This chapter is VERY short but I hope I can get the point across. After you read, please tell me what you think the answer will be.

I watch as Hotch starts CPR, he is obviously skilled in the technique as he presses down on her chest with enough force to break her ribs. Everything seems to have slowed down for me, as if everything is going in slow motion. I hear Agent Morgan scream and plead for a medic to hurry up, and then I see a SWAT officer rush to their side, dropping an enormous black backpack down and saying something about her being a trauma surgeon.

And then, everything stops. Everything freezes and Jim flashes in front of me. And in all honesty, I do not know what to say. I want to yell at him, scream, do something, but words fail me and I can only glare at him.

He speaks first. "Kid, I died before you, but not my much, six months at the most. I died alone in a nursing home with nobody by my side but the social worker. I hadn't been there long, only a few weeks- I had been shot years before and the injury took a toll on my body. The person who shot me was my neighbor, apparently he was in the middle of some sort of psychotic break." He stops and avoids all eye contact instead he looks at JJ. "I was his first victim, nobody else survived. I was shot in the head and given a low chance of ever waking up. I never did but I do remember one thing. I remember her," he pointed to JJ. "I remember hearing her voice as she talked to me even though she knew I wouldn't wake up. She stroked my hair and held my hand, she reminded me that even after all I had done, I was still a human being in her eyes." He looks at me for the first time, "It isn't uncommon to have doctors on SWAT teams here, and Dr. Conner is fantastic at her job. But now you have choice." He points to JJ, "She is critically injured, infection is already setting in. She will be dependent on ventilator for a long time; and will be hospitalized for a few months. Her brain has been without oxygen for long enough that brain damage has almost certainly set it." He points to the frozen scene. "I cannot promise you what she will be like if she ever wakes up. But now you get to choose. The rules have been broken and it's all on my head, but I want you to make a choice. Let her live and not know how she will turn out, or let her come home right now."

I can hardly comprehend what Jim is telling me. He has broken the rules, somehow but only to give me a choice. Let her live with the possibility of dependence on medical equipment or the possibility that all her wounds, physical at least, will heal; or some sort of middle ground. Or, do I want to act and let her come home with no chance of pain?

I have to choose- let her live or let her die. How can I make this choice when I have no idea what she would want? The speed has picked back up in the room, I see Dr. Conner pulling tubes out of her bag as Hotch continues CPR. She sticks her stethoscope to JJ's chest before looking up at Hotch and asking the question I suddenly have to answer. My answer will be his.

"Agent Hotchner, what would you like us to do?"