The Soldier and the Agent

Plane ride.

"We do not suffer from the shock of our trauma, but we make out if it what suits our purposes."- Alfred Alder

Hotch

Melody follows me into my office and we take a seat. "Melody I want to tell you how thankful I am that you came to help. I know it's hard since you just got back and you've been struggling. But what you are doing for us is incredible. Is there any way I can thank you?" She leans forward and looks me in the eyes. "Sir, it's an honor that you have requested my assistance and I will do whatever I can to help you with this case. There is no need to pay me back. Just consider it a personal favor between old friends." She stands and walks out. She's a very brave woman. I'm glad I have her as a friend.

I board the plane and we take off. We are going over the case and I see Melody is distracted. I leave her alone. Sometimes when she drifts off to her own world it's best to just leave her be. I notice she's playing with a flat black wallet. Looks like official credentials. Must be her- I'm cut off from my thoughts when the plane starts rattling. "Sorry agents we've hit a rough spot in the weather. Just hang tight." Our pilot says over the intercom. The plane keeps shaking. It's not getting much better. I go check on the pilot. "Are you okay?" I ask. He's shaking terribly. "Yes, sir. I'm fine." He says his voice quivering. "You have Huntington's." He looks at me apologetically. I get on the intercom. "Melody you are needed in the cockpit." I say calmly. She comes in. "Everything okay?" She asks. I hand her the pilots headphones. "Pilot has Huntington's by the looks of it, it's in a bad stage too. I need you to land the plane." I say to her. "Yes sir." She puts the plane on Autopilot and helps me get the man up.

Melody

I sit down in the pilot's seat and take the plane off of autopilot. I've flown many planes so this is easy. Crap. We're headed for a storm. A bad one. "Hotch!" I call. He comes back in. "We're headed for a bad storm. Where's the pilot?" I ask. "He's in the pilots quarter." He responds. "Okay, I need you to get back to the other agents." I tell him. He nods and goes back. I flip on the seatbelt sign and come on the intercom. "Attention Agents. We are headed for a terrible storm. I'm going to ask you to put all loose items away and hold on." I get in tough with the air-tower. "Command six. This is FBI 7 requesting permission to land." I strap myself in and turn the plane away from a big thunder head. "FBI 7. This is Command 6. Permission to land granted." I do a mental happy dance and go on the intercom. "Attention Agents. We will be landing in about ten minutes." I click it off and fly this baby. Rain is coming at us from many angels. I jerk the plane to the left to avoid a lightning strike. I turn on the planes exterior lights. "Command 6. This is FBI 7 please turn on your runway spotlights." It takes a second. "Command 6 to FBI 7 lights coming on now." I see a ray of light and steer the plane towards them and pretty soon we are on the landing strip. "Command 6 to FBI 7. Welcome to Alabama." I smile and park the plane in a hanger and go to the back and everyone has gotten off. I exit and the team comes over to me. JJ hugs me tight. We pull apart and I get various hug and high fives from everyone. Spencer comes up to me. "How did you learn to fly like that?" I'm about to tell him when a police officer comes over. Hello agents I'm officer Green. Thank you for coming." Green says. We all shake hands and go out to the cars and follow him to the station.