The Flight

Time to Finish

Hotch wakes up in a small white room, in a bed that's not his own.

"I told you to be careful," says a voice from the entrance, "see what you get yourself into."

Hotch sits up, "where am I and who are you?" he asks demandingly.

"You are back in the hospital. You didn't listen to what I said and you passed out. You were brought here," the nurse from earlier explains as she steps into the light.

Hotch attempts to stand but gets light headed and sits back down.

"You need to rest for a while. That plane crash gave you a nasty concussion and I fear you might have made it worse by not taking the meds that were prescribed for you and going back to work. Don't even try and say you didn't do anything because you've got that gash on the back of your neck, which we patched up."

"Thank you, it's kinda been crazy, but I need to leave. I need to go and help my team," Hotch says as he gets to his feet.

The nurse makes her way to him and sits him back down on the bed, "you need to rest your body. I'm going to go and get your meds, so don't go anywhere."

The nurse leaves and Hotch turns to the nightstand, where all his belongings lay. He picks up his phone and puts it to his ear after dialing a number.

The phone rings several times, and then a familiar voice answers the phone.

"Jessica? Can you do me a favor... " Hotch pleads through the phone.

He hands up and gathers his things. He stands up slowly, his balance still shaky. He then exits the room he was assigned and heads toward the main entrance where Jessica waits.

"Thank you," says Hotch as he climbs into the passenger seat and buckles up.

Jessica looks at Hotch, "are you okay?" she asks.

"I'm fine," he states. "I'll be better when this case is closed."

Jessica shakes her head, " I mean how are you feeling? You've been in the hospital twice in just a few days."

Hotch sighs, "honestly, my arm hurts and my head is killing me. But I have to help my team finish this case."

"I understand," Jessica says as she puts the car into drive. "But you have to take care of yourself."

Hotch nods, "I know that. It's just that this man attacked my team in attempting to kill or seriously injure us, and he has to pay for that."

They both sit in silence for the rest of the drive back. The car stops in front of the main doors and Jessica turns to Hotch once again. "Just be careful, for Jack."

Hotch nods and steps out of the car. "This ends today," he states and heads inside.

He makes his way up to the conference room and stands in the doorway, looking at his team, who sit, planning, around the table.

Morgan looks up, "Hotch! What are you doing back?"

"We needed to solve this case. Did he tell you anything after I left?"

"Yeah," Rossi responds, "he gave us a name. Jeffrey Sanders."

"Jeffrey Sanders... Why does that name sound familiar?" Hotch asks.

"It's probably because he's a special agent who happens to work in this building, and has for the past 13 years," Garcia speaks up.

Hotch walks over and leans on his chair, focusing on the name.

"From his file, it looks like he mostly does desk work, never really in the field," Reid says as he skims over the file.

"Jeffrey Sanders..." Hotch repeats to himself, still standing over his chair.