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The priority was now to get the hostages out safely and the hostage taker in cuffs. They all had the terrible feeling that that would not be the case. They were confident they could get the hostages out in one piece, but whether the hostage taker was coming out in handcuffs, or a body bag was yet to be seen. They had cut the power in the bank. He had no access to electricity, telephones, or air-conditioning. But the team had all of that, along with heat-seeking cameras to see where the hostages were huddled in the corner. With blueprints sitting in front of them, Reid explained the best approach to sneaking into the building without being detected by the UnSub. Half the team would be focused on huddling the hostages out, whilst the other attempted to talk the UnSub around, to get him to give himself up willingly. They were putting their vests on, plugging in earpieces, and holstering guns when Hotch’s phone rang in his pocket.
“Hotchner,” he answered gruffly. “Wait, calm down. What’s going on?” The team all looked over to the source of Hotch’s worried voice, more panicked than usual. His pupils went wide as he listened, his breathing becoming shallow with his chest rising and falling quickly. “I… I can’t leave…” he stuttered, hating himself for the words he spoke.
“What is it?” Y/N asked as she went to his side.
“There’s something wrong with Jack. He’s holding his stomach, crying, and screaming. They have to take him to the hospital.” He was talking fast, babbling like a nervous child.
“Go,” Y/N said sternly
“But, the raid, I’m supposed…” he stuttered in agony, knowing what he wanted to do, what he should really do – but his responsibility to the team becoming a knee-jerk reaction.
“Rossi can negotiate. You go!” His eyes darted around the room, trying to figure out any other solutions. Y/N sighed, rolled her eyes, and snatched his phone from his hands.
“Jessica?” she guessed. “Don’t worry he’s on his way. What hospital are you going to? Right, he’ll meet you there.” She hung up his phone and placed it firmly in his hands. “Hope and Grace hospital. Go. We’ll be fine here.”
With the decision made for him, and thankfully it was the decision he truly wanted to make, he ripped off his vest, pulled out his earpiece, and ran for his car to get to his hurt and in pain son.
.
.
Y/N walked the halls of the hospital quietly. Her hair had been pulled up and out of the way of the nasty gash she had earned on the side of her face. In a last attempt to escape, the UnSub used his gun to whack her hard against the cheek, hoping to knock her out and give him enough time to get away. He succeeded in knocking Y/N to the floor, but Emily and Dereck were close behind to knock the gun out of his hand and tackle him to the floor.
It wasn’t too bad, a superficial wound that would be gone in a week or two. Since she was at the hospital having the broken skin put back together with a few butterfly stitches, she wandered upstairs to the children’s ward.
She stepped around the corner and found a private room where Hotch sat by his son’s bedside, stroking his hair, and talking to him gently. Jack was putting on a brave smile but looked tired. He closed his eyes and lulled his head onto the pillow, too exhausted to communicate his want for sleep. Hotch leaned back in his chair, giving his son space to get comfortable and lull into sleep. As he looked up, he saw Y/N through the window, smiling sympathetically and waving her fingers. Quietly Hotch stood from his chair, closing the door gently behind him.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“Hey, how is he?” Y/N observed the dark circles around Hotch’s eyes. Since this case started, they hadn’t had much chance to rest and sleep, and having Jack in the hospital was most likely to drain Hotch with worry.
“He’s got appendicitis.” Hotch sighed, looking through the window at his son.
“Oh, poor baby,” Y/N sighed “has he had surgery?”
“Yeah, they got him in fairly quickly. It was straightforward, now he just needs to recover here for a bit.” Y/N sighed with relief, just wondering how Hotch must be feeling. “I really… I really panicked there for a second.” He admitted, his head falling to rest on the window. He kept his eyes on his sleeping son and felt the mixture of relief and terror whirl in his stomach. It made him want to be sick. Y/N reached out her palm and rubbed it up and down Hotch’s shoulder.
“My Dad used to say it was a father’s worst fear, having a child in hospital and not knowing why.”
“Your dad was right.” He laughed sarcastically. He forced himself to turn his back on the hospital room, rest against the wall, and breathe out tiredly. “Are you okay?” he finally took the time to look Y/N up and down and saw the dark red invading cut on her face.
“Oh, this?” she joked nonchalantly. “You should see the other guy.” Hotch didn’t laugh. A heavy silence shared between the two agents. “it’s fine Hotch.” Y/N insisted.
“Are you sure?” he asked, frowning and stepping closer to study the cut. His fingertips brushed along her hairline, pushing back stray hairs trying to sneak into her cut. “It looks soar.” Y/N felt her body tingle as his fingertips brushed her skin. Fighting the urge to grab his hand and nuzzle her cheek into his palm, Y/N smiled and nodded.
“It’s fine. And you’ll be happy to know the UnSub is in custody and all the hostages got out safely.”
“Good,” Hotch nodded heavily, relieved his absence hadn’t messed up the team’s chances of a clean arrest.
“I’ll let the team know you and Jack are okay. You better go sit with him. Give him a big cuddle from me.” Hotch chuckled sweetly, smiling at the woman before him.
“I will.” Y/N turned to leave the Hotchner boys to their privacy and time to recover. “Y/N,” Hotch’s voice stopped her after a few steps down the hall. She stopped and turned to see him hovering on the threshold of the door. “Thank you, for telling me to go. And for checking up on Jack.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Hotch. Goodnight.”
Hotch watched as she turned away from him and walked further down the hallway. He stayed glued to his spot until she was no longer in his sight.
“Dad?” Jack’s small voice pulled his attention, father mode activated in a panic.
“You okay buddy? Are you in pain?” he rushed to his son’s side, hands stroking his hair and fussing.
“Was that Y/N?” the boy asked sleepily.
“Yeah, she just wanted to see how you were doing.“ Jack nodded, satisfied with his dad’s answer, and began falling back into his sleep.
“I like her.” He uttered before drifting off again.
“Me too,” Hotch admitted quietly to his son. "Me too."