Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Every 40 Seconds-Chapter 20

The next two days were fairly uneventful for Jane and Hotch. They stuck to their morning routine of sitting out on the porch swing, coming back in and eating breakfast and then watching TV. They still were not sleeping in their respective bedrooms, as Jane was still too frightened to be alone in the house, but Jane's nightmares had gotten a little better, so they were both able to get some sleep in the living room.

While her nightmares had improved, Jane was still experiencing them on a nightly basis; she just did not wake up screaming anymore. Hotch thought it was because they were getting better, less vivid, but Jane knew that she was simply getting used to them. Along with the improvement of her nightmares, Jane's physical injuries had also healed a bit more. The swelling and bruising in her face was almost gone and, except for her nose, her face looked pretty much like it had before the kidnapping. The injuries to the other parts of her body were getting better as well; on Friday morning, Jane was able to get undressed and dressed by herself for the first time since coming home. She almost danced a jig over it!

While the appearance of her injuries had improved, she was still in a lot of pain. Now that she was in charge of her own pain medicine, she mostly took ibuprofen during the day and then her prescription pain medicine at night, since the pain tended to be worse then. Penelope still tried bullying her into taking her pain medicine during the day, but so far, Jane had been able to fend her off. Along with the pain, Jane's dizziness from her concussion had actually gotten somewhat worse. When she first arrived home, the dizziness usually hit her after she had been walking around for a while or after she got out of the shower, but now she sometimes felt dizzy even when she was laying down. On Friday morning, Hotch called Dr. Adams to tell her about it and she reassured him that it was normal for some increased dizziness since Jane was moving around more at home than she did at the hospital. She told him to wait and see if it got better over the weekend and if it didn't, he was to bring Jane back to the hospital to see her. Hotch was somewhat reassured after talking to Dr. Adams, but he vowed to watch Jane like a hawk over the weekend.

It wouldn't be too hard for Hotch to monitor Jane over the weekend, since he would have at least two other people to help him. On Thursday, Dave came to their place for dinner and invited the two of them and Garcia to his cabin for the weekend. He thought some fresh air and a change of scenery would do both Jane and Hotch some good and he hoped they would both relax better at his place. He also invited the entire team, including Erin Strauss, to the cabin for dinner on Friday night. He knew the team had been affected by Jane's kidnapping and it was their last weekend on stand down, on Monday they would be back in the regular case rotation again. He knew they needed to see that Jane was doing better and they needed a chance to blow off steam. During their family session with Dr. Thomas on Friday, Hotch mentioned the weekend invite and Dr. Thomas thought it was a great idea, so as soon as they got home; the Hotchners began packing their bags for the weekend. Jane packed as well as she could, but about ten minutes into it, she needed her dad's help.

"Dad?" She called from her bedroom.

Hotch appeared at the door, "What is it, sweetie?"

"Can you grab the jeans from the top shelf in my closet, please?"

Hotch stepped into her messy closet, grabbed the jeans and looked at them, "Aren't these pretty old? I thought you had outgrown these."

Jane nodded, "I did, but with all of the weight I've lost, my regular jeans don't fit me, so I'm hoping these will."

Hotch made a mental note to put more food on her plate during meals. She had been almost too thin before her kidnapping; he didn't even want to know what she weighed now. "Be sure to pack a swimsuit."

Jane looked confused, "Swimsuit? Dave doesn't have a pool."

"No, but he has a Jacuzzi tub in his master bathroom that he wants you to use. When I talked to Dr. Adams this morning, I asked her about it and she thought the Jacuzzi was a great idea. She thinks it might loosen up some of your injured muscles. If anything, it should help you with some of your pain."

"OK, I get that part of it," Jane said, still confused, "but why do I need a swimsuit?"

"For two reasons," Hotch explained, "First, I'm not leaving you alone in a deep bathtub filled with water. I want someone in there with you in case you get dizzy and pass out or fall asleep." Jane nodded, that made sense. "Second, we both know you get dizzy after you shower, so I can only imagine what a Jacuzzi bath will do to you. You may need either Dave or I to lift you out of the tub and I imagine you would rather be in a bathing suit if that were to happen."

Once again, Jane nodded, "OK, can you get it for me?" She asked from where she sat on her bed, "It's in the second dresser drawer."

Hotch looked around for a minute and then pulled out her bikini, "You know that I hate this thing, right?"

Jane smiled, a bit ruefully. "I don't think you have to worry about me wearing it for much longer, dad. With all of the scars I'm going to have, I think I will get a nice one piece suit from circa 1925 for next summer."

Hotch snorted, "As much as I would love that, you do realize that by next summer your wounds will be healed, right? Whatever doesn't heal on its own, we'll have the plastic surgeons fix."

With a sigh, Jane said, "I know dad, I'm just not looking forward to the surgery and more pain." She thought for a minute and then shook the idea out of her head. "Should we head out?"

Hotch nodded, "Dave told us to be there by five, and it's four o'clock now." With that, Hotch grabbed the two duffel bags and walked down the hallway with Jane. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Hotch put his arm around Jane and helped her down the stairway. He wanted to carry her, as her dizziness still made him nervous, but she had put her foot down her second day home. As a result, she leaned heavily on him as they made their way to the first floor and out the front door.

Jane waited by the SUV while Hotch put their bags in the back. As she was standing there, Melody approached her from the other side of the street.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Jane replied. The two of them hadn't spoken since Jane's outburst on Monday.

They both stood in silence for a moment while Hotch ran back inside for bottles of water for him and Jane.

"Mel, I'm sorry for what I said to you. You didn't deserve it; I was just being a bitch." Jane said.

Mel grinned, "Yeah, well, I'm used to it." Jane looked up and smiled at her. "Seriously Jane, after all you've been through, you have the right to lose your temper sometimes. I learned long ago not take half of what you say personally."

Jane was still smiling, "Like you should talk! Have you ever heard half of the things that come out of your mouth?"

They both hugged for a minute. After they pulled apart, Jane said, "So tell me what's been going on at school. I am so out of the gossip loop!"

"Right now all anyone can talk about is your visit yesterday." Jane groaned, she and her dad had gone to her school to meet with her teachers yesterday. They had hoped to get to the conference room before the last bell rang, but they had gotten there late and were in the middle of one of the main hallways when classes got out. As a result, Jane had been besieged with well wishers. It had been overwhelming.

"Were they talking about how awful I looked?" She asked.

Melody snorted, "Yeah, right. You've reached superhero status at school. People want to grow up to be you!"

"Yeah, well I would advise against that." Jane replied. Just then, Hotch appeared with the water. Mel and Jane said goodbye and Hotch helped her into the SUV. Soon they were on the highway towards Dave's cabin and Jane fell fast asleep.