[5.1]

"as long as i get to play iron man"

If anyone on the team thought that they'd get a good night's rest after the Turner case, they were wrong. Not four hours after returning home, JJ called them all back in on an emergency. They all trudged back to work on very little sleep. Reggie, who had already been awake for the day, told her a funny story about Luke over the phone to keep Florence awake during her skateboard ride to work — she probably would've closed her eyes and rolled into traffic if not.

While the team went straight to the crime scene, Florence joined Garcia in their office. For once in her life, she held a can of Pepsi in her hand instead of a cherry Capri Sun in hopes that it would wake her up. Once she arrived, Garcia filled her in on the case.

The unsub had written a letter to a doctor, claiming that he planned to kill his son. Doctor Barton obviously kept his son hidden, so the unsub was killing one person for every day the kid was kept safe. It was the second victim in two days now. After checking out the recent crime scene, they went to talk to Doctor Barton and his son, Jeffrey.

The only problem was that Jeffrey overheard them talking about the case and decided to go to school. It was a brave, but stupid attempt to save other lives. While half the team went to the school to protect him, Reid and Prentiss stayed back with Doctor Barton to go over suspects. That was where Garcia and Florence came in. Florence was in charge of doing background checks and Garcia covered all of Doctor Barton's past surgeries. It was a big order to fill and would take some time. Garcia called Reid in hopes that he could narrow her search parameters more.

"This guy's a trauma surgeon working a major Metropolitan area," she explained to him. "We are talking thousands of surgeries."

"Confine it to the last six months," Reid suggested.

"That's still hundreds."

"I know."

"Ok, do you want biological information or full medical charts?" she asked.

"Can you get the full medical charts?" Reid asked.

"What kind of dumb question is that, Boy Genius?" Florence asked from across the room.

Garcia grinned. "Agreed. You'll have them in seconds."

"Hey, Garcia?" Reid asked before she hung up.

"Yes, my love?"

"Has Hotch checked in with you?"

Florence looked up from her screen, worried about him. It was very unlike Hotch to not show up. In fact, Florence was almost sure it had never even happened.

"He's not with you?" Garcia asked, surprised as well.

"He's probably on his way. Uh, thanks for everything. Bye."

After Reid quickly hung up, Garcia assured Florence that Hotch had probably fallen asleep with his phone on silent. Neither girl actually believed that though. However, they got back to work, knowing it would take a long time to sort through the medical records, but it would go faster when Florence finished with the background checks.

Once Florence finished with them and emailed them to Morgan, she got up and stretched. "Hey, I'm gonna go heat up a Hot Pocket in the breakroom before diving into the medical records. Want me to bring you anything back?"

"Another coffee would be lovely, Angel Face," she said grinning.

Moments after Florence left the room, Garcia's phone rang.

"Overtime shift. Penelope speaking."

"Garcia, it's Emily. I need you to listen really carefully. Something's happened to Hotch," Prentiss told her.

"What do you mean, something?" she asked, growing worried.

"I don't know. I'm in his place. He's not here, but there's blood."

"Oh, my god."

"I need you to send police and FBI techs here right away. Everyone available."

"Uh, do we need an APB?" Garcia asked, trying to think of everything that could help.

"Only on Hotch. I checked out front. His car's still here. I don't know."

"Someone took him?"

Prentiss sighed. "There's blood, but I can't be sure whose it is. Just get people here."

"Ok, I'm sending an army," she said, about to get to work.

"Garcia, I'm gonna have to tell Reid because he's expecting me back, but you can't tell the others. They cannot be distracted," Prentiss insisted. "I didn't hear Florence say anything. Is she in there with you?"

"Uh, no, no. She ran to the break room but she'll be back in a minute."

"Okay. Try and keep it from her too. She'll forget all about the case if she finds out about this."

"Okay. Got it," Garcia said, taking in a deep breath. "No telling anyone. I'm sending help your way."

A minute after Prentiss hung up, Florence came back to the office. She had a cup of coffee in one hand and a paper plate with a Hot Pocket in the other. Garcia did her best to hide how nervous she was, accepting the coffee with a smile. Florence didn't notice anything off as she sat at her desk and shoved the Hot Pocket in her mouth.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, opening her mouth. She immediately let the piece of HotPocket she bit off fall onto the plate. "The pocket is too hot."

A little while later, the phone rang. Florence didn't even have a chance to look up from the file she was studying as Garcia rushed to answer it.

"Emily?"

"No. Sorry, Baby Girl, just little old me," Morgan greeted. "You're out of luck."

"Right. Sorry," Garcia muttered. He glanced at Florence, who shrugged and went back to her file, figuring that Garcia had just been expecting to hear from Prentiss about their time with Doctor Barton.

"Did you finish the background check on everyone in the building?"

"Yeah. Ren finished them and sent the results to everyone," Garcia said. "Uh, no red flags, no felonies, no connection to Barton."

"Ok, well, that's good," Morgan said. "All right, listen, I gotta go. There's about to be a bell."

"All right. Be safe."

"Hey. Everything ok?" Florence looked at Garcia and noticed she looked a little worried, but she couldn't think of what could be bothering her.

"Yeah. Oh, yeah, I'm just tired."

"Yeah, I hear you," Morgan said, sighing tiredly. "Let's just get this kid home safe and we can all sleep."

"Right." The school bell rang just as Morgan hung up.

"Man, I do not miss high school," Florence said, leaning back and closing her eyes. She had nothing better to do. "Also, that HotPocket did nothing for my hunger and it burned my tongue."

"Um, I think Anderson came in with donuts this morning," Garcia told her.

That was all it took to get Florence out of the office. When she was with Anderson, they usually got into discussions about Star Trek or Twilight, meaning that it would be a while before she returned. That was exactly what Garcia wanted. With her gone, she could call all the local hospitals checking for Hotch.

After trying several, she found him, though under odd circumstances. She immediately called Prentiss to tell her about it.

"Talk to me, Garcia."

"Okay, I - I called hospitals to see if Hotch had gotten himself admitted to an emergency room."

"And?"

"He's not listed as a patient, but someone dropped a John Doe off at St. Sebastian Hospital, and that someone's name was FBI Agent Derek Morgan."

"It doesn't make sense."

"I know. Do you think they got their credentials mixed up?" Garcia asked.

Prentiss was silent for a few seconds before she realized. "The Reaper. Foyet took Morgan's creds."

"Why would he drop him off at the ER?"

"What hospital did you say again?"

"St. Sebastian Hospital," she repeated.

"I'll call you with an update when I get there."

"Who's in the hospital?" Garcia quickly spun in her chair and saw Florence standing in the doorway. She had a paper plate with three blueberry donuts stacked on it and a worried look on her face. "Did someone get hurt at the school?"

"Uh..." Garcia hesitated before clenching her eyes shut. "God, okay. Sit down."

Florence eyed her as she took her seat. "What's wrong?"

"When Hotch didn't show up for the case, Emily went to his apartment to check on him. He wasn't there but she said there was a lot of blood—"

"What!" she exclaimed, jumping back up. "B - blood? What happened?"

"We still don't know," Garcia said, trying to get her to sit back down. "I called all the hospitals, and he's at St. Sebastian. He was dropped off with Morgan's FBI credentials."

"Why would he have—" Florence managed to realize it even faster than Garcia and Prentiss had. How could she forget when she was still constantly trying to cheer Morgan up about the case. "Oh my god. He was - he was in his apartment. Oh god, what if - what if Hotch is—"

"Baby Girl, he was alive when I called and checked on him," Garcia said, reaching to hold her hand. Florence's eyes had started to water. "Prentiss is going to see him and she'll tell us his condition."

"C - can we go see him?"

"Once the case is over, you can. Reid's gonna call the second that they have the unsub. I know it's hard when we're worried about him, but we need to focus on protecting Doctor Barton and his son," Garcia told her.

Florence sniffed and nodded in understanding. "Okay. He - he's gonna be fine anyways. He's fine." She was clearly trying to convince herself, so Garcia didn't stop her. Even as she bit into one of the donuts, she muttered that Hotch would be alright.

Eventually, Florence managed to calm down, though she never stopped worrying about Hotch. She did her best to not picture him in the worst condition possible, but it was hard. Afterall, Foyet had stabbed himself sixty-seven times. There was no telling what he had done to Hotch.

After a while, they got a call from Reid. Garcia let Florence take the lead as if that would get her mind off of the situation.

"Florence, I need you to find a patient in the system named Jason Meyers," he said.

"Uh, he was admitted January third, on life support," she read off. "Well, shit."

"What?"

"He was taken off the ventilator and declared legally dead three days ago," she explained.

"Who's his father?" Reid asked.

"Patrick Meyers. He's forty-five."

"Get a photo into the school immediately. I think he's our unsub."

"Yup. It's on its way."

Once Reid hung up, Florence turned to Garcia. Now they had nothing to do but wait. The case took a turn when they figured out that Doctor Barton was the target instead of his son. Meyers had been waiting outside of Barton's house and as soon as he came outside, he tried to shoot Doctor Barton. Thankfully, Reid had tackled him out of the way, but gotten shot in the leg in the process. Reid ended up having to shoot Meyers to apprehend him.

Much to Florence's relief, Hotch, JJ, and Rossi came to pick her up before they went to see Hotch — Garcia stayed behind, ready to work if needed. They went to St. Sebastian, where Reid was also being treated for his bullet wound, and rushed to where Hotch was being kept.

Prentiss saw them coming and met them in the hallway while a nurse looked over Hotch. Florence stood on her toes to try and see him better, but couldn't get a good look.

"He still isn't conscious yet," Prentiss told them.

"You sure it was Foyet?" Rossi asked.

"He had Morgan's credentials."

"Did they catch him on the security cam?" Morgan asked.

"You could see him dropping Hotch off, but the camera's only on the entrance, so I have no idea what direction he went once he left the hospital," Prentiss explained.

"It doesn't make sense for him to have brought Hotch to the ER," JJ said, frowning.

"We know Foyet gets off on power and control," Rossi told them. "Maybe what he wants is for Hotch to know his life was in his hands."

"He could do that without risking the hospital," Morgan said.

Then the nurse who had been checking on Hotch got their attention. "Agents, he's waking up. Remember, he's weak. Don't push him."

JJ put an arm around Florence as they entered the room. As much as Florence wanted to talk to Hotch and make sure he was okay, she knew that asking about Foyet was more important.

"Where am I?" Hotch asked, speaking slowly.

"In the hospital," Rossi told him.

"How did I get here?" he asked, trying to flutter his eyes open.

"Foyet drove you," Morgan said.

"Can you remember what happened?" Prentiss asked,

"What did he take?" Hotch asked, not answering the question.

"What do you mean?" Rossi asked.

"The reaper always takes something from his victims," Hotch explained, taking a labored breath. "Do we know what he took?"

Prentiss thought over what she had seen in his apartment. "There was a page missing from your day planner In the address section, the Bs."

"What did he leave?"

"I don't know."

"He also leaves something with his victims."

"I looked over your whole apartment," she told him. "Nothing felt out of place."

"Where are my clothes?"

Prentiss grabbed the hospital bag with his clothes in it and set it on the bed. She pulled out his bloody shirt and he reached for the wallet containing his FBI credentials. He opened it up and saw a picture of Haley and Jack that hadn't been there before. He sighed and leaned his head back against the pillow.

"Haley's maiden name is Brooks," he said. "I always listed her in the Bs in my personal information in case it fell into the wrong hands. He knows where they live."

The team immediately jumped into action. While Florence and Prentiss stayed with Hotch, the others headed to Hotch's old address to find them. They also had Garcia call in the SWAT team for assistance in case Foyet was there. While they waited, Prentiss and Florence stayed quiet, not wanting to disturb Hotch. Slowly, he started to fall asleep, but then his heart monitor started to speed up.

"What happened?" the doctor asked, rushing in.

"I - I don't know," Prentiss said.

They made them leave the room, so Prentiss pulled Florence out and they watched, worried from the hallway. They managed to get his heart rate back down and they checked his vitals. Once the doctor and nurse left, Florence went back to her chair. She still didn't say anything — there was nothing to say until they knew that Haley and Jack were alright.

It didn't take too long for them to get an answer to that question. Prentiss took a call and seconds later turned back to them.

"They're safe."

Hotch sighed in relief and managed to relax back into the bed. Once they knew they were safe, Florence got up to go and get a snack from the vending machine. When she got back to the room, she saw Haley and Jack walking that way. Jack recognized her quickly and grinned up at her.

"Mommy, this is the girl from the park. Daddy broke her face!" he said, running over to her. "Hi."

"Hey, Jack," Florence greeted, kneeling down to his level. "Nice to see you again, bud."

"You must be Florence," Haley said, forcing a smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too. Um, Hotch is just in there," she said, nodding to his room.

"Thanks," Haley said. She hesitated before going in. "Will you keep him out here while I speak with Aaron without him first?"

"Of course," she said. Once Haley went inside, Florence sat in one of the chairs up against the wall and kept Jack on her lap. "How have you been?"

"I rode in a police car and they let me run the siren!" he exclaimed excitedly. Florence's heart broke, knowing he wouldn't understand what was happening.

"No way? You ran the siren?" Florence asked, over-exaggerating her excitement.

"Three times," he said, holding up three fingers.

"Three times! That's so awesome," she said, grinning. "I wish I could run the police siren."

"Maybe the officer who let me will let you if you say please when you ask."

"Oh, that's a smart idea," she said, nodding her head.

"I got a new Hulk toy the other day too," he said, bouncing excitedly. "Now I have all of the Avengers. Maybe you can come over and we can play superheroes."

"As long as I get to play Iron Man."

"I never like playing as Iron Man."

Florence kept her mouth shut again. One day, when he was older, she would chew him out about his distaste for her favorite superhero. For now, though, he was too young. They talked about playing superheroes for a little bit more before Haley came and got him. Florence waved at him before he went to say goodbye to his father for who knows how long.

Hotch was going through his worst nightmare, and there was almost nothing that any of them could do to stop it.

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After Haley and Jack left, Florence went back to her chair in Hotch's room. She didn't make conversation, she just wanted to be near him. Besides, there was nothing she could say at the moment to make him feel better. They both just rested while in each other's company. Surprisingly, Florence was the first of them to fall asleep, though she wasn't plagued by thoughts of never seeing her son again.

Rossi came in the room and shot an amused smile at Florence, who was curled up and snoring, before talking to Hotch, who was staring at the ceiling.

"Did you hear what happened this morning?"

"No."

"We had a situation. Unsub had already killed two people. Said he was gonna keep killing unless a man used his son as bait," Rossi explained.

"What happened?" Hotch asked though he didn't really care.

"We kept the boy safe. Worked the profile. It was a happy ending. Do you know why I'm telling you this?"

Hotch hesitated before replying. "Yes."

"No other group in the world could have pulled off what your team did in a matter of hours."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, Dave," Hotch told him.

"We'll get Foyet," he assured him.

"I promised Haley that we would get him, but the truth is, if he stops killing, we have no way of tracking him. He stopped killing for ten years just for the pleasure of watching Shaunessy's life fall apart. What's Jack gonna remember about me in ten years?"

"Hotch, look at me." Hotch slowly peeled his eyes away from the ceiling. "I'm telling you, we'll get him. Just look at Florence. She doesn't even use a hundred percent of her potential on most of our cases. Imagine the effort she'll put in for you. She'd do anything for you. We all would. We'll find him."

"There's something else," Hotch said, lowly. He glanced at Florence. "My bracelet from Florence."

Rossi gave him a confused look. "What about it?"

"I keep it with my credentials. I didn't notice the first time, but I checked again a few minutes ago. It's gone. When Foyet put the picture of Haley and Jack in there, he took the bracelet too," he explained, closing his eyes. "I don't know—" He cut himself off with a sigh. "I'm not sure what to make of it."

"Would Foyet even know about Florence?" Rossi asked, crossing his arms. "He researched the team but never made mention of her. She's taken precautions so that people can't find out important information about her on the internet. You wouldn't even know she worked for the FBI."

"I know, which makes me wonder why he took it," Hotch said, glancing at Florence again. "What if she's in danger?"

Rossi shook his head. "It - it doesn't fit. What if Foyet made a mistake? What if he saw it and assumed that Jack made it for you? He took it to taunt you even further."

Hotch thought it over for a moment. "It'd make sense. I just... don't want to make the wrong call."

"Aaron, you know that people can't be forced into Witness Protection if they don't want to. You know her just as well as the rest of us, and she's way too stubborn to do it if asked. She'd insist on staying and helping."

Hotch knew he was right. Florence was way too stubborn, and she cared more about everyone on the team than her own safety. "Do we tell her?"

Rossi shrugged. "That's your call. I mean, if you want another bracelet ASAP, then yes."

His joke didn't lighten the mood as he wanted. "I don't want her to be scared," Hotch said, looking at her again. "She was terrified in New York and when Rothschild came up to you. And she was nervous about coming to Canada on the last case. She'd try to brush it off as nothing, but she'd never feel safe again. Are we sure that he would assume the bracelet was from Jack?"

Rossi paused to think it over. He glanced at Florence, who had twisted into a position that couldn't be comfortable. Nevertheless, she continued snoring peacefully. "We'll tell the rest of the team and get their opinion. Then we can decide on whether we tell her. But for now, you need to focus on resting and healing."

"We have to catch him," Hotch said, staring at Florence while thinking of Jack.

"We will."