Ames leaned against the doorway next to Allison, both keeping an eye on Hotch. Their patient was sitting on his bed with a tear eyed gaze.
"How long has he been sitting like that?" Allison asked. Ames sighed and answered," Twenty five minutes. I asked him about him his ordeal with George Foyet and he completely shut down on me. I called you here because you seem to have a connection with him."
"I see."Allison ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Only a few minutes earlier, she had seen Jessica and the rest of Hotch's team arrive to the waiting room. Now was not the time for Hotch to break down, especially with his son here. She turned to Hotch and called out," Aaron?"
He snapped out of his daze and mumbled," Hmm?"
"Are you ok?"
"Ummm..."he glanced around the room and whispered," Yes. I guess."
"Aaron, you don't have to answer my question today- we can pick this up tomorrow," replied Ames.
"Your friends and family are here. Do you want to see them?" Allison added.
Hotch slowly let out a breath. "Yes. I can see them." He pulled up the sheets around his waist and sighed. I don't want to do this, but I don't want to upset anyone else.

Allison and Ames exchanged another set of glances before she nodded and said, "I'll go them one at a time of course." She turned and left, heading towards the waiting room. Hotch's reaction to Ames' question mirrored one of a victim, which she knew that Hotch would try and deny. A part of her wanted to go and beg him to answer the question, but that was unethical and plain wrong. She had no choice but to wait.

Allison entered the waiting room and observed the patrons in the room. Rossi was sitting with Jessica and Jack, trying to entertain the little boy for as long as possible. Garcia, Prentiss, and JJ were sitting across from them, speaking quietly amongst themselves. Reid was slowly pacing across the room, admiring the 17th century paintings that decorated the beige walls. Morgan was sitting isolated a few chairs away from the girls; Allison could immediately pick up the guilty and worried look on his face.

This was his family. If anyone could pull him out of his state, it would be them.

Allison cupped her hands together. "Only one of you guys can go at a time. Who wants to go first?"

Jessica looked over to the five agents and Garcia, who were exchanging nervous looks amongst themselves. Someone has got to go, Prentiss thought. She quickly eyed Reid, who was now staring at the psych room doors as if it was the entrance to a prison.

"Dave?" Jessica suddenly called out softly. "You should go- Jack and I can go last." Rossi took a breath and stood up, preparing himself for the trip. He then quietly passed by Jessica and the girls and approached Allison, who swiped her keycard to open the doors.

"Follow me," she responded quietly. Allison started down the hall with Rossi, who was distracted by the dark demeanor of the ward. The hallway was dark with only a small ray of sunlight entering a small window at the end of the hallway.

This is…..this is…I don't know how Aaron is going to do this, Rossi thought. The echoes of a woman wailing through the door of her room sent a chill down the agent's back.

"Here it is," Allison said, suddenly stopping in the middle of the hallway. She turned to the agent and said, "I….good luck." She pointed to the door handle and stepped back. Rossi swallowed and pulled the door open.

Rossi entered the room slowly and saw Hotch sitting on the bed with his eyes on the floor. He seemed much weaker than when Rossi had last seen him.

"Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem," Rossi stated. The agent walked across the room and leaned against the opposing wall.

"Phil Donahue," Hotch answered quietly without looking up.

"I was told to tell you that we are here for you and talk about the good times, but….." Rossi trailed off causing Hotch to look up at him, "but I think you have heard enough of that."

Hotch only closed his eyes and nodded weakly.

"I want to know-what happened? Why would you try to leave your family? The team? Aaron, you aren't the type of person to give up. What made you give up?"

Hotch rolled his head to his side and said, "It didn't- I didn't-"

"Well…..we all plan to be here as much as we can, ok? And there is also…." Rossi looked away from Hotch and hesitated. "Aaron, I don't know how to tell you this, but-"

Hotch cut him off. "I was fired, wasn't I?"

"I'm so sorry..." Rossi watched Hotch's expression hoping for a response. After a minute had passed, he sighed. "We want you to get as much time as possible with Jessica and Jack and everyone is here and they want to see you before they do. Is that ok?"

"...If they want to come, they can," Hotch answered without looking Rossi in the eye. The older agent gave him an encouraging smile before leaving to go get the next person.

Rossi stepped out of the psych ward and sighed. He looked up to see his team members staring at him, expecting an update on Hotch's status. "Aaron is very upset…..um, who wants to go next? Reid?"

"No," Reid answered quietly. His behavior seemed fearful and nervous so Rossi let it go. JJ stood up and straightened her shirt. "Dave, I'll go."

JJ walked into the room and looked Hotch straight in the eye. "I need to know why you did this," she stated quietly. She only received a teary eyed look from Hotch. She took a step forward and gently held his hand. "Please, Hotch. Please."

"I can't," he whimpered back. He let out a shaky breath while JJ said, "Even after what I had told you about my sister….you really scared me there, Hotch."

"JJ, I- I-I don't know what to sa-a-y."

"Well, I just wanted to hear your voice. Emily, Reid, and Morgan still need to come and say hi to you. I'll be here as long as I can tomorrow."

"How so- "

"All of us are on medical leave for a month."

"You shouldn't have gone on medical leave for me."

"We didn't. Strauss put us on medical leave," JJ said. She sat down on the bed next to him. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I'm going to anyway. We are all hurting for you Hotch. Like you, we…..are all burned out from the last month. Tensions are running high and everyone's angry with each other. We need you back to your old self, Hotch. When one of us hurts, we all do."

Hotch shook his head, signaling his discontent. It's something; we need any kind of emotion- anger or not. JJ nodded, turned around and left the room. Once outside, she sat down next to Rossi and said, "Who is next?"

"I can go," answered Garcia. She walked passed Morgan and to Hotch's room.

Once in front of the door, Garcia took a breath and walked into Hotch's room. He was staring at a spot on the ceiling with his body still as a statue.

Garcia sat down quietly next to him and sighed. "Hotch, I know that you are upset, but I just want you to know that we are here for you."

What does everyone want me to say? Hotch thought.

"I feel so bad. This is my fault- I shouldn't have left you alone like that. I should have sat with you and now everyone is mad at me…." Garcia whimpered. She took a breath to try and stop herself from crying.

Please, don't. This isn't your fault.

"Please say something…."

"Penelope, it wasn't your fault. I did this," Hotch answered. - And it didn't work
"But I should have stopped you or stayed with you- I shouldn't have even let you gone to asleep in the room especially after what had happened with Jack-" Garcia stammered but had stopped when she lost eye contact with Hotch. "I-I guess I'll go get whoever is next then."

Outside, Prentiss called out "Reid?" as she watched Reid tap his foot anxiously. He continued to toy with the silver chest knight piece with his right hand and stare out the window.

"Reid?" Prentiss repeated. She sighed when she saw him glance down, acknowledging that he heard her, but not answer.

Morgan rolled his eyes. "Kid!" he yelled grabbing Reid's attention. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah- I'm fine," Reid answered. I can't go in there…I can't

"Penelope is almost done. Do you want to be next to go see Hotch?" Prentiss asked.

"No, I think…I'm alright out here."

"Spencer, you have to visit him sooner or later." Morgan sat up and glared at Prentiss. "He doesn't have to go today; he can go tomorrow."

"Derek, I was only making a suggestion. He passed up his turn twice already."

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Yes, that means he's -"

"Don't profile him!"

"Stop defending him! He's not your kid!"

"Stop interfering!"

"I'm not interfering! I was only trying to make a suggestion!"

"Wow, that's a big change from screaming at him every five seconds," Morgan snapped. In the corner of his eye, he watched Garcia sit down and give him a concerning look. He shot her a glare. "What?" he snapped.

"Nothing…um…whoever wants to go next can go…" Garcia mumbled. She grabbed her belongings and carried them to a seat as far away from Morgan as possible. Prentiss stood up and snipped, "What's with you and Penelope?"

"Emily, you should not be giving me advice in how to treat Penelope."

"Oh, so no 'Baby Girl' now?"

"Someone go!" Rossi screamed, catching the attention of others in the waiting room.

"I'm going! I'm going!" Prentiss exclaimed, walking towards Hotch's room.

"Hey," Prentiss whispered softly as she walked into the room. Hotch only gave her a blink in response.
"How are you?" she asked.
" Prentiss don't worry about me."
"It's way too late for that, Hotch," she said as she sat down on the bed. Once next to Hotch, she turned to him and said, "Please don't ever scare me like that again."
"Emily-"

" Hotch, this has been one of the scariest week of my life."
"Emily, I-"
"When Garcia told me that you had stabbed yourself, I thought that by the time that we would have made it back to Quantico, you would…..be dead. I thought I wouldn't get to say how much I care about not only the team, but you as well."

Hotch glanced over to her before he felt his eyes suddenly droop. Not again; no more nightmares!

"Hotch?" Prentiss watched him blink twice before he mumbled, "I'm ok." His head drooped again, which caused Prentiss to chuckle. His eyes finally closed allowing him to drift to sleep. Prentiss felt Hotch slump on to her shoulder which made her think, Good. Sleep well, Hotch. She gently laid him down onto the bed and covered him with the sheets. She then slowly backed out of the room and headed back to the waiting room.

JJ sipped her coffee cup and asked, "What happened?"

"I said a few things….and I guess sleep caught up to him. He fell asleep midway through my conversation," Prentiss said. She sighed and noticed that Reid was missing.

"Where's Reid?" she asked, dropping her purse on the couch where Rossi sat.
"He didn't want to go today so he left," Rossi said. He's not taking this well at all; he thought.
"Ok, who wants to go next? Derek?" Prentiss asked.
Morgan sighed. "I don't know what to say to him."
Prentiss glared at him. "What? How about I'm here for you?"
JJ shot him a nasty look. "Derek, can you at least give some form of emotion? Something?"
"What the hell should I say? What- Hotch, how the hell could you do something so stupid? How could you quit like that?"
"Something! All you have done is act like it's nothing-"
Suddenly, Jessica stood up and exclaimed," Enough!"
When everyone's attention was on her, she lowered her voice," All of you need to leave."
"Jess-" Rossi stated.
"No- Aaron doesn't need this negativity. All of you are tired and snippy and I won't let any of you...except for Dave near him until you cool down."
Prentiss mumbled," but-"
"Go." Jessica narrowed her eyes at the five agents causing Garcia to nod and collect her stuff.

Outside the hospital

"Morgan!" Rossi called out as he jogged towards Morgan. The younger agent stopped in his tracks and growled," You want to yell at me too, now?"
"No. I just- this isn't your fault."
"What? Don't profile me!"
"I wasn't. You don't need to be a profiler to catch that."
Morgan gave Rossi a dark look before softening his expression." If I hadn't have said anything to Strauss-"
"He would have still gone down that path regardless. Morgan, you know this. Unless you told him to stab himself, you were involved in this in no way shape or form."

"How do you know that? Maybe something should have been said earlier-"
"Derek, now is it not the time to try and figure out when the best time was. Also, picking a fight with Prentiss, JJ, or Garcia isn't going to help this situation any better."

"They-what do you suggest I do?"

"Take some time away from all of this-"

"So isolate myself more from the little club you guys have?"

"Derek!" Rossi exclaimed," We don't have a club or special little circle that's isolating you and Reid out. You are doing that- all of your actions regarding Hotch was done by yourself- you didn't come to us like a team member- you went rouge and did everything on your own!"

"I made the move that I thought was best!"

"I understand that, but how the hell did you think the rest of us were going to feel after leaving us in the dust? Derek, you are out of control and I think it's because you blame yourself for Hotch's suicide attempt. So you need to take some time away from all of this and get yourself together. Ok?"

"Rossi, I can handle this."

"No you can't. You are treating Penelope like she committed a crime- she fell asleep! Did you expect her to be awake 24 hours a day? She's human, for God sakes! And for the rest of us, we can't trust you! Speaking of,what did Strauss mean by Aaron not being able to do his job?"

"I-he's not the same Rossi."

"We all know that, but none that little comment got him fired! JJ is angry because you went behind her back and acted like it was nothing. Prentiss is angry at you because of the effect your actions has had on Hotch- you know how she feels about everyone on this team- we're family."

Morgan sighed and asked, "And you?"

"I don't know what to think of you right now, Morgan. Just take a few days to think, ok?" Rossi answered shortly. He put his hand in his pocket and started towards his car, leaving the lonely profiler in the parking lot.