Undercover | a. hotchner |

Chapter 25

Seeing as Aaron and I were okay and in the hospital, everyone had gone to the hotel for the night, leaving Aaron and I together. Before Emily left she mentioned that the plane leaves in the morning around ten.

Things went smoothly, after Aaron went to sleep, I slipped out of the room and told my doctor where I was in case they needed to check.

I was still in Aarons room by the time the sun rose, laying down on the couch. It wasn't as comfortable as I would've liked but I pulled through. Staying by his side through the night.

Waking up before him I took out my phone and watched a movie while he peacefully slept.

The lines on his face eased as he was restful, the stress not reaching him in his dreams.

I heard him shift and I looked away from my phone.

"Morning." I said sweetly, moving towards the bed.

"Why'd you move?"

"I had to step out for a bit last night, by the time I came back you took the whole thing to yourself." I laughed and he chuckled, the joy was cut short when he took small breaths to avoid moving his stomach.

"Can you help me for a second?"

I mumbled sure and moved my arm underneath his, he stood. Holding onto me and the bed so he wouldn't fall, the electric shock took a larger toll on him than me. His muscles were giving him a hard time.

"Can you get me my phone?" He asked, gripping onto the bathroom door.

"Here, do you want me to stay with you?"

"No, I should be okay for now" I waited patiently, going back to my movie but keeping an ear out in case he needed me.

I didn't hear anything for a while, no footsteps, not the sink. He didn't fall or he would've called out to me or called the nurses. I let it go but then ten minutes went by and still nothing.

I stopped what I was doing, moving towards the door, knocking gently.

"Aaron." I called out.

Hearing no reply I pushed open the door and Aaron was on the floor. I hurried over and kneeled down beside him, putting my hands on his shoulders, "Baby are you okay?"

He didn't say a word, only lifting his head to look at my face. His face was red, cheeks stained with tears. Eyes irritated and pink, and his breathing was labored.

"Can you tell me what happened, are you hurt?" Aaron shook his head and leaned into my chest. His movements made me sit down on the tile floor with him.

I scrunched up my face, still confused with what had occurred in those ten minutes. With his phone still in his hand he hugged my waist, my hands traveled into his hair.

I whispered softly into his ear, lightly scratching his scalp. Waiting for him to share whatever news he had come across.

JJ came by later that morning, giving us our discharge papers and we gathered our things from the penthouse. Giving a final goodbye to New York.

Aaron still hadn't said anything, he was quiet. I was still in the dark, everyone was curious as to why he was silent, especially with me.

____

Everyone got to the jet hours later, I sat next to the window. With Aaron next to me, his gaze was set on his hands. I lifted my head up off the side and turned my head towards him.

"Are you okay?" I asked which he replied with a small nod. I knew he wasn't but I wanted to give him the chance to tell me. With time Aaron will tell but he also had a tendency to keep things inside his mind.

I told him multiple times that he can talk to me and sometimes he takes up on my offer, other times like now, he didn't.

Aaron turned his hand over and grabbed mine, intertwining our fingers. It was the closest thing I could get and I was willing to take it.

After the team had observed Aarons behavior on the strip they realized that he needed time to think, space from everyone else.

Even if he didn't ask for it he clearly needed my support.

Returning my sight outside of the window I placed in my earbuds.

"Do you want to listen", I offered Aaron and he nodded again.

I handed it to him and he put it into his ear, resting his head back as I played Max Richter.

Soon we both fell to sleep, the exhaustion dragged us away from reality. The sounds coming from my headphones followed me into my dream.

All I could hear was the subtle sounds of the violin and viola in the song. Then switching over the calming vibrations of the piano.

I woke up from Aaron moving away from me, I had placed my head onto his shoulder and he gently smiled at the sight.

"Come on, we have to go home... your place or mine." He said quietly. It was the first thing he said since the hospital. Maybe he'll wanna talk about it

"Yours." We stood up and got our things from the overhead bin.

I could wash my clothes at his place and I already had a toothbrush and my essentials there.

____

Getting to Aaron's I knocked and he opened the door, he was still in his clothes from the plane.

"We're taking a shower." I chuckled and tapped on his chest while I walked inside. Brushing past him he closed the door and followed behind me.

I walked into his bedroom, dropping my bag on the floor. I tried taking my shirt off and winced. Aaron rushed behind me, placing a hand on my arm. "Wait for me, let me help you."

I faced him and I carefully lifted my arms. His hands went to the hem of my shirt and lifted it over my head.

"Fuck", I hissed. I still had the bandage on my back.

I reached down and pulled off my pants and underwear. "Do you need help too?" Aaron said yes and I did the same with him.

Pulling the shirt off of his body, my hand soothed over his pecs and down to where his bandage was. "Come on." I tugged on his arm and we went into the shower.

While I was facing the wall Aaron put his hands on my waist. It was the first time Aaron got a good look at the cuts on my back. I had a large bruise on my ribs from when I was dragged and fell.

Turning to Aaron I looked him up and down seeing dark red bruised and black lines running down to his feet. They weren't too deep, the scars would probably fade in a few years. Mine were layered, they weren't going anywhere.

I stepped out of the shower, drying off and putting on one of Aaron's shirts. I climbed into bed after him, "Do we have work tomorrow", I whispered

"Yeah, I think we take some personal days though." I agreed. At least for a few days, I didn't want to move from bed.

"We could spend some time with Jack."

"I just got to get him back from Hayley." I let out a breath and my head sunk into the pillow, his hand rested on my waist.

"About the hospital... I'm sorry I was ignoring you."

"I didn't want to be the one to bring it up. Do you want to talk about it?" He looked down at me and kissed the top of my head.

"Before we left, I got a call. It was about Sean... he passed away a few days ago." He took a deep breath. "And his friends wanted to make sure I was there for it. I hadn't talked to him in a couple of years, I didn't know he was-- the funeral is tomorrow and obviously that's not how I wanted to spend my first day back home."

I rubbed circles into his chest, I felt his body tensing up and I could sense that he was softly crying.

Lifting my head I saw that he was. I scooted closer to him, and tried to support him the best I could.