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Lacy here kids. Wow you are all for the idea of Officer Down becoming a new series. Awesome that works for me. So next up for the series would be of course Minimal Loss. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do every episode like I have and will continue to do for the Aaron and Emily series but I do know I'll be doing the episodes with major moments for our favorite pairing. And Minimal Loss is one of them. No real summary here so have fun.
Disclaimer: *looks at the ground* Holy crap! Someone dropped the rights to Criminal Minds! *stuffs papers in bag and skips away*
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Hotch's stomach dropped as Morgan pointed at the TV and he realized that was where he had sent Emily and Reid. Reid, who'd already been held hostage once in his life and Emily, who Hotch had started a relationship with. Everyone's phones started ringing.
"Alright," Hotch said, finding his voice. "that means we're lead on Hostage Rescue and Support. Let's go."
While the others scrambled, Hotch shot out of the bullpen and went to the locker room. There was no way he was going into this wearing a damn suit. He quickly changed into khakis and a different button up shirt, chucking his tie into the locker. He slammed the door closed and leaned his head against it, trying to rein in the fear he was feeling. Compartmentalizing was more Emily's thing then his but he knew in order to get through this, he needed to take a page from her book. The locker room door creaked open and Hotch lifted his head to see who it was. Dave. Of course.
"You ok?" Dave asked stepping in.
Hotch turned and leaned his back against the locker. "Ask me that when we have Prentiss and Reid home safe."
Dave crossed his arms, taking a few steps. "What's going on with you and Prentiss?"
Hotch straightened. "What are you talking about Dave?"
"Something changed with you two after New York." Dave said.
"The only thing that changed Dave was I almost lost a member of my team." Hotch said. "And it shook me. Shook her too. So have we gotten closer? Yes. But that's it."
"How much closer?" Dave asked.
Hotch sighed. "Why are you asking Dave?"
"Because you are going to be in charge when we get there and I want to know you're going in with a clear head." Dave explained.
"Two of our people, two of our family have been taken hostage." Hotch said. "I will be very surprised if any of us are going in with clear heads. Now let's go."
Before Dave could say anything else, Hotch walked passed him, out of the locker room.
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Hotch turned as he finished convincing Dave to take lead on talking as a loud man came out of the trailer, demanding to know why he wasn't told about FBI agents being sent undercover in the ranch, given that he was the attorney general of the state. Hotch took one look at the man and figured he could take some of his fear out on the man via anger.
"The only thing you're in a position to demand is a lawyer." Hotch said, storming his way over.
"Who the hell are you?" the man asked.
Hotch stood at his full height. "I'm Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief. I'm the guy who's gonna tell the Attorney General of the United States whether to charge you with obstructing a federal investigation or negligent homicide."
"You can't talk to me like that." the man said, almost afraid.
Hotch took another step forward so he was toe to toe with the man.
"Get off my crime scene." Hotch said, his voice deadly calm.
Dave watched from the side lines, amazed. It was rare that Hotch ran this hot. He knew having their own people taken was part of it, but that wasn't enough to cause him to be like this. It had something to do with Emily. Of that, Dave was sure.
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Hotch felt his chest loosen just a bit as they were told that the one who was killed wasn't Emily or Reid. They had still lost someone but at least the team could focus without the loss of a family member hanging over them. As the others got the things ready for Dave to bring into the compound, Hotch stood back and gave himself a minute. Emily was alive, that vice had released its grip. As had the one for Reid. Now he was worried about getting them out of there unharmed. That vice had the tightest grip of all. He remembered the fear he was filled with when Reid was taken by Tibius Henkel and how terrified he'd been when Dave told him Emily had been shot. He ran a hand over his face. He had a feeling this situation was going to be worse.
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Hotch watched in horror as the reporter spoke of their being an undercover FBI agent in the compound. The whole team knew Cyrus had access to the news so he would hear this. Reid and Emily just fell into more trouble. Hotch moved over to the radio and slipped his headphones on. Dave and Morgan did the same. They listened as Cyrus confronted Reid and Emily about one of them being an agent. Reid tried to deny that they knew what he was talking about but then they all froze as they heard a gun cock. Then Hotch's heart stopped.
"Me." Emily said. "It's me."
Anger filled the men as they listened to Cyrus beat Emily. Hotch yanked his headphones off, saying they had to go in. Dave stopped him, reminding him if they went in now, they'd risk everyone inside. Hotch put his headphones back on, wanting to say, he didn't give a damn about the others, he wanted Emily out of there. But he held his tongue and listened.
Dave frowned. "Listen to what she's saying."
"I can take it."
Morgan was confused. "She's antagonizing him."
"She's not talking to him." Dave said.
"She's talking to us." Hotch said. "She's telling us not to come in."
As soon as Cyrus instructed one of his men to take Emily upstairs, Hotch tore his headphones off and walked off.
"Is he ok?" Morgan asked Dave. "I mean, none of us are ok after that but something's up with Hotch."
Dave nodded. "There is but I can't get out of him what it is. I think for now we should just let it go. He's obviously got enough on his mind without us pestering him."
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Dave watched Hotch stand off in the dark as the others got ready to go in. Nodding to himself, Dave made his way over.
"I can't go in there." Hotch said as Dave stood beside him.
Dave nodded. "I know. I'm going in."
Hotch glanced at the ground. "I don't know what I'll do if something happens to Prentiss or Reid."
Dave crossed his arms and nodded again, understanding Hotch's feelings. Hotch could see Dave wanted to ask something, and Hotch knew what.
"She's become one of my best friends since my divorce Dave." Hotch said. "She helped me and after New York that bond grew stronger. That's all that's changed."
"Alright," Dave said. "let's go get ready."
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Hotch felt the final vice in his chest release. They were ok, or at least they would be. Emily needed to be checked out and Reid probably should be too. Then they could all go home. He watched Reid accept Emily's hug and knew he wouldn't be able to give her one of his own until they had either his apartment door or hers between them and the rest of the world. They had agreed to keep this a secret from the team while it built, that's why he dodged Dave's questions. Though he really hadn't lied. The bond Hotch and Emily had did get stronger when their relationship shifted. The team started to move away from the burning building and Hotch watched Emily try and explain to Jessica's mother that she wasn't getting her daughter back. Hotch saw Emily bit her bottom lip, as she always did in moments of nervousness or uncertainty.
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Emily stepped away from Jessica's mother after the woman broke down and another from the compound came to her. Scanning the area, Emily found Hotch near one of the ambulances. She knew he knew she'd look for him and she also knew she needed to be checked out. That's why he was where he was. Making her way over, she stopped in front of him.
"At home." Hotch said, his voice quiet.
Emily nodded. "At home."
Hotch motioned to the waiting EMT. "You gonna go willingly."
Emily cracked a smile. "This time, yeah."
"I'll wait with you." Hotch said.
Emily nodded one more time and with some help from Hotch, climbed into the back of the ambulance to let the EMT look her over. Hotch leaned against the opening of the vehicle as the EMT cleaned Emily's cuts and checked over her ribs. Hotch winced at the bruising already forming on Emily's stomach but was relieved to hear nothing was broken.
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Emily just got her apartment door closed before she was in Hotch's arms. Holding onto him tightly, Emily buried her face in the side of his neck.
"I'm alive." she whispered.
Hotch nodded and swallowed. "I know. Just a little too much after New York." he placed a kiss on Emily's neck before pulling away and smoothing her hair back with both hands. "Dave is suspicious."
Emily kept her arms around Hotch's waist. "I had a feeling he would be. I'm gonna guess it was hard for you to stay objective."
Hotch nodded. "He was questioning me before we even left the BAU."
"What did you tell him?" Emily asked.
"That our bond became stronger after New York." Hotch said.
Emily nodded. "Not a total lie."
Hotch stared at Emily for a moment before kissing her. Emily returned the kiss as Hotch pulled her closer. Enough talk about Dave, they needed to just be with each other, thinking about no one else for a while.
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So they've dodged Dave for now. He'll continue to watch them closely as time goes on but it'll be a bit before anyone on the team finds out. Oh one more thing about how the series is going to go. I'm not just going to do episode stories. I'm going to do in between stories as well. Stretch the series out. Let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading.
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