missing piece, aaron hotchner

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟐: 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲

TW: hospitals, themes of death and just sad shit again

Hotch's POV

Taking a deep breath, I press Elijah's phone number into the dialer of my phone. Instead of disturbing Ada, I forced Garcia to hack into the database and grab the digits for me. It wasn't breaking the law if it involved Ada. It was just a necessity.

I leaned my head back against the cold tiles of the wall and pressed the ring button. Not preparing what I was going to say to Elijah was probably not my greatest move. I wasn't sure if he liked me much anyway, he wasn't the easiest to read, and it's my job to read people so that says a lot.

After a few beeps, he picks up, and the crying of Colette is suddenly ringing in my ears, "Hello?" He greets.

"Elijah, it's Aaron, again." I struggle to maintain composure, I couldn't show that anything was wrong. I wasn't about to tell him his sister was dying over the phone.

"Oh, right." He's quiet for a few moments, "What's going on?"

I look to my right when Derek steps into my vision, nodding to indicate he and JJ were ready to collect Elijah and Colette. "Elijah, I know you will have questions, but I need you to trust me, okay?" He doesn't respond. Continuing, I sigh, "I'm sending two agents over to your house to pick you and Colette up, they're going to bring you to meet me and Ada."

"Why?" He questions with a scoff, "Look, Coco is tired, I was about to put her to bed. Whatever is going on, just tell me."

"I can't do that," I reply, pinching my eyes shut. I knew this would be hard, but the absolute naivety of what was going on puts me on the verge of breaking. "Agents Morgan and Jareau will be at the house within half an hour. See you soon, Elijah."

I end the call before he could respond, I couldn't take it, and I couldn't even begin to fathom how he will react when Ada tells him.

"We'll be back soon, Hotch," Morgan says quietly, his footsteps retreating away from me. I stay standing up against the wall, taking deep breaths. This wasn't what was meant to happen, this wasn't how it was supposed to go.

I gave myself the privilege of five minutes to breathe, but before I could stop myself, I ended up back in Emmy's room. I had to see Ada again.

She hasn't moved since I left. Lying on the bed next to her sister, Ada's eyes were closed, but the dampness of her lashes was obvious even from a distance. The only brightness came from the overhead light, I walked over to the single window, and drew the curtains closed, before pulling a chair over to the side of the bed. Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of the chair scraping against the floor, "Did you call Elijah?" She asks quietly.

"I did," I reply as I take a seat, "Derek and JJ are on their way to collect them now."

"The team is still here?" She asks with surprise.