Chpt 20

Just because I keep forgetting to mention it…as if ya'll didn't know….I don't own CM or any of their characters….just my own that have been sprinkled all over the place.

By 2:15 pm Aaron Hotchner was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office watching Alecta as she filled out her preliminary paperwork. She got up, walked over to the assistant's window and turned in the clipboard of info; she came back and sat down, picking up an old raggedy book she'd brought with her…..it was some sort of anthology about the Kings of Scotland. She had this old frayed bookmark, it looked like some sort of replica of a prayer rug, must've been one of her favorite things.

That was one thing Hotch had noticed about her. Except for some of her older books that were gifts from friends or acquisitions of some sort, her favorite things…things that she tended to handle the most seemed to be worn; books whose bindings were about to practically fall off (case in point, the old book that Rossi had given her so long ago, she took that book everywhere with her…Hotch had never seen it leave her go bag), this frayed imitation prayer rug…..the colors were still vibrant, but with a worn sense about them at the same time….Her 'lucky' messenger bag….although she had yet to tell him what was so damned lucky about it, it looked like it was held together by David Copperfield, and David Copperfield only, absolute magic.

She was reading quietly; her left elbow was leaning on the arm of the chair, her head resting on her left hand…the fingers carding through that part of her hair. On the right side of her head, the hair was cascading down the side of her short little neck; the effect framed her pale face wonderfully.

She had been quiet the entire car ride over here; after asking him several times if he was sure that he wanted to deal with all the baby drama and getting the same response….that he was sure and that he was born ready, she had grown really quiet. Hotch suspected his response had maybe thrown her for a loop, and he was sure he knew why, but he had to make her talk about it some. For far too long in her life she had very few people that she could ever turn to, and even if she did trust you it wasn't a sure bet that she'd tell you what was truly bothering her.

Hotch couldn't take it anymore, 'Alecta, why do you seem shocked by the fact that I want to be there to help you?"

She lifted her eyes from her book, arching her left brow at him, the look on her face did all the talking; it said 'are you seriously going to ask me that?'.

Hotch simply stared back at her calmly, never tiring of her animated expressions or any doubts that she told him about, it was all just other parts of her that he was getting to know.

Sighing, 'Fine. Fletcher never cared. He never cared. Pregnant or not, he never let up on beating me. I was always covered in bruises and scrapes; the only time he ever took me to a doctor for anything was when our captain forced the issue. And even then….he would sit in there with me, and I had no choice but to tell the doctor that the injuries that I had were work related.

I had local and regional gymnastics medals, and yet I was reduced to lying to cover for my injuries. Of course it isn't like the medical attention did me any good anyway, I mean when Fletcher was spending all of his spare time causing me to miscarry or pop out a still born baby. But it is what it is."

With that she turned back to her book, but Hotch didn't miss the single tear that fell down her cheek.

At a few minutes to 3, a nurse called them back. She tried making small talk about how exciting this must be, but looking at Alecta's facial expression, she stopped.

"Lady, my husband raped me, I got pregnant, and now he's dead. Do I look excited?"

After checking Alecta's vitals and going over some preliminary questions, the nurse quietly showed them to an examination room, shutting the door behind her as she left.

"Turn around and close your eyes."

"You didn't have to bite that nurse's head off you know."

Alecta arched an eyebrow at him.

"I've already seen it; really?"

Huffing, Alecta moved to the back corner and pulled the hospital curtain across on the track; behind the curtain, she changed out of her top and into the hospital gown, leaving her pants on. Once she was done, she folded her shirt and laid it on the chair, and went to hop up on the examination table…Hotch was quicker than she was in that respect, he hoisted her up on to it when he realized she was having trouble getting the platform out so she could step up and boost herself. She just looked him in the eye as he popped her up on the examination table.

They to wait five minutes, maybe less than that before the doctor came in.

"I'm doctor Hagler. I'll be taking care of you today. So what are we in for?"

"Easter egg…"

"L-e-x." Hotch drug her name out in warning.

"Twenty-five to…"

"Dr., I'm Aaron Hotchner, I called to place the appointment. I'm sorry I didn't know she had a bowl of 'Bitchy Flakes' this morning. I'll start monitoring her breakfast from now on.' Hotch shot a glare to Alecta. "She's pregnant. And over the past couple of weeks she's been under a lot of stress; I would just feel a lot better if we knew how far along she was, and if it's a healthy pregnancy so far."

"It says here that you have some gold medal morning sickness."

"Hotch, he can…."

"Alecta!"

"Yes, I do.' Alecta looked at the doctor like a scolded puppy. "I know I can't eat eggs….that's a total 'no-no'. Sometimes when the sickness starts, it lasts for hours….At one time, I kept falling asleep hanging my head in the toilet."

"Mr. Hotchner, don't worry about her attitude. It's mostly just hormones…"

"You've never met her have you? You'll know when it's hormones."

"It seems, going by the chart here, that you've had a terrible time lately."

"Whatever. Can you just wave your magic wand and tell me what's going on in there? Or do I have to summons Dr. Bombay?"

The doctor chuckled as he fired up the sonogram machine; even though this young woman was the most irritable he'd run into in a while there was something….there was something that was sort of endearing about her….kind of like Archie Bunker with PMS.

Once the gel was spread on her stomach, the doctor got the handheld device and proceeded to scan along her tummy.

In no time, there was a reaction.

"Oh my…."

"Are you gonna share with the rest of the class?"

"Well, this is quite a shock actually."

"Look old man, life is short…"

"You're actually quite close to seven and half months pregnant, from what I can tell about the development of the babies on the screen…."

He was cut off, 'Babies? Plural?"

"Yes ma'am. Twins…"

"But I'm not even showing….I haven't out grown any of my clothes yet. What the hell?"

"Well everybody is different. Both babies seem to be coming right along. It looks as if one of them might be a boy; it's hard to tell because of the way the baby is positioned, and the other baby is blocked by the first one quite well, so…"

"A boy?"

The doctor looked down at her when he heard the tone in her voice. She seemed pleasantly surprised and rather…bittersweet about it.

"Really, a boy?"

"Maybe, it's hard to tell…with the way the little tyke is turned it's hard to make out for sure."

Rubbing the side of her tummy, 'Come on nugget…Turn around already."

Not only did it seem that the baby listened, but the baby also gave a tiny stretch.

"Definitely, a little boy,' the doctor was able to announce. 'And I am thinking that the other is a girl….but I had to look quick. Mighty mouse here was in a hurry to get back to business."

"Fabulous, twins. Hotch, I hope you like parade floats, because, I might be one tomorrow."

"Now, Mrs. Davis…"

"Gotta change my last name….' seeing the doctor's face, 'My husband died a couple weeks ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. He was trying to kill me."

"And he failed….that's good to know.

"Not only did he fail, but, he shot him,' pointing to Hotch, 'and killed him to stop him. Sweet shot too, might I add."

"Well, in all likelihood, you shouldn't show too terribly bad, if you haven't started yet….there's still a chance for it to happen so, don't quote me. I want you to take it easy over the next few weeks. I won't put you on bed rest, although I probably need to; but just don't do anything foolish anytime soon."

"No, really, you should put her on the bed...mmmf."

Alecta had leaned over and placed a hand over Hotch's mouth, glaring at him, "Hush. Let the man talk."

The doctor bit his lips together to stifle a chuckle.

"Well, let me ask you this…What is it that you do for work?"

Alecta looked up at Hotch. He spoke up, "We work with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. Basically we are called in when law enforcement agencies are having trouble solving various crimes, we try to deduce what kind of person could commit the crime…it helps narrow the suspect pool down a bit….' Hotch looked over at Alecta, worried about what he was going to say next, 'In all honesty doctor, there are times when we are in physical danger. As you can imagine, some criminals have no intention of going quietly, and they will use any means necessary to avoid capture….if that means taking shots at one of us, or kidnapping one of us…they do it."

Hotch heard Alecta grumble under her breath, for just a second there he worried about the ride home…would he make it? But once he stopped and thought about it…it was fine by him if she hid his body, but he was going to do what he had to do to make sure she was taken care of; if that meant bed rest, then so be it. She'd been through a lot of stressful things the past few weeks; she'd watch her friends die, her father was now dead as well as his friends….hell she'd watched Hotch himself kill her husband. He really wasn't sure how much more stress she could handle without it becoming harmful to her or the baby…babies.

"Well, young lady, under the circumstances of what your friend here has just told me, I have to put you on some sort of restriction. I won't put you on bed rest, but I don't think you need to be leaving home unless there's some sort of emergency….unless it's related to a doctor's appointment to check the status of the pregnancy, or you're in labor…."

"House arrest! Are you for real?" Judging by the look on her face, Hotch thought the doctor would be a truly intelligent man if he made a run for it.

"I could restrict you to bed rest for the next month and a half, but as far as I can tell, the babies seem healthy enough in spite of all the excitement that you have been through. But as close as you are to the end already, and with a set of multiples on top of that this is an idea….you shouldn't be going so very many places right now. You need rest and less stress."

"And besides we still have some time off from work left over, use it."

Alecta tossed her head back onto the exam table, rolling her eyes, 'Dude, narc on me why don't ya."

The doctor had finished his scan of Alecta and her babies, and was shutting the machine down, "I will have copies made, as well as a DVD in case you would like one. I will step out so you can get redressed; just see the nurse at the desk on your way out. And don't forget, I've got you on restriction, so don't go doing anything too crazy."

"Wouldn't dream of it Doc." She watched the older man as he left, grudgingly. Before Alecta could even scoot down off of the examination table Hotch helped her down. She didn't even argue with him this time, simply walked back to the corner and pulled the curtain around and got redressed. As she finished getting dressed, she shoved the curtain open and was raking her hands underneath her hair to pull it out from under the collar of her blouse, the movement causing the hem of the shirt to bunch up a bit showing just the slightest bit of stomach. Before she finished getting her hair free of the inside of her shirt, she began walking back out into the rest of the room.

"Come on, I'm ready to get outa here,' she pulled her shirt tail down a little bit. She didn't even bother to stop, and Hotch fell into step behind her, holding the door open for her while she went through.

They stopped by a little Japanese place and got a couple orders of sushi. Alecta was still so quiet, even more so than before. That night, once back at Hotch's apartment they curled up on the sofa, watching King Arthur….he knew she liked Clive Owen and Stellan Skarsgard.

An hour into the movie and Alecta just wasn't feeling it. Ordinarily she would be all over the chance to watch it. As completely inaccurate as it might be, as so many of them are, she still loved the movie. But her head just wasn't in it.

Sitting up, turning to Hotch, she said quietly, with some melancholy to her voice, 'I think I'm going to bed. I'm just…." She could only shrug. Hotch decided they would both turn in; by now it was nearing 10 pm….on their way home from eating, they had stopped by Jessica's house to see Jack for a little while. Since they had the doctor's appointment earlier, he'd been taken over there. He had been playing steadily with his cousins when he caught sight of his dad.

Three hours later, Hotch awoke with a start. Alecta wasn't in the bed. He checked his master bathroom, she wasn't in there. He began to get worried. Suddenly, he heard a sound. He listened more carefully.

It was the sound of someone crying; he followed the sound down the hall to Alectas' little cave. Opening the door he saw her sitting in Margaret's chair; her back was to the door, she had turned the chair sort of cater cornered. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, one arm wrapped around them. In the other hand she was holding a framed photo, Hotch couldn't quite make out who or what was in it just yet, but he knew she was bawling her eyes out.

Quietly he made his way in, squatting down in front of her. She was so upset she didn't even seem to notice he was there…at least until he spoke to her.

"Lex, what's wrong?"

"Today's July 22, isn't it?"

"Yes. Tell me what's wrong."

She reached out and sat the picture down on the desk top so very carefully. Hotch saw it was a picture of a little baby, but the color was slightly off.

"Today would be his birthday. He'd be almost as old as Jack by now. It's all I have left of him. He's even buried back in LA." She looked up into Hotch's eyes and he saw more tears in her eyes than he ever had in anyone else's. With that she got up and left the room. Hotch thought she would go back to bed, but he became worried when he heard the apartment door open and then close again. Jumping up he ran to the door and then down the hall of the building, but she was nowhere to be found.

In just a matter of seconds she had vanished. Running back into his apartment, he grabbed his cell phone, looking at it, debating on whether to call Rossi or not. It was very nearly 2 am. Alecta could be headed over to his house to see her own mother….and it would be polite to give the old man a heads-up. But Hotch wasn't sure where she had gone, and that worried him. There was no way he was letting her sleep at the bus station. He wouldn't let it happen before, and he wouldn't let it happen now that he knew how very pregnant she was. But then Hotch thought a second. He decided to call Garcia instead of Rossi. He needed to find out if there was a way for Pen to track Alecta before he woke up the neighborhood looking for her.

Hotch waited for Pen to answer, "Penelope Garcia."

"It's me."

"H-Hotch, what's wrong?"

"Alecta took off."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear. We had gone to bed about 10:30 or 11. Three hours later I wake up, she's not there. I find her in her little room, sitting in her chair, looking out the window, crying her eyes out. Come to find out today was supposed to be the birthday of the baby that she lost. She was looking at his picture. Then after she explained it to me, she got up and walked out of the front door.

I thought about calling Rossi to let him know just in case she makes it to his house in the middle of the night. But then I thought that, before I call him, I should call you. You did say you have ways of tracking some of the other girls, right? That way I can find out where she's going before I call the cavalry at 2 or 3 in the morning."

"Calm down boss man. Give me a few minutes to warm up my laptop; I'll call you back as soon as I know something. And then you can tell me what you heard at the doctor's office."

"Ok, I'll be sitting here waiting. And I'll try to tell you what I can…."

"Very well, I will be getting back to you in a few minutes."

All Hotch could do was pace until Garcia called him back. He thought about eating something, but it was going on 3 a.m.; he wasn't even hungry….he wasn't sure he could eat until he at least found out where Alecta was. Had she no clue how freaked out he'd be? She's practically 7 months pregnant, with twins, high stress job…and let him not even start thinking over what had happened over the last few days with her father…..and now she had taken off.

His cell phone began ringing, Garcia worked fast.

"Garcia?"

"Not hardly Agent Hotchner."

It was a male voice. Aaron recognized it, but yet again, he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before.

As if the man could read Hotch's mind, 'Check the caller ID again." The man waited.

"Who is this and why do you have Agent Davis' phone?"

"Agent Davis now? The last few days or so she's been Alecta. What happened Aaron Hotchner, lover's spat already?"

"Don't you wish?"

"Hardly. I really hope the two of you are still together. It makes the effort I've gone through ever so much sweeter."

"What do you want? Tell me your terms."

"Who said I have terms? I have what I wanted all along, this little bitch.' The man turned around yelling, 'Do that again and you will pay dearly whore."

Hotch could tell that Alecta had thrown something at the man or tried hitting him, he heard the man wince.

The man turned back to his conversation with Hotch, 'My brother and I had a job to do, you and your team put us in jail. Now he's dead; didn't even make it to trial….."

"My heart bleeds…."

"Because of you and your team, this whore got away. But lucky for me, the prison system is inept. I was able to switch places with another inmate, and voila….here I am. She won't get away this time….unless….unless you find us in the next, oh, I think 6 hours should be enough time. Find us by 9 am or…."

With that Hotch heard the line go dead. Hotch immediately started calling Garcia again.

"I'm looking as fast as I can Boss Man…."

"Look faster. She's been taken. He must've gotten her as she stepped out of the building…maybe even right outside my door….she disappeared so damned fast…."

Hotch was starting to ramble, 'Who took her Hotch?"

"Mark Goodnight."

Post AN: So that caps chpt 20 for me. For those of you who read my last story, you may or may not remember this Mark fellow….if you don't it will become clear to you soon. Hope it was a decent chapter….will start on 21 soon I hope.