Disclaimer: I own nothing. Any medical terms I got online so don't yell if it's wrong please!
Chapter Seventeen: Missed Call
Early March 2013 (Present Time)
Afghanistan
With the weather slowly starting to warm up Hotch hoped it would give some of his team members the spark they needed. Being away from home for more than two weeks has put a damper on the spirit and work ethic. When they first arrived the investigation went smoothly and everyone was happy but now they have hit many road blocks and it seems they might be staying longer than anyone wants. But it was their job so they put away their grievances and worked hard.
Hotch was having a hard time too. He missed Jack desperately even though they talked almost every day. Luckily he was able to get a call out for a few minutes to his son. Jack cried the first few days but now was adjusting to being with his aunt.
But Jack wasn't the only one he missed. Emily was on his mind constantly but he didn't want to bother her so he never called. He knew the team would be busy especially with being down two agents. Emily was stuck in Quantico so her help was limited.
Her voice ran through his mind often and he relied on that. It gave him peace in a place where others struggled. Lying in his cot still awake from a long day he rolled to his side and eyed the phone.
"Just do it man." Agent Robbins said from his cot a few feet away. The blonde haired agent was closer to Hotch's age than the rest of the men on his team and he had quickly become a good friend to Hotch and was privy to a few personal talks. Hotch didn't normally confide in people but this agent seemed to read him well. Having a family of his own they shared stories of their boys and bonded in a way the others hadn't.
He sat up late at night debating whether or not to call her almost every night. And every night he talked himself out of picking up the phone. "I don't know if I can." He whispered.
"Sure you can. Just pick up the phone and don't let her off until she gives you the answers you want."
"That simple?" the dark haired man asked eyeing the phone again.
"Hotchner, if you don't pick up that phone and call her I will and it will not be pretty." He threatened.
Arguing with himself again he finally decided to do it. With a look around to make sure everyone else besides Robbins was asleep he grabbed the phone and dialed the familiar number.
After a few rings the call went to voicemail. With a sigh of frustration he hung up without leaving a message. "No answer" he told the other man.
"You should have left a message. She probably doesn't have any way to get a call out here." the man said lying on his back.
"If she wanted to talk to me she can get a call out here." Hotch said getting back in his cot. "When I left she said she wanted time to think. I guess I should just give her that."
"Hotchner, don't let it get to you man. We will be back home soon."
-CM-CM-
Washington DC
Emily laughed as Morgan sat in the middle of the living room trying to read the instruction manual to the crib. It was his second try at getting the side hooked to the middle frame and from the hushed curses she heard coming from him she would say it isn't going too well. The phone ringing pulled her out of her fit of laughter but as she stood from the couch waves of pain rolled through her lower stomach making her cave in on herself and cry out in pain.
Morgan was at her side immediately "Em, you okay?"
Emily shook her head still not able to use her voice. Morgan wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her to the couch making her sit down.
"What happened?" his hands pushed back her fallen hair.
"I don't know." she whimpered out as another wave crashed over her.
"I'm going to call your doctor okay?" at her nod he grabbed her cell phone off the coffee table and made the call. As he rattled off his name and Emily's to the woman on the other line he sat next to Emily and rubbed at her back. "Have you been having any back pain or anything else this morning?" he asked softly.
"A little back pain but not much." Emily confessed.
He nodded to her and went back to the call. After a few more minutes and a few words of encouragement he ended the call and took Emily's hand in his. "Em, we need to get you to the hospital. Dr. Roberts is going to meet us there. She just wants to check you out and make sure everything's okay."
"Okay" she agreed grasping the edge of the couch and standing up.
-CM-CM-
The term they use for it is spontaneous preterm labor. That's what the doctor told Emily as they admitted her and stuck IV's in her arms. Luckily it wasn't too far along and they could slow it down with medication.
As another set of nurses came into her room armed with more supplies and her mother following behind them. "Emily, how are you honey? Agent Morgan called us a few minutes ago and I think your father might have run a few red lights to get here." Elizabeth Prentiss hugged her daughter as best she could after looking her over.
"They are trying to stop the labor because I'm just at 34 weeks." Emily whispered wincing as a nurse stuck another needle in her arm.
"How's the baby?" Elizabeth asked more to the doctor at the end of the bed than to Emily.
"She is doing okay. Her heart rate is a little on the slow side so we are going to keep an eye on that but she seems to be doing okay." Dr. Roberts explained. "If she at any time seems to be in any stress we will take action but right now we just need Emily to stay calm." She rubbed at Emily's arm with a smile.
"Thanks Dr. Roberts." The brunette in the bed said quietly.
A few hours later Emily's room was filled with most of her family. Garcia sat on the edge of the bed talking happily with JJ and Reid who were on the small couch next to the window. While Morgan and Rossi stood by the door as to be out of the way of the parade of nurses in and out of the room. Emily's parents were on her other side canceling the rest of their appointment for the day.
Emily loved them all very much but as she laid there letting the medicine do its job all she really wanted was Hotch. In the two weeks he had been gone she missed him more than she ever thought she would. The kiss they shared was seared in her mind and she held on to that but now it wasn't enough.
She wanted his words of courage and strength she knew he would give her, the feel on his strong hand in hers, and the love she would see in his eyes. Though she knew if she made that call he would come running she couldn't do that to him. He had a job to do and all she was doing was lying in a bed.
So she didn't make the call and before long Dr. Roberts came into the room with a serious expression on her face. It made Emily's nerves kick in. She quietly asked everyone to leave the room and they did quickly. Emily sat up as much as she could and held onto her Mother's hand.
"Mom stay" her words came out more forceful than she would have liked but her mother just kissed her head and stayed.
"Emily, we have been monitoring your baby very closely and her heart rate has not risen like I would have liked and now she is showing signs of stress so I think it would be best if we get her out now than wait any longer. We have already given her the steroids to help mature her lungs faster and from the ultrasound and test she looks well enough to be delivered. Now she is still premature so she will be kept in the NICU until she is healthy enough to go home. And I'm going to forewarn you, you may not be able to see her right away." The doctor said calmly.
Tears flowed freely down Emily's cheeks and her hand squeezed that of her mothers. "Are you sure this is best?"
"Yes it is. I wouldn't take her if I didn't think it was more harm for her to stay in the womb. She is just not doing well. I promise we will take care of her."
"Okay" she whispered wishing again to hear Hotch's voice telling her it would all be okay.
-CM-CM-
Rossi sat down next to Garcia in the waiting room with a sigh. "Hey, you okay sweetheart?" he noticed her biting her bottom lip.
"I think so but…do you think we should call Hotch?" Garcia had been thinking about it as soon as the doctor asked them to leave the room and now that they were delivering the baby she really wondered if she should.
"Are they back together?" Rossi grinned slightly thinking his advice to Aaron might have been good after all.
"Kind of. They went on a date and they were both happy but then he was shipped off so I'm not sure but I know Em would want him here." the blonde pleaded.
"Don't you think she would have said something if she did. Let's wait and see how she is afterwards and ask her before we get him on a plane back here." the older man said squeezing her knee and easing her worry.
A/N: So don't kill me yet! I wrote this chapter a dozen times. And every time I ended up changing the ending of the story completely but doing it this way will lengthen the story from what it was originally so I went with it. Anyways what do you think, should Garcia and Rossi call Hotch? Let me know!