Woot Woot! Another update in less than a week! You all must of had your fingers crossed!
Thanks for the reviews and reads, they are greatly appreciated!
Jack and Henry were standing next to Garcia when the news about Darcie was spoken. Jack and Darcie had become close over the past few years and with the mention of the name Reaper, Jack knew exactly what the adults were discussing.
Over the past two years, Jack had matured greatly and considering the most recent turn of events, much like his father he wanted to be alone and un-exposed to deal with his emotions privately. He had a lot of feelings about what was happening and wasn't quite sure what to do with them. Solemnly he walked to the room where he had been staying with Garcia and Henry to be alone.
Hotch watched with concern as his son dropped his head and walked off. The realization soon hit him that they shouldn't have said anything in front of the boys, especially not with such grim news. Hotch huffed as he silently chastised himself and then taking care of immediate matters he focused on Henry for a moment to tell him some good news, "Your mommy is awake…" Hotch knelt down at Henry's level, "…and she is wanting to see her Little Man."
Henry jumped with excitement, "Yay! Mommy! Mommy!"
Henry pulled on Garcia's hand as he attempted to go to JJ's room. Garcia followed while drying up her tears.
"What are we going to do?" Reid asked, "I have to go see her, she can't be alone."
"Shawn is with her for now." Hotch told him.
"I need to be there Hotch. He could come back to hurt her, considering he has already hurt her twice." Reid looked at the floor and silenced himself after he realized that he just revealed part of Darcie's secret.
"Did someone hurt her before? Is that why she didn't want to see me?" Hotch asked.
Reid looked up from the floor, might as well tell him the rest of it. It's for Darcie's own good. Better her be mad at me than dead. Reid continued to explain, "His name is Chuck Benson. He was showing typical stalker behavior and one day he snapped, hitting her…more than once. I told her she should tell you, but she wanted to handle it and frankly didn't want the attention. She wants you to think she is tough."
Am I that bad of a father that my children think they need to be tough for me? Hotch looked towards the direction in which Jack went, thinking of his son and how he had been trying to be tuff the past week. After a moment he then looked back at Reid."Could Chuck do something like this?" Hotch asked as his heart sank.
Reid thought a moment and was very quiet as he went over the conversations he had with Darcie about Chuck's behavior. The wheels started turning and it was obvious he was putting something together.
Hotch looked back towards Jack's location and was becoming impatient. He needed to talk with Jack, but wanted to hear what Reid had to say, "What is it?" He asked impatiently.
"That makes perfect sense." Reid blurted. "Everything does! Chuck always made fun of Darcie for wanting to be like you. And what better way than inflicting her injuries in your office, the same way the Reaper did to you, he made it personal. He stalked her, in fact the longer time went on you could see how he took on Foyett's qualities. It's like he studied him."
"There is no way he could have known what type of injuries I had unless he got into the system." Hotch told him.
Reid pulled the phone out of Hotch's hand, "I'll call Kevin. If he did get into the system, maybe Kevin can help trace him."
With Reid occupied trying to find Chuck, Hotch walked somberly to where Jack went, to check on his little Buddy. He made it to the door way and saw Jack was sitting on the bed, looking out the window. Pieces of his heart started chipping away, "Hey Buddy?" Hotch said trying to sound as if things were okay.
Jack looked at his dad, "Is Sissy going to die?"
Hotch walked over to where Jack was sitting and took a seat next to him, "The doctor's are taking care of her the best they can."
"Is George going to come back and kill us too?" Jack asked.
"Buddy we talked about this. George is dead."
"But Sissy…he hurt her too."
Hotch put his arm around Jack, "A very bad man like George hurt your Sissy."
Hotch saw Jack was trying to hold back his tears, "You know Jack, you are a strong young man and I want you to know that sometimes it's okay to hurt, and it's okay to cry. You can tell me anything. I will love you, always."
"Like when you cried about Mommy?"
"Yeah Buddy. I was really sad and sometimes it just felt better to let it out."
Jack looked up at Hotch with glistening eyes, "I want to cry."
"It's okay." Hotch said.
Jack leapt into Hotch's embrace and just cried. Hotch hadn't really thought about it but this whole ordeal had an effect on his son and Henry as well. They both had been scared and yet had made it through a terrible situation. Now Jack was worried about his sister dying and the sadness he felt reflected onto Hotch. Hotch was shedding his own tears as he held onto his son with more warmth and comfort than he had in a long time.
An hour passed and Hotch was still holding on to his son. Leaned back comfortably in the hospital bed, Jack had fell peacefully asleep in his daddy's arms and Hotch didn't want to let go. Hotch was restless as he watched his son sleep peacefully, resting on his chest.
Rossi stepped around the corner, catching Hotch's attention.
Hotch waved him in.
Rossi quietly took a seat and said, "I just heard what happened. Have you made a decision yet?"
Hotch sighed kissing the top of Jack's head, "I made a promise to myself, less than 24 hours ago that I would keep this team together and that we wouldn't split up. The truth is with Darcie in the predicament she's in, I just don't know if I can and Reid…I'm afraid if I don't make a rational decision about this he will leave anyways."
"It's a lot to take in." Rossi was always one for stating the obvious and getting straight to the point.
"Not to mention with the Director in the wind, who knows what will happen next and it's just a matter of time before Doyle escapes. The good thing about him escaping is that we have him. Agents will be waiting at the address Reid gave him. To make it believable we have Declan staying there with his adoptive parents and really it wouldn't have been safe if there hadn't been an underground tunnel leading from that house to the one next store." Hotch paused, thinking of his two severely injured agents. He looked at Rossi, "How are Prentiss and Morgan?"
"I just went and checked on them. Emily is recovering, but she will have months of physical therapy to regain the full use of her arm. Morgan's swelling has gone down and they expect him to wake up within the next week."
"I just can't believe we all made it out." Hotch said.
"Me either." Rossi agreed.
"How is Rachel?"
"Physically she is okay." Rossi said.
Hotch gave him a concerned look, wanting him to explain more.
Rossi understood the look and continued, "She finally let her walls down. She is really devastated about the death of her husband and concerned about my presence and what all of it means."
Hotch had a hard time thinking of his sister hurt so he moved on to another question, avoiding the immanent problem. "Have the doctor's released her yet?"
"No they still want her to stay another day or so for observation." Rossi thought of JJ, "So what about JJ?"
"They released her this morning. She is still a long ways from being okay."
The room was quiet as they listened momentarily to the sound of Jack's steady breathing.
"I have an idea." Rossi said.
Hotch's interest was now peaked as he wondered what this new idea could be.
"How about Rachel and I stay with Emily and Morgan. The rest of you go home, in fact why don't you board up at my place, it's like a fortress and doesn't have as nearly as much character as I'd like it to. I'm sure the boys are ready for a change of scenery, what do you say?"
"The offer is too generous, I couldn't accept."
Rossi leaned forward, "It's not a matter of accepting, it's a matter of doing or more like I'm telling you to."
"I just hate the idea of being split up." Hotch said again, remembering the promise he had made to himself only a few hours before.
"Me too. But as soon as Emily and Morgan are released we will be there." Rossi assured him.
"Okay." Hotch said agreeing to the idea.
"Have you had a chance to see Emily since she woke up?" Rossi asked.
Hotch shook his head, "No, I haven't had the opportunity. As soon as Jack wakes up I'll go see her and Morgan."
"It will be a tough hall, but we'll make it we've already came this far." Rossi told him, leaning back in the chair more comfortably.
"I know." Hotch replied.
Hotch looked into Emily and Morgan's hospital window. Emily was awake staring at Morgan. Hotch lightly tapped on the window, Emily looked his way and waved him in. Tenderly she pressed the button on her bed to raise her into more of a sitting position.
Hotch walked in, he was surprised at how well they both looked compared to when they first arrived.
"You both look good." Hotch said.
Emily looked at him out of the corner of her eye in disbelief.
Hotch smiled, "Nice to see you haven't lost your personality." Hotch took a seat next to Emily's bed, "Rossi told me the doctor had good news."
Emily nodded affirmatively and looked to Morgan with hopeful eyes.
Hotch leaned forward and placed his hand at the side of her head, gaining her attention. "How are you?" He asked.
Emily raised her good arm and tilted her hand side to side to say, so so. She tried to avoid talking as much as she could. With the good news she was hopeful for a speedy recovery and tried a little harder not to harm herself farther with too much talking.
Hotch smiled and continued, "I have never been more proud of this team than I have this week and I want you and Morgan to know I'm proud you are a part of this team. I knew you both were strong, but are stronger than I could have ever imagined and that doesn't just include you two, but everyone."
Emily nodded agreeing with him.
Hotch looked at her bandaged arm and said, "We will all have our own journey getting through this, but we'll make it. Soon enough that arm will be good as new."
"Thank you." She said. Don't cry, don't cry. She told herself. It's so hard to see Hotch acting like an emotional, caring human being.
Hotch breathed deeply, "I not only wanted to see you but I wanted to let you know something has happened to Darcie. She is in critical condition and I need to get back to the states. Rossi suggests I take Garcia, Reid the boys and JJ. Rossi and Rachel will stay here with you all. I wanted to ask if you were okay with that? I've asked the others and they agreed. If you prefer us to stay together we can…"
Emily held up her hand cutting him off, "Go." She uttered painstakingly through the throbbing in her lips.
"Thank you." Hotch said with a soft voice that was forcing back his emotion.
Emily grabbed onto Morgan's hand, "We…be…fine." She told Hotch.
"I know." Hotch stood up to leave, "Rest and we will all be back together soon. We are going to leave on a flight this afternoon, if we can get one."
Emily nodded and looked back at Morgan.
Hotch took a few steps towards the door and stopped, he turned around and said sternly, "Prentiss."
Emily's gaze shot over to her Unit Chief's. What have I done now? She thought.
"Take care of him and I expect when this all boils over for this relationship not to affect your jobs. Is that understood?"
Emily tried to smile, but the searing pain shot through her lips. She could see Hotch was saying goodbye to them the best way he knew how and it looked as though he was trying almost to be humorous. Emily gave him a thumb up, "Yes sir."
Hotch broke into a smile and said, "I guess I could say the same for myself." Then he left.
There you have it! I'd love to know what you thought! Thanks for reading!