Disclaimer: As ever we do not own Criminal Minds... we wish we did :))
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The ride to the hospital was tense; everyone's nerves were zinging as they pondered the fate of their friends. The worry and fear gnawed at them as they drove, each team member wanting nothing more that to hear the words: 'They're going to be ok.' But they had seen enough in their time as agents and even just as people to know that those words weren't always said, that sometimes in life the people you lost were the people you loved, and none of them wanted that to happen.
The ambulances screeched to a halt outside the A&E and the EMTs rushed to get their two patients inside, yelling instructions and stats at the doctors who came to meet them.
When the team made it, it was chaos personified, having the ability to flash a badge and flip on sirens the team weren't far behind Hotch and Penelope, the last sight of them was them being whisked into two separate rooms. The pair now separate of each other after 4 days of being taken and kept together.
Seconds ticked by, minutes slipped by and then an hour had gone by, in that time the brothers and brother of Penelope and Hotch had joined them, they hadn't seen Penelope or Hotch and almost snapped a nurse in half as she approached them with an update.
'The doctors sent me to talk to you about everything they know so far, later they'll update you fully.'
'That's okay.' Rossi said as everyone looked petrified to talk, like if they did they might say the wrong thing. 'Are they okay?' They saw the solemn look and didn't know if that was a good or bad look to be getting.
'Mr Hotchner is heading to theatre now, he has a punctured lung from multiple ribs penetrating it, we need to get the lung re-inflated as soon as possible to stabilise his breathing, he also has some minimal bleeds internally that the doctor would like to repair, apart from that he has bruising and cuts to his entire upper body that will heal on their own. He and Miss Garcia are also suffering from dehydration.'
'And Penelope?'
'She's being taken to theatre to sort a bleed on the brain out, after multiple hits in the same place she has a blunt force trauma to her head, she suffered a seizure in the ambulance which proved the severity of the hits. She has a broken cheekbone, and bruising to the entire left side of her face, a cut along her neck that to be safe a doctor is going to stitch up in surgery because it is still bleeding.'
'You said seizure... what does that mean?'
'It's the brain reacting to the trauma, we've given Miss Garcia medication to prevent any further ones occurring but we won't know the extent of the one that happened until she regains consciousness.'
'How long will it be until we can see them?'
'Give or take it an hour or two.... I can take you up to the waiting room near ICU if you'd like?' Everyone nodded and picked themselves up as much as they could after hearing the news, they then just followed the nurse and took seats in the new area.
Derek was itching with the not knowing side of life, the new room was too quiet, too colourless, too lifeless so he just got up and left. Everyone exchanged looks and then only Emily got up to follow.
'What was that about?'
The team looked to Rossi, without Hotch he was now the 'spokesman' of the group, the big daddy of them all, he took a deep breath and exhaled. 'You need to know that Derek and Penelope are best friends, from what I was told, from day one... things grew between them but neither acted on what we all saw, she went with a few, he went with a lot, then some things happened and we thought that might crack their restraints but it seems that this is the final straw.'
'Derek loves Penelope.' Emily said making them all jump.
'Emily... he can't.'
'He can... for the same reason I love Aaron, mine and Derek's relationship has been on the downward spiral for a long time now and only Penelope can pick him up, level him, never me. It was always her.'
'Emily you don't have to be doing this right now.'
'I do... this situation isn't going to get any better so what's the point in sitting around trying to be positive and then help our friends all sitting on a lie? It's not going to help that's the thing, so I'm going to find Derek and we're going to sort all of us out ready to help Pen and Hotch,' Emily said and left the room heading for the elevator.
'Can we be sure she knows what she's thinking about?'
'I heard the pair talking in the bull pen... they've known all along they weren't for each other, they just meddled in it.' Rossi said not quite knowing how to defuse the situation for the better so he let the dust settle of Emily's proclamation and the silence gathered around them, each one absorbing the repercussions of all of this.
'Aaron Hotchner?' A strong male voice said making them all jump, they hadn't seen or heard anyone approach, everyone stood and swarmed in including Derek and Emily who had come back after about 47 minutes of talking outside. The pair had seemed to survive whatever was said, and they exuded a sturdy bond, a certain solidarity. 'Are you all here for Mr Hotchner?'
'Yes.' Most said apart from the four Garcia brothers.
'Well we successfully inflated Mr Hotchner's lung, his breathing is clearer and he is able to do it on his on which is promising. We repaired multiple internal tears they were posing problematic. For now we'll keep him in the ICU for monitoring.'
'Can we see him?'
'Only a couple of you at time... there is a waiting room nearer if you'd like to go.'
'We need to wait for news on Pen.' Derek said to Rossi.
'I can let the nurses know where you are if that would help at all?' Everyone agreed and followed another medical member of staff; soon Sean, Rossi and Emily broke off and headed to Hotch's room while the others took sits as a new waiting game began. They could see that it was killing Derek even more now to know that Hotch was close but Penelope was somewhere in the hospital building alone with strangers.
The three that had broken off entered Hotch's room and just stared at him momentarily as he slept, an oxygen mask, the incessantly bleeping of a heart monitor showing a disrupted but near normal heart beat, the IV's, they shuffled in when they saw him open his eyes and stare at them before relaxing.
'You really know how to scare a little brother don't you eh?' Sean quipped happy to see his brother awake.
'Where's Penelope?' Hotch said tearing the mask off his face to demand answers. 'Is she okay? Did you get her out?'
'Aaron put the mask back on.' Rossi warned. 'Penelope is in surgery seems she pulled it out long enough for the tech to get a location.'
'In the process hurting her.... self.' He grimaced as a pain shot up through his side and his breath felt tighter. 'What happened?' He said as he observed the tube protruding his side.
'Seems you two both did a good job at not letting them kill either of you.' Emily commented slightly happier at seeing Hotch. 'You got a punctured lung.'
'And internal bleeding.'
'Not forgetting all that bruising you're sporting bro.' Sean said as he observed the masses of purpling bruises. 'If you wanted me to see you, you didn't need to document it on the news.'
'Yeah, I'll remember that for next time.' Hotch retorted all the time wanting to know more about Penelope, he felt a certain pull to know how she was, to keep looking after her the best he could. 'How bad is she? I remember the blood.'
'We really don't know a lot at this moment.'
'Guys, Pen... she's just been brought up.' Derek said, his face void of most readable emotions, he couldn't smile as he saw Hotch looking at him, his eyes prompting him to continuing. 'They managed to start draining the bleed on her brain but she...' It was then all the emotions flooded back. 'She's in a coma.' Emily stepped in and gathered him in a hug which he accepted. 'I can't lose her.'
'You won't.' Emily soothed.
'They don't know if she'll wake up though.'
'Is this the same Penelope Garcia that we all work with that we are talking about?' Derek nodded at the question Hotch asked. 'Well then keep faith in her Morgan.'
'Derek go be with her.' He nodded and left the room at the persistence of his friends, then Emily turned to Hotch, a serious face on. 'I know this isn't the time or the place but what the hell were you and Penelope thinking?'
Hotch shrunk back into the pillows at the accusatory tone in Emily's voice; he had known that question was coming; he had just hoped it would wait a little longer and that it hadn't come from her. He couldn't withhold now, not with both Emily and Sean giving him the look so he sucked in a breath but the pain filtered in at that point so he realised it and started.
'Strauss came to me; she wanted it kept air tight, no one else to know but one tech, I asked Penelope. She was the best bet to get it sorted.'
'But after Battle... how could you put her in that situation?' Emily asked knowing that Hotch as boss would only put Penelope in that predicament if she was a last result.
'I was sensitive about it, I broached it gently, I asked her if she would help, I told her what...' He hitched slightly and put a hand on his side. 'It entailed, I didn't lead her in blindfolded, I made sure she knew what she was going up against.'
'Okay, so why the hell couldn't you let us help?'
'It's money laundering... what...' They watched Hotch's face pale further and his face scrunched in pain as he literally screamed out.
'Aaron...' Sean said as he stepped in, Hotch wouldn't let him touch him, too consumed with what was happening with his body at that moment in time. He saw the heart monitor slow before stopping and making one long tone, he looked around in a panic and saw Emily running in after nurses and a doctor.
