Silver Bullets [AaronHotchnerFanFic]

3.

•Hotch's POV•

It's been 3 hours, 52 minutes, and 39 seconds since we arrived at the hospital. God, I'm starting to sound like Reid. Speaking of which, he was pacing around the waiting room and biting his nails.

I haven't moved. JJ practically forced me to sit down after the second hour. Since then I haven't moved. I haven't looked up, I haven't said anything, all I could do was think. Overwhelming sense of fear, guilt, and anger filled my chest and thoughts. She's been back there for almost 4 hours. If she was truly dead they would've told us by now.

I feel someone sit beside me.

"Here."

It was Rossi, he held a cup of water in his hand, offering it to me. I shake my head no and just looked at my hands. Dried blood covered my hands, arms, my shirt, and probably even my face. I looked like I had just bathed in blood.

He sets the cup on the coffee table in-front of us. No one has said anything more than a few words since we had gotten here.

This can't be real life.

I cup my face in my hands, leaning against my knees. This can't be happening. This can't be real.

We all anxiously wait for an update. I don't care what it was for, we just needed one.

"Did anyone call Garcia?" I manage to finally speak.

"I did,"

Morgan spoke quietly. He sat across the waiting room with JJ, bouncing his knee nervously.

"She's on her way down." He finishes.

—

The next two hours were about the same, filled with the same fear and anxiety. It's been little over 6 hours now. She has to be alive at this point. They would've told us sooner if she wasn't.

Everyone was sitting down, it was still quiet, no one has said anything since I asked about Garcia. Not even Reid, and he usually spits off facts and statistics like it's a trend.

"G-guys?!" JJ abruptly says.

We all look up at her, she stands up. Our eyes followed across the room where a doctor was walking towards us. Immediately we all stand up, I walk towards him ignoring the fact that I'm covered in dried blood.

"Is she alive?" I immediately ask.

The doctor was quietly for a moment. Looking at each one of us, skimming the room. My mind quickly filled with dark thoughts.

"She's alive...God only knows how,"

Immediately a large portion of the anxiety and fear that was on all of us, lifted.

"But?.." Morgan asks from a few feet back.

"She did in fact die." The doctor states.

"B-but she's alive?" JJ says stepping forward.

"Yes. We managed to get her heart started again... unfortunately her body wasn't able to keep up with the amount of stress and trauma the bullets caused. She went into Stage II of shock, which then lead into a coma."

The words that were coming out of his mouth echoed through the air. I felt weak as the room filled with silence. My heart was racing, my throat and lungs were burning.

"She is stable enough, if you'd like to see her."

We silently follow the doctor down a few halls and to the ICU. I didn't pay much attention to what's around me, I just kept my eyes on the doctor until he stops in-front of a room.

The blinds were closed and so was the door. He quietly opens the door and allows us to step in. Immediately my heart dropped. Monitors, tubes, wires, IVs were everywhere. Her brown hair was tucked back behind her ears, there were hospital blankets covering her, neatly tucked across her chest and under her arms. The exposed skin I could see was pale, her lips and fingertips were a faint blue. I couldn't move. I just stood there looking at what was in-front of me. She looked lifeless.

All of this didn't seem real.

After a moment I eventually take a few steps forward. The rest of the team steps in. Emily goes straight to the left side of the bed, soon after JJ and follows.

"I'll be back in an about an hour. You're more than welcome to shower, and use the bathroom as needed."

He leaves, shutting the door behind him. The room is silent, besides the beeping of the monitors and JJ's sobbing.

I couldn't believe any of this. If this was in a dream, I needed to wake up right now. Now more than ever.

_