Who is the Victim Here

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story.

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Six.

Angie finished cleaning and bandaging Hotch, she then took out something from her bag that Rossi said absolutely no to. She was not going to do him what the unsub did, force him to drink from a baby bottle. Angie gets up from the man's side and takes her 'brother' to the side.

She says, "What is up with you? I know what that horrible man did to Aaron, I saw it but he forced him to do it as an infant animal, not a human. I want to feed Aaron as a human not an animal and right now the bottle is the best way to rehydrate and get him some nutrients into that starved body. Please stop interfering with what I am doing. I can't put an IV in yet, not until we get him out of this dungeon and I want something in him first. After the bottle, he has to be carried out of here. He will not be able to walk out on his own, trust me sweetheart. I am only thinking of what is best for that boy there."

Rossi answers, "That is all good and well, but he has issues about that."

"You can tell me about those issues later. I can only do what is best for him now despite any past issues." She walks back to him and lifts his head and places it into the crook of her right elbow and proceeds to place the nipple in his mouth. He opens his eyes and looks at what in his fevered and dehydrated mind looked liked his dead friend Kathy. He began to suck on the bottle and lifted his hand to touch her face. She felt the gentle touch of his hand and hummed a little tuneless ditty to comfort this man. Rossi came over and covered the man with the edges of the blanket to help warm him up.

Angie tells him to take the slippers out of the bag and place them on his feet.

It is 11:30am when Aaron finished the bottle and at that time, Angie wrapped up the man in the blanket like a mummy. He could not move at all. She walked over to Morgan and him, "Can you carry him? Are you strong enough to do alone and with great gentility?" She looks the man in the eye.

He answers, "Yes, I can. He is a firmly grown man but I can carry him."

"Over your shoulder."

"My shoulder? Yes." He goes over to Hotch and with Rossi and Spencer's help, the man is lifted unto his Morgan's shoulder on his abdomen. He is draped over and Angie walks over to the man and picks up his head and looks at his face. His eyes are closed but he does not seem to be in any pain. Morgan turns around and begins to head out of the room when she stops him and says. "Be very careful, that is precious cargo on your shoulders, take it easy and if you get tired, set him down and rest."

"We don't have a lot of time to get out."

"I know, just do the best possible, I will be following behind very soon." Morgan walks out with Aaron.

Rossi says, "I want you to leave now." She puts her hand up to quieten him. He glowers at her. She turns to him.

"In a few minutes, when are you leaving?"

"I want to finish up in here, the squad is going to see if it is possible to disarm, but they don't have any reference to the type of bomb it is completely enclosed. We don't have a lot of time of disable."

"How about that boy of yours, you need to send him out?"

"Spencer is good; I am sending him up just after you leave."

"He was a little squeamish there earlier."

"He has kind of a hero worship of the boss."

"That's the problem with having heroes, eventually you learn they are as human as you are."

"He's the second smartest person that I have ever known."

"Well, he's young yet; give him time to learn more. Besides, I've learned there that what you learn from a book is less important that than what you learn from people."

Rossi chuckles, "And how many do you have now?"

"I stopped counting when it hit the double digits."

"What are taking now?"

"For the first time in my life, I am taking nothing. I decided this semester was going to be the first semester that I played hooky from gaining new knowledge. It has been so…..boring. I hate not having anything to do, in creating ideas, reports, working out problems. Although I have been doing some freelancing, but nothing new has been happening. This excursion has so far been the highlight of life right now. Isn't that sad?"

"My heart's just breaking for you."

"I am heading out now, don't be too far behind. If I have to come back in, I am going to make you spend 30 days in my nursery." She leaves the room as he just stares out at her.

She catches up to Morgan with Hotch, they are more than half way out, she calls by radio to have the car right at the door to put the man into it. They get to the end of the corridor and arrive at the building to head upstairs and out into the cold snow filled world.

Hotch groans says, "Cold."

Morgan answers, "I know and I am going to get you into the warmth as soon as possible, just hold on."

Angie walks in front of Morgan and heads to the other side of the car, while another agents opens the back door of the SUV in order for Morgan to set their boss in. Angie gets in the back seat behind the driver and takes Hotch under the armpit to assist in lifting and pulling him towards her. Morgan worked from his end and eventually Hotch is in her arms, he is lying on the back seat with his lower back supported by her legs and his upper back in the crook of her left arm. He puts his head on her shoulder. She locks the door to prevent it from accidently opening and settles her bag down by her feet. She more firmly wraps the blanket around the man's upper torso while Morgan wraps around the feet and makes sure they are well in the car before he closes the door. He walks around to the driver side of the vehicle while the other agent went to another car.

Angie keeps looking at her watch to check the time and it is 11:52, with no appearance of any other members of our team. "Morgan, how many people are still down there?"

"Last I heard there were three bomb squad, Rossi, Reid and Prentiss and two local agents, Sanchez and Montgomery." They see Prentiss and Sanchez coming out followed closely by Montgomery and Reid.

Our BAU agents came to the door of the SUV to check on Hotch, Morgan brings the window down. HE says, "Do you want to come with us or is there space in another car."

Reid answers, "For some reason, space in any of the cars is limited, I do see one spot here, and do you want Rossi or one of us."

Angie speaks, "I would like you both in the back with me, if you don't mind Aaron lying on top of you."

"Do you think we will fit, it looks like a tight squeeze?"

"Neither of you takes up a lot of space." Emily opens the door and has Reid enter first to get into the center seat and climbs in after him. There does seem to be enough room as they place Aaron's bottom half over their laps. "Be careful, I want you there to keep him still, warm and have the sensation of feeling safe with people he trusts." She continues to slightly rock the man in her arms.

He says, "I am cold and hungry." They close the door to the car and bundle up him further into the blanket surrounding him. He snuggled closer to the people on the seat. Two minutes later, the remaining squad members and Rossi come out of the building. Rossi sees the car and is a little peeved, he wanted them to be gone by now. He opens the front door of the car and got into the passenger seat. Once he was in Morgan started carefully and slowly away from the building.

Once on the road at a slow pace, Rossi says, "Why didn't you leave once you got Hotch into the car? You didn't have to wait for me?"

Morgan answers. "That's true sir we didn't, but Hotch didn't want to go without you. You know how he can get sometimes he doesn't leave until everybody's out; can't get around the man on that."

Rossi looks at Morgan with suspicion and then into the back to look at the man in Angie's arms and says, "Isn't he a little heavy?"

"I've had heavier. He's fine." She reaches down to get her bag and yet can't quite reach it. Spencer reaches down and pulls it up. He holds it open for her to reach and she removes another bottle, this time of apple juice. She places the nipple into Hotch's mouth and he opens his eyes to looks at her with gratitude as he begins to suck. This was a new experience for either Spencer or Emily and they were mildly shocked, even if Derek and David weren't.

Spencer especially felt that the bottle was demeaning to the boss and said so. He actually got quite upset by it and tried to take the bottle out of Angie's hand and subsequently Aaron's mouth. Aaron tried to stop him but could not lift his arm as he was wrapped up like a mummy. Angie kept hold however and the bottle stayed where it is. Spencer got even more upset because he felt that it was just wrong. David reached back and stayed his hand. He says to the young man, "It is okay, he is getting what he needs at this time in the best way possible. It is not as bad as you think." Spencer looks at him with fairly stricken eyes because this is not how he wants to see his boss.

For the next hour, our car drives through the blizzard slowly, they get about 40 miles from the building which exploded just two minutes after they left. Aaron fell asleep after finishing his bottle and Spencer keeps looking out the windshield in front of them. He does not want to look at his boss. He thinks that is it still wrong that she gave a bottle to him and that he even took it. Why he wonders? This is a man who rarely smiles and is strong and fearless and he has now been reduced to a helpless, dependant, weak baby after less than a week? It doesn't make sense to the young genius. A voice breaks into his thoughts.

"Life doesn't always make sense and whatever you read isn't always the best way."

He looks at Angie and says, 'What is that supposed to mean? My life revolves around what I have learned from what I have read and the knowledge that I get."

"Yet, you are uncertain and ignorant about life and its ways. You can't learn everything from a book or from a classroom. There is so much to learn and so much to do. Many think that extreme sports and physical activities are great ways of doing things. I found them to be boring and completely self-aggrandizing. It doesn't help people or society or increase or decrease world problems. I guess that's why I will never run a marathon and don't really care who did. You are a good young man Spencer, don't let what is currently happening to your boss reduce your respect or love for him. He will need to overcome the psychological struggles that he will have when this is over. Yes, I know that he will have struggles because I have been working with people struggling from assault for more than twenty years. Everybody deals differently and one is not better than the other and each person must battle their own demons with the strength that they get from the friends and family they have. That is how you fight your demons. Those that eventually fail to do so; it is because of the failure of family and friends who could not give strength, only criticism and judgment." She places her hand on the young man's hand and lifts it to place it on Aaron's cheek. "He is still the man that you have come to love and respect." Spencer looks at the sleeping face with his hand on the cheek and sees that he can't help but respect this man as he remembers what this man has done for him and others in the time that he has known him. He was always the strong one, the one that didn't need help and now that he is the one in of help, Spencer knows that he can't help but be there to help him. He notices the eyes open and looking at him and smiles.

"Do you sleep well boss?"

"Yes, I did. Thank you Spencer. Kathy?"

"My name is Angie, but what is it Aaron?"

"I am not feeling very comfortable, I have a problem."