Hotch was quickly relocated to his newly assigned bed in the men's dorm. "It's not like I have a lot to move," he told the men who offered to help him. "Just some books and toiletries." He had finally been allowed to have a safety razor and was now using it daily.
Nevertheless, his few belongings were moved with great ceremony and he was soon settled into his assigned area.
On the first morning after his move, Hotch arose, grabbed the trousers he had taken from the wardrobe room the evening before, and quickly pulled them on. Once he had them on, however, he realized that they were far too large around the waist. Puzzled, he thought back over the past several weeks and realized that 415 had been bringing his work clothes to him each morning and he had no idea what size they were. Then, when he pulled the t-shirt on, he realized that it was way too tight through the shoulders.
He went back to the wardrobe room and got another pair of trousers a size smaller. Again, they were too large around the waist. Finally, after several tries, he settled on a pair of trousers with a waist size that he hadn't worn since he was in high school, paired with a larger sized t-shirt. He had always known that the steady diet of fast food that he ate while in the field probably wasn't all that good for him. Now he realized that the low fat diet he had been eating since he had been on the island, combined with the physical labor he had been doing, had probably resulted in his weight loss as well as to the muscle development in his upper body. He started wondering what else about him had changed.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"I need to go to Farm #2 to check on the irrigation system I helped design," 586 told Hotch late one afternoon as they walked towards the dinning hall for dinner. "Would you like to come with me?"
As she had been doing recently, 586 had joined him at the end of the day as he left his project in the laundry and they were holding hands as they strolled towards the building.
"Farm #2?" Hotch echoed. "How would we get there – Horse and wagon or do we walk?"
"Definitely horse and wagon," 586 replied. "Commander does have a truck he uses on occasion, but the roads are all dirty and bumpy so we usually travel by wagon. And, walking would definitely take too long." She smiled at him excitedly.
"When do we leave?" Hotch asked with a smile. "And will your son be coming with us?" He had been introduced to 765 as the two year old sat playing in the nursery and had been impressed with his bright-eyed interest in the world around him as well as with the determination the child devoted to building with the brightly colored blocks he had appropriated.
"Seven sixty five will be staying here," 586 replied. "He's still too young to be traveling."
"And, we'll have to wait a day or so before we leave," she continued. "Farm #4 is sending one of their boys over to Farm #2 to study with The Professor and he'll be traveling with us. You know what that means, don't you?"
"What?" Hotch still wasn't aware of all the nuances of life on the island.
"They'll be bringing fish and/or some kind of seafood with them when they drop him off," 586 explained. "And we'll be having it for dinner. I love seafood and we don't have it that often."
The wagon from Farm #4 arrived around lunchtime the following day, bringing with it the highly anticipated assortment of seafood.
"I'm going to have to get Cook to help me with this," 502 said when the men carried the seafood into the kitchen. "I've never handled anything like this before."
"Good idea," was 415's opinion. "It will give her something to do - Get her out of that funk she has been in."
Cook brightened up considerably when her expertise was requested, and the resultant dinner was one that would be remembered for years to come - A tasty fresh seafood chowder paired with freshly baked popovers.
"No," Cook replied when asked. "I'm not going to be returning to running the kitchen. My time there is over. I'll be glad to help out from time to time, or to give some advice when asked, but 502 is in charge now. It's her turn."
"Me – I'll be puttering around in the vegetable garden or helping out with the children in the nursery."