A/N This chapter is shorter than usual. My favourite cat died yesterday and I don't feel like doing anything really
Thank you to all my reviewers. Luv Aggie x

Vindication
Chapter 10
Endings

'A Hospital is no place to be sick.' - Samuel Goldwyn

Dave was in the OR for a long time. It was touch and go for a while because of all the internal damage and blood loss, but the fight was won, and hr pulled through the operation. Spencer had stationed himself outside recovery, waiting for him.

'He will be in Intensive care when he had been through recovery.' the doctor had told him. 'I will let you know as soon as he is well enough to have visitors.

'I'd rather wait, thank you.' Reid had said, and maintained his vigil outside the room.

He was riven with guilt. He knew also that if he hadn't come back to see Dave when he did, Dave would almost certainly be dead, but he needed to apologise for what he had said earlier. The fact that Dave hadn't defended himself under the onslaught indicated how he had been feeling when he was attacked.

The police were working with the security staff in searching the hospital. Reid was glad of the chance of sitting here getting his thoughts in order. Although that wasn't as easy as it at first seemed.

-0-0-0-

The search was over and there was no sign of the woman. Morgan clenched his fists in frustration as he made his way back to Aaron's room. Dave had promised that Aaron should not be alone, and in the confusion, he wasn't sure if Emily was with him or not.

When he got to Aaron's room he saw that he was alone, and staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. Who ever had stitched his neck wound hadn't changed his pillow, and his head was lying in blood.

Morgan thought that maybe they'd had enough to do, what with trying to catch a killer and all. But this man deserved the best treatment.

Derek went into the room and sat next to Aaron.

'It's me, Boss-Man.' He gently lifted Aaron's head and removed the pillow. Then he went next door and took one off an unused bed, and returned to Aaron with it.

'I know it's horrible that you are restrained, but it's because you tried to pull out your respirator.' Morgan said gently as he replaced the pillow. 'In the morning, they are going to do some repair work on you, and then the tube will be out of your throat and you will be able to communicate again.'

Aaron moved his hand in a writing motion.

'I'll get a pen and paper.' Morgan said, searching through the drawers at the side of the bed. He found some and put the pen in Aaron's hand and held the paper for him.

He wrote on the paper a single word.

"Dave"

'I'll go find out.' Morgan said, and hurried out of the room.

-0-0-0-

Emily was sitting alone in the cafe. Reid's breakfast had long since been cleared away, and she sat with her hands clasped around a cold cup of coffee.

When Reid had gone off to wait for Rossi to come out of the OR, she found herself alone with Aaron.

And straight away she remembered what had happened before when his heart had failed and they had almost lost him.

That was shortly after she had rejected him, and although she didn't think she would have that affect on him again, she was afraid to stay alone with him, so she had fled to the cafe.

Aaron was not meant to be alone, but she thought his sanity was more important.

She took a sip of coffee and gagged. She took it back to the counter and ordered another one.

-0-0-0-

Reid's thoughts were going round and round in his head in eternal circles. His priority was to make amends with Dave. He knew that Dave must be feeling guilty anyway; he was sorry he added to his sadness.

He also needed to speak to Hotch as soon as he was well enough, and he had to get the words right.

He was having difficulty dealing with the anxiety of the past few months. He was afraid that his love for the man was going to affect his work. He lived most of his life in fear that something was going to happen to him, and the only answer that he could see was asking for a transfer. That way Aaron would be freed from Reid's love, and Reid would not have the constant desperate fear every time Hotch was out in the field.

But he didn't think that he would be able to cope with never seeing Aaron again.

Maybe he'd ask advice from Dave.....

..... if he makes it.....

The sound of the door opening broke into his reverie.

'Doctor Reid?'

Reid spun round to face the nurse.

'Mr Rossi is out of theatre and is recovering.' she said, 'When you see him, it will only be for a few minutes. He will be very closely monitored and may need further surgery. I will come for you when he is ready.'

A few minutes. That's all the time he needed to apologise to him. he sat down on the floor of the corridor with his knees bent up and his arms clasped around his legs and waited.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was being prepped for surgery. The infection was under control and most of the drug was out of his system, although the pain of withdrawal was still bad. The pain was always there, but the agonising cramps came in waves and completely knocked him back. Each time he prayed that it would be the last, but it never was.

The doctor explained to Aaron what he was going to try to do. He was going to reattach his bowel where the unsub had cut it. They didn't know what they would find when they looked, but they hoped that reattachment would be possible.

Aaron felt the premed take effect and he drifted into that nothing place that felt so safe and gentle, where there was no pain and no grief. Only comfort.

-0-0-0-

Dave slowly eased into consciousness and was immediately aware of the throbbing ache in his abdomen. He tried to remember what had happened.

Aaron was being attacked, and the woman who was attacking him was the same woman that he had shot when they rescued Aaron.

The woman had attacked him..... he thought she had hit him, but it was obviously worse than that, the pain he was feeling now.

Maybe he'd been stabbed.

He carefully opened his eyes and looked to see where he was. That was when he saw Spencer sitting beside him

He was surprised. Spencer was the last person he expected to see.

'Hello.' Reid said, putting his hand over Rossi's.

Dave smiled weakly. 'Hello.' he mouthed.

'Don't try and talk, Dave. I need to talk to you.'

Dave tried to move his hand. He wanted to say that he understood why Reid was upset with him, and he was sorry. Then Reid said,

'I'm sorry, Rossi. What happened to Hotch wasn't your fault. I'm sorry I let off at you. I was wrong.'

Rossi smiled again, and turned over his hand and gripped Reid's.

'That's ok, Reid.'

-0-0-0-

Aaron's operation was going well. The re attachment worked, and he was now back in the recovery room where he was gradually coming round.

'The operation was a success.' the recovery nurse said, gently touching his forehead. 'We have removed the tracheotomy tube, and there is now a tube in your throat. In a few hours we will remove that and you will be able to breathe on your own, and talk.'

Hotch tried to smile although it was difficult with a tube in his mouth. The nurse patted his arm and left him to rest.

-0-0-0-

In a dingy alley way two blocks from the hospital, a woman was trying to wash blood off her hands in some rain water that had collected on the caved in lid of a dumpster. She had killed the man who shot her, more to the point, who had shot Amos and killed him. She failed to kill Hotchner though. She couldn't think why she had not simply slashed his throat, but she might not have got away so easily had she killed them both.

Nothing was going right. She looked down at herself. Her clothes were relatively free of blood, and she had managed to wash most of Rossi's blood off her hands and arms. She just wanted a hotel to spend the night, cut off her hair and tidy herself up a bit, and most important, she needed some money.

It wouldn't be the first time she had prostituted herself, and wouldn't be the last.

But she swore in that garbage strewn alley that she wouldn't rest until Amos was avenged.

-0-0-0-

EPILOGUE TO FOLLOW.