The Flight

Time to Work

"Hey buddy," Hotch says as he bends down on his knees and lets his child run into his arms.

Jack wraps his arms around his dad and whispers, "I missed you Dad."

"I missed you too Jack," he replies as he looks up to find Jessica standing nearby.

Hotch stands and walks towards his ex sister-in-law, "I'm sorry, I didn't call you when we landed. It wasn't meant to scare you guys."

Jessica shakes her head and hugs him, "don't worry about it. All that matters is that you all made it back safely," she replies.

"You're okay, right?" Jack asks from behind.

Hotch turns back towards him and smiles, "I'm okay, just hurt my arm a little, nothing to worry about. I'm sure your mom was watching over us."

Jack smiles, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too bud, me too."

"How's the rest of your team?" Jessica asks with concern.

"Well, we all made it back. JJ hurt her head, Reid can't remember, and Kate, um, is in a coma. The rest of us are fine."

Jessica lowers her head, "I'm sorry Aaron."

"It's okay, it could have been worse. And let's just be thankful for that."

"Hey Hotch," Rossi interrupts as he rounds the corner and walks towards him. "Cruz called, said he wants us back at the office asap. Hey Jack, haven't seen you in awhile," he says as he pats Jack's shoulder. "And Jessica," he says as he gives her a quick hug.

"Okay, I'll meet you back in Kate's room in a minute."

Rossi nods, gives Jack a high-five and heads back to Kate's room.

"I'm sorry," Hotch says to Jessica.

Jessica smiles, "it's okay Aaron, you need to work and find out what happened. You go, Jack and I will be fine."

"Thank you so much, I promise to be home right after we solve this case."

She nods her head and Hotch heads over to Jack, "hey, I need to go to back to work but I promise I'll be home soon. Be good for Aunt Jessica."

"I will Dad," he replies with a small smile as Hotch walks back towards Kate's room.

When he arrives back in her room, the team and Chris are talking. "How's Jack?" JJ asks.

"He and Jessica are fine, just were worried. Are we leaving to go back to the office now?"

"Yeah, Chris- call us if anything happens and we'll drop everything and come here," Morgan says to Chris, who is sitting by Kate's side.

"Don't worry about us, we'll be just fine. You guys go find out who did this."

"Will do," Rossi says as he heads towards the door.

The rest of the team follows and when they reach the lobby doors, Hotch stops.

"Are you guys cleared to leave?" he asks directed to JJ and Reid.

"Yes," JJ responds, "I'm just not supposed to go out in the field quite yet."

"Reid?" Hotch asks, waiting for the answer to see if he can leave.

Reid nods, "I can leave, I just might not be helpful to you guys."

"You'll be of help," Morgan states with a smile.

Hotch, satisfied with the answers, nods. "Good, JJ say bye to Will and meet us by the vans."

The team walks out the hospital doors, leaving JJ and Will where they stood. 

JJ looks up at Will, "give Henry a kiss for me, I promise to be home when I can."

Will nods, "just stay safe. And don't push yourself too hard, you're still injured."

"Thank you"

"We'll see you at home. Now go catch up with your team."

JJ gives him a quick kiss and walks out the doors to meet up with the others. 

She gets in the back of one of the Suburbans, where half the team waits, and they leave.

They arrive back at Quantico and take the elevator up to their floor, where they are met by Cruz.

"The CSI teams are back with pictures and reports of the crash. The reports aren't final but they're a start. Meet in the conference room in five. Hotch, can I speak to you privately?" 

Morgan looks quickly at Hotch, who nods and signals for them to head to the conference room. Hotch follows Cruz into his office where they stand in silence.

"About earlier-" Cruz starts by Hotch cuts him off.

"Sir-"

"I apologize for what I said to you about not caring for your team. I know you care for them like family and I should not have come between that."

"Thank you. I'm sorry for my response. I understand and respect why said it."

Cruz smirks as he heads towards the door, Hotch following, "what a crazy past several days."

Hotch laughs, "you're telling me."

The two men reach the conference room where case files lay spread out across the round table, with the team sitting, examine the pictures and reports from the crash.

"Normally, agents personally involved with a case are taken off and the case is given to other agents, but saying that you guys are one of the best teams, and already involved, I see no point in reassigning this case," Cruz says as he walks around the table, glancing at the pictures and the team, who had stopped to listen to what he had said.

"Did they find anything when they were down there?" Hotch asks as he picks up a report written by another agent.

"Nothing that we didn't see first," Morgan adds, looking up from a file.

Hotch shakes his head, "What about the black box? Have they figured of the pilots radioed anything or if they did anything?"

"The box is with the aviation crew, they will let us know if they find anything," Cruz answers before the others.

"Is there anything else?" Hotch asks, not knowing what the teams did while they were there. 

"They transferred the pilots back here. They are in our morgue right now, we should be getting those reports tomorrow,"
Cruz answers.

Hotch looks at his team, who look tired and beat down. "I think that's all we can do for tonight. Everyone should go home and get a good night's sleep. We can relook over the files in the morning."

"Are you sure?" JJ asks.

Hotch nods, "yes, go home and get some rest, meet back here at eight."

The team close their files and stand. "Goodnight," each one of the say as they exit the room to leave.

"Night," Hotch replies as he heads towards his office to work.