Chapter 27
The members of the BAU, along with what seemed like half the population of the city of Annandale, including most of the students of the high school stood around on the lawn of the high school, waiting for the victors to arrive. Aaron and Sean walked up to join them.
Dave looked at them with concern. "What did the doctor say?"
"He called us on the way home and said to get him a pair of crutches, try to keep him down and the ankle iced. As long as it was immobile, he wanted the ice to work. He goes in tomorrow."
"Is he at home," JJ asked.
Aaron shook his head and smiled. "If he pitched on that ankle, there was no way he was going to miss this. We dropped the boys off when the team pulled up to the edge of the city so they could be part of the victory parade."
"Victory parade?" Morgan asked.
Sean beamed. "They're riding around town with the state trophy on fire trucks from the Annandale FD, with an escort from the PD and EMT's. It's pretty special. All the boys were smiling from ear to ear when they pulled away."
"The fire department is very supportive of the team since where they play is across the street," Aaron added.
"And Jack?" Prentiss smiled.
Aaron smiled broadly. "He's in the clouds."
Garcia grinned. "Good thing I brought my camera." Dave rubbed her shoulder.
About twenty minutes later, they heard the wail of the sirens and fire truck horns blasting that kept getting closer. Finally, an Annandale PD car rounded the corner to turn onto the street that ran past the school and the siren happily wailed at the crowd as it slowly rolled towards them. Cars on the streets stopped and the drivers honked their horns. Penelope snapped picture after picture, recording the moment for the boys. Kevin ran her video camera as well. An ambulance came next and then the first fire engine made the turn, loudly blasting its horn and the siren ran once. The next truck made the turn and some of the members of the team, sitting on top of the fire hoses, waved to the crowd. They all were wearing their uniform tops and caps, with their championship medals on the blue ribbon proudly in the middle of their chests. Pete, Zach and Jake Beckham were in the front and raised the state trophy to them. All the horns from the enforcement vehicles sounded. The crowd, including the BAU, roared their approval. Henry, sitting on Derek's shoulders, smiled broadly at his parents at the sight.
The next fire truck came around the corner with the rest of the team, followed by the bus. The police car stopped in the street to block traffic above the turn into the school. The ambulance slowly pulled in past the school bus drop off zone and the EMT's got out. The first engine parked next to the squad car and the next engine turned and pulled up into the drop off zone. The three boys pushed the trophy in the air again to the roar of the crowd as the second fire truck came to a stop. The BAU team smiled at Jack sitting between Zach's legs.
The fire personnel helped all the guys get down, with Pete helping Zach getting inched back off the hoses while still sitting. When he got near the end, the EMT's stepped up, helped get him turned around and they and some of the fire personnel got him down. The team came up onto the sidewalk with Zach on crutches, the fire engines moved, and the bus pulled up. The door opened, letting the smiling coaches off, drawing another huge roar from the crowd. Kevin smiled as he kept the video camera running.
The crowd moved into the gym, filling the stands to the brim. Some people had to stand on the floor under the basketball hoops. The team entered a few minutes later to the pep band playing the school fight song. Jake, as team captain, came in last and raised the trophy above his head to the crowd, drawing another huge roar and the chant of "We're Number One" from the students. The mayor welcomed them home and the superintendent of schools spoke of what the accomplishment meant to the whole school district. He pointed to the parents that brought their young children to the rally.
After he finished, he introduced Coach Bock. Coach introduced the other coaches, briefly touching on their contributions. He then talked about the team; how hard they worked; how they never gave up, "one even pitched on a broken ankle" he smiled at Zach, with Jack standing in front of him, beaming. "All of us coaches knew we had a special group the first day of practice. They proved that on that field in Richmond. But I have to tell all of you: when we drove by Fire Hall Field and the team raised their caps in appreciation," he said choking up a bit, "it verified to all of us what a special group of young men we had the privilege of coaching." The crowd broke out in applause, which ended in a standing ovation. Dave snuck a peek at Aaron who was proudly smiling with a tear in his eye.
Principal Shaw stepped up to the mike as the crowd settled. "Before we move on, I need all of your help. But I also need Mr. Canfield, our kick butt band director to help me because I'm a horrible singer." Mr. Canfield, already in on the plan, smiled as he stood by Principal Shaw's side. "And while I think someone already got the present he truly wanted, please join us in singing Happy Birthday to Zach Hotchner." The whole crowd joined in, with Zach turning every shade of red possible. The BAU team beamed as the ball team gathered around him to give him a personal greeting.
After the team presented the trophy to Principal Shaw for the high school trophy case, officially bringing it "home", he made a few comments and thanked the large crowd for attending. The pep band played some songs as the crowd began to filter out.
The BAU members along with Aaron and Sean stood outside on the grass waiting for the boys. A little later, a gym door opened as Jack, Zach and Pete exited. Zach and Pete shook hands and shared a hug. Pete picked Jack up and gave him a hug as well, then set him back down and turned to meet his own family, carrying his sport bag and suitcase. The Hotchner boys spotted the group, and Jack made a beeline for Dave, flying into his arms. "Look at my medal Uncle Dave," he beamed. Dave gave him a huge hug.
Dave pulled up the medal that hung nearly to Jack's waist and looked at it. "Great job kiddo," he said pulling him into another hug. "I'm proud of you. You did a super job and really helped Zach out during the season. You deserve that Jack." Jack pulled out of the hug and smiled proudly at Dave.
"We're partners Uncle Dave; just like you and dad," Jack beamed.
Derek gave Jack a huge high five and then pulled him out of Dave's arms. Garcia, JJ and Prentiss all looked at the medal around his neck. Jack and Henry shared a high five as well, as Will smiled.
Zach hobbled up on his crutches and received birthday greetings and congratulations from the team, getting a hug from JJ. Dave pulled him into a huge hug as well. "Happy Birthday Zach. Helluva of tourney my friend and congratulations on the scholastic award. You made your mom very proud – with all of it." Zach pulled away from him and wiped a tear, the emotions of the whole day finally getting the best of him. Dave rubbed his chin and pulled him back into a hug. Aaron looked to the west to see the sun setting on a very special day for his sons. And him; just like 17 years ago.
-00CM00-
Three weeks later, the team was in the office around lunch time, having got home from a case about two hours earlier. They were buried in a mountain of paperwork after having been out a week. Morgan was looking at some case notes with Prentiss, as Reid was going over some details of the case with Chief Strauss.
Brian Anderson, walking out the glass doors of the BAU smiled at sight of the two people walking off the elevator and held the door open for them to enter. Jack bounded through the door wearing his school backpack in front of Zach on his crutches, his left foot in a cast. Reid noticed them first and nodded at Strauss. She turned and smiled, catching the attention of Morgan and Prentiss.
"Hey guys," Jack smiled. "Welcome home."
Morgan smiled and knelt down. "Hey big dog, give me some." He and Jack shared their handshake and Morgan pulled him off the floor.
Emily reached for him. "I could really use some Jack lovin' about now."
Jack smiled and gave her a big hug. She put him down on his feet.
Strauss looked at Zach. "How are you doing?" Zach's subsequent visit to the doctor the day after the big homecoming, revealed a cracked ankle but two fractures in the fibula, with one causing concern with Dr. Schmidt. Zach's tape job had held them in place enough for him to not notice as much, along with the spikes.
But the MRI got him a visit with Dr. Carlson that afternoon. She noticed some minor tearing of a ligament in the ankle as well, which caused the swelling. She smiled at him. "You're not getting out of surgery this time kiddo. The one break could use a pin. How the hell you pitched on that is beyond me. The ligament damage also needs a repair job. It needs to be fixed now or it will cause major problems later, especially with you playing catcher." Zach had orthoscopic surgery the following Monday, which meant eight to ten weeks in the cast and on crutches instead of a walking boot.
He smiled at her. "I'm doing great."
"The crutches don't bother you?" He shook his head.
"I've got the latest and greatest model of crutches. Or in other words, and no offense ma'am, they don't make my arm pits hurt."
Strauss smiled at him. "None taken Zach. Jay was on crutches a couple of years ago with a hamstring injury. He complained about that the entire time. At least they've got you on better crutches." Which was true; the crutches Zach had sported extensions, highly padded, that wrapped around the shoulder blades, taking some of the pressure off the arm pits. In addition, they had a huge cushion of padding in the arm pit area, also protecting the top rib.
Morgan, Prentiss and Reid smiled at the conversation, as Hotch saw the boys and exited out his door. Dave was doing the same thing.
As they came down the steps, Morgan looked at Zach a bit closer and smiled. "What's this?" he asked, rubbing a patch of hair around Zach's chin. He gave Zach a huge smile, with Chief Strauss letting out her own smirk.
Zach gave Morgan his devilish smile. "How to irritate dad 1101," he smiled, referring to a pretend class name.
"Which you're passing with flying colors," Aaron groused as Jack raced to him for a huge hug. Dave laughed. Hotch gave him the glare. "Watch it; he told me last week he borrowed your razor," pointing to Dave's goatee. JJ and Garcia had just joined the group and snickered with all of them.
Dave looked at Zach. "You pulled me into this?"
Zach shrugged. "I was thinking on my feet," he said looking down, "or my foot. You were convenient," he smiled.
Dave shook his head. "Thanks Zach." The group laughed.
Hotch looked at his sons. "What are you doing here?"
"We brought lunch for you and Uncle Dave," Jack enthused. "Look in my backpack dad." The whole group noticed that Jack no longer referred to Hotch as "daddy". He was growing up and they shared a smile. Part of that had to be chalked up to the time he had spent that spring with the baseball team and how well he and Zach had worked together. The Hotchner's were finally healing and more importantly, a family that made it all work. Hotch looked in the backpack to see the lunch was from Subway.
Zach smiled at Hotch as he pulled a receipt out of the pocket of his cargo shorts and handed it to Dave. Aaron had figured out a while back that Dave was secretly supporting the boys as well. He knew better to argue with Dave about it. Smiling, he looked at his dad. "The drinks are on you."
"That'll be a first," Morgan mumbled. He got the Hotch glare and then a large smile. The rest laughed, as the four of them headed to Aaron's office.
"Hey boys," Strauss stopped them. They both turned, as did Hotch and Rossi. "You guys have a great vacation with your dad next week." Dave smiled, in full support that Aaron was taking a week off to be with the boys.
Both the boys smiled. "We will!" Jack smiled.
"Ditto ma'am; and thank you. We're really looking forward to it." She smiled as they went up the steps.
The team in the bullpen got heads down in their paperwork again, as they heard the laughter from Hotch's office.
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A/N: Yes, the parade and ceremony at the school is pretty normal for smaller cities in the US. Subway is a chain, much like McDonald's; they specialize in sub sandwiches.