Across town, Hotch was lying on a small white mattress in small room in the psychiatric ward. They had moved him to psych earlier against his wishes. He only wanted to die; locking him in a concrete box would do him no good. Jessica shouldn't be here, he had thought over and over throughout the day, the team shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be here! It should have worked!

I shouldn't- I shouldn't be here, he began to repeat through his mind, I don't deserve to be here! Haley, I'm so sorry. Hotch closed his eyes in misery at the thought of Haley's name.

"I shouldn't be here," Hotch whispered quietly, feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him. Within the past month, he had gotten used to a lack of sleep. Hotch had even become a pro at going days without sleep, but always lost when extreme exhaustion waves hit him. Don't fall asleep. Don't fall asleep….

And as the same as all of his fights with exhaustion, Hotch's eyes fluttered closed, pulling him into a nightmares.

"Clear!" Hotch exclaimed, pulling his head out of the room. He was standing in a prison hallway, checking each room for….something. 'Why am I here?" Hotch asked himself. He knew he was asleep- but this dream was different- his other dreams usually started out in pain.

Hotch reached for his mic that was clipped to his Kevlar vest and called out, 'Guys?' When no one responded, Hotch scanned the hallway with a look of panic. Where was everyone?

"Aaron?"

Hotch quickly turned around at the sound of his name. It was the sound of woman's voice, but he could not quite recognize who it came from. The agent focused on the end of the hallway where he was positive the voice had come from. With his gun aimed, Hotch slowly crept down the hallway, keeping watch for any unwanted surprises.

'Haley?' he thought to himself. A part of him wanted her to reappear; alive and well, giving him time to spend another moment with her. The other part of him knew what would really come, which gave him chills.

Hotch took another step before feeling a cold breeze past through him. "Aaron?"

Hotch turned around again and found Haley standing in front of him. She appeared to him, just as she always did: covered in blood with the stab marks from the Reaper scattered over her body. Hotch slowly lowered his weapon and whimpered, "Haley?"

"Why did you do this to me, Aaron?" she exclaimed.

"Haley, I tried-"

"All I ever did was love you!"

"I know. I'm so sorr-"Hotch suddenly felt an arm grab his shoulder and pull him around. He was now face-to face with the Reaper, who then took a knife and stabbed Hotch right in the chest. All the air in Hotch's lungs seemed to rush out of him, leaving him choking and gasping for air. The Reaper smiled and pulled Hotch closer and whispered,

"All you had to do was make the deal."

"Aaron! Aaron, you have to calm down!" Hotch suddenly heard as he came back to reality. He continued to gasp for air with a hand on his chest as a nurse exclaimed, "Aaron! Open your eyes! You are ok!" She was crouching over him with both of her hands on a spot on his stomach. Hotch opened his eyes and looked down to see the nurse's hands covering a red spot on his white shirt. Along with the nightmare and the blood, the fact that the nurse was in the same position the Reaper had been in when Hotch was attacked sent Aaron Hotchner into a panic.

"No-no!" he started to mumble as he tried to push the nurse off of him. She responded by yelling back to a male nurse behind her, "Get me Lorazepam and Doctor Garner! He ripped some of his stitches- I need this STAT!"

The nurse then turned her attention back to Hotch, who had pushed her partly off of him and was now on his side. "No- I can't- I didn't – don't hurt me!" Hotch exclaimed. The nurse grabbed his wrist and said calmly, "My name is Allison. Aaron, you are having a panic attack and you need to calm down. You popped a few stitches so I need you to calm down."

Hotch ripped his wrist out of her grasp and pulled himself up to his knees, immediately breaking into tears. Allison gently put her arm around his back as Hotch continued to cry. "It's ok. You're ok." She turned her head back to see Dr. Gardner sprint to the doorway.

"Aaron," Allison whispered, "Aaron, Dr. Gardner is going to check you out and then we are going to get those stitches checked out, okay?" She gently pushed Hotch onto his side who whimpered, "I don't deserve it."

"Shhh…..I promise you, Aaron. You deserve it and you are worth it."

Jessica's Home

Jessica placed Jack, who was sleepy and gripping his action figure, on to his bed. The young boy stuck his feet under the sheets and allowed his aunt to pull the sheets up to his neck. She kissed his forehead and gave him a teary smile.

Why so sad, Jack thought before asking, "Auntie, why you so sad? And where's Daddy?"

"I'm not sad, sweetie. I'm just worried about grown up stuff. And your dad is-"

"Is he with mommy?"

Oh God. "No, Jack. Your daddy is- he got really sick and sad about what happened to your mommy. So he has to stay at the hospital for awhile until he gets better."

"I thought Daddy was a sup-ha-ero. Nobody beats Daddy "

"He's still a superhero, Jack," Jessica answered. She bit her lip and thought- Dave; I wish you were here to help me with this. Suddenly, an idea hit her.

"Jack, you know how regular people get sick?"

"Yeah…."

"Well, when superheroes get super colds they have to go to a super secret place to get better." Her heart jumped at the smile forming across Jack's face.

"Will he get new powers when he get better?"

"Yes- you know what? How about tomorrow, you can create a card for your daddy and tell him all the new powers he should get."

"Like flying?"

"Yep," Jessica exclaimed. Jack giggled and exclaimed, "Is it a super secret cold?"

"Yep, but I can't tell you or it wouldn't be a secret. Now, off to bed so you can make the card for your daddy tomorrow. Ok?"

"O-kay, Auntie," Jack answered. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his action figure. "Good night, auntie."

"Good night, Jack," she answered back. Jessica turned off the lights and thought, Now if it could be that easy with Aaron…