Story I – Chapter 3
Hotch stood transfixed in the doorway. After a deep breath, his eyes turned cold. "I should have known you were here." It was October after all.
Kahlan slowly got up from the bed as her brain tried to make sense of seeing her dead husband standing before her.
He shook his head and shut the door behind him. "What? Was this was some sick, twisted Halloween prank?! Well, it wasn't funny, Kahlan!"
She licked her lips as she started to tremble. "Aaron?"
His eyes studied her. "Yeah, and I don't appreciate your demented skills being targeted on me! You should know I wouldn't like this!" He snorted as he shook his head some more. "Was Reid in on this, too?"
"Wh. . . wha. . ." She cleared her throat and tried to will her voice to work. "What are you doing here, Aaron?"
He took a step closer to her but she backed up a step. "What am I doing here? This is my room!"
"I. . . I know, but. . ."
"What? Wasn't I supposed to wake up yet? I bet you wanted to be there and tape it, huh?"
Her eyes showed a mix of fear and confusion. "Tape it? That's sick, Aaron."
He laughed. "Yeah! So is waking up in that damn cooler!"
"Cooler?"
"I was naked! Naked, Kahlan! How could you? I woke up on that damn metal cart with a sheet over me and a tag on my toe! Talk about sick!" His anger made his tone a little harsher than he'd meant it to be, but she'd gone too far. "I guess I should consider myself lucky you didn't put me in one of the drawers. They can't be opened from the inside like the cooler!"
She took a deep breath as her mind raced to understand what he was saying. "Why are you here?"
He frowned. "Cause I got out of the cooler, found the doctor's locker room, stole some scrubs, and made my way here."
"Why?"
He felt his anger subsiding as he saw how disturbed she was getting. "Because this is my room," he offered in a more friendly tone as he went to her.
She backed up even more. "Don't touch me!"
He froze and appraised her and finally realized she wasn't upset, she was scared. "Kahlan, Babe. It's me."
She shook her head as tears started to fall out of her eyes. "Please don't."
His eyes quickly took in the mostly empty bottle of liquor and the many piles of waded up tissues around the room. "What's wrong, Kahlan? I'm sorry I yelled. I just. . . I woke up on that cart and I have to admit that it scared me, Babe."
"You're scared?!"
He took another step towards her and she backed up against the wall. He stopped again and started to think something much bigger than a Halloween prank was going on. "Kahlan? Talk to me, what's wrong?"
She took a deep breath. "Wrong? Why, nothing's wrong, Hun, except for maybe the fact that you're dead!"
He flinched at her tone and her news. "Dead? Kahlan, I'm not dead. I'm right here."
"You're a ghost! Not funny, Aaron! You know this shit scares me!"
"I am not a ghost, Kahlan. I'm not dead! What happened? Why would you even think that?"
She swallowed hard. "Maybe because I spent about two hours crying over your lifeless body at the hospital."
"What?!" he cried as he moved closer to her.
"Stay back!" she yelled as she tried to melt into the wall.
He took a deep breath and went to her. He knew she'd probably lash out but he had to make her see that he wasn't a ghost. He grabbed her hand and put to his chest in one fluid motion. "I am not a ghost, Kahlan. I am here and I'm real," he insisted.
She had resisted him and tried to pull her hand back, but once the tips of her fingers touched his solid chest, she pushed into him and moved her hand around feeling his whole chest. "Is it really you?" she asked weakly as she looked up at him.
He nodded. "Yeah, Babe. It's me."
She took a shaky breath as her hand continued to move over him. She frowned, though, and pressed her hand against him harder. When her breathing became rapid and her eyes went wide, she pushed him away and moved away from the wall and him.
"What?" he asked not knowing what had disturbed her so much.
She shook her head. "Your heart's not beating, Aaron. What the hell?"
He huffed. "Yes it is," he insisted, but when he focused on his own body, he couldn't feel it either. His fingers shot to the side of his neck and found his carotid pulse just as silent as his chest. "No. That's not possible."
She held her chin up. "Exactly!"
He wilted. "What's going on?"
Seeing his fear over trumped her own and she took a step towards him. "I'm sorry, Aaron, but you're dead."
His eyes filled as he looked at her. "Then how am I here?"
She winced. "I don't know."
He sank down onto the bed. "If this is a joke, it's really not funny."
She stepped closer to him. "It's not a joke, Hun. I would never do something like that to you. Someone else, maybe, but not you." She studied him and noticed that he was barefoot. "How did you get here from the hospital, Aaron?"
He ran a hand down his face and looked up at her. "I don't know. Walked, I guess."
"You walked fifteen miles and yet your feet don't show any scuffs or dirt or anything?"
He looked down at his pristinely clean feet and frowned. "Maybe I. . ." He sighed. "I don't know."
She reached out a gentle hand and caressed the side of his face and he turned into her. She bit back a whimper that wanted to escape and pulled him to her chest. "I know what this is," she offered as she ran her fingers through his hair.
He pulled back and looked up into her eyes. "You do? Then would you explain it to me, please?"
She smiled and caressed his cheek again. "This is an alcohol induced dream and you have come to me because we didn't get the chance to say goodbye."
His eyes searched hers. "That sucked."
She giggled. "Yes it did, but you're here now and I get the chance to tell you how much I love you, and I get to feel your arms around me one more time."
He stood up and pulled her to him. "Yep. And I get to tell you how much I love you and I get hold you one more time." He pulled back and gazed into the blue eyes he loved so much and he felt his knees go weak. He wasn't sure if she was right, but if she was, he wasn't going to blow his last chance at holding her in his arms. "I love you, Kahlan Lavonne Hotchner."
She looked up at him and smiled through more tears. "And I love you, Aaron Jackson Hotchner." She pressed in as close as she could and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Hold me. Hold me like you'll never let me go."
He rested his chin on her head and squeezed her. "Until I can't any longer."
When she felt him starting to sway, she pulled back, took his hand, and led him to the bed. "One more time to sleep in your arms?"
He nodded as tears trailed down his cheeks. "Sounds good to me," he offered and climbed in and held the covers up so she could nestle into her spot. "I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry, Kahlan. I never wanted to abandon you."
Her arm clung to his chest just as tightly as her leg clung to his legs. "It's not your fault, Aaron. I know you didn't choose this."
"I'm going to miss you."
She nodded as her tears soaked his shirt. "No more than I will miss you."
He ran his hand through her hair knowing that calmed her down. "Sleep, Babe. Hopefully things will be a little better in the morning."
She nodded as she yawned. "Life will never be as good as it was with you, Hun."
He pulled her even closer to him. "Maybe I'll get to do this again someday."
"I'd like that," she offered quietly and slipped into the world of sleep.
He continued to stroke her hair and prayed that he did get that chance as he, too, fell asleep.
