Stand In The Rain

Forty Eight

Over at the BAU building, Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner was working with his nose to the grindstone on a few reports that were piling up on his desk. He really wanted to be at home, playing with Jack and catering to every last one of Haley's pregnancy-induced desires, the sillier the better, but when he mentioned the reports, Haley suggested that he take the day to catch up, so long as it was just that day and that he came home that night. Work would be off the table again until it was time to go back.

Surprised because it always irritated Haley when work was mixed with family life, Hotch said his goodbyes to his family at ten-thirty that morning and made the drive out to Quantico. When he arrived, he found that Rossi was already there, trying to work on a chapter for his next book.     

All was well until a few hours later, when Haley called. 

"Miss me already, Hales?" Hotch asked jokingly when he answered. 

"Aaron, I need you to be serious." Haley said tensely. "Is anyone else in the office right now?"

"Dave is here. What's going on?"

"Fetch him, turn on the TV to a news channel, and put this phone on speaker. I'm not hanging up."

Heeding the seriousness of his wife's tone, Hotch did as he was asked, even collecting Rossi in record time.

As the older man quickly turned on the office TV to a news channel, Hotch sat back at his desk and put his phone on speaker.

"Haley, I'm here with Dave." he told her. "Will you please tell us what's going on?"

"There's a situation of some kind of going down at the mall in Foggy Bottom right now."

Hotch sat back in his chair. "Isn't that where Charlotte and Quinlan took Jack?"

"Yes, and they left out almost an hour after you did. Also, from what I understand, Emily and JJ are at the mall, too—they took their niece shopping."

"Excuse me? Haley, where are you?"

"Next door with Cho, because I've been hanging out with her. Her parents were already here, and Sandy Jareau arrived ten minutes ago."

Hotch rubbed his brow, trying to get his thoughts in order. "Okay, how is Imogen?"

Haley let out a breath and rubbed her middle as she felt a knee nail her near her navel. "Immie-girl is fine, but just kicking me like nothing else because I'm nervous about the situation, especially because Cho had a contraction."

By point, Hotch felt like his brain was going to melt, so Rossi seized the desk phone and pulled it towards himself.

"Hale, it's Dave." he told her. "Have you tried reaching the others?"

"Yes—we've tried Charlotte, Quinlan, JJ, and Emily, but none of them are picking up, and it looks like even texts aren't going through. Would that be because of a jammer of some kind on their end?"

"Most likely. Is it just you, Cho, her parents, and JJ's mother at the house?"

"Actually..."

There was a brief pause on Haley's end of the connection and muffled voices before she spoke again.

"Emily's mom just showed up—she heard what was happening and headed over here, looking for JJ's mom."

"Do you know where Emily's father is?"

"According to Elizabeth, stuck at work, but watching the news."