CHAPTER 22

Later that evening, the team except for Emily were gathered in Hotch's room. Visiting hours in the ICU were over for the day so they all reluctantly needed to leave Emily. Her nurse promised to call if there were any changes in her condition. She was scheduled to be moved to a room on the same floor as Hotch early the next morning, so it would be the last night that no one could stay with her.

During the team's visit earlier, they had been asked to step out while the nurse changed the dressing on Emily's shoulder wound. The pain medicine that they gave her while it was being done made her sleepy and she fell asleep shortly after the nurse left the room.

With Emily asleep Dave had convinced Hotch to return to his room for some needed pain medication as well. As the team had been visiting Dave had noticed that he was trying to hide how much pain he was having from his own injuries. Morgan and Garcia had offered to stay in Emily's room so she wouldn't be alone when she woke up. They promised to call if there were any changes or she asked for him.

Meanwhile, JJ and Reid went to Hotch and Emily's apartment to pick up a few things for them. When he was at the office, Dave had spoken to the chief who had control over the scene about when they would release it. While they weren't willing to do that yet until some tests were back, Dave had negotiated that someone from the team could pick up some personal items as well as the go bags in the entryway. They had a list of what they should bring from the apartment anticipating that Hotch and Emily would be more comfortable having their own personal items.

When Reid and JJ returned, they stopped by Hotch's room to drop off his bags and found both Hotch and Dave asleep. Earlier in the day while Dave was at the BAU, JJ had arranged to have a cot moved into Hotch's room for whoever was staying at the hospital at night. They planned on asking for one for Emily's room as well as soon as she was moved out of the ICU and into a regular room.

Not wanting to wake them, JJ and Reid went to Emily's room to drop off her bags excited to find that she was awake. The group talked for a few minutes keeping the conversation light before Morgan and Garcia excused themselves to go to the cafeteria for lunch. Spencer, JJ and Emily continued their visit until Emily fell asleep a short time later. Spencer and JJ talked quietly after she dozed off, not wanting to wake their brunette colleague.

They hushed the new arrivals when the door opened and Dave entered with Hotch. Spencer quickly stood and offered the chair next to the bed to Hotch which he gratefully took. Once they were settled, Dave explained to them about being woken in Hotch's room by an angry Strauss. Apparently, she had tried to visit Emily first and was refused access.

Dave shared with JJ and Reid that he was worried that an unexpected visit would happen after his meeting with Strauss earlier at the FBI building. However even he didn't think she would come this soon.

When he had returned to the hospital that morning and discussed with Hotch what happened at the meeting with Strauss, Hotch had talked to the hospital staff and requested that Emily's visitors be restricted to just the members of the team. Because of the complications of their situation, the staff was to just state that the restriction was at the request of her family without specifying who had made the request.

Having gotten that message when she arrived and requested Emily's room number, Strauss had come to the room without visitor restrictions and woke up both Hotch and Dave.

When she had started to question Hotch about what had happened, Dave intervened and stated he already told her what happened. That Hotch wouldn't know the answers to her questions such as how Foyet got into his apartment when even Metro PD and the FBI were still trying to figure out the answer to that question.

Apparently the noise level increased enough that Hotch's nurse came in and asked her to leave as Strauss was upsetting her patient. When Strauss balked, the nurse said she could leave or that security would be called.

Strauss stated before she walked out that she would be back. However once Hotch talked to HR about stepping down from the BAU and taking a sabbatical, Strauss wouldn't have authority to question him any longer.

Given the prognosis of Emily injuries, she was on extended medical leave which already had her out of Strauss' chain of command. The FBI would continue its investigation but Strauss wouldn't be directly involved.

When Dr James came in to check on Emily, the team left her and Hotch with promises to come back later. During the doctor's visit, he explained what had happened during the surgery on her shoulder and what the recovery would look like as well as his prognosis including the need to most likely move away from field work.

Hotch had stayed to visit with her privately as they processed the news until she fell back to sleep. After she fell asleep, Dave had convinced him to return to his room again for some needed pain medication. Morgan, Garcia, Reid and JJ had all promised to take turns with Emily so she wouldn't be alone when she woke up again. They continued that until visiting hours were over.

Now that they were together minus Emily, the team was hoping for some answers on the newly revealed status of their two colleagues.

"So, let's confirm here- you and Prentiss are married?" Morgan asked, addressing the elephant in the room.

"Yes." Hotch replied, nodding.

"When?" Garcia asked not knowing when recently they had had the time.

Hotch sighed before answering, "Vegas. In November. I proposed after the team dinner that last night."

Morgan and Dave exchange a look across the room, remembering their conversation about a man being in Emily's room the next morning. Now they knew that it must have been Hotch.

JJ smiled as she remembered the plane ride home with both of them the next day.

"And you got married that same night?" Reid asked skeptically.

"Yes." Hotch responded.

"Wow" JJ answered.

"Really." Reid said.

"I never thought the day would come." Garcia chuckled

Hotch looked at the group before blurting out annoyed, "is it really that hard to believe that we would get married."

Morgan looked over at him and answered seriously, "get married. Not at all. Elope. Yes. Make the decision to elope the same day you decide to get married. Hell yes."

The rest of the group laughed. "Yeah, I didn't think that the two of you had it in you." Dave chimed in having been quiet until now.

"Neither of you are known for making spontaneous decisions especially in your personal lives." JJ continued.

Hotch nodded his head understanding the accuracy of their words before responding, "true. But once we made the decision, we didn't want to wait any longer. And it was Vegas so we didn't have to."

"So Captain My Captain, were you and raven-haired beauty ever going to tell us?" Garcia asked and while her words were playful, her expression was serious, hurt even.

Hotch took a deep breath and started to explain the various delays to the team finding out. "It was never our intention to keep the news from all of you. We just wanted to tell all of you together. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

The room was quiet for a few minutes while the team processed all of what Hotch had just said. But before any of them could respond, Hotch continued, "now, if any of you are upset or angry with us for any reason having to do with our marriage I want you to come to me. Not Emily."

He paused and made eye contact with each person before sternly continuing, "she is going to have a very challenging recovery ahead. She is going to be dealing with the likelihood that her days in the field are over because of the severity of her injury. And she is going to have all of that over her while she is pregnant. She is going to need support and positive energy not criticism and complaints. She is going to need her friends."

There were gasps throughout the room as Hotch dropped two more bombshells on them. While all of them knew that the injury was serious, only Dave knew before now just how severe it was. The somber mood from that news was only offset by the other piece of information Hotch had shared.

"She's pregnant?" Garcia asked, a smile growing on her face.

As the team began to share their congratulatory message with Hotch, Morgan stood up and yelled, "what the hell, Hotch? How could you have assigned her to go to Detroit with me if you knew she was pregnant?" Hotch shook his head and while taken off guard, he was not surprised by Morgan's reaction given the close friendship between him and Emily.

Looking over at the other agent, he answered calmly, "I didn't know. I didn't find out until after her surgery. And she didn't know either. She was as surprised as I was when I told her after she woke up. She thought the symptoms she was having were due to the stress of what was going on with our jobs and what that would mean for the BAU and the team."

Morgan sighed before sitting back down and mumbling, "sorry Hotch."

Hotch shook his head before answering, "it's OK Derek. I'd rather it be directed at me than her."

They talked for a short time with Garcia excitedly talking about the new BAU baby. No one corrected her, including Hotch that Emily almost certainly wouldn't be going back to the BAU. As he noticed the others coming to that conclusion, he didn't have it in him to tell them now that after talking to Emily earlier, he definitely would be leaving the BAU as well. He would give it a day or two before telling them though it would be before he called HR to make it official.

When Dave noticed the fatigue growing on everyone's face, he suggested that everyone head home. Hotch looked as if he was going to fall asleep at any time. The others weren't far behind not having had much time to recover after their last case.

As the others milled around as they prepared to leave, Morgan told Dave to go. He said he would stay with Hotch and be available if anything came up with Emily. After Dave received Morgan's assurance that he would call if there were any changes, he left along with the others as Hotch and Morgan settled in for the night.