Chapter 21

Fear gripped his innards. "What about Jack? What's happened? Is he all right? Is he hurt?"

"Calm down, Aaron. Jack's fine. I apologize if I let you think otherwise. It's just he had a nightmare and woke up crying. He refuses to go back to sleep without talking to you."

"But he's physically all right?"

"He's fine."

"Any idea what the nightmare was about, Jess?" Despite his fear vanishing, the worry still persisted.

"It had to do with a puppy named Boone my parents' next-door neighbor has." She went on to explain that she had taken Jack to the park, and the neighbor was there with his eight-month-old Labrador puppy. He kept throwing a ball, and Boone would run after it and bring it back to him. But one throw went further away than he planned. It landed near Jack who didn't see it until the pup had bolted forward and jumped on him instead wanting to play and sat on him.

"Jack became afraid when Boone jumped on him. But everything got resolved when the owner explained to Jack that the pup meant no harm, and only wanted to play. Jack seemed fine afterward. He even pet and played with the pup, and said the pup reminded him of a smaller version of Rossi's dog. He was fine when we came home and through dinner and bath time. He was even fine when he went to bed. But several hours later he woke up crying that a big dog was chasing him, and he was crying for you. Now he refuses to go back to sleep without talking to you. I told him I'd call you and let him speak to you. I apologize for the hour, but he refuses to quiet down and go back to sleep."

"That's all right. Can you put him on the phone?"

"Of course. Just a minute."

Hotch waited hearing the brief exchange between Jessica and his son. After a few seconds came the voice he loved hearing more than anything.

"Daddy…?" asked a timid and scared small voice. He could tell his son had been crying.

"Hey, buddy." Hotch wanted more than anything to wrap his son in his arms, hug him tightly against him, and dry his tears. But as that wasn't possible, all he could do was talk him through his tears. "Aunt Jess told me you had a nightmare and can't go back to sleep, and needed to talk to me. Want to tell me about it?"

"A big dog chased me, daddy. I kept looking for you but couldn't find you anywhere." His son's sniffling pierced his heart.

"Buddy, I want you to listen to me and listen closely. Can you do that for your old dad?"

"You're not old, daddy." Hotch grinned at his son's words.

"I thank you for that. But I want you to listen to me anyway. Can you do that?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry you weren't able to find me when you were scared. But I want you to remember I will never let you be hurt by anybody or anything, even a big dog. Exactly how big was this dog anyway?"

"He was huge, daddy. His name was Boone. He jumped on me and knocked me down, then sat on me." As Hotch listened to the description, he understood one thing children often exaggerated was size.

"Did he hurt you at all?"

"No. He licked my face and got it all wet. It was yucky."

"Jack, dogs show how much they love you when they lick your face. They do that with all people they love. You remember when you first met Uncle Dave's dog, Mudgie, a few years ago? He licks your face because he loves you. And Mudgie is fully grown and no longer a puppy like Aunt Jess said this dog was."

"But he was huge, daddy!" Jack insisted.

Hotch chuckled. "Wasn't Mudgie the same size as Boone when he was smaller?"

"Yeah. Daddy, does Mudgie lick Uncle Dave's face too?"

"I'm sure he does. He loves Uncle Dave. Also, a puppy is like a child. Both you and Boone will get bigger as you continue to grow. Right now Boone is a baby, and all a baby wants to do is play."

"Was I small like that?"

Hotch chuckled. "Yes you were."

"So he's gonna grow big like me?"

"Bigger. Feel better now?"

"Yeah."

"Think you can go back to sleep now?"

"Yeah. Aunt Jess said you would know how to help. You know everything. But don't tell Uncle Spence I said that."

A grin appeared on Hotch's face. "I promise it'll be our secret."

"Thanks daddy."

"You're welcome, Jack. Now go back to sleep. I love you. Goodnight and sweet dreams, buddy."

"Night, dad. I love you too. You wanna speak with Aunt Jess?"

"Yes."

There was another brief exchange of voices between his son and ex sister-in-law before Jessica got on the phone.

"Thank you, Aaron."

"You're welcome. How's everything otherwise?"

"He's having fun playing with his cousins and spending time with mom and dad. He's even helping mom in her garden. You should see him wearing a makeshift gardening apron and dirt on his face and hands. He's having the time of his life."

"I'm glad he's enjoying himself. But I miss him so much. It's too quiet around here without him."

Jess sighed. "It's too bad you couldn't have come with us. And Jack misses you a lot as well. But I understand why you didn't considering how dad feels about you."

Hotch checked his watch. "I'd like to continue taking with you, Jess, but I have to get ready for work. I'm glad I could help Jack get over his nightmare. And please tell him I love and miss him very, very much."

"I will. Thanks again. Goodbye." Jessica hung up the phone on her end.

Prentiss and Garcia walked through the double doors of the BAU and made their way toward Emily's desk, both carrying Styrofoam cups of coffee. As they did so, Garcia glanced up in the direction of the corner office, and was not surprised to see Hotch in his office apparently hard at work. She shook her head.

"How does he do it?" she asked the raven-haired woman beside her while not looking at the woman.

"How does who do what?" Emily asked with a glance at the tech analyst's face. Once she saw where the blonde was staring, she looked in the same direction and chuckled. "If you tell anybody I'll deny it, but Hotch might live in his office," she teased making Garcia laugh.

Only Hotch was not working as believed. He had the journal laying open on the desk in front of him, and reading from where he left off earlier.

(May, 1944 – The Following Morning):

After Carter finished telling Hogan what had happened, the officer interlaced his fingers behind his neck, and began to pace while Carter simply watched him.

"I'm sorry, Colonel," he said quietly.

Hogan turned and studied his young sergeant. "Sorry for what? You didn't do anything wrong. You and Olsen managed to not only avoid capture yourselves, but get a wounded Kinch back here in one piece and that's what's important."

"But Colonel…"

"Stop apologizing. Just think about it. If you and Olsen had been captured along with the others, Kinch might have bled to death out there. Nobody even knew he'd been shot. You did the right thing."

Carter's shoulders sagged despite the praise from his commanding officer.

"Besides…" Hogan continued. "Nobody expected any Gestapo to show up at the bridge. I need to talk to Bluebird and find out what the hell happened. If there had been a problem he would have let us know. As he didn't contact us tells me he didn't expect any of his men to be at the bridge when we blew it and the convoy."

Carter rubbed the back of his neck as a thought occurred to him.

"Sir, what are we gonna do about roll call in the morning with four men missing?"

The officer sighed. He had been pondering over that for hours and needed a solution…albeit a temporary one. A minute later, a lazy grin appeared on his face as an idea began to take shape in his devious mind.

Seeing the expression on Hogan's face, Carter grinned. "You have an idea forming, don't you, sir?"

"That I do. I want you to get changed, then inform Olsen and Wilson to come to my office the moment they're finished. Then go upstairs and try and get a little rest. Roll call's gonna be in about three hours and I have things I need to do before then."

"Yes, sir. Colonel, can't I get changed and wait down here until I find out if Kinch is gonna be okay?"

"I'd like to say yes, but I can't. I need you in the barracks because you need to appear at roll call with Olsen. That means if Wilson's still operating, Olsen will have to leave and come outside and join us. In the meantime, I want you to get a little rest. Besides, Wilson said Kinch will be fine." Hogan saw the frown on Carter's face. "I sympathize with you and would like to wait here with you and find out about Kinch. I really would. But we're gonna have enough problems with four men missing roll call and coming up with a temporary solution. I can't afford to have a fifth man missing roll call on top of it. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

"Yes, sir. I don't wanna cause another problem for you. I'll go change and then go upstairs and rest."

"Good man," Hogan replied with a smile on his face.

(Back to Current Time)

"I see you're working hard as usual," a familiar voice commented.

Hotch looked up to see a smug–looking Rossi standing in the open doorway leaning against the door frame with hands in his pockets.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" the Unit Chief growled closing the journal and slipping it inside his middle desk drawer. He stared at the older man with his patented stare which didn't faze the older man.

"Why? You wouldn't have heard me anyway considering how engrossed you were with your work," he teased with a smirk.

"Smartass," Hotch growled. "What do you want at this hour?"

"Well for one thing…did you find out if grandpa escaped from the Gestapo?" Rossi walked further into the office and closed the door behind him. He sat down in one of two chairs facing his friend's desk with legs crossed, and arms resting on the arms of the chair.

Hotch shook his head. "Not yet. In fact, I read he might have a concussion and is mistaken for Colonel Hogan by the arresting Gestapo. He, Newkirk, and LeBeau were beaten and tortured. And to make matters worse, the sergeant who arrested them phoned Major Hochstetter, head of the Hammelburg Gestapo telling him he had arrested Colonel Hogan aka Papa Bear."

"So this sergeant thinks your grandfather is Colonel Hogan? That doesn't sound good. What else?"

"Well…Hogan had sent six men to plant explosives to destroy the bridge and the convoy. Grandpa, LeBeau and Newkirk were arrested. Olsen and…"

Rossi held up a hand. "Wait a minute…who's Olsen? That's the first time I've heard his name."

"He's a sergeant who shares Hogan's barracks. Anyhow, he and Carter returned to camp with Sergeant Kinchloe who had been shot."

The older man's eyes widened. "Is he alive?"

"Don't know yet. He was when they got him back to camp. He was being operated on by the camp medic. That's as far as I got when you interrupted me."

"Sorry. But I noticed the lights on in your office and figured you were still here." He noticed his friend seemed a bit distracted. "But something else is on your mind. Care to talk about it? Maybe I can help somehow."

Hotch sighed. "It's not a problem. Jessica called me earlier this morning. Apparently Jack had a nightmare and refused to go back to sleep unless he talked with me."

"Is he all right?"

"Fortunately. Jess told me a neighbor with a Lab puppy about eight months old was at the same park where she took Jack. Seems the pup jumped on him, knocked him down, and sat on him. Jack was fine until he had gone to sleep when he woke up claiming a huge dog jumped on him, knocked him down, and sat on him. He said he looked for me but couldn't find me."

"Were you able to calm him down at all?" Rossi asked genuinely concerned for the child to whom he was 'Uncle Dave,' and he loved like a grandson.

A small smile appeared on the younger man's face. "I was after I compared the pup to Mudgie when he was a puppy. I got him to realize the pup was a baby who was growing up into an adult like he was, but right now was a baby and wanted to play."

Rossi grinned. "That's my boy."

"Thanks. Now that that's out of the way, just what did you want anyway? You had no idea about Jack so it wasn't that."

"And you'd be correct, my friend. I'm here to inform you that the team is gathered in the conference room awaiting their fearless leader to update you on what they found during their research."

Hotch got to his feet. "Then let's not keep them waiting."