Sorry for the delay, real life was calling...

Hotch was still running. Morgan accompanied him a while, but chose to return to the hotel, to have a sauna. Hotch tried to run away from his frustrations, he didn´t have much success, however. Earlier, he tried to call JJ, but after a couple of ringing signs, he was asked to leave a message. Hotch didn´t. Hotch tried to convince himself that the timing was just unfortunate, but it was much more likely that she wouldn´t like to talk to him. Hotch kicked an empty Coke can away. Why did Will have to have this accident? Hotch felt sorry for him, he wanted nothing bad for Will. But he wanted JJ, so badly. He wanted to laugh with her and live a happy fulfilled life with her, Jack and Henry would do so well as siblings, Hotch always had a bad conscience because Jack had to grow up alone. But all of that was a distant vision, if not completely out of reach. Hotch knew her well enough to know that she would never leave Will in a situation like this. Hotch avoided to think over the long-term consequences of this accident, if the injuries were so severe, as he supposed, then perhaps a disability was standing in the room and that would change JJ's entire life.

JJ hung up on Hotch. The Doctors pushed Will straight into the OR. According to Dr. King, the intracranial pressure had grown so dangerous that another surgery was inevitable. King had also asked if there was a living will. JJ felt like she was going to suffocate. Of course there was. Even JJ had one. Will and JJ authorized each other to make the necessary decisions, when necessary.
The necessary decisions, JJ thought. Was she able to make a necessary decision without feeling like Will's murderer? How could she ever be sure, she had decided for Will's good and not for her own? For a possibility, to ensure a new life with Hotch?

"Excuse me, you´re JJ?" JJ turned and found herself confronted by a young woman with dark hair, her belly showed a little bulge.

"I'm Constance Donovan, Mike Donovan's wife. I´m here for Will, how is he doing?"

For a brief moment JJ wondered, who Mike Donovan was, but then it occurred to her. Mike was Will´s colleague. He and Will had been in the patrol car, Mike didn´t make it.

"Constance, I'm very sorry about Mike. It's terrible what happened. Will is back in the operating room, it doesn´t look good."

Constance sobbed and had to sit down. "Will has often been with us, he and Mike got along well."

JJ sat down beside her. She was just aware of how little she actually knew about Will. He had never told her of Mike and Constance, and she never asked. How could they live next to each other just like that, JJ wondered. But that probably happened when the love was gone.

It was a lucky coincidence, that the elevator from the spa area leaded directly to the hotel floors, so Derek, Spencer and Eve could avoid the crowded lobby. Eve's quite deranged appearance would certainly have raised a question or two. Spencer handed Eve a bottle of water after they had entered their hotel room. "You have to be completely dehydrated, Eve. What were you thinking?"

"She did what she learned from her grandmother, didn´t you Eve?" Derek tried to explain.

"Eve nodded, "suddenly everything returned to me, as if Grainne was sitting next to me and guiding me. I'm sorry if I scared you, Spencer. My grandmother was a medium, she belonged to the Irish Tinker and for them things like this were quite normal, rituals, magic, palm reading."

Eve smiled as she noticed Reid's dumbfounded look," Don´t look so critical, you´re a scientist, I guessed, you're a bit open-minded? Derek thinks, this is hocus pocus and that doesn´t surprise me, yet."

"Now, take a look at her, she is getting bold", Derek grinned, Eve was back on track, maybe not completely, but she was returning to her older self. Good news, they were so badly needed. They were still waiting for a call from JJ, to give them thumbs up, but the longer the waiting lasted, the more the hopes were fading.

"I think Eve should lie down a bit," Spencer said unusually energetic and left the room, pulling Morgan with him.

"Take it slow, pretty boy", Derek grinned, while standing in the hotel corridor. "Got a crush on her, right?"

Spencer blushed, "I don´t know what you mean," he said stiffly.

Derek patted Reid´s back, "there's nothing to be embarrassed about, kiddo. But don´t burn your fingers at her, okay?"

Derek smiled again, and headed towards sauna. It was only short time until dinner, but what the hell, Derek thought. Spencer decided to take a walk and figure out, whether he should tell Eve about his feelings, or not. Reid was missing Emily, she always knew, what to do. Spencer sighed, he missed her a lot. Prentiss had left such a big gap, in situations like that, Spencer missed her so much, that it hurt. He stepped out into the street and took a deep breath. He grabbed his cell phone and tried to reach JJ, maybe the doctors could already tell her something.

Eve was about to lie down for a bit when she heard a noise at the door. "You should not have left in such a hurry, Spencer, your keycard is here on the table." Eve opened the door and suddenly it got dark.

Hotch came back to the hotel completely exhausted. His pulse was racing still like crazy when he got off the elevator. He registered only in the corner of an eye a man with a laundry cart that went past him. Hotch wondered for a brief moment, but was too much lost in his own thoughts, to be really thinking about it. JJ was all, currently running around in his head. He longed for her, for the warmth of her body, the softness of her skin, the moments of intimacy, when they made love and looked each other in the eye. Hotch could literally hear JJ's little squeaks she always made, when she came. He smiled briefly, she was such a stunning woman ... owned by another man, Hotch thought frustrated and let his sports clothes carelessly drop to the floor. He turned on the shower. The water washed off the dust and the sweat, but not Hotch's feelings for JJ.

Constance Donovan refused to go, not before she knew what was happening to Will. She looked at JJ, curious, she was just as Will had told her. Constance sobbed again, Will. She had lied to JJ. Will visited them, that was true, but mainly to see her. It ran for almost a year, it had just happened. Constance was, like Will, from New Orléans. And just like him, she was stranded in DC, because of love. But Mike wasn´t the friendly kind of husband, so to speak. More than once, Constance had to lie, about being clumsy,to explain her bruises. One evening Conny fled to Will, one led to another and ... Both of them knew that it was not right, but somehow they did not care. Constance put a hand on her belly. The baby was Will´s and he had finally made a decision. He wanted to talk to JJ, just when she was back again from Baton Rouge. Everything seemed to turn for the better, until this accident destroyed everything. Constance was in total despair, what should she do? Will can´t die, definitely not. She loved and needed him and he was so excited, about the little boy they would get. And how should she make it clear to JJ, that she had to be with Will, and not her? JJ didn´t belong to Will anymore, doesn´t she see that? Will loves me, Constance thought, take a look, JJ, take a good look.

Spencer finished his walk without finding a satisfying solution. The fact was, and Morgan was right, he had a crush on Eve. He thought of Lila, he had been in love with her, but it was different back then. Eve was different, she was a tough woman who knew exactly what she wanted. And she would want someone like Derek or maybe Hotch. She was a companion for an alpha male, when she was finally herself again. It was impossible that she chose the tall, skinny, inconspicuous one. Reid fumbled in his pocket for the key card, until he realized that it was inside the room, on the table.
Reid knocked.

"Eve? It´s me, Spencer. I forgot my card, can you please open up?" Spencer knocked again, this time louder and more energetic. "Eve? Please open the door!"

"Reid! What the hell are you doing here, is something wrong?" Hotch stepped out of his room from the opposite side of the corridor. He wasn´t fully dressed, his shirt was still hanging over his trousers and he was not wearing shoes.

"Eve isn´t answering, she doesn´t open the door, Hotch," Spencer said worriedly.

"Do you think, something is wrong?" Hotch asked, pounding with his fist at Eve's door.

"She was all right, when Morgan and I left the room, Hotch."

Hotch hesitated only a moment, then threw himself against the door. She immediately jumped up. "Eve, are you here?" Hotch entered the room. On the bed lay the bath robe, but there was no sign of Eve Gardiner.

Reid went to the bathroom, "she is not here, Hotch!"

Aaron opened the mini bar, it didn´t look as something was missing. A short memory crossed Hotch´s mind, but Reid disturbed his train of thought.

"She can not be gone, definitely not, Hotch."

"Can somebody tell me what's going on?" Rossi looked into the room, curiously.

"Eve's gone." Hotch said.

"What do you mean, gone?" Rossi replied, "where should she go? She's not in the bar, that´s where I come from."

"She wanted to lie down a bit, Eve has been in the steam room, she was quite exhausted." Reid tried to explain.

"Ok, from the start, Reid. You said, you and Morgan were the last to see her? At what time?"

Reid looked at his watch, "that was 46 minutes ago, Hotch. Morgan and I have accompanied her from the steam room to our hotel room, I ... I was worried because she was gone for so long and I checked on her."

"Was there something strange in the spa?" Rossi asked.

"Um, no." Reid was sure, Rossi and Hotch could tell, he was lying, but he had promised Eve, to shut up and he would do so.

Hotch looked at Reid, the little genius was covering up, something. "Reid?" he asked, in his team leader voice.

Spencer has never been so grateful for Morgan bursting into the room. "Hey, what's going on, what´s the big deal?"

"Eve is gone," informed Rossi.

"Maybe she´s in the restaurant?" Derek speculated, then his eyes fell on the chair by the window, Eve's handbag was hanging over the back. Derek didn´t know any woman, who left home without this thing. "Shit," Morgan muttered. On the cabinet door also hung a sleeveless, form-fitting dress, matching high heels were standing next to the closet. Obviously, she wanted to wear that to dinner. Eve wanted to doll her all up, Morgan thought. She wouldn´t leave the hotel, not on purpose.

"I´ll ask at the front desk, if anyone has seen Eve", Rossi left the room.

"I´ll check the bars in the area, although I don´t think she's there," Morgan said.

"Derek is right," agreed Spencer, "Eve hasn´t left to drink, sure not."

Hotch suddenly remembered the laundry man. He doesn´t belong here, not at this time. And in the laundry box was enough space for such a small person like Eve. "Holy crap! The bastard snatched her right under my nose. He passed with her directly behind my back!" Hotch looked even grimmer than usual, who could dare to assault his team?