Chapter 20

Hotch and Kahlan went back to the Landmark Hotel with plans of showering, changing, and then getting back to their family. On the way back, Hotch called Garcia and Cameron to let them know that everything had turned out alright. She was beyond relieved and said she would pass the news along; she had apparently called the others to let them know the Hotchners had found themselves in a sticky situation. Hotch groaned at the thought of the whole team being worried, but then thanked them for all their help.

Once Hotch had them back into the room, Kahlan texted Clyde and told him that the plane better be ready to take them back to Scotland or he would regret it.

'Of course!' Clyde texted back quickly.

Hotch smiled at Kahlan. "Should we order a big, expensive dinner before we leave since Clyde's the one footing the bill?"

She giggled. "Might as well since you will actually be able to eat now that you aren't worried anymore," she told him as her put her arms around his neck. They hadn't ate lunch because they had been too busy getting ready to face their unsubs.

He put his hands on her sides as he smiled. She winced and he quickly let her go. "What?"

"It's nothing," she tried as she moved away from him.

He grabbed her shoulder and turned her back to him. He gave her a knowing look and lifted her shirt. He winced as he took in a dark bruise on her side, and he shook his head at her. "I thought you said you were fine?"

"I am," she insisted and pulled away from him and grabbed the menu off the table. She handed it to him. "Pick out something good. I'm jumping in the shower. I'm going to wash two times," she started as she headed toward the bathroom door. "Make that three times," she corrected with a shudder as she remembered the man exploding.

Hotch chuckled and then picked up the phone.

Once he was done ordering and thought he had given her enough time to feel clean, he joined her in the shower.

She grabbed his arm and inspected the nasty bruise. "And you yelled at me?"

He pulled his arm away from her and sighed as he took in bruises on her. "Jesus, Babe," he said tenderly as he inspected the bruises on her upper arms that were huge hand prints.

"I'm fine, Hun," she told him.

He reached up and gently lifted her chin to inspect the bruise on her cheek; it wasn't that bad. Thankfully.

She pushed his hand away, and then grabbed his chin to inspect the one forming at the corner of his mouth and the multiple ones on his neck that clearly showed thumb prints.

He snorted. "We make quite a pair, don't we?"

She held up her chin proudly. "I think we make one hell of a team!"

He laughed and pulled her into a hug. "Yes, yes we do."

XXX

After a dinner of steak and lobster tail, the couple packed up their stuff and headed to the airstrip. Kahlan had called Mickey and told him where to find the car and thanked him for all of his help. They boarded the little plane for the short ride back to the castle.

Once they were back, the whole family came out to greet them. They assured everyone that they were fine, and Rossi gave them knowing looks telling them that he expected a complete report as soon as they had some private time.

"Have you eaten?" Cindi asked them as they went back into the keep.

"Yes. We ate before we left London," Kahlan assured her mother.

They all joined the couple in the main room of their suite as the kids told them all about what they had done in their parents' absence.

"You should have seen it, Daddy. Jack was doing flips into the moat!" Joey told him as she climbed into his lap.

Rossi made a fire to take the chill off the room. "Bella was doing them, too," he told Hotch with a grin.

Kahlan chuckled. "We'll have to go swimming with you guys."

"You should have seen Wyatt on the horse," Jack told them. "Coll was showing him how to do the medieval stuff he knows."

"Yeah?" Kahlan asked.

"Oh yeah. He performs in the Medieval Festivals and everything," Wyatt told her with a big grin.

"Hear that, Hun? Our son is a squire," she told Hotch with a wide smile.

Hotch shook his head as he smiled at the matching grins on Kahlan's and Wyatt's faces

XXX

Once the kids and in-laws said goodnight, Hotch smiled deviously at Kahlan. "What?" she asked as she made her way to the dresser.

"Tower?"

She froze.

He chuckled and went up behind her. "Or do you want to wait until tomorrow night?"

She turned to him. "Not tonight, please. I really want to crawl into bed, snuggle up to the sexiest man alive, and sleep until I don't want to sleep anymore."

He smiled. "What the lady wants, she gets." He could see she was tired, so he pulled her into a strong hug and she took a long, deep breath. He felt her lungs stumble a little as she drew in the breath and a little twinge of guilt hit him because he realized she still wasn't fully recovered from everything with the Daniels and Damian case.

He got his pajamas on as he watched her get hers on. She let him crawl into bed and she got in and snuggled up to him. He felt her wince as she apparently hit a bruise and he mentally shook his head. I should have never got you into that. I'm so sorry, Babe. He gently kissed her on the head. "Good night," he told her as he wrapped his arm around her lightly.

She looked up at him. "I'm fine, Aaron, so you can stop beating yourself up. We did good today."

He smiled. "I know. I love you."

She snuggled in closer. "I love you, too. Good night, Hun."

XXX

As Hotch woke up, he realized his throat hurt. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and as his hand went past his mouth, he winced. Why do you always hurt worse the next day? Once he got his eyes to focus, he looked at his watch and was surprised to find it was already after ten. So much for breakfast.

He smiled as he looked at Kahlan still sound asleep lying halfway across his chest. The love he felt for her made his heart swell to the point of almost busting. He thought about trying to slip out from under her but decided to stay there and cherish the moment.

He could feel her breath through his shirt, and he smiled again knowing they could only be closer if they didn't have clothes on. Something about the closeness he felt with her made everything else in the world disappear. It was just him and his wife and all the bad things in the world didn't matter at that particular point in time. He sighed contently and wrapped his arm around her a little tighter.

She smiled up at him. "Morning, Hun."

He returned the smile and kissed the top of her head. "Morning, Babe. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"That's alright, but I really don't feel like moving just yet."

He chuckled. "We can stay like this all day if you want."

"While that would be nice, I think the kids will want to spend some time with us," she told him as she scooted up, gave him a kiss, and then laid on his shoulder.

"We still have over a week left. They know we're back and they know we're safe, so I think we can take our time this morning."

"How do you feel?"

"I'm alright. How about you?"

She stretched. "A little stiff," she admitted. "Maybe we should go relax in the hot tub."

He smiled and threw the covers back. "Then, let's go."

XXX

After lunch, they all went out for Angus to show them the falcons. Joey proudly showed them a young falcon she had been helping Angus train.

"Macky has been doing great!" Joey told them as she held the falcon in a gloved hand.

"You've actually been helping to train an animal to hunt?" Hotch asked her with surprise.

"He doesn't kill anything yet, Daddy. He goes after decoys," Joey told him seriously.

"Macky?" Kahlan asked her as she stroked the small falcon down the back.

"Angus let me name him!" Joey told her excitedly. "I named him after Macbeth."

They all laughed.

XXX

After dinner, Hotch took the kids out to play as Kahlan made her way to the library. Hotch had made her a fire in the room so she could curl up with a good book. She tried to relax, but with the mischief she had seen in Hotch's eyes all day told her that he was not going to give up on the tower. I swear, Hun, I don't know if this will be worth it or not. She remembered what getting close to the tower had felt like and she bit her lip. It'll scare him, too, and we won't have to go it in, she tried to assure herself.

Once Hotch came back in and they bid the kids goodnight with kisses and hugs, he went in and took a shower.

Hotch emerged from the bathroom and watched his wife silently from the doorway. He studied her and knew she wasn't really engrossed in the book she had chosen because it was taking her far too long to turn the page; while she didn't read as fast as Reid, she was still a hell of a lot faster than the average person. He started to feel a twinge of guilt for what he was going to make her do. Just stop it, Hotchner! She would do it to you and you know it! He watched her take a deep breath as she twirled her hair in her fingers. She doesn't do that. Damn, she must be really worried. He shook his head. It'll show her that there isn't anything to be afraid of, though. He ran a hand across the back of his neck. Yeah, I'll have a little fun with her, but in the end, she'll be better off.

He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. When she startled, he jumped, too, because he wasn't expecting her to react that way.

"Jesus Christ, Aaron!" she yelled as she jumped up.

He'd never been able to sneak up on her before and he knew how deep her thoughts had been. He tried to keep the grin off his face, but he failed. "Sorry, Babe."

Her look told him she didn't believe he was sorry any more than she thought he could fly, and he chuckled. "Ha ha ha," she told him sarcastically.

"Hey, I finally did it! I finally snuck up on the stealth queen!"

She licked her bottom lip as she stared him down. "You better enjoy it. Cause it will never happen again," she told him seriously.

He raised his brows in challenge. "Yeah?" She huffed, and he went around the chair and put his hands on her waist. "You ready?"

She sighed heavily. "As ready as I'll ever be."

He studied her. "Kahlan, you have made your into enemy camps facing overwhelming odds and I bet you never showed a glimmer of fear."

"But they were human," she told him seriously.

"Ghosts are human, too, or at least they used to be," he told her as he tried to hide smirk that wanted to show.

She pulled away from him as she shook her head. "Not everything that lurks in the dark is from the realm of humans."

He looked at her questioningly. "Are you saying you actually believe in demons and such, too?"

"Are you saying you don't? You've seen evil, Aaron."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Yeah, and it has all come in human form," he told her seriously.

She looked at him for a long moment. "Let's go. I want to get this over with as fast as I possibly can."

Guilt made its way back into his mind, so he went to her and pulled her to him protectively. "We don't have to do this, Babe. If it is going to bother you this much, let's just forget it."

"Why? So you can continue to tease me about it? I don't think so."

He studied her and his heart ached a little at the fear he could clearly see in her eyes. "I won't tease you anymore."

She huffed. "Yes you will." He was about to defend himself but she pulled away from him. "Maybe not tomorrow or the next day, but you will eventually because I would do it to you."

He swallowed hard. I hate it when she knows what I'm thinking.