Disclaimed!
Sorry for such the long delay again, I've got no real excuses a part from I have no idea if I wanted Hotch to live or not... judging how long it took just to finish this chapter... I'm still not sure! Let me know what you think.
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"Aaron Hotchner. Are you all here for Aaron Hotchner?" The nurse stepped forward, to stand in front of JJ who was nodding.
JJ's eyes were wide in anticipation. "Yes, how is he?"
"Are you family?" The nurse tilted her head, looking around at the mix of people hovering around the petite blonde woman.
Morgan came to stand next to the quiet liaison. "Yes. We're his FBI team Agent's Morgan, Rossi and Prentiss. This is Agent Jareau, she is Agent Hotchner's girlfriend."
The nurse looked down at the chart in her hand before showing the form to JJ. "He's still in surgery, I'm sorry I don't have any more information. The reason I'm here is, I really need someone to fill out these forms"
"I can do those, JJ" Rossi intercepted the pen before it was placed in JJ's hand.
JJ smiled thinly, grateful she didn't have to paperwork right now. Facing the nurse once more, the blonde, tilted her head slightly as she worried what the answer would be. "When do you think he'll be out of surgery?"
"I don't know Ma'am, but I'm sure his doctor will be along as soon as he is." The nurse smiled warmly and left the agents to themselves.
JJ wrapped her eyes around herself and kept her eyes focused on the floor. "I have to check in on the boys."
"She's a wreck." Prentiss muttered as they watched their friend slowly walk out the room in a tortured daze.
Morgan ran his hand over his head, tiredly. "She has every right to be. Everything hits a dead end in this case. Will, Craney, Knight and now Oswald"
"The deaths were too neat, Will's, those cops, Craney then Oswald and his two associates. If we think back to the beginning of the case, how does the distribution of Stax-4 come into the mix?" Rossi mused quietly in the corner as he filled out Hotch's details.
Prentiss took a seat opposite the elder man as they began to think over the case at hand. "And why even target JJ? She's a liaison. This UNSUB is using law enforcement officials, he'll know JJ's limited powers in the system. It's far too personal"
"Why contact JJ and let us find Hotch so easily?" Morgan asked as he sat down with a heavy sigh.
Prentiss turned to the profiler with a shrug. "They knew we wouldn't let JJ go alone to the swap."
"God knows what's going on. We have too many questions because we're all too close to this case, we need fresh eyes" Rossi replied slowly as she saw their frustration evidenty wrote over both the profilers face.
Morgan leaned his head against the cool wall. "Dave, how bad was Hotch?"
Rossi placed the papers onto his knee, looking towards the younger man, sceptical about whether he should update them. "He stopped breathing in the ambulance. They were still resuscitating him when they took him into surgery."
"We need to remain strong for JJ and the boys."Prentiss stated, looking towards the corridor waiting for the blonde to return.
Hours slowly went by in dawdle. Morgan an d Prentiss had gone to the office to tie up some loose ends and returned with, Reid and Garcia who had brought Jack and Henry to the hospital to be with JJ and the rest of the team and as the darkness fell outside, the team sat in the waiting room, on tenterhooks for news on Hotch however, both the oblivious little boys were fast asleep against JJ.
"Do you want me to move them for you?" Morgan asked noticing JJ shift uncomfortably.
Shaking her head, JJ ran her fingers through Jack' dark hair and ran her other free hand down Henry's arm as they snuggled in close to her. "No, I want them close."
"Honey, are you sure you're not hungry?" Garcia looked at her friend in concern as she soothed her sleeping son's.
"I'm fine Pen." JJ replied indifferent.
The door to the waiting room, slowly opened and a small woman in blue scrubs, looked around at the exhausted group expectantly. "Aaron Hotchner?"
"Yes" Everyone replied in quiet unison, not to disturb the children.
The doctor smiled thinly and kept glancing at the file in her hand. "I'm Dr Quan I was in surgery with Mr Hotchner. For now, he appears to be stable. He had a pierced lung, several broke bones and blood was filling his chest cavity but we located the puncture and stopped the excessive bleeding. His blood pressure is up and all of his stats are looking better. But there's a long way to go still."
"When can I see him?" JJ asked with a croaky voice.
"He won't be a wake for a while but they're moving Mr Hotchner to a private recovery room, but once he's settled I'll make sure someone comes to get you." The doctor made her quiet goodbye and backed out the room leaving the small BAU family worrying for their leader.
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