Chapter 4 (June 2012)
The next few months passed quickly and before they knew it, Emily and her team were returning home from a case in Corpus Christi, Texas. She felt so dirty after having spent hours conversing with a serial killer, but before she could scrub herself clean, she needed to see her kids.
Stepping off their jet, she sighed heavily. This case had really hit home, and in the past weeks, the team had taken to calling her 'Hotch'. It had taken some getting used to, as the first few times they said it, she automatically turned around, looking for her husband, only to smile when she realised they were talking to her.
The drive home was a quick one in her standard FBI-issue black Chevy Suburban, and she couldn't wait for a nice relaxing bubble bath and a night with her family. Emily entered the house through the garage door, one that connected via the kitchen, and was hit with a wave of silence. Normally at that time of the afternoon, Amelia would have Jack and Audrey in the kitchen; Jack with his homework spread out across the table and Audrey making a mess in her high chair.
She looked around and saw food in the microwave and toys on the floor, all looking like they'd been left in a hurry. Without even bothering to drop her go bag, filled with dirty clothes, she checked the answering machine near the front door. The light was flashing, the number indicating a half dozen new messages. Fearing the worst, Emily pressed play.
"Emily, it's Derek. There's been an accident. I'll try your cell again, it's important."
"Em, pick up pick up pick up pick up, I need you," Penelope's voice echoed before she hung up.
"Em, I'm gathering you guys are on your way home because we can't get through on your cell. Call me asap," Dave's voice spoke to her.
"Agent Hotchner, I need to see you first thing in the morning in my office," Erin Strauss's voice all but demanded.
"Em, honey, don't get mad, but I need you to not call the boys. Hell, don't call anyone until you've called me, and that includes Aaron," JJ sounded like she was trying not to cry.
"Emily, it's Amelia. There was an accident at Jack's school today, I'm surprised you don't know about it, but I suppose you will soon enough. Audrey and I are fine, but your baby girl wants her mom."
Emily was worried; Aaron hadn't called, and to make matters worse, JJ had told her not to call him. That combined with Amelia's strange message didn't bode well for her nerves. She pulled out her cell and immediately speed dialled number 6, the one she reserved for JJ. The blonde picked up almost immediately.
"Oh, Em, thank god you're back. I need you to get to Walter Reed NNMC as soon as you can."
"Why, Jen, what happened?"
"Em, a suicide bomber got into Jack's school today and held most of the elementary classes hostage. A few children were injured and we were one of the teams called to help with the situation."
Emily could hear the tension in her voice; Henry was a student at the same school, and though he was a few years younger than Jack, he was probably affected as well. "Jen what aren't you telling me?" she asked quietly.
"Em, you need to get here quickly. Use your siren," the media liaison replied quietly. "We all need you here."
The call ended abruptly, and Emily looked strangely at her cell. Sensing the urgency, she dropped her used go bag right where she was standing and grabbed her backup from the entrance hall, grabbing Aaron's as she went. They were used to living out of bags on the run, and a backup bag helped when they had to jump straight into another interstate case after one finished.
Emily rushed back to her car, turned the siren on, and sped off in the direction of what used to be Bethesda Naval Hospital. She was slightly confused as to why they were at that particular hospital; she knew that many high-powered politicians and safety-conscious federal agents enrolled their children at the exclusive private school, but for them to be at NNMC meant there was a strong Army/Navy influence.
Her siren worked wonders, and even though the school traffic was gone, she was early enough to beat the peak hour traffic which would clog the roads within the next hour. Emily pulled her SUV up in a carpark, one obviously filled with other federal agents, if the amount of government cars there was any indication, and she almost ran straight to the entrance.
JJ met her in the doorway, her usually-sparkling eyes brimmed with tears, and Emily knew it was something bad. "Tell me now, no anaesthesia."
The blonde nodded and pulled her to the side, just outside of the busy hospital. Through the doors, Emily could see the waiting room was filled with people in suits, some of which had insignias on them, all looking anxious and impatient.
"Around ten this morning, just after the students had returned from recess, a-then unidentified male entered the elementary building wearing a black ski mask and black clothing with an overcoat hiding a bomb strapped to his body. He entered the building admin office and forced the ladies to seal off the building before knocking them unconscious. As you know, the building has a gym on the bottom floor, and he assembled all the students there.
"He was obviously sniper trained, or at least aware, as he made the teachers all stand in front of each of the windows. A few children struggled, and he knocked them unconscious too, before the older ones took charge of the younger students to keep them calm. He apparently then started demanding to talk to hostage negotiators from a number of different agencies, and pulled certain students out of the crowd; Jack and Henry were two of them, along with about ten others.
"Most of this information was passed on via the teachers and Jack, who had taken it upon himself to be the one person to stand up to 'the man with the bomb', as he called him. Apparently, the students were children of agents who made up part of a task force which threw him and a few others in jail and killed his two brothers. He knew Jack and Henry were sons of the BAU, were our sons, even though it was apparently Gideon who was part of that task force."
Jennifer stopped to take a breath and dared to look into Emily's eyes. Through the tears building up, she could see she was proud of Jack, whom she thought of as a son, taking after his parents, trying to save the world, one 'bad guy' at a time.
"Was Jack hurt?" Emily managed to choke out. "Was Henry hurt?"
The blonde shook her head. "No, but that's not the worst of it. Because you and Hotch trained Jack so well, once this started happening, he dialled his father on his cell and let the whole thing be recorded by Penelope, so we were the first ones on the scene. The un-sub called the other children by name, and she ran them through the database as well. Once we were alerted about their parents' identities, Hotch made the executive decision to notify the rest of the agencies.
"Did you know that the NCIS major case response team know Agent Fornell? Well, I found out today, when they turned up and Fornell and a guy named Gibbs started arguing with each other over jurisdiction. Hotch joined the argument, as did another guy from the Bureau named Booth, and after the testosterone match ended, they mutually agreed the BAU would run point."
Emily chuckled despite herself. "Was that before or after Aaron told them about Jack and his involvement?"
JJ smiled as well. "After, not that it made much of a difference. Apparently, every team has skilled hostage negotiators, but none of them are trained profilers, nor are they as highly trained as we are. Then, out of nowhere, a female CIA agent appeared and pulled out the 'national security' card, which led to another argument about clearance levels. I was very impressed to learn Hotch has a higher clearance than me.
"Anyway, one thing led to another; we ended up with snipers on rooftops, Navy Seals stalking the building, you name it, someone took care of it. Eventually, the five of them, still debating over who was in charge, entered the building to negotiate.
"Hotch managed to negotiate the release of the majority of the children in exchange for himself, the CIA agent, Gibbs, Booth and Fornell, but the injured ones and the 'children of interest', the un-sub's words, not mine, were left in there with him and the teachers. The un-sub started waving a gun around, only a Glock, but still enough to make them nervous."
"What happened, JJ?"
JJ sighed. "As far as I know, the kids are fine, no lasting physical damage, but they'll have to see a shrink regardless; the CIA agent, who introduced herself as Fox, managed to disconnect the suicide bomb and dead man's switch…"
"Jennifer! What happened?"
"Hotch, Booth and Gibbs were shot; nothing too serious, but still bad enough."
Emily pushed her way past her best friend and through the entrance doors, straight into the crowded waiting area. She was immediately ambushed by Penelope, Amelia and Audrey, the youngest of whom almost jumped into her mother's arms. "Where is he?" she asked quietly, hugging her daughter to her body.
The women had fallen silent. JJ walked up behind Emily and indicated the rest of them stay quiet, but Emily wasn't in the mood for it.
"Where is he?" she repeated louder.
The room fell silent around them, and everyone turned to the nurse who had just entered the room. Everyone waited for the name she was about to call.
"Family of Agent Hotchner?"
Emily breathed out a sigh of relief, and the crowd cut to let her pass through. "Is Aaron okay?"
"Follow me please."
Derek, Spencer and Dave stood behind her, preventing the other impatient people from ambushing the lone nurse, and communicated their support non-verbally, for which Emily was immensely grateful. They all started to walk down the corridor after the nurse, but after a few paces she stopped them.
"I'm sorry, but family only."
"We are his family," Morgan said. "Apart from his wife and kids, we're the closest thing he has to a family."
The nurse sighed. "Who is Mrs Hotchner?" she asked. Emily raised her hand, still hugging Audrey. "Well, Mrs Hotchner…"
"Agent Hotchner," they all corrected her. It happened often enough with most of them.
"Agent Hotchner," she conceded. "Your husband was shot in the left arm with a .22 calibre bullet. The wound was through and through, but required surgery to repair the internal damage and to sufficiently close the skin. He lost a considerable amount of blood in the field, but most of that has been transfused back into him."
They all breathed out a sigh of relief. Hotch was going to be fine.
"What about Jack?" Penelope asked. The nurse gave her a funny look.
"Jack Hotchner, my stepson," Emily clarified.
"I'm afraid I can't disclose his condition to anyone other than his parents. Where is his mother?"
Emily looked at the woman with fire in her eyes. "I am his mother, in all sense of the title; his biological mother was murdered four years ago. I'm in the process of adopting him, it just hasn't gone through yet."
The nurse took a step back. "Jack is in the paediatric wing with the rest of the children that have been brought in, but I thought you would want to see your husband?"
"Aaron will be asleep for a while yet, the anaesthesia takes a while to work its way out of his system. We've been shot enough times to know that," Emily bared her teeth. "Where is my son?"
Her face paled, and she took another step back. "Paediatrics 219, Doctor Augustine."
Emily didn't even bother to thank the woman, she just pushed past her and headed straight for the elevator. JJ paused to comfort the nurse.
"Stress hits everyone differently, but it's true what she said about the anaesthesia. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine," she patted the nurse's shoulder. "You just worry about what the rest of that waiting room will do to you if you don't update them soon."
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
JJ walked into paediatrics 2319 and was surprised to see Henry was in the bed next to Jack, and the other nine children were in beds in the same room. Paediatrics was obviously a well funded department, as 2319 housed twelve beds as well as toys for the children.
"Mommy!" she heard her son yell, and she smiled as the five year old summoned her to the bed most of the kids had surrounded.
"Hey there, baby boy," she kissed his forehead. "Who are your new friends?"
The oldest one stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Parker Booth, and this is my little sister Ashlyn and her twin brother Aiden. They're four, but they're really, really smart just like their mommy and our daddy."
JJ smiled at the young charismatic boy and tickled his sister's stomach before turning to the next child. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Caitlin," she answered shyly.
"I'm Tali," the one next to her said.
"And I'm Shiloh," the identical one on the other side of Caitlin interrupted. "We're triplets!"
JJ laughed at the three little girls. The boy behind them caught her eye, and she tried to include him too. "What about you, little man?"
"Oliver Rene Beniot-DiNozzo."
"That's a big name for such a little boy."
"You can call me Ollie; everyone does except my daddy, he just calls me Oliver."
"What about me?" a fiery little red head yelled. "I'm Shelby, and you're my favourite!"
"Shelby, everyone's your favourite," Ollie told her. "What about you, who are you?"
JJ smiled widely. "My name is Jennifer, and I'm Henry's mom and Jack's aunt. That lady over there with the dark hair and the baby, she's Jack's mom Emily."
"Do you know my daddy?" Shelby asked, sitting herself as close to JJ as she could with Henry on her lap.
JJ looked at the little girl. "Sweetie, I know lots of daddies. Can you tell me your daddy's name?"
She smiled widely, an angelic look appearing on her face. "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS." The five year old looked adorable and proud staring up at her. JJ almost laughed at the look on her face and the fire in her eyes. "And my mommy is… over there! Mommy!"
JJ looked up and smiled as she saw the woman's eyes light up. She remembered feeling like that when Henry was a baby, seeing him for the first time after returning home from a long, hard case interstate.
"Hey baby," she greeted. Shelby obviously had her mother's hair and passion, but the woman could walk in heels.
"What's happening?" Emily came up behind her and asked in her ear. JJ looked at her best friend, who had Audrey still attached to her hip, and smiled.
"I made friends with the kids, who are adorable by the way, and that is Shelby's mom," JJ pointed out the new arrival.
Emily stared, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Isn't that Director Shepard of NCIS?"
JJ nodded. "Shelby is her oldest child; she also has a two year old named Susannah, or at least that's what her file says. All these kids are the children of high profile federal agents based in DC, the alphabet soup's best crime solving teams, and they were targeted by an un-sub just because of who their parents are and the lives they protect by doing their jobs."
"Yeah," Emily nodded slowly. "It reminds me of just how susceptible we are to the people we put away."
"It kinda scares me," JJ summarised. "It scares me that it can happen to us; it now has happened to us, and even though we came out relatively unscathed, it just makes me think. Will it happen again? How can I protect Henry, or any other kids that may come along?"
"You keep doing what you're doing, and you try your hardest to make sure it never happens again."
They turned around, and smiled as Jennifer Shepard approached them, Shelby firmly attached to her side.
"Jennifer Shepard, NCIS," she introduced herself. Emily and JJ shook her outstretched hand and introduced themselves. "I understand it's your team I have to thank for saving the children?"
JJ nodded. "Yes ma'am. It was Emily's stepson who alerted us to the situation, his quick thinking and the training he received from us aided in the assessment of the situation and it was our technical analyst who pulled your children's files so we could, in turn, alert you. Unfortunately, this type of event happens often with us, just not with our own children, so our response times are minimal at best."
"I think we were lucky your stepson acted the way he did, Agent Hotchner," Director Shepard turned to the older woman. "You and your team have made a friend with me today."
Both JJ and Emily stood, almost shell-shocked, as they received praise from the director of another agency they had never met, but was apparently their new best friend. They watched as she injected herself into the conversation with the other children, immediately becoming 'Aunt Jenny' to all but her own daughter, and was totally at ease amongst the five- to eight-year-olds.
"I'm going to go check on Aaron and the boys," Emily whispered in JJ's ear, and the blonde nodded, her eyes not leaving the kids in front of her. "Come on then, Miss Audrey Elizabeth, we are going to find daddy and see how the boys are doing."
"Pay?" Audrey asked, tilting her head slightly.
Emily laughed. "Yes, baby girl, the boys will play with you."
"Yay! Pay!"
Ok, so this was a big, important chapter... it influences a lot of decisions.
I'd like to know what you think. Please drop me a review, or a PM if you'd prefer, just so I know what your thoughts are. I'm slowly catching up again after my holidays, but it would still be nice to know if anything needs attention.
Thanks heaps!
