Story I – Chapter 5

"Could he be possessed?" Kahlan asked Rossi and then looked back at the thing sitting on the bed who claimed to be Hotch.

Rossi scoffed. He was Catholic and he knew all about possession and exorcisms. "I don't think that can be done to a corpse."

She winced. "Could that be what he was suffering from? That maybe it killed him?"

Rossi's head snapped to her and his heart hurt as he thought about it. He looked back at Hotch and crossed himself again.

"Would you please stop doing that," Hotch pleaded as he stood up.

"Why? Is a little religious activity making you uncomfortable?" Kahlan asked sarcastically.

Hotch stared her down. "No, but him thinking I'm some evil demon is!" He stood up. "It's just me! The same Aaron you've known for over twenty years, Dave. Please believe me!"

"And yet, that's exactly what a demon would say," Kahlan put in. When she saw how much the whole thing was hurting Rossi, she moved to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "There're simple tests we can do to know for sure."

Rossi nodded as he stared at Hotch. Hotch held his chin up. "Bring it on. Bathed me holy water or whatever you want to do. I am not a demon!"

Kahlan leaned in close to Rossi and whispered into his ear. "I believe demons flinch at the name of God."

He nodded and stood up. "Deus," Rossi put out.

Hotch frowned as he looked at him. "What?"

"Deus," Rossi repeated a little louder.

"Deus? The Latin word for God? What does that have to do with anything?" Hotch asked him as his eyes showed his confusion.

Rossi shot Kahlan a small grin. "If he can say it and say 'God', he is definitely not a demon."

She nodded. "Well, the list is getting shorter."

Hotch shook his head. "You're not going to give up on this are you?"

She held her chin up. "No I am not, Aaron. You being here is not natural, and we have to find out how and why you are."

"And with your fear of the supernatural. . . Just shoot me. Put me out of my misery," he offered as he wilted even more. He didn't know what was going on any more than they did, but he didn't want to be there if his own wife was going to be afraid of him.

Kahlan sighed and her heart hurt to see him so distressed. "I'm sorry, Aaron. I so love the thought of you being back with me, but I'm afraid of what it all means."

He looked at her through tears. "You think I'm some sort of monster."

She chewed on her lip.

"You slept beside me last night, Kahlan! Did you think I was a monster then?"

Tears trailed down her cheeks. "No, but I thought you were just a figment of my own grief rattled mind."

Hotch dropped to his knees as his tears broke free in earnest. "Please, Babe."

It took every ounce of strength she had not to go to him. "We have to figure this out, Hun. I'm sorry."

After a few moments and a few deep breaths, he forced himself to stand. He squared his shoulders and his stare emerged. "Then do it. Go through your damn list! The faster we get through it and any tests you want to preform, the faster you can get to accepting that I'm here and I'm not leaving."

She nodded. "Alright." She turned to Rossi as she ran her hands down her face. "I thought you said you had coffee."

He huffed. "I kind of dropped them in the parking lot when I heard you scream. Sorry."

She winced. "I'm sorry, but that was kind of terrifying."

He gave her a small grin. "I'm sure. I almost collapsed when I saw him; I couldn't imagine waking up next to him."

Hotch rolled his eyes and tried to get the conversation on to something else. "Let me get properly dressed and I'll go get us all coffees."

Kahlan scoffed. "Why? So you can give JJ or Mack a heart attack when they see you in the hall?"

He winced; he hadn't thought about that. As he studied his wife, though, he knew she was worried about more than that. "You don't want to let me out of your sight until you know what's going on."

She half shrugged. "Do you blame me?"

He smirked. "No. I guess not."

"I'll go get us coffee. You want anything to eat?" Rossi asked them. When they both said no at the same time, Rossi couldn't help it, he laughed. "Well, that was definitely normal," he offered dryly and went out the door.

Hotch looked at his wife. "May I please take a quick shower and get dressed? Waking up on that damn cart and knowing what it's used for has my skin crawling."

She shivered. "Yeah, I can imagine. Go ahead," she offered and then went to the table by the door obviously blocking his only escape route should he decide he wanted to run for it.

He shook his head and went to his bag. He eyed his suit he'd laid out before, but sighed and dug for a pair of jeans, a long sleeve shirt, socks, boxers, and running shoes. He took his pile to the bathroom and sat the items on the counter by the sink and leaned his head back out the door and looked at Kahlan. "You need to check the window? I think it might be too small for me to get out of it, but I'm not sure what you'd think."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Ha, ha, ha. Stop being a smart ass and get ready."

He chuckled and went in and shut the door behind him. He knew it really wasn't the time for jokes, but he also knew she would be joking had the situations been reversed and he was trying to get her to relax some. Once he got undressed, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Every mark, blemish, anything his skin had ever suffered was gone. His whole body looked as pristine as his feet did. There has to be a reasonable explanation. Or at least, I really hope there is. He sighed heavily and started the water.

XXX

Rossi was back before Hotch emerged from the bathroom, and he handed Kahlan her coffee and sat down at the table. He took a deep breath. "So what do you really think?"

She huffed and then took a long drink of the caffeine she needed desperately. "I really want to think that this is a second chance. That he's back and we can go about our lives again, but. . ."

Rossi reached over and placed a paternal hand on Kahlan's arm. "But things that are too good to be true usually are."

She nodded.

He searched her eyes. "You don't actually think he's evil, do you, Kiddo?"

"No, of course not! Hotch has never had an evil bone in his body, and I don't sense one in him now, but I don't like not knowing," she confessed and then took another drink. She looked at him. "The scariest thing with not knowing, is not knowing how long it will last. I don't want to get my hopes up and this turns out to be something temporary and we have to deal with him dying all over again. That's why I have to know, Dave."

He nodded. "I almost didn't make it through the first time; I understand why you feel that way."

"If we can figure this out and we find out he's here to stay, I will spend the rest of my life thanking God for each extra day we've been granted."

He smiled. "That's what thought." They both grew silent when they heard the bathroom door open. Hotch came out looking like his normal casual self and Kahlan couldn't help but smile. After all, she thought he was the sexiest man alive. And now he's the sexiest dead man. She mentally winced. I cannot believe I just thought that! What the hell is wrong with you, Woman?

Hotch moved forward and took the coffee Rossi offered and took a long drink. The wretched face he made as he moved to the trashcan and spit it out made Rossi and Kahlan both look at him strangely. He wiped his mouth off. "That's disgusting! Where did you get it?"

Rossi looked into his cup. "Same place I've been getting it all week."

Kahlan got up and took the cup from Hotch and took a sip of it. She appraised him a little more warily. "It tastes just fine to me."

Hotch shook his head as his brows furrowed and sat the cup down onto the table. Rossi held his half gone cup out to him. "Try mine."

Hotch licked his lips and took a small sip and cringed. "No. It's bad or something."

Rossi sighed as he studied the younger man. "It tastes perfectly find to me," he argued and took the cup back and took another drink to emphasize the point.

Hotch shoved his cup over to him. "Fine. Then you can have mine, too."

"Maybe your taste buds have stopped working like your heart," Kahlan offered trying to sound as gentle as possible.

Hotch turned to her and cringed. "So what? You think that I'm going to just start decomposing and rotting away?"

The look of utter revulsion that spread on her face as she pictured it made him regret even saying it. A tear escaped her eyes as her face scrunched up in anger. "I sure hope the hell not!"

He winced and sat down on the bed. "Sorry. I don't want that either."

She took a deep breath and tried to banish the horrible images from her mind.

Hotch took a deep breath. "Well, before we start on the monster thing again. Would you please tell me what happened?"

Rossi frowned as he looked at him. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Hotch half shrugged. "Going to bed last night. . . Well, I guess it was the night before actually."

Rossi glanced at Kahlan. He really didn't want to bring to life the horrible moments he had lived through in front of her, but he also knew that they both deserved the truth. He took a deep breath and told him.

Once he was done, Kahlan wiped her face as Hotch shook his head. "Damn, I don't remember any of that."

Kahlan cleared her throat. "How do you feel?" she asked her husband to try and banish the image of his lifeless body beneath the sheet that had bothered her so much in the hospital.

He frowned. "Confused, scared, angry. . ."

She shook her head. "No. I mean physically. Do you feel like you're fading or getting weaker or anything?"

He sat up straighter. "No. I know it doesn't make any sense, but I actually feel better than I have in a long time."

"What do you mean?" Rossi asked him as he got up and went and sat beside him on the bed.

Hotch shrugged. "Well, for a while now, there hasn't been a morning that I don't wake up with something stiff or sore, like my knees or my back. I guess age is getting to me." He shrugged again and then smiled. "But when I woke up this morning, nothing hurt. I actually feel really good. Like ready to go do a triathlon good."

Rossi smiled. "Well that's a good thing, right?" he asked them both.

Hotch half nodded, half shrugged but he mentally winced when Kahlan's eyes narrowed as she studied him. "You don't think so?" he asked her.

She bit her lip. "I think it's another piece of the puzzle."

Hotch shared a look with Rossi, and Rossi pat his thigh in encouragement.