Slowly into the Light
By Montez
Chapter 9
Disclamier: see chapter one
A/N: Thanks for all the positive responses to my very late return to this story. You guys are wonderful to wait for me like this. Hope you enjoy this next chapter-Montez
Much to the team's relief the cases they received over the following two weeks could all be consulted on via; phone conference, video conference or email. This gave them all time to regroup after the events in New York, but more importantly gave Hotch time to heal. The small cuts and bruises had all but faded and only occasionally did any of them notice a pinched expression or a lapse in conversation giving hint to the continued issues with their Unit Chief's hearing. However, the dark circles remained under his eyes indicating the continued lack of sleep, being the profilers they were they could clearly see through his faux façade of appearing normal as the lines of exhaustion shown like a neon-sign across his pale, thin face. His lack of appetite was still clearly visible as his suits appeared to swallow him at times.
After two weeks Aaron got released for field duty, much to the team's surprise, and each member decided that they would try their best to keep an extra eye on their boss, their friend, while in the field. Two days after Hotch's reinstatement a case arrived that required the team to fly to a small town in Ohio, Lower Canaan. The death of a woman in the same manor of a series of deaths several years before warranted their involvement, but the one thing that made this copy-cat case so bizarre was the current killers DNA matched that of the executed killer from the previous murders.
Morgan noticed it first, while they were still on the plane, when Hotch's face pinched with pain, his hand automatically going to his forehead, then right ear. "Hotch, you sure you're cleared to fly?" The glance the older man gave the younger agent told Derek all he needed to know, Hotch may have been cleared for field work, but he hadn't necessarily been cleared to fly. Once Aaron lowered his gaze, closing his eyes against the pain, Morgan looked up over his shoulder, to make sure Rossi had seen the exchange; a slight nod let him know Dave had seen everything.
Upon reaching the small town and going over everything Sheriff Dobson had, the BAU team knew it was a copy-cat who had very intimate knowledge of the previous case and had possibly had contact with the executed killer known as the 'Angel Maker'. They found many people in the town honestly believed that the killer had somehow come back to life and insisted that the sheriff dig up the body. Rossi, Prentiss and Hotch were at the cemetery with the sheriff, trying to make him see that by digging up the executed murder he was only playing into the game the new killer was orchestrating, the illusion and fear that the 'Angel Maker' was back. Knowing the only way to put those rumors to rest was to exhume the body, the Sheriff felt he had no choice but to carry out the exhumation. The three members of the BAU were next to him as the backhoe pulled the casket to the surface.
The reaction was almost instant, as soon as the machine started up and the chains tightened with a high-pitch screech a pain shot through Hotch's head like he hadn't had for a couple weeks. Yes, over the last week the pain was still there, usually dull most of the time and yes his hearing would go in and out, but this pain made him dizzy, almost nauseas. He put his hand to his head and stepped back from the group, his eye's shut, his hands covering both ears, but pressing mercilessly against his right, silently praying for the noise to stop.
Through the pain he felt a touch on his arm; forcing his eyes open he saw the very concerned face of Emily looking at him, reaching her hand out to help steady his staggered movements. "Hotch, are you okay? Is there something I can do?" is what it appeared she was saying to him, but he couldn't be sure, he couldn't hear her and the pain was making it so heard to concentrate on the words her mouth was forming.
Aaron was trying to tell himself he was okay, trying to convey that to Prentiss as she continued to try and help him. The noise only lasted moments but to Hotch it seemed to go on forever, when it finally stopped it was as if he had just gotten off a carnival ride and couldn't get his bearings. "I'm okay, I'm okay…" He mumbled out, a look of mild relief crossed Emily's face as the older man finally seemed coherent again. She knew not to push and stepped back, her eye's meeting Dave's whose face was clouded with worry, he knew it was too soon for Hotch to be in the field, but could only assume the younger man had some how convinced the doctor he was okay.
Once back at the sheriff's office the team tried to figure out just how it was that the murder's coffin was indeed empty, knowing this was going to cause the town to border on hysteria once the news got out. During this time Dave pulled Morgan aside. "He had a problem at the cemetery, the noise of the backhoe." Derek nodded, understanding exactly what Rossi was saying.
"Is he going to hang back here or is he still going out with us?" Morgan asked, already knowing the answer. He knew on the plane when the pressure caused his boss problems that him being in the field was not in the older man's best interest, but he also knew just how stubborn the Unit Chief could be.
"He's probably going to keep playing the stubborn ass that he is and do his best to push his way through the pain." Dave replied, a humorless smirk crossing his face as he glanced across the room, watching Hotch and Reid discuss something.
"So what do we do?" Derek hated to see the man in question in such pain, the images of that night in New York still woke him with vivid nightmares of realizing it was Hotch and Kate Joyner that were involved in the car bomb, hearing his bosses pleading voice begging for help still made Derek sick to his stomach. Then the man's collapse at the hospital and the time not knowing if he would even wake-up and finally the morning they left New York when Rossi and he found Hotch nearly unresponsive from the pain in his hotel room. It made the younger man wish he could bring that punk that set the IED and the man who'd planted the bomb at the hospital back to life just so he could beat them to death with his bare hands for what they had done to his boss, his friend.
"Keep an eye out, like we've talked about, try to keep him away from anything loud. I honestly didn't even think about how loud that backhoe would be until he reacted." Dave had chastised himself for that lack of foresight since it had happened.
Any further discussion was halted by Hotch's voice, "Dave, Morgan we think we've got something." Rossi patted Derek's shoulder before heading across the room to hopefully find an end to this case.
Chloe Kelcher, Chloe was the copy-cat killer and now they were all standing outside the home of the potential last victim of her disillusioned killing spree, Faye Landreaux. Kelcher's car was easily found, they knew they were only minutes behind her. Dobson wanted to go in, fearing for Landreaux life, but Hotch pointed out that Chloe had a gun and she could just as easily shoot Faye if they stormed the house. Instead he sent Morgan to look for an open window, Kelcher's calling card, Aaron then order the sheriff to get all of their vehicles and turn them toward the house; he was setting up a diversion to give Derek enough time to get inside and hopefully save the soon-to-be victim/hostage.
The diversion worked, Derek got Faye out and everyone outside could hear Chloe tearing up the house at the thought of losing her last connection to the man she had loved, the man she had been killing for, the 'Angel Maker'. Then there were a few moments of silence before the front door opened and Chloe walked out, a gun hanging loosely in her hand. "Chloe drop the weapon!" Hotch yelled as he, the sheriff and the rest of the BAU and Lower Canaan officers pointed their's at her. "Chloe drop the weapon!"
The look that crossed the woman's face told everyone there that she wasn't going to comply, they watched as Chloe looked skyward, her lips whispering something before her gaze landed back on the officers in front of her. With a final, maniacal grin she raised her gun as the sound of Sheriff Dobson's firearm filled the air.
In that very instant Dave saw Hotch reel back, doubling over. For a half a second he thought he'd missed Chloe firing her gun, but when he saw Aaron's hands over his ears, he again chastised himself for not realizing where Hotch was standing in this stand-off. Rossi quickly holstered his weapon once Emily and the Sheriff moved forward and turned toward the younger man who was now kneeling against the back of the police cruiser, oblivious to what was going on around him, his gun still in his left hand.
"Hotch!" Dave called out, grabbing the younger man as he pitched forward. However, Rossi was unprepared for the dead weight when he grabbed Aaron's arms, "Aaron!… I need an ambulance!" the older Profilers loud voice drew the attention of the sheriff and the rest of the BAU as he lowered his now unconscious friend to the ground.