"Don't say that!" JJ exclaimed. She pulled her friend over to the side, "You don't know that. Hotch will bounce back and be his old self in no time."

"Jay, these people were demonic- I shutter to think what they could have done to Hotch for twenty eight hours!"

"Emily, stop it. Hotch is one of the strongest people that you and I know. You'll get the fairy tale wedding the Dents wanted for you two without the torture and kidnapping." The last part of her comment made Prentiss let out a sad chuckle. She took a moment to regain her composure before saying, "You're right…hell, I don't even know if Aaron has feelings for me!"

"He does. I just know it." JJ gave Prentiss a tug towards the patient room the doctor had directed them to. Prentiss followed her and asked, "How exactly do you know, Miss Jareau?"

JJ playfully brushed her hair from her shoulders with a fake know it all expression. "Like I said earlier, a girl just knows. "

7 hours later

"FBI?"

Morgan glanced up from his magazine to see a nurse in yellow scrubs standing by the emergency room waiting room entrance. Next to him, Garcia was asleep with her head on his shoulder, finally catching up on some well needed rest. The rest of the team had gone their separate ways; JJ had left to grab some food, Reid had returned to the hotel to get some rest, and Prentiss and Rossi were both at the police station where Prentiss was giving her statement on the case. The results of both rape kits would take a day to process.

"I'm here on behalf on the FBI," Morgan said, raising his hand. He quickly stood up, causing Garcia to hit her head on the chair bar. "Der-bear, you have to warn a girl," she muttered, rubbing her skull. Morgan only smirked in response and walked over to the nurse.

"Agent Hotchner is out of surgery. The surgeon and doctor are dealing with a three car pileup so I'm here on their behalf," the nurse stated, "Anyway, he should recover fully- the doctors are now worried about his mental health."

"Can I-" Garcia coughed to remind Morgan of her presence, "Can we see him?"

"Of course- the anesthesia is going to take a few hours to wear off for him to wake up. I can take you back now if you'd like."

"I actually have to make a phone call first," Morgan stated. He turned his back and dialed Rossi's number. After two rings, Rossi picked up.

"Rossi, Hotch is going to be ok," Morgan said. On the other end, Rossi let out a big sigh of relief. " Is he up?" Rossi asked.

"No, but he should be up within a few hours, depending on the anesthesia. How's it going at the station?"

"Not bad- Emily's changing right now. We just finished her statement and saw the Dents off to processing. I'm glad this case is finally over."

"Me too."

"Yeah…..We'll be there in about twenty minutes, alright?"

"Alright, see you soon. Bye." Morgan hung up and turned around to Garcia staring off into space with a smile on her face. "They're going to have beautiful babies….."

"Who?"

"Hotch and Emily, of course," Garcia said. She picked her purse and jacket, "I can just see it now- two boys and a girl-"

"They have to get together first," Morgan reminded her.

"Oh yes, of course. I give Hotch two days-no wait, this may have been rougher than the Reaper- three days to get himself back to 'oh captain, my captain' mood and then he and Emily will finally break and have some dirty office-"

"Penelope!" Morgan exclaimed. He put up a hand in front of the TA, "Don't even go there!"

"Ah, you're just jealous 'cause we haven't gone down that road yet, mon aime," Garcia joked, following the nurse towards Hotch's room. Morgan paused before following them, realizing that although Garcia was a little…..inappropriate of her comment, she was right about Hotch and Prentiss…

A few hours later, Prentiss stepped into Hotch's room, alone. JJ and Reid had come by and left after Hotch had finally woken from the anesthesia. Morgan and a very excited Garcia volunteered to leave once Prentiss had come to give her some time alone with Hotch. Rossi had also volunteered to take off, leaving an officer standing by the door to allow both agents a feeling of safety. She was incredibly thankful to all of them; not just for rescuing her, but for understanding her feelings for Hotch.

"Hey, it's me again," Prentiss whispered. She sat down in the chair next to Hotch's bed. He was lying on his back with an oxygen mask for his face. His severely injured ankle was now in a dark blue cast, elevated inches above the bed. To Prentiss, Hotch was still a little drowsy from the anesthesia and not one hundred percent sure of what had or was presently going on.

"I know you're freaking out about what had happened with the Dents, but remember- we're here for you, Aaron. I know I am; I mean- it sucks when you're the victim, right?"

Hotch slipped off the mask and gave Prentiss a quizzical look. "Dents?"

"You don't remember?"

He paused to rack his brain before letting out a, "Oh, yeah. I do now….and to answer your question-Yes, it does suck."

Prentiss smiled and laughed, "Yeah….hey, I'm glad that you're talking! We were a little worried and…. I missed your voice." She placed a hand on Hotch's hand.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?" Hotch asked before slipping the mask back on. Prentiss felt her heart drop at the realization that he was struggling to stay awake and hold the conversation. Most people would ask for a moment of peace, but Hotch was hanging on just to speak to her.

Prentiss took a breath and said, "I've had feeling for you for a long time, now that I think about. I think I had just denied it or tried fighting against it, but I don't want to do that anymore, Aaron. I love you and I hope that one day you can push pass this and love me back." If you have feelings for me.

Hotch slipped off the oxygen mask again, slowly turning his head away from Prentiss. He whispered, "Emily…."

"You don't have to answer me right now," Prentiss scooted her chair closer to the bed, "I'm just going to sit here, ok?"

"Emily…..I-when they had taken you upstairs," Hotch said. His eyes started to flutter when sleep started to catch up to him again. "I thought…..my world was falling apart. I never wanted you to get in this or any type of trouble. Even with the incident in Colorado from a few years ago- what I'm trying….to..say," Hotch started to trail off, " is that I…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hotch drifted off to sleep.