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Thank you guys so much for the reviews! I love reading them. Sorry about leaving you all hanging with the last one…had to keep you on your toes :) Here goes the next one.
"He's crashing," the surgeon said as he and his fellow doctors worked to stop the bleeding that was occurring in their patient. He'd been stabbed multiple times with a large knife that should've killed him instantly, but there was a fighting spirit in him that was keeping him hanging on by a thin thread of hope. Whoever had stabbed him had wanted to inflict the worst pain possible. At the moment though his heart rate was dropping and the panels were brought out to shock him back to normal.
"Charging three hundred," another doctor said, putting the panels on the patient's chest and starting the machine. He gave a jerk and came off the table as the shock ran through his body. The monitor bleeped to life briefly, but immediately dropped again and the surgeons were forced to charge the panels again.
"Again! We're losing him!"
They shocked him again and this time he stayed with them, the monitor showing that he was back. Work on his stabs immediately resumed and the head surgeon cursed. "We've got another bleeder," he said. He held out his arm to a nurse and snapped shortly, "Clamp."
"Dr. Roberts, we've been asked for an update," a nurse said, pushing the door to the OR open and poking her head in with a mask covering her face.
"Tell them I'll send one of the residents out in a moment," the doctor hollered. "We're kind of busy here." The nurse nodded and left. "It's shocking this guy is still alive," he muttered. "At the moment he's going to need a miracle if he wants to make it through this. He's going to need a guardian angel."
XXXXX
Hotch paced around the hospital's waiting room, his hands wringing together in anxiety. Both Penelope and Derek had been rushed to surgery upon arrival to the ER, Penelope for severe internal bleeding and Derek for his stab wounds. He remembered very vividly the scene that had been before his eyes only hours ago. Derek had been on the ground, bleeding profusely from his abdomen and it was clear he'd taken a beating. Penelope had been screaming, her face ferocious as she fought against the hold of Emily to stay at his side. Harold's body was lying on the ground, a bullet lodged in his brain and a ghostly smile plastered on his face.
It was worse than any of the crime scenes he saw on a regular basis.
The rest of the team members were off in their own worlds, trapped in their minds in different ways. Emily sat slumped over, her elbows on her knees and her face buried in her hands; JJ was quietly crying in a chair, explaining to Will over the phone what had happened; Reid was staring off into space, his face showing he was clearly in a world of contemplation; Rossi was holding a rosary with his eyes closed and mouthing silent prayer.
A clicking of heels could be heard coming down the hall and Hotch looked down the corridor to see Erin Strauss coming towards him. She fixed him with a hard look and halted. Using her index finger, she motioned for him to come towards her so they could talk in private. He sighed and went over to her and awaited the storm to come.
"Ma'am," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Strauss let out a heavy sigh. "Aaron, I need to know what happened in there," she said. "This could be very bad for Agent Morgan."
Hotch shook his head. "We can easily do things to help him," he explained. "I'm not saying that we can keep him off a suspension; he very clearly disobeyed orders, but he didn't murder anyone. Forensics support self-defense. Gun residue was found on the hands of all the men he shot."
She cocked her head to the side. "And what about Penelope?" she asked, her voice even softer. "Did she shoot Harold? Execution style maybe?"
This was the question he didn't want to answer for fear it might cause suspicion from some higher ups. Harold's body position showed he'd been shot execution style, but he was confident he would be able to help her as well. The emotional and physical trauma she'd endured was enough to claim self-defense as well. "Self-defense as well," he said. "Harold beat her within an inch of her life and he would have killed Morgan if she hadn't stopped him."
Strauss stared at him and looked reluctant to speak. Eventually she gave another sigh. "Alright Aaron," she said. "You'll be hearing from me later. Right now let's just get your people healed." She turned to leave, but stopped and turned again. "There will have to be repercussions, there's nothing I can do to stop those. Agent Morgan assaulted a fellow federal agent and shot a civilian."
Hotch shook his head again. "Seth Astin isn't going to press charges in exchange for no jail time," he explained.
"We'll discuss more later," she exhaled before leaving down the hallway again.
XXXXX
"This woman took one hell of a beating," an OR nurse muttered. "The son of a bitch who did this to her should be shot."
"He was," the head surgeon said. "She got him straight in the forehead. This woman went through hell and back. The paramedics said she refused to leave the man's side that was stabbed." He groaned. "Oh shit, we've got a bleeder. Scratch that, two bleeders! Clamp!" The whole of the OR was rushing around to save the woman on the table.
"We're losing her," one of the resident doctors said with a shake of her head. "There's too much bleeding."
"We need more O neg STAT!"
"I've got it right here," one of the nurses said, hooking it up to the IV line.
"God, where is all this blood coming from?"
The head surgeon shook his head. "This woman needs a guardian angel to get through this now," he said.