EndGame || Aaron Hotchner

Chapter 40 - Aaron

24 hours ago
"You can expect to find her body in a couple of days, I'll make sure to text you the coordinates again" Chax says and hangs up.

I sit down with my head in my hands. This cannot be happening again.

"Sir, I got her" Garcia announces.

Suddenly, the biggest wave of relief washes over me. I am almost lightheaded. "Remind me to get you the biggest bonus the FBI has ever given" I tell her as we leave.

Now
My ears are still ringing from Olivia's screams as the paramedics removed the pieces of her clothes that had attached to her burned areas. Holding her down so they can do their jobs may have been the hardest thing I've ever had to do. She was crying, screaming, fighting back. My heart was breaking.

After what seemed like an eternity, she passed out. And I was thankful for that. They took her to the hospital and I stayed by her side for everything. I didn't want her to wake up and not see me there.

She is still out to this moment. The doctor's said they are impressed by the relatively good state her heart is in after all this stress. The burns are a whole other story. For now, they are monitoring her closely, they are giving her oxygen and they believe she will wake up on her own when she is ready. Until then, I'll be right here.

My phone starts ringing and I reach to my jacket on the back of the chair. "Hotchner" I answer

"Hi, sir. It's me" Garcia speaks, "I just wanted to let you know that my programs and I have officially finished scraping the whole entire web, and made the whole 'you-murdered-your-boss' story and photos disappear"

"Thank you, Garcia. Go home now and take a few days to rest"

"I will, sir. How is Chief Stephens doing?"

"She's stable. Still waiting for her to wake up"

"You know, I can come and stay with her for a few hours so you can get some rest. I promise I am not going leave her side even to go to the bathroom" she offers

"I appreciate it, but it's fine. I got it. I can have Dave cover for me if it's necessary"

"Ok. Let me know if there are any updates"

"I will. Bye"

"Bye".

I end the call and put the phone down. I sit back and rub my eyes. I haven't slept in over 48 hours. I've been living on coffee which doesn't work much at keeping me awake anymore. But I refuse to close me eyes. It feels like she will disappear the moment I look away.

"Please..." her coarse voice reaches my ears. My head snaps back at her direction and I see a tear rolling down the side of her face.

I go closer to her face and I squeeze her hand. "It's ok, Liv. It's over. You're safe" I remind her

"Aaron?" she finally opens her bright blue eyes

"Yes, love. I'm right here" I reassure her, "I'm right here..." my voice breaks in the end and I kiss her hand

"Thank you for not giving up on me" she squeezes my hand back

"Thank you for hanging on for me. I'm so glad you're here" I reply. I keep caressing her head and holding her hand.

She lets go of my hand for a moment and touches my face. "You have a beard..." she notices

"Sorry, I didn't have much time these days"

"No, don't apologize. I like it".

She keeps her face close to mine, not even turning to check the condition of her left side. "How bad is it?" she asks

"We'll talk about it later"

"No, Aaron, I need to know what's coming" she insists.

I sigh. "You have a large 3rd degree from your left shoulder to the tips of your fingers, and some smaller ones from your thigh to your knee. They've currently put some ointment on your burns and gently covered them with a bandage which they will be changing twice a day for now. But they said it will be a long recovery. There'll be surgeries, a lot of time in the hospital, physical therapy..." I mention some of the things I heard from the doctor.

She nods. "Will you be here?" she asks

"I will be with you every step of the way. Don't you ever doubt that" I answer and I kiss her head. "Are you in any pain now?"

"No" she answers immediately. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything"

"Get me my phone and call my lawyers. I love you, I trust you, but I'm not going to let you represent me on this"

"What do you want to do?"

"I'm going after Rosaline, and then I'm going after the FBI. I will take everything this time if they want me to forget about it"

"Are you sure? Maybe you want to wait until you're off pain meds" I suggest

"No, I'm sure. This job has tried to kill me three times, I think that's my sign to get out" she explains

"Ok, I will notify them. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, that's all for now".

"Your mom and brother are on their way" I inform her

"Oh no..." she rolls her eyes, "Please, don't say anything about the job or the lawyers to them, especially my mom" she requests

"Alright. I won't"

"Even if she suggests that I need to quit"

"Ok. Why such worry about it?" I wonder

"I don't want to tell her that I am leaving my job, because then she'll say she was right to pressure me all this time about how dangerous it is and how bad I could get hurt" she explains

"How about you start doing what is best for you and what you need instead of caring about what they think?" I suggest

"You don't get it. I can't hear the words 'I told you so' coming out of her mouths again" she insists, "Can you just not mention anything?"

"Ok, I won't"

"Thank you" she replies and relaxes again.

I take her hand in both my hands and I hold it tightly. "Liv, look at me..." I ask.

She turns her head to me again. "Do me a favor now; be proud of yourself. You don't give yourselves enough credit for dealing with the things you're going through. You lived through something horrible 15 years ago, but you stuck it up and came back. You had an exceptional career despite fears, health problems and some asshole employees you had to deal with..."

"That last thing was the hardest of the three" she chuckles, rubbing my hand.

"Look, even now that you've just been hurt, you're already thinking about how you're going to bounce back and fight to get what you deserve from the system that hurt you. You had your battles and you're going out strong. It is your life, you make the decisions. Not your mother, not me, not anyone else. So, never let anyone stop you from feeling proud of the numerous things you've accomplished. Ok?".

She looks at me with a smile across her lips. She doesn't say anything.

"What?" I ask almost worried

"Nothing, I just love you" she says

"I love you too" I kiss her. I keep my forehead on hers, "I'm not going anywhere, got it? We'll go through everything together" I reassure her. She smiles and I kiss her again.