Unbroken

Chapter Four:

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

Theodore Roosevelt

Aaron's Viewpoint:

I looked at the empty bed in front of me. The place that the love of my life should be recovering from the damage that Hiram Lodge did to her. But she was gone from the one place that I could have protected her. I then looked up at the window that she jumped out of. The cool night air coming into the room, filling the room with the reason why she did what she did.

She had to do this on her own. She had no other choice. I could tell all of that from what she did in the few minutes that she had to get out of here before I could get up here.

I had the agents with me to interview her and by the time that we got here and were told that she escaped the hospital, I knew that something made her do that. I knew that I had to find her in order to know the truth as to why she would rather run rather than confront me with what was going on.

I could soon feel a presence behind me that was all too familiar to me. Gibbs. I knew that he would come with me to look for her when I called him to tell him what was going on.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, you can see what happened based upon the room," was all that I said before he interrupted me.

"No, I'm asking you what happened?" Gibbs asked.

"Do you mean what happened to Lodge or are you asking about Missy?" I asked.

"I think that you know what I am asking," Gibbs replied as I heard him sitting down in a chair behind me.

I then turned around and sat down on Missy's bed and clasp my hands together. We sat there in silence.

I then said quietly, "I should have known."

"Should have known what?" Gibbs asked.

"Why she run away. Why she would go through all this trouble to shut down an investigation when she wanted to get rid of the man who haunted every waking moment and every dream," I replied.

"Because she had a job to do, Agent," said Director Vance as he walked into the room with hands in his pockets.

I looked over at him and I knew that he knew why she was gone. Why she was on the run and why she wasn't talking.

I then said very calmly at first, "Where is she?"

"I don't know. But what I could gather, she got a call about five minutes before we all showed up telling her to shut down the investigation in whatever way possible," Vance said.

"Who would have the authority to do that?" I asked.

"The one man who is her boss and who is well above our pay grade to do anything about and I think that you know damn well who that is," Vance said.

I closed my eyes as I thought about the man who destroyed any type of hope that Missy could have to be given some relief from this hell.

"I don't understand why in the hell he would even do that," Said Agent Fornell in the background.

He was one of the agents that usually came along with Gibbs although he was a part of the FBI. Missy had a long history with him, but I knew that if Gibbs trusts him so should I.

"Why is he here?" I asked, looking over at Gibbs.

"He is trying to figure out the damn reason why he doesn't have a case tonight," Gibbs replied.

"I'm assuming you haven't told him yet?" I replied.

"Yep," Gibbs and Vance both say.

"Smart choice. I don't think that Missy would want him to know," I replied.

"So, on to another matter of concern," Vance then said.

"And that is?" Gibbs asked.

"How in the hell did Missy get out of the damn hospital and get out of here so quickly and undetected?" Vance questioned.

"To simply put it, she is insane and knows how to get away with crap like this," Fornell said as he then came into the room.

"Why are you now just barging in?" Vance asked.

"Because I thought now would be the best time to question her sanity," Fornell replies.

"Of course you would, except you are talking to the wrong people about it," Gibbs said.

"Well, then who should I talk to then?" Fornell asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a therapist would help you," Gibbs replied.

"Sorry, I'm not interested in a shrink right now," Fornell replied.

"Well, then shut up," Vance then said.

The room was now in silence.

Vance was now looking at me, the broken man that I was who was now yearning for the long lost love that he lost...again.

"Do you have any idea where she might head to should she need to go underground in these types of situations, Agent Hotchner?" Vance asked.

I just sat there in silence. I couldn't even speak again as the thoughts went through my mind. I thought that I knew everything about Missy, but what I have now experienced tonight, I realized that she may have hid more secrets from me than I have ever known.

I then slowly said, "No."

"What do you mean no? I thought that you were slated to marry this girl. How could you not know?" Fornell questioned.

"Because I knew that she would have to keep certain secrets from me due to the nature of her job which is well above all of our pay grades right now. So, if you want to, you are free to question her at a better time. But right now, we are still trying to figure out what the game plan is in terms of why the hell an investigation gets shut down by the President of the United States and that we just let a criminal loose and we are looking for a director of an agency that we have little knowledge of and won't tell us what her secrets are because she swore an oath to never compromise the integrity of her involvement with our nation's government among a million other things. Got any other questions, Fornell?" I replied as I started to get angry at the man.

That was when Gibbs got up from the spot that he was sitting and forcibly removed the agent from the room. Fornell argued with him on the way out as Vance sat down in the seat that Gibbs was sitting in. The pair were soon far away enough to where we couldn't hear them anymore.

"Talk to me, Hotchner," Vance said, "What is really on your mind?"

I just sat there in silence before I started to speak.

"I...I guess that I just feel lost. I am suppose to be good at my job, good at knowing her next moves and now I just feel like I am a complete failure at not knowing what the hell I did wrong," I replied as I began to look around the room and avoiding give Vance my gaze.

"That right there, Hotchner, is why I am here because I am going to talk you through it, and we are going to be doing this together," Vance said.

We then began to talk things through and that was the one thing that I was the most grateful, because without him, I have no idea what I would have done.