Click.
Aaron Hotchner squeezed his eyes shut as he continued to hold the phone to his ear. Slowly, he pulled it away from himself and opened his eyes.
'Spencer Reid. Call Terminated' flashed on the screen.
He snapped the phone shut and looked about the room. Almost every single member of the team was crying. Hotch swallowed and looked at the ground. He felt strangely unemotional. He wasn't angry, and he wasn't sad, although he knew he should be. He should be furious. He should be devastated.
But he was numb. This was almost like a dream. Nothing felt real to him. Not Garcia's strangled whimpers, not JJ's sobs. Not even the hole Morgan had punched into the conference room wall.
He felt like he was waiting. Either to wake up, or to find a solution for all this pain, he didn't know. But things didn't feel… settled.
He put his phone down on the table and regarded the team once more. Emily was leaning against the wall with tears rolling down her face by the door while JJ cried into Garcia's hair. Morgan sat with his head in his hands, shaking visibly.
Aaron tried to think of something to say. Some order to give, that would help them all forget their misery and focus on their job. Then he realized that they had nothing to do except wait for the call that would bring them the person who had done this. He wished he could punch a hole in a wall.
Instead he sat across from Morgan and sighed.
"I'm scared." He heard Reid's voice whimper in his head.
"I knew you'd understand." As Reid embraced him…
Hotch shook his head and composed his thoughts. He would not let the hurt set in yet. First he had to punish the sick asshole who did this.