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 Twenty-One.
A few hours later, the team comes back in and sees the Hotchner men sitting on the floor. Sean is reading a book while Aaron is sleeping in his arms. Sean looks up and says, "You have to go to New York, Rossi and Reid are there in Angie's dungeon and nursery. Angie is out of town so to speak and isn't there and that is why Susan chose this week to take Rossi and since he was with Reid, she took him too. "
Morgan says, "You get all that information from Hotch?"
"Yes. It will take more time, but he will be able to return. Just give him time to stop torturing himself. Remember, he doesn't have Kathy anymore to talk to and I don't know how to help him like she could. So we need to let him do it as he can." Morgan bends down and lifts Aaron out of his brother's arms and gently puts him into his stroller. "Thanks. I wasn't sure how I was going to do that without waking him up and it is nap time. So we are keeping to his schedule."
The director of the agency comes in with Section Chief Strauss and sees the current agents of the BAU first team just standing around. He asks, "Have you been able to get any information from sleeping beauty here?"
"Yes sir, we believe that they are being held in New York at Angie's place."
"Then you can travel there tonight and rescue them and take sleeping beauty with you. He will get you in better than anyone else can."
"And why do you think that."
"There are some things that you don't need to know. Open your eyes Agent Hotchner." The director looks straight at the man in the stroller who opens his eyes. "Are you able to work in a limited capacity while you continue with your psychological therapy?"
Aaron looks at the man in front of him and wonders in his own mind that same question. He says, "What do mean by limited capacity, sir?" The director smiles at that.
"I mean that you come in for a few hours every day and lead your team in profiling. You would not be in the field until you are able to walk and perform more independent activities. Here at the office, we can work around your schedule. You will spend most of your day in your office doing paperwork and leading your team by example and diplomatic means. You are able to think and give your team insight that can sometimes be blocked by expertise. You will also work with an agency psychiatrist to help work your way back to full capacity. Your brother will be given limited access to be here for your needs. You will not be given weapons until full recovery or allowed on the gun range until then." The men look at each other with tacit understanding and agreement is made between the two. "Get your team ready to go to New York agent.
"Yes sir. You heard the man team. Let's go get out missing men." The agents go get their ready bags and JJ calls the airport to have the jet ready. Sean wraps Aaron into his bunting bag and puts a bottle in his mouth, while getting the ready bags for them to head out to the airport.
At the airport, there is a problem of how to get Aaron on the plane. The jet is not attached to the hanger so to get on to the plane one must walk up the eight steps into the plane. Sean takes the stroller to the bottom of the steps and Aaron tells him to take the bunting bag off and put his shoes on, he was going to try and walk up with the help of friends and the rails support. Sean puts his shoes on and lifts him out of the stroller on his feet and puts his hands on the rails. Morgan is walking just in front of the man walking up backwards and Sean is behind supporting the man by keeping his hands on the man's hips. Prentiss took the stroller to the baggage area loader. JJ carried the diaper bag into the plane ahead of Morgan and got a double seat ready for the boss to sit on. One step at a time, Aaron lifted his leg and places the foot on the step, with Sean holding him, he used the limited muscle strength he has to push up on the step. It takes a bit of time but with the strength of Morgan and Sean, Aaron was able to walk up the steps. He enters the plane and walks slowly to the spot that JJ fixed up for him. After sitting down, Sean wiped the sweat from the man's face and worked to clean him up. When everyone got on board and seated. The plane took off. After taking off Sean laid Aaron down to rest until they land a little over an hour later.
Getting off the plane was as difficult as getting on for Aaron, he had to walk down the steps but Sean had to get off first and make sure the stroller was out and waiting for the man at the end of the steps. The ladies got all the bags and Morgan and Sean worked with Aaron in the opposite direction to get the man down and then bundled into his bunting bag in the stroller. The rain was coming down very heavily while they were doing this, so that by the time they got him bundled up he and the boys were soaking wet. They rushed into the hanger and shook the excess water off.
Sean asked, "Aaron are you feeling okay?"
He answers, "Just wet and a little hungry, but my needs aren't important. We need to get to Angie's place and check out the nursery and the dungeon to see if I am right about Rossi and Reid being there."
"I am not taking you until it clears up out there. You don't need to get sick."
"Sean, we have a job to do and that comes first."
"Not to me it doesn't, you come first." Sean pushes the stroller into the airport and goes to catch a cab to get a ride to a hotel to dry off for the night. Aaron in the meantime is protesting and attempting to talk to Sean that they needed to go to Angie's. Sean wasn't listening. He noticed how tired Aaron was and getting on and off the plane weakened him and took a lot of his energy. Going to check out Angie's would take more out of him than was necessary at least that is what Sean thinks. He believes that Rossi and Reid have taken it for four days now, what is one more night and nothing was going to change Sean's mind.
The other agents however do catch a cab to Angie's and find t completely locked up and did not see any lights on inside. They are not fully convinced that the guys are there and have no warrant to break down the door and decide to head to the same hotel that Sean took Aaron to. When they get there, they get rooms and decide to meet at the Hotchner room to discuss going to Angie's place later. Sean had Aaron out of the stroller and put him in the tub to warm up when the others arrive. It would take a while sitting in the warm water for Aaron to stop shivering from being in the cold rain and when he finally did, Sean got him out of the tub and dressed him in a diaper and a warm flannel sleeper. He then put the man in the middle of the queen sized bed to have a bottle and nap. When the others saw that Sean had Aaron in the tub, they decided to come back later and about two hours after they took warm showers and dried themselves, they came back to the room.
Sean let them in and said, "I am sorry that I summarily made the decision not to go to Angie's tonight but I didn't like the way Aaron was looking when we got off the plane. Aaron takes precedence in my eyes and I believe that Rossi and Reid would understand and be willing to wait until the morning. I hope that they will be strong enough to handle whatever that woman does to them."
JJ responds, "I think we understand and I agree that our missing men would understand about Aaron not going there tonight. The director ordered him to come otherwise I don't think he should have. But Aaron is a good agent and thinks what is best for others before what is best for him. He needs you to do that for him right now, hopefully not forever."
Morgan says, "We did get to Angie's and I am not sure that I believe that they are there, we need a key to get in. I cannot break down that door. Angie has it unbreakable in the sense that it is solid steel and connected by reinforced hinges. It may look like a normal wooden door but that is just a façade. That building could survive a bomb attack. It won't fall down. It is a wooden façade on reinforced steel and titanium. The dungeon under the house is quite strong and sturdy. Nobody breaks into that place without knowing what the place looks like already. Susan could but she has lived there for eighteen years and probably was a part of how Angie created it. It is her design and construction. You do know that she has a master's degree in architecture and a master's in construction engineering and those are just two of her degrees."
Prentiss asks, "how many does she actually have?'
Garcia answers, "Twenty-two was the amount that I found while researching. She has a bachelor's degree in medieval history, biblical history, broadcasting, literature, theology, biology, engineering, international relations, psychology and business, masters in architectural design, ancient literature, urban planning, construction engineering, business accounting, psychological medicine and history of sciences and technology, and a ph d in assault counseling psychology and urban planning. She also has a medical degree and a jurist prudence (law) degree. She has passed the bar in six states and her most current educational degree goal is a master's in renaissance literature. She also ha s private pilot's license for a single engine with and without instruments and a certificate in bookbinding. This person has never stopped taking classes or auditing classes until this semester and I don't understand why she would now."
Aaron has been listening to the litany of degrees that Garcia rattled off for Angie and was amazed, of course he knows why she is not taking any courses now. About six months ago, she started waking up to cloudy vision and although it would clear up by mid-afternoon, it worried her enough to decide to take a break from reading and doing unnecessary overdoing of vision. It is why she is at the Vision Center hospital to have a full battery of test done on her eyes and brain to rule out tumors, cancer or other neurological problems. It is why she is not home this week. She of course hopes that it is not anything extremely serious but she is afraid of losing her vision which is most precious to her.
During the thirty days of being in the nursery alone together, these two people learned more about each other than they knew about anyone else. He didn't talk all that much to her, but what he did say was vital in the knowledge that she learned about him. She knew more about him than anyone else from their mutual best friend and her 'brother'. He learned about her too and wondered why she never married or had children of her own. Except that he knows of her fears of failing the people she loves. She always considered them but would sacrifice her wants. She supported Kathy by traveling around the world for her since Kathy was terrified of leaving home and traveling. She took care of Susan and loved the woman as a sister. She didn't realize that she was psychotic because she was a loving woman to Angie. Sometimes it is hard to see someone's madness through your own.
Aaron opened his eyes and looked at his agents and says, "She is not taking any classes because she is having difficulty reading and is having vision problems. That is why she is not home. She is having a battery of tests taken to determine why. Susan would know about the appointment and that the house would be empty this week and next week. I can get into the door because it is a numeric lock which I know. We will go in the morning to rescue our friends. Garcia, did you find out anything else about the brother and where he may be holed up."
She answers, "Yes, he did have a few former cell mates which have moved to the area. I sent them to Morgan's PDA and you can check them out while here in New York."
"Good then I think you should all head back to your rooms and get some sleep, it is going to be along day tomorrow. Sean, I am hungry." Our agents laugh at that simple statement as they say good night to their boss and leave the room. Sean had gotten up earlier while Aaron was talking and started to heat a bottle at the time. He knew his brother was going to be hungry. He brought the warmed bottle and got on the bed to feed his big baby brother. While Aaron fed, Sean read a story to him and lulled him back to sleep. This time Sean hoped it would be for the night. Most nights, Aaron does not sleep the whole night through. He would wake up whimpering and crying from bad dreams. Sean would have to just hold him until he calmed down. Aaron rarely sleeps more than four hours at any time while the average is 2 and half hours, which is why he seems to sleep a lot, when actually he doesn't sleep more than ten hours per day. It just seems like sixteen.
