to a Kurt Vonnegut book Aaron knew was a personal favourite of hers as they waited for news on her condition. The night after she was moved to a private room was the first time they were alone together without her mother hovering nearby and though the setting was hardly fitting for what he had to say, he'd informed her he was head over heels in love with her and no matter what the future held, she could be absolutely certain that he would be by her side through all of it.

He hadn't expected much, so having her burst into tears had thrown him for a loop, but she'd quickly assured him they were happy tears before she made him be absolutely clear that he had no doubts about them, even if she ended up with permanent back injuries that put her in a wheelchair. He hadn't hesitated even slightly as he'd insisted she was stuck with him for life.

The day they'd not only confirmed there was no permanent brain damage but also no apparent spinal damage had been one to be celebrated and they were doing just that when both Chief Strauss and Ambassador Prentiss had walked into the room to say they were leaving.

Strauss could have pressed to discuss the fraternisation between them but upon hearing the good news had extended her congratulations and had indicated only that she would be talking with them both at a later date. Elizabeth had studied her daughters' glowing face and had merely admonished Aaron not to hurt her daughter or else he'd face her wrath as a mother and then they'd both walked back out the way they'd come in.

They'd both been bemused by this turn of events but neither wanted to waste their good fortune so they hadn't.

All three women had been transferred to a hospital in DC better equipped to dealing with their various medical needs and while they were all still hospitalised, the three women had shared a room that made all the men in their lives nervous. Only Jack missed the undercurrents as one woman or another would cast a speculative eye over one man or another as he came to visit, but rarely would they share what they spoke of and all assured that the most private of details stayed private, so what did they have to complain about? Plenty, of course, but no one was going to admit to that either, of course.

Time passed quickly and revolved around scheduled pool therapy, physio therapy and counselling appointments. The three therapists assigned to get the women quite literally back on their feet quickly saw that the three friends made more progress together and arranged their own schedules around getting them into sessions where they could do this. This also gave the three men in their lives a chance to catch up, relax and marvel at their ladies' progressions. For the women, it was a chance to be out from under the watchful eyes of their men. The counsellor seeing all of them found them agreeable to group sessions in addition to their individual ones and also found them all eager to deal with what they'd been through so they could get it firmly in the past.

Life moved on, health and wellness was regained and all three women were cleared to return to work. They were relieved, their men were intent on giving them the quietest possible last weekend they could manage and none of their women were ready to cooperate in the slightest.

They were so done with being coddled.

End-

A/N: The next three chapters will be a focus on each of the women and the men in their lives only.

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