God Rest Ye Merry BAU

Epilogue - We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

For Nymphadora-CullenBAU

Hotch waited outside the ER for hours waiting to hear news about his brother. Finally one of the doctors came out and gave Hotch some news.

"Mr. Hotchner."

"That's me."

"Well, it looks like your brother will definitely live, and should recover in a week or so. He was lucky, it was a small caliber bullet and it only punctured his stomach and stayed lodged in it, and didn't enter his intestines or other major organs. He is still under the anesthesia right now, and in a little while we will be moving him to his own room."

"I want to be there for him"

As they wheeled the hospital bed out of the ER and into the gastrointestinal wing of the hospital, Hotch followed his brother into the room. Not surprisingly, there were also a couple of uniformed police officers waiting as well. Hotch walked past them, the men tipped their hats towards him, and allowed him in the room. Hotch saw his brother, who was in the process of waking up.

"I'm so sorry, bro," Sean said sadly.

Hotch walked up to Sean's bed with a solemn look.

"You'll be fine in a week or so. But why? Why did you get mixed up with Elle?"

"She cared for me. She said she loved me and we would be together, forever."

"I forgive you. You believed in someone, only to have that love and trust betrayed. But you will still need to answer for the crime you helped her commit. I will do as much as I can to try to spare your life, but right now it looks pretty bad for you."

"I don't care anymore. Let me get the death penalty. Leave me alone right now."

Hotch reluctantly did as his brother requested. Hotch also wanted to check on both Reid's and Garcia's conditions. He went into Garcia's room first, happy and relieved to see her awake and smiling. He saw Kevin there, and started to leave when he got called back into the room.

"Hey, you can be the first to know that Kevin and I are engaged!" Garcia beamed.

"Well, congratulations you two. I'm very happy for you both," stated Hotch sadly.

"What's gonna happen to your brother?" asked Garcia.

"I don't know at this point. All I can hope for is for him to spend prison time and avoid the death penalty."

"That's too bad. How's junior g-man?'

Hotch had forgotten in all the confusion to check up on Reid. But instead of telling the truth, he fumbled for an answer. He decided to lie to Garcia and Kevin, in an attempt to spare their feelings.

"He'll be all right in a few days. I'm going up to visit him now. Is there anything you would like to know?" Hotch asked the pair.

"Let him know where my room is, so that he can visit," Garcia replied.

"I'll let him know, after I tell him what else has been going on."-

"He doesn't know yet? He has no idea what has been going on in the past week?" asked Garcia incredulously.

"No. Elle and Sean never told Reid about what was going on. So, I haven't broken the news to him yet. I really don't know how to, but I guess it might be better coming from someone he knows."

"If you want, I can come with you, for support," Kevin offered.

"He know you as well, it might be better for you to come as well. Thank you very much, Kevin, for all of your assistance during the past week," Hotch said.

"Anytime. I just wish I could have helped out more."

"What you did was above and beyond the call of duty, and I will be eternally grateful for what you've done. Well, let's go and break the bad news to Reid."

Kevin followed Hotch to the nurses station. The nurse initially refused to give out which room Reid was in, but after Hotch flashing his badge at the woman, she reluctantly told them Reid's two entered Reid's room, they found Reid there along with Will. Will had already broken the news about the team's deaths to Reid, and Reid was looking out towards the window, feeling responsible for what had happened over the past week.

"You know, there was no way that you could have prevented any of the others' death, Reid. You know that for a fact," Hotch insisted.

Reid did not respond to Hotch. Instead he kept looking out the window. Then Hotch received a phone call on his cell phone.

"Yes. It's true, he's still alive..No, when did they get here?... I didn't contact them... No... they don't know .. have them come here, to the hospital. I can meet them here. Thank you so very much John," Hotch said.

"I have to leave to meet someone. I will be back in a bit."

"Okay," Kevin replied.

As soon as Hotch left, Kevin decided that he would try to talk to Reid, and maybe get further than Hotch did. Kevin decided that a different approach would be necessary.

"You know, me and Pen are going to get married, and, um, I was wondering something," Kevin said.

Reid thought about Kevin's offer, as well as the fact the Garcia was moving on with her life, and that he might do that as well. Reid finally turned around and looked at Kevin. Reid offered a small smile at Kevin, which made Kevin beam with happiness himself. At least there was something good to counteract the bad.

Hotch, meanwhile, was preparing himself to face Reid's parents, who still believed that their son was dead. He had them both meet him at the hospital, which Mr. Reid thought was odd, but still agreed to meet Hotch there.

"We have come to claim our son's body," William Reid plainly stated.

"Look, I told you once, I told you a million times, Spencer is NOT dead. I would have known, I would have felt it if he had died. He's still alive out there," Diana Reid insisted.

Just then Hotch walked up to both of them.

"Hello, my name is Aaron Hotchner, I am the BAU unit chief," Hotch said. "There's something I need to tell you."

""Where is Spencer?" Diana asked.

"You must forgive my wife. She's still confused about our son's death. She seems to think that he is alive," William explained.

"Actually, sir, ma'am, that is what I'm here to talk to you about. It seems that we were mistaken about your son's death. He is quite alive, and here at this very hospital, which is why I had the both of you meet me here."

"I told you so," Diana retorted with a smug look on her face. William Reid sighed, from both exasperation and relief. Hotch then led the both of them to Spencer's room. Spencer was still staring out the window, completely oblivious to his parents' arrival.

"My poor baby, I knew that you weren't dead," Diana spoke softly to her son. She started to stroke his hair. Spencer finally turned around and looked at his mother.

"Mom, you're actually there?" Spencer asked.

"Of course. It will be all right now."

Hotch made his exit out of the room, grateful for the entrance of both Diana and William Reid. He knew that Spencer would need their presence over everyone else's.

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One Year Later

Sean Hotchner plead guilty to the murders, and was sentenced to life without parole, and is serving it in Fredricksville, Virginia.

Will LaMontagne graduated towards to top of his class in the FBI academy, his training was accelerated due to his former occupation of being a cop. He joined the BAU, in JJ's memory, and was accompanied by Aaron Hotchner, media liaison Penelope Garcia-Lynch (who was now the Media Liaison), technical analyst Kevin Lynch (whom was allowed by the FBI director to work with his wife), Spencer Reid (who spent three months LOA due to the events), and new recruit Ashley Seaver, whose father was Charles Beauchamp, an infamous serial killer.

They still remember their lost team members, but move on. They still stay together, and still solve cases to this date.

A/N Finally done! Whoo-hoo, now that gives me more time for my other stories. Please, good, bad, or ugly, let me know how the story went. I love reviews, they help me grow as a writer. And please, vote on my poll. Thank you so very much.