Disclaimer: See last chapter
~ Chapter Twenty ~
~ Never give up on life, or life will give up on you ~
Hotch watched as the pale blonde slowly opened her eyes, groaning a little in pain and discomfort, her hand lifting out for an invisible thing that nobody but Jennifer could see. He sighed and then slowly put his hand on her forehead, whispering words of comfort to her that he knew would do no good.
He could hear her muttering incoherently beneath the oxygen mask as she looked from him to her parents and then back again, her eyes fluttered occasionally – fighting the sleep he knew she wanted to fall into.
He could tell by the look on her face that she didn't actually think she would wake up and she didn't believe that she would ever be found. Hotch had no idea if she ever actually wanted to be found.
He sighed and then put his hand in hers, smiling when she didn't flinch away from his touch, instead her eyes met his and she relaxed a little. He shook his head a little and then brushed some of her hair out of her eyes, using his thumb to wipe away the tears that had found their way down her pale, bruised cheeks.
He watched her from a distance as she was being checked over and he bit down on his lower lip, he could see her body shaking from where he stood and he found himself thinking that she may never be the girl that had left them over nine months ago. She may never be Jennifer Jareau again.
"Do you think she will ever recover from this?" Morgan asked as he walked behind Hotch, putting his hand on his shoulder, trying his best to smile as they both looked at the tiny woman that they could easily mistake for a teenage girl, laying on the hospital bed.
"Honestly?" Hotch sighed,
"I don't think so, I don't know the details of what happened in there but she was there for nine months Morgan." He looked down at the floor, biting back the tears he knew were desperate to fall from his eyes,
"I think she can." Emily appeared next to Morgan, smiling as she looked at her best friend, her parents fussed over her as she smiled at them, trying to ease her own shaking body and assuring them that it was going to be okay now.
"You do?" They all heard the hope in Reid's voice, his eyes lighting up when Emily nodded,
"With our help, and this is JJ we are talking about – she's the strongest out of all of us, I think."
"It's going to take a long time but we will help her." Garcia stood next to Hotch and grinned at him,
"We are going to make sure we are here every single step of the way, she never has to worry about anything like that happening again." Emily smiled at them both and then grabbed Garcia's hand, pulling her towards the woman they had both missed so much.
Morgan, Reid, Rossi and Hotch smiled when JJ reached out for the two women, wrapping her arms around the both of them, laughing when Garcia told a joke, her shaking body finally relaxing when they put their hands in hers, smiling down at her.
Hotch nodded and then bit down on his lip,
"I take back my answer – she's going to be okay." They all nodded before going back into her room, their eyes sparkling when they heard her laugh that they had missed so much. They knew it would take time – but it was going to be okay.