Work Text:
Well, Well, Well
Blinking heavily, forcing the rain that had gathered in his lashes to fall down his face, Hotch let out a short groan. He opened his eyes and let out another as he saw the dark grey clouds that had wet his face in the sky above, but getting wet wasn’t the issue.
No, it was the fact he was sprawled at the bottom of a fifteen foot well and with the sharp pain shooting through his nervous system, originating from his ankle, he wasn’t sure he’d be getting out any time soon. He spent a moment mentally cataloguing any aches and pains he felt and once he was done, he was satisfied that that it was just his ankle he needed to worry about.
He reached gingerly into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell and let out a bitter laugh at the distinct lack of bars. Of course. Disappointedly, he put it back into his pocket and took a breath before he tried to pull himself to sit upright. Digging his fingers into the frigid, saturated ground beneath him, he began. He lasted thirty seconds before he froze to bite back the cry that threatened to burst from his lips as he registered what felt like bone grating against bone.
A wave of hopelessness washed over him as he looked up at the sky above him. It had darkened considerably and the rain that had grown steadily stronger throughout the day, had yet to let up. He allowed his gaze to fall to the soft ground beneath him. Already, he could see small puddles forming on the pulp-like earth next to him. The ground he was sat on was simply too wet to soak up any more water.
Hotch lifted his cold, damp hands to his mouth and blew into them. With the day drawing to an end and the weather being what it was, the search for the missing twins of their current case would be drawing to a close, if not, over for the night. He lifted his wrist up to see the time. 19:47.
The search would resume again in the morning, this Hotch knew for a fact. All he had to do was bunker up and sit tight.
A lone howl echoed in the far distant air 15 feet above him and Hotch let out a shaky breath. He shook his head in an attempt to shake the sudden chill that had crept up his spine, telling himself that he was wet and cold.
Aaron Hotchner had stared evil and death in the eye for most of his life and had never backed down once. He was not afraid.
A shuddering breath escaped him and he wiped moisture off of his face, suddenly thankful for the rain.
“Oh, boy, that is grim.” sighed Emily as she and Morgan walked through the police department’s door, making the janitor narrow his eyes at them as they left a trail of muddy footprints and small puddles of water on the floor he had just cleaned.
Spencer looked up to inspect his fellow agent, well, drowned rats would be a more apt description.
“Did you not take an umbrella?” smirked Rossi as he lifted his coffee to his mouth.
Emily glared at the older agent, while Morgan rolled his eyes. “It’s good to see you’re nice and dry, Rossi.”
Rossi held his hands up in defense. “I got back just as the rain started. We cleared our area.” he said, nodding his head over to Spencer, who was frowning.
“Not a fan of the rain, are you, kid?” chuckled Morgan, ruffling Spencer’s damp curls, brows knitting together as he registered Spencer’s lack of reaction.
“Spence?” called JJ. “What’s wrong?” she asked, looking over the top of a laptop that currently had Garcia’s confused face on it.
“Has Hotch come back yet?”
Morgan and Emily shared a confused look. “He left us about two hours before we came back.” reported Emily.
“We’re part of the last team back,” said Morgan slowly, a hint of panic beginning to rear its head. “We thought he was here.”
“What?! Turn me around Jayje, turn me around!” sounded Garcia’s tinny voice through the laptop’s speakers. “Hotch is missing?!”
Rossi put his cup down and raised a placating hand. “Now hang on, before we all lose our heads, has anyone heard from him? How do we know he just didn’t go back to the motel to change out of his clothes?”
“I’m calling him.”
Morgan, Emily and JJ exchanged a look as they listened to Garcia dial on her side. Rossi watched Spencer with concern as the doctor moved to stand in front of the geographical profile he had put together.
Spencer stood with his back to the team, an arm around his waist and his free hand was up, cupping his lower face and mouth as his eyes poured over the topographical map.
“Oh my God, I’m not getting anything! It’s going straight to voicemail! Oh, oh, wait, let me see if I can’t triangulate his position.”
“It’s not like Hotch would up and disappear on his own.” said Morgan, grabbing his soaked jacket. “Something’s happened to him.”
“Maybe he found the twins… and the kidnapper.” said Emily, thinking out loud.
JJ shook her head. “And not call for back up?”
“Nothing, nada. I can’t, I-I can’t find him.” said Garcia ashenly. “Oh my God, what if he’s hurt… or dead face down in a ditch somewhere? Wh-what if the kidnapper got him? There’s wolves in those parks you’re looking in, you know?! Oh God, I can’t…”
“Garcia, that’s enough.” Rossi turned back to Spencer, who was yet to turn around. “Kid, got anything? Hey, Reid!”
Spencer jumped and he lowered the hand around his mouth, though the arm around his waist remained. “Sorry, I was looking at the…” he said lowly before trailing off. He tilted his head for a fraction of a second before the arm around his waist fell. “Wait! W-wait here!” And at that, he bolted out of the room. His converse squeaking against the now-pristine floors.
“What the hell?”
“Mama, it’s alright. We’ll find him.” soothed Morgan, over JJ’s shoulder as Garcia sniffed loudly.
“Just find him, please?” The screen cleared to black and Morgan squeezed JJ’s shoulder.
“Where would we even begin. The park is huge.” said Emily, walking up to the map. Her eyes scanned over the highlighted red patch as if she would find the longitudinal and latitudinal reference for where Hotch definitely was. “Hell, we haven’t even found the twins yet.”
“We can narrow it down to where we were, right?” offered Morgan. He gestured towards the area of park they had searched earlier that day. “We were here.”
“Sure, but Hotch wasn’t with us at that point and he went east.”
“Pretty sure it was west, Prentiss.”
“No, it was east. The sun was setting behind us when he went off.”
“The sky was covered in clouds, how can you tell where the sun was setting?”
“I’m telling you-”
“Both of you, knock it off.” said Rossi, moving to stand in between them. “That’s not helping.”
Checking his watch, Hotch let out a long suffering sigh. It was now 23:58. In that time, he had managed to get himself sitting upright, with his tattered back resting against the old, algae-covered bricks that protruded from the well’s wall in an attempt to shield himself from the rain that was still falling. That had taken him two white-knuckling, jaw-clenching hours, a task that in his best health would have taken two seconds.
His next task was to try and take a look at his ankle. After another agonising hour, he had managed to pull his laced boot off of his foot, something his past self did not appreciate, but his current and future self with a swollen ankle did. As he had checked his ankle over and had determined that it was indeed broken, he had discovered that not all of the pain was in fact coming from his ankle, but from his chest too.
With a shaky hand, he had discovered that he had at least two fractured, if not, broken ribs. He wasn’t bleeding externally, which offered some relief. However, 15 feet was still a long way for someone to fall and if Hotch had just got a way with a few broken bones after that, he was very lucky.
Hotch was many things, but naïve wasn’t one of them. The likelihood that there was some internal trauma was quite high indeed. He couldn’t disparage that.
He supressed a shiver and brought his hands to his mouth again in an attempt to warm them. The chill that came with the rain was unbearable. He could scarcely remember a time where he had been this cold. Alaska, probably.
He had taken his phone out again to check if the signal situation had changed. He wasn’t surprised it hadn’t.
As he got colder, he could feel his energy and warmth seeping out through his pores into the soggy floor beneath him. As a result, he had become more and more tired.
Exhaustion, coupled with the cold, had crept into his bones and it was all he could do to fight the sweet peace of sleep that threatened to take him. He knew that if he closed his eyes, it was quite possible he wouldn’t open them again.
His head lolled back, resting on the slimy brick wall and he jolted himself awake.
“Don’t.” he said sharply. His words, full of frustration and tiredness, bouncing off of the walls around him, echoing like a mantra.
He willed himself to stay awake, anything would do. Anything…
Did you know hypothermia is when your body’s core temperature is below 95 degrees Fahrenheit?
Hotch blinked heavily, squinting his eyes at the darkness in front of him. “Spencer?”
Yeah, kind of, but not really. Anyway, Fahrenheit was actually an inventor too. Did you know that?
For the first time since the BAU picked up the case, Hotch smiled. “No, I didn’t.”
Spencer came back, just as the team put their coats on, clutching another map in his hand.
“What do you have there?” asked Rossi, eyeing the map curiously.
“No time,” said Spencer hurriedly. He placed the map on the table and pulled his still damp coat on. “I’ll explain on the way.”
“On the way?”
“Do you know where Hotch is?” asked Morgan, his brow furrowed.
“I have two guesses. If we split up, I think we’ll cover everything we need to.” Spencer snatched the map off of the table and jogged past the team to get to the SUVs.
“Wait, Reid!” called Emily, as she caught up with him.
The rain was hitting the SUVs with enough force that the droplets were bouncing back off of the cool metal, creating a spray. Spencer quickly stuffed the map inside his jacket to protect it from the rain.
“We’re not going to find Hotch in this.”
“We are. I have references, Morgan I’ve already texted one to you.”
“Spence, it’s pitch black in those woods. That place is crawling with wolves and-”
“Look, we can stand here arguing, or we can get on with trying to find him, like you know he would if it were you. It’s not a long shot, I promise.” Spencer spoke urgently, but his voice was deadly calm, like a sea before a storm.
It was the quiet in Spencer, that sent alarm bells ringing in Rossi’s head.
“Spencer…” Emily broke off, hurt in her voice.
“Look,” he pulled the map out of his jacket pocket. “This is a map I came across when filling in the original geographical profile. There is a park, yeah and that’s where the search for the twins is mostly focused but if you look over here,” Spencer pointed to a clear section of the map. “This is, or was, used for agriculture back in the 30s and 40s. I mentioned it in passing to one of the older police officers and they said that there were wells there.”
“Holy shit.”
“I think Hotch could be in one of them. If you look, there are two there equidistant from the part-”
“Of the park we were searching!” finished Emily. “Hotch could have doubled back, taken a different route and not seen it and-”
“He could have fallen in.” finished Spencer. “If he has, it would explain why Penelope couldn’t find him, which also means he’s not in good shape and coupled with the rain…”
“He’s at risk of hypothermia, too.” supplied Rossi softly.
“Which is why we can’t wait.” said Spencer finally. He looked at the team in front of him. “We need to go now.”
“Alright,” nodded Rossi, a fresh surge of urgency flowing through all of them. “There’s torches in the trunk, watch your step. Morgan, I’ll go with you. Emily, take Spencer and JJ. Keep in touch.”
At that, JJ, Emily and Morgan sprang into action. Spencer was about to turn to head to his SUV, when Rossi clapped him on the shoulder.
“Good work, Reid.”
“Let’s find him first.” said Spencer softly, before moving towards the idling car.
They travelled together on the road until they reached a familiar turning. Instead of taking the right turn to the park, they continued straight along the tarmac when they finally came to a fork. Emily indicated left and nodded as Morgan took the right.
“Spence, how sure are you?” asked JJ, looking over her shoulder at the doctor behind her.
“If he’s in the well, 50/50. It’s either ours or theirs.”
“And if he’s not in a well?” asked Emily.
Spencer’s jaw set and he hardened his gaze. “We’ll find him.”
The car skidded to a halt through the mud and Emily unbuckled herself, leaving the engine running and the headlights on, lighting up a cylindrical structure tucked behind a mound. The rain was hitting the car harder now to the point it was almost deafening.
“Ready?” she asked, grabbing her flashlight.
“Yeah, let’s go.” said JJ.
The three got out of the car and jogged towards the well. Running over uneven terrain was hard enough, but in the dark and in the rain? Almost impossible. JJ twisted her ankle as she stopped herself from slipping down a bank and by the time they made it to the well, they were covered with splattered mud.
Spencer rested his hands on the rim and looked down into the cavernous hole. “Hotch?!”
The girls peered over the side as the stark silence enveloped them, answering Spencer’s call.
“Hotch? Are you in there?!”
Emily wiped the excess rain from her face and ran her hands through her hair to get her fringe out of her face. “Hotch?”
JJ bit her bottom lip before looking at Spencer. However, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and reached for her weapon. She fired off a shot before the other two had time to even look up.
“How sure are you about this?” asked Morgan as he put the SUV into park. He eyed the little terrain that was visible in the car’s light with wariness. If Hotch didn’t see the well in darkening daylight, then how the hell were they supposed to see it in pure darkness?
“The kid seemed pretty sure.” said Rossi, an air of defense in his words. “I think that’s it, over there, by that ridge, can you see it?”
“No, Rossi.”
“Don’t be a drama queen all your life, will you?” said the Italian as he got out of the car.
“Pretty sure that’s your job.” muttered Morgan as he got out of the SUV. He jogged over to Rossi and raised his torch. “Is that it?”
“Looks like it.” They walked over to a fence and saw that the top wooden panel was broken in half, hanging uselessly from the posts. “What do you think?”
“Let’s find out.”
They steadily made their way over the fence and had Rossi not put his hand out, Morgan would have tripped over a hidden tree root and found himself on the floor with his head in the well. Back in the 30s, the well would have been visible to those that walked by or used it, but time had eroded the bricks on the surface of the well, leaving crumbled rocks and a gaping hole in the earth.
Morgan peered into the well cautiously. “Hotch?!”
A moment of silence and then a quiet echoed “R-Reid?” reached their ears.
The sound of JJ’s shot echoed through the night, making the two at the well jump. Emily and Spencer pulled their weapons and pivoted where they stood in time to see a man in his 50s drop to his knees, a rifle clutched in his hands. He let his gun go and pressed a hand to his chest, before falling onto his face.
Emily looked over at JJ, who was still to lower her weapon. She was shaking, but whether it was from the cold or the adrenaline pumping through her veins, Emily wasn’t sure.
“Spencer.”
Spencer kept his gun out and went over to the fallen man, while Emily went over to JJ. “He’s dead.” called the doctor, pressing his fingers to where the pulse should have been in his neck. “I think this is the farmer that helped with the search earlier.”
“Oh God,” whispered JJ as she dropped her gun into Emily’s hands. “He was probably coming to see what we were doing on his land.”
“Well, hang on-”
“Hello?” A faint voice whispered to them through the downpour and the three of them turned their heads to the well, just a few feet away. “Is anyone up there?”
“Oh my God.” whispered Emily, pulling JJ with her as they raced back over to the well. “Hi! Is that Tammy Field?”
“Yeah, yes! My sister, Aubrey, is here too!” came the voice. “Can you get us out before Farmer Campling comes back?”
Spencer looked at the farmer, lying face first in the mud with distaste before looking at JJ, whose face went from horrified to relieved. As he walked back up to the well, he felt his heart sink. He was happy they had found the girls, of course he was, but Hotch wasn’t here. He looked up, letting the rain hit his face and hoped that he had sent Morgan and Rossi in the right direction.
“JJ, call it in?” suggested Emily, nodding her head towards their still idling car. “Spencer and I will see if we can’t get them out now.”
“Hello? Ma’am?”
“We’re here, sweetie. Is your sister okay?”
“She’s cold and tired. Can we come out now?”
“We’re working on that, just hang tight, okay?” called Emily. She looked at Spencer, her brow creased and her eyes wide. “Any good ideas, Doctor Reid?”
Morgan got onto the ground and let his head and shoulders hang over the side as he shone a torch down into the well. “Hey Hotch, you alright?”
After being in the darkness for the past six hours, Hotch closed his eyes and winced at the strength of Morgan’s flashlight. “M-Morgan?”
“Is he okay?” asked Rossi, concern evident in his voice.
“He’s not that far down,” huffed Morgan, trying to peer in further. “I think he’s hurt, Dave.”
“Can we move him?” Rossi crouched next to Morgan.
“If it’s spinal, I wouldn’t want to risk it.”
Rossi clapped Morgan on the shoulder. “I’ll call it in.”
Three quarters of an hour later, two ambulances, two fire engines and half of the police department followed both roads the split BAU teams took and before the hour was up, the twins and Hotch were free from the well.
As they got onto the main road that would take them to the hospital, Hotch started to come around. “Dave?”
“You’re okay, Aaron.” hushed Rossi, moving so that Hotch didn’t have to move to see him. He rest a hand on Hotch’s shoulder. “We’re on our way to the hospital.”
“Where-”
“JJ is with the girls in the other ambulance, they’re okay, just cold and hungry. The rest of the team are co-ordinating the local police and they got the guy. It was the farmer.”
Shivering, Hotch closed his eyes with a groan. “I didn’t even think-”
“None of us did, but we got him and that’s what counts.” comforted Rossi. “Take it easy, Aaron. We’ll unpick it all when you’re better.”
Hotch opened his eyes to white walls and the rhythmic beeping of the monitor attached to him. He blinked heavily and observed the room in front of him. The lights had been dimmed, providing a warm light against the cold dark of the night outside his window. He heard a light hum and turned his head to his left to see Rossi sitting in the chair with his nose in a book.
“Well, good morning Sleeping Beauty.”
“Morning?” asked Hotch, moving to sit himself up.
“It’s currently half four in the morning.” said Rossi softly, placing the napkin from his coffee into his book as a bookmark. “The parents have been called and have collected the girls already. The team have taken care of everything else and are currently waiting outside, apart from Reid, who’s clearing out the police department.”
Hotch remained quiet for a moment. “Do we know how long I’m going to be in here?”
“Well after your little tumble down the well, Timmy, you’d be pleased to know that you’ve only got a fractured ankle and bruised ribs. Considering how bad it could have been, I think you got off lightly, which begs the question, what the hell were you thinking?”
Hotch shrugged. “I turned back, saw the clearing and the barn in the distance, so I went for it. I don’t remember the search heading that way, so…”
Rossi shook his head in disbelief. “You’re goddamn lucky we have Doctor Genius on our side.” The older agent sighed. “He was very insistent. He saved your ass and the girls’.”
Hotch huffed with amusement. “Of course he did.” A warmth that he had been missing spread through him.
Rossi leant in a little closer. “I’m not going to hide it from you, Aaron. Had we left it ‘til daylight…” Rossi shook his head, while eyeing Hotch with quiet interest. “But the kid, he wouldn’t let it go, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Hotch shook his head. “Point is you didn’t and his hunch paid off. We reunited a family tonight. That’s something to be proud of.”
“We reunited two.” Rossi said pointedly. He pushed himself out of the chair. “The others want to come in and see you and in the meantime, I’ll see how long you’ve got to stay here.”
At midday, Hotch hobbled out of the hospital, despite the protests from the nurses and doctors, but in Hotch’s mind, he was better off recuperating elsewhere rather than taking up a valuable hospital bed for someone more in need. As far as Hotch was concerned, he was patched up and warmer that he was yesterday, which in his eyes meant he met the minimum requirement to get back to his work.
He caught a cab to the hotel that they had been staying and bit back a smirk when Emily spat out her mouthful of coffee as she saw him hobble into the foyer.
“H-Hotch!”
“Man, should you be out of the hospital?”
“I’m alright.” said Hotch, “When are we meant to be getting back to Quantico?”
“Rossi called Strauss, informed her that we’d be taking off tomorrow afternoon as you’d be cleared to fly by then.” reported Morgan, eyeing up Hotch’s booted foot. “Are you going to be alright?”
“Yeah, just going to my room for a bit. I have paperwork to do.”
“Um, okay,” nodded Emily. “We’re going out for lunch, but if you need us we’ll be on our cells.”
“Have a good time, I’ll be fine.” With that, Hotch made his way to the elevator. Once he reached his floor, he walked along the long corridor, bypassing his room and knocking on the door two rooms down from his.
The door opened slightly and then opened fully as the occupant saw who it was. “Hotch?”
“Hi Reid.”
“Come in,” said Spencer, stepping to the side to allow Hotch to shuffle past him. “How’s your ankle?” asked the doctor, his eyes on the black Velcro boot that cushioned Hotch’s ankle and foot.
“Stable fracture, should be alright in five to six weeks.” commented Hotch, watching as Spencer closed the door and cleared a space on the bed for Hotch to sit. “I heard it was your mapping expertise that saved the day.”
Spencer shrugged. “Should’ve been a bit quicker.”
Hotch sat on the bed and outstretched his hand for Spencer to take. He smiled when the younger agent did and he pulled him to sit on the bed. The exhaustion that had been with him in the well wasn’t fully gone and as he sat on top of the comforter, he could feel it creeping up on him. He observed the man next to him and knew that the certified genius was yet to sleep if the harsh bags beneath his eyes were anything to go by.
“You haven’t slept yet, have you?” observed Hotch, still holding Spencer’s hand in his.
Spencer snorted. “How was I meant to?”
Hotch sighed and squeezed Spencer’s hand. “It wasn’t a comfortable night, I’ll admit,” began Hotch, “but I knew it was only a matter of time until I was found. If anyone would have done it, it would have been you.”
Spencer shook his head and used his free hand to wipe his eyes. “You should rest. We’re flying out tomorrow.” he said, squeezing Hotch’s hand before getting up.
Hotch sighed. “I will when we get back, I’ve got paperwork to do.”
Spencer pointed to a neat pile on his desk. “Just needs your signature. You can do that on the jet. You really should rest though.”
Hotch smiled. “Spencer Reid, you are incredible, you know that?” Hotch scooted up the bed as best as he could until he was lying flat. “I’d feel a lot better if you were getting some rest too. If it’ll make you feel better I can make it an order.”
Spencer turned to look at him, exhaustion seeping out of ever pore in his lithe frame. He silently weighed up the pros and cons before nodding tiredly. “An hour, tops.” He toed off his shoes and crawled onto the bed. He let a bone weary sigh escape him before he looked at Hotch who was watching him.
“Did you know that there was a scientist called Fahrenheit?” asked Hotch. "He was inventor too, I heard."
Spencer smiled softly. “Yes, but I haven’t heard you tell me about him.” His eyes fluttered to a close and he sighed contently. "Tell me more."