Thn0715:
Prentiss sat down next to JJ, still beside herself at losing her badge. How on earth could she let that happen?
"Let it go, Emily," said JJ. "It could have happened to any of us. Don't worry about it."
"JJ's right," Morgan agreed. "Now would you three come on over here, you're gonna miss out on the marshmallows!"
JJ, Em and Garcia joined the guys around the fire. They spent two hours laughing, joking, telling stories, and watching one of the most breathtaking sunsets any of them had seen in a while. As the fire died down, they decided to call it a night and retreated to their tents.
In the guys' tent, Morgan and Reid fell asleep almost instantly. Hotch and Rossi sat up talking quietly for a few minutes before they, too, were passed out.
In the girls' tent, the fun was just beginning.
"I can't believe you picked Rossi to be the first one to get hurt!" Em teased. "He's a freakin' woodsman for crying out loud! Everyone knew it would be Reid!" He had tripped on a fallen tree branch and scraped his knee, prompting the girls to shout "five bucks" once again, after making sure he was okay, of course.
"I wasn't thinking!" Garcia retaliated. "I had other things on my mind at the time!"
"Like Morgan's pajamas?" JJ snickered.
JJ and Em rolled with laughter and Garcia turned three shades of red before uttering, "Morgan in his jammies is a nice picture, but no, it's not Morgan. It's Kevin."
Suddenly JJ remembered their conversation from two days ago that they never got to finish.
"So, what's the big deal anyway?" JJ asked. "What's going on?"
Garcia looked down and mumbled something inaudibly. The girls leaned in closer.
"What was that?" asked Em.
Garcia sighed. "He wants to get marr… marr… UGH! I can't even say it!"
"Married?" asked JJ.
"Yes. He wants to get," Garcia took a deep breath, "married!"
The girls squealed with delight, them immediately threw their hands over their mouths.
"Shh!" Garcia scolded. "You're gonna wake up the guys!"
They nearly pounced on her with hugs and congratulations, and the demand of every single little detail.
Garcia was halfway through the story of a romantic dinner by candlelight and an evening of online gaming when a noise halted the conversation.
"What is that?" Prentiss whispered.
They listened intently as the panicked moaning from the next tent grew slightly louder. She looked at the other two.
"Is that Hotch?"
In the next tent…
He was 12 years old all over again. He woke up in the hospital, his mother standing over him, his little brother crying in the corner.
"Where am I? What happened?" He looked around the room and noticed someone was missing. "Where's Kayla?"
"Honey, you have a concussion," his mother tried to calm him. "Just relax."
"Where's Kayla?" he asked again, the panic starting to creep into his voice.
She tried to break the news gently, but there's just no easy way to tell your 12 year-old that his best friend in the world is dead. Aaron immediately tried to get up, but the concussion sent the room spinning. His mother pushed him back down, and he gave up fighting as the tears streamed down his face.
"No!" he cried. He hid his face in his hands. "No, no, no!"
"Aaron." This voice wasn't his mother.
"No!"
"Aaron, wake up."
"No!"
"Aaron!" Rossi shook him gently and finally the nightmare ended. Hotch woke up frantic, shaking, sweating, and unable to catch his breath. He looked around and saw, instead of his mother and brother, Morgan and Reid still asleep in their sleeping bags.
"Come on," Rossi guided his friend. "Let's go for a walk."
They got up and walked outside. Rossi glanced back and saw three concerned faces staring out at him from the other tent. He held up a hand, signaling them to stay put, and followed Hotch to the fallen tree log he was using as a bench. Hotch was sitting with his head in his hands trying to pull himself together. Rossi sat next to him, still giving him a little space, and waited for him to calm down.
"I'm sorry," Hotch muttered.
"Don't apologize, Hotch," he said. "Just talk to me. This is the second time in as many days that you've woken up like this."
"I don't know why I can't shake this." He looked out through the trees, like he was searching the past for missing pieces. He shook his head. "I had this same nightmare for weeks after Kayla died, but I thought I'd come to terms with it. I haven't had this nightmare in over 20 years, Dave."
"Maybe seeing her killer's twin on the plane brought it all back? It wouldn't be surprising. Even after all that time."
"I know it did, but it just feels like something else. He didn't kill her. I know that. I just can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something. Like there's more to this than I know."
Rossi put a hand on Hotch's shoulder. "When we get back to Quantico, you and I will look back at this, okay? We'll get Garcia to run some checks, look into every aspect you can think of. If there's anything missing, we'll find it. But there's nothing we can do about it out here. You need to try to get some rest."
"I think I'm gonna sit out here for a while. You should go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you."
"Like I said, don't apologize." Rossi got up and went back to the tent. JJ, Prentiss and Garcia were still awake, waiting just inside their tent opening.
"Dave," Prentiss whispered. "Is he okay?"
Rossi thought for a second before answering, "He will be."
In the woods near their campsite, Frederick was on his cell phone with Lawrence.
"I followed the Ranger when he returned Agent Prentiss' badge. I know where they are. You were right. Seeing me on the plane really shook him up. This is going to be more fun than we thought." He gave a sinister laugh and hung up the phone.
