Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Criminal Minds. This story is for my and others enjoyment!
It was a little past midnight when he had finally gotten Jack back to bed. His son had been sleeping peacefully when he'd first arrived home, but had started screaming an hour later. Hotch grimaced, remembering rushing into his son's room, expecting to find some unsub attacking his pride and joy. There was no unsub, only Jack and his tangled sheets. As soon as he entered the room Hotch was able to deduce what had happened, Jack's nightmares were back, and from the sound of it, they were even more vivid. "Hey, hey buddy. It's just me. You're safe now, okay?" Tremors ran up and down his son's body has Jack flung himself into Hotch's lap. Jack sobbed into his button down while Hotch rubbed his hand up and down his back. "You want to talk about it?" he asked. The past two hours had been filled with his son describing hiding to 'solve the case' and coming out to find not only one but both of his parents dead.
The vivid imagery he described was haunting, not only to Jack, but to Aaron himself. It had been difficult enough for him to process Haley's death, but he could only imagine its impact on Jack's life. And to dream that neither of them had survived, Jack would never know how close his morbid dream had been to becoming reality. Exhaustion racked his body as he walked towards his room, only to be interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. "Hotchner." he said in a weary voice. "What?" All the tiredness left his body, replaced with adrenaline and fear. "When did this happen? Was anyone in the building? What hospital are they in? I'm on my way!" He turned to grab for his coat when the guest bedroom door opened. "Aaron?" Haley's sister Jessica's groggy voice filled the hallway. "What's going on?" Guilt briefly passed through Hotch's body. Jessica had contracted the flu and had gone straight to bed when he'd gotten home, and now he'd woken her from the brief, uninterrupted sleep she'd had for most of the night. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." She eyed him with worry, "Don't concern yourself with me. Why are your hands shaking?" Hotch glanced down at both hands, it was true they were shaking badly.
"I just got a call. Someone just detonated a bomb outside the FBI Training Academy. A few of my team were still inside." A look of shock passed across Jessica's features. "Oh my gosh. Are they alright?" "I don't know. I'm going to go check the hospital. I don't know when I'll be back. Tell Jack I'll see him soon." "Of course. Be careful!" she called to his back. Hotch took the stairs two at a time, attempting to maintain a stride that was both calm and quick. He kept this stride until he found his SUV, parked three blocks away from the apartment complex he shared with his son. After Haley's death, he had adopted the habit of parking as far away from his home as possible, that way no unsub would be able to follow him without his knowledge. The lights of the SUV flashed from his car fob as a voice asked, "Agent Hotchner?" Hotch turned slightly towards a middle-aged white man in jeans and a leather jacket. "Yes?" The only response he received was the flash of a muzzle and a loud bang.
"No, you don't understand! You need to get me my phone! I need to call my team!" Emily's frantic cries filled the fourth floor of the hospital. The attending nurse had come in to give her patient more ice, only to find the woman in an extremely agitated state. "Ma'am," she insisted. "You need to lie down and take deep breaths. Everything is fine. You're safe now." Emily's eyes flashed, "Its not me I'm worried about." she snarled remembering the slip of paper she'd found in her pocket. The words flashed in her mind, suil le haghaidh suil- an eye for an eye, her heart raced at the thought of what Doyle might've done to her team.
"This is Kyra Chen reporting live." The television was too soft for her to hear the breaking news. "Turn that up please." she requested in a soft voice. Surprised at the change in her charge, the attending nurse grabbed the remote and turned the volume up. Both stared in shock at the carnage on the screen. "We have just confirmed that the target was none other than the FBI Training Academy in Quantico Virginia. There are no confirmed casualties, but first responders have noted that the building is still too hot to approach." Emily sank back against the pillows, head in her hands. He actually did it. I can't believe he went through with his threat. "Miss?" concerned looks were thrown her way. Emily straightened, "I'm sorry. My name is Emily Prentiss. I am an FBI agent and I really need my phone to make sure my team is alright. They might have been in the building." "Of course miss!"
Her phone was thrust into her nail-bitten hands and she quickly hit star-one, the speed dial for Hotch. "Hotchner." Relief filled her, "Oh thank god. Hotch, it's Emily. Where are you? Where's the rest of the team?" "Emily, I was just about to call you. We're at the memorial hospital on the fourth floor." "We?" "Yes, me, Morgan, Garcia, Rossi, and Seaver. JJ's on her way, but I can't get ahold of Reid. Where are you?" "I'm at the hospital, room 422." "We'll be right there!"
Emily propped herself further up as Hotch entered the room, followed closely by Rossi and Morgan pushing a wheelchair bound Garcia and Seaver. Emily took one look at the group and asked "What the hell happened to all of you?" Morgan snorted, "We could ask the same thing." Emily looked down at her body for the first time since arriving at the hospital. The skin on her arms was covered with rings of black bruises, and she could only guess what her face looked like. "I was at the park and got attacked." she replied. Hotch nodded, "I think we all were." Rossi, Morgan, Garcia, and Seaver were leaving the building when it exploded. Garcia and Seaver were both knocked out and Morgan has some asphalt burns, but considering the circumstances, they were lucky." "What about you?" "I got the call and was on my way to the hospital when a man approached me and took a shot at me." "Are you alright?" "I'm fine. I'm better off than he is. I got six stitches, he gets being six feet under." Hotch said with a look of grim satisfaction. "You don't think Reid was in that building do you?" "No, I watched him leave early tonight. Probably the only time I've ever seen that happen."
Relief washed over Emily's features, Reid hadn't been in the building. She was going to ask if they could call him again when JJ walked in. "Hey JJ." Morgan said. JJ ignored him, instead heading straight for Emily's bed. "I was just walking in," she said in a worried voice, "when a man approached me and asked if I was visiting the BAU agent in the hospital. When I said yes, he gave me this." She thrust a manilla envelope into Emily's hands. Emily stared into her wide blue eyes, "He said to give it to Lauren Reynolds." Dread filled Emily's stomach as she ripped the top of the envelope open, ignoring Hotch and Morgan's shouts about caution. Tipping the envelope upside down, a small tablet slid into her hands. Feeling no less uneasy, Emily turned on the device. With a soft purr, it powered to life and a video appeared on the screen.
Everyone, sans their still unconscious teammates, crowded around her bed as she pressed play. The features of a handsome and well-dressed man filled the screen. "Hello Lauren." he said. Ian. "I trust you received my message." Prentiss felt the eyes of everyone turn from the screen towards her. "I thought it might be nice to take from you what you took from me. But I couldn't make it so quick, I need to draw it out, to make you suffer as I have suffered. To make you feel what it's like to have your true family ripped from your hands! Tell your teammates that I am welcome for saving their worthless lives, and thank them for not being useful enough for my objective. Don't worry though, I found one member who was perfect for my plans." The camera shifted from Ian's face to an unconscious bound, gagged, and blindfolded man. The sharp intake of breath from all the viewers confirmed Emily's worst fear, the man Ian had was Reid. With the camera still facing Reid, Ian continued, smugness coloring his voice. "I must thank you. Dr. Reid was so compliant when he heard your miserable life was at risk. It made it so much easier to take him than if I hadn't. It wouldn't have been impossible, but much more challenging. I have special plans for him Lauren, plans that you will watch, knowing there is nothing you can do to stop it! But don't worry, I haven't hurt him, yet."
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