She doesn't know what makes her do it- thinking back on it afterwards she realizes that she doesn't remember much from that night. What she does remember she will never forget…
She will never forget that phone call- it was Morgan who called and told her to get down to the hospital because Hotch had been hurt and was being brought there. Her mind screamed with a million questions but not one made its way to her mouth before she hung up the phone and raced to the car. She thinks that it was Reid who drove them from the station to the hospital but she can't be certain. She just remembers her legs carrying her as fast as they could out of the police station somewhere in rural USA and jumping into the SUV and racing towards the hospital.
She saw Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi pacing in the hallway as soon as she walked in. Reid was beside her when they skid to a stop in front of the solemn trio. Her eyes were wide but as hard as she tried no words came out. Finally, after what felt like an eternity Rossi spoke. Hushed tones and soothing voice- an attempt to calm the frantic blue eyes that were fast filling up with tears. He spoke directly to her.
It was a routine interview. They had gone to interview a possible witness to the abduction of the young woman. It was routine because the police had already questioned him. Hotch had insisted on talking to him again- "there might be something that the cops had missed." Those were his words as he had walked out of the station with Rossi- only a couple of hours ago. How had everything changed to fast she had no idea?
They had just stepped out of the car, Rossi explained. A single gunshot cracked through the silence and even before Rossi realized what had happened Hotch was down. Rossi described how he raced around the car to the side of the fallen younger agent. There was blood- not a lot- but enough to worry the senior agent. What really worried him was how white Hotch had become. In the 2 minutes since he had been hit Hotch was looking deathly white- the entire colour had faded from his face giving a hollow, deathly look. Rossi had immediately called for back-up and an ambulance while dragging Hotch to the side in case of another attack. There he had waited- desperately trying to coax the younger man into consciousness but Hotch didn't move. Rossi kept checking his pulse and was somewhat relieved to feel the slightly shallow but somewhat steady beat.
Back up had arrived and Hotch was loaded up and rushed to the hospital. Rossi couldn't ride with him even though he desperately wanted to because he had to stay and help the police capture the suspect. It turned out that the suspect had a long standing feud with his neighbor regarding the fencing that separated the 2 properties. The suspect had fired the shot as a warning to his errant neighbor not to break the fence again. He thought that he had fired high enough for the bullet to have sailed above the trees- but the kick back had lowered the trajectory and the bullet and spiraled downwards instead of upwards. It was an accident but he was in custody. Local police was keeping him under guard till news of the fate of the Unit Chief of the FBI was received. Was he looking at a manslaughter or reckless endangerment charge?
JJ felt the blood rush to her ears when she heard what had happened. Their leader had been brought down by a warning shot!! She couldn't believe it. Hotch was somewhere in the hospital fighting for his life all because of a fence!!! A stupid fence… she wanted to scream and shout and she wanted to rip that man's head off for being so stupid and not realizing that guns and bullets can hurt people. Innocent bystanders just stepping out of a car!!!
Morgan must have seen her face because the next thing she knew he was standing in front of her. "JJ" he said softly, "It's ok. Hotch is a fighter. He will be ok!" Pale blue eyes locked into his and he realized that they were fighting for control. Along with the tears there was a sea of fear storming within her eyes. Morgan felt Emily come up behind him and watched as she carefully put an arm around JJ's shoulders in an attempt to calm the blonde. It seemed to work a little bit but he knew that if they didn't hear news of the stoic Unit Chief soon JJ would storm through the doors to find him.
Thankfully Morgan didn't need to wait to see if he was right because less than ten minutes later a frazzled looking grey haired doctor made his way towards them. He took a moment to observe the small group of people who were standing apart from the rest of the occupants of the waiting room. Even if he hadn't been told by the nursing staff that these were the FBI agents he would have figured it out just by looking at them. They were all fit and stood tall even though they weren't there performing their duties- their stature and the way they moved just commanded attention. There was an older man who seemed to be watching over the group while trying to observe the other occupants of the room. He looked like the kind of man who could walk into a room without notice and within 5 minutes have observed all its occupants. A tall skinny man sat in a seat next to the older man and seemed to be flipping through the medical handouts that were placed on tables in the room. The doctor didn't think that he was actually reading anything since he was flipping too fast. The dark skinned man and the brunette were grouped around a blonde woman who seemed to be the most affected. The doctor could make out the slight shudders of her shoulders and the quiet whispers of the man and the woman as they tried to calm her down. Leaving them aside the doctor made his way to the older man. He figured that as the oldest member of the team he was probably the man in charge.
All eyes focused on the doctor as he approached Rossi and everyone moved closer to hear the news. JJ would swear that at that moment her heart had actually stopped beating. The doctor spoke softly and only to Rossi. He said that Hotch had taken the bullet in the chest and if he hadn't been wearing the Kevlar the damage would have been much worse. Thankfully right now all he had to worry about was a couple of broken ribs and a cut where the speeding bullet had grazed his side. The force of the impact of the bullet in the middle of his chest had caused Hotch to lose consciousness.
As he finished talking the doctor felt rather than heard the collective sigh of relief from the group of agents. As he learnt that it was in fact his patient who was the leader of this group but from the concern that he saw in the eyes of all the agents he knew that this team was far closer than mere colleagues. They were a family who probably spent most of their time together. The older man who he now knew to be named Rossi immediately asked when they could see Agent Hotchner and looking into the 5 sets of eyes peering at him and particularly the turbulent blue ones the doctor knew that denying them access would not be wise so he allowed one person to go in and see Agent Hotchner before they moved him for some additional tests and then settled him into a room for whatever was left for the night.
There was no choice as to who would go in to see Hotch. Even though JJ and Hotch were the most ignorant agents in the history of the FBI, the team knew that the two shared a closer bond than they even realized. Whenever they wanted Hotch to do something whether it be to change the coffee machine in the break room or let them sleep in after a long case they always sent JJ in. She thought that she had the worst luck in the world but what she didn't know was that there was no way that she could ever win. The only way to get Aaron Hotchner to do something was to get Jennifer Jareau to ask him and the team knew it.
So JJ slowly made her way into the emergency room looking at the beds for the one with her boss. The doctor had told her that he was near the end of the hall so as to give him a bit of privacy. The curtain was drawn as she approached and she parted it to see him sitting at the edge of the bed with his back to her. His shirt was missing and it looked like he was trying to get back. She made her way around the bed all the time willing herself to be strong! He was ok!! But she didn't know what happened. One minute she was making her way to see him and the next she was sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder. Her arms were around his neck holding him close and she felt his arms come around her waist. It was a while before she realized what had happened and she pulled away- horrified. What would Hotch think of her now? He was barely hurt and here she was bawling away like he had been at war or something. She immediately looked down and tried to think of something to say when she felt his finger lift her chin. She looked into his dark eyes and it felt like he could see the one thing that she had been trying to hide. He saw the fear and the love written clearly in those beautiful blue orbs and he couldn't help himself. He pulled her face towards himself and placed a light kiss on her lips.
Pulling away but only slightly he whispered "I was scared too."