Lizard: Alright, you convinced me, I have to continue. Thank you to zippy zany for the suggestions, and to the rest of you for the reviews.

"Can we move him?" Morgan asked uncertainly when Dave mentioned getting out of there.

"He drowned, he didn't break his neck. If we're careful we can-" Rossi started, but was interrupted by a soft sound from the shivering man they were discussing.

"C-can...walk," Hotch rasped tiredly.

Dave looked down at him in concern and noticed how much the younger man was shaking. Without a word he helped him into a sitting position and tugged of the tattered jacket. Despite the small sound of protest from Aaron, the Dave wrapped his own jacket around his boss's shoulders before slowly helping him to his feet. Almost immediately Hotch's legs gave out. Both men caught him before he could hit the floor.

He groaned softly, "May-maybe not."

"C'mon, we'll help you," Morgan grunted, pulling his arm over his shoulder as Dave did the same.

"Unless you'd rather be carried," Rossi added at the slightly irritated look they received.

Hotch snorted but allowed himself to be helped out of the room and down the long corridor. The trio made their way slowly, Morgan directing them around any obstacles in their path, while Rossi started talking into the radio to tell the others to make sure the ambulance was ready.

"What happened?" Emily asked through the device.

"Long story, just have that ambulance ready. I'll explain once Hotch is safely on his way to a hospital."

Hotch looked disgusted in an exhausted way, but didn't argue. To Dave their progress was agonizingly slow, but any faster and Hotch wouldn't be able to keep up at all. He was barely standing and being dragged more than anything already as it was. As they came to the room where they had caught Fredrick, Hotch stumbled and gasped in pain, his body instinctively trying to double over.

"Woah, woah, there. What's wrong?" Morgan stopped immediatly and used his other arm to support his friend.

Hotch just hissed in pain and yanked his arm away from Rossi to wrap it around his chest protectively.

"Broken rib, sorry about that," Dave cringed, "Chest compressions can do that."

"Alright, enough of this," Derek scowled and turned Hotch into another position.

Before the supervisory agent could protest, he was being carried through the room. At first he tried to struggle, but gave up when the effort proved to be too much and just let his head loll back and closed his eyes in exhaustion, almost immediately drifting off to sleep. Morgan raised an eyebrow in mild amusement, but it was tempered by the concern that still hung heavily around them. Hotch was often quite tired, but not so much he would pass out in someones arms. His eyes scanned the man's body as he walked.

Hotch was much thinner than usual and his skin was sickly pale. He was wet, of course, and shivering badly, despite Rossi's coat. The cuts and bruises on his face stood out against the whiteness of his skin, and it made Morgan flinch at the thought of what condition the rest of his body must be in. In his sleep, Aaron winced and seemed to press closer to Morgan's warmth. It scared the dark skinned profiler to death to see his boss look so vulnerable and weak.

They were at the exit, Dave silently pushed the heavy iron door open for his comrades, his eyes lingering worriedly on his boss as they passed. Almost immediatly, Emily and Reid were upon them.

"Is he okay? What happened?" Emily started, while Reid just looked shocked and as horrified as Morgan felt.

"He'll be fine once he gets to the hospital. We found out how Fredrick was drowning his victims," Rossi explained as Derek handed off Hotch to the paramedics somewhat hesitantly.

"What did he do to them?" Reid asked softly.

"Torture, down to the drowning," Morgan muttered in disgust, "He strapped the victims to a table and slowly filled the room they were in with water. They had to know what was happening the whole time."

"Which would explain the marks on the wrists and ankles, they were trying to escape," Emily concluded quietly.

None of them could quite admit to themselves yet that their boss had gone through exactly that.

He could hear voices, hushed but close. Then there was that obnoxious beeping, he wished someone would turn it off. His mind was muddled, but slowly he concluded by the smell of antiseptic and sounds that he must be in the hospital. But why? He racked his brain for any reason, but it was like trying to see through a thick fog, he was getting no where.

Maybe opening his eyes would help.

"I think he's waking up," a female voice said excitedly from somewhere nearby.

He knew that voice... but before he could dwell on it anymore another one joined in.

"C'mon Hotch, open your eyes man," male this time.

Hotch slowly peeled his eyes open and squinted at the blinding light above him. A shadow suddenly came across him and he struggled to focus on the face peering down at him.

"G-Garcia?" he rasped, only to send himself into a coughing fit.

Someone held a glass of water up to his lips and he drank it thankfully.

"That's right hot stuff, we're all here," she replied warmly.

He looked around and sure enough the whole team was sitting in the hospital room watching him, most with smiles on their faces, and relief evident in their features.

"What happened?" he asked cautiously.

Rossi gave him a concerned look, "You don't remember?"

"Drugs...messing with my head," he muttered dryly.

Morgan chuckled next to his head softly, "You almost drown Hotch. They got you to the hospital, you had all kinds of nasty things in those cuts, and to top it all off you came down with a mild case of pneumonia, which you're still getting over. You've been out for two whole days."

Hotch frowned for a moment, and the others watched as the memories suddenly returned. He grimaced and looked almost frightened as he recalled the events in the week he had been missing, "Oh."

"Do you remember?" Rossi asked again.

He paused, then turned and looked accusingly at Rossi, "I remember you broke my ribs."

Everyone laughed, "Yeah, he'll be just fine," Emily chuckled.

"You caught...Fredrick?" he asked slowly.

"Yes, and he confessed almost immediately," Reid informed him proudly.

"Good," Hotch sighed and leaned his head back with his eyes closed.

"Alright, kids, I think we better let him get some rest. Out," Rossi ordered, herding the group out the door.

"Dave?"

He turned around and looked at his boss who was watching him with an unreadable expression, "Yes, Hotch?"

"Thank you...for not giving up on me."

Dave nodded, "Anytime."

"He looks so innocent," Garcia cooed.

Emily giggled slightly, "He does, doesn't he? Like a little kid."

They were watching Hotch sleeping soundly on the couch in the jet. Reid and Morgan were playing cards at the table and Rossi was writing in his files with his earphones in. As soon as they got on the plane, Morgan had directed their boss to the couch and instructed him to lie down and sleep. Despite protesting quite vehemently at first, Hotch finally relented and lay down to sleep. He was out in minutes.

In the back, Rossi glanced up briefly to see the girl's watching Hotch sleep. They looked like they were just having a normal conversation, but Dave could see the new care in there faces, the want, or rather need to protect him. It was reflected in Reid's concerned glance at their boss when he would fidget in his sleep, or Morgan's constant pushing for Hotch to take it easy. This was a sort of turn around for the team, and Rossi honestly hoped they would never take their boss for granted again.

For the moment, though, they were all safe and Dave set aside his file and leaned back. In the rare moment of contentment for the older profiler, he sat back and just watched Hotch breath.

Hm...More difficult than the first chapter. I'm sorry, some of the characters were a bit out of character form time to time, that is something I have always had trouble with. I hope you liked it, and I'm sorry if it didn't measure up to any expectations. Thanks for reading, and let me know if you'd like me to write more for him!!

LIZARD OUT