Chapter 35, May
Hotch and his team were on their rare second day of no cases. Most of the paperwork was caught up on the first day, so when Garcia suggested a nice family lunch at the local restaurant, everyone agreed. Hotch even called Kahlan to join them. He was going to be stuck in bureau meetings all afternoon, so he told her he needed to see her to give him enough strength to make it through them. That and he knew Donna, Kahlan's sister, was visiting so he knew Wyatt would be taken care of, and he probably wouldn't be seeing her that night. "Sure, I'll meet you guys," she told him, and he could hear her smile.
She walked into the restaurant about three minutes after they had. He stood up and gave her a quick peck on the lips. She raised her eyebrows at him when he pulled away. That was the first time he had kissed her in front of his team. With the wolf whistles and cat calls, she knew why, too. He just smiled and pulled her chair out for her.
Once they were all eating and enjoying themselves and each other's company, Kahlan was talking to Hotch and he noticed she glanced toward the door. Once she did it the second time, he saw her visibly tense. He looked to see what had upset her. He nudged Rossi's leg. When Rossi looked at Hotch, Hotch nodded toward the door. There stood a young man who looked desperate. "Ut-oh," Rossi said. All three of them knew what the boy was about to do, and they all could see his hand in the pocket of his sweat jacket.
Hearing Rossi, all conversation at the table ceased and they all studied the man. "Oh, hell no," Morgan said quietly and was about to get up.
"Let me," Kahlan said and stood up and went to the boy. Morgan shot Hotch a look, but Hotch just sat there calmly.
Kahlan walked up to the boy slowly and approached his side. "Hey, hun, can I discuss two things with you before you make the biggest mistake of your life?" The boy looked at Kahlan, not sure if she was talking to him or not.
Hotch noticed the barrel of a pistol pointing into the material of his jacket. The whole table was watching them.
"See that table right over there?" she asked him as she pointed with her thumb behind her toward Hotch and them. He looked over her shoulder and took the table in. Hotch moved his suit jacket back and hooked it behind his holster. The boy's eyes went wide. "Every person at that table is an FBI agent," she told him as she studied his face.
"What else did you want to discuss?" he asked her after he swallowed hard.
She smiled at him. "I would like to discuss that pistol you have in your pocket," she told him quietly. His eyes grew even wider, which she didn't think was possible. "You really don't want to pull that thing out in here in front of all of these innocent people, so I say we go outside and you let me buy that thing off of you for, let's say, $500."
He looked at her. She could tell he was trying to figure out if she was serious or trying to trick him. "Why?"
She smiled and led him outside. Morgan was about to jump up when Rossi put his hand on his arm.
"You are not just going to let her go out there alone, are you?" Blake asked Hotch.
Hotch smiled. "Oh, I think she can take care of herself."
"If anyone can, it's our Double-O Agent," Garcia agreed.
About five minutes later, Kahlan came in the door smiling. Not one innocent person in the restaurant had a clue about what had almost happened. She walked up and took her seat and resumed her meal as they all stared at her.
"Is he out there unconscious?" Morgan asked her.
She gave him a shocked look. "No."
The waitress came up and asked them if they would like anything else. Kahlan asked for a to-go bag. The waitress eyed the few fries she had left on her plate but said she would bring one right back. Conversation finally continued when they realized Kahlan was not going to tell them what had happened outside. The waitress handed Kahlan the bag and as soon as she left, Kahlan put the bag under the table and Hotch could hear it rustling. When they stood up to leave, she handed him the bag. "You may want to run ballistics on that. I doubt that boy did anything with it, but God knows where else it's been."
Hotch took the bag and leaned down to give her another kiss. "Have I told you how amazing you are?" he asked in a whisper at her ear.
She smiled. "Yeah, maybe a couple times. See you when you get home," she told him and headed out of the restaurant.
Rossi put his hand on Hotch's shoulder. "Yeah, definitely a lot of trouble," he told him with a smile.