Jessica drove to the hospital and parked the car. Morgan had already paid for a 5 hour ticket and, seeing them park hurried over to them. Jessica got out of the car.
"Here, this should last 5 hours, well past the visiting hour ending time…" He handed her the parking ticket. "Thank you Derek, that was kind of you."
As she put the ticket inside the front screen, in clear view of any attendant that might come, Morgan opened the back door.
"UNCLE MORGAN! Is daddy here?" Jack hurriedly unbuckled his seat belt and clambered to where Derek stood, who helped him out of the car.
"He's upstairs. Come on let's go see him." Jack took hold of Morgan's right hand and they and his Aunt walked into the hospital and into the elevator. Whilst in the elevator Morgan quickly text Dave 'We are in elevator. Be there in a minute."
"They're on their way up. We'll go wait outside and when you need us to come get Jack for a while just either shout, call or text."
"Thanks guys."
They left the room and sat down on the chairs outside the room. Suddenly a little voice shouted and ran towards them "UNCLE DAVE, UNCLE SPENCER, AUNT PENNY, AUNT J.J, AUNT BLAKE!" He ran into Dave's arms and Dave scooped Jack onto his lap to give him a big hug.
"Jack I just want to talk to your dad first before you go in so can you wait out here with your aunts and uncles? I promise I'll come get you in a minute."
"Okay."
"Don't worry Jessica. He'll be fine."
Whilst Jack happily chatted to the team, Jessica opened Aaron's door and slipped in.
"Hey Aaron."
"JESS! Is Jack here?"
"Yeah. He's outside with the team. I just wanted to talk to you before he came in."
"I got your text. So you told him it was a tummy infection?"
"Yeah. He accepted that answer but was still so worried he spent a few minutes sobbing his little heart out, afraid you were going to die like Haley."
"Poor guy. What did you tell him?"
"I told him you were staying here so the doctors could give you medicine to make you better. I had to reassure him that you were not going to die and that you would get better soon but that you had to stay here for a couple of days."
"Thanks for not going into too much detail Jess. I'm still not quite sure how much he'll understand."
"I'll help you explain it to him if you want."
"I think we may have to have a little man to man chat so although I really appreciate the offer, I think I'll be okay. If he has anymore questions after you come back, you can help answer them then."
"Sure. So you are going to be okay?"
"Yeah. Can't believe I was so embarrassed by a simple bladder infection…."
"So how come you collapsed?"
"Not only was I run down from working so much before the infection hit me but I was also exhausted from running to the bathroom so much and also from the energy I was using trying to go. Apparently I made it worse buy not drinking and by dehydrating myself, which combined with the exhaustion meant I collapsed."
"Oh right. Surely your team noticed you running to the bathroom all the time? I mean you have to run through that bullpen…"
"After the 5th time when I barely made it, I was so stupid that I didn't leave my office."
"Why were you so stupid?"
"Would you believe that, rather than risk embarrassment from running through the bullpen, I actually used an empty bottle in my office?"
"A bottle in your office?"
"Yeah. But now I'm paying for it." He indicated down the side of his bed nearest to Jessica, who looked down and saw a tube leading to a urine collection bag.
"So they put a catheter in you?"
"Yeah. Definitely not a pleasant experience I can tell you..."
"For a guy I can only imagine…"
"And then when they put in in for a few hours afterward it feels like you have to go all the time…" "So when you getting released?"
"Maybe day after next. I'm not sure yet. Could be a day or two longer. Depends on when they let me go."
"Your still coming to stay at mine though aren't you? I do INSIST on it!"
"Of course as long as you still want me to."
"So would you like to see him now?"
"Definitely. The team said they'd take Jack and distract him when we wanted to talk privately."
"I'll have to remember to thank them for that."
Jessica went and popped her head around the door.
"Jack, you wanna come in now?"
The boy didn't have to be asked twice and jumped down from Dave's lap, eager to get to the door..
"Remember be careful okay? You don't want to hurt him…"
"I will Aunt Jess"
Jessica opened the door and the boy ran inside shouting 'DAD!"
"Hey buddy!" Aaron smiled, glad to see his little boy's face at last. He indicated the right side of the bed, where there was no chance Jack could see any of the catheter stuff, or dislodge any of it, for the boy to climb up on the bed. Jessica carefully helped him onto the bed and Aaron pulled his son into a tight hug. Jack hugged him even tighter.
"I'll leave you guys to talk for a few minutes but Jack remember be careful okay?"
"Okay Aunt Jess I promise I will. I'd never hurt dad."
"I know you wouldn't. Aaron, I'll be just outside with the others. Give me a shout when you guys have finished talking…."
"Sure. And Jess? Thanks for everything."
"Your welcome."
Jack waited until his Aunt had left the room before bursting into tears with relief at seeing his dad and still terrified he would lose him. Aaron held him close and rubbed his back, letting the boy sob out his worries into his shoulder. Aaron just kept rubbing his back and reassuring him that he was okay and everything would be okay. He knew that anytime anything happened to him, Jack was terrified he would lose his dad like he had lost his mom and Aaron hated it that his little boy had to feel that way. After a few minutes sobbing, the crying eased off. Aaron knew that the boy had just needed to let his go of his fears before they could talk and so had let the boy cry for as long as he needed to. After Jack had blown his nose and wiped his eyes with some tissues from a box beside Aaron's bed, he sat up and looked at his dad, finally ready to talk.
"I'm sorry dad…I was just scared you were going to die like mommy."
"I know buddy and it's okay to cry. You're just a little boy who got scared he was going to lose his dad. But I promise you I'm going to be okay."
"Aunt Jess said your sick…."
"Yeah, but its just an infection. I'm on antibiotics so I'm fighting it off and getting stronger by the day."
"She said you had an infection in your tummy. Does your tummy hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt but its not my tummy exactly…you know when you go pee Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Well I got an infection where the pee is stored in the body before its let out that's all."
"You mean its in your bladder?"
"Yeah. You know what the bladder is then?"
"Yeah. We've been learning bout the basic body parts in school this year. You know how you breathe with lungs, how your body digests food, that kind of thing…"
"Oh right. Yeah I got an infection in my bladder. But I'm fighting it off and getting better all the time."
"When Aunt Jess told me before we came I was afraid you were going to die like mommy…"
"Yeah, she told me you cried and that's okay. You got scared. I'm so sorry I scared you buddy."
"That's okay dad. So you're not going to die?"
"No I promise I'm not going to die. I'm getting better and hopefully the doctors will let me out of here in a day or two. They just wanted me to stay in here so they could give me the medicine and let me rest."
"I'm glad you're not going to die dad. I don't want you to EVER die!"
"I know and I'm glad that you're glad. I hate it when I get injured or sick as I know it really scares you to think you might lose me as well as your mom. But, you know, if anything did happen to me and I did die, you'd always have your Aunt Jess and aunts and uncles there for you….you know that don't you buddy? You'd always be able to stay living with your Aunt Jess. And unlike my job, there's no risk she'd ever get hurt in hers so she'd always be around and always be there for you no matter what…"
"I know that daddy. I'd just always prefer to have you here as well as Aunt Jess cos you're my daddy!"
"I know and I'll always do my best to be here for you buddy. I know I can't make any promises for the future as anything can happen in my job fighting the bad guys but I can promise you that this time I'll be okay."
"You're the superhero though dad and when you fight the bad guys you always win."
"Almost every time we win Jack. Sometimes something can go wrong and one of us gets injured. I'm always careful and I always do my best to make sure that everyone stays safe though. And I'm glad I'm still your superhero buddy."
"To me you'll ALWAYS be the superhero who fights the bad guy's dad."
"Thanks buddy and you know what?"
"What?"
"After what happened to your mom, the team promised me that no matter what, every time we went after the bad man, they'd all always have my back and do everything they could to keep me from getting hurt. They love you so much Jack that they'd not only do everything they could but they'd even be willing to die themselves so that I could live and be here for you."
"That's cos they're the best team daddy! Together you and them are the superhero team!"
"Thanks buddy. You know I love you more than anything else in the world Jack and will always love you?"
"I know and I love you more than anything else too dad."
Aaron pulled the boy into a tight fierce hug and they stayed that way for a few minutes until the boy spoke up again.
"I'm thirsty…." Jack sat up.
Aaron poured him so water from his jug into his plastic cup and handed it to the boy to drink.
"Do you reckon it's time we let your Aunt Jess come back inside or shall we make her wait while the team interrogates her some more?" Aaron had a wicked smile on his face as he took the empty cup from the boy and put it back on his bedside table.
"Let her in daddy. The team can talk to her later! Thanks for talking and explaining everything to me dad." Jack giggled with laughter at his dad's face.
"I'm glad you feel better after our guy talk Jack and you know you can ask me anything and I'll always do my best to tell you the truth and explain in to you in a way you'd understand. Whilst I'm here and when you're visiting me, if you ever want to talk to me alone again all you have to do is say the word and I'll push anyone else out of the room, including your Aunt Jess."
"Thanks daddy! I love you"
"I love you too buddy. More than you could ever know. So how about on 3, we shout…1…2…3…." Aaron grinned at his son.
"JESS! YOU CAN COME IN NOW!" The 2 Hotchner boys shouted together. Jessica re-entered the room seeing both her Hotchner boys smiling.
"Feel better then?"
"Yeah, thanks for letting us have a little guy to guy talk. I explained everything to him and we got to spend a little quality one on one time together."
"Thanks for letting me and dad talk alone Aunt Jess. He told me everything in words I could understand and I enjoyed our boy talk."
"I'm glad Jack. You know whenever I'm around you 2 and you want to talk to your dad alone, you only have to say and I'll leave you guys in peace so you can tell him whatever you can't tell me."
"Thanks Aunt Jess. I know I can tell you anything but some things are just too awkward as you're a girl and I can only talk to dad as he's a boy like me."
"And you know if you're dad is away and you need to ask him something you can't ask me then you just have to ask me to call him and I can get him on the phone for you."
"And no matter where I am Jack, or what I'm doing, I'll always do my best to take however much time you want to talk to me about anything you want, no matter how long it may take. My team knows the same as will always stand in for me if we're working the case so that you and I can talk."
"I know and I love both of you for making sure I can talk to dad every night before bed.
"And if anything did happen to me and you could only talk to another guy, you have all the guys on the team plus Henry's dad Will that you can talk to about guy stuff."
"Really, they'd let me talk to them about anything I couldn't say to a girl like Aunt Jess?"
"Yeah, they love you too Jack and understand how guys like us have stuff that only guys can talk about. And if it came to it, I'm sure they'd also help you with growing up problems like girls and shaving and stuff, even if I'm still around, you could ask their advice too."
"Thanks daddy. I like talking to you best though about boy stuff."
"I like talking to you too about anything you want to talk about."
"If you guys need a bit more time alone….."
"It's okay Aunt Jess. We finished our talk…."
For the next half an hour or so, Jessica, Jack and Aaron spent time talking and laughing, Jack telling his dad all about school, staying at his friend Andy's house and about anything he could think of.
After a long time, Jessica looked at Aaron, indicating it was probably time they should talk alone and slipped to the door, popping her head out.
"Dave could you guys maybe make up an excuse to distract Jack, I want to talk alone with Aaron…."
"Sure…."
Jessica closed the door as Dave stood up. She wanted it to make it seem like the team hadn't been asked.
Dave knocked on the door and entered the room.
"Hey Uncle Dave. Dad says he's going to be okay!"
"Yeah I know. Say Jack are you hungry? Think the cafeteria here might do either pizza or burger with fries if you're interested….my treat! They should also have ice cream and soda…."
"Ice cream and soda?" Jack's eyes lit up at the thought of so much sugary treats. Normally Jack was only allowed a soda as a rare treat and only got ice cream every few days.
"Would it be okay dad? I don't want to leave you…."
"It's fine buddy. Jessica can keep me company whilst the whole team takes you to enjoy burger, fries, soda and ice cream. Just try not to come back bouncing off the walls….."
"I don't bounce off walls dad…" Jack giggled.
"You do when you're overloaded with sugar buddy. But go and enjoy the treat. You deserve it on a day like today when I've scared you into thinking I might die."
"Thanks dad!" Jack gave him a big hug "I promise I'll be back real soon. I love you."
"I love you too buddy. Now go and enjoy the food…."
Jessica helped Jack off the bed and Jack took hold of Dave's outstretched hand.
"Don't worry Aaron, Jack won't leave any of our sight for the whole time he's out of this room…"
"I trust you guys Dave don't worry. And Jack have a good time but behave for the team…."
"I will daddy. Aunt Jess, take care of dad while I'm gone will you?"
"I will. I promise."
