CHAPTER 18

When they reached the hospital, the staff sent Dave to go to the waiting area while they assessed Hotch. As the staff examined him, Hotch asked, "how is the woman who came in with me? I need to know how she is doing?"

"Agent, right now we need to assess and stabilize you. There is another team working on your colleague." the doctor explained as he assessed Hotch.

Hotch started to sit up, surprising the medical team as he said seriously, "she isn't just my colleague. She is my wife. I need to know if she is OK."

The doctor exchanged a look with a nurse on the other side of the stretcher who nodded before walking out of the room. The doctor looked at him and said, "OK, Agent Hotchner. The nurse is going to go over and see if the doctor treating her can come over to talk to you before we take you up to surgery."

Hotch shook his head before responding, "I'm not consenting to surgery until I hear about my wife's condition." The doctor sighed before walking out of the room.

Hotch could feel the anxiety rise as he waited alone in the room for several minutes. Then a voice caught him by surprise, "Agent Hotchner?"

Hotch looked up to see a woman with blond hair wearing light blue scrubs under a white coat looking over at him, "Yes."

She smiled and walked into the room and over to his bedside before saying, "I'm Dr. Winters. I'm treating Emily Prentiss. I was told you were asking about her."

He nodded before saying, "yes. She is my wife and I want to know what her condition is and the extent of her injuries."

After nodding, the doctor explained, "we won't know the extent of her injuries until we get her to the OR. For now, I'll tell you what we do know.

She has a GSW to the left upper chest. When she arrived, there was a tension pneumothorax in her left lung, a lung collapse which was making it difficult for her to move air through either of her lungs. We inserted a chest tube and that was successful in allowing her lung to reexpand and she is breathing easier.

The x rays show a broken clavicle and damage to her shoulder though we won't know the extent of that until orthopedics examines the injury in the OR.

She also hit her head most likely when she fell which left a contusion and deep gash that will need stitches. She is still unconscious but her vital signs look much better now than when she arrived. Do you have any questions?"

"How much blood did she lose?" Hotch asked, nervous about the description of a left chest wound.

Dr Winters nodded before stating, "a fair amount because of where the injury is and the bullet is still imbedded. We are crossmatching her for a transfusion that she will receive if she needs it. If you don't have any other questions, could you sign these consent forms for her surgery" before placing forms on the table in front of Hotch.

He looked over the standard consent form before signing it. As he handed it back to her, he said, "if there are further updates or if you need anything while I'm in surgery, our colleague David Rossi can also give consent for her and me."

She picked up the signed forms and nodded as she said, "thank you agent. We'll take great care of her. I'll keep you updated." before walking back out of the room.

Just then his doctor walked back into the room and said, "Agent Hotchner, we will be taking you up to surgery in about 20 minutes. Is there anything I can get for you right now?"

Hotch sighed before nodding as he said, "yes, I need to talk to David Rossi. He is in the waiting room."

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Hotch looked up as he heard, "Aaron, how are you?" to see Dave standing nervously in the door frame of the room.

Gesturing for Dave to enter, he did before closing the door and walking up to the side of Hotch's bed. Once he was there Hotch explained, "they are taking me up to surgery in a few minutes. Nothing serious. They just want to take a good look at the wound before stitching me up."

Dave nodded and said, "OK, good. Then we'll see you in a few hours."

Hotch stayed quiet before looking up at Dave and stating, "don't call Haley. I'll do it later."

He really did not want Haley at the hospital venting about the dangers of his job when he got out of surgery. Right now he needed to get through his surgery and then focus his energy on Emily. Haley wasn't expecting to hear from him for a few days about Jack's visitation anyway.

Dave nodded as he dreaded the thought of having to make that call to Hotch's ex-wife. "OK. Have you heard anything about Emily?"

Hotch looked over at the worried look on Dave's face before nodding as he explained, "yes, they just took her up to surgery. Her lung was collapsed when she arrived and they put a tube to help her breath better. There is an issue with her clavicle and shoulder but hey won't know how bad until they look at it in the OR. Her head will need stitches. She was still unconscious. They think she may need a transfusion because the bullet is still embedded. I told them to come to you if either of us need anything while I'm in surgery"

Dave was slowly pacing the room as she said sadly, "Oh bella." before pausing as he looked out the door to the room when he turned back he continued seriously, "I'll get the team and we'll go and each donate for her. I know that at least the kid and I have the same blood type as her. I'll take care of anything if it comes up Aaron."

"Thanks Dave." Hotch said before taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes as now that the immediate threat had passed, the pain from his wound was becoming more pronounced.

Noticing the lull before the staff came to get Hotch, Dave concluded that it was as good a time as any to clarify what Morgan had said at the apartment. "so Aaron." Dave starts before pausing as he waited for Hotch to look over at him which Hotch did as soon as he spoke, "you can not answer if you need to but I'm still going to ask…"

Hotch sighed before answering, "yes"

Dave asked softly, "how long have you two been married?"

Hotch sighed realizing that their secret was out though he had no idea how Dave had found out or if any of the others knew yet. In many ways he felt relieved that at least Dave finally knew. They had never planned on keeping it a secret for this long.

He looked right at Dave as he answered, "almost 6 months. In Vegas right before Henry was born. We were planning to tell all of you together the next day when we got home but…"

Dave's eyes widened as he remembered what had been going on within the team in the days following that case before murmuring, "...we all weren't there."

Hotch nodded before continuing, "yes, then Henry was born and we didn't want to take attention away from JJ and Will. Then Jordan kept asking intrusive questions and we honestly didn't trust her."

Dave nodded as he recalled the friction that Jordan caused before looked up at Hotch and saying, "but JJ has been back for 2 months."

Hotch nodded as he said, "I know. We planned at two gatherings to tell all of you but one JJ and Reid couldn't attend and the other was cancelled due to that case in Dallas. Then a couple of weeks ago we decided we needed to get a plan before telling anyone after the debacle in Forgery."

Dave shook his head when Hotch mentioned the situation in Forgery. The anti fraternization crackdown was an overcorrection that had already had a ripple effect across most departments. Since it started there had been a spike in resignations throughout the FBI leaving vacancies in several vital areas.

Focusing back on Hotch, Dave answered calmly, "but you still could have told the team. All of us would have supported both of you. Besides, the circumstances are entirely different. He was sexually harassing subordinates. You married one."

Hotch nodded as he explained, "we know Dave. However they are now tightly enforcing the anti-fraternization rules. And with Agent Smith, the whole team was reprimanded, demoted and reassigned because they knew and didn't report. We wanted to give all of you deniability if it came out. I guess it's not an if anymore. There is no way we can hide this."

Dave sighed as the whole picture came into view. They had wanted to tell the team but multiple factors outside their control had undermined their plans. Then they had been protecting the team.

Now Dave just hoped that they had a plan to protect themselves. The attack in their apartment definitely complicated their situation. Looking over at Hotch he said, "let me see what we can do. What is the plan?"

Hotch looked back to Dave as he answered honestly, "one of us was going to leave the team and then let it become public knowledge after whichever one of us was established in their new unit."

"Who was going to leave?" Dave asked anxiously, not wanting to imagine the BAU without either one of them.

Hotch shook his head before he said, "we haven't gotten that far. We were both looking at local openings. Like the whole team we have both been recruited by other departments. Emily didn't want me to leave the team but I'm not sure I want to stay without her. The hours contributed to the breakdown of my marriage with Haley. I don't want it to happen again. Emily understands the work but…"

Dave sighed as he listened to Hotch explained their dilemma as it was starting to sound as if the BAU was going to lose both agents. But reflecting on his own experience, he really couldn't blame them.

So he patted Hotch's shoulder as he finished where Hotch trailed off, "...it would still be a strain. I get it Hotch. I have three divorce decrees. You kids do what you need to for your marriage. The rest of us will support both of you in whatever you need."

Hotch looked up and said, "thanks Dave." as he noticed the sincerity on the face of the other profiler.

Before they could say anything else, two nurses walked into the room and one said, "OK agents. Sorry to break this up but it's time to go upstairs." as the other released the brake on the gurney. They quickly rearranged the cords before moving out of the room.

"I'll see you when you're done Aaron." Dave said as they wheeled him towards the elevator.