Note: *nervously peeks around the corner* *checks date of last update* Goodness! It's been a little over a week! I... intended to have this done earlier, I swear, but, as usually happens when I reach the end of the story, the words start coming a little slower.
Also, my muse and I wanted two entirely different things for this chapter. I wanted to expand on last chapter, like I said I would. My sometimes helpful, mostly obnoxious muse decided that nope, we're going with Hotch and Morgan bonding. Deal with it.
Want to guess who won?
And I mean... I... guess this could be taken as expanding on what happened last chapter, but it's not exactly what I had in mind.
Anyways, a huge, huge thank you to my patient reviewers, who have put up with the sporadic updates of my muse: ahowell1993, pechika, Dextolan and Gawain.
Hope you enjoy this latest update!
Hotch sits still, allowing the paramedics to check him over.
In the end, they don't find anything beyond what he already knew.
He's bruised, but not quite concussed.
He'll be fine.
Hotch stands.
He's not normally one to indulge in "I told you so's," but the look he directs at Prentiss conveys much of the same message.
She rolls her eyes, but stays firmly planted where she is.
Reid, however, it would seem, is not as lucky as he.
The young agent almost certainly has a concussion and, though it's not serious, it still fills his superior with concern as he watches someone finish cleaning the blood from his temple.
The medic checking his head pulls away and Hotch finally has a chance to talk to Morgan again.
"Haley?" he asks.
His wife must be terrified.
"She knows you're alive," Morgan answers and Hotch's heart is set at least partially at ease.
He doesn't want to imagine what it must have been like for Haley.
Not knowing.
He closes his eyes.
But then Morgan is speaking again. "Hotch, you really scared us this time. Both of you."
Hotch sends another look at Reid.
Prentiss is at his side now.
He looks back at Morgan.
"I'm surprised you're not with him," he says, both out of honest surprise and to avoid what is coming dangerously close to becoming a heart to heart.
"And I'll be seeing him once I'm done with you," Morgan returns easily.
The only reason he isn't at Reid's side right now is because the paramedic going over his head injury insisted on space, which resulted in Morgan's pacing back and forth until a word from Prentiss had him switching victimology and heading over to Hotch.
Hotch appreciates his agent's concern. He does, but right now he doesn't want to feel like an unsub grilled in the interrogation room.
He closes his eyes, exhaling slowly.
He wants to see Haley and Jack, wants to hold his son and let his wife know that he's okay, that he's going to be okay.
His eyes seek out Reid.
The younger agent is going to be okay.
There's no lasting damage.
Both the medical personnel and his own senses tell him as much.
But he still remembers Reid's voice over the phone. He can still feel the unpleasant jolt in his heart as he realized that this was bad, this was very bad.
He can't shake the image of Reid when he found him in his apartment, looking so much younger than he actually is.
Hotch forces himself to take another breath.
Reid can take care of himself. He proved that today.
But he doesn't think he'll ever stop being that terrified of seeing any one of them in that kind of situation.
What scares him more is that he knows he might not be able to stop it from happening the next time.
"Hey," Morgan says, cutting into his thoughts. "What's going on with you?"
Hotch takes another deep breath- and then he decides to open up.
"Greer was right," he says.
Morgan frowns at him. "Hotch, you can't seriously mean…"
"He said there would be others."
"Hotch… we get enemies. It comes with the job."
"I know, but…" It's one thing to know this. It's another to face losing someone you care about-someone you want to protect-because of your job. "Greer took Reid. He dragged one of you into his personal vengeance."
Morgan is silent, but then he speaks again.
"Hotch, you can't stop that from happening," he says slowly.
"I know." Hotch clenches one fist down by his side, because that's the problem. He wants to be able to stop this from happening again, and the fact that it might be entirely out of his control isn't something he can quite come to grips with.
"But you need to trust us," Morgan continues. "We all knew the risks when we signed on for this job and that includes Reid. Hotch, we might not be able to prevent these things, but we sure as hell aren't going to let them stop us."
He's not quite glaring, but something in his eyes makes Hotch take what he says to heart.
"So… are you with me?"
Hotch meets his eyes. "I'm with you."
Morgan smiles.
"Good. Now let's go see Reid."
Note: So... I wasn't exactly happy with this, but I didn't want to keep you folks waiting any longer, like I said above. I kind of feel like Hotch would definitely need some reassurance once in a while from some member of his team and Morgan sort of volunteered for the job.