So...Chapter Two of hopefully and epic Hotch/Prentiss fic. (Or as I like to call it, Hotchentiss.) Song used is "Without You" by Three Days Grace, which while writing this I realized is kind of a short song, but not really. Hope you enjoy the update! Criminal Minds belongs to CBS.
"What if I walked without you? What if I ran without you? What if I stand without you? I could not go on,"
She pushes the door to the outside open, noticing it's gotten a tad bit darker while she was using the washroom. She smiles and looks around for him, knowing he was still waiting for her...right?
He's not walking or standing or sitting on the sand. He doesn't seem to be in the water. Maybe he went to the bathroom, too?
"Aaron?" Prentiss shouts as she knocks on the door to the men's washroom. There is no answer after ten seconds of silence. She pushes open the door and walks into the bathroom, even though it is for men only. All the stalls are open and all the urinals are empty. There's no evidence he was even in the washroom. No wet floor from his wet hands, no sandy floor from his sandy feet...
She walks out of the bathroom, hoping he was underwater when she happened to come out. She looks around and he is nowhere to be found again. She looks behind the building, behind the bar, up the trees...There's no footprints in the sand that would signal he left her...
Unless he swam away from her. But she would see him, wouldn't she?
"AARON!" she yells. "AARON HOTCHNER!"
Her voice echoes into the seemingly endless ocean. She notices that the waves are beginning to pick up in speed and amount. Dark clouds are beginning to cover the colorful canvas that surrounds the sun.
She does get one answer, though, and that is a large rumble of thunder. She walks to the pavilion where she had put her purse to prevent it from getting sandy. She takes out her cell phone and is surprised to see that she has service. She selects her contacts and her heart skips a beat when she comes to the first name, Aaron Hotchner. She continues on until she reaches David Rossi.
"C'mon, pick up..." she mutters as the call rings.
"What if I lived without you? What if I loved without you? What if I died without you? I could not go on,"
"The number you are dialing is not available..." an automated message begins to tell her. She hangs up and continues to the next team member, Derek Morgan.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
"Damnit, Derek, pick up!" Prentiss through clenched teeth.
"Whoa, Prentiss, where's the fire?" Morgan answers, obviously hearing her anger.
"You left my side tonight, and I just don't feel right. I can't let you out of sight..."
"Derek, there's something wrong. Hotch and I are still at the beach, and I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, he was gone," Prentiss explains in a worried tone of voice. "I checked everywhere for him and I don't see him anywhere,"
There is a moment of silence. Prentiss notices her breathing is fast and heavy. Her heart is beating as fast as it does when she chases after a suspect.
"We'll be right over," Morgan tells her and she hears the dial tone. She collapses onto the seat of one of the picnic tables under the pavilion. She remembers how the whole team spent the day at the beach, having wrapped up a case earlier this morning. Hotch felt that the team deserved a break...and the jet was having mechanical problems...
So until then they spent the day at the beach, planning to hit one of the bars later to have a drink as a reward for their hard work on the case. Hotch and Prentiss decided to spend a little more time together before returning to the hotel to change and hit the bar with the rest of the team.
But how could such a happy day and somewhat evening turn into a disaster like this? Why must bad things happen when everyone is having a good time, living their lives for the many people that they've encountered that obviously can't?
"Without you, I'm no one, I'm nothing at all,"
She stares out into the horizon, hoping she will see him rise out of the water and rush to greet her, not realizing that she thought he was lost. But she knows that he isn't pulling a prank on her. She knows that he didn't run away from her. She knows that he must have been taken...or raped...or in the process of being tortured...or killed...
She closes her eyes and she can still see his face, smiling for the first time in too long of a time. He needed this break, this relaxation, this night with the one person he loves just as much as Haley, even more than Haley...
"What if I lie without you? What if I rise without you? And what if I dream without you? I could not go on..."
Her head begins to throb with all of the ideas of what could possibly be happening to him. She hears rain begin to tap on the roof without missing a beat in a song that has no rests. Thunder begins to rumble louder and longer as lighting flashes in the distance. The waves are growing even stronger and louder...
"You left my side tonight, and I just don't feel right. I can't let you out of sight. Without you, I'm no one..."
She puts her head in her hands, praying to God for the first time in ages that nothing has happened to him.
What would she tell Jack? The poor kid already lost one parent, he doesn't need to lose another one, even if it was for some "heroic" cause...
How would the team survive without its leader? Sure, he's had to step down before, but he was still part of the team, part of the family...
How would she survive without the love of her life? He's the only person she could truly love on this earth. They were made for each other. Sure, they weren't together till fairly recently, but sometimes true love can take that long.
But it would take longer for her to get over the nightmares of his dead body.
It would take longer for her to look Jack Hotchner in the eye without breaking down.
It would take longer to wake up in the morning without clenching her chest, feeling as if her heart had been removed.
It would take longer for her to live the living hell she would be forced into with his death...
"I'm nothing at all,"
It would take longer for her soul to return to its shell.
