JJ was awake, and in pain. Her whole body was sore, especially her wrist. The worst part, though, was probably that she was stuck lying in the bed for the rest of the day. Being used to constantly being on the move, she knew that bed confinement would be hell. Hotch stepped back into her room around 9:30. She tried to smile at him, but figured that it probably looked like a grimace.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi," she said, "Where did you disappear to?"
"I had to go talk to ski patrol. Had something on my mind. Grabbed breakfast first. I grabbed you something on my way back to the hospital."
Hotch handed her the carry-out bag from Denny's.
"Thanks," she said, "I'm starving. What did you have on your mind?"
"I just found some things as a little strange."
JJ chuckled.
"You're always suspicious about something."
"Yeah," Hotch said with a small smile, "Turns out that my suspicions were justified this time."
"They usually are. So are you going to tell me what is going on or what?"
"I asked the man in charge of our rescue how he responded so quickly. He told me that there had been five avalanches in the surrounding avalanche in the last month. We both expect foul play."
JJ was intrigued.
"So, what's our next move," she asked.
"What's my next move, you mean."
"Aw, come on, Hotch! There has to be something I can do."
Hotch sighed. He should have seen this coming from a mile away.
"JJ, you are stuck in a hospital bed with a broken wrist. What do you suggest you do?"
"I don't know... phone calls or something. Please, I'm going to die of boredom in this damn hospital."
He sighed again, longer this time.
"It was mentioned that the police departments may need to team up into a task force. You may be able to help with some phone calls. Also, I'll need you to call some of the team."
"Great! I'll get on it right away!"
"Whoa, not so fast," Hotch said, "We aren't in a hurry. I still have some things that I need to plan out, I'm not ready for the phone calls to be made yet. And since you are in bed today, I think you should get some rest. I want you to take it easy today, for once in your life."
Now it was JJ's turn to sigh.
"Alright," she groaned, "When do I get out of here, anyway?"
"The doctor says that he'll probably release you tomorrow. Until then, try to go easy on the nurses that come in to check on you. They are nice people, so don't be complaining around them too much, ok?"
JJ laughed, then winced in pain. She managed to give her boss a grin to reassure him that she was alright.
"Ok, I won't gripe to them too much."
"Good," Hotch said with a smile, "Now I've got to leave you a while. Have a lot of stuff to take care of. Will you be alright here by yourself?"
"I'm fine, Hotch," JJ said with an eye roll, "I'm a big girl. See you later!"
Hotch waved as he left the room, leaving JJ to eat her breakfast.
-----
Hotch sat outside of JJ's room in deep thought. He hadn't had as much to do as he had implied, but he figured that JJ wouldn't get any rest with him in the room. Didn't seem to make a difference, though. She was currently screaming at the TV as her Pittsburgh Panthers took on the Colorado State Rams.
"Run, Petey, run," he heard her shout. He assumed that a nurse had told her to quiet down, because the yelling took on an angry tone.
"I'm watching the ball game, let me be!"
Hotch chuckled and shook his head, wondering what he was going to do about his colleague's new-found spunk. Then he continued with his prior thoughts. He had called Page and asked where the other avalanches had happened. Afterwards, he considered which agents to bring up from San Jose. He wanted two, and he would leave the other two there. It was a tough decision, though. He narrowed it down to Rossi and Prentiss, Morgan and Prentiss, or Morgan and Reid. He had just made up his mind when more yelling ensued.
"Touchdown," JJ exclaimed.
That reminded him of his next decision: What to do with JJ? He thought it over for a good thirty minutes. He decided that he would let her help tomorrow, then send her home on the first plane Monday morning. Garcia would pick her up and take her to her apartment. She wouldn't be pleased, but he didn't have any other choice.
"Fumble," he heard her yell again.
He smiled and shook his head some more. She wouldn't leave without a fight, that was for sure.
