Words can build you up
Words can break you down
Start a fire in your heart or
Put it out
- Hawk Nelson "Words"

"Rossi, what do you mean he's got meningitis and we can't see him?!" Penelope Garcia yelped into the phone as she rummaged through her refrigerator for the ingredients to make her famous vegan sugar cookies. She had received Rossi's email just moments before and was now frantic, her stomach in knots. She knew something was wrong the day before, but Rossi wouldn't be specific and asked for them to respect Hotch's privacy, so she just agonized silently. The rest of the team seemed better able to compartmentalize than she was, they got on with their day seemingly effortlessly, but she had struggled.

"Penelope, please calm down. He's got viral meningitis, he is going to be just fine, he just needs to be here for a few days."

"Alone?" she squeaked, dropping the sugar canister on the counter, white crystals flying all over her kitchen. She muttered a string of words under her breath that made Rossi chuckle.

"No, he won't be alone. I've already been exposed so they're going to let me stay a bit longer if Aaron will have me." He pulled the thin blue curtain back, peering into the room at his sleeping friend, and let it go again. "He's sleeping now, Garcia. He's in good hands. Trust me."

Garcia rested her back against her refrigerator, knocking a few magnets down, and willed her breathing to slow. She hated feeling helpless. "Can I do anything?" she asked, when she finally regained her composure. "Can I help?"

"You can arrange for a cleaning service to go to Hotch's apartment. You'll need to find one that specializes in biohazard. I don't want he and Jack returning to their home until it's clean."

Garcia nodded, her blonde curls flopping around her face. "Yes, sir." She said, straightening up a bit. She had a purpose now, she was helping. It was something. "Your wish is my command."

Once he hung up with Garcia, it was only a few seconds before his phone buzzed again. And again. He was in the hallway for what felt like forever, putting out fires with his worried team and the higher ups who wanted to make sure their BAU Unit Chief wasn't going to die.

"Dave?" croaked Aaron from inside the curtains. He could hear his friend just outside, talking softly on the phone. By the sound of Dave's voice, he was talking to Reid. Aaron wondered how much of the team he'd already talked to, how many of them would come rushing in to save their fallen Chief. He focused for a moment on the squeezing sensation of the blood pressure cuff on his leg, then resigned himself to the fact that everyone knew he was sick and there was nothing he could do about it. Sometime while he slept, the nurse had come in and replaced his cold mask with a new one, it felt slushy against his brows.

"Dave?" he called a little louder, this time getting the other Agent's attention. Dave peeked back in, putting his hand over the bottom of his phone.

"Yes Aaron?" he asked.

Aaron softened in his bed a little, feeling his friend close again. He realized he hadn't even wanted to say anything, he just wanted to make sure he wasn't alone. "Tell Reid I say hi."

Dave chuckled and nodded his head. "Sure thing."