Old Enemies

Chapter 21

Emily had fixed Jack and Hotch a light dinner, but Hotch didn't eat. When Emily went to give him his food, she found him asleep on the bed. She didn't want to wake him, so she just threw the blanket over him and focused on getting Jack fed and ready for bed. Once Jack was asleep and everything cleaned up from dinner, Emily decided to take a quick shower before going to bed. She went and opened Hotch's bedroom door, opened Jack's bedroom door, and did a quick look-through of the rest of the house and the yard. She nodded to the agents in the vehicle parked on the road as she went back in and locked the door. She took her protection detail seriously, and while they didn't have a definite unsub, she wasn't taking any chances with the Hotchners. After convincing herself that everything was secure she went into the guest bathroom and turned on the water.

She stepped into the steaming shower and let the water relax her body. Her mind, though, wouldn't relax. She couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Strauss was going to pull security in two days. She had to stay until Hotch was able to protect himself and his son, and while she wasn't sure how long that would take, she was sure Clyde would want her back before that happened. Was she willing to risk her job to stay and make sure Hotch was safe? Before she could even attempt to answer that question she heard something. She shut off the water, grabbed a towel, and opened the door. She wasn't sure what she had heard. Suddenly Hotch screamed and she darted to his room as she grabbed her gun from the pile of clothes she had put on top of the toilet. She went through Hotch's door in a fury How dare someone. . . She stopped short as she realized Hotch was alone in the room, but he was fighting an inner demon in an apparent nightmare. She went to him as she put her gun on his nightstand.

"Hotch?" she shook him trying to get him to wake up. She laid her hand on his chest. "Hotch, it's alright." He whimpered and shook as he continued fight against unknown monsters. "Hotch!" She said louder as she sat on the bed next to him and shook him harder. With a flurry of arms he came to fighting. She held him down to protect herself and stop him from hurting himself. "Hotch?"

His eyes were wild for a second as he fought against her. "Jack?" He breathed heavily.

"Hotch, Jack's OK. You're OK."

He finally settled as his eyes focused on her.

"You're safe. Jack's safe; he's in his room sleeping," she told him trying to sooth away his fears.

"Emily?" he asked weakly as she finally let go of him.

"I'm here, Hotch." He took a couple deep breaths and sat up. He ran a hand down his face as he realized he had had a nightmare. "You want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.

He looked at her and was about to say something when he noticed what she was wearing. "Ahh. . . I . . ." he stammered. "Are you wearing a towel?" he finally asked.

She blushed as she had completely forgotten. "Oh shit, Hotch!" was all she said as she pull the towel around her tighter, grabbed her gun, and quickly exited his room.

He shook his head. Did I just dream that? He wondered, but clearly saw the top of her leg and hip as she ran from his room. He smiled, got up, and headed to his own bathroom to throw water on his face. Maybe sleeping pills are a good idea, he thought with disgust. He wasn't sure which was worse, sleeping through something that might happen or having nightmares. Maybe half of pill.

Emily quickly dried herself off and got in her pajamas. She had been so worried about Hotch that she had forgotten she was only wearing a towel. Thoroughly embarrassed, she wondered if she should just sneak into bed to avoid facing Hotch again that night. She couldn't, though, she had to make sure he was alright, so she headed back down the hall to his bedroom but turned when she heard him in the kitchen.

"Coffee?" he asked as she came into the room. He smiled again as he remembered her in the towel.

"Please," was all she could say as she could just imagine what he was thinking.

"I see you found your clothes," he joked as he handed her a cup.

"Yeah, well next time have your nightmares a little quieter so you don't disturb me again," she joked back.

"I'm sorry," he told her as he looked at the floor and leaned on the counter.

"I didn't mean it that way. Are you alright?" She asked and he could hear the concern in his voice.

"Yeah, but I think I might have wrenched my shoulder again," he told her as he put his coffee down to rub it.

"Let me see," she told him putting her coffee down beside his and taking over the task of rubbing his shoulder. "How's your arm?"

"Fine, I guess," he told her as he winced at the rubbing.

"Come sit down." She told him grabbing their cups and heading for the table. He followed her wordlessly as he hopped to the table, his crutch leaning against the wall in the kitchen. She immediately started to rub his shoulder again. "Was it Cypress?" she asked clearly talking about his dream.

He shook his head. "I don't know." He sighed as he rubbed his wounded thigh. "I couldn't see his face," he admitted. "He was after Jack, and I couldn't stop him," he told her shaking his head.

"I haven't had a dream like that in a while, thank God. After what happened with Doyle, though, I had them all the time. It will get better, I promise," she told him tenderly.

He nodded. He had had a few after Foyet, but he guessed they didn't last too long because he didn't know about someone else coming after him or Jack at the time. How could he get over the nightmares now? "I'm glad you woke me up before I hurt myself or woke up Jack. Thank you," he told her seriously.

She smiled. "No problem, but to be on the safe side, I think I will shower while you are awake for now on."

He laughed a little and took a drink of his coffee. "Don't want to rescue me in a towel again?" He asked with a playful grin.

"Ha! You just wish it had fallen off," she said coyly as she smacked him playfully on the back and stopped rubbing his shoulder.

He ducked as he thought she was going to hit him again as he laughed to cover up what he was really thinking about. His brow furrowed, though, as he started rubbing his thigh again. "I think I might have tried to kick him in my dream."

"Go get your sweats on, and I'll take a look. You might have pulled some of your stitches," She told him seriously as she got his crutch out of the kitchen. He obeyed without question and made his way to his room. "I'll be back in a minute," she yelled quietly so as to not wake Jack.

After she put their cups in the sink she heard him cuss and hurried to his room. "Son of a . . ." she heard as she opened the door to him sitting on his bed. He had taken off the boot and had his sweat pants on but looked like he was trying to contort himself into a weird position.

"What the hell, Hotch?" she asked as she came up to him.

"Cramp." Was all he got out through clinched teeth.

She quickly knelt down beside him. "Where?"

"Hamstring," he gasped.

She pulled him to the edge of the bed and started massaging the back of his wounded thigh. He laid back and moaned as she tried to get the knot out of his muscle. "You were putting weight on it weren't you?" He nodded and bit his lip to stop himself from screaming out. She kneaded the muscle with her knuckles and she finally felt the muscle relaxing. "You were told to keep weight off of it for a reason, Hotch," she laughed as he started breathing heavily.

He finally was able to sit back up. "I believe him now," he laughed.

She kept rubbing the muscle to make sure it didn't come back. He let a small moan of pleasure escape his lips as the massage sent shivers through him. "That's good," he told her, but didn't make a move to stop her. Emily noticed his flushed face but didn't stop, she knew she pressing her luck but she didn't care. The feelings of her hands on his thigh started to awaken feelings he hadn't felt in a while. As a burning sensation started in his stomach, he felt his manhood twitch. "OK, really, that's good!" he told her as he sat up and pulled her hands from his leg. She looked at him questioningly as he adjusted the way he was sitting.

In the loose fitting sweats, Emily hadn't missed what was happening to him. "Are you sure?" she asked him with a sly smile.

"Yeah, I'm good," he told her quickly.

She started to pull up his pant leg and he moved to stop her. "I thought you wanted me to check the stitches," she asked innocently.

"I checked them. It must have just been the cramp trying to come, start," he corrected himself.

"Well, if you're sure."

"I'm sure." He said and she didn't miss the red coming up into his face.

"Maybe I should let you lie down and try to go back to sleep," she told him as she got up and pulled the covers back for him.

"Yeah, maybe I could go to sleep." Yeah right!

"Do you want a sleeping pill to help?" she asked, all playing aside.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," he admitted and she left his room to go get it. As he watched her leave his manhood twitched again and he hurriedly got underneath the covers.

She came back with the sleeping pill and a pain pill. He was about to protest when she handed him a glass of water. "It will be fine, Hotch," she told him seriously. "I'm right here. Nothing will happen tonight."

He accepted the pills and took them and handed her back the glass. "I don't know how I am ever going to thank you enough for all of this," he told her as he slid down under the covers to lie down.

Well, I could think of something, she thought with a smile but told him not to worry about it. She turned to leave and shut off his light. "I'll see you in the morning, Hotch. Try to get some sleep." And she left.

He tried to relax. What the hell has gotten into you? That would have been beyond embarrassing! Unless she felt the same. . . and he drifted off to sleep thinking about how he felt about the woman down the hall and wondering how she felt about him.

XXX

Hotch slept through the night without any more nightmares, but he had plenty of dreams of another nature. He hobbled into the kitchen as Jack was eating breakfast. Morgan was already there and waiting until Jack was ready to go. He and Emily were making small talk over coffee.

XXXXX

Rossi didn't realize where he was as he slowly started to wake up. A pounding in his head seemed more than a little scotch could have caused and he couldn't figure out why he was still dressed. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes and he realized his hands were bound behind his back. Fear brought him fully awake as he realized he was lying on carpet he didn't recognize. Son of a bitch! He tried to look around but the room was so dark he couldn't make anything out. He tried to focus on the night before. I got home, poured myself a drink, went upstairs. . . Shit! They knew there might be someone after Hotch and Jack, but they never considered he would come after anyone else on the team. Shit!

XXXXX

Morgan got to the BAU and handed out coffees to everyone that he had picked up on the way after dropping off Jack. "Where's Rossi?" He asked JJ as he handed her a cup.

"I don't know. I thought maybe he was with you," she told him as she took out her phone to call him. After several rings it went to voicemail. "Was he planning on going over to Hotch's?"

"Not that I know of."

"Maybe he's sleeping in," Reid told them obviously overhearing them. "I know I wanted too."

"You're probably right. I'll try him again in a while," JJ said as she put her phone away and went to the conference room.

XXX

A couple hours later and more worried than ever, JJ tried to call Rossi again but still didn't get an answer.

Reid picked up on her fear. "Why don't you just call Emily and see if he's there?"

JJ nodded and pushed the call button under Emily's picture. "Hey, JJ," Emily answered.

"Is Hotch right there?" JJ asked.

Emily could hear the fear in JJ's voice. "Yeah, he's behaving." Emily told her as she understood what wasn't said.

"Is Rossi there?"

"No. I think I can handle fixing dinner tonight."

"Shit," JJ exclaimed. "He hasn't shown up yet."

"Maybe Dave can fix it in his kitchen tomorrow," Emily suggested.

"Yeah, we're going to head over there right now. I'll call you when I know something."

"Yeah, you better," Emily told her with a laugh for Hotch's sake.

She hung up and Hotch looked at her questioningly. "Garcia wants to throw you a big welcome home dinner and I suggested doing it at Rossi's tomorrow, so you can rest today," she lied.

"God, when is that woman ever going to stop?" Hotch asked, apparently believing what he was told.

"Really Hotch, it's Garcia we're talking about," Emily laughed and excused herself to go to the restroom. She left Hotch in the family room as she quickly checked out the rest of the house and sent up a prayer that the team would find Dave at home and happily passed out.

XXXXX

Rossi slowly went over the night before again. He could have kicked himself. He should have known something was wrong when Mudgie didn't meet him at the door. He also figured out that his scotch must have been drugged. He tried not to be scared, but the image of Hotch's badly wounded body wouldn't stay out of his mind. At least it's not Hotch or Jack again, he thought with a silent 'thank you' to God. Maybe he just wants all of us out of the way so he can get to Hotch. With that thought, though, he worried about the rest of the team and hoped to hell that nothing had happened to them, too. He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard a door behind him open.

He rolled over to see who was walking up to him but the opened door didn't provide any more light. "What did you do to my dog, asshole?" Rossi demanded to know.