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“Everyone please have a seat.” Hotch watched the team get settled before continuing. “We’re being requested to travel to Southern Illinois and help with what they believe is a murder investigation. People are turning up dead.”
“Wait, isn’t this where all the flooding is going on?” Dave looked up from his tablet.
Hotch nodded. “Yes. They’ve been reporting the deaths as all flood related, but there have been four so far that don’t fit.” He pulled up some photos on the screen. “These four were all found along riverbanks in flooded areas, but with one problem.”
“None of them drowned.” Reid finished, head buried in his folder. “You would expect that victims who were washed away by floodwater ultimately drown, but none of these four were. These were body dumps.”
“That’s what they think as well, which is why we’re being called in. Four bodies in a week is a serious pace, we need to get out ahead of him before that number rises.” Aaron looked between his team. “It’s a short flight, but with the weather systems in that area, be prepared for a bumpy ride. Also, make sure you’re dressed for the rain and potential standing water. Wheels up in two hours.” He collected his things and headed back to his office, pushing the door shut behind himself and drawing the blinds. He just needed a few minutes to gather himself. Pressing his hand to his sternum, he headed for his desk to dig out the bottle of antacids to try and ease the ache that was becoming a familiar friend.
==
Rossi mixed his coffee at the back of the jet and watched the team, spread out in the cabin. Heading back to his seat, he watched one person in particular. “Hey.” He spoke as he got settled. “What’s going on, Aaron?”
Hotch glanced up and into the questioning gaze. “I’m fine.”
“And I raise flying pigs.” He waited for the annoyed glare before continuing. “Something’s been up lately, I can feel it from my office.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t.” Dave sighed. “You know I can actually see the muscles in your jaw tense as you grind your teeth, that has to be giving you killer headaches.” He shook his head. “You’ve bailed on drinks with me three times in the past two months, you’re moody, the way you laid into Agent Diaz a week ago… Well, I was about to step in right then and there. As it was, the others pulled her aside and talked her out of filing a formal complaint. Something’s been eating at you.”
“Leave it alone, Dave.”
“I have, but whatever this is isn’t just going away. You’re getting worse and I’m really worried.”
“There’s nothing for you to worry about.” Annoyance slipped toward anger, his volume increasing slightly.
“We’ve known each other twenty years, Aaron. You can talk to me about anything. Is it to do with Jack?”
Pushed to his limit by his friend’s badgering, Aaron lurched to his feet, squeezing the pen in his hand in a white-knuckled grip as he towered over the older man, partly out of anger, partly out of the shape of the table between them. “Leave me the hell alone!” He shouted, the volume of it making his own ears ring and he threw the pen down and stormed to the one area that would give him a small slice of privacy.
Dave held his breath in surprise, staring at the broken pen leeching blue onto the paperwork. Sure, he’d been pressing his friend’s buttons, but that reaction had startled him. He’d witnessed Aaron plenty of times laying into suspects, or occasionally officers, with all he had, but he’d never been a direct recipient of it. Glancing around, he realized the others were staring at him now with open worry in their faces. “I… I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure why he was apologizing.
“Is he okay?” JJ asked softly. “Lately he’s been…”
“Off.” Emily finished. “He said a couple times to me that his ear was bother him.”
“And the way he blew up on Diaz for the report thing.” Reid added in. “It was out of character for him. We’ve all made that mistake at least once and he never batted an eye.”
Morgan turned so he could see Rossi around the seats. “I think he looks sick.”
“You think that could be it?” JJ asked. “He’s cancelled playdates with the boys. The first one I bullied him into letting Will come and get Jack, but after that…”
Dave wasn’t sure what to say. He was deeply worried about his friend, but this was their boss, the man they looked to to lead the team. He couldn’t let them know how worried he was. “Look, I’m sure it’s nothing. Just give him time and space and he’ll sort himself out or come to one of us.”
“You really think so?” Emily asked softly, glancing to the silent back of the jet.
“Yeah.” He hoped so.
==
Locked in the tiny bathroom, Aaron tried to do something, anything, to calm himself. Staring in the mirror, he realized his hands were trembling and squeezed them into fists. Dave was right, his head was pounding in pain and his jaw and teeth hurt too. He desperately wanted to relax, but couldn’t. It was like everything in his life was going at a hundred miles an hour and he was moving at a crawl.
He’d made a scene in front of the team, they’d be looking for answers now. It wasn’t like him to lash out without reason. Finally, he decided to use the restroom while he was there and then washed his still shaking hands. Eventually stepping back out into the galley, he swayed hard, the space suddenly feeling like a roller coaster ride. He was so unprepared for the movement, that he didn’t have time to steady himself, crashing into the cabinets and smacking his head. He heard the others cry out as they saw him collide, rushing up to help. “I’m fine.” He tried to insist, thankful when they gave him his space. “The turbulence just took me by surprise.” He didn’t catch the look they all exchanged, confused as there’d been no turbulence so far in their flight.
==
The weather once they’d landed had been miserable. Rain that didn’t seem to have any end, they were all persistently some level of soaked through except at night when they were back in their hotel rooms. After the pestering by Rossi and the nervous, worried looks Reid had been shooting him, Hotch had made Morgan share a room with him. His second at least kept his mouth shut when he knew he wasn’t welcome.
Morgan spent four nights worried about his boss. He hadn’t had to share a room with him in months, but he’d still been surprised at how silent Hotch was at night. In the past, the older man would relax in the evenings, talk about Jack or whatever sports were in season. Now, he wasn’t saying a word. But that wasn’t the biggest concern for Morgan, they were all prone to unpleasant dreams, but he was certain that Hotch had been spending most nights either in the throes of nightmares or awake because he couldn’t sleep.
Sitting on his bed, he watched as his boss stiffly went through his nightly routine, worry overriding his impulse to keep quiet. “Hotch.” When the older man stopped, halfway dressed in pajamas, Morgan sighed. “You know that we’re all here for you, without hesitation. Whatever you need, no matter how big or small, we’ll help you with it.”
Aaron frowned. “I’m fine.” Morgan’s worried look shifting to anger surprised him and he stiffened, prepared for a fight, but the anger seemed to vanish as fast as it came. Morgan looked…resigned, and that broke something in him. Made the weight of it all just a little too much. “I haven’t been feeling well lately, I’m sorry if it’s affected the team.”
He sighed again. “You don’t have to apologize. Just talk to us.”
Hotch chewed his lip, glancing toward the bathroom, the one chance at hiding from the questions, but he decided for once to stay put. Still looking at the bathroom, he spoke just above a whisper. “Jack’s been having issues at school, they are concerned.” He swallowed. “I set up a therapist for him to see but…I’m not sure if it’s helping.”
Morgan waited for him to say more until the silence enveloped the room. “What kind of issues?” He asked softly, not wanting to spook him now that he was talking.
Aaron bowed his head, squeezing the shirt in his hands. “Fighting with classmates, lying, not doing his work. I…I have been to meetings. The school became worried about me raising Jack on my own.”
“Why?”
Aaron glanced at him and then away again. “I keep having to reschedule meetings, sometimes at the last minute. They are worried I don’t make Jack a priority. I agreed to seek private therapy to keep them from calling in the authorities, but that might be making it worse.”
“How?”
“Jack told her he thinks I don’t want him, that I only took him because Haley died.”
“Hotch…” Morgan wasn’t sure what to say to that, but he knew better. Standing, he crossed the room and placed himself directly in front of Hotch. “First, why didn’t you tell us about the meetings? We could have covered without you for a few hours…”
“That’s not your job!” Aaron snapped, cutting him off. “It’s my job to lead this team, to handle it. It’s not the job of the team to do my job because I can’t manage to balance everything.”
“You’re right.” He could see his response got Aaron’s attention. “It’s your job to lead the team. But we’re more than that. We’re a family. And it’s a family’s job to be there for the other members to lean on, to pick up the slack when they need to. So, as your family, it is my job to help and you’re not letting me do my job.”
He stared at Morgan for several minutes in silence. Morgan could see the walls going back up until Aaron uttered one more ‘I’m fine’ and crossed the room, shutting himself in the bathroom.
With a sigh, Morgan crawled onto his bed and wondered what it would take to get Hotch to let him, them, help him.
==
The following morning, the rain still hadn’t let up. When they arrived at the station, the officer in charge informed them that there was another body that had been found just hours earlier on the other side of town. Splitting into two separate SUVs to be able to cover both sides of the swollen river where the body had washed up, Dave and JJ followed Morgan and Hotch away from the station, leaving Prentiss and Reid to continue working on the profile.
Morgan drove as Hotch worked on some paperwork in the passenger seat. He wanted to say something, apologize for pushing so hard the night before, but he wasn’t sure how to start. In the driving rain, he kept his eyes focused on the gray pavement ahead of him until he had to hit the brakes at a spot where the road was under several inches of rushing water.
Startled by the sudden stop, Hotch squinted out the windshield. “Is it washed out?”
“Nah, I think it’s still there, just under water.” He began to ease the vehicle forward.
“Morgan.” He warned. “It’s too deep, we need to find another way.”
“It’s fine, it’s not that deep.” He gave it a bit of gas, hitting the deepest part with a surprising splash. “Maybe it’s a little deep.” He joked before he felt the vehicle slip on the pavement.
Aaron was glaring at the water now. “Don’t stop moving. We need to back up and out of it.”
“We can make it, we’re almost half way.” Morgan pressed the pedal harder, the SUV moved sideways instead of forward. “Uhh.”
“Shit.”
Derek’s head snapped around, he’d never heard Hotch swear before. He was about to mention it, but the whole vehicle seemed to tremble and then they were moving, being pulled off the road and down the river.
In the next SUV, Rossi and JJ watched as the first one was dragged into the raging waters. “No!” They both shouted as it vanished, suddenly nothing more than a roof and some windows beneath. Slamming the gear stick into park, Dave was out of his seat and into the rain. “Morgan! Hotch!”
“Rossi!” JJ was out of her own side and managed to grab him just as he waded into the water. “You can’t go after them this way! We have to call the others!” She dragged him back. “Let’s go!” Hair already plastered to her head, she was already pulling out her phone before they even made in back to the safety of the SUV. “Emily!” She cried out when the line connected. “Forget the case for now, we have an emergency!”
“What’s wrong?” Emily locked eyes with Reid.
“Morgan and Hotch’s SUV, it just got washed away in front of us. They’re in the river somewhere.”
==
Hotch and Morgan quickly unbuckled as they watched the glass around them be covered in rushing water. “What do we do now?” Morgan turned.
“We are going to have to try and get out.”
“Is that safe? We could get more hurt on the outside.”
“At some point water will overtake the cabin, if we aren’t out before then, we’ll drown.” Hotch looked around in the back seat. “We’re going to have to just lose everything nonessential.” He took of his sidearm and ankle holster and put them in the glovebox.
“We lose our guns, that’s going to be a paperwork nightmare.”
“Says the guy who just destroyed a government vehicle.”
The comment took Morgan by surprise and he smirked. “Okay.” He passed over his own gun. “Now what? We break a window and pray?”
“Yeah. Wait.” Aaron twisted around to the back, snagging something and pulling it to the front. “Here.”
Morgan stared at the vest he was handed. “You really think we need the extra weight?”
“I was thinking we don’t know what kind of debris is in the water and if these things can stop a bullet, then hopefully they can stop us from being impaled or, ya know, limit the blunt force trauma.”
Shrugging, he slipped it on, watching his boss do the same. “Ready?”
“Yeah, let’s get this over with.”
Morgan fished the tool to break the glass out of the pocket of the door and held it up. “Take a good breath, this is gonna be a hell of a ride.”
Hotch nodded, crawling up into his seat to help push them both out against the water that would momentarily fill the cabin.
With a deep breath, Derek broke the glass and kicked up off the seat, out the window against the flow of water, feeling as a body bumped his feet behind him. He had no idea how fast the river was rushing, all he knew was that it seemed to take an eternity to find the surface, and even then, it was only for a brief second. His lungs burned. He tried to get his bearings, work out which way was up as well as try and locate Hotch in the water.
As they’d swam out of the window, Hotch had tried to keep one hand on Morgan’s leg, but the moment the younger man was clear, he’d been sucked downstream. The rough current pushed Hotch back against the vehicle before the water pressure shifted and he worked his way free. The current was even faster that it’d looked from above and Aaron found himself fighting for every moment above the surface.
The next time Morgan managed to break the surface, it was just in time to see his boss slam headfirst into a tree in the water. “Hotch!” Doing his best to swim and stay at the surface, Derek fought his way toward the other man as he vanished below the raging water again. “Hotch!”
He was panicked now, unable to reach the last point he’d seen him go down. Derek wasn’t sure, but it hadn’t looked like his boss was trying to swim to safety. Morgan was pushed under the water again, banged against rocks and debris as he tumbled further down river before something out of place in the murky rush brushed his arm. Grabbing, he realized it was a shoe, a shoe on a body. Pulling, Derek worked his hands along, keeping hold until he got to the waist. And found the bottom edge of a kevlar vest. “Damn!” He gasped, trying to pull his boss to the surface, but Hotch was stuck.
Diving under the water, Morgan felt around until he found where Hotch’s arm was caught in some plants and pulled until he was free. He dragged him to the surface, gripping him tight, where he was slow to rouse. “Come on, Man! Hotch! Stay with me!” It worried him that Aaron wasn’t resisting being dragged and manhandled.
Coughing up water, Aaron slowly blinked. “Morgan?” He croaked, coughing and gagging on river water. “Morgan?”
“Yeah, Man. I’ve got you.” He fisted one shoulder strap of Hotch’s vest.
“Something’s wrong.”
“What?”
“My arm feels numb, I can’t feel it.”
“You were stuck in something.”
“No…” His head dipped under the water again as Morgan tried to drag him safely through the flood. Coughing and heaving on water, he tried to talk. “It happened before that. I didn’t know I was stuck.” His face contorted in pain.
“What’s wrong?!”
“My chest.” He gasped.
“What?! What’s wrong with your chest?”
“Hurts. I can’t…”
Morgan twisted around to see why Hotch had stopped talking, only to be met with Hotch’s slack features sinking back beneath the water. He gave up trying to swim against the current to the bank in favor of trying to keep his friend’s dead weight above the churning water.
==
Dave was on the edge of panic. He had Garcia on a video link and was pacing the room, arguing with the local emergency crews. “We need to be searching for them now!”
“We have guys out looking for the SUV they were in. We can’t have a helicopter out in this weather, so we have to do it all old school.” The head of the crew defended. “We’ll find your men, we just need to find the SUV.”
“Given the time Rossi says they washed off the road, and the approximate speed the water is likely moving at, you should be looking up to roughly two and three quarters miles downriver by now based on the weight of the SUV they were in. That, obviously, doesn’t take into account if it has gotten hung up on debris or not.” Reid rattled off. “Also, once you find the SUV, it’s likely to be empty.”
“And why’s that?” The crew lead asked.
“I know you don’t know Hotch and Morgan, but they aren’t the type to just sit back and wait in a giant steel coffin for help to arrive.”
Rossi heard the frustration in Reid’s voice and jumped in. “They likely bailed out as soon as they could and have been swept further down river.”
“That could be suicide.” Another rescue team member replied.
“Yeah, well, you don’t know our teammates.” Rossi finished. “Just tell us what we can do to help.”
==
Morgan hadn’t realized how long they’d been in the cold water until the shadows of the trees on the banks started to cross the river. He was shivering now, and he could feel from the clammy cold feeling of Hotch’s skin that he was cold as well. His muscles were burning with the effort of holding the other man up. “Come on, Hotch, talk to me.” Hotch had been too silent for far too long and it worried him.
“Morgan?” He sounded confused. “What’s…” He faded out again before a coughing fit took over, making him swallow and then choke on more water.
Derek was about to say more, but suddenly they were slammed into the large branches of a fallen tree, stopping them in the water. “Shit!” He winced. Once it became apparent that this could be their break, he started to work his way up the trunk, dragging Hotch behind him until they finally reached the riverbank.
==
JJ stared out as evening fell. When someone stopped beside her, she sighed.
“How are you holding up?”
“I keep seeing it vanish.” She shivered.
“Yeah.”
“What if that’s the last time we ever saw them alive.”
“It won’t be.”
She turned to face Rossi. “How can you be so sure?”
“I’ve known Aaron a long time, he’s as stubborn as they come. And he and Morgan? We’ll see them again.” He patted her shoulder. “I was about to check in again with Garcia on tracking their phones, want to join me?”
“But their phones would have been ruined by now, if they even still have them on them.”
“She seemed to think it was worth a try. And it’s better than crossing paths with Reid again.”
JJ smirked. “Yeah, well, for all his genius, he still manages a decent tantrum when his loved ones are in trouble.”
“Don’t I know it.”
==
Darkness was setting in as Morgan managed to drag Hotch up a muddy bank and far enough away from the river to be safe, rain still pelting them. “Damn, Man. You are deceptively heavy.” Dropping him into the soupy mud, he was about to strip off the vest and start CPR when Hotch began to cough up the water, rolling slightly as he vomited muddy water to the ground. “That’s it, get it out of your system.”
“My chest.” He gasped, lying limp. “What happened to my arm.”
“Dunno, Man. I’m gonna look you over.” Morgan started at Hotch’s head, looking for any obvious injuries. “You have a big gash here, probably have a concussion. You have a headache?”
“Dunno. Maybe?”
“Dizzy? Nauseous?”
“Yes.”
“Which?”
“Both.” He squeezed his eyes shut, grimacing before gagging again.
Worried, Morgan continued his assessment, finding mostly small cuts and bruises from the tumble in the river. Coughing himself, Morgan moved back, finding another, worrying, cut on Hotch’s thigh. “You’re losing blood, I don’t think it’s bad just yet, but you need a hospital.”
The riverbank was silent except for the rain for several minutes until Hotch’s eyes fluttered open. “What about you?” He slurred.
“Me?”
“You’re hurt too.”
Doing a self-assessment, Morgan shook his head. “Nothing too bad. Hotch? Hotch.” He frowned when the older man didn’t rouse again. “Damn. You can not die out here.” He tried to haul him to somewhere covered, slipping in the slick mud. “I think we’re stuck here for the night.” He fell back, coughing more water out of his lungs and stomach as he changed gears and went in search of something to shelter them from the rain.
Hours later, Hotch groaned.
“Hotch? I’m right here.”
“Back hurts.” He gasped and whimpered. “Back and chest… So tight.”
“Tight?”
He tried to move. “Arms are heavy.” His breathing picked up speed. “Something’s wrong…”
==
The remainder of the team were scattered around the station conference room, alternating napping and worrying. It was just turning daylight out when an officer ran into the room. “Someone just called in a report of a vehicle in the river. They can’t tell what it is, but the roof is black.” Like lightning, the team was up and out the door, shouting to one another as they went.
By the time they arrive at the river, emergency crews have the SUV hooked and partway out of the water. “Driver’s window is smashed.” Reid pointed out. “They got out.”
Rossi nodded. “Government tag, definitely theirs. Ruined now.”
“The up higher will be surprised it wasn’t Hotch who ruined it this time.” Emily couldn’t help herself for a moment before sobering up again. “Now what? They could be anywhere.”
“Well, their odds are either better or worse now.” Rossi sighed.
Reid frowned. “They’re alive.” Before storming to the now rescued SUV to see what clues it held. After getting permission, he poked around inside, checking the glovebox and finding three guns. “They planned getting out, guys! Their guns are here. Ruined, but here.”
A local officer sighed. “They’re likely dead by now, the river’s claimed a lot of victims since the flooding started. In all likelihood they’ve gotten caught up in something and we won’t find them until the water recedes.”
Anger swept over Reid’s face. “They’re not dead!”
==
Morgan was exhausted, he’d spent the whole night checking Hotch’s pulse and trying to get some sort of reaction out of him occasionally. As daylight started to seep into their surroundings, he thought the rain might be easing up but wasn’t sure until it finally stopped all together. Standing and limping around, he realized his phone had somehow managed to stay in his pocket the whole time. Pulling it out, he tried to power it up, only succeeding it getting it to light up for a second, not even long enough to properly turn on, before dying again. Swearing to himself, he shoved it back in his pocket and returned to Hotch. “Hotch? Hey, the rain stopped, we need to try and move.”
It took a bit, but the older man blinked slowly and stared unfocused in his direction. “What?”
“Can you walk?” Morgan’s eyes traced over his wounds.
“What happened?” His eyes slipped shut again.
“Hey, I need you to stay with me, Man.” Morgan shook him.
With a grunt, Hotch’s eyes cracked back open. “Help me up.” Aaron tried to push himself to a seated position, groaning. It seemed to take forever, but he finally managed to get to his feet where he swayed, passing out.
Morgan managed to barely catch him before he crashed to the ground. “You are not okay, Man, but we gotta get moving. You need a hospital.” When Aaron seemed to come to, Morgan tried again to get him moving, only succeeding in covering a few feet before Hotch collapsed again. “This is not good.” He kept at it, moving them a few feet at a time until the rain started up again.
“Go without me.” Hotch mumbled.
“Not gonna happen, Man”
“Get help.” He was fading out again. “Move faster alone…”
Frustrated, Morgan stood, growling out loud and swinging at nothing before turning back to the slumped body, searching once again for a pulse, this time not finding one. Yanking the vest off, Morgan began chest compressions. “You are not dying today.
==
“There’s no point in hurrying!” The local crew tried again. “This is going to be a recovery mission, not a rescue. You have no idea what that water’s like!”
“They’re not dead until we find bodies.” Rossi demanded back. “We’ll find them, with or without…”
“We have a new plan!” Reid shouted from the other side of the work area, cutting him off.
“We’re going to find them.” Rossi turned and followed the others to the SUVs to start searching as the rain started up again.
They searched for an hour before Garcia called with news. “Guys! Early this morning, Morgan’s phone turned on for just a second and went off again, I can’t ping either of them now, but I know where it was at about seven this morning.”
“How far, Garcia?” Rossi strained.
“Fifteen miles downriver.”
==
Frustrated and desperate, Morgan sank to the ground when he finally got a pulse again. Leaving the vest on the ground, Morgan knelt down and hoisted Hotch into a fireman’s carry, slowly heading away from the river and to what he hoped was civilization. “I’m carrying your heavy ass, the least you can do is not die.” He stumbled on something but managed to stay upright. “Don’t make me have to tell Pretty Boy or Baby Girl you died out here… Or Jack. Don’t make me tell Jack that. I know you love him more than anything else on earth, he’s just having a hard time now. He’ll have a harder time as an orphan.”
==
Rossi stoped the SUV. “There’s nothing around here, just…nothing.” It was raining again.
Reid jumped out and begins calling for Morgan and Hotch, stumbling along the riverbank. Tripping, he spotted something in the mud. “Guys!” Running away from the water’s edge, he picked it up. “A vest. At least one of them got out here.” The vest was ripped, but announced FBI on both sides.
“Well, it was Morgan’s phone that Garcia picked up.” Emily pointed out.
“Assuming he started walking as soon as the ping happened, he can’t be very far.” Reid looked around.
The team fanned out, calling and searching for clues as to where their friends had gone from there. JJ found what looked like blood in some leaves. “Someone’s hurt. There’s quite a bit of blood here.”
“And here.” Rossi moved some leaves a few feet away. Eying the space, he called Reid over. “How much is this distance?”
“Uh, about thirty inches I would say.”
“Could these be from one person?”
Reid frowned at the patches of blood. “If one injury was at say the head and the other was lower, the leg or something, it is possible.”
“So… Who’s hurt?” JJ asked.
==
Morgan could swear he saw what might be a road in the distance. Stumbling yet again, Morgan stopped, dropping Hotch to the ground with a grunt, getting no response from the older man, he frowned and checked for a pulse. “This can’t be just your injuries, Man. What’s been going on with you?” Sinking to his knees, he tried to put together any clues there might have been, but nothing made sense. A sound from back toward the river made him look up and around. After a few seconds, the sound happened again. It sounded like voices shouting. Standing, Morgan listens closer through the sound of the rain pounding on the grass.
Emily and JJ led Reid through the field, all of them calling for both members of their team. When a voice suddenly called back to them, they froze. “That sounded like Morgan.” Emily exchanged a look with the others before calling again.
“Look!” Reid pointed ahead. “There’s Morgan.”
“He’s alone.” JJ’s heart sank. It wasn’t a good sign. They all began running toward him, happy to see him. “Morgan! Where’s Hotch?”
Turning and leading them, he spoke. “He’s over here. I carried him this far.”
“Carried him?” Emily’s worry amped up.
“Something’s wrong.” He brought them to their boss’s side. “He needs a hospital.”
Reid knelt on the other side of Hotch, looking him over. “He has bad wounds on his head and leg. How long’s he been unconscious?”
“He was in and out in the river and through the night, but now… I had to do CPR before. I don’t know how long ago. How did you guys find us?”
“Garcia picked up a ping this morning off your phone.” JJ answered.
“I tried turning it on, but it was too saturated.” He looked around. “Where’s Rossi?”
“He went back to the SUV to drive it along the road, let’s get him to the road over there and we can get him to a hospital.”
==
Morgan was irritated. It had been hours and he was still stuck in the ER waiting for a bed upstairs. Doctors had been in to look him over and because he’d been in the potentially contaminated water, he was at risk of a bacterial infection or secondary drowning, so they wanted him to stay for observation. So far, no one from the team had been in to let him know how things were going with their boss.
The rest of the team was busy pacing several floors up, waiting for yet another round of tests to be performed. When a doctor finally entered the waiting room, he was met with four stressed out agents wanting answers.
Putting his hands up, he tried to calm them. “Let’s all have a seat, please.” He waited for them to move to some chairs before joining them. “Agent Hotchner is hypothermic, we are having him warmed slowly to prevent any complications. He also has an infection from his open wounds being in the river. We are treating that with a round of antibiotics. I spoke to the other agent and he said that they wore their vests when they bailed out?” He waited for a nod. “That likely prevented any major damage to vital organs, so for that they’re lucky.”
“But why was Hotch unconscious?” Reid asked.
The doctor sighed. “We believe he had some sort of cardiac event. He is being monitored and given a treatment to prevent any further damage if that is the case. Does anyone know what sort of symptoms he was exhibiting? If he made any complaints?”
The team exchanged looks. “He’s been off lately.” Rossi offered. “He’s been really stressed, not that he’s said anything to me about it.”
“How do you know he’s been stressed?”
“The way he walks.” He saw the look the doctor gave him. “I’ve known him a really long time. I asked him about it, told him I could see he was grinding his teeth, I asked if he had a headache from it.”
Realization crossed JJ’s face. “That thing on the jet.”
“What thing?” The others looked at her.
“He crashed into the cabinets, said something about turbulence.”
“So, dizziness maybe?” The doctor asked.
“I don’t know, he brushed it off.” She shrugged.
==
When the door of his new room opened, Morgan expected it to be the team, but it was a doctor he didn’t recognize.
“Hello, Agent Morgan, I’m Doctor Daniels, I’m the one caring for Agent Hotchner.”
“Is he okay?”
“He will be. I have been told that is because of you.” He pulled up a chair. “I wanted to ask you a few questions before your friends get in here to check on you.”
==
Dave was alone in Aaron’s hospital room, he’d finally convinced the others to either go keep Morgan company or get some sleep. Adjusting in the plastic chair, he studied his friend. There was a row of staples in his scalp, covered loosely by a bandage to keep the site clean. Dave knew the leg wound he couldn’t see for the gown and covers was stitched and bandaged. Aaron was on a ventilator for now, so his lungs could heal, and an assortment of tubes and wires were attached across his body. “What a mess.” Dave muttered. “Look at you.” Leaning forward, Dave took the hand closest to him, praying the drugs his friend was being pumped full of worked and he would pull through.
==
When the following morning came, and Morgan was released, his first stop was in Hotch’s room. The others had been allowed to sit vigil all night, but he hadn’t seen him since they’d arrived at the hospital. “Hotch.” He sat in the chair everyone else had spent hours in. “We made it out of the river. We survived this far, we can pull through the rest of the way.” He glanced around the plain room. “You wake up and I’ll talk to Jack about growing up without a parent, I lost my dad you know. I was a lot older than he was when Haley… I still was there and… Reid could talk to him too, it was just him and his mom. Garcia lost both her parents.” He thought a minute. “I think Prentiss and JJ are the only ones who got to grow up with two parents, how crazy is that.” He hung his head with a sigh. “At this point I think it’s safe to say I’m telling Rossi about what you said. The doctor explained some stuff to me about your injuries and symptoms and I think that has been part of this whole mess.”
==
The first thing he was aware of was that he wasn’t in the river anymore. Wherever he was, he was dry and warm. Peeling one eye open, Aaron tried to turn his head to look around, but something hard caught on the side of his mouth, preventing him from moving. Reaching up, he was met with cool plastic. Tubing of some sort. Gripping it with his limited strength, Hotch tried to pull on it, coughing as the item shifted painfully in his throat. Firm hands wrapped around his wrist, trying to pull his hand away as voices shouted. The hands didn’t turn loose until others arrived and began to hold him down, the shouting continued but he didn’t understand. He tried blinking again and nothing seemed to come into focus. Suddenly the room got quiet and a single shape hovered in his field of vision and began to talk, but he couldn’t understand, and he couldn’t speak. More hands and he was being laid flat on his back, staring up at the white ceiling. The tube was moved about and then was pulled from his body, sending him into a painful fit of coughing. After sipping water that was pressed to his lips, Aaron tried focusing again and discovered he could see a doctor and some nurses standing around his bed. Turning his head, he spotted Prentiss holding the cup he’d just drank from. “Pre…” He croaked.
“Shh, that tube’s been in there for over a day, give it time.”
His forehead crinkled. “How?”
“How, what, Hotch?”
“River.” He gasped, coughing again.
After helping him with more water, she tried to answer. “Morgan got you both out of the river, we found him carrying you.” She glanced to the doctor.
“Agent Hotchner? I’m Doctor Daniels, I’ve been caring for you since you came in. I would like to go over what happened with you?”
Hotch nodded.
“You have a head injury as well as a hairline fracture, the wound has been stapled and we’ve been monitoring your concussion. As for the large gash on your leg, you have stitches both internal and externally. Aside from that, you sustained mostly non-threatening cuts and bruises, the vest helped a lot I’m sure. You’ve been given blood as well as antibiotics, we should have caught the infection early enough.” He frowned. “But that’s not the extent of your injuries. We believe you had a stress related cardiac event.”
Aaron tumbled the words over in his mind. “A heart attack?”
“I believe so.” He nodded. “The stress had likely been doing damage for a while and then the trauma of what you went through probably was the last straw.”
“I- I can’t remember.”
“That’s common too and likely only short lived. You took a serious blow to the head, possibly more than one. Amnesia is to be expected. Be patient with yourself and you should bounce back soon enough.”
Turning his head, he glanced to Prentiss. “Morgan?”
“He only spent a day in the hospital.” She brushed her hair back. “He’s been really worried about you.”
“Case?”
She frowned. “Still ongoing.”
“Don’t get any ideas, Agent Hotchner.” The doctor warned. “I need you to stay in the bed for a few more days at least. Your team can work without you.”
His only reply was a petulant huff.
==
The case took another week to wrap up, but they finally got their guy. Somehow, the rain stopped for the drive to the jet and as they boarded, making a detour past the hospital to collect their last member on the way. Once everyone was settled on the plane, Rossi took the seat directly across from Hotch, exactly how they’d sat on the way there. “How are you doing?”
“I’ll be okay.”
Dave was a bit surprised at the answer and it showed.
“What?”
“I was expecting your usual ‘I’m fine’.”
Hotch shrugged. “I feel like I’ve taken a ride in a washing machine.”
Dave nodded. “Morgan told me.”
“Told you what?”
“About what you said. About Jack. When we get home, you and I are going to talk to him.”
Aaron’s eyes dropped as he thought. “I don’t remember telling him.”
“Well, when you do remember? Don’t kill him for telling me.”
He chewed his lip for a bit in silence before drawing a breath. “Dave?”
“Yeah, Aaron?”
“When we went in the river. Did… Did you think…”
When he didn’t continue, Dave leaned forward and patted his wrist. “Not for a minute, Aaron. Not for a minute.”