JJ climbed into the back of the ambulance with Spencer, grabbed his hand and refused to budge. The paramedic was able to work around her, though it wasn't easy. Her eyes locked on Spencer's as she reached up to push his hair back.

"What do you want for dinner after they patch you up?" she asked.

"I'm not… I don't…" he said, confused.

Well you have to have something to look forward to after the shitty day we just had. So, ribs or chicken?" she smiled.

His voice was small as he answered "No offense JJ, but I don't think I'll ever eat again! How can you talk about food like nothing happened?"

She shrugged. "Just trying to distract you, silly. You don't always have to be so literal." She smiled and stroked his cheek to take the sting out of her words.

"Sorry. I'm dizzy but I can't believe all that just happened. Hotch really came through, didn't he? I didn't know he could fly a plane."

"I did. He learned back when he was still a prosecutor. Haley thought it was 'dashing' of him. They even owned a plane for a while. A little Cessna."

"Will John be okay? He's been our pilot for a long time. He has a family."

"I don't know, he had a heart attack, Spence. Hopefully he'll make a full recovery. Are you in any pain?"

"Oh yeah."

The paramedic said "I can't give him anything until he gets to the hospital. With a head wound like that they are going to need to examine him without the dulling effect of pain killers."

"No narcotics!" They said in unison.

The paramedic put his hands up and moved to check his readouts.

Spencer caught her eyes again. "What you said back there."

She nodded, squeezing his hand.

"I didn't… I don't expect… sometimes people say things in situations like that when they are in immediate danger that they wouldn't normally say."

"Yes, they do."

He closed his eyes and gave a slight nod, fully expecting her to recant.

"I'm not one of those people," she said, leaning forward and dusting his closed eyelids with tiny kisses. How like him to not expect love. To not think anyone would love him seriously. JJ's heart broke a little for him as she saw one small tear escape the corner of his closed eye.

He looked up at her with glossy eyes and shook his head, then immediately regretted it. "Ow."

"We're almost there, Spence. We can talk later, just rest okay? She lifted his fingers to her lips and he closed his eyes again.


"If it's all the same to you I'm going to take a few days off," Rossi said to Hotch as they drove back to Quantico.

"We all are, I've ordered Morgan to do the same."

"I think I've upped my ante from "hating turbulence" to "hating flying" once and for all."

"Crazy, wasn't it? Though it wasn't the jet's fault John had a heart attack."

"Are the kids okay?" He meant JJ and Spencer, Hotch knew.

"Yes, or they will be. Reid got banged up pretty badly but nothing critical. JJ's with him now."

"Those two."

"I know."

"He strapped her in right when we felt the first jolt. Seeing to her safety was his first instinct."

"Feelings have always run deep between them."

"Think we'll see baby geniuses within the next year or two?"

A fleeting smile flashed across Hotch's face. "I wouldn't be surprised. Incidents like this often make people take stock, re-evaluate their lives. It's been heading that way for years, maybe this was the push they needed."

"We'll see. Anyway, great moves up there, Aaron. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Drink in my office?"

"My office. Better scotch."


"That's it! I'm grounding you. No more jet, no more flying anywhere ever! All our cases will now take place along the subway route. I'll get a memo out to the serial killers, pronto!"

Morgan smiled as he sat on an ottoman in front of his Baby Girl planted on her sofa, her place his first stop upon landing. He had a mug of her special brew, the calming kind, sitting on the table behind him, but it looked like she may need it more than he did at the moment.

He took her trembling hands into his large, calloused ones and said "Penelope, I'm fine. Reid got the worst of it but JJ's with him at the hospital now and he's going to be okay. I'm telling you, you should've seen Hotch. I've never been so happy to have such a capable friend in my life! He was a real hero today, momma. The real deal."

"You're my hero. All of you are but you are also my babies and I can't… Derek I don't know how to deal with what you're telling me! What if… what if…"

"'What if, what if'… do you want to hear the rest of it or not?" he teased.

"I don't know, do I?"

He wiped a tear off her cheek with his huge yet gentle thumb and said "Yeah. You really do."

Morgan used his most rumbling, storyteller voice as he told her how Reid instantly secured JJ and made sure Rossi was buckled in before making his way forward, how he himself had started CPR on John the moment Hotch stabilized the plane, how JJ had ran to all of them in turn to make sure they were all okay, and after that never once left Reid's side.

"Baby Girl, I wouldn't have wanted you there for anything, but I wish you could've seen how everyone worked together, how everybody just geared up, a true team. We all saved each other. It was so fast, and it was really something. I'll never forget it."

Garcia leaned forward, her hands cupped Morgan's handsome face and she said in a tear-thickened voice; "I'm getting you all capes."