The Playing Game
Chapter 9
Weeks later...
The team and I had just walked into the BAU from a recent case that we had worked on for the past week. I sat my things down at my desk just as Ashley Marin walked in.
"Can we help you?" Morgan asked. I turned around to see a distraught look on her face.
"Ms. Marin, what's wrong?"
"Hanna's in the hospital."
"Ok, um." I rubbed the back of my neck as JJ spoke up.
"Why don't I take you the conference room?"
...
Memories were flooding back to the night that Hanna got hit by the car, splashing the cold water onto my face just to see the door open and Hotch entering.
"You alright?"
"The truth? I said not looking at him. "I don't know." Next thing I knew, I felt his arm wrapped around my waist for the first time in a long time.
"I'm right here." He kissed the top of my head. "Always." With that, I turned around and kissed him on the lips just as JJ walked in with a surprised look on her face.
"Sorry to interrupt," We broke apart. "We're ready."
Hotch cleared his throat. "Right." He left earning a look from JJ.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Yeah right."
The two of us walked into the BAU room to find Ashley with a glass of water. JJ was sitting next to her when my cell phone ranged.
"Excuse me for moment." The three nodded. "Caleb. How is she?"
"Hey. Han's a little shaken. The girls are with her. Is-?"
"Yeah Ashley's filling in my team as I speak. Look if there's?"
"I'll let you know."
"Tell Han, I love her." I heard him chuckle some.
"Will do." I walked back in.
"Sorry 'bout that."
"Everything ok?" JJ asked.
"Yeah. That was actually Hanna's husband, Caleb."
"Is Hanna ok?" Ashely asked in concern.
"Hanna's awake. Caleb said he'll call when he knows more."
"Good."
"Ms. Marin-." Hotch started to say but she cut him off.
"Please call me Ashley." He smiled some.
"Ashley, is there anyone who would want to hurt your daughter?" My phone buzzed with a blocked number. "Think queen b, can keep her secrets when you can barely keep yours?-A." That text appeared in the bubble on the screen before I made it go black.
"Sorry."
"No. Not that I can think of."
...
Stepping outside the conference room, I looked back at the text I received during our interview with Ashley.
"Everything ok?"
"Yeah. If it's ok, I'm thinking on going to Rosewood and see if the police department has any leads."
"Ok. Call if you need anything." I returned a nod.
...
I arrived a little after six and met up with Caleb at the Grille while the others were with Hanna at hospital.
"I got your message. What's up?" I showed Caleb my text. "Is this recent?"
"Yeah. Received it while we were getting an update from Hanna's mom."
"Any idea on what it means?" I ran a hand over my face.
"No."
"You should have Toby look into before-." Spencer and Aria walked stepped out of Hanna's room.
"Before what?" Spencer asked as Aria and I exchanged hugs.
"Hey."
"Hey back."
"Before what?" Caleb nodded as I pulled the text back up.
"When did you get this?" Aria asked.
"When Ms. Marin was filling us in on Hanna."
"Any idea on what it means?"
"Not a clue." Just then a nurse walked up with a manila envelope in hand.
"Which one of you is Alexandra Brooks?"
"That would be me. Why?"
"Some guy just sent this for you." She handed it to me and I looked down to see my name written in black sharpie.
"Hey." Spencer said making the nurse stop in mid step.
"Yes?"
"Who sent it?"
"Dunno."
"Ok. Can I get a look at your security tapes?" I flashed my badge at her.
"Come with me."
"Call Toby and don't-."
"Let anyone in Hanna's room got it." Caleb said.
...
While I was watching the tapes, my cell ranged with Hotch's name just as I saw a hooded figure at the nurses station.
"Hang on. Can you freeze that?" I asked the security guard.
"Yeah."
"Have you opened the envelope?"
"No. I told Caleb to hang on to it when I got finish looking at the tapes."
"Ok. We should be there sometime this afternoon. Be safe."
"Will do." I placed my cell in my jean front pocket. "I need a copy of this tape."
"You got it."
...
I walked back to Hanna's room with the tape in hand and saw Spencer's parents outside the room.
"Alex, it's good to see you."
"You as well."
"I'm guessing you're working on Hanna's case?"
"I'm doing what I can." Caleb stepped out.
"Hanna's asking for you."
"Right. Veronica, Peter. It was good seeing you." I walked into the room.
...
Toby's apartment-
I was staring at the envelope while Caleb, Toby and Ezra were looking at the tape. As Caleb was rewinding the tape back and forth, my cell phone began to ring making the guys jump some.
"Brooks...Ok I'll let you in."
"What's up?" Ezra asked.
"My team's here with Spencer's parents." I said opening the door seeing Veronica's face staring at mine.
"Your team filled us in about 'A'." I sighed and moved to let them in.
"Have you found anything else?" Reid asked.
"No. The guys are still looking at the video footage." We walked to the kitchen. "Guys, this is SSA Hotchner, Agents, Reid, Rossi, Morgan, Callahan and Jareau."
"You can call me JJ." They shook hands.
"Where's the envelope?" Hotch asked.
"Here. I haven't had the guts to open it."
"This 'A' person, you-?" Rossi began but Ezra cut him off.
"We have no idea who he is." I saw Morgan get his gloves out and started to open the envelope.
"Hotch." Morgan said as he laid the picture of us at the ball field on top of the packet.
"You've got to be kidding me." JJ said.
"What is it?" Veronica asked as I saw a picture of Aaron and me on a date and walked off.
"Kate, take pictures of these, and send them to Garcia." She nodded.
Balcony-
I was standing next to the railing with my arms crossed looking at the skyline when I felt Aaron's arms wrap around me.
"You ok?"
"I will be when this is all over." I turned around just as Aaron went down with a gunshot wound to the chest. "Hotch!" Everything happened so fast I didn't even hear the shot until it happened. "Stay with me!" I looked up to see Morgan running out.
"Helps on the way." He moved me out of the way to put pressure on his chest.
"Oh no." Kate said.
...
As we were waiting on the news about Hotch, Veronica walked over and handed me a glass of water just as I saw Strauss rounding the corner.
"Any news?" Thankfully Rossi spoke as I left to get some air.
"No."
While I was trying to Hotch's blood off of my hands, I was flashbacking to the night in New York.
Flashback
The five of us had met Alison at her bar that she'd work at, it was going fine until we were chased up to the roof were a black hooded figured cornered us to the edge. Ezra emerged from the stair rail.
"Hey!" Shots fired and nailed Ezra in the stomach as Aria rushed to his side.
Present Day
Knocking on the bathroom door brought me back into reality as I tore off the piece of paper towel.
"Alex?" JJ said. "You ok?" I unlocked the bathroom door.
"I-I can't get the blood off." She nodded slowly.
"Ok." She led me back over to the sink just as my hands began to shake again.
...
Later that night, I was curled up in a chair next to the wall with what felt like Ezra's jacket draped over me. Toby walked over to him with a cup of coffee in hand along with a bag of food for me to eat.
"Hey."
"Any news?"
"Not since they took him into surgery." Ezra said as he was taking off the lid which made me wake up.
"Is that coffee?" I asked in a tired voice.
"I forget you run on caffeine." I gave Ezra a small smile as he handed me the cup.
"I'm guessing my team-."
"Out looking for the sniper." Toby added. "How are you holding up?" I was about to say something until Aaron's doctor walked in.
"Doc. How is he?" I asked standing.
"A very lucky man." A sigh of relief escaped my mouth.
"Is it ok if I see him?"
"I don't see why don't." This time Toby spoke.
"Doctor Hemmings."
"Yes?"
"I'll need the cartridge that came from Agent Hotchner's body for evidence."
"Right of course."
I walked into Aaron's room and found a paler face person lying in the bed. Pushing up my sleeves, I took the empty seat next to the bed and started to push back his hair when Toby walked.
"We've got a problem." He held up the container.
"You've got to be kidding. A .45 caliber?"
"If 'A' trying's to send a message-?"
"They're doing a hell of a good one." I ran a hand over my face just as my cell ranged with Garcia's name on it. "Garcia?"
"How's the boss man?" I couldn't help but smile some as Toby stepped out of the room as I nodded.
"He's out of surgery and in a room."
"Thank God." I heard both her and Kevin say.
"Yeah." Looking back at him, I walked back and pushed back some of his bangs.
...
Days later Aaron and I were walking around slowly down the hospital hallway just Morgan and JJ walked in with a bag of food and clothes for me.
"Lookin' good boss." Derek said smiling earning a small smile from Hotch.
"I do have a good nurse to thank." I looked up at him.
"Really?" He nodded as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as JJ cleared her throat.
"So your friend Toby caught a lead with the cartridge-."
"Let me guess, the gun isn't registered?"
"That's the thing," I raised an eyebrow. "It's registered to a Darren Wilden." I felt my stomach turn. "You ok?"
"Yeah."
...
Walking into Aria's house, and still wearing the same clothes from last night, she walked over and handed me a cup of coffee.
"You sure you don't want to take the bed-?" I returned a small smile.
"I'm fine really. We all saw Wilden dead right?"
"Yeah. Why would his gun show up?" I rubbed my forehead just as the rest of the girls walked in.
"I don't know."
"How's Aaron?" Spencer asked.
"He's walking." I said yawning.
"How much sleep did you get last night?" Emily asked.
"Not enough, nurses came in every hour. More importantly, how are all of you?"
"We're good." They all said even though that they were lying, I let it slide since I was extremely tired as another yawn escape from my mouth.
"If you're that tired, maybe you should skip lunch?" Spencer suggested. "We could always order taken-in like we used to."
"And put on some cheesy chick flick." Hanna added.
"Since I'm not going to argue, sure why not." I left my still hot cup of coffee sitting on the bar and curled on the couch.
...
Later that night I woke up to the sound of thunder and lightning. Looking to see that the girls had fallen asleep on the couch and chair, I reach over to the coffee table and grabbed my phone to see what time it was. Seeing that it was after one and having three miss calls from my team, one from JJ, and two from Aaron; sighing I placed it back down just I felt Hanna move on the other end of the couch.
"Everything ok?" She asked.
"Yeah. Go back to sleep." I said getting up from the couch and heading towards the kitchen to get a drink. Rubbing my face as I looked outside the window, I could have sworn I saw a shadow outside, turning back to turn off the faucet just as Aria walked up with a blanket wrapped around her.
"Can't sleep?"
"No." A clap of thunder exploded made us jump some.
"Whoa."
"Yeah. I don't remember it being this bad since..." I glanced at the window.
"The night Ali went missing."
"Yeah."
...
The next morning Toby and I was chasing a suspect that matched our description of Hotch's case. Running past the Grille and jumping over chairs that he had turned over, I signaled Morgan and JJ to cut him off in an alley and pulled him off the chain link fence just as I saw a gun coming out of his pants.
"Gun!" Morgan yelled as I decked him across the face.
"Why do they always have to run?" I asked as our perp was coming too.
"Remind me not to make you mad." Toby said as I handed our prisoner to him. He walked off just as I was shaking the feeling back in my now hurt hand.
"You ok?" Rossi asked.
"Not gonna lie, but that hurt." I saw both Morgan and JJ grin some.
"Any identification on him?" Tanner asked.
"Morris Phillips." Toby said as the four of us walked to the two.
"I want your badge number!"
"You and everyone else." I said taking off my shades and placed on top of my head. "So tell me, Morris-." I was cut off by him spitting on my cheek.
"Bitch."
"Get this dirt bag outta here." Toby nodded. Took the handkerchief out from my back pocket and wiped my cheek.
"Alex?" Derek asked.
"Find everything you can on Phillips." He gave a nod as I left.
...
As I was taking a run through the local park to clear my head, my cell phone rang with Garcia's name flashing across the screen.
"Garcia, what's up?"
"So your boy Morris Phillips has been pretty busy."
"Really?" I said handing a ball back to a kid in passing.
"Yes. But that's not what-." She was cut off by the sound of gunshots. "Alex?"
"Everyone get down!" I heard Garcia's faint worried voice on the other end as I went after the sedan but of course it was too crowded of terrified people running like chicken with their heads cut off.
Hearing sirens coming from the distance made some relief come from my body as I tried to calm the now adrenaline rush that was forming in my body. Toby was the first one to come see if I was ok, nodding yes as I gave him my piece as he then noticed that my side was red.
"Alex."
"What?"
"You've been hit." I looked down at my side as he lifted my now bloody white tank top up some, next thing I knew I collapsed in his arms. "We need some help over here!"
Hospital-
I was putting on my shirt when I saw Toby walking with a concern look on his face.
"Are you sure you should-." I return Toby a smile.
"Toby I'm fine. It's just a scratch." I winced as I put my jacket on.
"Oh a Penelope Garcia called." I looked down at busted cell phone.
"Yeah. Can I hitch a ride back to the station?" He nodded.
...
The two of us walked in while Morgan was on his cell phone talking and stopped JJ who had a few files in her hand.
"What's going on?"
"Cruz is flipping out." Reid walked by. "Shouldn't you-?"
"I'm fine. Why is Cruz flipping out?"
"Cause the sniper took shot at two of his agents." Tanner said as I ran a hand over my face. "Shouldn't you-?"
"It's just a scratch. I just want to find this baster before he strikes again."
I walked into the brew and rubbed my side as I met Ashley Marin in line. Thankfully my cellphone ranged with Cruz's name flashing across the screen, making a bold move, I hit the ignore button just as my name was called.
"Ignoring your boss?" Ashley asked making me jump a little. "Sorry," She chuckled some. "Didn't mean to startle you."
I let out a small laugh. "It's my fault, I guess I'm..."
"In your own world?" I returned a nod just as my cell ranged again with Garcia's name flashing across the screen. "Looks like you better get that. We can talk later." I smiled.
"I'd like that. Yeah Gar...Director Cruz..." I said walking out just as Caleb walked in.
I walked in the station to see Cruz talking to both Tanner and Hotch, which did not look good at all.
"Agent Brooks." I swallowed. "I see you're alive and well."
"Director." He cut me off and took me to the same office where Hotch and Tanner were talking.
Hours later I found myself back sitting on Aria's porch swing with my legs pulled up against my chest staring at my academy ring just as the girls were walking up.
"This can't be good." Spencer said.
"I'll order some pizza." Hanna added.
"What's up?"
"You got an extra room?"
"Of course."
Few minutes later, we were all devouring on pizza drinking wine and beer. While we were talking about the girls careers, and Alison's marriage to Rosewood's finest doctor, we soon interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Are you expecting anyone?" I asked Aria.
"No." She walked to the door and opened to see Lt. Tanner standing on the other side. "Lt. Tanner, what can I do for you?"
"I was hoping that I could talk to Alex for a moment?" I froze just as I was about to take another drink of my beer.
"Uh, sure." The two of us stepped outside. "If this is about the case, I don't exactly-."
"Actually, I came to offer you a job." I raised an eyebrow at her. "You have the right background-."
"With all due respect-." She cut me off again.
"Look, I know we had our differences in the past, but I'm willing to put that behind and work together if you are." She stuck out her hand for a hand shake which I was hesitate at first, but finally agreed to take the challenge.
Alright there's chapter 9. Sorry it took so long. I didn't know where I was going with this chapter, but here it is. Let me know what y'all think, I do have the others in the works as I speak. Also a quick shout out to the ones who still follow me... you know who you are! Thanks! And if there's any suggestions, let me know. :)