News

They all got up and looked toward the doctor hoping he was bringing good news. They knew it was still serious but they hoped it would it be something he would quickly recover from in his own time. They hoped to God he hadn't lost his legs and the gunshots to his stomach hadn't caused too much damage considering his previous wounds and scar tissue. They also hoped it hadn't been fatal.

"Are you here for Mr Hotchner?" the doctor asked looking up.

"Agent," Valarie corrected. "Agent Hotchner."

"Agent Hotchner," the doctor corrected while they all nodded.

She placed her hands on Spencer and Jessica's backs and asked, "How is he?"

"We've had to reconstruct his legs but managed to save them from the bites they received from the dogs. Luckily none of them had rabies so he hasn't caught the disease. We just believe they were starved..."

"What about the gunshots?" Dave asked worried it might have caused more damage to his stomach.

"His knee had to be reconstructed so it might take a while to heal. The two to his stomach caused some internal damage but luckily none of his organs were harmed. He coded twice during surgery but both resuscitations were successful though there was internal bleeding due to the scar tissue. We've also managed to clean up the whip lashes and bandage them up. We've put him on a morphine drip as he'll be in a lot of pain when he wakes up and a blood drip as there was a lot of blood lost but we're certain he'll make it through. Saying that though he's currently in the ICU but we hope we'll be able to move him to a normal ward in a day or two."

They nodded swallowing the lump in their throats. "How long will he have to stay in the hospital?" Dave asked knowing his best friend always made a terrible patient. The doctors and nurses would be glad to see the back of him as much as he would be glad to leave by the time he was discharged.

"We believe a couple of weeks for his legs to heal enough for him to be able to be discharged and his stomach."

"Can I stay with him?" Valarie asked worried.

"We usually only let blood relatives stay with patients."

"I'm his father," she answered firmly.

They all nodded backing her up so he answered, "Then that's fine."

"Thank you."

"May we see him?" Dave asked.

"Of course," he replied about to lead them to his ICU room.

"Are his injuries out of sight?" Jessica asked placing her hands on her nephew's shoulders. "I think his son should see him but I don't want him to be frightened by his wounds."

He nodded understanding she didn't want to scare the young boy. "Don't worry, all of his wounds are bandaged and under the sheets. The only things visible are the morphine and blood drips."

"Good," she nodded smiling slightly.

He nodded and led them off to the ICU then having let them into the department led them to his private room.