Location Unknown: 25 Hours Missing
"How did they get you?" Hotch asked five minutes after Stanley had left. They had sat in silence with neither sure of what to say. Prentiss scooted towards the head of the bed to get a better view of Hotch. "They didn't. I voluntarily took Mattie's place."
"What? Why would you-why would you do that?"
"We needed to get in contact with the Dents somehow so I did a press conference-" Prentiss quieted when Stanley reentered the room with crackers, two water bottles, and a blanket. He looked down at Hotch, who was breathing heavily as he sat huddled by the window. "I brought the stuff that you wanted, Princess."
"Thank you, Stanley," Prentiss replied, "I do have one more favor to ask you." Her focus immediately went over to Hotch, "Can you help Aaron into the bed? If the basement was cold like you told my friend, David Rossi, than Aaron must be really cold. You can chain us together while we warm up and eat; you can lock the door so we can't get out."
Stanley paused to think before saying, "Ok. I want Aaron to get better and if it helps, I'll do it." He walked over to Hotch and lifted the sick agent onto the bed. Stanley turned his left side to Prentiss, revealing a gun attached at his waist. "I trust you, but I have to make sure that you won't do anything bad, Emily."
"I understand," Prentiss answered as Stanley undid the chains that restrained her to the bed. She gave him a smile before Stanley left the room. Once the door closed and the door knob was locked, Hotch went into a panic attack.
"You're helping him! We-we can't just sit here! We have to go-I have to get you out-"
"Aaron! Calm down!" Prentiss placed a hand on his cheek and stared deeply into his eyes. "We will get out of this- you hear me? We will get home!" Hotch could barely control his breathing and sobs, which prompted Prentiss to say, "Focus! Look at me!" Hotch instantly quieted, but still continued to tremble.
"Close your eyes and breathe," Prentiss whispered. She squeezed Hotch's hands as he struggled to get out relaxed breaths. "You can't freak out on me, Aaron. You can't- just relax and listen to my voice. " She felt his hands slow their shaking along with his breathing beginning to settle. Prentiss took a deep breath along with him and added, "If you just relax while we lay here, your body won't hurt as much."
"Why are you helping him?"
"I can't take on the three of them by myself. Plus, my top priority is your health, even if that means I have to play princess for a while. Do you feel better?"
He opened his eyes and nodded in agreement. "I feel a little better. Thanks, Emily."
"No problem, no problem." Prentiss took note of how cold he felt, his fingertips feeling like ice against her palms. She pulled herself closer to him under the small blanket until their bodies touched. If it wasn't for the captivity, Prentiss felt as if she could kiss him in that moment.
Hotch, on the other hand, was beginning to feel warm and fuzzy. He was confused on whether it was being comforted or being so close to Prentiss….
Either way, it quickly lured him to sleep.
Albany Southern General- 26 Hours Missing
"How is she doing, doc?" Rossi asked the physician in charge of Mattie. Along with a quiet Garcia, they stood in the intensive care unit hallway, both near Mattie's room. From Rossi's view, Mattie was now more relaxed and alert than what she had been when they had found her.
"Miss Kleau is stable and doing much better than when she was admitted. However, she needs rest ," the physician said.
"May we speak with her?"
"She'll be receiving a sedative within a few minutes. You can try to see what you can get in that time."
"Thank you." Rossi and Garcia stepped into Mattie's room where the woman was lying on her back with her head turned to the side. Rossi beckoned Garcia to the edge of the bed. "Miss Kleau, I'm Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi and this is Penelope Garcia, our technical analyst. We're here to speak with you, alright?"
"Alright," Mattie answered, "What do you need to know? I mean, aren't you guys chasing after the vehicle that animal used to drop me off like trash?"
Garcia exchanged looks with Rossi. "We tried, but the GPS we had on the agent that took your place…stopped working. We'd like to ask you a few things about the Dents and the man with you-"
"You have to help him! I mean look at me- I was there for less time and the doctors say that I barely made it!"
"Don't worry," Garcia squeezed her hand, "We will get him home." A nurse walked entered the room behind Garcia and told Mattie, "I'm going to give you some medicine so that you can sleep," as she inserted medicine through the IV.
As the drugs slowly began to take hold, Mattie's hand dropped from the bed rail. She turned her head to Garcia and whispered, "I just….remembered something."
"What?"
"The stubby one-I think he was their son…..said that his parents had to go to Wayne's hardware at one point….hope it helps." Her head dropped to the right as Mattie drifted off to sleep.
"That sounds familiar…." Garcia suddenly whispered. She pulled out her laptop and pulled up the file on the case. "Wayne's Hardware store," Garcia then opened a file on Stanley Dent, "is where Stanley works part time. It's near a group of houses off the road that we lost the GPS tracking on!"
"Garcia, pull up a-"
"Map? Way ahead of you, sir," the TA clicked on a map of the city area. The store was located on the western side of Albany, seven miles from the Dents household. According to the satellite map that Garcia had pulled up, the hardware store was located near a community of homes that sat at the edge of Bounty Hills Forest. "Sir, if they had to stop at a hardware store for God knows what, maybe they are hiding Hotch and Prentiss in one of those homes…..those twenty….seven homes. Oh God."
"That's still good, Penelope. I'll call Morgan." Rossi pulled out his cellphone and stepped out of Mattie's room. Before he dialed Morgan's number, he took a minute to breathe. Mattie was right, if Hotch stayed with the Dents much longer, he would probably die soon. He knew the odds of surviving this long during a random kidnapping, but deep down hoped that Hotch's resilience and stubbornness would buy them some time.
The thought, Don't waste any time on worrying, suddenly appeared his head, snapping the agent back to reality. He speed dialed Morgan and soon heard him answer amongst the sound of blowing wind.
"You got anything, Dave?" Morgan answered. Rossi could only assume that he was driving somewhere.
"Yeah, Mattie mentioned a certain hardware store that Stanley works at. It's near a community that we think the Dents may be holding Hotch and Prentiss."
"Why the hell did we not catch this sooner?"
"Albany police had thought ahead on that after Reid had found Stanley. There have been two officers watching the store for any sign of his parents. That struck out until Mattie mentioned the store- I think they may have stopped by there before we had caught Stanley. We need to check this community out immediately- gather Reid and JJ at meet me at the hardware store. From there, we'll take officers with us and search every house in that community- Garcia said that there are twenty seven-"
"Twenty seven houses? That'll take too long!" Morgan exclaimed through the phone. Rossi sighed in annoyance. "We don't have much of a choice-"
"For us to go in without the Dents being tipped off of our presence, is A. damn near impossible and b. will take an hour at the minimum."
"Derek, we don't have a choice! Go gather the others and meet me there ASAP." He winced at the sight of the clock, now approaching 7:00. Hotch and Prentiss need rescue quick, but if we have to battle it out with the Dents in the dark, we're in trouble.
Location Unknown: 26 Hours 45 Minutes missing
For the first time in weeks, Aaron Hotchner felt at peace.
He had fallen asleep in the middle of his conversation with Prentiss and dreamt of his son and a warm beach. Prentiss had kept watch on him the entire time, trying to keep him warm and safe. She had soon began to feel tired herself, especially after the realization that she had been with the Dents for five hours now and Hotch was pushing twenty seven hours. His strength was one of the most admirable things that she saw in him, one of the many things that made her love him.
Prentiss reached her hand out to touch his cheek again, but was stopped when the door flew open, revealing a frantic Stanley. He walked into the room and exclaimed, "I'm in so much trouble!"
"Stanley, Stanley, calm down!" Prentiss called out to him. She sat up quickly which woke Hotch up. He yawned and muttered, "Huh?" as Stanley started nervously pacing back and forth across the room.
"Stanley, what did you do?" Prentiss repeated.
"I told Momma and Daddy about the food , the water and that you guys are in the same room! Daddy's real mad now!" Stanley stopped in front of the bed and added, "I don't think he wants to do the ball anymore. I mean, he and Momma went out to the store to get something for the ball, but since the police are out looking and with what I did what I did, he doesn't want to do the ball anymore."
That's good-I think. Maybe he'll let us go, Prentiss thought. "Stanley, do you think your parents will let us go?"
"No, he didn't let the others go when he decided that he didn't want to use them."
"Then what do you think he'll do when he gets back here?" Both agents prayed for a good answer, even though deep down they already knew what the answer was.
"I think he's going to come and kill you guys."