CHAPTER 19

A short time later Garcia arrived at the hospital with JJ and Reid not far behind. As each of them arrived, Dave updated them about what Hotch had reported about both of their conditions as they all waited to donate the blood it was expected Emily would need.

As expected Rossi and Reid shared her blood type and their donations were labeled as directed specifically for her. Unexpectedly, Garcia did as well and her unit was labeled the same.

While JJ and Morgan's blood did not match, they donated regardless, knowing that the hospital would make good use of it with other patients.

Once they were all done and cleared to leave the lab, they checked in with the staff in the waiting room about if there were any updates on Hotch or Emily. Disappointed that there were none, Dave requested if they could use a private consultation room for a while. With it being a quiet night, a nurse showed them to one that was big enough for the five of them.

Just as they were getting settled, a call came into Dave's phone. As he hung up, he looked at the four worried faces across the table and said, "it's not about Hotch or Emily. I'll be right back. Morgan can you give me a hand?" Morgan nodded and they walked out the door.

Less than five minutes later, they returned with two large pizzas and drinks from a restaurant Dave knew was open all night and delivered. With having just donated blood after getting little sleep on their last case, Dave had called in the order while they were in the lab. He expected they would all need sustenance to make it through the coming hours and days.

Once all of them had eaten, Dave had them all sit back at the table. He needed to fill all of them in on part of what he and Hotch had discussed.

As much as he would have liked to have waited until they knew more about the conditions of Hotch and Emily, they needed to talk now. It wasn't going to be much longer before both Metro PD and the FBI approached them to ask questions about what happened. They needed to have this conversation before that happened.

After getting the attention of the group, Dave says, "OK everyone. I'm going to share some news with all of you BUT if I do you won't have the deniability that you do right now. If anyone would like to leave, please do so now."

The attention of everyone peaked immediately as they each continued to process what had happened. Looking around the table at each other, no one got up before each of them refocused back on Dave.

With each of them having made the decision that Dave had anticipated, he said deciding to just rip the bandage off, "OK, Hotch and Emily are married. Have been for about six months. Why they didn't say anything isn't personal to anyone here and is their story to tell."

He paused as they reacted to the news and started to whisper among themselves. He waved off questions and waited expectedly until they were ready to continue as he really needed them to hear what he was saying without being distracted, "now the deniability part. As I'm sure all of you have heard about the mandate from the new Director as well as what happened in the Forgery Department with Agent Smith. His team was also punished for not reporting what was occurring."

"So were they never planning on telling us." Garcia blurted out loudly as the others carefully observed Dave's reaction.

Dave shook his head before answering, "not at all. They were in the process of deciding which one of them was going to leave the team." He paused as gasps were heard across the room. The team didn't do well with change and learning this way about one of them leaving was a shock.

Once the group had settled, Dave continued, "they were going to tell us then and wait for it to be public until whichever one left was settled in a new position. They initially had hoped that if they could show that they could make it work without issue, the higher up would allow both to stay on the team. However recent events have made that unlikely, especially with how Strauss feels about the two of them. They truly didn't want their marriage to affect any of our careers."

The group quietly sat around the table until JJ asked, "so what do they need for us to do?"

"Help maintain their cover without compromising yourself." Dave answered.

Morgan looked up from the table and then said seriously, "Emily not entering the apartment at the same time as Hotch would be a good piece of information to point out. Though I don't know why she didn't it's probably why they are both alive right now."

"True. If they were a couple, you would expect them to enter together." JJ answering, nodding.

"Carpool? She went in to drop off something he forgot." Garcia answered hesitantly.

Dave smiled and nodded before saying, "good. JJ and Spencer, how did it go at the apartment?"

Reid looked around at the group before focusing on Dave and answering, "the forensics team are now done. They stuck mostly with the main areas of the apartment as well as the windows and doors. It was obvious that a woman lived there or visited but nothing that we saw pointed directly to Emily."

"So if he is seeing anyone, we don't know who because Hotch doesn't talk about his personal life." Morgan responded.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was a knock on the door a couple of seconds before the door opened and a nurse stuck her head into the room and said, "agents, the doctor will be out to talk to you in about five minutes."

"Thank you. We'll be right out." Dave responded to the nurse who nodded and stepped out closing the door behind her. After the door closed, Dave turned back to the group and said, "we'll talk more about this later."

After cleaning the room, the team left the room and went back to the main waiting room for the doctor to arrive. They were anxiously awaiting which of their colleagues they would hear about first.

Just then, the nurse pointed them out to a doctor in scrubs. After nodding he walked over to the group and when he reached them he said, "Hello Agents. I'm looking for Agent Rossi."

Dave stepped forward not surprised at the request as he was listed as one of the medical proxies for both Hotch and Emily as well as most of the others who were currently standing next to him. He replied, "I'm David Rossi. This is the rest of the team. Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of them."

The doctor looked at the group before nodding as he said, "OK. I'm the surgeon that worked on Aaron Hotchner. He did well during the procedure and is currently in recovery. The wound was largely superficial. There was some damage to the abdominal muscles however that will heal fully with time and physical therapy. He has a lot of sutures and will be very sore for a couple of weeks. There is also significant abdominal bruising but there is no reason he shouldn't make a full recovery.

He will be moved to a room in about an hour and you can each briefly visit after that time. As long as there are no complications, he can be discharged after two days of IV antibiotics and can just finish the course in pill form at home. Any questions?"

The group collectively relaxed before Dave replied, "no doctor thank you. Do you have any information on Agent Prentiss?"

The doctor shook his head before answering, "I don't other than she is still in surgery. I will ask someone from her surgical team to come update you when they can. A nurse will come get you when Agent Hotchner is settled in his room."

"Thank you." Dave said, shaking the doctor's hand before the team watched him go back through the doors into the surgical area.

The team sat back down on the chairs of the waiting room. Only a few minutes later that a man in scrubs came over to them and said, "family of Emily Prentiss."

Each member of the team stood up and stepped closer until they were in a semicircle around him as Dave said, "yes that's us."

He nodded before stating, "she is still in surgery but they asked me to come out and give you an update. Her lung has reexpanded and her oxygen levels are where we like to see them. Orthopedics is with her right now stabilizing her shoulder. They have already placed screws in her clavicle. The bullet was removed and given to the FBI forensics tech. She is receiving a 2nd unit of blood. Any questions?"

"Do you know how much longer she will be in surgery?" Derek asked anxiously.

Nodding he answered, "at least another hour. Then she will be in recovery before we move her to the ICU. Visiting hours won't start until 10AM."

"Thank you." the team answered collectively as he moved away from them and back towards the door he had come out.

After clearing his throat, Dave waited until he had everyone's eyes on him before he said, "OK, I'm going to suggest that after we see Hotch, the rest of you go home. We are all going on four days with very little sleep with a brutal case. Come back later this morning to see them. I'll call if anything changes."

"What about you Rossi?" Reid asked not looking completely convinced about the plan even as the fatigue covered his face.

Dave sighed before answering, "I'll stay here and keep Hotch company. After all of you come back, I'll go to the office and talk to Strauss. The team is off today so no one will be expecting us this morning."