A/N I'm glad about your reviews, every single one of them, thank you! I will update the story as soon as a chapter is good to go, sometimes it takes a few days ;)
An annoying sound makes its way to your sleepy mind. You try to remember where you are. The muscles are stiff, you fell asleep in a chair. Still a little bit drowsy you open your eyes and you stir. The ICU, JJ, you fell asleep in the chair in JJ's ICU room. The sound is nothing else than an alarm going off. Oh shit. You are totally awake in seconds. You immediately stand by JJ's side, to notice what is going on. She is still asleep, your eyes dart around to search the reason why the heart monitor is going crazy.
"What is going on?" Emily stands on the other side of the bed, looking very anxious.
"I don't know!" Your voice has a slight panic in its tone. You look up to Emily.
Both of you turn your heads as a nurse is running into the room. Emily is stepping away from the bed as the nurse checks JJ. She is assessing the pulse and has suddenly a worried look on her face.
Your chest tightens and you feel that fear again. You take a deep breath and run your hands down your face, as Dr. Finn is rushing into the room.
"The BP is dropping? What were her last liver lab results?"
He asks the nurse as he makes his way to JJ.
"Yes, BP is 65/30. Her albumin was 1,6 last time."
The nurse answers while she checks the settings of the infusions and medication machines.
"Alright we have to increase her BP medication and prepare human albumin for transfusion."
He leans down to JJ as he checks her lungs with his stethoscope. You watch the nurse hurrying out of the room. You cross your arms in front of you and you can't stand your unease anymore.
"What is going on Dr. Finn?" You ask nervously.
"Her acute liver failure is causing her BP to drop. She already has some medication to support the BP, but it's not working anymore. We have to give her a human albumin transfusion."
You frown as you watch the doctor continuing his examination. He is checking JJ's pupils with a pen light. You shot a quick look to Emily, as she is standing in a dark corner of the room, assessing what is going on. She looks frightened. You suddenly turn your head towards the heart monitor again, as it begins to beep in alarm again. At the same time the nurse is back with some infusion bags with a yellow liquid inside.
"Call for Anne, we need one more to help here."
Dr. Finn instruct the nurse as he takes the yellow bags and juggles with the I.V. lines. The nurse only nods and is already out of the door. The alarm is continuing and it doesn't help to calm the situation down. You move your fingers over your chin. Obviously you are very tense. Finally the doctor has switch off the alarm, as the two nurses return to the room with some medication and equipment. You take some steps back to the window until you feel the sill against your back. The big lights in the room are on now. You watch the medical staff examine JJ and working fast with the equipment. JJ is lying there, covered with the tubes and wires, hands are working on her. She almost looks dead, you think. You look up to Emily trying to catch her gaze. After a few moments, your eyes meet. You signal her to wait outside, she nods and you join her heading to the door.
On the corridor you let out your breath you were holding and swallow hard. You run your hands down your face again and turn to Emily. She has a wondering look.
"You ok, Hotch?"
You sigh and look down to your hands.
"I'm ok."
'What a question, of course I am not ok', you think. She knows that. She just wants to be polite, to ease the situation. You appreciate that, but you cannot help but to frown. You are deeply concerned what is going on inside that room. You can feel Prentiss' look on you. She is watching you, studying you. She is concerned too.
Your gaze goes up to Emily's eyes. You two hold eye contact for a few moments. There is nothing to say in this situation, you both know what is going on. Words cannot ease up the moment. JJ has to fight this. You only can hope you can send her strength to hold on.
##
After a few minutes one of the nurses comes out of the room. You both turn to her and send the nurse questioning looks.
"We got the situation under control, if you want you can come back in."
You only nod and follow the nurse back inside. Dr. Finn is leaning over JJ, checking her lungs with his stethoscope. The other nurse is preparing another medication. You make your way with Emily to a corner, to not disturb the staff. But Dr. Finn puts his stethoscope around his neck and turns to you.
"That was critical." He sigh and looks back to JJ.
"Is she stable again?"
"Fortunately, yes. We could manage to stabilize her blood pressure again. The liver is responsible for our protein level in the blood. But JJ's is very very low, too low. Without the proper amount of protein, the body has huge problems to regulate the blood pressure. We started a transfusion to support her body with new blood protein. We hope it will stabilize her cardiovascular system."
"Thank you, Dr. Finn."
"Oh don't thank me, thank the modern medicine and the blood donors." He smiles faintly. "Agent Jareau is doing great, she is a fighter."
'Yes, indeed she is, she supposed to be one.', you think, as you give Dr. Finn a friendly look. Sadness is growing in your stomach. You look to JJ. Countless thoughts are chasing through your mind right now. You cannot order them. JJ seems to be peaceful, lying in this bed in front of you.
"So, for now the situation is under control, we have to wait the next hours, how her lab is developing. In the late morning we can say something about the progress, I think. Do you have any questions left?"
Dr. Finn is stopping your roller coaster in your mind. You turn your head to him.
"No, thank you. I think we have to digest this incident for now."
You view turns to Emily and she signals you she feels the same way.
"Ok, I will come by later, to check on Agent Jareau's condition again."
He nods and leaves the room.
You watch the nurse, as she is shifting JJ's pillow and sheets. She is gently putting JJ's arms at the side again and stroke JJ's hair out of her face. She checks the ventilator tube and looks up to you and Emily. She smiles.
"She scared us a bit." The nurse says.
"Oh yeah, definitely, she did that." Prentiss breaks her silence. "She has a gift to surprise."
"Well, lets hope the next time will be a good surprise!"
The nurse is answering and making her way to the door.
"Yes, lets hope that." Emily sighs and nods to the nurse, as she leaves the room.
You sink into the chair on the other side of JJ's bed and sigh. It is 2 a.m. in the morning. Suddenly you feel how exhausted you are. The adrenaline is fading away and the weariness settles in. You massage your forehead. Emily is sitting near by JJ, stroking her cheek.
"Prentiss, go home. You look tired, you were here all day. JJ is ok for now. I will take over."
She shots you a gaze.
"Hotch... you are exhausted too. Do you really think I would let you alone right now? There is no way you can force me out of here. I'm fine!"
You cannot help but show a faint smile on your lips. You don't have the power right now to argue with the stubborn Emily Prentiss. She sits back in her chair next to the bed with a triumphantly smile on her face. After she crossed her legs, she makes eye contact with you.
"I won!"
She puts her nose a little bit up and smiles. You have to chuckle and shake your head.