Chapter 39

After Hotch stepped away from the portrait of the Sultan he went in search of his son. He had wandered the halls of the first floor of the fortress for what seemed like forever to him. He finally came upon a man he'd never met before.

"Ah, Master Aaron? You must be looking for your son. He's in the kitchen having his breakfast. Come, I'll show you."

"Yes. Thank you. Who might you be?"

"Oh, I'm Selim. I'm friends with Alecta."

"How long have you two known each other?"

Selim was facing forward, leading Hotch down the hall to the kitchen, therefore Hotch really didn't' see the smirk on Selim's face. "Oh we've known each other for ages."

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Dave was in his room, well the one he was sharing with Mrs. King. He had allowed her to take her shower first and was doing a bit of writing in his journal; a little something about this latest expedition….perhaps he would learn something along the way that he could use in his next book. The man just had no idea.

Coming out of the bathroom in her fresh change of clothes, 'Dave, that bathroom is immaculate. Holy crap, the tub is to die for."

"And now you sound like your daughter."

"Like that's a bad thing. But, no for real; there's a window behind the tub, you can look out over the water and the horizon. I mean…."

She continued to babble on about how great this place seemed to be so far while Rossi chuckled. She really was beginning to sound like Alecta, getting so carried away with her ideas.

"Ok, well, it's my turn anyway so I will get to see it for myself." He said as he passed her kissing her on her forehead which sort of threw her off. He had yet to kiss her at all. They hadn't really done anything about their relationship, or whatever it was. Sure he had been a total gentleman, always making sure she had everything she wanted or needed. But they had not defined what sort of relationship they had or wanted….and they had definitely not been physical at all, not that she didn't want to. Dave was about her age, maybe a little older, but not much. And God knows he was handsome with that dark hair and those eyes. And everybody always said 'Italians do it better'; not that she would know a thing about that. And Alecta did adore him entirely. In the few conversations she had gotten to have with Alecta since their reunion, Alecta couldn't stop talking about how much she just loved Agent Rossi. Mrs. King got the impression that he was the dad that Alecta wished she could have had. But that was a two way street. Rossi adored Alecta right back; and it seemed as though she was the daughter he never had. It made Mrs. King so happy that Alecta had someone in her life that could be all the things that her own father hadn't been….someone that could show her that 'dads' weren't all evil devil spawn.

While Dave was getting his shower and handling his business in there, she decided to flop out on the bed. And there had never been a more comfortable bed. It was all plush with the choice of native materials. The colorful sheets and duvets; and all of those pillows, it was like falling onto a cloud. And the bed itself, the headboard and footboard, etc. were wooden and seemed to be carved from the very walls of the room itself. And the view from the bed was unbelievable. Through the window you could see the Istanbul skyline with the Hagia Sophia in the distance; and the colors that seemed to dance off the façade, the reds and golds….it was beautiful.

By the time Dave finished his shower, had gotten dressed, and come back out into the room he noticed that Rachel, Mrs. King, had fallen asleep.

He really loved her. She was something else. It amazed him how much like Alecta she really was, and yet how much of her own person she was. He had been wanting to see how things would move along between them but he hadn't wanted to push her. He knew for a fact that the only other man that she had ever had in her life had been Jake. She had been pushed to marry him at the age of 15 by her own father. And she had been about 21 when she 'died'. And she had been institutionalized ever since then and had not had any real contact with anyone at all until Reid managed to find her hidden away. Ever the gentleman, Dave grabbed a blanket and settled down on the divan that was along the wall, making himself comfortable. Before he had talked to Mrs. Rachel about things, he didn't want to push his luck, sleeping in the same bed would have to wait.

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Will was getting Henry settled for a nap on the divan while JJ was getting a shower.

"Will, this place is great,' she announced as she came out of the bathroom.

"You haven't even seen it all yet. Did you see the size of this place when we drove up?"

"I don't need to see the rest of it. I could live in that bathroom."

"Women and their bathrooms."

"Shut up smarty-pants."

"Well, it's your turn with Henry. I have to get cleaned up while I have the chance."

While Will caught his shower, JJ went over to the divan and sat next to Henry, stroking his hair telling him a story to calm him further and cause him to drift off to sleep, his little eye lids growing heavier. Once he was asleep, JJ moved to the other end of the seat and opened the shutters on the window so she could see the view. You could see some of the city of Istanbul in the distance; the variegated heights of the buildings, most of them were only a few stories high. There was Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, you could see part of that from the window. JJ wondered what Alecta might have to say about that. It reminded her of the Golden Gate Bridge or maybe even a little of the Brooklyn Bridge; it was a similar design. You could hear Istanbul come to life in the early morning. The men at the docks coming in from being out fishing before sunrise to bring in the freshest catch, the sounds of the women in the souq haggling over the prices of the goods, the water lapping at the edge of the land on the strait; JJ was beginning to understand what Alecta saw in the place.

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Derek and Garcia had been shown to their room; to Derek it seemed as though Pen had been here before. She asked the person showing them to the room if they were getting the same room she'd had before.

"Ah, yes, that's right. You were here; it was a long time now, but I remember you now. Yes, this is your old room. Madam said that you should have it, seems like you really liked it before. She remembered."

"Thank you Rafiq."

"If you or Agent Morgan need any thin' let me know. I will do my best to get it for you."

"You got it. Thanks again."

With that Rafiq bowed as he walked backwards out of the door.

"So, Rafiq?"

"What about him D?"

Morgan quirked a brow at her.

"He's Rafiq. What's there to tell? He's one of Alecta's friends, I've known him for years. He's good people. Like Simon, Radar, Mac, and the fellas, he cannot be bought. His allegiances lie on one side only. If anyone tried to get him to change that at all, they'd come out better to just kill him."

Garcia sort of rubbed her stomach a little bit and shook her head slowly.

"What's wrong Baby Girl?"

"I just don't feel good right now." Pen began making her way to the bathroom, washing her face, thinking perhaps the stress of the day had caught up with her.

"Come lay down, we can worry about showers later."

Pen nodded her head and laid down on the bed on her left side, raising her left hand to her forehead, rubbing it.

"I feel like death warmed over."

"How long have you been having that feeling?"

"Aw, D…."

"Pen?"

"Grrr. About two days, off and on. I thought maybe it might have something to do with migraines, but my head hasn't really been hurting per se."

Morgan opened the door to the room and ran to the end of the hall looking for Rafiq.

"Where is he?"

Before Morgan could turn and go back into the room, 'You need me, sir?"

"Yes, Pen doesn't feel well. I need Mac to come here as soon as he can."

"I shall go fetch him right away, Agent Morgan."

"Rafiq, since you're a friend of Alecta's, you can call me Derek if you choose to."

"Yes sir, I will bear this in mind."

Rafiq took off running down the hall and made his way to find Mac and Selim.

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Hotch had been lead to his son who had indeed been sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast. It seemed as though Jack had gotten turned on to French toast with blackberry topping; Hotch wondered sarcastically where he might have picked that up from.

"Jack, are you enjoying your breakfast?"

Jack emphatically nodded in the affirmative, 'Daddy, when are we gonna see Lex? She's here isn't she?"

"That's what I've been told son, but I don't know when we might see her. But go ahead and finish your breakfast; I want you to rest a bit before anything else crazy happens."

"Okay, if I have to."

But Hotch couldn't keep himself from wondering the same thing; where on Earth is she?

It only took Jack another 10 or 15 minutes to finish up his breakfast; it probably wouldn't have taken that long but the boy chattered on with some of the help that was in the kitchen that he had gotten to know, having arrived to the fortress before everyone else. After Jack finished, Hotch followed Jack back to his room, so he could get a feel for where his son would be in relation to himself.

"Jack, I have to ask you something."

"Yes daddy?"

"When Simon took you, it was so sudden. What happened?"

"I'm not really sure exactly. One minute we were at the airport with everyone else. And the next second we were here." Jack seemed to think for a second. 'Daddy, you know when you take a picture and the camera goes off and the flash blinks?"

"Yes."

"Well, it was like that. The light was so bright, and then we were here. That's all I know for sure."

"Alright, well go in there, lie down and rest a little while. The way the past few days have been going, we could all do with some rest I think."

"Oh, ok."

Jack grudgingly went on into his room and climbed up in his bed, lying down and getting situated.

Hotch just chuckled a bit as he turned away. Simon seemed to have appeared beside of him without him noticing.

"Agent Hotchner…."

"Call me Aaron. If we are going to be thrown together like this, we should make the best of it right."

"Aaron, Alecta's room is just across the hall, right here. She wanted Master Jack to have his own room but requested he be close by should anything happen."

"Am I allowed to go in there?"

"Most likely, but I will have to check with Alecta first. The babies are being kept closely guarded in there; I wouldn't want any mishaps."

Hotch admitted that he had to agree with reason. Simon went on about his business telling Hotch he could feel free to explore around the fortress at his will. "And don't worry about getting lost, you're never far from someone that can point you in the right direction."

With that, Simon was off, Hotch having thanked him again.

Hotch turned and began exploring the rest of the fortress; he was really only buying time until he could see Alecta again.

As he round one particular corner, he nearly collided with her. Alecta had been coming down a staircase that wound its way up to the battlements one would assume; she had been out there all morning and had now come back down to make her way to her room. She wasn't really paying attention to much. She had so freaking much on her mind.

And then she plowed right into Aaron Hotchner.

Hotch stood staring at her for a moment. She was wearing a Sari in a bright shade of teal; with her hair and the paleness of her skin, it was a beautiful color on her. Even though she just had children, she didn't look like it. Whatever weight she had gained must have all been baby because there had been almost no real change to the way she looked as far as that goes. If anything she seemed a little pale, more than usual; not pale like fair skinned, staying out of the sun, pale, which she was anyway. But this was more like the kind of pale that one becomes when worn down by stress. There were dark shadows under her eyes that he didn't remember before. But he didn't care. It was her. That's all he needed to know.

Aaron immediately grabbed her, pulling her tightly to him, and enveloping her in a hearty bear hug.

"I missed you, too, Aaron."

"I have a ton of questions for you…."

"There's never been a doubt about that; I'm sure the others will have their own questions. I intend to answer as many of them as I can…."

She seemed to melt into the hug, like she was doing good to stand on her own two feet.

"But first, you need to get some rest. Come with me. You can sleep in my room." Hotch scooped her up bridal style and made his way back down the hall, before realizing he had no idea how to get back to his room. Alecta chuckled somewhat weakly and gave him directions, otherwise she kept one arm around his neck as he carried her.

Once they got back into his room, he placed her down on the bed, she fell asleep almost instantly; Hotch kicked off his shoes, lining them up under the edge of the bed and crawled in beside her, pulling the cover up on both of them. He wrapped his arms around her and she turned over so that's he was facing him as she slept and draped an arm over his waist.

He had a lot of questions and a lot of news for her; it could wait, she was dead on her feet currently, everything else could wait. Hotch laid there, thinking. He thought about when they first bumped into each other in the hall. For a woman that had just had triplets she seemed too thin; and her eyes seemed so sad. And right now she was sleeping like a woman that hadn't slept in days and days. Well, then, it was a good thing he was here. He was going to make her talk to him if he had to.

Three hours later she finally started to stir. "Did you sleep well?" Hotch asked her as she sat up, looking around.

"Indeed I did.' She rubbed her forehead like she couldn't believe how much she'd slept.

"How long has it been since you've had a decent night's sleep?"

"Weeks." She jumped up and ran across the bed, jumping down, 'What time is it?"

"It's a little after 10 AM."

"Oh crap,' she took off running out the room, her sari flowing around her.

"Where are you going?"

"Meeting. Gonna be late, keep up old man."

Alecta was racing down the hall, Hotch scrambling to keep up.

"What kind of meeting are you going to be late for? Slow down." They were coming to the stairs.

"No time, come on."

They raced down the stairs, around a corner, winding up in the entry hall where they had all first come in that morning. Alecta kept going until she reached the drapes that were on the right side of the expansive fire place; she swept the drape aside, opening the door behind it.

"Come, come." She grabbed him by the front of his shirt like she had before, tugging him into the room with her. They let the door shut automatically behind them as they went further into a room that was….

The floor looked like one big map of the known world, well known as it was centuries ago. There were large carved pieces that looked like giant chess pieces that were placed sporadically over that map. There were other maps all along the wall, various paintings littered about, books lined every shelf, some scrolls and loose papers…ironically it all reminded him of Alecta's cave.

"Fatih,' Hotch was shaken out of his thoughts by Alecta running to the man in the room that he hadn't even noticed, standing by one of the extremely tall book cases; it had to be nearly 30 feet high, from floor to ceiling. He had a large folio in his hands that he promptly laid on a table and turned to Alecta, his face lighting up as though seeing an old friend.

"Little one,' he held his arms out and she bounded into them, hugging him as he hugged her.

Hotch cleared his throat slightly, 'oh, Aaron,' Alecta stated as she kept a hold on the man, turning her head to see Aaron standing there.

"And who is your friend?"

Alecta disentangled herself from the man she was currently hugging. Hotch began to take in his features. He was a man who was about as tall as Hotch himself; a long, nearly aquiline nose, eyes that sat somewhat far apart. He had a look in his eye of a man that knew many secrets. This face was familiar, all too familiar.

"Aaron, meet my friend, the Fatih. This is Sultan Mehmet II." She looked at Hotch with mischief in her eyes, 'But then I suppose that you already had that figured out."

Post AN: Well that's gonna do it for Chapter 39. Next chapter, perhaps….Hotch will get some questions answered, the team will get shown around the fortress (as well as the rest of them meeting Alecta's friend). We will hear more about what might have happened to Istvan and Impatiev, there may be some disturbance in the force field from a rumpled diplomat…..These are goals I have for the next chapter, and in some cases the one after that. We just have to see how these things fall out. I had originally planned to end this one a couple hundred words sooner, but was able to do better after a decent night's sleep, so we'll see what happens.