The Stone Wall and His Weakness [A.H.]

IV

━━━━━━⊱༻ ༺⊰━━━━━━

The entire team sat around the waiting room. JJ was on the phone, telling Will what had happened. She had taken Cole back to the station and his parents wouldn't stop thanking her. The rest of the team took the SUVs to the hospital, following behind the ambulance. Hotch rode in the ambulance, doing his best to keep himself together in front of the team.

Hotch was pacing, arms crossed and expression stoic. Morgan sat with his head in his hands while Reid sat beside him, a closed book in hand. Rossi sat closer to Hotch, trying to get him to sit down. No one had put it together on why he was so worried, they just figured it was because she was still new. There was a question in the back of their minds, why had he called her 'lex'? But they didn't want to push it right now.

They sat for a few hours, Rossi coming and going to get coffee (and tea) for everyone. It wasn't until four hours after they had arrived that a doctor finally came out to update them.

"Alexandria Grey?" Everyone stood up, "It was touch and go for awhile. The bullet missed her vest, and if it were an inch to the left, it would have shattered her collarbone. The good news is, she's going to be okay. The bad news is, she lost a lot of blood. She's going to be very tired for the next few days and she's going to have to rest for a few weeks."

"Can we see her?" Morgan asked.

"One at a time. She should be waking up soon, so go easy on her." Everyone looked to Hotch, a silent agreement that he should go first. He followed the doctor through the hospital, stopping in front of her room.

He hesitated before entering the room, his breathing uneven, she's okay. He sat beside the bed on one of the plastic chairs, taking her uninjured hand in his...

"Aaron?" My voice was rough, barely audiable.

"Hey, hey, I'm here, you're okay."

"I'm sorry, I tried..."

"I know, you did your best, it's okay." He stepped away to grabbed a cup off the side table, helping me sit up to take a sip.

"How's the boy? Is he okay?"

"He's okay, JJ took him home. He was unharmed, just scared."

"...And Lawrence?"

"He didn't make it."

"I'm sorry, Hotch."

"Don't be, Alex. It was a clean shot. He knew the alternative, that he wouldn't make it in jail." He stood up slowly, leaning over to kiss me softly, his free hand holding onto the bedrail to support his weight, "do you have any idea how scared I was that I was going to lose you?" His voice broke, a few tears escaping his eyes.

"Oh, Aaron... I experience it every time you leave." His eyes snapped to mine, "Sweetheart, I'm okay, I was only kidding. Kind of." He sighed, shaking his head before sitting back down.