Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 25

The next hour passed quietly for Abby and the BAU team. Hotch was practically glued to his phone, fielding calls from fellow FBI agents, local LEO's and members of the press. It seemed that when one of his calls ended, he had another three to return. He seriously thought about chucking his phone out the window. Thankfully, he had confiscated Abby's cell phone, because when the press couldn't get a hold of him, they called her phone looking for a statement. One call like that had gotten through, but unluckily for the reporter calling, Garcia had answered the call and leveled numerous technological threats against him.

Abby spent the hour sitting on the uncomfortable couch, replaying the scene from the television over and over in her mind. It was her worst nightmare come true; both of her parents had been injured in the line of duty and they still weren't sure if her mother would live through her injuries. Not for the first time, she wished her parents had normal jobs like accountants and bus drivers. She smiled a little at the idea of her father driving a bus full of kids to school; he would probably last twenty minutes before he completely lost his mind. Thankfully for her, Garcia was sitting next to her with her arm around her, and when she got too lost in her thoughts, the normally cheerful woman would pull her from them by asking her an inane question about her day.

At around eight that night, a woman wearing scrubs entered the waiting room. "Rossi family?"

Everyone jumped to their feet and the woman clarified, "Abigail Rossi?"

Abby stepped forward, "That's me. How are my parents?"

The woman gave her a sympathetic look, "I don't know honey, I'm from the blood bank. Abigail, do you know your blood type?"

She nodded, "I'm A negative, at least that's what they told me at the school blood drive."

"And when was that?" The nurse asked.

"About four months ago, why?"

"We got word from the surgeon that your mother is having a little trouble tolerating the blood transfusions. Now normally this isn't a big deal but with the severity of your mother's injury, it's cause for concern.," the nurse told her gently.

"Oh God," Abby moaned.

"But there's good news; your mother is also A negative, which means you can donate to her. Since you're close family, the makeup of your blood and your mother's blood are similar, so it should help her tolerate the transfusions better."

"Do it, do it now! Take all the blood you need from me!" Abby said, ready to follow the nurse anywhere if it would help her mother.

"How old are you honey?" The nurse asked.

"Seventeen," she replied, wondering where this was leading.

The nurse shook her head, "In that case, we'll need parental consent."

"But my mom is in surgery and my dad is in the ER getting fixed up from his own gunshot wound!" Abby wailed.

Hotch stepped in, "In the event that both Jennifer and David Rossi are incapacitated, I retain full guardianship and medical power of attorney over Abigail," he said, reaching into his briefcase. He sorted through some papers, and pulled out the correct ones and handed them to the nurse.

The nurse skimmed them over, while everyone else looked at Hotch in astonishment. "What?" He asked.

"You just happened to have those papers with you?" Emily asked.

Hotch nodded, "All of you have granted me medical power of attorney over you in case you are unable to make medical decisions and I have those papers as well. It's called 'being prepared'."

"Man, is there anything you don't think of?" Morgan asked, shaking his head.

"I hope not," Hotch replied.

The nurse finished reading the papers, "Okay Mr. Hotchner, I guess the decision is yours. Will you allow Abigail to donate blood for her mother?"

He nodded, "Of course, but how much blood are we talking about?"

"We'll start with one unit and then if Abigail tolerates it, we might take another one."

Hotch shook his head, "One unit, that's it. If she does okay with that, then we'll see about her donating another one tomorrow."

Abby glared at him, "Uncle Aaron! Let me donate two! One isn't going to be enough!" She couldn't believe her uncle was limiting the amount of help to her mother. If it was up to her, Abby would give her all of her blood.

"No way. You're exhausted, you've had a great shock and you haven't eaten in over eight hours; you need to regain your strength before you give more than one pint of blood."

She was about to further argue with her uncle when the nurse cut in, "Your uncle is right Abigail, you need to take it slowly. Besides, one unit will be enough; they'll just mix your blood with the other blood. Don't worry, every little bit will help."

"Okay," Abby said reluctantly.

"I'm coming with you, sweetie," Garcia said, remembering the girl's fear of needles.

"So am I," Hotch said, knowing that if he didn't go along with her, she would probably con them into taking an additional unit of her blood. He also didn't want her going anywhere without an armed agent until they figured out exactly what had happened to her parents.

As Abby and Garcia made their way to the elevator with the nurse, Hotch handed Morgan his phone. "Here, I need a break. Would you please field a couple of the calls that will inevitably come in?"

Derek, knowing that Hotch was dealing with a lot at the moment, readily agreed. "Would you also call a nearby restaurant and have them deliver something for dinner?" He asked. "Gibbs said that Abby hasn't eaten since lunch, and I know the rest of us haven't either and Dave will need some food in his system in order to keep his strength up."

"No problem Hotch, you go do what you need to do," Morgan told him.

"Thanks. If you need me, call me on Abby's phone, I still have it in my pocket." He heard the elevator arrive at their floor and dashed off to catch it so he could ride with the women.

Once in the blood collection room, the nurse ran through the standard series of blood donation questions and then put Abby on a cot. Once she was all set up, she came at Abby with the needle and she gripped her uncle's hand so hard, he thought she may have broken a finger. The entire time the nurse was setting up for the donation, Abby kept reminding herself that she was doing this to save her mother's life.

While she was actually giving blood, Hotch and Penelope kept asking her mindless questions about her stay with Gibbs, in order to keep her mind off of the blood that was draining from her and to keep her from worrying about her mother. Hotch had been right to come along; as soon as he took a call from Derek, Abby tried talking the nurse into taking an additional unit of her blood, but Garcia put a stop to that.

After she gave her blood, Abby was feeling somewhat woozy and the nurses plied her with sugar cookies and Sunny Delight in order to boost her blood sugar. She began feeling better soon after, and she was ready to get back to the waiting room, but there was a call she needed to make first.

As they stood up to leave the room, she turned to Hotch. "Can I have my phone for a minute, Uncle Aaron?"

He frowned, "I don't want you to have to deal with all of the calls that have been coming into it."

"I won't," she promised. "I just need to make a quick call."

"Who are you calling?"

"Grandfather Jareau," she told him. "As much as mom hates him, he's her father and if they need blood from family members, he's it. I know for a fact that he has A negative blood and mom needs all the help she can get."

Hotch thought for a minute, she did have a point, but he didn't want his niece to have to deal with her uncaring grandfather at the moment. "Why don't I call him?"

She shook her head, "No, he probably hates you and God knows how he feels about dad. Out of everyone, I'm probably the one he dislikes the least."

Hotch pondered this for a moment, nodded in agreement and reluctantly handed over her phone. She took it and then looked at the two adults, "A little privacy please?"

There was no way Hotch was leaving her alone, so he told her, "We'll wait for you at the elevator, but don't go past the end of the hallway."

"Fine," she said as she moved away from them. She stopped at the end of the hallway and scrolled through her address book. Finding her grandfather's number, she hit the send key and closed her eyes. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" He said in the same stern voice she remembered from her childhood.

"Grandfather Jareau?"

There was a pause, "Abigail," he responded tightly.

"Mom's been shot," she said, waiting for a reaction. When there was none, she plowed ahead with the rest of the story. "She's in New York and it's pretty bad and she needs blood. Her body is having trouble processing the donated blood and she needs blood from family members. I already gave a pint, but they need more."

There was silence, "Are you there?" Abby asked, worried that the call had dropped.

"I'm still here Abigail. Thank you for letting me know about your mother's condition," he said politely.

"So when should we expect to see you here? We're at St. Luke's-Roosevelt hospital."

"I won't be coming Abigail. Your mother made it very clear that she doesn't want me in her life anymore," her grandfather told her.

"But she's your daughter!" Abby screeched, loud enough for Garcia and Hotch to hear it and they hurried down the hallway.

"She made her bed and now she can lie in it."

"But she needs your help! You are the only other person besides me who can help her, are you really going to just sit there and do nothing?" Abby knew her grandfather was an asshole, she just never realized how much of one he actually was.

"Is there anything else Abigail? If not, I have to be going, I have a trial in the morning and I need to prepare for it."

That's when Abby lost it a little. "Fuck you grandfather Jareau!" She yelled. "I hope you rot in hell, you horrible son of a bitch! If mom dies, it'll be your fault! I hope-" It was at that point that Hotch plucked the phone from her hand and ended the call.

"He's not coming!" She told them, somewhat hysterically. "I always knew he was an awful person, but to not help his daughter by giving her his blood? What kind of father does that?" She asked, still hysterical.

"Abby, it's going to be all right," Garcia said, pulling the distraught teenager into her arms. "Your mom is going to be okay with or without his blood."

"You don't KNOW that Penelope!" Abby shouted, still in the technical analysts arms.

"I DO know that, cupcake! There is nothing your mother wouldn't do for you, including living through a gunshot wound! You need to remember that and forget about your asshole grandfather! Everything is going to be okay." Garcia gradually felt her begin to relax and then she pulled out of her embrace.

"Thanks Pen," she said, wiping her face.

"Any time honey," she said. "Now let's go back upstairs and see what my chocolate god ordered for dinner."

"I'm really not hungry Pen," Abby said as they began the walk to the elevator.

"You are going to eat something Abby," Hotch said, in a voice that left no room for argument. Abby nodded silently next to him as they stepped into the elevator. They quickly rose to the sixth floor and stepped out. As soon as they were out of it, Abby spotted her father in the surgical waiting room. He was standing near the couch, talking to Derek, and his left arm was in a sling.

"DAD!" Abby cried, running into the room. She ran up to him and ferociously hugged him, being careful of his left shoulder.

"Pumpkin," he said tenderly, hugging her with his right arm. Hearing him use her nickname released something inside of Abby and she began to sob into his shoulder. Keeping his arm around her, he led her over to the couch, where they both sat down. Once seated, Dave pulled her close to him and she resumed her crying into his shoulder. A part of her wondered if she would ever stop.

Even though he didn't want her to have to go through this, Dave was happy and relieved to see his daughter. It was nice to see one member of his family who wasn't physically hurt and it was a relief knowing she was safe. Feeling Abby's tears begin to soak through his shirt, Dave held her tighter and motioned to Hotch over her head.

Hotch took the hint and said quietly, "Let's give them a little privacy guys." The team members nodded and stepped across to the other side of the large room.

After a few minutes, Abby's tears subsided, her breathing slowed and she finally looked up at her father. "Feel better Pumpkin?" He asked gently. She nodded, wiping at her face with her hands.

"How are you doing?" She asked worriedly as she looked at his sling. She could tell by the bulkiness of his shirt that there were bandages wrapped all around his shoulder.

"I'm okay Abby, it was just a flesh wound."

"When I saw it all on TV, I thought you…I thought you were…" She couldn't finish her thought.

"I know honey, but I'm fine. Besides, it'll take more than a bullet to kill me," he told her.

"Did you hear about mom?" She asked, wondering how much they told him in the ER.

Dave swallowed hard and nodded, "I did, but she's going to be okay Abby, you have to believe that."

"But what if she isn't?" She asked, a note of hysteria creeping back into her voice. "What if she dies?" As she voiced the question, Abby's tears started again.

"Listen to me Abigail; your mother is the strongest person I know, and she has a ton to live for! She's going to fight to come back to us, you just have to have faith that she'll make it through this." Dave believed his words but, like his daughter, he was terrified his wife would die and he wasn't sure what he would do if that happened.

Abby nodded, "Okay dad."

The rest of the team, seeing them talking, returned to their little corner of the waiting room, this time bearing bags of Chinese food. They set them down on the small table nearby and started setting the containers out. Hotch, seeing his niece's tear stained face, silently handed her a handkerchief, which she was grateful for, and then he tried handing both Abby and Dave containers of food.

"Thanks Hotch, but I'm not hungry," Dave said, pushing the food away.

"Me neither," Abby said.

"Too bad," Hotch said, handing the food back to them. "It's been almost ten hours since anyone has eaten and Dave, you've been shot and need to keep your strength up, and Abby, you just gave a pint of blood, so I don't care if we have to force feed you, you both are going to finish every last bite in those containers. Got it?"

Dave smiled, "Jeez Hotch, when did you turn into such a bossy bastard?" He got the patented 'Hotchner Glare' in return, so he said, "Fine, fine, I'll eat everything here."

"Me too," Abby said, accepting some chopsticks from Reid.

They were in the middle of dinner when a tired looking doctor in surgical scrubs entered the room.

"Jennifer Rossi's family?"